Thursday, May 11, 2006
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Tera Patrick, Nikki Benz Party At Mood Tuesday Night
FOXE pics in Japanese magazine Pamela Peaks on Hollywood Blvd James Bartholet, Pamela Peaks James, Pamela Peaks James, Pamela Alixcia.com Alixcia.com Alixcia.com Alixcia.com Alixcia.com Nautica Thorn pulls up Tyler Faith, Wankus pic Nikki Benz Nikki Benz Nikki Benz Nikki Benz Nikki Benz Nikki Benz Nikki Benz Nikki Nikki Nikki Nikki Benz Nikki Benz Nikki Benz Nikki Benz Nikki Nikki Nikki Nikki Nikki Nikki Nikki Nikki James, Nikki Nikki Nikki Nikki Tyler Faith, Wayne Lewis Tyler, Wankus Tyler, Wankus James, Tyler, Wankus Tyler, Wankus Tyler, Nikki, Robbye Bentley Nautica Thorne Nautica Thorne James, Nautica James, Nautica James, Nautica Robbye Bentley, Nikki Benz Robbye, Nautica Tera Patrick, Nikki Tera, Nikki Tera, Nikki Tera, Nikki Tera, Nikki Evan Seinfeld, Tera Patrick, Nikki Benz, Brad Thomas Same gang gang gang gang Tera, James Tera Tera Tera Patrick Evan, Tera Evan, Tera Evan, Tera Evan, Tera Evan, Tera Evan, Tera Evan, Tera Evan, Tera Evan, Tera Evan, Tera Evan, Tera Tera, James Tera, James Evan, Tera, James Tera Evan, Tera, James Evan, Tera, James Evan, Tera, James Evan, Tera, James Evan, Tera, James Evan, Tera, James Tera Evan, Tera, James Evan, Tera Evan, Tera, James Evan, Tera, James Tera, James Evan, Tera Evan, Tera Evan, Tera Tera Tera Evan, Tera Tera Tera Tera Evan, Tera Leah Luv Leah Luv Leah Luv Leah Luv Leah Luv Leah Luv Leah Leah Leah Luv James and the actor Ethan Suplee Ethan Suplee Ethan Suplee Ethan Suplee Ethan Suplee James, Ethan James, Ethan James, Ethan James, Ethan James, Ethan James, Ethan James, Ethan Ethan Actor twins Dan and Karl Brown Actor twins Actor twins Actor twins Dan and Karl Brown Actor twins Actor twins Actor twins Actor twins Actor twins Actor twins Actor twins Actor twins Actor twins Actor twins Actor twins Actor twins Actor twins Actor twins Actor twins Stefani Morgan Stefani Morgan (last two photos by Rachel Worth) Stefani Morgan, Stefani Morgan, Stefani Morgan (last three photos from Niki) Stefani Morgan Stefani, Lacie Heart, Tera, Waylor Wane and friends Nikki Benz, Dennis Rodman (Last three photos by Dr X of Emmagency.com)
Rachel Worth writes: "Lukey's got a cru-ush, Lukey's got a cru-ush."
Angela writes: "That is not Ethan Suplee. I looked at the pics 5-6 times. No way that is him. You made a big fat mistake. Haven't you even seen Ethan lately? I guess to you Jew boys all fat people look alike. Look again you f--king moron."
All credit for my photography must go to Holly Randall. She's made me everything that I am as a photographer, a lover, and a Jew.
9:15 p.m. I find parking on Sunset Blvd, west of Highlands.
Lugging a camera, a book and a sore elbow, I walk a mile and arrive 6623 Hollywood Blvd at 9:35 p.m. I'm in blue jeans and a long-sleeved plaid shirt.
"I remember when you used to show up to events in a suit and a serious expression," says a photographer. "Now you're one of us."
I see Monstar, Gordon, Rachel Worth, Dr. X, James Bartholet, Jennifer James, and company.
Monstar's not wearing any eyeliner though he does have the stick to do the job if the mood hits him.
He says he's making "loot" from his PR agency. He talks about Stormy Daniels and Taryn Thomas, his two favorite porn girls.
"Stormy told me that she keeps me fed and Taryn pays my rent," says Monstar.
"Why?" I ask.
"I do a lot of stuff for these chicks. I write press releases. I promote them."
"Do they pay you on their knees or standing up?" asks a photographer.
"As beautiful as these girls are, there ain't nothing more beautiful than money," says Monstar.
People are so materialistic. I'm in porn because it's God's will for my life.
Monstar opens up about his writing and gives me some pointers.
It's good to share the camraderie of the keyboard with a fellow warrior.
I've long feared that my endless hours on the computer would result in some repetitive strain injury that would hamstring my writing.
Over the past few months, I've developed a sore right elbow. I went to the doctor last week. She said it was tennis elbow (even though I have not played tennis in a decade). I was relieved when she said it was doubtful I developed it working at the computer. Using my NikonD100, however, causes my elbow to flare up with pain.
I take Naproxen twice a day to reduce the inflammation, ice my elbow, and use it as little as possible.
Holly uses heavier cameras than I do and she's never developed this problem.
Maybe she's more of a man than I am?
I might've damaged my elbow doing push-ups and pull-ups without any warmup.
My body will return to flab before I can work out again.
Monstar writes me Wednesday 4 a.m.: "Dood, right when you spit the second most talked about chick on your site shows up -- Stefani Morgan. She was looking gooooooood, too."
Does anyone have any pictures to share of Stefani from Tuesday night?
A big fat actor I recognize, Ethan Suplee, says he was driving down Hollywood Blvd with friends when he saw the porn stars and wanted to get in on the action.
When asked by James what he considers erotica, Ethan says "porn stars."
The twins Dan and Karl Brown from the forthcoming Superman Returns movie stop by.
Wankus writes me: "Wayne Lewis? You writing me a check? That's kind of an odd choice dontcha think since I don't really use that name publicly. If we have to tolerate your horrible photography, can you at least make the correct credits?"
He writes on DavidAaronClark.com:
MAY 10, 2006
WATCHING: The New Jersey Catholic carnival scenes on last night’s SOPRANOS, & being reminded of my dreamy, only medium-troubled youth. I mean, who HASN’T tried to commit suicide with aspirins when they were 14, right? Hey, zeppoles might be this po’ boy’s Madeleines, y’understand?
READING: Some of the Marvel ESSENTIALS collections, in a comparison & contrast with a handful of Brian Michael Bendis & Orson Scott Card updates of the Avengers & Iron Man mythos. I can see how & why Jack Kirby owned my pre-adolescent years, & it’s fascinating to watch a couple of gifted contemporary writers try to keep the magic alive for a very different era of audience. Do they? Yeah, I think maybe they do.
Conclusion: No matter whose damn corporate hands the Marvel Universe falls into, I will always count myself proud to have been an early member of the M.M.M.S. – “Stand a little straighter, walk a little prouder/Be an innovator, clap a little louder/Grow forever greater, we can show you how to -- and where will you be then?” http://www.teako170.com/mmms.html if you have no idea what I’m talking about, Fearless Believer.
LISTENING TO: Mott The Hoople, THE HOOPLE, particularly “Marionette” – Ian Hunter’s deeply sarcastic, impassioned roar of protest at the price of pop success translates surprisingly well 31 years later. Not to get caught up in the numbers or anything, but I am permanently disoriented by a recent statistical development in which the majority of the music I listen to is older than the majority of the women I have sex with. This is when you know for sure your Young Lion years are past.
DOWNLOADING FROM iTunes: THE SHIELD, Season 5, b’wana – all my hopes & dreams are answered!!! (Well, I sure didn’t magically wake up this morning with Vic’s gym-fueled build, so there are still a few fantasies left …)
Things are busy, quite busy, here in my hermetic lil world, as my relentlessly competent producer Mark the Saint drags me only slightly kicking & screaming into the biggest production I’ve ever done – price it out probably around the average Raven/Thomas/Joone production, but for me it’s an interesting new experience, being able to afford a video tech ‘n’ stuff like that. In exchange of course I am facing down the fake-HD dragon – you know, that Sony pro-sumer hybrid -- & hoping the post-production nightmare that awaits doesn’t induce suicide. The project is ASIA NOIR V: A LUST SUPREME, & I’ll let you in on the cast after the shoot along with some pics – you never know until the last minute what’s really gonna happen, anyway!
Meanwhile, my self-imposed exile from the chatboards is going well. It’s kind of like my relationship with hard drugs – as long as no one actually puts it right in my hand, I don’t feel the urge. I’m hoping the break from incessant but impassioned off-the-cuff typed jousting with Net buddies (& psychos) rejuvenates the writing gland in my head, as I owe ASIAN CULT CINEMA several articles & I can’t explain how it breaks my heart to watch that aspect of me wither up & threaten to fall off …
Finally met Chris D. in person at an Egyptian screening of THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE that boasted a special appearance by Christine “One Eye” Lindstrom herself, & felt like I was lying or something when I said that I write on Asian genre film as well … feeling like it’s been too long to deserve using the present tense of the verb …
'You Should Talk To Frank Koretsky Of IVD'
I was talking to a friend about my new book of porn star interviews -- Lives on the Edge.
"You should talk to Frank Koretsky," he said. "He owns all the bookstores. Maybe he would stock it and you could move some units. Or that nice guy Brian at XXXSextoys."
"I can't talk to anyone about marketing," I respond. "I have to write about Frank Koretsky. I can't try to do a deal with him because I might need to crucify him tomorrow in my column. My column comes first."
Chuck Martino Update
He calls me back Tuesday. He's been out of porn for four years. He's independently wealthy. He produces short segments for ESPN. He sounds happy. He lives in an expensive part of Los Angeles.
Turmoil At Danni.com, DHDMedia.com
Many people have quit and many people have been fired because they don't like the guy in charge -- Layne Thr-sher.
If anyone's got a picture of this guy, please send it in.
He's got long hair, plays guitar, and carries himself like a rock star. "He thinks he's rad but he's a total asshole," says a source who would know.
Numerous people who love Danni Ashe complain that Layne is difficult.
A lot of Layne's employees hate him.
According to one story, he told XBiz to "f--- off" when they asked him if Danni Ashe was still involved in the company.
I assume that Layne is the one who decided to ban me from the Danni.com party Saturday night. From the point of view of his self-interest and that of his company, that was a stupid thing to do.
I'm not going to whip him on my blog because he banned me from the party. It's just that that decision inevitably brings him into my focus. When I mention the party story to people, they often chime in with their own stories about Layne. Things snowball. I can't think of any upside for Layne in this.
"Asshole," "prick" and other words I don't use are common descriptions tossed around about Layne.
It's a shame because Danni Ashe and her company were known as the nicest people around.
Masterp writes on JBM: "If he's the boss, you have to go by his rules or leave."
Danni.com, Erica Campbell Donate to Equine Rescue
“All of us at Danni.com are committed to stopping the senseless slaughter found in unsanctioned horse ‘kill pens,’” says Layne Thr-sher, head of operations for Danni.com. “The AC4H is an excellent organization, and we’re happy to help in any way we can. We are thrilled to once again work with one of our most popular models to raise funds for such an important cause.”
LA Direct Models Drops Carmella Bing
Derek Hay replies to my inquiry: "She flaked her third night of three, feature dance appearance at Rouge. Lot of lost revenue and advertising expense."
Is XBiz Redundant?
Is AVN redundant? Is Lukeisback redundant? It's hard to continually publish good porn stories. It's hard to find the enthusiasm to dig hard enough to find them.
XBiz has a particularly narrow focus so that makes its task harder. My focus is broader and that makes my task easier.
"This industry is not filled with the best and the brightest," says a veteran porner. "Trying to get a decent interview with people is like pulling teeth. I hate that there's not more professionalism in the business. I hate that there are not more people who know how to deal with media."
I love people who don't know how to deal with media. I feel like I am more likely to get the truth from them.
Wish Janine Luck
She blogs: "Getting my left arm tattooed today here in Santa Monica by Eddy Deutsche....if you hear me screamin'...you know why."
Allan MacDonell Interview - A Prisoner Of X
The former editor of Hustler reads from his book Friday, 7:30 p.m. at Skylight Books on 1818 North Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027. He reads to the LA Press Club the evening of May 18.
Allan (MySpace) calls me Wednesday morning.
More than a decade ago, he struck fear into the industry while he was writing as "Christian Shapiro."
Then the years went by and hardly anybody talked about Hustler any more. Not inside the industry (where people mainly talked about AVN and the internet) and not outside the industry.
Between 1995-98, many people in porn hated Mike Albo, the Editor of Hustler Erotic Video Guide.
Luke: "How did your life change after you left Hustler? Suddenly you are not going into the office every day. Suddenly there's this huge blank in your schedule. How did you change?"
Allan: "I slept better. I look better. I seem happier. I'd meet people a year later and I'd have a lot of anxiety because I haven't got a career going. I'll run into people and they'll say, 'Man, you look better than ever.'
"A lot of weight was lifted from my shoulders.
"I'm not saying that Hustler was any worse than any other job of that calibre. You have a lot of people working under you. You have a lot of expectations on you. There'd been a lot of strain for years.
"I don't mind the void. For the last couple of years, there was a lot of headache. Now I don't have that headache. It's great except for the anxiety about how I'm going to make a buck."
Luke: "What feedback did your wife [Theresa] give you about leaving Hustler?"
Allan: "She was supportive. She'd sensed that I had burned out on it, not because of the sexual material. Any kind of material, working on it that long, you would've burned out. I burned out because I worked hard for a long time. She noticed the change in me immediately. I became easier to live with.
"She's getting a little impatient for me to figure out how to get some money coming in. She has a lot of faith in me and the world that something good is happening.
"She's been a really great support to me except for when we fight."
Luke: "Are you an easy person to live with?"
Allan: "Probably not. I'm not that bad. I'm subject to circumstances. If circumstances are not good to me, I recede within myself and I'm not responsive. For the most part, I have a cynical optimism. This is going to sound like a big surprise to people who've worked for me, because I was known for being temperamental and flying off the handle, but things don't bother me to the level they might bother other people.
"But she's not that easy to live with either. She's wonderful. She's a strong personality. I'm a strong personality. I need a strong personality to be with."
Luke: "You and God?"
Allan: "I'm not an atheist. I have no conception of what God might be like. I have no interest in creating some image for myself of what God is, but I do feel I have been very blessed and very lucky throughout my life. I can look back and see dozens of times where I was in somebody's pocket. I feel it now. It's something I don't understand, that's beyond me, beyond my conception, that has my best interests at heart, with a wisdom beyond anything I could know.
"I don't have any theology. I'm open to reading about it in other people. I don't disbelieve hardly anyone."
Luke: "But you feel like there might have been some divine contact with your life?"
Allan: "Yeah, yeah, yeah. At different times."
Luke: "Is that a humbling experience?"
Allan: "I don't like the word 'humbling' because I equate it with humiliation. It's comforting that there's some kind of divine presence that is going to carry me through this life and into whatever happens later.
"I think about dying a lot like anybody would. I have no idea about what's going to happen but I have a feeling that whatever has been carrying me through this life does not end when this life ends.
"Let me give you an example. My girlfriend Frankie and I got a dog from the Glendale pound. The dog was going to be killed within hours. The dog was a problem dog. It would lunge at people and snarl at people and snap at people. We kept him. We were consistent with him. We loved this dog and he loved us. I had him for eleven more years. He had this whole life that was very rich for a dog because I extended myself and brought him in.
"When I think about that when I'm having all these worries -- what is going to happen with my health? What is going to happen with the wife? I'm not that powerful of a person but I completely changed this dog's life.
"This God that I experience is far more powerful than me. If I can shelter this dog, who am I to doubt that I am in good hands."
Luke: "Are you sure that the sexually explicit material that you immersed yourself in for 20 years did not take a unique toll?"
Allan: "I got tired of it in a way that I would not have got tired of it if I had worked at a general interest magazine.
"I enjoyed working on the layouts in Hustler. I'd see people who it bothered to look at that [material] and it would drive them out quickly. But because I liked it, it took a long time for me to become tired of it.
"I was interviewed on NPR. It's going to run this Sunday. The interviewer asked me this same question and I was very defensive about admitting that perhaps I burned out on the sexual material. I felt that they might corral me into an admission that the material had some longterm negative effect on me, which I believe it has not.
"In the book, I state that you see too much of this stuff, you doubt reality and I was plagued by visions of anus. I denied my own book to not get pushed into this corner.
"I did burn out on the material but to the end there was the occasional thing that I would like. I got tired of seeing the same crap over and over. The same poses. Occasionally one of the models or one of the photographers would still charm me. But it did not have a negative effect on my own sexuality. All the way through, I was very interested in sex. I am very interested in sex. I am just not interested in porn. If I look at advertisements, in Vanity Fair or wherever, my eyes still go to women.
"I've looked at one porn tape since I got fired [almost four years ago]. We watched it twice. Joanna's Angels."
Luke: "Did you enjoy it?"
Allan: "Yes. It was great. It was all natural breasts. It was the Suicide-type girls with the tattoos. They're avid about what they're doing. The sex is good. Evidently Joanna Angel is in charge of the production. It's got a lot going for it.
"Some people think porn is addictive. When I got fired, I had no withdrawal symptoms."
Luke: "Christian Shapiro has written about the soul-destroying nature of pornography."
Allan: "I keep hearing that about my Apocalypse Culture piece, but I thought that piece was more about how society as a whole was degrading itself. That pornography might seem like that people wanted to degrade themselves and expose themselves to degradation... Reality TV had not yet started but there were all these talkshows that people go on and revel in their own misconduct. I argued that society as a whole was as degrading as pornography if not more so.
"With all this reality TV, with everything that people put themselves through to get attention, my feeling is that a large part of the entertainment industry is a degrading industry. The drive for attention leads people to degrade themselves and there's a huge enabling network that's profiting on it."
Luke: "Do you feel a teeny bit protective of the industry or the choice you made to be in it?"
Allan: "A bit. You read the book. I'm not a cheerleader for porn. Obviously some people made the wrong choice to be in that. On the other hand, I've known a lot of people who thrived in it."
Luke: "You talk about porn the same way you talked about it while you were editor at Hustler. You're talking about it now a little differently than the way you wrote about it in the book."
Allan: "Am I? In what ways? When I was questioned at NPR, the interviewer kept trying to edge me back. I felt like I was in therapy. I'd want to talk about something else and the therapist would say, 'What about this?' The therapist wasn't trying to corner me or contradict me but to ease me towards...
"I was talking to my wife, 'Why couldn't I just say, 'I burned out on it'?'"
Luke: "You don't want to sound bitter about porn and your choice of being in it for 20 years."
Allan: "Occasionally you'll get someone who comes out and renounces it."
Luke: "You'll bend over backwards not to do that."
Allan: "Yeah. I got to do a lot of things. It gave me a lot of chances. I worked in this company and rose from assistant copy editor to making a lot of editorial decisions and artistic decisions. I got to meet a lot of people I would not have been able to meet otherwise. I wrote this book. I don't want to seem like I am renouncing what I did. I'm still very proud of a lot of the stuff I wrote and published. Within this medium, we were working as well as anyone could.
"I'm not sure that burning out is a negative effect. It's a message that it is time for you to do something else. A negative effect would be something with lasting repercusions that would effect my personal relationships, turn me into a raving sex predator..."
Luke: "How many people do you remember from the industry who had lasting relationships? There are so few lasting relationships in this industry, and I'm not only talking about performers."
Allan: "Four I can think of -- Jim Kohls, Larry Flynt, Bruce David and myself."
Luke: "Why didn't you name Bruce in your book?"
Allan: "There were a whole bunch of guys who were the same guy to me. I just dumped them all together. I didn't want to single one person out."
Luke: "You were pretty gentle in not naming people."
Allan: "I named people who were public. There were people who were more private or people I worked with on the political thing. The contractor we hired [in 1998 LFP hired investigative journalist Dan Moldea who was public about his participation but Allan does not use him name], he didn't want his name on. I felt like I committed to him to not put his name in there. It wouldn't gain me anything. There was another guy when we did the abortion thing who didn't want his name in there. The two journalists who did the research for us in Texas. They were always anonymous. I honored that. The guy I called Features [David Buchbinder] is working for the Christian Science Monitor. He's working for something along the lines of the peace corps. He doesn't need to have his connection with Hustler brought up."
Luke: "You could've been a lot more vicious."
Allan: "I could've been a lot more vicious. In various drafts, I was a lot more vicious. We went through this thing eight times. There'd be entire sections I wrote just to show that I was smarter than this other person. As a person who's not related to you reads through, he's put off by that. It didn't help whatever narrative momentum I had. I excised a lot of that and I'm glad I did. If I saw something that was just me settling some score, who's interested in that?"
Luke: "Me."
Allan: "But the wider audience does not care. You want them on your side but you do it by baring yourself. You have to treat the other people like you treat yourself."
Luke: "What was your relationship like with Mike Albo and how did he react to his section of the book?"
Allan: "I like Mike Albo. Initially, I was opposed to his hiring [as Editor of Hustler Erotic Video Guide]. Reb [Sawitz, porn agent] recommended him, but I felt like I was being railroaded on this guy. I wanted to hire David Aaron Clark at Screw or some other guy who worked at Screw. They were great writers, which Albo also was. The other two guys didn't want it, so we got Albo.
"Once I met Albo, I was just charmed by him. I loved that guy. We were colleagues. Eventually, I got promoted to Editorial Director of LFP Publications. He was working for me. He was very smart. He was volatile. He had some volatile relationships with people in porn. I always had a nice relationship with him."
Luke: "Wasn't there some concern at LFP about him calling up people and leaving death threats?"
Allan: "I didn't know he was leaving death threats. People would call him and leave amazing threats. Those are the ones I heard. You'd go, 'Wow, Mike, you need to back off. Take it down a notch or two.'
"After I stopped writing porn reviews, I realized our audience was fans of the people we were writing about. They were enthused about this stuff. The harsher descriptions I had been doing as Christian Shapiro, perhaps they should be done more judiciously. With Mike, I felt there was a bit of slagging on the porn industry that, especially for his magazine, were contrary to our best interests and to the porn industry's best interests. I talked to him about softening some of that. He was receptive to what I said. He would have these personality conflicts with people that got out of hand."
Luke: "How much heat did you take for his stuff?"
Allan: "I didn't take any. [LFP leader] Jim Kohls would direct it right at Albo. I talked to Jim a lot and he knew what I was trying to do to best serve the magazine. When the heat came, it went directly to Mike."
Mike Albo (now managing editor of AVN Online magazine, he's causing no waves at AVN or within the industry) and company composed (in early 1997) a list of the industry's most powerful people that caused a furious reaction when many industry leaders heard about it. There was talk about getting Albo fired. The industry leaders feared that such a list would give the government better targets. About two years after it was first composed, a version of the list was published in Hustler. Many of the selections were screwball, just to mess with Albo's enemies such as Jim Holliday (leaving him off the list in favor of virtual unknown historian Sam Stetson).
Luke: "Mike wrote some great vicious stuff."
When I read something he wrote about me to my therapist, she collapsed in laughter because of its accuracy.
When my friends and I want to signify that something is not for publication, we flag it "Mike Albo."
Allan: "He was great. There was a lot of creativity in his work."
Luke: "How did he like what you wrote about him?"
Allan: "He's accepted it. I showed it to him in a draft. If it was going to offend him or hurt his feelings, I would've changed the name and changed some characteristics so he could've had plausible denial."
Luke: "I figured that because he liked and respected you, he was fine with it."
Allan: "I think he thought it was funny. We know each other well enough that we make fun of each other. I love Mike Albo. He's a great guy. A little volatile. He never focused any of that on me."
Luke: "Tell me about Jim Kohls."
Allan: "I enjoyed working with Jim [who now owns Pulse Distributors]. He was a very reasonable person. Sometimes, like Larry, he'd get hard-headed about something. You could always use reason on Jim. If he didn't go along with you, he had a reason. You then had a choice -- do I want to go along with Jim's vision of how to make this company more profitable or do I want to sulk? It's best not to sulk.
"Most people who've gone through LFP will complain that they were grossly underpaid and are somewhat bitter. I ended up getting well-paid [circa $150,000 a year at best is my guess though Allan won't say] because of my cooperation with Jim Kohls. We worked out policies where I would get paid for freelance stuff. My salary was very low [$70,000 per annum at best is my guess]. When I got started [as editor] of Hustler, I got paid less than $40,000 per year.
"Scott Schalin worked for us. He got stolen away [along with Evan Wright] by Seth Warshavsky. When that happened, LFP realized there were some key people who needed raises.
"Jim seemed to appreciate the amount of effort I put in as editor. When I'd make a mistake that had a temporary effect on distribution, he'd realize that I was attempting to follow the vision of early Hustler that was set up by Larry Flynt to maintain the integrity of the magazine and keep the core audience.
"I haven't spoken to Jim since I got fired. I was surprised that I've never heard from him but then I've never called him."
Luke: "What did your [LFP income] top off at?"
Allan: "You've had it in there before but I'd rather not say, but it was pretty good."
Luke: "You were a good corporate soldier. You were a team player. You were an organization man. You worked with concern for the good of the porn industry."
Allan: "It wasn't just that I did what my bosses said. My bosses, after a point, started asking, 'What do you think?' They would take into account what I thought about things. I had influence on policies. It was a collaborative thing. I wanted what was best for Hustler magazine. I loved it.
"There's a perception by people who haven't read the book that it's all about how much I hated working there but I loved working there. We were presenting a viewpoint that's sorely under-represented in the American media -- my viewpoint. Luckily, my viewpoint and Larry's viewpoint were very similar. We had a similar view on the structure of society and where the inequities are. What should be made fun of and what should be praised.
"Being a good corporate soldier, I take it as a compliment. It's a strong quality for someone if you're going to be working for a company that you feel that way.
"I had much of myself involved in making this product the best it could be and not just some tossed off thing, though for most people buying the magazine, it was a tossed off thing.
"You wanted to think that you were creating this thing for an audience somewhat like yourself. I hired people who were somewhat like me. And then all the feedback was from people, ohmigod. What am I doing? Why am I bothering?"
Luke: "You write about starting your car and wondering whether or not to raise your garage door?"
Allan: "I got discouraged at the end. I was very depressed. If you work at a job for 20 years, you are going to get tired of it. There were aspects of it that were quite annoying to me. The political aspects were very annoying. I thought Larry should've protected me from them.
"At the end, there were three different factions conspiring on their own and together to get me out. I don't know what they were telling Larry but I know it wasn't true. It's been proven subsequently by what's happened with these people.
"Whatever they were telling him, I thought Larry should've been able to see through it. Even though I was burning out, I was still a very loyal person. I was still very committed to trying to keep Hustler vital and the company vital and he should've cut me a break.
"When you sense people trying to undercut you, you have to address issues with Larry that you anticipate they'll try to discredit you with so Larry knows you've run it through. You can't bring it up directly because that makes you look like you're paranoid.
"That is time-consuming. It takes a lot of energy. And it's just annoying. Particularly when you're working on a men's magazine and that particular niche of the market is getting harder to sell. You have to figure out how to reach out to new readers when they have so many more options.
"At one point, I just stopped my sly rebuttals. I would see what a photographer was taking, and I'd say, 'Larry, if you want this, go with it. I'm done defending myself against being defamed.'
"At the same time, I've got this guy in Afghanistan. People are being murdered. In my mind, he's an innocent. If I had had Evan Wright over there, I would never have worried about Evan Wright because he's streetwise, while this guy was a do-gooder. That was a continuous source of anxiety for me. I was afraid I was going to have to meet his mother at his funeral. I saw that tape of Daniel Pearl being murdered. That had a big effect on me.
"The morale was bad."
Luke: "How close did you come to committing suicide?"
Allan: "Not very close. It was just something to divert me, to amuse myself. I have black humor. You can see it in my writing. I have it when I talk to myself too. It's an indulgence, a form of masturbation."
Luke: "Was Hustler worthy of your love and loyalty?"
Allan: "Yeah, why not? It was the venue I had. No one else had hired me. I was predisposed to it. When I first started working there, I'd read 'Asshole of the Month' and think, 'This is me. I want to write 'Asshole of the Month.' That became my big ambition. Eventually I wrote it every month for ten years. Yeah, I think it was.
"I had a movie agent who read my book and said, 'You were too good for that magazine.' I like hearing that. It's flattering. At the same time, that was the magazine that suited my frame of mind.
"Now, if I was so great, why aren't people lining up to recruit me?
"I'd hire people with decent degrees and they would come in and you could tell that they thought they were too good and they'd give half-effort. Those people either shaped up or they didn't last.
"I used to tell people that David Mamet used to write girl copy for Oui [magazine]. If someone wrote something that I could tell was half-assed, I'd tell them, 'Do you think David Mamet half-assed his girl copy for Oui?'
"Obviously David Mamet was way too good for Oui. But I believe that when he worked there, he wrote some great girl copy."
Luke: "How many friends did you keep from porn?"
Allan: "None.
"I didn't make a lot of friends in porn. I was good friends with Greg Dark for quite a while and then we both got really busy and fell out of contact.
"I saw him at the Grove around Christmas but I had bad laryngitis. I thought to myself, 'That guy looks like Greg Dark. It is Greg.' I [croaked], 'Greg, Greg.' When he couldn't hear me, by the time I realized I really wanted to talk to him, he moved into the crowd. I went running after him like in a movie but was unable to locate him.
"A lot of people I worked with, I'm still in contact with."
Luke: "What are the implications that you made no friends in porn?"
Allan: "I was isolated at Flynt in a way that was perhaps deliberate. I would meet people but I was sorta like a journalist covering them. I was never that intimate with them. I didn't get girlfriends out of the porn industry. I didn't hang out except with Greg."
Luke: "You write that your relationship with Greg was mutually beneficial?"
Allan: "Yeah, plus I liked Greg a lot. Greg's hilarious."
Luke: "Yeah, I like Greg a lot too, but he used you and you used him."
Allan: "To some extent. Even beyond that, we had a good time with each other. But then he got really busy with the rock videos."
Luke: "Do you think Larry Flynt had sex with at least one of his daughters [Tonya Flynt-Vega]?"
Allan: "I have no idea. I can't imagine it. The girl who made the accusation seemed like a troubled person."
Luke: "Did you insult Islam to the degree you insulted Christianity?"
Allan: "Maybe a little bit here and there. We didn't have a reverse jihad going. We would insult individuals than a religion. One of those individuals was Jesus Christ but I feel that Jesus Christ has a good sense of humor. He might've enjoyed the 'What Would Jesus Do?' thing we did. The old joke about M&Ms -- They don't melt in Jesus's hands because they fall through the holes."
Luke: "You understand the deeper meaning behind the question? That you can insult Christians and their god with impugnity."
Allan: "We insulted a number of [Muslims]. We insulted the Mullah behind the first World Trade Center bombing [in 1993]. I don't know how we would've handled the [Mohammed cartoon controversy of a few months back]."
Luke: "What effect did working at Hustler have on your social life?"
Allan: "Not bad. Before Hustler, I worked at Slash magazine. The people my wife and I know are askance from the mainstream. For most of them, it was never an issue. People would meet me and realize I would not be inappropriately slobbering on his wife. They'd judge me on my own.
"My friends are public defenders, teachers, lawyers, people in the garment and music industries... To them I was doing something interesting."
Luke: "The way you speak is completely different from the way articles were Hustlerized under your reign."
Allan: "Well, yeah."
Luke: "A guy would turn in a regular journalistic article and it would get Hustlerized. All articles while you were editor got Hustlerized."
Allan and his editors would change the adjectives to make them more shocking. Porn stars would become "porn whores" or "porn sluts." Women were usually referred to in demeaning terms.
Various people (including Tony Lovett, Editor of AVN Online magazine) who wrote for Hustler would keep their original article in their portfolio as well as the version published in Hustler.
"Hustler would rewrite their writers horribly to fit the company manifesto -- that women were dirt," says a former Hustler writer. "Women are nothing but sex objects."
Allan: "We competed to come up with different ways that were shocking. We liked to make language shocking. It was fun. It was what we did. If you are with a like-minded person, that's how you entertain one another. Or if you want to appall somebody...with that kind of vocabulary.
"I know who I am and I know who the Hustler personna was.
"The article on the handicapped? Was that a sex play about having sex with handicapped people?"
Luke: "It was about the sex lives of handicapped people. I didn't read the actual [Hustler] article. I read the account of the author who said he turned in a straight journalistic piece and then when it came out, it was Hustlerized and all the people he had talked to and told he was doing a serious piece were upset. And he was upset."
Allan: "A lot of the articles were generated within our editorial area. I can understand how for somebody coming from the outside, that would've been a jolt. We had to get a salacious element into everything.
"The way the template went for sex plays was you'd start off with a scenario illustrating what you were going to talk about. You'd have someone having sex with a handicapped person. You'd sensationalize it. You'd think about the jerk-off reader and try to grab that guy. Then perhaps you'd get some real information coming and you'd perhaps get to see a new viewpoint. I can understand how that would offend someone who turned it in."
Luke: "Did you make any apologies to anyone after you left Hustler for what you did at Hustler?"
Allan: "Not that I can think of. I would never apologize to anyone I wrote an Asshole of the Month about."
Allan did one about me in the Holiday issue of 1999 and I'd never expect an apology for it. I feel it was an honor to be selected for Allan's poison pen.
Allan: "There may have been inadvertent times when someone's feelings were hurt or the writer mistakenly believed that a straight dry piece of journalism would fit in with the Hustler format.
"I can't really picture things that I have to apologize for. Things where I deliberately set out [to slam someone] or were deliberate parodies or were deliberately set out to mock somebody, I'm not going to apologize for them. 'Oh sorry, I should've been a nicer person.'"
I asked a former writer for Hustler for his thoughts on Allan. He replies: "I have no printable thoughts on MacDonell."
Luke: "How possible is it to have an open discussion on race and how successful do you think you were at Hustler pushing forward this open discussion?"
Allan: "Race is one of the biggest dilemmas in this country. It's difficult on any level of medium, whether it is refined academics, or left-wing opinion makers or right-wing opinionmakers, it's an inflammatory subject. It's beyond opinion. People are emotionally attached to their positions. It's very much an emotional rather than an intellectual topic in this country."
Luke: "Honest discussion of race is more taboo than pornography?"
Allan: "Yes. You can be friends with someone from another race, but then if you try to talk to the person about racial issues, you can endanger your friendship.
"As for Hustler, I don't think we helped at all."
Luke: "What happens when you try to get work as a writer since you've left Hustler? What reactions do you get?"
Allan: "I've gotten a little bit of acceptance but I don't have the persistence I need. It would be easy for me to say that it's because of Hustler that people won't accept me but a lot of it is just that I have not followed up enough.
"I got two years of free-lance from MrSkin. They paid me well. I wrote a lot of biographies and a lot of movie reviews. The difference with what I wrote at Hustler is that everything for MrSkin is positive. You are not there to critique them. You are there to say here's the nude scene. You don't want to alienate the people who are supplying you with grabs, the material of your success.
"If someone is looking up a particular actress, he doesn't want to hear your opinion that she can't act or that her tits are sagging. He likes her. Whether it's Rosie O'Donnell or Selma Hayek, they're both great."
Luke: "What are the blocks you have to go through to write non-porn for mainstream publications?"
Allan: "There is stigma from Hustler. There is a big resistance. When I first got fired, about three weeks after I got fired, there was an interview on the internet with Art Cooper, who'd been the longtime editor of GQ. He'd been inducted into the magazine hall of fame. He was speaking about his tenure at Penthouse. How he'd been lured away by the money at Penthouse. He was there for a while but at one point he realized he had to get out of that field because another magazine came along that was going to ruin everything for that field. He said it was a 'disgusting magazine.' Hustler magazine.
"I respected Art Cooper's opinion. When he said Hustler was a disgusting magazine, I realized I was going to have a hurdle getting my job at Vanity Fair."
Luke: "What are the most interesting responses you've received when you've pitched stories? I bet most people won't even acknowledge you."
Allan: "Mostly you get no response. Not even, 'We'll pass.' Some people consider your ideas. From my experience as an editor, I've given people a stream of ideas that I think would be exactly what they want and I felt that if my experience had been at the auto-club magazine, I would've had a better chance. But since it's Hustler, they're predisposed to think it won't work. I had one guy say, 'I'm concerned that you wouldn't have the journalistic standards that we have here.'"
Luke: "Is there any part of you that is worn down by this or ashamed of your Hustler past or afraid to launch into the non-porn world?"
Allan: "I feel worn down. I get discouraged easily. There are people who have gone from Hustler who had the persistence and thrived.
"I love working at magazines as an editor. I've never been attracted to the life of the freelancer -- having to crank out story after story. All the travel. I'm 50. As a magazine editor, you're in the middle of things. You have to keep up with current events, the new trends in music and art, depending on your field. You feel that you have an impact on things as they are happening."
Luke: "The story of great magazine editors is a sad one. Most of them descend into alcoholism."
Allan: "I haven't read about that.
"My favorite contemporary editor is Lewis Lapham from Harpers. That guy was brilliant. After 9/11, he wrote an editorial that nobody else at that time was voicing those concerns. A lot of the things he laid out came to happen.
"The breadth of interest he had in that magazine. Even if I had not always agreed with his political views, there was always something interesting in the magazine."
Luke: "Why don't you have a blog?"
Allan: "Because you don't get paid. Can I make money on a blog?"
Luke: "You could. It'd be great promotion for your book. But you're 50. I'm 39. I don't like it when people 11 years older than me tell me what would be good for me."
Allan: "I don't mind. At Hustler, you're not paying these people much. You're hiring the same age group. I was getting further and further away from it. I liked having young people around."
Luke: "I haven't read a negative word about your book?"
Allan: "Not yet. Spin magazine's review was negative, but I felt it was inaccurate. I felt the person had not read the later chapters."
Luke: "Were you aware of how vicious the LFP organization could be to ex-employees? Following them around, stalking them, harassing them."
Allan: "Who did that happen to?"
Luke: "I'm thinking of one woman who worked there."
Allan: "I was not aware of that. They have not harassed me. They've had no interest in me whatever."
Luke: "You're not aware of them setting out to ruin the lives of former employees?"
Allan: "Not that I am aware of.
"I only wanted my former employees to succeed. There are a few people I fired who could have a case that I should've fired somebody else. One of them has put an ad for my book on his website.
"I was certainly not involved in any harassment. I have great relationships with people who used to work for me."
I email former Hustler writer and editor Evan Wright: "What advice would you give [Allan MacDonell] about pursuing a writing career outside of porn?"
Evan: "Try not to jack off too much when working at home during the day."
Luke: "How did you overcome your Hustler background?"
Evan: "I never tried to overcome my Hustler background, since I have always been proud to have worked there."
I talk to a former writer for Hustler who has not read Allan's book. "Everybody hated and fear Allan MacDonell. That's why I don't buy any bile that he's putting out, that he's some victim of the LFP empire or how horrible it was to work there. Everybody at LFP I ever talked to said Allan was the one who made it impossible to work there. He was the one who so hard to pitch stories to. If I was dealing with an editor, the editor then had to go pitch to MacDonell. MacDonell was always a hard sell. Of course MacDonell was answering to his higher-ups but MacDonell was the brick wall that people came up against.
"Allan was the ogre under the bridge. He was the one all the editors feared. If they didn't pitch something right, it wasn't going to be flown up the flag pole."
Luke: "Have you read any of his writings?"
Source butts in: "I have no desire to."
Luke: "Did you ever read his writings as Christian Shapiro? I find it amazing what an organization man Allan was at LFP. He was that organization. He embodied it."
Source: "That's exactly what I'm saying. If Allan tries to paint himself as any kind of a victim in his book... Everyone who leaves LFP immediately goes on this PR campaign to portray themselves as victims of this corporate behemoth."
Luke: "He doesn't portray himself as a victim.
"He's still able to snap right back into the mindset of the LFP organization man."
Source: "He's been doing it for so longer. If it wasn't for MacDonell, I would've stuck in longer at Hustler. I got tired of hearing from my editor, 'I've got to sell it to MacDonell.' I've never had that experience with another magazine before.
"It's that MacDonell was at odds with his editors, that he created an environment of hostility, a climate of fear.
"MacDonell was always toeing the company line or creating the company line.
"Working for Hustler was the most 'I need to go take a shower' experience I've had in the Adult industry. They really do make you feel like you are down in the gutter."
I know many people who've worked for LFP and for AVN and from what I gather LFP was the worse experience. "AVN is a trade magazine that fellates the business it covers," says my source. "Hustler is the opposite. Hustler has absolute contempt for the Adult industry and contempt for women."
Luke: "Though LFP will pull its punches if it's going to hurt their bottom line."
Source: "Mike Albo and Evan Wright had nothing but contempt for porn. Putting Albo as Editor of Hustler Erotic Video Guide is like naming Tammy Bruce as Editor of Playboy."
T.T. Boy Keeps Giving Girls The Clap
After working with him, they keep testing positive for gonorrhea.
Jenna Lewis Calls Jenna Jameson
Jenna Jameson gives a special video message to her MySpace friends.
Jane: Are you still in love with Stefani Morgan or are you turned off
by her self admitted promiscuity?
Jane: Would you like to be one of her harem boys?
Jane: Have you offered your services yet? Why don't you offer to take
her to lunch at a swanky Beverly Hills place.
Jane: Did you read about her hanging out with Brody Jenner on celebrities.com?
Jane: Yes, she was hanging out with Brody and he introduced her to the
paparazzo as the star of 'Rawhide', a porn movie Jane: I think you are
right about why Monstar got deleted; his bulletins were often laden with
potty words
Jane: AVN is really being obnoxious by not inviting the internet porn
crowd to an 'industry summit'. What are they trying to say? That internet
porn isn't a part of the 'industry'? I really don't understand that attitude
that the video crowd has toward the internet crowd. The video crowd does
not even try to learn anything about computers. Jane: What is behind Jenna
Lewis doing 'Jenna's American Sex Star'? Jenna L. must really need some
$$$.
Jane: That $100k she got for her porno must be gone!
Kevin Moore Is The Most Private Person In This Industry
I don't even know what's going on with his love life. He doesn't tell me. He doesn't even show up on Google. Not in the top 40 results anyway. Kevin could've done something with his life. He could've been a contenda. Instead he's mired in pornography. And he's such a nice kid.
I practically raised this boy. I've known him since 1999. He used to bounce on my knee on PornStarTrading. I tried to be a mother and father to him and raise him up the best I knew how. And now look at how he's broken my heart.
He's still renting. He doesn't even own his own home. He's about 30 and what does he have to show for his life?
Xavier Blaze writes: "Kevin Moore is one of the gulliest (best) upcoming directors out there and it is only a matter of time before he starts stacking chips (making a lot of money) and buy platinum toilet seats (buying $400,000 fish tanks and $200 tuna melts)."
Cane writes:
He's one of those odd guys in the business. Lots of folk know him, but know nothing about him. Can't really knock him though, he's the golden child over at Evil Angel. Everytime I saw him in Vegas he was always with Joey Silvera and John Leslie. Very few people get close to those guys.
In terms of his love life I know he was with this civillian asian girl for a long time, but I think they broke up because she wasn't in vegas with him. I heard recently though that he was dating someone in the business.
I was suprised to see he is 35! He looks barely 25.
Stefani Morgan's Cheatin' Heart
Paul writes: "Hi, Luke, thought you might be interested to know that there was a kiss-n-tell story from Stefani Morgan in one of the British tabloids about her sleeping with Jesse Metcalf (from Desperate Housewives)."
Ben Widdicombe writes in the New York Daily News:
A porn talker
Now we come to the part of the page wherein we give ink to whatever bleached blond is prepared to talk aaaall about her celebrity hookups.
"More guys than girls ask me about Tommy [Lee] in the bedroom," shares his girlfriend Stefani Morgan, who apparently is a thespian with the adult motion picture studio Vivid. "The girls want to know, of course, but guys go on about it ... with Tommy, it's awesome."
No doubt you're wondering whether our girl has had the benefit of relations with Wilmer Valderrama. Turns out, she has. "I wasn't a porn star when I met Wilmer, but he loves that I'm a porn star now," she says in the June issue of FHM. "I wouldn't say we dated; we had a couple of flings. There's something about him that's sexy and mysterious. It lures you in."
Like a Roach Motel.
And Jesse Metcalfe from "Desperate Housewives"? "That was short-lived. ... We started hooking up, and then it was done. I guess we were both over it."
We pause to lament what could have been before moving on: JC Chasez "had a problem with what I do. ... He couldn't understand. He felt like he was constantly in competition."
Just to complete this particular circle of hell, Stefani, 20 (!), has not only filmed herself with Rick Salomon (of the Paris Hilton video), she "kissed Paris on my birthday when we were hanging out." "She is a good kisser." And just like that, the secret of Paris' fame is revealed.
NORWALK, Calif. - Mary Carey officially kicked off her campaign for the office of governor of California Tuesday afternoon at the L.A. County Registrar - Recorder in Norwalk.
The starlet conducted a 10-minute press conference outside the Recorder's office with mainstream outlets such as Fox News, KCAL9, ABC News, dailyceleb.com and Globe Photos, among others, in attendance.
Mary calls me at 3:56 p.m. "I've had six people sign my petition. I need 157,00 more.
"I need to get in there and help the schools out.
"It's always educational to go down there [LA County Registrar].
"I'm coming down to Beverly Hills."
Luke: "I've got a dentist appointment."
Mary: "Excuses, excuses. You just don't want to see me. I actually look nice today. I dressed classy for my debut at the court house. All the people working in the candidate filing office remembered me from last time. I took pictures with them.
"I like talking to news crews. I'd like to be an anchor person.
"Did you ever watch my MSNBC clip online?"
Luke: "Umm."
Mary: "I can tell it's a no.
"You don't like me."
I laugh.
Mary: "Maybe you just never liked me?"
I laugh harder.
Mary: "That must be what it is. I'm only good for drama. When I have no drama, you don't like me. When I'm going to insane asylums and getting kicked out of hotels, then you love me. When I'm a non-alcoholic civil human being, then you like me. I guess I better go get drunk and get kicked out of somewhere.
"I got my computer working. I enjoy going on my computer and looking at pictures of myself. I do miss the nightclub scene. The nightclub scene misses me because I'm the crazy drunk girl. Now that I'm a politician again, I have to be serious.
"Are there any platforms of yours? Any issues you'd like me to put out there?"
I laugh.
Mary: "You must have some concerns. Are you concerned about Mary Carey's mental health?
"I was supposed to go back on Keith Olbermann today but it got cancelled. Whenever I get excited about something happening, it gets cancelled. When I keep my mouth shut, things happen right.
"There were film crews. I'm surprised there weren't any journalists. Normally the LA Times comes out. I'm thinking they want to see how serious I am.
"If I don't make it on the ballot, I'll have to continue campaigning as a write-in candidate."
Harold takes the phone: "I don't want to release my PR secrets."
Mary: "Harold worked hard doing faxes and emails to the news channels."
Luke: "Are you paying him well?"
Mary: "Like sex?"
Luke: "No."
Mary: "I think I do. We just formed our own corporation -- Mary Lynn Productions. I'm paying him proceeds. We're getting married soon. Legend is paying him for the PR."
Harold: "I'm co-CEO.
"I've got a feeling that Mary is going to get back into the drinking and partying thing. All the cameras and the governor thing gets her going and hyper. Expect some phone calls, Luke, at about 3 a.m. A lot of drama."
Mary: "This is the longest I've been sober since I was 19."
RICK PATRICK INJURED IN LAWNMOWER ACCIDENT
Scott Fayner writes on lukeford.com:
Just got off the phone with Rick, veteran swordsman and current husband to some chick you may have heard of named Jesse Jane. She's super purdy, I mean pretty.
Anyhow, Rick was mowing his lawn the other day out in Oklahoma where the couple resides on one of them rider-mowers. It was a hot, muggy afternoon. A cold glass of lemonade was in his hands.
Rick didn't see the squirrel until it was too late, he tells me. Splat.
Divine karma for refusing to add me as a friend.
I knew his filthy mouth would get him in the end. It's hard for Monstar
to say a sentence without using the f-word and the s-word.
I Want To Go To AVN's September Industry Summit
Who will let me stay with them in exchange for a massage (if you're female), a script consultation and some free ads on lukeisback? Email Luke
I'm trying to learn about the DVD duplication business. If you can school me, on or off the record, Email Luke.
Danni.com Party Just Too Full For Me
I RSVP'd a minute after I got the press release from April Storm Monday about their party for Erica Campbell and company Saturday night, May 13, at the Rokbar 1710 N. Las Palmas Ave, 90028. Then I received this note Tuesday from Bill Rix (bill@danni.com): "Sorry to inform you that our guest list is full."
If your guest list is full, why are you spamming press releases for it? Or is your party just too full for me?
A porner responds: "I did a little pokin around, and yeah, the guest list is just full to you."
Ahh, it is all coming back to me. I published some negative comments about DHD (Danni's Hard Drive) last December and this March.
I'll go to the party anyway and stand outside and take pictures and interview people as they walk in and out.
Jimmy D writes: "Now *that's* the old Luke everyone loved to hate!"
You can pour your heart out to me.
"Of course I can. Right after I drink a bottle Manischewitz and cram a corkscrew into my eyeball."
Tell me where it hurts.
"I'll show you on the doll."
Brandy Alexandre Loses Her Cat Kami
Brandy emails:
The Kamikaze Kitty, better known as Kami, and the namesake of my former website, passed away this morning at 8:15. She had been perky and interested, but in poor health, suffering from chronic renal failure. With another urinary tract infection setting in, we decided enough was enough. She was put sleep and drifted away swiftly and quietly.
Kami was the only female kitten from a litter that belonged to Jeff Coldwater. Bill Margold adopted one of her brothers, Pogo. While their birth dates has always a "best guess," Kami and I have always celebrated April 3. She was 18 years old.
With blue of sky within your eyes
Take to heaven on angel wings
It break my heart to see you fly
But better things await you nighKami 4/3/88 -- 5/9/06
Whatever Happened To Envy?
Dave writes: "What happened to the Polish/Canadian adult star Envy? It seems that she only came back to adult biz a couple of months ago just to leave again! Was it "cuz" she got too many "MILF" roles or did she just need to make some quick cash or is she still around but in hiding? She was one of my ALL TIME FAVORITES and now she's gone again!"
Amber Lynn and I were together a lot. I liked hanging with her because she would go to cool places. We were all over Hollywood. We would be in Spago’s or down on Sunset. One day when we were at Cravings on Sunset and we met a girl there. She was a pretty girl from Canada who had just gotten a boob job. Amber and her had the same Doctor. The Doctor had messed up and her Boob was deflating. It had only been a week! The girl had no money, but her friend had paid for the boob job. She was from Canada and did not know anyone in LA except for her friend. Amber took up her cause and just let the Doctor have it! She was calling him all the time. Finally the Doctor agreed to do the surgery for free.
We went up to the place where the girl was living. It was that yellow building Sunset Plaza. The girl who she was living with? Pam Anderson! Pre Tommy Lee! She had a place there because her condo was damaged during the earthquake! Amber could either be a good friend or a nightmare, that day Amber was a good friend.
I went with Amber to the Pink Poodle strip club in San Jose while she featured. She was this big star, but the place was a dump! She started treating me like I was s---. We were hanging out with this HAMC guy named Steve or Mister 187 as his Tattoo on his arm and back said. I thought Steve was a cool guy. He was not the kind of guy I would usually hang with. He was tough and we had some of the same friends. After two days of putting up with Ambers crap I took a plane home and that was that.
Once back in LA I was still running around with Jimmy Caci raising cash for his defense. He was even getting money from Telemarketers. The guy Mike who owned the strip clubs gave him cash all the time. I was burned out on hitting up the same people, so I decided to hit up some new people. I had heard about this guy named Johnny who was pimping out some porn girls. He was making some big cash because the girls were going out for 5 grand a customer. I was all about taking his cash. I asked him to be partners with us first and he did not get it. So I took my buddy Keith and another guy to his house. He looked like he was high at the time, so we just got into his face. I asked him for 40 grand and he said okay. Keith followed him into the other room and he gave it to us! I felt stupid after we left because he gave up the cash way to easy! We did not even have to go to guns! I do not know why he did this or how much he was making!
Chuck [Martino] called me one night and told me there was a coming home party for this guy who used to be a pro football player. Big Barry had been busted with multiple kilos of cocaine, so he did sometime in prison and now he was out. This guy was a good friend of Kevin Beechum, so we were all going out in the OC. We had dinner at some place in Fountain Valley. There were some HAMC guys and other biker types. We all headed down to Newport to the Warehouse nightclub to party. Some s--- went down in the bathroom and Kevin had broken a bottle. The bottle had cut into Kevin’s hand and wrist so blood was shooting out of it. When I walked into the bathroom blood was everywhere and people were running out of there. Once we had Kevin elevate his arm and we wrapped his hand it was almost stopped. We ended up in the hospital the rest of the night getting Kevin stitches!
I call him Monday evening, May 8, 2006. I haven't interviewed Skeeter in about seven years.
I call Bridgett Kerkove Tuesday morning and leave her a message.
Skeeter and Bridgett in March 2005 at the XRCO Awards. Bridgett and Skeeter. Skeeter (from PornOhs.com) Skeeter (from Pornohs.com) pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic
AVN Editor Mike Ramone writes: "Those photos you posted from Bridgette's old BKMax.com site (more or less ran by Skeeter, is my understanding), sadly remind me what an absolutely great site it was. My absolute fave porn site of all time, filled with tons of the nastiest, raunchiest images from Skeeter's no holes barred (and later, Bridgette's) anal-intensive, cig-fetish-flavored shoots featuring a huge cross-section of A-list (and some B-list) girls. BKMax.com - R.I. P. But Skeeter, time for the resurrection, even if it's called something else, like SKMax.com, for instance?"
Gene Ross has been telling Skeeter's story over the past 13-months. I've largely left things to Gene.
Since April 27, 2005, Skeeter Kerkove has pretty much remained out of the public eye. Because that's the day his ex-wife Metro contract director Bridgette Kerkove told police that Skeeter had sexually molested their youngest daughter. Forget the fact that Metro director Kerkove waited two full days before filing the report. Forget the fact that two hospital reports show that the child was untouched and unharmed.
The following is a partial transcript of my Monday night talk with Skeeter (it's not always in the order of our conversation). I leave out most of the stuff I read on Gene's site.
Luke: "What did you do that got you registered as a sex offender?"
Skeeter: "I was 20 years old (it was 1985). I was at the Rainbow Bar and Grill on Sunset Bl. I was not old enough to be in a bar. My girlfriend was. We were invited to go to a party in Burbank. Along with us was Chris Holmes, the guitarist from Flock, and his girlfriend Tina.
"At the party in Burbank, we were downstairs sitting on a couch. Chris went upstairs. He came downstairs. His girlfriend asked him if he'd been partying (doing cocaine). He said no. He went back upstairs. He came back down and said, 'Skeeter, you have to see this.' My girlfriend told me to come right back.
"I went upstairs. There were people standing around a bed. There was a naked [adult] girl drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. Doug Campbell was doing the camera. Anthony LaPree and several other people were using dildos on her.
"I don't remember much. It was way over two decades ago. There were a lot of people in the room.
"My girlfriend comes up and looks and says, 'We're outta here.' We left.
"The Burbank PD looked at the tape and declined to prosecute. They saw that the girl gives consent. She was picked up on in a bar where you had to show ID to get in.
"Before and after [the dildo performance], the girl clearly says, 'Go ahead and videotape me. I don't care.'
"There were some famous rock 'n' roll musicians at the party, so somebody thought she was going to get a lot of money.
"During the Reagen years, when they were attacking porn, this case was taken to criminal court and to a special lady prosecutor for the porn thing.
"When they were gathering up people to arrest, they found all these videotapes. This guy Doug Campbell had been making amateur porn videos for ages. He would go out and find the girl and bring them over and he would have the guy Anthony LaPree have sex with the girl.
"The accusation in my case was that the woman was under the influence of alcohol and could not make an informed decision and that she did [things with the dildo] under duress. The original charage is 289A - a foreign object in concert, which means to watch.
"Doug Campbell got 52 days for assault and battery. I was sentenced to three years and did one year. He had a private attorney. I had a public defender.
"It [the dildo play with the woman] had been going on for an hour before I stepped into the room for five minutes. If I had never stepped into the room, nothing would've changed [for the woman]. I had no control over nothing.
"I was a 130-pound male then with hair down to my waist. I was wearing skintight pants. My attorney brought up that 'the man does not have an erection. This was not pleasurable for him.'"
Luke: "What did the girl say about you?"
Skeeter: "That she did not want me to be arrested. She wanted Doug Campbell and Anthony LaPree to be arrested. She told that to my girlfriend Rada Dhwhn. She also dated Dr. Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers. He was her sugar daddy.
"My girlfriend was still going out to the bars and clubs and she'd run into the girl."
Luke: "When was the last time you were convicted of a criminal offence?"
Skeeter: "I was arrested for a felony [the intent to buy and distribute cocaine] in 1992 [and he was sentenced to six years in prison and served three years]. I went to a jury trial. I was convicted [at the end of 1992]."
Skeeter's spent over five years of his life incarcerated. He's been convicted of two felonies.
Luke: "You've basically been a law-abiding citizen for ten years?"
Skeeter: "I don't know what you mean."
Luke: "What are you doing now?"
Skeeter: "I'm watering my 82 palm trees."
Luke: "What do you love and hate about your life now?"
Skeeter: "I love that I get to see all of my children an average of five times a week. My oldest son, 17, found his mother. He'd gone 15 years without seeing her.
"He's learning how to lay carpet."
Luke: "How do you talk to the kids about porn?"
Skeeter: "They've never mentioned a word about it to me.
"My oldest son saw Bridgett and I on the Howard Stern Show, but it was when he spent the night at a friend's house. The parents told me.
"It's just something we don't talk about."
Luke: "You've been through a lot in the last two years."
Skeeter: "The last 13 months."
Luke: "How have you handled it?"
Skeeter: "The first four months were the hardest. I lost over 30 pounds, from 210 to 180 in a month. I'm now 212."
Luke: "How's your state of mind?"
Skeeter: "Good."
Luke: What turned things around for you?
Skeeter: "Several experiences in family law court."
Luke: "Having access to your kids again."
Skeeter: "I always had access to three of the five."
Luke: "How long did you miss work?"
Skeeter: "I only shot one movie in 2005 after [Bridgett accused Skeeter April 27 of molesting their infant daughter].
"I couldn't do anything for months until I had understood what had been planned against me. It had to have been when Bridgett was offered a contract at Metro -- April 19, 2005 at 4 p.m. I don't know that my whole world is getting ready to be torn apart.
"On April 20th, Bridgett text-messaged me that we had to live for the moment now. I replied: 'I have five kids. I can't do that.'
"I always gave Bridget $1,000 per child per month.
"On April 22nd, Bridgett was getting steroid shots to her nose, which she liked to do every three or four months because it reduces the swelling from the three nosejobs she's had (scar tissue builds up, ergo swelling).
"She called me quite a few times on the way home and that showed me the different states she was in. But I wasn't the only number she was calling.
"As I paid her cell phone bill, I know everybody she called and when she called them and for how long she spoke to them. She was talking to her mom and to the head of production at Metro, Gustavo. A month before, she never called him once. He wasn't in power then either.
[Gustavo has left porn.]
"When you're head of production at Metro, you have an incredible influence over who shoots. A director who works a ton makes an astronomical amount of money. She was making over $20,000 a month directing for Metro.
"Bridgett shot over 40 one-day movies in seven months for Metro.
"We're still married. The courts won't let us divorce. Nobody wants to deal with us. Nobody wants the Kerkoves in the court room. We get bounced back and forth.
"I was never in criminal court. No law enforcement contacted me. This was strictly the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) based on Bridgett's false allegations. That's how we got brought into the system. It was the worst thing in the world I could have ever been accused of. I was accused of molesting my baby. I'd rather be accused of murdering 20 people.
"Whether you believe in the polygraph or not, at least I took one (from Dr. Louis Robner). It was videotaped. It lasted three hours. I was in a bad frame of mind at the time. It was very stressful. I broke down and cried.
"I offred Bridgett $50,000 to take the lie detector test. She wouldn't."
Skeeter met Bridgett (she was almost 20) in 1996 and he says they hooked up on their first date in the front bed of his truck. "I was fed up with getting into trouble. I went back to working seven days a week and saving all my money and never going out."
Luke: "When you picked up a camera again [in 2006], was it easy getting work again?"
Skeeter: "I did not seek any work. People called me."
Luke: "Why does nobody in the courts want to resolve your case?"
Skeeter: "Ms. Kerkove is no longer in the Adult business, however that doesn't lessen the load. When you've done all the work she's done, quitting means nothing to anybody.
"You can't get a divorce until it [with the Department of Child and Family Services] is all over with.
"It might never be resolved.
"I was brought into the DCFS twice. Ms. Kerkove brought me in. My other children's mother has been arrested numerous times for drugs, weapons... She tested positive for heroine, methamphetamines. Since then she's lost parental rights for life to all her children.
"Bridgett punched me in the back of my head while we walking down the red carpet at the AVN 2004 awards. My back was turned. It happened in front of many people (Ric Williams, Joey Wilson, Anthony Simone, Janie L). Those people signed affidavits for it.
"Later that night, she announced that we were going to have another baby. She'd have me over every night to create our child.
"...Thank God Bridgett and her mom are as dumb as a box of rocks because when they make up lies about me...
"Bridgett's mother is a religious leader [in Southern California] -- Debbie Felkel. She didn't like it one bit that her daughter was a porn star and prostitute.
"Before Bridgett got into the sex industry, every job she did, she was fired. She couldn't last two weeks. With her temper and the way she would yell at people, they'd fire her.
"I found out that Bridgett had a drug problem when she was dating Jason Just. He was an adult. She was a minor. She used methamphetamines. She smoked pot. She had a history of liking older guys and hooking up with them.
"[After Skeeter and Bridgett became an item,] Bridgett answered an ad to work at the club Starlight in downtown Los Angeles. It's a club/brothel for asian men. I told her, 'Do you have any idea what you're doing there? I know a girl who worked there. If you don't start giving handjobs and blow jobs, you're fired within a week.'
"She went to work there in early 1998. She'd get done about 3 a.m. She'd do the handjobs and the blowjobs for about $50 each. She'd meet the guys afterwards for regular sex for about $300."
Luke: "What turned Bridgett against you?"
Skeeter: "Her mother and several other people who knew how to work her. You've never heard how to get Bridgett mad? Tell her that [Skeeter's] messing around with girls. She will yell and scream.
"She told Otto and Audrey Hollander in March 2005 that she would kill me. I started to save my text messages [from Bridgett] that I was going to get my throat slit."
Luke: "She threatened your life a lot?"
Skeeter: "Yes.
"There's always been mental illness in Bridgett. I've seen it before. Her brother was in a mental institution. Her sister was taken to one because she said she was going to kill herself. She threw herself in front of a car in a parking lot."
Luke: "What toll did the sex industry take on Bridgett?"
Skeeter: "The toll was the torture that her mother Debbie Felkel did to her and me by constantly calling and harassing her and calling authorities and making up stories. The false allegations started in 2000. She's been calling the police for years telling them I murdered my oldest son's mother. People believe it. When the woman was found OK, not one person apologized and said, 'I'm sorry. We made you spend money for something that wasn't true.'
"When Bridgett and I started making porn, her mother Debbie Felkel developed a plan. 'How can I make them break up? How can I destroy them?'
"We were shooting a movie in 2001 called Anal Excursions. Debbie Felkel calls DCFS and says we're filming porn with all of our children watching.
"We proved that each child was signed in at school during the filming."
Luke: "Was there anything you did that turned Bridgett against you?"
Skeeter: "Luke, she is paranoid, psychotic and delusional. And I'm not saying that. [Medical experts said that, says Skeeter.]"
I'm told (and I have no medical expertise to back this up, this is only me passing along an opinion) that Bridgett suffers from the psychotic disorder folie a deux. "It's a shared psychotic disorder...that develops in the context of a close relationship with another person who has an already established delusion."
It's inferred to me that Bridgett developed these delusions within her close relationship with her mother.
Skeeter: "The first time I knew she was paranoid was when she accused me in 2001 of getting another girl pregnant."
Luke: "Why didn't you leave her earlier?"
Skeeter: "Low self-esteem. The same reason she didn't leave me. I still love her and she still loves me.
"Even in 2005, when Gustavo Chavo from Metro or Keith O'Connor and company can't find me, they call Bridgett because they know I'll be there, even though she's telling people that we haven't been together forever.
"This poor little guy [former AVN journalist] was believing everything she told him. They started talking in March 2005 according to her cell phone records. He'd be writing under different names that she left that loser [Skeeter]. She divorced him in 2004. The poor little guy was so smitten with her but it ended up ruining his career. He's in never-never land.
"March 25, 2005, was the first sign, when I go back in the records, that things were bad. She was starting to frame me then. She went to a Jewish domestic violence place.
"I wonder what that was about. She was the one who broke my tooth on March 22, 2005, with the remote control. She pulled out my hair and scraped my face and I hid out from everybody for several days, but then the pain became too much. I had an exposed root. I had to get it fixed."
Luke: "Why did Bridgett assault you?"
Skeeter: "Because she believed I'd had sex with Tiffany Holliday (never) and Kelly Wells (only afterwards).
"Bridgett told Derek at LADirectModels that Tiffany and I were in love and living together at my house. Completely false.
"My attorney said to me, 'I've been in this business 17 years. You are the second client I've asked to take a polygraph test.'
"He told me, 'You have truth on your side. She will continue to tell lies which we will continue to disprove.'
"Three lies in a criminal trial and you're disqualified as a witness. We proved 31 lies in Bridgett's opening statement.
"Metro used to fly me with Bridgett so that when she was doing signings, I would babysit our [youngest] daughter [the one Bridgett accused Skeeter of molesting]. I'd be pushing K. around in the stroller. A lot of people, including Joey Wilson, saw me all tattooed and in a tank top pushing around an infant in Atlantic City dressed up in pink in a fancy stroller."
Luke: "I haven't seen Bridgett speak about this to any journalist."
Skeeter: "Originally, her attorneys told her not to. Then it spun out of control. I put everything on the record. Bridgett and I were legally separated, so she could sue me for slander if I said anything that wasn't true. There'd be plenty to sue for. I don't live in an apartment."
Luke: "If I called Bridgett, would she speak to me?"
Skeeter: "I wish she would. I would love for you to get her interview and to get her whole side of the story.
"We texted each other three times in March 2006. She texted me first. She was in money trouble, so I gave money to the social worker to give to her.
"This is the kind of guy I was in the past. I got stabbed in the knee by my ex-wife Kerry Kithcart (DOB 10/29/70). I didn't tell the police. When I hit her back and was hit with Misdemeanor Spousal Abuse, I didn't tell the police on her. I didn't want her locked up. She told our oldest daughter, 'I stabbed your dad. He hit me back but he would not tell on me.'
"Since then, she's been arrested at least three times for beating on other men with weapons. She got out of jail last week.
"I'm told by my attorney that it was an illegal marriage that was supposed to be annulled. On the marriage license she filled out, she said she had never been married before. She was legally married when it was filled out.
"Think about this. Anyone can make up a report. It can go on your school record. It doesn't mean it's true. I was never expelled from any school. It's written in a report that I murdered my oldest son's mother, and it even goes into detail how I did it.
"You know the girl who has been the biggest help to me? Kelly Wells. She visited me a lot and gave me a lot of support. I'd have dinner with Derek [Hay] every Sunday night and the [LADirectModels] girls.
"I never thought I'd be a director who'd end up having 1100 stories written on him. I don't even know if anything like that has happened before."
Vivid Girl Stefani Morgan Celebrates Cinco De Mayo With Her Friend Niki
On Stefani's MySpace page, these photos were posted by Niki: pic (Stefani on right) pic pic pic pic pic pic
Here are some gratuituous photos from Stefani's MySpace page: pic pic pic pic pic pic pic
Stefani tells XRentDVD: "I want to be big. I want to as big as I can be. I still have my regular manager and I still go to castings for regular movies. It's kind of hard because I have to be more established with what I am doing because it is more of a title to be a 'porn star'. It's not something where I can gloss over it or leave that detail out. Right now my main focus is Vivid but I do have work in the regular, mainstream world. I do want to be a cross-over star."