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"Ford exposes drug use, mob connections and murder
plots..." Evan
Wright, Rolling Stone
"There's a kind of low-key genius..." Jeffrey
Wells, Hollywood-Elsewhere.com
"Serious history of the dirty-movie business."
Booklist
Porn Karaoke Returns with Suicide Girls
5/19/05
Bella Bella Bella Bella Rich, Bella Rich, Bella Bella Bella, Laura Jean Bella, Laura Jean Bella Bella, Laura Jean Bella Bella, Laura Jean Bella, Laura Jean Bella, Laura Bella Bella Bella Kristina (lawyer), Bella Bella, Kristina Bella (L-R, Bella, Desiree, Erika (brunette Penelope Cruz-lookalike) Stacey, Bella, Desiree, Erika Bella, Desiree, Erika girls girls girls Stacey, Bella, Erika girls Jazmin, Laura Jean Jazmin, Laura Jean Jazmin, Laura Jean Stacey, Erika, Desiree Stacey, Erika, Desiree Stacey, Erika, Desiree Desiree, Bella Erika Erika Erika Erika, Bella Penelope Penelope Cruz Penelope Cruz Bella, Jean with the lead singer of Interpol Jenn, Sarah Sarah, Yassy (L-R) Sarah, Yassy, Rich, Shagi, Laura Sarah, Yassy, Rich, Shagi Laura Jean, Shagi Shagi Rich, Shagi
Thursday night. It's hard to find parking on Cahuenga Blvd. I end up near Santa Monica Blvd, and my car is still a few feet into the red.
I arrive at the club Tokio (1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd, near Hollywood Blvd) at 10:15. The first porn person I see is Ryan Knox. I ask him about Porn Star Karaoke Tuesday night. There was a good turnout for Keiko's birthday -- her husband Rob Longshot, Pamela Peaks, Kris Slater, Coffee Ron (director), an intoxicated Jim South Jr. with his girlfriend Holly Wellin, Roy Karch, Rusty Nails, Don Hollywood and his wife Brooke Hunter. James Dean had to stay outside because he's only 19.
In his six months in the biz, Ryan, 25, has done 33-scenes.
He used to live in Redlands where he'd watch up to seven porn videos a day and masturbate himself into oblivion. When he was 18, he was jacking off to Alana Evans. Now he's worked with her.
Ryan wants to do more MILF-stuff. I had a similar older woman phase when I was his age. Then I got into my thirties and I started liking them ten years younger than me.
Ryan, who's covered with tattoos, wants to find a sugar momma.
He says his parents and his grandfather support his porn work and they lend him money to get through tough stretches.
I hear that Porn Star Karaoke people (perhaps connected to Sardos Bar) called the Tokyo Bar and complained about Porn Karaoke ripping off their concept. Then the person called LFP and complained.
Porn Karaoke people say that Porn Star Karaoke is completely different. That Sardos is a dive bar. That its evening is more laidback. Porn Karaoke aims at the hip crowd cruising Cahuenga and Hollywood Blvds on Thursday night where there are six or more clubs hopping.
At last week's Kimberly Kane party, the porn girls didn't show up until 12:30am.
Ryan Knox says Suicide Girls are lesbians with tattoos. He wants to get some of them into porn.
He tried to talk Bella into it. She says she has too many tattoos.
"I don't know who she's talking to," says Ryan. He says she could be big.
I meet LFP assistant publicist Laura Jean who introduces me to Bella, who's in charge of the Suicide Girls. She says 30 of them are coming to the party.
Bella and I step outside. It's 10:30pm.
Duke: "How did you get involved with Suicide Girls?"
Bella: "A friend of mine told me about it. It was a premiere. I was immediately interested because I want people to know that you can be different and beautiful, even if you're not on the cover of Elle magazine. Do you know what I mean?"
Duke: "Yeah."
Bella: "You can be completely different and still be exotic?"
Duke: "When did you get your first tattoo?"
Bella: "When I was 18. Two years later, I covered it (butterfly) up with three-feet wings on my back."
Bella says she has three names tattooed on her body, three ex-fiances (she broke up with all of them). She claims she regrets none of these tattoos (nor the relationships). "It's like a diary that I write on myself. They're all experiences."
Duke: "Why didn't you get married?"
Bella: "It's too scary. I'm too young. I'm 23 and I don't plan to get married any time soon. They weren't the right people. I'm a heartbreaker, I guess."
Duke: "What do you do 9-5?"
Bella: "I'm an alternative model. I'm shooting with MTV's Jackass Saturday. I've done Nordstroms, Gucci, big names. They're into tattoos now.
"Before I got tattooed, I only got one out of ten jobs [she auditioned for]. Now I get eight out of ten. It's having that shtick, that interesting thing that people can look at. Anybody can be a pretty face. You have to be different."
Bella has four piercings, none I can see. One on each of her nipples, and her belly button and down below.
Duke: "What was it like the first time you posed naked?"
Bella: "It was uncomfortable but Misty (owner of Suicidegirls.com) is an incredible woman. She made me comfortable. You can be yourself and be interesting and be beautiful and not feel uncomfortable because it is not a male photographer."
Duke: "When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?"
Bella: "A ballerina. I was a cheerleader in highschool. I've done everything. Three years ago, I bought a tattoo shop in Seattle [where she's from]. I have the whole alternative vibe going."
Bella has lived in Los Angeles for over two years. One of her ex-fiances runs her tattoo shop -- Easy Choppers and Tattoos in Bellevue, Washington.
Duke: "Did you notice any difference in the way people you treat you when you got tattoos?"
Bella: "Absolutely. People treat you like you're a criminal or a drug addict. I've had problems in the past but not since I got tattoos. Tattoos are a rush. They supplement for drugs and stuff like that. I get an endorphin rush that you wouldn't get from anything else. Whenever I feel the need to drink heavily or do drugs, I just go get a tattoo.
"They say tattooing is addictive. I completely agree with that."
Duke: "Is there a part of yourself that wants to hurt yourself that is satisfied by getting a tattoo?"
Bella: "No. It's more the art aspect. People can paint or create a sculpture. I get tattooed. That's my form of art."
Duke: "How have tattoos affected the way you carry yourself in the world?"
Bella: "It's definitely affected how I deal with people on a daily basis. Sometimes you don't get the best reactions."
Duke: "So you've built up a thicker skin?"
Bella: "Exactly. I've built up a tolerance to people. I get a lot of men who walk up to me and say, 'You'd be beautiful if you weren't tattooed.' I'm like, why be beautiful? You're so ugly.
"I love who I am as a person. I know I'm a good person. I've got good karma."
Duke: "Has it affected the crowd you hang out with?"
Bella: "No. The men that I date generally don't have tattoos. I look at tattoos every day in the mirror. It's like a t-shirt that you can't take off. It's hard for me to date a guy who has piercings or tattoos.
"Jealousy is hard for me to handle [in a guy]. I'm obviously a nude model. I promote clubs every night. If somebody is jealous, I can not handle that. That's my job. That's why I've been single for two years now."
Duke: "How do you deal with monogamy?"
Bella: "I'm a very monogamous person. People assume that just because I'm tattooed, I'm promiscuous."
She says she's slept with fewer than ten men in her life.
Duke: "How did your parents react to your tattoos?"
Bella: "My mom said, 'You're ruining the skin that I gave you. I still love you.' I said, there's no still love you. There's love you, period. No, I'm going to love you. You either love someone or you don't. There's no in-between."
Duke: "What do you love and hate about your life now?"
Bella: "I love my friends who are there for me through thick and thin, through addictions, through going out every night. I hate the people that weren't there. The people who bailed because it was easier to do that."
Duke: "What do you love and hate about LA?"
Bella: "I love the weather. I hate that it is so superficial. I'm just starting to see now billboards with tattoos and flyers and advertisements... But on the other hand, you can't promote Sky Vodka unless you're Heather Graham."
Bella introduces me to three Suicide girls - Erika, Stacey and Desiree. I should interview them but I'm too chicken. Erika is a stunning singer and a Penelope Cruz-lookalike.
I don't see any tattoos or piercings on them. I guess they're hidden.
I'm in a room full of beautiful young women yet I can't muster the least attempt to hit on any of them. Must be my strong moral principles. How could I meet a woman of valor in a tawdry club?
Bella has her own website, where she writes:
I'm just a chick that has all guy friends, I can't stand drama as my life has recently been put through the cleaners...Girls tend to have a lot of it. I have my moments but, I'm at overload right now. I don't want to know what she said or what he was wearing and I sure as hell don't want to go to starshoes...(you hear me West Hollywood?) You should know I love to be stupid and act a fool....if you can't deal f--- off now, please...I am a silly dork that gets f---ed up with my friends and has fun for fun...not because I am addicted..I had to quit for a while and get clean so i could do what I wanted for the sheer joy of it and not because I was addicted.