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Male performer JD Ram (David Perry) died Wednesday, 9/30/98. His family says that the coroner reports the cause of death as an accidental overdose of morphine.

J.D. (26 yo) was cremated. A memorial service was held in Canoga Park Tuesday afternoon, 10/6/98.. The crowd divided in two - porners on one side and David's family on the other. The sermon was typically evangelical Christian with a strong appeal to porners to mend their ways. Later David's brother read a letter to his deceased sibling. D.K. Stanton spoke.

Sharon Mitchell and AIM are considering naming a halfway house for recovering drug addicts after JD Ram. "J.D. was looking for peace," Mitchell told the 12/98 AVN. She'd known him for four years and counseled him several times, as well as helping him find 12-step programs. "He couldn't get it no matter how much support he got. Jolene seemed to be a good grounding force, but the alcohol and drugs finally won out. J.D. was a good egg who got off to a bad start."

From the 12/98 AVN: "Ram's troubled childhood had been the subject of a local L.A. TV news story a couple of years ago. At the age of 11, Ram was apparently molested by a neighbor at gunpoint. The neighbor, a male, was charged with 35 counts, but his sentence was reduced to a $600 fine and 600 hours of community work. Ram denied that incidents like these prompted his coming into the adult business."

Several days before he died, JD wrote a five-page letter to John Bone, discussing the possibility of signing a contract with Cream. Ram lists 14 things he'd do before the camera, including a reverse gangbang where he'd take 300 strap-on wielding women up his ass. Ram was found dead the day the deal was supposed to have been signed. (AVN 12/98)

"It"s too bad that JD didn't get to see himself on MTV," says one porner about Tabitha Soren's MTV documentary "True Life."

"Thought it was a shame about JD," writes a director. "I had written parts especially for him in two scripts that were never produced. He never seemed quite in touch with the same reality as the rest of us, and I think his growing desperation was disturbing to be around, but there was a certain sweet honesty in his heart that I admired. Unfortunately, I've seen the same story repeat with way too many heroin addicts ... a truly evil drug."

Like many of his peers, Perry came from a "dysfunctional" Christian family who hated his sex work. Though he had a bitterly painful relationship with his mom, David still called her every day (often while taking a break from a porn set). The family are not the Christian fanatics they've been pictured as. David's brother is an atheist who wears earrings.

David's brother and sister showed up to the 1999 AVN Awards to put closure on their relationship with the man they knew as David Perry, but that the world knew as sex performer "J.D. Ram." JD was nominated for an AVN award for his role as a druggie in the Kris Kramski video Models. JD did not win.

Wednesday morning, 9/30/98, after a particularly harsh telephone conversation with his mother, David Perry aka JD Ram went into his bathroom, shot up, and died. David and his girlfriend Jolene lived with Jolene's mother who found the body.

Sources close to the porn performer say that he's been largely drug free for eight months. He did drink at times (though he also attended AA meetings). I saw him knock back a few at the World Pornography Conference in August. JD made me promise not to write about it.

JD probably had contact with a drug junkie the day before JD died.

I talked with David Perry many times between July and August. The heavily tattood ex-drug addict was obviously a troubled soul who felt tremendous bitterness towards his family and his ex-girlfriend Raven McCall. He expressed his concerns to me about what she would say about him when I eventually interviewed her, which I did about a week before he died.

JD Ram felt particularly proud of his performance in the Sin City video Models and of his growing relationship with his live-in girlfriend Jolene.

The death of David Perry contrasts sharply with the happy face David and other porners put before the world in early August at the Universal Sheraton. Matt Labash interviewed Ram for a Canadian documentary and for his Weekly Standard (9/21) essay.

Speaking from his Washington D.C. home a week after JD's death, Matt remembered Ram as an obviously disturbed man whose mouth blew a "Jack Daniels gale."

Raven McCall told me 9/23/98: "...David Perry [JD Ram] breaking into my house and killing my dog. I had to have Jeffrey Douglas prosecute him. I've paid off half of the $2000 bill to get that guy [Perry] put in jail.

"He was trying so hard to get into the business. He came up to Ron Jeremy and I at the Rainbow, all innocent… 'Hey, I'm a new kid in town. How do I become a porno star?'

"Then he sat down at the table trying to get close to me… Then we went to a VCA meeting [in 1997?]. He hadn't even done sex movies. Just one bondage movie with Sharon Mitchell. He just kept watching me and looking at me. He followed me around. It was scary. He kept standing up and asking the most stupid questions. He made everybody pissed off. I asked my friends what to do and they said, 'ignore him. He's on drugs.' He used to be a major drug addict.

"By the time I went to this Bowlathon to raise money for PAW [Thanksgiving, 1997]… He had changed his hair color and cut it to this 90210 GQ cut and dyed it blonde. He wore a long sleeve dress shirt. He looked like a nice looking guy. If I had seen his tattoos, I would've known he was straight out of jail.

"The police thought that he had been stalking me for about six months.

"He's the laughing stock of the business. He killed my dog.

"When he was put in jail, he kept calling my house. At first it was so weird. He'd say, 'Raven I love you. Come bail me out. You need to bring $250 back to the jail. We'll work things out. It'll be ok." Like he was having a relationship with me. By mid-day, when he knew that I wasn't going to do that, his messages got mean. 'Raven, I'm going to kill you and your dog if you don't bail me out.'

"I went down to the police station and filed a report for harassing phone calls.

"The next day someone let my dog out of the back yard and he got run over. It seemed so premeditated, that someone was there ready with a car…

"After he was put in jail, he sent his buddies to harass me. They were drug addicts. They'd climb on top of my roof at three AM.

"He told the police that he'd had a relationship with me for two years. That's how long I'd been in the porno business. I guess he'd been watching my movies and had some kind of a fantasy about it.

"I decided to move. I disconnected all my phone numbers. I stopped contact with all people in the business."

From Luke's 7/2/98 Update

I talk with a tattooed short young male performer named JD Ram. A three year veteran, he complains to me about his ex-girlfriend, ex-porn star Raven McCall. He says that she made up a charge that he beat her, which resulted in Ram spending 60 days in jail (released 1/15/98). Ram copped a plea, rather than fighting the charge. He has an extensive criminal record from his days as a drug addict.

[Someone emailed me: "An aquaintance with the stagename "Dean Speed" who subsequently has crossed over from straight to gay porn stayed with her for a week. She apparently did the same thing to him, but he left quickly when she started acting strange."]

Bill Margold complains about the feminization of society. "Power of the pussy. In this feminist structured society, a woman's word has far more credibility than a man's word. We men live under this fear of not getting laid, so we don't say anything… I remember people coming out of the movie WAITING TO EXHALE. A bunch of black men following black women out of the movie, which was absolute crap. The Klu Klux Klan would've been proud of the way it portrayed blacks. The women however loved the movie, because it showed them emasculating an army of black men. The women walking out told their husbands, "You liked that, didn't you honey?" The men said [submissively], 'yes, we did like it.' Then they looked down at their feet ashamed. We've become a nation of androgyny. We're afraid that we have to behave to get laid."

JD: "We broke up in Thanksgiving, 1997. We were together a month."

The young man obviously has strong feelings for her. He usually speaks softly and slowly, but at times becomes angry and defiant.

Bill displays a derisive attitude towards Ram. "You fell in love with her at the bowling tournament. You were with her a week."

JD: "It was longer than that. Raven was taking a drug called Ambian. We planned to spend Thanksgiving Day at Reb's house. That didn't work out. So we decided to spend the day together. We were going to the Rainbow for dinner and then see Boogie   Nights…

"That fell through because she got a call from a john. She runs ads on the internet. It was a $5000 deal. I booked it. The guy wanted cocaine. I used to have a very bad drug problem. I'm not ashamed to admit it because I am in recovery. [Sharon Mitchell vouches that JD has been sober for weeks.] I don't do drugs anymore.

"I was trying to stay sober when I was with Raven, but she didn't care. She sent me on this journey to a madam's house to pick up an eight ball of cocaine for a client. Like a moron, I do it. I ended up doing half of the guy's stuff. I cut it with baking soda. When I got to the hotel, she told me to wait in the lobby for an hour [while Raven f---ed the john]. Then we'll spend the night together. Well, she came down. Her client had decided that he wanted to explore the world of bondage, S&M and B&D. We went to a dungeon to a well-known dominatrix within the industry."

Jim South comes in and pulls JD aside. I thought Jim was going to tell JD to not talk to me but instead Jim only told JD about his next shoot.

JD returns. "The client becomes scared. He realizes that I am her boyfriend and that I was also a porno star. He was so coked out he couldn't get it up anyway. He decided that he wanted to pay me to f--- Raven. We did that. The client then invited back to his motel in Bel Aire. He wanted another girl involved. He wanted to watch Raven and I f---, and he wanted to f--- Raven with me.

"We brought in Whitney Wonders, the big breasted porn star. We had a fairly erotic night. We were supposed to be on location at 9AM. We left the motel at 5AM. Raven is a selfish vindictive bitch. She only cares about what she wants. She only cared about her being ready for the set. But f--- me. While I was rushing to get ready, and load up the car with all her gear, and all her toys… She throws these candy bars in my pocket. I got pissed and threw them in the gutter. Now I've destroyed the marine life. She wanted to break the cement around the gutter and dig these candy bars out. Which is completely f---ing ridiculous. I got pissed and punched the tire of her car. She got bent out of shape and left me stranded. She stiffed me for the job [last night]. I was pissed.

"Finally, I got a hold of her. I did like her. Feelings were developing. I started to care about her. She started to get jealous of me… We talked about the business a lot. We were going to work together [in porno]. And we were going to work with others. But, it became cheating if I stated that I wanted to work with someone, then I couldn't work with that person. That was cheating.

"Raven was still doing videos last year. Half the time she was loaded [on drugs]. Her biggest client was Stevie Jones of the Sex   Pistols and Charlie Sheen, who offered her $10,000 to get a boob  job with the surgeon of his choice. She turned him down. I booked many of her [prostitution] jobs. Charlie Sheen paid her about $10,000 every two weeks.

"Raven McCall is a slimy piece of s---. She has a restraining order against me. Her real name is Lorie Duran.

"What brought the police in… Thanksgiving night she was loaded on Ambian, an anti-depressant. She was in therapy and her therapist prescribed the medication. I came home to find her unconscious. I did not know what to do. I called 9-1-1. The Fire Department shows up. She wakes up. She was furious. The Fire Department came in. She was mad at me for letting them in. At the time, a fan of hers was stalking her. The Fire Department asked her three questions. What was her name? Date of birth and who the president of the United States was. She couldn't answer the questions. Instead she yelled at them. "f--- you, get the f--- out of the house." She came running out of her room naked. They called the police. The police advised me to leave the night.

"I lived there. I had paid her rent. My attitude was, 'f--- you. I'm not going anywhere.' I should've listened to the cops. She called the cops five minutes after they left, and said, 'my boyfriend grabbed me. Threw me to the ground and massaged my breasts and slapped me.' I never touched her.

"I do have a dark past. I'm an ex-addict, in recovery. No record for violent crime. But I used to steal stuff from stores and sell it to support my drug habit. Or I'd do films when I could… This industry never made me a drug addict. I was a drug addict when I came into it. It was this industry that helped me get sober.

"Because Raven had me arrested, and all my prior arrests, I ended up taking a plea bargain on 90 days.

"Bill, how long have I been in the industry?"

Bill's trying to connect to the internet. "You've been a thorn in my side for at least two years…

"Look at this guy [JD Ram]," Bill says to Luke. "Doesn't he look like a typical prison inmate?"

Luke has no comment.

JD: "Bill loves me. He's a good guy."

Bill: "I know JD was around at the end of 1996, because I missed a day of playing touch football taking care of you at that strange house in the Valley, lending you $300, to keep you in the home for  the wayward dullards."

JD: "I went to PAW for help because the guy said he'd throw me out if I didn't pay the rent.

"I did care about Raven. I did like her. She doesn't give a guy space. She smothers him. I needed to go to meetings. I needed to do things by myself. All she cared about was the relationship. She went through this with another addict. She likes to rescue people, but by smothering the person, she makes things 100x worse. She went through this stuff with Free Speech and PAW, trying to help her with this other addict. They ended up losing him. He's getting loaded now because Raven would not leave him alone.

"I never did IV drugs. I used powder drugs like cocaine, crack… I was a toxic waste dump.

"I came into this business thinking it was a big f---ing party. I did not realize it was job. I've met a lot of people in this business who don't do drugs and will never do drugs.

"I have no use for her or anyone like her. I have no desire to see her. [Raven]

"On a happier note, I starred in this Sin City movie called THE MODELS - The Truth Behinds The Scenes. AVN has been raving about it. Mark Logan loves it. I haven't got a nomination from them yet, but I got a pre-nom from them for best-supporting actor. Kris Kramski directed. He's one of the best directors I've ever worked with.

"The adult film industry has helped me by allowing me to let out my inhibitions, drop my shyness and build my self esteem. It's a homey environment to work in. It's safe, legitimate… For the first time in my life, I feel that I have people in my life who care about me. I was a throw-away kid. My parents wanted nothing to do with me. I got into trouble at school. I got into drugs… My mother told me that doing porn was the worst thing I ever did. It made me the slimiest, scummiest person on the planet. She is religious. She wanted to know what I would do if God came to one of my porno sets. My only response: 'I would tell him to get him out of my way because he's interfering with me getting wood.' The people in this business are the only ones who've been there when I've needed them. There have been people in AA who weren't there for me. My family never has been there for me. I love people in this business.

"If I meet a new performer, and I see a way to help the person, to get close, I will do so… And I don't mean that in a sexual manner.

"America is a controversial place. Thirty million of the mother f---ers jerk off to us every day. I have no problem with the porno fan. But those who get up on Jerry Springer or Geraldo Rivera, and say that we are prostitutes, a piece of s---, then they go home and jerk off to us… They are hypocrites. They are jealous that I get paid to get laid. They probably couldn't get laid in a crack house full of crack."

JD introduces me to his girlfriend of the past two months, Jolene, who is not in porn. "It's one strange trip [dating someone in the porn business]," she laughs. "The porno industry is its own little world. They welcome you in but you know that you are different if you are not in the business. You just have to get used to that.

"It's good to be with a professional [JD]."

JD: "Do I ever get wood problems?"

Jo: No.

Salena, a black PAW worker on the couch with us, says: "He gets every other kind of problem."

Jolene confirms that JD has been sober for about 90 days.

***

On 7/24/98, DK Stanton published this story on JD Ram on l-keford.com.

A MOMENT OF TRUTH IN PORN VALLEY

They were in the same place, apparently for the same reason; yet the only visible common denominator was the couch supporting the seat of their collective pants. One was alert, as though expecting his call from life. The other had obviously succumbed to the languor of the day.

"It's a good role, " he said, sinking what seemed impossibly deeper into the comfortable cushions. "Something I can really put myself into."

Irreverence momentarily superseded  decorum. "Aren't they all?" I asked.

He regarded me quizzically. The other man adjusted his exemplary carriage and grinned. I shrugged my shoulders and sighed at the data base destined to be the nemesis of my day.

"Are you a good actor?" The voice was deep and pleasant. Its owner proud and tall.

"I'm a great actor," he said.

The director just nodded and left.

I wondered for a moment if it might be true. The enthusiasm in his voice told me he was wondering the same thing. I continued to plod through the repetition of my work, reflecting back on our recent introduction.

"Any woman who doesn't want to f--- me is either lying or a dyke," he'd said.

"You really think so?" I responded sincerely. Skeins of unwashed hair grazed the crest of a mountainous chip that had obviously claimed squatter's rights to his left shoulder. "I suppose there could be some latent tendencies," I added. There have been times I've pondered that possibility. This wasn't one of them.

"A woman should be grateful that I would f--- her."

"What a thing to say," I responded, coyly exposing the tiniest peek at my nonplus.

"I just know I'm good," he said. "I have a lot of self-esteem."

His lifeless eyes told me that was a lie.

He had resumed talking about the role.  Maybe he'd never really stopped. He talked about how bad he would be; expounded on the lifelong benefits of having portrayed a murderer. Challenging,  demanding, intriguing-the hum of buzzing participles was (if you'll forgive me) deafening.

The other man turned a page of the notebook poised across his lap. He cleared his throat and raised his head. I paused in my work, astounded as the spinal column broke the posture barrier before my very eyes.

"Who cares about acting," he said quietly. "I just want to f---."

The actor hoisted himself from the  self-designed burrow of cheap velour;  and with a snort of disdain and a shake of  his tousled head, shuffled toward the open  door.

"Little -- less -- nothing! -- and that ended it.

"No more to build on there. And since they

"Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs."

Robert Frost from: 'Out, Out--!'

Bill Margold then ridiculed JD about the story, telling him that Stanton wrote about him. Stanton felt bad. Margold's provocation began a two month friendship between JD and Stanton. They talked most days on the phone. Stanton talked with JD on Tuesday, 9/29, the day before Ram died.

On 7/25/98, DK Stanton wrote on l-keford.com:

Porn veteran, JD Ram, is ready to spread more than just the legs of his leading lady. This often mischievous, sometimes sullen, male performer is ready to develop his own video line. "I want to have a variety of styles," he stated. "You know, with scripts and plots--I'll do a comedy series, a horror series, that sort of thing." Ideas and concepts, as well as talent and tech resources, appear to be well thought out. A large share of the funding, however, has not yet been secured. Ram does have a fairly sizeable amount of money available for the project, but is still looking for investors. "I want you to do something that no porn star should ever do," he said. "Post on the internet that anyone who wants to talk about investing can page me at 818 327 7950."

Son of a quasi-Christian mother and absent father, JD Ram entered adult entertainment in his early 20's. "I called Jim South for the first time when I was 15, " he recounted. "Jim just kept saying, 'Do not do this,' so I left it  alone. As soon as I turned 18, I called him again. He told me they were  overstocked with guys and to call back in a couple of weeks. I kept calling  back and kept getting the same answer. One day I just said, 'Look, I've been calling you for 2 years, and you always say the same thing.' He told  me to come and see him the next day."

Ram's mother, a self-professed Christian who worships on television rather  than attend any organized church, does not approve of his choice of career.

"She asked me what I'd do if Jesus came to earth while I was making a  porn film. I told her I'd tell him to get off the set."

Often arrogant in his approach to women, announcing that they should be grateful should he ever deign to grace them with his sexual prowess, the roguish man masks a more tender side. "My former girlfriend  [Raven McCall] said she  couldn't deal with a porn actor, but an ex-porn actor would be ok, so I  quit. I still hung around the business and went to all the things, FOXE and  stuff. She went back to stripping. I don't know, it just didn't work. I really  loved her," he added. "I still sort of love her in a way."

Does the budding interest in video development mean he'll abandoned his performance career? Not in the least. "I would f--- most of these girls for free," he responded. "Getting paid for it just makes it better."