Monday, January 30, 2006
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The Adams Report by J.C. Adams
January 30 - February 5, 2006
It was a busy week in GayPornLand, so much so that lots of sizzling scoop is being pushed to next week (that new gay porn scandal hitting the military, agent David Forest's pandering trial), including news about BONESAW from Adonis Pictures—a gay porn spin on the horror film "Saw"—and BI-BACK MOUNTAIN from All Worlds Video. In this week's column, one of our own hits it big (twice!) at the Sundance Film Festival and we bid a sad farewell to performer/director Johnny Rey.
First up from the Dept. of Corrections and Clarifications: Last week I mistakenly referred to Jacob Slader's scorching performance with newbie Joey Jay in Rascal Video's WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS (part one) as a full-on hardcore scene. The film's director, Chi Chi LaRue wrote in to clarify: "Jacob and Joey have an all-oral scene in WSOTT, girl!" I also mentioned the all-girl series WHERE THE BOYS AREN'T that Ms. LaRue directs for Vivid Entertainment and managed to get the name of the series wrong at various points. It is definitely WHERE THE BOYS AREN'T (and it's an "all-girl" as opposed to "lesbian" series because straight porn people are weird like that).
And the voting is now closed in the race to determine Best Newcomer and Performer of the Year as determined by readers of "The Adams Report by J.C. Adams." I'll notify the winners this week and announce it publicly in the upcoming column. Many thanks to the hundreds (literally!) of folks who took the time to chime in with their picks. We'll run some of your quotes next week!
JOHNNY REY: 1963-2006
I was able to confirm this week that performer and director Johnny Rey died on January 18th at just 42 years of age. Cancer and various illnesses related to AIDS was the cause. At the time of his death he was living with his family in Pomona, California and they were with him when he died. Mr. Rey's ex-boyfriend Dino Phillips was able to visit with him prior to his passing, and confirmed some of these details.
Dino Phillips tells me Mr. Rey was cremated and that his family is planning a memorial service. "He began having problems with his vision," Mr. Phillips told me, "and so he went to the doctor. They said he had testicular cancer that had metastasized to his lungs—he was a smoker—and to his brain, where lesions formed and caused him to become blind." While in the hospital undergoing tests, he was diagnosed with advanced AIDS.
Mr. Phillips notes that Johnny Rey "had a really hard life" and "burned a lot of bridges," a sentiment echoed by directrix Chi Chi LaRue on her new blog. One of my most vivid memories of Johnny Rey is an hourlong conversation in reviewer Mickey Skee's backyard circa 1998 or thereabouts, wherein Mr. Rey vivisected all of his porn industry enemies (as he perceived them) in colorful detail. His battles with one person or another were legendary, a true sign of a man who lived his life with real passion. That's all water under the bridge, although Mr. Phillips tells me that Mr. Rey had been diagnosed as bipolar, "which explains a lot," he notes.
Despite all of this, Ms. LaRue describes Mr. Rey as "one of the best actors in our biz" and expressed "heartfelt sadness [over] the passing of someone that I was both friends and sometimes enemies with, Mr. Johnny Rey. He was a big part of my life back in the Joey Stefano and Karen Dior days [and] joins a list of people that made a lasting impression on my life and the lives of many others. Johnny will be missed."
Of course, Mr. Stefano and Ms. Dior have also passed on. All of them were a part of the fabled "gay porn brat pack" era (late 1980s through the mid-1990s) I've written about many times, most recently when Ms. Dior died from AIDS complications in August 2004.
Dino Phillips says he and Mr. Rey "parted ways when we moved out of our apartment in Encino two and a half years ago. We saw each other a few times after that when he would come up here to help me out with computer problems. He always seemed to be doing fine. He loved spending time with his family—two nephews and a niece from his sister. He went down to the San Manuel casino practically every weekend to play bingo. When he went into the hospital three weeks before Christmas he called me and said he was dying. I went to visit him a few times and be with his family. [The disease] took him fast and he wasn't suffering for a long period of time. He was unaware of his condition until it was too late."
Gino Colbert directed Johnny Rey in several films, including INSIDE KARL THOMAS (Venus Video, 1994). "I remember that day well," he told me. "This is sad news. He was a nice, genuine guy. He will be missed." I asked Dino Phillips if he would care to share a favorite memory of Johnny Rey with his fans and the readers of this column. He graciously agreed.
"The best thing I can remember from the time we were together was December 1995," he recalls. "We were living together and we had a great holiday season. He bought a huge spruce tree for our apartment. He threw me a surprise birthday party and got me my cat, Samantha, that year for Christmas. I still have her. We went to Gay Days at Disneyland around that time with Chip Daniels and his boyfriend. He just showered me with gifts that year. That was a great winter. He wasn't close to that many people, but those he let in, he really cherished."
Johnny Rey starred in and directed dozens of movies through the early and mid-1990s. He became known for his videography's numerous B-movie titles, leading Mr. Skee to infamously dub him the "Ed Wood of gay porn," an appellation that infuriated Mr. Rey at first, but one he eventually grew to laugh about. However, he is perhaps best known for ROMEO AND JULIAN: A LOVE STORY (Forum Studios, 1994; d. Sam Abdul), an ambitious musical for which he won GAYVN trophies for Best Actor and Best Sex Scene. Other films include AT YOUR SERVICE (Academy Video, 1995), THE INSIDERS (Lonestar Video, 1995), MORE THAN FRIENDS (Sex Video, 1995), NIGHT WATCH (Mustang Studios, 1994), NUDE SCIENCE (Great Dane Productions, 1999), SCORE OF SEX (Bacchus Releasing, 1995), WHILE I WAS SLEEPING (Forum Studios 1995) and the classics POSING STRAP (HIS Video/VCA, 1994) and TOILET TRAMPS (Stallion Video, 1994).
"QUINCEANERA"
We had some exciting news this week out of Park City, Utah and the Sundance Film Festival. As noted in an earlier column, Wash Westmoreland (a/k/a "Wash West") had a film in the dramatic competition written and directed with Richard Glatzer titled "Quinceanera," described by "Daily Variety" as a drama "about young people caught in the warp of Latino tradition and gay gentrification in Los Angeles' Echo Park." Well, "Quinceanera" won both the grand jury prize and the audience award during the Sundance closing night ceremonies. Congratulations!
"Quinceanera" was shot over a three-week period in early 2005 in Mr. West and Mr. Glatzer's neighborhood. Both are known to indie film audiences for 2001's "The Fluffer," a dark romantic drama centered around the gay porn industry. Of course Mr. West has won numerous awards for gay skin flicks ranging from the brilliant NAKED HIGHWAY (BIG Video, 1997) through ANIMUS (All Worlds Video, 1999), TECHNICAL ECSTASY (Men of Odyssey, 1999) and DEVIL IS A BOTTOM (All Worlds, 2000) which was named by the "L.A. Weekly" as one of their top films of the year. Recent hits include THE HOLE (Jet Set, 2003) and THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS: GLUTTONY (All Worlds, 2001).
As yet, "Quinceanera" has no distribution deal. That will now change. When it screened for Sundance audiences on Monday, January 23rd it earned glowing reviews from the "Hollywood Reporter" and "Daily Variety" (which compared it to recent films "Raising Victor Vargas" and "Real Women Have Curves") but no distributor went for it, which has to make the double wins that much sweeter. Also, the "Los Angeles Times" ran a very complementary story and interview with Messrs. Glatzer and West on Sunday, January 22nd (which should be archived at LAtimes.com). I gave Mr. West his first mainstream interview back in 1997 or '98 for "HX" magazine in New York City. I've had the pleasure of interviewing him numerous times over the years as his career flourished. It's very cool to see him finally begin to crack the mainstream.
Porn Star Birthdays from January 30 through February 5: Matthew Anders, Kevin Cobain, Marcus Day, George Fleece, Justin Greer, Alexei Gromoff, Anthony Holloway, Trent Sebastian, Mischa Viaeu (January 30); Chris Holland, Chad Hunt, Luc Jarrett, Eric Payne, Dean Spencer, Randy Storm (January 31); Robert Collins, Dustin O'Donnell, Jason Sizemore, Brad Slater, Carlos Tyler (February 1); Nathan Brooks, Nicholas Clay, Michael Fox, Lindon Hawk, Zed Kelly, Steven Richards, David Scott, Kris Wolff (Feb. 2); the late Bruce Jennings, Johnny Law, Antonio Madeira, Tom Penn, Park Wiley (Feb. 3); Michael Anthony, Gynt Klein, Ron Miller, Tony Molina, Mitch Ryder, David Thompson (Feb. 4); Sasha Byazrov, Michael Crawford, Jan Dvorak, Joe Foster, Luke Loader, Brady Martin, Joel Thomas (Feb. 5).
J.C. Adams has covered the gay adult entertainment industry since 1995, and has served as the editor of "Inside Porn Magazine" and "Unzipped Monthly." In addition to the "Adams Report" weekly gossip and news column, his work has appeared in "Adult Video News," "Gay Chicago," "Genre," "HX" and many other print and online publications. You can reach him at JCAdamsXXX@aol.com
500 Turtles Productions © 2002 - 2005
# # #
The Adams Report by J.C. Adams
January 30 - February 5, 2006
It was a busy week in GayPornLand, so much so that lots of sizzling scoop is being pushed to next week (that new gay porn scandal hitting the military, agent David Forest's pandering trial), including news about BONESAW from Adonis Pictures—a gay porn spin on the horror film "Saw"—and BI-BACK MOUNTAIN from All Worlds Video. In this week's column, one of our own hits it big (twice!) at the Sundance Film Festival and we bid a sad farewell to performer/director Johnny Rey.
First up from the Dept. of Corrections and Clarifications: Last week I mistakenly referred to Jacob Slader's scorching performance with newbie Joey Jay in Rascal Video's WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS (part one) as a full-on hardcore scene. The film's director, Chi Chi LaRue wrote in to clarify: "Jacob and Joey have an all-oral scene in WSOTT, girl!" I also mentioned the all-girl series WHERE THE BOYS AREN'T that Ms. LaRue directs for Vivid Entertainment and managed to get the name of the series wrong at various points. It is definitely WHERE THE BOYS AREN'T (and it's an "all-girl" as opposed to "lesbian" series because straight porn people are weird like that).
And the voting is now closed in the race to determine Best Newcomer and Performer of the Year as determined by readers of "The Adams Report by J.C. Adams." I'll notify the winners this week and announce it publicly in the upcoming column. Many thanks to the hundreds (literally!) of folks who took the time to chime in with their picks. We'll run some of your quotes next week!
JOHNNY REY: 1963-2006
I was able to confirm this week that performer and director Johnny Rey died on January 18th at just 42 years of age. Cancer and various illnesses related to AIDS was the cause. At the time of his death he was living with his family in Pomona, California and they were with him when he died. Mr. Rey's ex-boyfriend Dino Phillips was able to visit with him prior to his passing, and confirmed some of these details.
Dino Phillips tells me Mr. Rey was cremated and that his family is planning a memorial service. "He began having problems with his vision," Mr. Phillips told me, "and so he went to the doctor. They said he had testicular cancer that had metastasized to his lungs—he was a smoker—and to his brain, where lesions formed and caused him to become blind." While in the hospital undergoing tests, he was diagnosed with advanced AIDS.
Mr. Phillips notes that Johnny Rey "had a really hard life" and "burned a lot of bridges," a sentiment echoed by directrix Chi Chi LaRue on her new blog. One of my most vivid memories of Johnny Rey is an hourlong conversation in reviewer Mickey Skee's backyard circa 1998 or thereabouts, wherein Mr. Rey vivisected all of his porn industry enemies (as he perceived them) in colorful detail. His battles with one person or another were legendary, a true sign of a man who lived his life with real passion. That's all water under the bridge, although Mr. Phillips tells me that Mr. Rey had been diagnosed as bipolar, "which explains a lot," he notes.
Despite all of this, Ms. LaRue describes Mr. Rey as "one of the best actors in our biz" and expressed "heartfelt sadness [over] the passing of someone that I was both friends and sometimes enemies with, Mr. Johnny Rey. He was a big part of my life back in the Joey Stefano and Karen Dior days [and] joins a list of people that made a lasting impression on my life and the lives of many others. Johnny will be missed."
Of course, Mr. Stefano and Ms. Dior have also passed on. All of them were a part of the fabled "gay porn brat pack" era (late 1980s through the mid-1990s) I've written about many times, most recently when Ms. Dior died from AIDS complications in August 2004.
Dino Phillips says he and Mr. Rey "parted ways when we moved out of our apartment in Encino two and a half years ago. We saw each other a few times after that when he would come up here to help me out with computer problems. He always seemed to be doing fine. He loved spending time with his family—two nephews and a niece from his sister. He went down to the San Manuel casino practically every weekend to play bingo. When he went into the hospital three weeks before Christmas he called me and said he was dying. I went to visit him a few times and be with his family. [The disease] took him fast and he wasn't suffering for a long period of time. He was unaware of his condition until it was too late."
Gino Colbert directed Johnny Rey in several films, including INSIDE KARL THOMAS (Venus Video, 1994). "I remember that day well," he told me. "This is sad news. He was a nice, genuine guy. He will be missed." I asked Dino Phillips if he would care to share a favorite memory of Johnny Rey with his fans and the readers of this column. He graciously agreed.
"The best thing I can remember from the time we were together was December 1995," he recalls. "We were living together and we had a great holiday season. He bought a huge spruce tree for our apartment. He threw me a surprise birthday party and got me my cat, Samantha, that year for Christmas. I still have her. We went to Gay Days at Disneyland around that time with Chip Daniels and his boyfriend. He just showered me with gifts that year. That was a great winter. He wasn't close to that many people, but those he let in, he really cherished."
Johnny Rey starred in and directed dozens of movies through the early and mid-1990s. He became known for his videography's numerous B-movie titles, leading Mr. Skee to infamously dub him the "Ed Wood of gay porn," an appellation that infuriated Mr. Rey at first, but one he eventually grew to laugh about. However, he is perhaps best known for ROMEO AND JULIAN: A LOVE STORY (Forum Studios, 1994; d. Sam Abdul), an ambitious musical for which he won GAYVN trophies for Best Actor and Best Sex Scene. Other films include AT YOUR SERVICE (Academy Video, 1995), THE INSIDERS (Lonestar Video, 1995), MORE THAN FRIENDS (Sex Video, 1995), NIGHT WATCH (Mustang Studios, 1994), NUDE SCIENCE (Great Dane Productions, 1999), SCORE OF SEX (Bacchus Releasing, 1995), WHILE I WAS SLEEPING (Forum Studios 1995) and the classics POSING STRAP (HIS Video/VCA, 1994) and TOILET TRAMPS (Stallion Video, 1994).
"QUINCEANERA"
We had some exciting news this week out of Park City, Utah and the Sundance Film Festival. As noted in an earlier column, Wash Westmoreland (a/k/a "Wash West") had a film in the dramatic competition written and directed with Richard Glatzer titled "Quinceanera," described by "Daily Variety" as a drama "about young people caught in the warp of Latino tradition and gay gentrification in Los Angeles' Echo Park." Well, "Quinceanera" won both the grand jury prize and the audience award during the Sundance closing night ceremonies. Congratulations!
"Quinceanera" was shot over a three-week period in early 2005 in Mr. West and Mr. Glatzer's neighborhood. Both are known to indie film audiences for 2001's "The Fluffer," a dark romantic drama centered around the gay porn industry. Of course Mr. West has won numerous awards for gay skin flicks ranging from the brilliant NAKED HIGHWAY (BIG Video, 1997) through ANIMUS (All Worlds Video, 1999), TECHNICAL ECSTASY (Men of Odyssey, 1999) and DEVIL IS A BOTTOM (All Worlds, 2000) which was named by the "L.A. Weekly" as one of their top films of the year. Recent hits include THE HOLE (Jet Set, 2003) and THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS: GLUTTONY (All Worlds, 2001).
As yet, "Quinceanera" has no distribution deal. That will now change. When it screened for Sundance audiences on Monday, January 23rd it earned glowing reviews from the "Hollywood Reporter" and "Daily Variety" (which compared it to recent films "Raising Victor Vargas" and "Real Women Have Curves") but no distributor went for it, which has to make the double wins that much sweeter. Also, the "Los Angeles Times" ran a very complementary story and interview with Messrs. Glatzer and West on Sunday, January 22nd (which should be archived at LAtimes.com). I gave Mr. West his first mainstream interview back in 1997 or '98 for "HX" magazine in New York City. I've had the pleasure of interviewing him numerous times over the years as his career flourished. It's very cool to see him finally begin to crack the mainstream.
Porn Star Birthdays from January 30 through February 5: Matthew Anders, Kevin Cobain, Marcus Day, George Fleece, Justin Greer, Alexei Gromoff, Anthony Holloway, Trent Sebastian, Mischa Viaeu (January 30); Chris Holland, Chad Hunt, Luc Jarrett, Eric Payne, Dean Spencer, Randy Storm (January 31); Robert Collins, Dustin O'Donnell, Jason Sizemore, Brad Slater, Carlos Tyler (February 1); Nathan Brooks, Nicholas Clay, Michael Fox, Lindon Hawk, Zed Kelly, Steven Richards, David Scott, Kris Wolff (Feb. 2); the late Bruce Jennings, Johnny Law, Antonio Madeira, Tom Penn, Park Wiley (Feb. 3); Michael Anthony, Gynt Klein, Ron Miller, Tony Molina, Mitch Ryder, David Thompson (Feb. 4); Sasha Byazrov, Michael Crawford, Jan Dvorak, Joe Foster, Luke Loader, Brady Martin, Joel Thomas (Feb. 5).
J.C. Adams has covered the gay adult entertainment industry since 1995, and has served as the editor of "Inside Porn Magazine" and "Unzipped Monthly." In addition to the "Adams Report" weekly gossip and news column, his work has appeared in "Adult Video News," "Gay Chicago," "Genre," "HX" and many other print and online publications. You can reach him at JCAdamsXXX@aol.com
500 Turtles Productions © 2002 - 2005
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