Wednesday, January 31, 2007
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INDUSTRY UPDATE: Producer/Makeup Artist Ron Boudreau Dies
HARRISBURG, PENN. -- The Adams Report by JC Adams has confirmed that producer and makeup artist Ron Boudreau died Wednesday, January 24th in his hometown of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He was 58. The cause of death is believed to be liver failure related to HIV and Hepatitis-C.
Mr. Boudreau used a variety of stage names during his time in gay adult entertainment. In recent years, as “Rock Rounee” he was a popular and prolific makeup artist for dozens of productions. As “Beau Boudreau” he coproduced a handful of films together with business partner and best friend Thor Stephans under the Atron Productions label between 1999 and 2001. Those titles include the popular FANTASIES... line, among them FANTASIES OF A PORN STAR, FANTASIES OF MEN IN UNIFORM and FANTASIES OF A PIG BOTTOM.
Mr. Boudreau was cremated and a family service was held in Harrisburg. Another service will be dedicated to him Sunday, February 4th at 10:30am at St. Victor's Church in West Hollywood (8634 Holloway Drive). Mr. Boudreau’s friends and colleagues are invited to attend the service and a gathering afterwards.
“He was my best and dearest friend,” Mr. Stephans told me. His death is “a major loss to my heart. Everyone loved him for his humor and being so warm. He always made things run smoothly and seemed to be the center of attention with the models, like any hair burner on a set! He moved home with his mother over a year ago due to his declining health [and] needed a liver transplant that he almost got. What I and Ronnie’s friends are trying to do now is celebrate his life. He was such a warm, giving person and loved making people happy.”
On a personal note, I can attest to Ron Boudreau’s light-filled presence on the set. I employed him several times as a makeup artist and one of his last films was my SEX WITH STRANGERS for All Worlds Video, filmed shortly before he left Los Angeles. If you watch closely, you can catch a glimpse of him tending to his makeup case in some quick B-roll footage. Our deep condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.
Contact JC Adams at JCAdamsXXX@aol.com
INDUSTRY UPDATE: Producer/Makeup Artist Ron Boudreau Dies
HARRISBURG, PENN. -- The Adams Report by JC Adams has confirmed that producer and makeup artist Ron Boudreau died Wednesday, January 24th in his hometown of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He was 58. The cause of death is believed to be liver failure related to HIV and Hepatitis-C.
Mr. Boudreau used a variety of stage names during his time in gay adult entertainment. In recent years, as “Rock Rounee” he was a popular and prolific makeup artist for dozens of productions. As “Beau Boudreau” he coproduced a handful of films together with business partner and best friend Thor Stephans under the Atron Productions label between 1999 and 2001. Those titles include the popular FANTASIES... line, among them FANTASIES OF A PORN STAR, FANTASIES OF MEN IN UNIFORM and FANTASIES OF A PIG BOTTOM.
Mr. Boudreau was cremated and a family service was held in Harrisburg. Another service will be dedicated to him Sunday, February 4th at 10:30am at St. Victor's Church in West Hollywood (8634 Holloway Drive). Mr. Boudreau’s friends and colleagues are invited to attend the service and a gathering afterwards.
“He was my best and dearest friend,” Mr. Stephans told me. His death is “a major loss to my heart. Everyone loved him for his humor and being so warm. He always made things run smoothly and seemed to be the center of attention with the models, like any hair burner on a set! He moved home with his mother over a year ago due to his declining health [and] needed a liver transplant that he almost got. What I and Ronnie’s friends are trying to do now is celebrate his life. He was such a warm, giving person and loved making people happy.”
On a personal note, I can attest to Ron Boudreau’s light-filled presence on the set. I employed him several times as a makeup artist and one of his last films was my SEX WITH STRANGERS for All Worlds Video, filmed shortly before he left Los Angeles. If you watch closely, you can catch a glimpse of him tending to his makeup case in some quick B-roll footage. Our deep condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.
Contact JC Adams at JCAdamsXXX@aol.com
Sunday, January 28, 2007
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The Adams Report by J.C. Adams
January 29 - February 4, 2006
In the latest "Adams Report by JC Adams" we've got details on the shocking murder of Cobra Video's Bryan Charles Kocis, as well as an update on the murder charges filed against Timothy Boham, otherwise known as former skin star Marcus Allen. Plus, in more pleasant news, Kathy Griffin proves how much she really loves her gays. And we break news about the retirement of one of GayPornLand's genuine good guys.
KOCIS MURDERED
A nasty shock came this week with the news that Bryan Charles Kocis, 44, owner of Cobra Video, had been murdered. GAYVN.com broke the story. The Citizen's Voice newspaper notes that Mr. Kocis was initially believed to have perished in a fire that destroyed his Dallas Township, Pennsylvania home on January 24th. However, state police have now determined that Mr. Kocis was murdered prior to the blaze, which they believe was intentionally set.
Per the article, Mr. Kocis' body "was badly burned and had to be identified by dental records." GAYVN.com writes that Mr. Kocis died from "multiple stab wounds." Police have no suspects and "are asking for anyone with information about his activities over the past week to call Dallas Township police or State Police." As to Cobra Video, the article states that police "do not know whether the murder is connected with Kocis' pornography business, but they are not ruling it out."
One of gay adult's popular amateur studios, Cobra Video courted controversy as they primarily produced condomless videos. Cobra achieved infamy several years ago when one of their top performers, Brent Corrigan, was revealed to have been underage when he filmed several of his early films. Those titles were immediately pulled from circulation and Cobra Video subsequently initiated legal proceedings against Mr. Corrigan over the use of the "Brent Corrigan" name.
Mr. Kocis was arrested six years ago for having sex with a boy, then 15, in his home. He pleaded guilty to one count of sexual abuse of children in 2002, after proving in court that the teen lied about his age, and was not required to register as a sex offender.
An investigation is ongoing and Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers has offered a $2000 reward for information that leads to an arrest. Police are seeking the driver of a "light-colored" SUV that witnesses claim left Mr. Kocis' home shortly before the blaze broke out. Investigators believe he was waiting for a new Cobra performer to arrive at his home the night he died. Police have yet to locate that performer.
John Yates, a lawyer representing Brent Corrigan (whose actual name is Sean Lockhart) and a business partner, told the "Citizen's Voice" that "(v)arious law enforcement officers have been in touch" and that his San Diego-based "clients are fully cooperating with police." Shortly before the murder, per Mr. Yates, Brent Corrigan had settled his lawsuit with Mr. Kocis and had allegedly made plans to work with Cobra Video again. Stay tuned for additional details on this breaking story.
TIMOTHY BOHAM UPDATE
The Bryan Kocis murder follows another grisly story: The November 13th murder of Denver businessman John Kelso. Former gay adult star Marcus Allen, 25, whose birth name is Timothy Boham, was arrested for the crime on November 16th when he surrendered to police at the Mexico border and was subsequently charged with felony murder and aggravated robbery. He is currently being held without bond.
During a January 17th preliminary hearing, Mr. Boham's public defender asked that the Denver District Attorney be sanctioned for turning over nearly 700 pages of evidence minutes before the hearing was to begin. That request was denied and another hearing is currently scheduled for February 6th.
GAYVNS, KATHY & DOUG
Let's move on to lighter news. Earlier this week, GAYVNawards.com quietly posted a photograph of Kathy Griffin beneath a "hosted by" headline. That's it. I made a couple of quick phone calls, confirmed it was true and broke the news on our website. An official announcement finally came several days later. The comedian and reality-TV star will indeed host the 9th Annual GAYVN Awards, set to unspool at the Castro Theater in San Francisco on February 24th. A third season of Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, Ms. Griffin's reality show, is currently in production and portions of her hosting duties will be filmed and included during the show when episodes air later this summer.
In related news, this will be the final GAYVN production for editor Doug Lawrence. I've confirmed his imminent retirement from the daily grind of deadlines and reviews. One of gay adult's classy good guys, Mr. Lawrence has officially given notice and will soon depart the workaday world for greener pastures. His time in the skin trade goes back 24 years to his days as editor of Hustler magazine; I succeeded him at XXX Showcase and the Adam Gay Video Directory when he took over at GAYVN mag three years ago. No replacement has been named (GAYVN publisher Chad Beecher is accepting resumes.) Best of luck on your new adventures, Mr. Lawrence!
Porn Star Birthdays for January 29 through February 4: Tiziano Cortese, Tom Dacascos, Billy Gascon, Dan Hanson, Marc Pierce, Malik Romero, Mitch Ryder, Zavier Vulcain, Parker Williams (January 29); 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).
J.C. Adams has covered the gay adult entertainment industry since 1995, and has served as the editor of "Inside Porn Magazine," "Unzipped Monthly" and the Adam Gay Video Directory. 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 - 2006, 2007
# # #
The Adams Report by J.C. Adams
January 29 - February 4, 2006
In the latest "Adams Report by JC Adams" we've got details on the shocking murder of Cobra Video's Bryan Charles Kocis, as well as an update on the murder charges filed against Timothy Boham, otherwise known as former skin star Marcus Allen. Plus, in more pleasant news, Kathy Griffin proves how much she really loves her gays. And we break news about the retirement of one of GayPornLand's genuine good guys.
KOCIS MURDERED
A nasty shock came this week with the news that Bryan Charles Kocis, 44, owner of Cobra Video, had been murdered. GAYVN.com broke the story. The Citizen's Voice newspaper notes that Mr. Kocis was initially believed to have perished in a fire that destroyed his Dallas Township, Pennsylvania home on January 24th. However, state police have now determined that Mr. Kocis was murdered prior to the blaze, which they believe was intentionally set.
Per the article, Mr. Kocis' body "was badly burned and had to be identified by dental records." GAYVN.com writes that Mr. Kocis died from "multiple stab wounds." Police have no suspects and "are asking for anyone with information about his activities over the past week to call Dallas Township police or State Police." As to Cobra Video, the article states that police "do not know whether the murder is connected with Kocis' pornography business, but they are not ruling it out."One of gay adult's popular amateur studios, Cobra Video courted controversy as they primarily produced condomless videos. Cobra achieved infamy several years ago when one of their top performers, Brent Corrigan, was revealed to have been underage when he filmed several of his early films. Those titles were immediately pulled from circulation and Cobra Video subsequently initiated legal proceedings against Mr. Corrigan over the use of the "Brent Corrigan" name.
Mr. Kocis was arrested six years ago for having sex with a boy, then 15, in his home. He pleaded guilty to one count of sexual abuse of children in 2002, after proving in court that the teen lied about his age, and was not required to register as a sex offender.
An investigation is ongoing and Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers has offered a $2000 reward for information that leads to an arrest. Police are seeking the driver of a "light-colored" SUV that witnesses claim left Mr. Kocis' home shortly before the blaze broke out. Investigators believe he was waiting for a new Cobra performer to arrive at his home the night he died. Police have yet to locate that performer.
John Yates, a lawyer representing Brent Corrigan (whose actual name is Sean Lockhart) and a business partner, told the "Citizen's Voice" that "(v)arious law enforcement officers have been in touch" and that his San Diego-based "clients are fully cooperating with police." Shortly before the murder, per Mr. Yates, Brent Corrigan had settled his lawsuit with Mr. Kocis and had allegedly made plans to work with Cobra Video again. Stay tuned for additional details on this breaking story.
TIMOTHY BOHAM UPDATEThe Bryan Kocis murder follows another grisly story: The November 13th murder of Denver businessman John Kelso. Former gay adult star Marcus Allen, 25, whose birth name is Timothy Boham, was arrested for the crime on November 16th when he surrendered to police at the Mexico border and was subsequently charged with felony murder and aggravated robbery. He is currently being held without bond.
During a January 17th preliminary hearing, Mr. Boham's public defender asked that the Denver District Attorney be sanctioned for turning over nearly 700 pages of evidence minutes before the hearing was to begin. That request was denied and another hearing is currently scheduled for February 6th.
GAYVNS, KATHY & DOUGLet's move on to lighter news. Earlier this week, GAYVNawards.com quietly posted a photograph of Kathy Griffin beneath a "hosted by" headline. That's it. I made a couple of quick phone calls, confirmed it was true and broke the news on our website. An official announcement finally came several days later. The comedian and reality-TV star will indeed host the 9th Annual GAYVN Awards, set to unspool at the Castro Theater in San Francisco on February 24th. A third season of Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, Ms. Griffin's reality show, is currently in production and portions of her hosting duties will be filmed and included during the show when episodes air later this summer.
In related news, this will be the final GAYVN production for editor Doug Lawrence. I've confirmed his imminent retirement from the daily grind of deadlines and reviews. One of gay adult's classy good guys, Mr. Lawrence has officially given notice and will soon depart the workaday world for greener pastures. His time in the skin trade goes back 24 years to his days as editor of Hustler magazine; I succeeded him at XXX Showcase and the Adam Gay Video Directory when he took over at GAYVN mag three years ago. No replacement has been named (GAYVN publisher Chad Beecher is accepting resumes.) Best of luck on your new adventures, Mr. Lawrence!
Porn Star Birthdays for January 29 through February 4: Tiziano Cortese, Tom Dacascos, Billy Gascon, Dan Hanson, Marc Pierce, Malik Romero, Mitch Ryder, Zavier Vulcain, Parker Williams (January 29); 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).
J.C. Adams has covered the gay adult entertainment industry since 1995, and has served as the editor of "Inside Porn Magazine," "Unzipped Monthly" and the Adam Gay Video Directory. 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 - 2006, 2007
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Labels: Brent Corrigan, Cobra, GAYVNs, Kamrun, Kathy Griffin, Marcus Allen, Timothy Boham
Thursday, January 25, 2007
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BREAKING NEWS: Cobra Video's Bryan Kocis Murdered
WILKES-BARRES, PENN. -- Bryan Charles Kocis, owner of Cobra Video, has been murdered. GAYVN.com is reporting, via The Citizen's Voice newspaper, that Mr. Kocis was initially believed to have perished in a fire that destroyed his Dallas Township home Wednesday night. However, Pennsylvania State police have determined that Mr. Kocis was murdered prior to the blaze, which they believe was intentionally set.
Per the article, Mr. Kocis' body "was badly burned and had to be identified by dental records." GAYVN.com notes that Mr. Kocis died from "multiple stab wounds." Police have no suspects and "are asking for anyone with information about his activities over the past week to call Dallas Township police or State Police." As to Cobra Video, the article states that police "do not know whether the murder is connected with Kocis' pornography business, but they are not ruling it out."
One of gay adult's popular amateur studios, Cobra Video courted controversy as they primarily produced condomless videos. They achieved infamy several years ago when one of their top performers, Brent Corrigan, was revealed to have been underage when he filmed several of his early films. Those titles were immediately pulled from circulation and Cobra Video subsequently initiated legal proceedings against Mr. Corrigan over the use of the "Brent Corrigan" name.
More details are forthcoming.
Source: GAYVN.com: "Cobra Owner Kocis Murdered"
Source: CitizensVoice.com: "Man Was Killed Before Dallas Township Fire Was Set"
Contact JC Adams at JCAdamsXXX@aol.com
BREAKING NEWS: Cobra Video's Bryan Kocis MurderedWILKES-BARRES, PENN. -- Bryan Charles Kocis, owner of Cobra Video, has been murdered. GAYVN.com is reporting, via The Citizen's Voice newspaper, that Mr. Kocis was initially believed to have perished in a fire that destroyed his Dallas Township home Wednesday night. However, Pennsylvania State police have determined that Mr. Kocis was murdered prior to the blaze, which they believe was intentionally set.
Per the article, Mr. Kocis' body "was badly burned and had to be identified by dental records." GAYVN.com notes that Mr. Kocis died from "multiple stab wounds." Police have no suspects and "are asking for anyone with information about his activities over the past week to call Dallas Township police or State Police." As to Cobra Video, the article states that police "do not know whether the murder is connected with Kocis' pornography business, but they are not ruling it out."
One of gay adult's popular amateur studios, Cobra Video courted controversy as they primarily produced condomless videos. They achieved infamy several years ago when one of their top performers, Brent Corrigan, was revealed to have been underage when he filmed several of his early films. Those titles were immediately pulled from circulation and Cobra Video subsequently initiated legal proceedings against Mr. Corrigan over the use of the "Brent Corrigan" name.
More details are forthcoming.
Source: GAYVN.com: "Cobra Owner Kocis Murdered"
Source: CitizensVoice.com: "Man Was Killed Before Dallas Township Fire Was Set"
Contact JC Adams at JCAdamsXXX@aol.com
Labels: Brent Corrigan, Cobra, Kocis
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
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BREAKING NEWS: Kathy Griffin to Host GAYVN Awards
CHATSWORTH, CA -- [Updated] Organizers of the 9th Annual GAYVN Awardsappear to have announced that comedian Kathy Griffin will be hosting the show in San Francisco on February 24th. A photo of Ms. Griffin and a headline naming her as the host have been posted to GAYVNawards.com but as yet no press announcement has been made. Both GAYVN.com and AVN.com have been updated with the news.
Kathy Griffin's official website has not yet been updated with the news. However, her website reveals that season three of Ms. Griffin's reality show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List is still in production, so it is possible her hosting duties will be filmed and then chronicled during the upcoming season, set to air over the summer.
Stay tuned for details...
[Photo of Kathy Griffin from GAYVNawards.com.]
Source: GAYVNawards.com
Official site: KathyGriffin.net
Official site: GAYVN.com
Contact JC Adams at JCAdamsXXX@aol.com
BREAKING NEWS: Kathy Griffin to Host GAYVN AwardsCHATSWORTH, CA -- [Updated] Organizers of the 9th Annual GAYVN Awards
Kathy Griffin's official website has not yet been updated with the news. However, her website reveals that season three of Ms. Griffin's reality show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List is still in production, so it is possible her hosting duties will be filmed and then chronicled during the upcoming season, set to air over the summer.
Stay tuned for details...
[Photo of Kathy Griffin from GAYVNawards.com.]
Source: GAYVNawards.com
Official site: KathyGriffin.net
Official site: GAYVN.com
Contact JC Adams at JCAdamsXXX@aol.com
Labels: GAYVNs, Kathy Griffin
Monday, January 22, 2007
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The Adams Report by J.C. Adams
January 22 - 28, 2006
This week in the "Adams Report by JC Adams" we've got plenty of scoopage, including details on Dark Alley Media's collaboration with an acclaimed French graphic artist and that skin star who turned up on an episode of Lifetime's "Gay, Straight or Taken?" reality-dating show. Plus, Lucas Entertainment loses a publicist, Raging Stallion reaches an APEX with Tony Da Vinci and Matthew Rush takes control in the new film BOUNCE BACK. Plus, the European Gay Porn Awards announce a heaping inaugural slate of nominees with a side of controversy. Stop, drop and roll, kids...
EGPA'S CONTROVERSIAL HONORS
The 9th Annual GAYVN nominations were announced January 11th and GayPornLand is still gossiping about who has been lauded this year and who was left shivering in the cold. GAYVNawards.com is the official website. As we went to press this week, the Hall of Fame inductees had not been announced. Nor had the big-name host (but stay tuned for that surprise any day now). Take a peek at last week's column for initial analysis.
And while we're talking about awards, the European Gay Porn Awards has finally announced their inaugural slate of nominees. Constant Readers might recall a tempest in a jock strap last spring in this very space when I wrote about the EGPA and the decision by several prominent U.S. companies to boycott over the EGPA's decision to include bareback companies and titles among potential nominees. Periodically I'd click over to EuropeanGayPornAwards.com to check on their progress and discovered at one point that "Best Bareback Video" had been scratched from the list of categories. Nevertheless, many weeks later, the nominees have finally been announced and various condomless titles are among the films cited.
Winners in 19 categories will be revealed May 5th, 2007 in Amsterdam; voting concludes March 30th. (There are a hefty 19 nominees for the "Best Overall Film" category.) On the EGPA splash page, they bill themselves as the "world's only fully-publically elected awards show" and take a swipe at you-know-who. "In total contrast to quite a few other awards shows we could mention, our awards are free of [studio] pressures and are independently controlled."
One of the complaints about the EGPA is that they were formed by Eurocreme to honor Eurocreme. Although the sparky upstart distributors were an early booster of the EGPA, show producers flatly told me last spring that only the public would determine the nominees and winners (keep reading for more on that...). Eurocreme has ruffled a few feathers on both sides of the pond by going after the market share held by long-established Euro-porn powerhouses like Bel Ami. And they're doing it by aggressively marketing themselves as well as capitalizing on the popularity of condomless films here and abroad. No judgment there, just a statement of fact.
The EGPA seems to be addressing this issue, in part, on the splash page introduction to their voting website. "Yes, we do have [studios] that support us -- and for that we are extremely grateful -- but we'd like to assure you, the guy in the street, that it will be your vote and your vote only that will dictate where the awards go. That is our earnest promise to you and it is one that we are determined to keep. Indeed, we've staked our very reputation and ultimate survival on this very attitude!" We'll have more on this in the weeks to come. Stay tuned.
DARK ALLEY'S FRENCH KISS
Gallic artist, graphic designer and photographer Vincent Mallea has been commissioned by Dark Alley Media to create the cover art for their upcoming flick cheekily titled GAYTANAMO (think "Guantanamo"), which they bill as an "eroto-political farce." Mr. Mallea is already familiar with the upstart studio; a recent show featured selected images from Dark Alley fuck flicks as well as portraits of co-owners Matthias von Fistenberg and Owen Hawk.
Mr. Hawk is certainly branching out of gay adult in unique and creative ways; he's also got a cameo in dragstress Rupaul's indie comedy Starbooty: Reloaded which will be released this spring.
In a press release, Mr. von Fistenberg notes that he is "truly honored" by the collaboration. Mr Mallea's work is "highly original and it is redefining the border between conventional painting and photography. He has found an absolutely unique way of presenting photography. [His] work is a perfect match for this movie. As he explores sexuality, representation and politics with a tongue in cheek sense of humor about himself, so do we. His expressions are one of a kind, and that's how I feel about our movies."
GAYTANAMO is about a German tourist who is mistaken for an enemy combatant and shipped off to a secret prison for "non-Geneva-Convention-approved methods of interrogation." Yeah, no kidding! Costars include Dark Alley exclusives Violater, Daniel and Demtrius alongside Mr. Hawk and Mr. von Fistenberg. Release date is March 1st and DarkAlleyMedia.com is the official website. The artist's French-language site is VincentMallea.com and you can also find him online at MySpace.com/VincentMallea.
GAY, STRAIGHT OR...PORN STAR?
More than a few eagle-eyed porn fans tuning in a recent episode of Lifetime's new reality-dating show Gay, Straight or Taken? did a double-take when they spotted rising porn star Kamrun among the contestants. There was some speculation as to whether it was really Kamrun or an uncanny doppleganger. So I went right to the source.
"It was me!" he laughed when I asked about the show. He says the producers "had no clue about my adult career. It never came up." A friend of Kamrun's forwarded the audition information and, lo! he was chosen. He is highly amused (and impressed) that he was spotted so quickly. Apart from his burgeoning porn career (recent titles include COLOR BLIND last spring for Unzipped Video, an as-yet-untitled flick for Studio 2000 and All Worlds Video's BLACK BALLED 5, for which he is a recent GAYVN nominee in the Best Group Scene category) Kamrun's kept busy: He shot a pilot that the gay network Logo is considering, and took second runner-up in the Mr. Gay L.A. contest.
[Kamrun photo © Midtowne.com.]
BITS AND BOBS
Heather Reznor, Lucas Entertainment's crack publicist, has left the company for greener pastures and to pursue her goal of becoming a full-time comedy writer (she's already popular on the comedy club circuit in the Big Apple). Best of luck, Ms. Reznor!…
Falcon Lifetime Exclusive Matthew Rush has made his directorial debut. BOUNCE BACK will be released at the end of May and the title refers to Mr. Rush's XXX debut six years ago (!) in BOUNCE. In the press release, Mr. Rush notes that he has a "new respect" for directors since stepping behind the camera. "To sit in the director's chair as a big eye opener for me. This was an exciting experience and I'm already looking forward to directing my next film." (I can relate! The first adult scene I directed I was so nervous I forgot to call action.) Mr. Rush is currently toplining RIDING HARD which costars fellow exclusive Roman Heart with Ken Browning, Carter Longway, Dean Monroe, Scott Swann, Manuel Torres and Mason Wyler. More information can be gleaned via FalconStudios.com...
Raging Stallion Studios is prepping the imminent release of APEX, their all-star solo wankfest featuring Tony Da Vinci front and center. This handsome bodybuilder was the subject of an intense tug of war last spring as studios jostled to be the first to commit his pulchritude to film. As I said, alas, he only shot a solo masturbation sequence. It remains to be seen whether he'll graduate to more intimate action. In the meantime, APEX costars Brendan Austen, Jay Black, Justin Christopher, Matt Cole, Jason Crew, Dean Monroe, Collin O'Neal, François Sagat and a very sexy, stacked, raven-haired newbie named Tony Dinero. RagingStallion.com
will have more scoop.
Porn Star Birthdays for January 22 through January 28: Sky Donovan, Kamrun, Shane Patrick, Tod Parker, Robert Smiley, Evan Taylor (January 22); Ethan-Michael Ayers, the late Devon Barry, Joe Kent, Jay Richards, Rob Roberts, Jeremy Shelton, Damien Steele, Ryan Wagner (January 23); Jake Andrews, Gus Avery, Roberto Giorgio, Gary Hanson, Hercules, Jordan, Christopher Montana, Ivan Mrozek, Robert Petri, Supreme, Chad Thomas (January 24); Jason Berringer, Brian Cox, Paul Dawson, Raul Dias, Arpad Majoros, Emerson Prata, Rob Roberts, Dano Sulik (January 25); Joey Amor, Rob Cryston, Zach Falconer, Luciano Haas, Maleek, Anthony Mengetti, Triton Rivers (January 26); Marc Brodey, Marcelo Costa, Cruz Lennox, Tom Matthews, Matt McGrath, Tom Moore, Eddy Ryan, Nick Thomas (January 27); Brandon Angelo, Tim Brensen, Brandon James, Alex Manning, Rex Parker, Randy Summers, Jake Rowe (January 28).
J.C. Adams has covered the gay adult entertainment industry since 1995, and has served as the editor of "Inside Porn Magazine," "Unzipped Monthly" and the Adam Gay Video Directory. 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 - 2006, 2007
# # #
The Adams Report by J.C. Adams
January 22 - 28, 2006
This week in the "Adams Report by JC Adams" we've got plenty of scoopage, including details on Dark Alley Media's collaboration with an acclaimed French graphic artist and that skin star who turned up on an episode of Lifetime's "Gay, Straight or Taken?" reality-dating show. Plus, Lucas Entertainment loses a publicist, Raging Stallion reaches an APEX with Tony Da Vinci and Matthew Rush takes control in the new film BOUNCE BACK. Plus, the European Gay Porn Awards announce a heaping inaugural slate of nominees with a side of controversy. Stop, drop and roll, kids...
EGPA'S CONTROVERSIAL HONORSThe 9th Annual GAYVN nominations were announced January 11th and GayPornLand is still gossiping about who has been lauded this year and who was left shivering in the cold. GAYVNawards.com is the official website. As we went to press this week, the Hall of Fame inductees had not been announced. Nor had the big-name host (but stay tuned for that surprise any day now). Take a peek at last week's column for initial analysis.
And while we're talking about awards, the European Gay Porn Awards has finally announced their inaugural slate of nominees. Constant Readers might recall a tempest in a jock strap last spring in this very space when I wrote about the EGPA and the decision by several prominent U.S. companies to boycott over the EGPA's decision to include bareback companies and titles among potential nominees. Periodically I'd click over to EuropeanGayPornAwards.com to check on their progress and discovered at one point that "Best Bareback Video" had been scratched from the list of categories. Nevertheless, many weeks later, the nominees have finally been announced and various condomless titles are among the films cited.
Winners in 19 categories will be revealed May 5th, 2007 in Amsterdam; voting concludes March 30th. (There are a hefty 19 nominees for the "Best Overall Film" category.) On the EGPA splash page, they bill themselves as the "world's only fully-publically elected awards show" and take a swipe at you-know-who. "In total contrast to quite a few other awards shows we could mention, our awards are free of [studio] pressures and are independently controlled."
One of the complaints about the EGPA is that they were formed by Eurocreme to honor Eurocreme. Although the sparky upstart distributors were an early booster of the EGPA, show producers flatly told me last spring that only the public would determine the nominees and winners (keep reading for more on that...). Eurocreme has ruffled a few feathers on both sides of the pond by going after the market share held by long-established Euro-porn powerhouses like Bel Ami. And they're doing it by aggressively marketing themselves as well as capitalizing on the popularity of condomless films here and abroad. No judgment there, just a statement of fact.
The EGPA seems to be addressing this issue, in part, on the splash page introduction to their voting website. "Yes, we do have [studios] that support us -- and for that we are extremely grateful -- but we'd like to assure you, the guy in the street, that it will be your vote and your vote only that will dictate where the awards go. That is our earnest promise to you and it is one that we are determined to keep. Indeed, we've staked our very reputation and ultimate survival on this very attitude!" We'll have more on this in the weeks to come. Stay tuned.
DARK ALLEY'S FRENCH KISS
Gallic artist, graphic designer and photographer Vincent Mallea has been commissioned by Dark Alley Media to create the cover art for their upcoming flick cheekily titled GAYTANAMO (think "Guantanamo"), which they bill as an "eroto-political farce." Mr. Mallea is already familiar with the upstart studio; a recent show featured selected images from Dark Alley fuck flicks as well as portraits of co-owners Matthias von Fistenberg and Owen Hawk.
Mr. Hawk is certainly branching out of gay adult in unique and creative ways; he's also got a cameo in dragstress Rupaul's indie comedy Starbooty: Reloaded which will be released this spring.
In a press release, Mr. von Fistenberg notes that he is "truly honored" by the collaboration. Mr Mallea's work is "highly original and it is redefining the border between conventional painting and photography. He has found an absolutely unique way of presenting photography. [His] work is a perfect match for this movie. As he explores sexuality, representation and politics with a tongue in cheek sense of humor about himself, so do we. His expressions are one of a kind, and that's how I feel about our movies."
GAYTANAMO is about a German tourist who is mistaken for an enemy combatant and shipped off to a secret prison for "non-Geneva-Convention-approved methods of interrogation." Yeah, no kidding! Costars include Dark Alley exclusives Violater, Daniel and Demtrius alongside Mr. Hawk and Mr. von Fistenberg. Release date is March 1st and DarkAlleyMedia.com is the official website. The artist's French-language site is VincentMallea.com and you can also find him online at MySpace.com/VincentMallea.
GAY, STRAIGHT OR...PORN STAR?
More than a few eagle-eyed porn fans tuning in a recent episode of Lifetime's new reality-dating show Gay, Straight or Taken? did a double-take when they spotted rising porn star Kamrun among the contestants. There was some speculation as to whether it was really Kamrun or an uncanny doppleganger. So I went right to the source.
"It was me!" he laughed when I asked about the show. He says the producers "had no clue about my adult career. It never came up." A friend of Kamrun's forwarded the audition information and, lo! he was chosen. He is highly amused (and impressed) that he was spotted so quickly. Apart from his burgeoning porn career (recent titles include COLOR BLIND last spring for Unzipped Video, an as-yet-untitled flick for Studio 2000 and All Worlds Video's BLACK BALLED 5, for which he is a recent GAYVN nominee in the Best Group Scene category) Kamrun's kept busy: He shot a pilot that the gay network Logo is considering, and took second runner-up in the Mr. Gay L.A. contest.[Kamrun photo © Midtowne.com.]
BITS AND BOBS
Heather Reznor, Lucas Entertainment's crack publicist, has left the company for greener pastures and to pursue her goal of becoming a full-time comedy writer (she's already popular on the comedy club circuit in the Big Apple). Best of luck, Ms. Reznor!…
Falcon Lifetime Exclusive Matthew Rush has made his directorial debut. BOUNCE BACK will be released at the end of May and the title refers to Mr. Rush's XXX debut six years ago (!) in BOUNCE. In the press release, Mr. Rush notes that he has a "new respect" for directors since stepping behind the camera. "To sit in the director's chair as a big eye opener for me. This was an exciting experience and I'm already looking forward to directing my next film." (I can relate! The first adult scene I directed I was so nervous I forgot to call action.) Mr. Rush is currently toplining RIDING HARD which costars fellow exclusive Roman Heart with Ken Browning, Carter Longway, Dean Monroe, Scott Swann, Manuel Torres and Mason Wyler. More information can be gleaned via FalconStudios.com...
Raging Stallion Studios is prepping the imminent release of APEX, their all-star solo wankfest featuring Tony Da Vinci front and center. This handsome bodybuilder was the subject of an intense tug of war last spring as studios jostled to be the first to commit his pulchritude to film. As I said, alas, he only shot a solo masturbation sequence. It remains to be seen whether he'll graduate to more intimate action. In the meantime, APEX costars Brendan Austen, Jay Black, Justin Christopher, Matt Cole, Jason Crew, Dean Monroe, Collin O'Neal, François Sagat and a very sexy, stacked, raven-haired newbie named Tony Dinero. RagingStallion.com
will have more scoop.
Porn Star Birthdays for January 22 through January 28: Sky Donovan, Kamrun, Shane Patrick, Tod Parker, Robert Smiley, Evan Taylor (January 22); Ethan-Michael Ayers, the late Devon Barry, Joe Kent, Jay Richards, Rob Roberts, Jeremy Shelton, Damien Steele, Ryan Wagner (January 23); Jake Andrews, Gus Avery, Roberto Giorgio, Gary Hanson, Hercules, Jordan, Christopher Montana, Ivan Mrozek, Robert Petri, Supreme, Chad Thomas (January 24); Jason Berringer, Brian Cox, Paul Dawson, Raul Dias, Arpad Majoros, Emerson Prata, Rob Roberts, Dano Sulik (January 25); Joey Amor, Rob Cryston, Zach Falconer, Luciano Haas, Maleek, Anthony Mengetti, Triton Rivers (January 26); Marc Brodey, Marcelo Costa, Cruz Lennox, Tom Matthews, Matt McGrath, Tom Moore, Eddy Ryan, Nick Thomas (January 27); Brandon Angelo, Tim Brensen, Brandon James, Alex Manning, Rex Parker, Randy Summers, Jake Rowe (January 28).
J.C. Adams has covered the gay adult entertainment industry since 1995, and has served as the editor of "Inside Porn Magazine," "Unzipped Monthly" and the Adam Gay Video Directory. 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 - 2006, 2007
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Labels: EGPA, GAYVNs, Kamrun, Matthew Rush, Owen Hawk, Tony Da Vinci
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
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The Adams Report by J.C. Adams
January 15 - 21, 2006
The 9th Annual GAYVN nominations were announced Thursday, January 11th as most of the industry was in Las Vegas schmoozing up the Adult Entertainment Expo. MICHAEL LUCAS' LA DOLCE VITA for Lucas Entertainment leads all films with 14 nominations in an equal number of categories, including Best Picture (one year ago, Lucas Entertainment's DANGEROUS LIAISONS earned four GAYVN trophies, including a tie for Best Picture). The COLT Studio Group tops all gay adult companies with 22 overall nods.
François Sagat tops (well, he's a power bottom, but you know what I mean) all performers with a whopping six nominations: Best Sex Scene and Threesome for Raging Stallion's MANIFESTO, another Sex Scene nod for BEDROOM EYES, Solo Performance for MANHATTAN, another Threesome for LEBANON and finally a spectacularly well-deserved Performer of the Year nom. He's pictured here on the cover of the 2007 Adam Gay Video Directory (which, ahem, I edited and is available now.)
Two hardworking gents follow Mr. Sagat with four nominations apiece. The amazing Trevor Knight earned three of his nods for three different films: Best Oral Scene for Gino Pictures' FOUR SCORE 2; Best Sex Scene for Hot House's JUSTICE; and Best Supporting Actor for Jet Set's GOING UNDER, which makes his Performer of the Year citation particularly well-earned. Then there's the stunning Shane Rollins, who earned all four of his nominations for his career-defining work in Hot House's JUSTICE: Best Actor, Group Scene, Oral Scene, Sex Scene.
Performers earning three nods apiece were Jason Crew, Brad Patton, Spencer Quest, Colby Taylor (one of which was in the Best Editing category for All Worlds Video's LEATHER SESSIONS) and Derrick Vinyard.
Two of Michael Lucas' three nods were as a performer—Best Actor and Best Threesome—while the third was a Best Director nom shared with Tony DiMarco for MICHAEL LUCAS' LA DOLCE VITA. Mr. DiMarco leads all behind-the-camera talent with an impressive four nods for that film: Directing, Editing, Screenplay and Videography.
Other crew members with multiple citations are Kristen Bjorn (Direction, Editing and Videography for his superb FIRE DANCE); Raging Stallion's Ben Leon (Editing and Videography, plus a shared Director's nod with Chris Ward) for the studio's LORDS OF THE JUNGLE; and stalwart Max Phillips with Best Editing and Videography kudos for Buckshot Productions' BIG RIG and another Best Videography citation for Buckshots' two-parter MANLY HEAT: SCORCHED/QUENCHED.
THE OMISSIONS
As usual there are some head-scratching omissions: No single performer had a better year than Matt Cole and he did earn dual Best Newcomer and Performer of the Year nominations. That's actually a rare achievement. But none of his many amazing sexual performances this year were cited. Huh? He's potentially the best performer of the year with no actual nominated sex scenes.
Jason Tiya is another celebrated stud up for Performer of the Year who had no specific performance nominated in any category. I guess their nods are in recognition of their entire body of work throughout the year, right?
Last year's reigning Best Newcomer, Roman Heart, wasn't nominated anywhere, in any category. Now that's a real puzzler given his fantastic work for Falcon.
The brilliant Tommy Blade, who unfurled a dazzling display of sexual versatility in BI BACK MOUNTAIN and DELINQUENTS and LOCKDOWN and THE VELVET MAFIA and...we could go on, managed a deserved Best Newcomer nod and only one sexual citation: Best Group Scene in BRAWLERS. C'mon already.
The hellaciously cute Mason Wyler is one of the most popular and fast-rising new faces to hit the boards in years. He did earn two Group Scene nods (for Titan Media's CLOSED SET: TITAN STAGE ONE and Falcon's SPOKES III) but was oddly passed over for Best Newcomer.
And Bel Ami in 2006 turned out some of their most sensual, romantic vignettes in a decade—including a spectacular hump between COLT-loaner Adam Dexter and Tommy Hansen in OUT IN AFRICA 2—but managed just a sparse three nominations: Best Foreign Release and Packaging for PINA COLADA and Best Specialty Release (18-23) for OUT IN AFRICA 2.
MULTIPLE NOMINEES
Looking again at films with multiple citations, following MICHAEL LUCAS' LA DOLCE VITA, and tied with 12 nominations apiece, are BIG RIG (Buckshot Productions), JUSTICE (Hot House) and THE VELVET MAFIA 1-2 (Falcon Studios). All three additionally earned Best Picture nods.
Following COLT's 22 overall nominations is Channel 1 Releasing with 20 nominations. Falcon Studios, Hot House and Titan Media each earned 18 citations. In total, 77 separate companies have been nominated in 37 categories.
Fellow nominees joining BIG RIG, MICHAEL LUCAS' LA DOLCE VITA, JUSTICE and THE VELVET MAFIA 1-2 in the race for Best Picture include ARCADE ON ROUTE 9 (Titan); BOOT BLACK BLUES (Buckshot Productions); DELINQUENTS (All Worlds Video); FIRE DANCE (Sarava Productions); GOING UNDER (Jet Set Productions); and LORDS OF THE JUNGLE (Raging Stallion Studios).
Best Newcomer nominees looking to unseat last year's champ Roman Heart are Tommy Blade, Matt Cole, Damien Crosse, Franceso D'Macho, Double R, Jeremy Hall, Brant Moore, Damon Phoenix, Danny Roddick and Diesel Washington.
Nominees for the GAYVN Performer of the Year who are battling it out to dethrone Gus Mattox include Rafael Alencar, Benjamin Bradley, Matt Cole, Jake Deckard, Trevor Knight, Kyle Lewis, Dean Monroe, Brad Patton, Erik Rhodes, Spencer Quest, François Sagat and Jason Tiya.
Winners will be revealed Saturday, February 24th at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. GAYVN.com and GAYVNawards.com are the official websites.
BITS AND BOBS
Here are some more tidbits for ya that I've gleaned from the nominations roll: The now-famous Brian Hansen/Brad Patton scene from MANLY HEAT: QUENCHED (Buckshot Productions) was nominated. This is the vignette that was so hot the two became real-life lovers during production.
Last year, Rascal Exclusive Johnny Hazzard was the winningest performer with three trophies; one year later, he managed just one nomination: Best Sex Scene in All Worlds Video's DELINQUENTS.
Non-American skin flicks (namely those not directed by Kristen Bjorn or Lucas Kazan) rarely break out of their Best Foreign Release ghetto, but this year Eurocreme's very fine WORLD SOCCER ORGY 1-2 managed the unusual feat of three nominations: Foreign Release (natch), Sex Comedy and a well-deserved Best Actor Foreign Release for the exciting, energetic Sebastian Stone (a.k.a. Ruslan Peterko).
Speaking of category ghettos, you almost never see raunchy all-sex epics anywhere other than specialized categories. But Titan Media managed the unusual trick of seven overall nods for the spectacularly dirty FOLSOM FILTH. They're mostly in tech categories, but that's impressive. Still, c'mon, no Best Actor or any sex scene nod for Patrick O'Connor, the recipient of a stunning torrent of hurts-so-good punishment in that film?
It's also unusual for smaller companies to land multiple citations beyond their own specialty categories. But this year the boutique PZP Productions managed four nominations for their amusing sexfest THE DA VINCI LOAD, while the much-vaunted Dark Alley Media/Pitbull Productions co-production THE SHOW 1-2 earned six overall nods.
Gorilla Factory won Best Classic DVD last year for THAT BOY starring Peter Berlin; one year later, they're back with a nomination in the Best Alternative Release category for the mainstream doc That Man: Peter Berlin.
Lucas Entertainment's MICHAEL LUCAS' AUDITIONS VOL. 1 took the Best Pro/Am Release award in 2005, while VOL. 4 won the trophy in 2006. This year VOL. 9, starring and directed by Chad Hunt, looks to extend the streak.
The venerable HIS Video was resurrected in 2006 with DEVIL INSIDE and were rewarded with four nominations, including Best All-Sex video and a Best Sex Scene nod for a real scorcher starring Antonio Madiera and Park Wiley.
And here's something new: No Chi Chi LaRue in the Best Director race. When's the last time that happened? Ms. LaRue's Channel 1 Releasing snagged lots of citations (with her Rascal Video line earning four of those) but GAYVN's winningest director with five statuettes gleaming on her mantel earned only one individual nomination this year: Best Non Sex Performance for Falcon's THE VELVET MAFIA 1-2. On with the show!
Porn Star Birthdays for January 15 - January 21: Hank Cruz, Gino Gultier, Jason Harley, Daniel Paxton, Mark Rockwell, Zak Spears, Peter St. James, Alex Turner (January 15); Gareth Bates, Victor Cowboy, Dario D'Alba, Jim Danielson, Robert Gunn, Little Steven (January 16); Spencer Allan, Kanye East, Donald Jarrott, David Laval, Drew Sumrock, Jarod Tucker, Dylan West (January 17); Bobby Bacon, Ace Hanson, Troy Masters, Ryan Michaels, Rovert Novy, Walter Perras, Shane Thomas, Damon West (January 18); Ken Houser, Derek Rei, Rafael Valentino (January 19); Tristan Adonis, Villem Cage, Rick Chase, Brad Erikson, Leaf Hendrickson, Josh Weston, Dave Yanek (January 20); Babaji, Adrian Bradshaw, Tom Katt, Toine Rousseau, Jason Sanchez, Scott Tanner, Dallas Taylor, Tony West (January 21).
J.C. Adams has covered the gay adult entertainment industry since 1995, and has served as the editor of "Inside Porn Magazine," "Unzipped Monthly" and the Adam Gay Video Directory. 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 - 2006, 2007
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The Adams Report by J.C. AdamsJanuary 15 - 21, 2006
The 9th Annual GAYVN nominations were announced Thursday, January 11th as most of the industry was in Las Vegas schmoozing up the Adult Entertainment Expo. MICHAEL LUCAS' LA DOLCE VITA for Lucas Entertainment leads all films with 14 nominations in an equal number of categories, including Best Picture (one year ago, Lucas Entertainment's DANGEROUS LIAISONS earned four GAYVN trophies, including a tie for Best Picture). The COLT Studio Group tops all gay adult companies with 22 overall nods.
François Sagat tops (well, he's a power bottom, but you know what I mean) all performers with a whopping six nominations: Best Sex Scene and Threesome for Raging Stallion's MANIFESTO, another Sex Scene nod for BEDROOM EYES, Solo Performance for MANHATTAN, another Threesome for LEBANON and finally a spectacularly well-deserved Performer of the Year nom. He's pictured here on the cover of the 2007 Adam Gay Video Directory (which, ahem, I edited and is available now.)
Two hardworking gents follow Mr. Sagat with four nominations apiece. The amazing Trevor Knight earned three of his nods for three different films: Best Oral Scene for Gino Pictures' FOUR SCORE 2; Best Sex Scene for Hot House's JUSTICE; and Best Supporting Actor for Jet Set's GOING UNDER, which makes his Performer of the Year citation particularly well-earned. Then there's the stunning Shane Rollins, who earned all four of his nominations for his career-defining work in Hot House's JUSTICE: Best Actor, Group Scene, Oral Scene, Sex Scene.Performers earning three nods apiece were Jason Crew, Brad Patton, Spencer Quest, Colby Taylor (one of which was in the Best Editing category for All Worlds Video's LEATHER SESSIONS) and Derrick Vinyard.
Two of Michael Lucas' three nods were as a performer—Best Actor and Best Threesome—while the third was a Best Director nom shared with Tony DiMarco for MICHAEL LUCAS' LA DOLCE VITA. Mr. DiMarco leads all behind-the-camera talent with an impressive four nods for that film: Directing, Editing, Screenplay and Videography.
Other crew members with multiple citations are Kristen Bjorn (Direction, Editing and Videography for his superb FIRE DANCE); Raging Stallion's Ben Leon (Editing and Videography, plus a shared Director's nod with Chris Ward) for the studio's LORDS OF THE JUNGLE; and stalwart Max Phillips with Best Editing and Videography kudos for Buckshot Productions' BIG RIG and another Best Videography citation for Buckshots' two-parter MANLY HEAT: SCORCHED/QUENCHED.
THE OMISSIONS
As usual there are some head-scratching omissions: No single performer had a better year than Matt Cole and he did earn dual Best Newcomer and Performer of the Year nominations. That's actually a rare achievement. But none of his many amazing sexual performances this year were cited. Huh? He's potentially the best performer of the year with no actual nominated sex scenes.
Jason Tiya is another celebrated stud up for Performer of the Year who had no specific performance nominated in any category. I guess their nods are in recognition of their entire body of work throughout the year, right?
Last year's reigning Best Newcomer, Roman Heart, wasn't nominated anywhere, in any category. Now that's a real puzzler given his fantastic work for Falcon.
The brilliant Tommy Blade, who unfurled a dazzling display of sexual versatility in BI BACK MOUNTAIN and DELINQUENTS and LOCKDOWN and THE VELVET MAFIA and...we could go on, managed a deserved Best Newcomer nod and only one sexual citation: Best Group Scene in BRAWLERS. C'mon already.
The hellaciously cute Mason Wyler is one of the most popular and fast-rising new faces to hit the boards in years. He did earn two Group Scene nods (for Titan Media's CLOSED SET: TITAN STAGE ONE and Falcon's SPOKES III) but was oddly passed over for Best Newcomer.
And Bel Ami in 2006 turned out some of their most sensual, romantic vignettes in a decade—including a spectacular hump between COLT-loaner Adam Dexter and Tommy Hansen in OUT IN AFRICA 2—but managed just a sparse three nominations: Best Foreign Release and Packaging for PINA COLADA and Best Specialty Release (18-23) for OUT IN AFRICA 2.
MULTIPLE NOMINEESLooking again at films with multiple citations, following MICHAEL LUCAS' LA DOLCE VITA, and tied with 12 nominations apiece, are BIG RIG (Buckshot Productions), JUSTICE (Hot House) and THE VELVET MAFIA 1-2 (Falcon Studios). All three additionally earned Best Picture nods.
Following COLT's 22 overall nominations is Channel 1 Releasing with 20 nominations. Falcon Studios, Hot House and Titan Media each earned 18 citations. In total, 77 separate companies have been nominated in 37 categories.
Fellow nominees joining BIG RIG, MICHAEL LUCAS' LA DOLCE VITA, JUSTICE and THE VELVET MAFIA 1-2 in the race for Best Picture include ARCADE ON ROUTE 9 (Titan); BOOT BLACK BLUES (Buckshot Productions); DELINQUENTS (All Worlds Video); FIRE DANCE (Sarava Productions); GOING UNDER (Jet Set Productions); and LORDS OF THE JUNGLE (Raging Stallion Studios).
Best Newcomer nominees looking to unseat last year's champ Roman Heart are Tommy Blade, Matt Cole, Damien Crosse, Franceso D'Macho, Double R, Jeremy Hall, Brant Moore, Damon Phoenix, Danny Roddick and Diesel Washington.
Nominees for the GAYVN Performer of the Year who are battling it out to dethrone Gus Mattox include Rafael Alencar, Benjamin Bradley, Matt Cole, Jake Deckard, Trevor Knight, Kyle Lewis, Dean Monroe, Brad Patton, Erik Rhodes, Spencer Quest, François Sagat and Jason Tiya.
Winners will be revealed Saturday, February 24th at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. GAYVN.com and GAYVNawards.com are the official websites.
BITS AND BOBS
Here are some more tidbits for ya that I've gleaned from the nominations roll: The now-famous Brian Hansen/Brad Patton scene from MANLY HEAT: QUENCHED (Buckshot Productions) was nominated. This is the vignette that was so hot the two became real-life lovers during production.
Last year, Rascal Exclusive Johnny Hazzard was the winningest performer with three trophies; one year later, he managed just one nomination: Best Sex Scene in All Worlds Video's DELINQUENTS.
Non-American skin flicks (namely those not directed by Kristen Bjorn or Lucas Kazan) rarely break out of their Best Foreign Release ghetto, but this year Eurocreme's very fine WORLD SOCCER ORGY 1-2 managed the unusual feat of three nominations: Foreign Release (natch), Sex Comedy and a well-deserved Best Actor Foreign Release for the exciting, energetic Sebastian Stone (a.k.a. Ruslan Peterko).Speaking of category ghettos, you almost never see raunchy all-sex epics anywhere other than specialized categories. But Titan Media managed the unusual trick of seven overall nods for the spectacularly dirty FOLSOM FILTH. They're mostly in tech categories, but that's impressive. Still, c'mon, no Best Actor or any sex scene nod for Patrick O'Connor, the recipient of a stunning torrent of hurts-so-good punishment in that film?
It's also unusual for smaller companies to land multiple citations beyond their own specialty categories. But this year the boutique PZP Productions managed four nominations for their amusing sexfest THE DA VINCI LOAD, while the much-vaunted Dark Alley Media/Pitbull Productions co-production THE SHOW 1-2 earned six overall nods.
Gorilla Factory won Best Classic DVD last year for THAT BOY starring Peter Berlin; one year later, they're back with a nomination in the Best Alternative Release category for the mainstream doc That Man: Peter Berlin.Lucas Entertainment's MICHAEL LUCAS' AUDITIONS VOL. 1 took the Best Pro/Am Release award in 2005, while VOL. 4 won the trophy in 2006. This year VOL. 9, starring and directed by Chad Hunt, looks to extend the streak.
The venerable HIS Video was resurrected in 2006 with DEVIL INSIDE and were rewarded with four nominations, including Best All-Sex video and a Best Sex Scene nod for a real scorcher starring Antonio Madiera and Park Wiley.
And here's something new: No Chi Chi LaRue in the Best Director race. When's the last time that happened? Ms. LaRue's Channel 1 Releasing snagged lots of citations (with her Rascal Video line earning four of those) but GAYVN's winningest director with five statuettes gleaming on her mantel earned only one individual nomination this year: Best Non Sex Performance for Falcon's THE VELVET MAFIA 1-2. On with the show!
Porn Star Birthdays for January 15 - January 21: Hank Cruz, Gino Gultier, Jason Harley, Daniel Paxton, Mark Rockwell, Zak Spears, Peter St. James, Alex Turner (January 15); Gareth Bates, Victor Cowboy, Dario D'Alba, Jim Danielson, Robert Gunn, Little Steven (January 16); Spencer Allan, Kanye East, Donald Jarrott, David Laval, Drew Sumrock, Jarod Tucker, Dylan West (January 17); Bobby Bacon, Ace Hanson, Troy Masters, Ryan Michaels, Rovert Novy, Walter Perras, Shane Thomas, Damon West (January 18); Ken Houser, Derek Rei, Rafael Valentino (January 19); Tristan Adonis, Villem Cage, Rick Chase, Brad Erikson, Leaf Hendrickson, Josh Weston, Dave Yanek (January 20); Babaji, Adrian Bradshaw, Tom Katt, Toine Rousseau, Jason Sanchez, Scott Tanner, Dallas Taylor, Tony West (January 21).
J.C. Adams has covered the gay adult entertainment industry since 1995, and has served as the editor of "Inside Porn Magazine," "Unzipped Monthly" and the Adam Gay Video Directory. 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 - 2006, 2007
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Labels: GAYVNs, Mason Wyler
Sunday, January 14, 2007
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The Adams Report by J.C. Adams
January 8 - 14, 2007
It's quiet and the mice are out to play in GayPornLand as industryites pack up for the Adult Entertainment Expo January 10th-13th at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas. And there will be some action soon following the announcement of the GAYVN nominations. In the meantime we wrap our look back at the crazysexycool antics of 2006.
2006: APRIL - JUNE
The nutball GAYVN Awards only served as an amuse bouche of sorts for the gay adult's springtime antics. Popular newcomer Joey Milano polarized the biz with the news that he had filmed a bareback title for SX Video and an exclusive interview he gave this column briefly fanned the flames of controversy. The March-April issue of the Gay & Lesbian Review contained a controversial essay by novelist John Rechy titled "Tom of Finland: Sexual Liberator?" In the piece, Mr. Rechy explored the use of Nazi imagery in Tom of Finland's artwork and its implications.
Elsewhere, Chi Chi LaRue was a featured speaker April 8th at Awareness Days sponsored by the Diverse Sexuality and Gender Alliance of Johns Hopkins University. And Michael Lucas took part in the Queer Media Alliance April 14th-16th at the Tribeca Film Center in New York. He and his PR "mistress" Heather Reznor sat on a panel titled "The Digital Skin Trade: Creating & Distributing Adult Content."
Superstar Ken Ryker made the rounds in Los Angeles in May (via agent David Forest) and although he's available for personal appearances the reclusive legend has yet to settle on a new project; same deal for Billy Brandt, although he had Falcon's FROM TOP TO BOTTOM this year. Writer/director Thor Stephans launched EMVchannel.com, a VOD website of "erotic music videos" and would move on, later in the year, to the VOD chat show "The Money Shot Report" at TheMoneyShotReport.com with producer Brett Drysdale and the inimitable Brad Benton.
On an episode of Tori Spelling's VH1 show So noTORIous she visited the Pleasure Chest adult store in West Hollywood and grabbed the 14-inch COLT Thruster. Attagirl! Roman Heart was named "Freshman of the Year" by Freshmen magazine, another feather in his cap after snagging the Best Newcomer GAYVN trophy and beating out an imposingly competitive field that included Benjamin Bradley, Tober Brandt, Jake Deckard, Alex Fuerte, Derrick Hanson, Huessein, Andy Kirra, Pete Ross, François Sagat, Jason Tiya and Chris Wide. (Sister mag Men would later name Zeb Atlas their "Man of the Year," and for the second time, to boot.)
On the magazine stands, Rod Barry and Eddie Stone appeared in ID magazine while a quartet of Falcon stars—Roman Heart, Ethan Kage, Erik Rhodes and Matthew Rush—were photo'ed by Aaron Cobbett for the June issue of Genre magazine and Michael Lucas was snapped for Asian Vogue and Dansk magazines together with legendary model Carmen Dell'Orifice.
On April 24th, Channel 1 Releasing sent shockwaves through the industry when they acquired rival studio All Worlds Video. The stunning news made Channel 1 the largest gay-owned and -operated company in the world. That wasn't the only gay adult company changing hands in 2006; producer Scott Masters and director John Travis, both industry founders, retired and sold their Studio 2000 to new owner David McKay.
I landed a hot scoop in May when I tracked down Falcon legend Mike Branson. Turns out the gorgeous stud, still hugely popular, put himself through engineering school with his porn money and is living a quiet life with no interest in returning to the spotlight. Details magazine put bad-boy writer Mark Simpson on the ActiveDuty.com controversy involving the 82nd Airborne. Titan Media snagged legend Ray Dragon to helm their ManPlay line and, later in the year, Mr. Dragon released his first photobook Real Men from Bruno Gmunder, which also published gorgeous Asian performer Van Darkholme's photobook Male Bondage.
Moving on, stunner Chad Savage bid farewell to the porn industry for a second time. The Chicago Free Press newspaper broke a story involving the shutdown of CocoDorm.com, which operated out of an apartment in Lakeview. As I wrote then, a "cease-and-desist order was delivered on April 20th by the Chicago Department of Public Health to the private residence where various models for CocoDorm.com were filmed for broadcast on the internet." Concerns were raised about safer-sex practices; all charges were hotly disputed by site owner Jakson Robinson.
Another reality-show contestant was revealed to have a gay porn past in early summer when hunky Jonathan of Fox's Unan1mous was identified as "Tino" from a RandyBlue.com stint three years earlier. And I stepped into a mess when I wrote about stateside gay porn producers who were resisting the launch of the European Gay Porn Awards. One of the reasons was a category honoring bareback titles. The EGPA producers weren't very happy with me and I endeavored to present their side of the story. Their inaugural slate of nominees has not been announced (as yet). And that bareback category? Scrubbed.
Other bits and bobs this summer: Celebrity DJ Chi Chi LaRue launched the weekly "Dirty Deeds" raunch-and-roll shindig at Fubar nightclub in West Hollywood. Gay porn's longtime power couple Jason Hawke and Jeremy Jordan split amicably after seven years together. Dragstress RuPaul corralled Owen Hawk, Michael Lucas and Gus Mattox for his indie comedy Starrbooty: Reloaded (look for a DVD release this spring). Painfully handsome South American model Luciano Haas made his directorial debut in Buenos Aires (still awaiting North American distribution). Bodybuilder Ty Fox was lured back to XXX by director Blue Blake, who himself returned to filmmaking after a short-lived retirement. His first film back was MUSCLEMEN MOVING CO. 2, which was also Mr. Fox's bottoming debut (he surrendered the pink to fellow muscleman Dakota James).
And winners of the 16th Annual Gay Chicago Magazine Grabby Awards were announced May 27th during a ceremony at The Vic theatre in Chicago. Rascal's WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS 1-2 snagged four trophies including Best Video, while performers Brad Benton, Johnny Hazzard and Jason Kingsley took two hunks of hardware apiece. Sadly, GCM magazine founder and Grabby producer Ralph Paul Gernhardt was too ill to attend. We lost "Big Daddy Ferguson" after a lengthy battle with lung cancer in early June and his passing touched all of us.
2006: JULY - DECEMBER
The summer heated up with the news that agent David Forest had landed sinfully handsome bodybuilder Tony Da Vinci. Antonio Roca changed his stage name to Rodin Kohl. Falcon Lifetime Exclusive Matthew Rush cameo'ed in the indie queer flick Another Gay Movie. And Aiden Shaw released his memoir, a lighthearted romp airily titled My Undoing: Love in the Thick of Sex, Drugs, Pornography and Prostitution (Carroll & Graf).
Chad Hunt and Michael Lucas ignited a war of words over the summer that stretched through the end of the year. During a promotional appearance at the Union Square Virgin Megastore, which also involved new and gigantically hung Lucas Entertainment Exclusive Ben Andrews, Mr. Hunt walked away from his exclusivity contract when he felt his own endowment was unfavorably compared to the new kid on the block. The two fought, made up and fought again, and made up again in time for the autumn shoot of MICHAEL LUCAS' LA DOLCE VITA. It is all kittens and candy hearts between them again.
In the meantime, on the opposite coast, the Downtown San Francisco Virgin Megastore hosted COLT Men Luke Garrett, Carlo Masi, Gage Weston, Chris Wide and Skye Woods during Gay Pride. Yet another photobook immortalized George Duroy's fabled stable of youthful hotties; The Boys of Bel Ami from Bruno Gmunder (natch) and shutterbug Howard Roffman featured Yves Carradine, Josh Eliot, Tommy Hansen, Brandon Manilow and Marc Vidal (among other beauties) shot on location in South Africa during the production of OUT IN AFRICA 1-3.
While Matthew Rush was onscreen in Another Gay Movie, fellow performers Zak Spears and Bret Wolfe made the gay film festival rounds with small parts in Long Term Relationship (Mr. Wolfe) and Forgiving the Franklins (Mr. Spears), both on DVD by now. And the making-of documentary chronicling Lucas Entertainment's DANGEROUS LIAISONS (More Dangerous) premiered July 22nd at the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival with a panel moderated by Village Voice columnist Michael Musto.
In August, a new solo show titled "A Sophisticated Evening with Jeff Stryker" teamed His Largeness with famed funnyman Bruce Vilanch at the Celebration Theatre in West Hollywood. Performer-director Michael Brandon and COLT Studio honcho John Rutherford were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards handed out by the Free Speech Coalition during the 15th Annual Night of the Stars banquet in Los Angeles (NakedSword.com's Tim Valenti and Sister Roma of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence emceed.)
We lost acclaimed composer Brandy Dalton to AIDS following a 17-year battle. As a solo act and as a member of the trance/electronica band Drance, Mr. Dalton scored many films for MSR Videos and Titan Media, among others. We also said farewell to performer Sean Masters, whose suicide at age 39 shocked the San Francisco scene.
Falcon Studios and Hot House put the PR wheels in their air for their megabudget epics THE VELVET MAFIA and JUSTICE, respectively. Falcon put provocative teasers on YouTube.com while Raging Stallion launched a website contest promising various luxe prizes. Not to be outdone, Michael Lucas was photo'ed by Attitude magazine and was tagged by New York magazine for a profile. He also returned to Israel at the end of September for a publicity tour that caught the attention of right-wing bloggers who denounced Mr. Lucas' intentions.
New Zealand produced their first-ever homegrown gay porn flick titled JOHN from Glitter Films and featuring James L. West, a handsome 25-year-old recruited from a newspaper advertisement. Vet director Kristen Bjorn left his longtime home base of Miami and relocated to Barcelona. Raging Stallion Studios headed into the tropics for LORDS OF THE JUNGLE featuring two of the more handsome members of 2006's amazing freshmen class of African-American models, Marc LaSalle and Rambo (all muscle and tattoos and glowering bravado). Brian Hansen and Brad Patton announced they'd fallen in love and begun dating upon completion of their scene together in Buckshot's MANLY HEAT two-parter and everyone instantly turned green with envy. Don't try to deny it, bitches.
Longtime partners Damon DeMarco and Hunter James, meanwhile, announced their separation. This came on the heels of Hunter & Damon: Doing It Together, an "erotic documentary" from Comstock Films chronicling their romance and sex life together. Heading back overseas, HeatGay 2006, shorthand for the gay portion of the 14th Annual Barcelona International Festival of Erotic Cinema, handed out inaugural awards October 4th. Among the winners were COLT Studio with five trophies (golden cocks attached to a wooden base; try explaining that to Homeland Security).
Gay porn awards fever continued stateside with the 1st Annual International Escort Awards in New York City. Talvin DeMachio took Best Escort and other winners from GayPornLand included Ben Andrews, Tommy DeLuca, Adam Faust, Arpad Miklos and Josh Weston. The 7th Annual Cybersocket Web Awards honored FalconStudios.com as well as GayPornBlog.com, PierreFitchOnline.com and NakedSword.com.
The autumn gossip bonanza continued as publicist and bon vivant Jason Sechrest of JasonCurious.com parted ways with Micky's nightclub in West Hollywood and walked away from the "Cocktails with the Stars" weekly meet-and-greet. It was not a friendly parting. Cybersocket editor Scott Boardman took over (previous hosts include the late Johnny Rey, Will Clark and Grant Wood.) Mr. Sechest started "The X Show" at Rage nightclub right down the block from Micky's, the naughty scamp, but by year's end he'd pulled the plug on it.
Elsewhere, Rod Barry appeared on Howard Stern's Sirius satellite radio show. Spencer Quest left Titan Media upon the expiration of his exclusivity contract and joined the loving arms of Lucas Entertainment and the off-Broadway cast of "Naked Boys Singing." Mr. Quest is the second of our boys to tread the boards following Gus Mattox's casting in a Philadelphia engagement of Terrence McNally's new play "Some Men." Back in San Francisco, Jake Deckard was named Raging Stallion's Man of the Year for 2007, Erik Rhodes appeared on the cover of Gay Times magazine. And Italian Stallion Johnny Hanson resurfaced with a nonsex cameo in Lucas Entertainment's MICHAEL LUCAS' LA DOLCE VITA and returned to onscreen sexing at year's end.
This week's column is bulging at the seams and we haven't even covered the Marcus Allen scandal. More on that one later this month when he returns to a Colorado courtroom for a preliminary hearing as he faces charges of felony murder and aggravated robbery. And with that, we finally bid adieu to 2006. Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.
Porn Star Birthdays for January 8 through January 14: Nicholas Babral, Vance Bajnok, Pietro Cattani, Brett Collins, Nick Nicaste, Jason Ryder, Max Schneider, Dale South, Bobby Tyler (January 8); Agustin Agar, Renato Bellagio, Angel Castaneda, Franco Di Ostia, Joe Gallagher, Tony Mecelli, Clayton Romero, Tony Stevens (January 9); Matt Cook, Shawn Islander, Trevor Knight, Rick LaFonte, Pablo Picaco, Justin Roxx, Titan, Andy Zee (January 10); B.J. Bratt, Chad Donovan, Gerardo, Sebastian Gronoff, Josh Holiday, Doug Jeffries, Cameron Sage, Kurt Stefano, Jeremy Tucker, Jeremy West, Rick West (January 11); Paul Barresi, Eric Carter, Kai Cruz, Peter Ericson, Tommy Lawrence, Brad McGuire, Attila Sipos, Richard Well (January 12); Nathan Hamilton, Rodney Parks, Patrick St. Martin (January 13). Ivan Andros, Jake Butler, Christopher Fleur de Lis, Ray Harley, Fabian Harri, Junito, Kirk Kelley, Brayden Knight, Mike Vespa (January 14).
J.C. Adams has covered the gay adult entertainment industry since 1995, and has served as the editor of "Inside Porn Magazine," "Unzipped Monthly" and the Adam Gay Video Directory. 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 - 2006, 2007
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The Adams Report by J.C. Adams
January 8 - 14, 2007
It's quiet and the mice are out to play in GayPornLand as industryites pack up for the Adult Entertainment Expo January 10th-13th at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas. And there will be some action soon following the announcement of the GAYVN nominations. In the meantime we wrap our look back at the crazysexycool antics of 2006.
2006: APRIL - JUNE
The nutball GAYVN Awards only served as an amuse bouche of sorts for the gay adult's springtime antics. Popular newcomer Joey Milano polarized the biz with the news that he had filmed a bareback title for SX Video and an exclusive interview he gave this column briefly fanned the flames of controversy. The March-April issue of the Gay & Lesbian Review contained a controversial essay by novelist John Rechy titled "Tom of Finland: Sexual Liberator?" In the piece, Mr. Rechy explored the use of Nazi imagery in Tom of Finland's artwork and its implications.
Elsewhere, Chi Chi LaRue was a featured speaker April 8th at Awareness Days sponsored by the Diverse Sexuality and Gender Alliance of Johns Hopkins University. And Michael Lucas took part in the Queer Media Alliance April 14th-16th at the Tribeca Film Center in New York. He and his PR "mistress" Heather Reznor sat on a panel titled "The Digital Skin Trade: Creating & Distributing Adult Content."
Superstar Ken Ryker made the rounds in Los Angeles in May (via agent David Forest) and although he's available for personal appearances the reclusive legend has yet to settle on a new project; same deal for Billy Brandt, although he had Falcon's FROM TOP TO BOTTOM this year. Writer/director Thor Stephans launched EMVchannel.com, a VOD website of "erotic music videos" and would move on, later in the year, to the VOD chat show "The Money Shot Report" at TheMoneyShotReport.com with producer Brett Drysdale and the inimitable Brad Benton.
On an episode of Tori Spelling's VH1 show So noTORIous she visited the Pleasure Chest adult store in West Hollywood and grabbed the 14-inch COLT Thruster. Attagirl! Roman Heart was named "Freshman of the Year" by Freshmen magazine, another feather in his cap after snagging the Best Newcomer GAYVN trophy and beating out an imposingly competitive field that included Benjamin Bradley, Tober Brandt, Jake Deckard, Alex Fuerte, Derrick Hanson, Huessein, Andy Kirra, Pete Ross, François Sagat, Jason Tiya and Chris Wide. (Sister mag Men would later name Zeb Atlas their "Man of the Year," and for the second time, to boot.)
On the magazine stands, Rod Barry and Eddie Stone appeared in ID magazine while a quartet of Falcon stars—Roman Heart, Ethan Kage, Erik Rhodes and Matthew Rush—were photo'ed by Aaron Cobbett for the June issue of Genre magazine and Michael Lucas was snapped for Asian Vogue and Dansk magazines together with legendary model Carmen Dell'Orifice.
On April 24th, Channel 1 Releasing sent shockwaves through the industry when they acquired rival studio All Worlds Video. The stunning news made Channel 1 the largest gay-owned and -operated company in the world. That wasn't the only gay adult company changing hands in 2006; producer Scott Masters and director John Travis, both industry founders, retired and sold their Studio 2000 to new owner David McKay.
I landed a hot scoop in May when I tracked down Falcon legend Mike Branson. Turns out the gorgeous stud, still hugely popular, put himself through engineering school with his porn money and is living a quiet life with no interest in returning to the spotlight. Details magazine put bad-boy writer Mark Simpson on the ActiveDuty.com controversy involving the 82nd Airborne. Titan Media snagged legend Ray Dragon to helm their ManPlay line and, later in the year, Mr. Dragon released his first photobook Real Men from Bruno Gmunder, which also published gorgeous Asian performer Van Darkholme's photobook Male Bondage.
Moving on, stunner Chad Savage bid farewell to the porn industry for a second time. The Chicago Free Press newspaper broke a story involving the shutdown of CocoDorm.com, which operated out of an apartment in Lakeview. As I wrote then, a "cease-and-desist order was delivered on April 20th by the Chicago Department of Public Health to the private residence where various models for CocoDorm.com were filmed for broadcast on the internet." Concerns were raised about safer-sex practices; all charges were hotly disputed by site owner Jakson Robinson.
Another reality-show contestant was revealed to have a gay porn past in early summer when hunky Jonathan of Fox's Unan1mous was identified as "Tino" from a RandyBlue.com stint three years earlier. And I stepped into a mess when I wrote about stateside gay porn producers who were resisting the launch of the European Gay Porn Awards. One of the reasons was a category honoring bareback titles. The EGPA producers weren't very happy with me and I endeavored to present their side of the story. Their inaugural slate of nominees has not been announced (as yet). And that bareback category? Scrubbed.
Other bits and bobs this summer: Celebrity DJ Chi Chi LaRue launched the weekly "Dirty Deeds" raunch-and-roll shindig at Fubar nightclub in West Hollywood. Gay porn's longtime power couple Jason Hawke and Jeremy Jordan split amicably after seven years together. Dragstress RuPaul corralled Owen Hawk, Michael Lucas and Gus Mattox for his indie comedy Starrbooty: Reloaded (look for a DVD release this spring). Painfully handsome South American model Luciano Haas made his directorial debut in Buenos Aires (still awaiting North American distribution). Bodybuilder Ty Fox was lured back to XXX by director Blue Blake, who himself returned to filmmaking after a short-lived retirement. His first film back was MUSCLEMEN MOVING CO. 2, which was also Mr. Fox's bottoming debut (he surrendered the pink to fellow muscleman Dakota James).
And winners of the 16th Annual Gay Chicago Magazine Grabby Awards were announced May 27th during a ceremony at The Vic theatre in Chicago. Rascal's WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS 1-2 snagged four trophies including Best Video, while performers Brad Benton, Johnny Hazzard and Jason Kingsley took two hunks of hardware apiece. Sadly, GCM magazine founder and Grabby producer Ralph Paul Gernhardt was too ill to attend. We lost "Big Daddy Ferguson" after a lengthy battle with lung cancer in early June and his passing touched all of us.
2006: JULY - DECEMBER
The summer heated up with the news that agent David Forest had landed sinfully handsome bodybuilder Tony Da Vinci. Antonio Roca changed his stage name to Rodin Kohl. Falcon Lifetime Exclusive Matthew Rush cameo'ed in the indie queer flick Another Gay Movie. And Aiden Shaw released his memoir, a lighthearted romp airily titled My Undoing: Love in the Thick of Sex, Drugs, Pornography and Prostitution (Carroll & Graf).
Chad Hunt and Michael Lucas ignited a war of words over the summer that stretched through the end of the year. During a promotional appearance at the Union Square Virgin Megastore, which also involved new and gigantically hung Lucas Entertainment Exclusive Ben Andrews, Mr. Hunt walked away from his exclusivity contract when he felt his own endowment was unfavorably compared to the new kid on the block. The two fought, made up and fought again, and made up again in time for the autumn shoot of MICHAEL LUCAS' LA DOLCE VITA. It is all kittens and candy hearts between them again.
In the meantime, on the opposite coast, the Downtown San Francisco Virgin Megastore hosted COLT Men Luke Garrett, Carlo Masi, Gage Weston, Chris Wide and Skye Woods during Gay Pride. Yet another photobook immortalized George Duroy's fabled stable of youthful hotties; The Boys of Bel Ami from Bruno Gmunder (natch) and shutterbug Howard Roffman featured Yves Carradine, Josh Eliot, Tommy Hansen, Brandon Manilow and Marc Vidal (among other beauties) shot on location in South Africa during the production of OUT IN AFRICA 1-3.
While Matthew Rush was onscreen in Another Gay Movie, fellow performers Zak Spears and Bret Wolfe made the gay film festival rounds with small parts in Long Term Relationship (Mr. Wolfe) and Forgiving the Franklins (Mr. Spears), both on DVD by now. And the making-of documentary chronicling Lucas Entertainment's DANGEROUS LIAISONS (More Dangerous) premiered July 22nd at the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival with a panel moderated by Village Voice columnist Michael Musto.
In August, a new solo show titled "A Sophisticated Evening with Jeff Stryker" teamed His Largeness with famed funnyman Bruce Vilanch at the Celebration Theatre in West Hollywood. Performer-director Michael Brandon and COLT Studio honcho John Rutherford were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards handed out by the Free Speech Coalition during the 15th Annual Night of the Stars banquet in Los Angeles (NakedSword.com's Tim Valenti and Sister Roma of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence emceed.)
We lost acclaimed composer Brandy Dalton to AIDS following a 17-year battle. As a solo act and as a member of the trance/electronica band Drance, Mr. Dalton scored many films for MSR Videos and Titan Media, among others. We also said farewell to performer Sean Masters, whose suicide at age 39 shocked the San Francisco scene.
Falcon Studios and Hot House put the PR wheels in their air for their megabudget epics THE VELVET MAFIA and JUSTICE, respectively. Falcon put provocative teasers on YouTube.com while Raging Stallion launched a website contest promising various luxe prizes. Not to be outdone, Michael Lucas was photo'ed by Attitude magazine and was tagged by New York magazine for a profile. He also returned to Israel at the end of September for a publicity tour that caught the attention of right-wing bloggers who denounced Mr. Lucas' intentions.
New Zealand produced their first-ever homegrown gay porn flick titled JOHN from Glitter Films and featuring James L. West, a handsome 25-year-old recruited from a newspaper advertisement. Vet director Kristen Bjorn left his longtime home base of Miami and relocated to Barcelona. Raging Stallion Studios headed into the tropics for LORDS OF THE JUNGLE featuring two of the more handsome members of 2006's amazing freshmen class of African-American models, Marc LaSalle and Rambo (all muscle and tattoos and glowering bravado). Brian Hansen and Brad Patton announced they'd fallen in love and begun dating upon completion of their scene together in Buckshot's MANLY HEAT two-parter and everyone instantly turned green with envy. Don't try to deny it, bitches.
Longtime partners Damon DeMarco and Hunter James, meanwhile, announced their separation. This came on the heels of Hunter & Damon: Doing It Together, an "erotic documentary" from Comstock Films chronicling their romance and sex life together. Heading back overseas, HeatGay 2006, shorthand for the gay portion of the 14th Annual Barcelona International Festival of Erotic Cinema, handed out inaugural awards October 4th. Among the winners were COLT Studio with five trophies (golden cocks attached to a wooden base; try explaining that to Homeland Security).
Gay porn awards fever continued stateside with the 1st Annual International Escort Awards in New York City. Talvin DeMachio took Best Escort and other winners from GayPornLand included Ben Andrews, Tommy DeLuca, Adam Faust, Arpad Miklos and Josh Weston. The 7th Annual Cybersocket Web Awards honored FalconStudios.com as well as GayPornBlog.com, PierreFitchOnline.com and NakedSword.com.
The autumn gossip bonanza continued as publicist and bon vivant Jason Sechrest of JasonCurious.com parted ways with Micky's nightclub in West Hollywood and walked away from the "Cocktails with the Stars" weekly meet-and-greet. It was not a friendly parting. Cybersocket editor Scott Boardman took over (previous hosts include the late Johnny Rey, Will Clark and Grant Wood.) Mr. Sechest started "The X Show" at Rage nightclub right down the block from Micky's, the naughty scamp, but by year's end he'd pulled the plug on it.
Elsewhere, Rod Barry appeared on Howard Stern's Sirius satellite radio show. Spencer Quest left Titan Media upon the expiration of his exclusivity contract and joined the loving arms of Lucas Entertainment and the off-Broadway cast of "Naked Boys Singing." Mr. Quest is the second of our boys to tread the boards following Gus Mattox's casting in a Philadelphia engagement of Terrence McNally's new play "Some Men." Back in San Francisco, Jake Deckard was named Raging Stallion's Man of the Year for 2007, Erik Rhodes appeared on the cover of Gay Times magazine. And Italian Stallion Johnny Hanson resurfaced with a nonsex cameo in Lucas Entertainment's MICHAEL LUCAS' LA DOLCE VITA and returned to onscreen sexing at year's end.
This week's column is bulging at the seams and we haven't even covered the Marcus Allen scandal. More on that one later this month when he returns to a Colorado courtroom for a preliminary hearing as he faces charges of felony murder and aggravated robbery. And with that, we finally bid adieu to 2006. Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.
Porn Star Birthdays for January 8 through January 14: Nicholas Babral, Vance Bajnok, Pietro Cattani, Brett Collins, Nick Nicaste, Jason Ryder, Max Schneider, Dale South, Bobby Tyler (January 8); Agustin Agar, Renato Bellagio, Angel Castaneda, Franco Di Ostia, Joe Gallagher, Tony Mecelli, Clayton Romero, Tony Stevens (January 9); Matt Cook, Shawn Islander, Trevor Knight, Rick LaFonte, Pablo Picaco, Justin Roxx, Titan, Andy Zee (January 10); B.J. Bratt, Chad Donovan, Gerardo, Sebastian Gronoff, Josh Holiday, Doug Jeffries, Cameron Sage, Kurt Stefano, Jeremy Tucker, Jeremy West, Rick West (January 11); Paul Barresi, Eric Carter, Kai Cruz, Peter Ericson, Tommy Lawrence, Brad McGuire, Attila Sipos, Richard Well (January 12); Nathan Hamilton, Rodney Parks, Patrick St. Martin (January 13). Ivan Andros, Jake Butler, Christopher Fleur de Lis, Ray Harley, Fabian Harri, Junito, Kirk Kelley, Brayden Knight, Mike Vespa (January 14).
J.C. Adams has covered the gay adult entertainment industry since 1995, and has served as the editor of "Inside Porn Magazine," "Unzipped Monthly" and the Adam Gay Video Directory. 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 - 2006, 2007
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Labels: Brad Benton, CocoDorm, EGPA, GAYVNs, Joey Milano, Marcus Allen, Matthew Rush, Mike Branson, obituaries, Timothy Boham
Thursday, January 11, 2007
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BREAKING NEWS: 9th Annual GAYVN Noms Announced
MICHAEL LUCAS' LA DOLCE VITA & COLT Studio Group Lead Among Films, Studios
CHATSWORTH, CA -- The 9th Annual GAYVN nominations were announced this evening and MICHAEL LUCAS' LA DOLCE VITA for Lucas Entertainment leads all films with 14 citations in an equal number of categories, including Best Picture. The COLT Studio Group tops all gay adult companies with 22 overall nods.
One year ago, Lucas Entertainment's DANGEROUS LIAISONS earned four GAYVN trophies, including a tie for Best Picture.
Following MICHAEL LUCAS' LA DOLCE VITA, and tied with 12 nominations apiece, are BIG RIG (Buckshot Productions), JUSTICE (Hot House) and THE VELVET MAFIA (Falcon Studios). All three additionally earned Best Picture citations.
Following COLT's 22 overall nominations is Channel 1 Releasing with 20 nods. Falcon, Hot House and Titan Media each earned 18 citations. In total, 77 separate companies have been nominated in 37 categories.
Fellow nominees joining BIG RIG, LA DOLCE VITA, JUSTICE and THE VELVET MAFIA in the race for Best Picture include ARCADE ON ROUTE 9 (Titan); BOOT BLACK BLUES (Buckshot Productions); DELINQUENTS (All Worlds Video); FIRE DANCE (Sarava Productions); GOING UNDER (Jet Set Productions); and LORDS OF THE JUNGLE (Raging Stallion Studios).
Best Newcomer nominees are Tommy Blade, Matt Cole, Damien Crosse, Franceso D'Macho, Double R, Jeremy Hall, Brant Moore, Damon Phoenix, Danny Roddick and Diesel Washington.
Nominees for the prestigious GAYVN Performer of the Year are Rafael Alencar, Benjamin Bradley, Matt Cole, Jake Deckard, Trevor Knight, Kyle Lewis, Dean Monroe, Brad Patton, Erik Rhodes, Spencer Quest, François Sagat and Jason Tiya.
Winners will be revealed Saturday, February 24th at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. Stay tuned for complete analysis of the 9th Annual GAYVN nominations.
Official site: GAYVN.com: "2007 GAYVN Awards Nominations Announced"
Official site: GAYVNawards.com: "2007 Nominations"
BREAKING NEWS: 9th Annual GAYVN Noms AnnouncedMICHAEL LUCAS' LA DOLCE VITA & COLT Studio Group Lead Among Films, Studios
CHATSWORTH, CA -- The 9th Annual GAYVN nominations were announced this evening and MICHAEL LUCAS' LA DOLCE VITA for Lucas Entertainment leads all films with 14 citations in an equal number of categories, including Best Picture. The COLT Studio Group tops all gay adult companies with 22 overall nods.
One year ago, Lucas Entertainment's DANGEROUS LIAISONS earned four GAYVN trophies, including a tie for Best Picture.
Following MICHAEL LUCAS' LA DOLCE VITA, and tied with 12 nominations apiece, are BIG RIG (Buckshot Productions), JUSTICE (Hot House) and THE VELVET MAFIA (Falcon Studios). All three additionally earned Best Picture citations.
Following COLT's 22 overall nominations is Channel 1 Releasing with 20 nods. Falcon, Hot House and Titan Media each earned 18 citations. In total, 77 separate companies have been nominated in 37 categories.
Fellow nominees joining BIG RIG, LA DOLCE VITA, JUSTICE and THE VELVET MAFIA in the race for Best Picture include ARCADE ON ROUTE 9 (Titan); BOOT BLACK BLUES (Buckshot Productions); DELINQUENTS (All Worlds Video); FIRE DANCE (Sarava Productions); GOING UNDER (Jet Set Productions); and LORDS OF THE JUNGLE (Raging Stallion Studios).Best Newcomer nominees are Tommy Blade, Matt Cole, Damien Crosse, Franceso D'Macho, Double R, Jeremy Hall, Brant Moore, Damon Phoenix, Danny Roddick and Diesel Washington.
Nominees for the prestigious GAYVN Performer of the Year are Rafael Alencar, Benjamin Bradley, Matt Cole, Jake Deckard, Trevor Knight, Kyle Lewis, Dean Monroe, Brad Patton, Erik Rhodes, Spencer Quest, François Sagat and Jason Tiya.
Winners will be revealed Saturday, February 24th at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. Stay tuned for complete analysis of the 9th Annual GAYVN nominations.
Official site: GAYVN.com: "2007 GAYVN Awards Nominations Announced"
Official site: GAYVNawards.com: "2007 Nominations"
Labels: GAYVNs
Sunday, January 07, 2007
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The Adams Report by J.C. Adams
January 1 - 7, 2006
For this first Adams Report by JC Adams of 2007 we're actually taking a look back at the previous year in GayPornLand. To quote Alanis M., we'll briefly revisit the conflicts, the craziness and the sound of pretenses falling all around... Once the holidays are squared away, January will be spent wrapping up our examination of the year's best porn and the top-notch performers who made 2006 such a pleasure. Cheers!
2006: JAN-FEB-MARCH
We lost far too many of our own this year. In the early months of 2006, we bid a sad farewell to performer-director Johnny Rey, who passed from cancer and AIDS-related ailments January 18th at the young age of 42 years. We also suddenly and shockingly lost performer Austin Black in early March; he was just 43 years old and complications from liver cancer was the cause. And it was in March that I sadly confirmed the death of 28-year-old Devon Barry the previous August; cause of death has not been officially established.
In January, directrix Chi Chi's LaRue's multimedia assault on the mainstream included debating anchorette Rita Cosby on MSNBC and praising John Waters in an episode of AMC's Movies That Shook the World. Soon to come: The release of his photobook warning! and a layout in Paper magazine that included Luca DiCorso, Johnny Hazzard and Eddie Stone. Mr. DiCorso earned a pretty feather for his cap when he was prominently featured in mainstream magazine adverts for Tom Ford Eyewear (and was handpicked by the diva himself for the shoot). Ms. LaRue also turned up on an episode of the WE: Women's Entertainment network documentary series The Secret Lives of Women and controversially broke from Vivid Entertainment when the mega-company dropped their condoms-only policy.
Elsewhere, Jacob Slader (soon to share a Best Oral Scene GAYVN trophy for Falcon's BANG! BANG!) announced he was moving to Japan, changed his mind, changed it back again, and then landed halfway in Hawaii, where he can be found today. Brandon Lee also took a break from the biz to attend flight school. DOWN THE DRAIN, Rod Barry's directorial debut, finally arrived from All Worlds Video and introduced a new star to the world—Mason Wyler, whose Abercrombie good looks and sleepy baby-blues set hearts thumping and stiffened cocks planetwide.
GayPornLand graduate Wash West shocked the Sundance Film Festival when his Quinceanera (written and directed with Richard Glatzer) won both the audience award and the grand jury prize as the festival concluded. The indie flick was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics and released in August, eventually taking in a respectable $1.7 million bucks. Most newspaper and magazine profiles went out of their way to mention Mr. West's porn past.
Elsewhere, legendary director Jean-Daniel Cadinot finished his memoirs but couldn't find a North American publisher (he still hasn't). Lucas Entertainment Exclusive Wilifred Knight cameo'd in Madonna's "Hung Up" video. The "Yale Journal of Law and Feminism" brought in Michael Lucas as a featured speaker (his second visit to Yale). And Owen Hawk was named NakedSword.com's NakedSwordsman of the Year.
There was a big scandal in February: "The Army has formally charged seven paratroopers from the famed 82nd Airborne Division with participating in filmed sex acts for money," I wrote then. "Three of the soldiers will face courts-martial on sodomy and pandering charges; four others will receive 'nonjudicial punishments' which can include 'reduction to the rank of private, 45 days of restriction to the unit area, 45 days of extra duty and forfeiture of a month's pay,' according to a report. Additionally, all seven soldiers face discharge. The soldiers appeared on a website whose registered owner's address is Fayetteville, North Carolina, the city adjoining the Fort Bragg home base of the 82nd Airborne. That website has not been publicly named but is believed to be Dink Flamingo's ActiveDuty.com."
That wasn't the only big news: Performer Supreme and performer-director Matthias von Fistenberg were arrested and handcuffed by New Rochelle, New York police officers on the set of the Dark Alley Media/Pitbull Productions film THE SHOW. Both were briefly jailed on grounds of public lewdness and quickly released. They had been filming inside a mansion and had the fuzz summoned by a nosy neighbor.
February was a big month for GayPornLand. As I wrote, the "big-big-REALLY-big news this week had everyone on pins and needles awaiting the outcome of the David Forest trial. The uber-agent was charged with two charges apiece of pimping and pandering that carried a maximum of twelve years in prison if he was found guilty. The jury deliberated for three full days and the grapevine was thrumming back and forth and back again as GayPornLand awaited the verdict. It finally arrived: Not guilty on all counts."
Oh, but that's not all! Lucas Entertainment's Michael Lucas scandalized the industry, as well as the mainstream gossip world, when he signed John Paulus to an exclusive contract. This year Mr. Paulus enjoyed his 15 minutes of tabloid infamy thanks to an alleged bareback tryst with singer Clay Aiken. Check out the goods in MICHAEL LUCAS' AUDITIONS VOL.8: SCANDALOUS.
In March, longtime porn reviewer Vincent Lambert stepped behind the camera for the first time to direct a scene in Lucas Entertainment's ENCOUNTERS 2 and was inspired to do so, in part, by (blush...) me! Ex-performer çAndrew Bryant (Falcon's CROSS COUNTRY 1 and DRIVER), whose real name is Josh Weast, had his porn past uncovered and was subsequently fired from his position as a coach at Mater Dei Catholic High School in Breese, Illinois. And Raging Stallion honcho Chris Ward released MANIFESTO, his 100th film as director.
COLT Studio cutely sent out copies of MAN COUNTRY in little wooden trays filled with hay. The Falcon titles BEEFCAKE and UP ALL NIGHT featured the return of Tyler Hill to XXX after a seven-year absence, newly bulked up with all kinds of tanned muscle. Director Mike Esser moved down under and released the first of his acclaimed Australian titles, ALPHA MALES ONLINE (and followed at year's end by PACIFIC ROOT, both of which featured the model-gorgeous blond hunk Rick Chester). Former Blue Blake bodybuilder Tony Cage, already modestly famous for an episode of MTV's True Life during which he bragged about his calf implants, appeared on an episode of daytime yakker Tyra with his new wife and loudly renounced his gay past.
Titan Media introduced Cole Ryan, a young buck with a lean physique and apple cheeks who actually lost his virginity on camera during a scene with Troy Moore in CLOSED SET: TITAN STAGE ONE; he soon left Titan and began racking up notches on his bedpost for other studios. Porn pups Caleb Carter and Trevor Matthews (both from RAD Video's FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS, which I directed) appeared as themselves, and posed as boyfriends, for an episode of MTV's Parental Control reality-dating series; the episode was so popular that MTV snagged Mr. Carter later in the year for an episode of their True Life documentary series. And Gus Mattox broke a thousand hearts when announced his retirement soon after winning the prestigious GAYVN Performer of the Year title.
Oh, yes, the GAYVN Awards. Hmmm...nothing happened there. Just a rowdy party filled with rather shocking wins and one very controversial tie for Best Picture: Lucas Entertainment's DANGEROUS LIAISONS with Rascal Video's WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS 1-2.
As I wrote back in March, "(t)o say it was a rowdy zoo would be an understatement. Did someone spike the punch? ...The crowd (well-lubricated after two hours of boozing and schmoozing) gasped as one when presenter Dean Phoenix announced the stunning tie. Moments later, bedlam nearly broke loose when LIAISONS producer/director Michael Lucas took the stage and had ice thrown at him by an irate audience member. 'Fuck you to everyone who didn't vote for me!' he declared from the podium to equal parts applause and boos.
" 'Well, thank you to everyone who voted for ME,' exclaimed WRONG SIDE... producer/director Chi Chi LaRue. In a nod to their ongoing publicity war in the press, directrix LaRue thanked Mr. Lucas for being 'the best press agent a girl could have all year long. He mentioned me [on his blog] more than he [mentioned] himself!'"
The war of words spilled over into this column, GAYVN.com, Fleshbot.com, GayPornBlog.com, Mark Adams' Video View and elsewhere. Turns out it was Raging Stallion's JD Slater who tossed the cubes at Mr. Lucas, who himself maintained he was only joking and was trying to rile up the crowd for laughs. Everyone argued awhile longer and then publicly kissed and made up in multiple press releases. Ah, the drama! And it was barely springtime.
Porn Star Birthdays for January 1 through January 7: Andel, Scott Daniels, Alexi Ferrera, John Marcus, Dixon Parker, Tom Southern, Scott Williams (January 1); DC Chandler, Josh Hammer, Bruce Hill, Ricky Martinez, Claudio Meneses, Mikey, Mike Vista (January 2); Dirk Adams, Tim Bruno, Rick Estephan, Lorice Jackman, Mark Long, Ben Mason, Eddie Moreno, David Pierre, Tanner Reeves, Luis Sanchez, T.J., Jean Walace, Todd Winters (January 3); Anton, Michael Cooper, Kent Michaels, Lucas Rally, Sean Sullivan, Lorenzo Vargas (January 4); Rick Fernandi, Marc Hamilton, Johnny Rider, Hunter Scott, Eric Wood (January 5); Big Blue, Gerardo Cortez, Mirko, Niko, Robert Razo, Nick Young (January 6); Laurence Cain, Jon Christian, Seth Cullen, Kris Kole, Kane O'Farrell, Tristan Paris, Vasco Roriz, Bobby Williams, B.J. Woods (January 7).
J.C. Adams has covered the gay adult entertainment industry since 1995, and has served as the editor of "Inside Porn Magazine," "Unzipped Monthly" and the Adam Gay Video Directory. 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 - 2006
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The Adams Report by J.C. Adams
January 1 - 7, 2006
For this first Adams Report by JC Adams of 2007 we're actually taking a look back at the previous year in GayPornLand. To quote Alanis M., we'll briefly revisit the conflicts, the craziness and the sound of pretenses falling all around... Once the holidays are squared away, January will be spent wrapping up our examination of the year's best porn and the top-notch performers who made 2006 such a pleasure. Cheers!
2006: JAN-FEB-MARCH
We lost far too many of our own this year. In the early months of 2006, we bid a sad farewell to performer-director Johnny Rey, who passed from cancer and AIDS-related ailments January 18th at the young age of 42 years. We also suddenly and shockingly lost performer Austin Black in early March; he was just 43 years old and complications from liver cancer was the cause. And it was in March that I sadly confirmed the death of 28-year-old Devon Barry the previous August; cause of death has not been officially established.
In January, directrix Chi Chi's LaRue's multimedia assault on the mainstream included debating anchorette Rita Cosby on MSNBC and praising John Waters in an episode of AMC's Movies That Shook the World. Soon to come: The release of his photobook warning! and a layout in Paper magazine that included Luca DiCorso, Johnny Hazzard and Eddie Stone. Mr. DiCorso earned a pretty feather for his cap when he was prominently featured in mainstream magazine adverts for Tom Ford Eyewear (and was handpicked by the diva himself for the shoot). Ms. LaRue also turned up on an episode of the WE: Women's Entertainment network documentary series The Secret Lives of Women and controversially broke from Vivid Entertainment when the mega-company dropped their condoms-only policy.
Elsewhere, Jacob Slader (soon to share a Best Oral Scene GAYVN trophy for Falcon's BANG! BANG!) announced he was moving to Japan, changed his mind, changed it back again, and then landed halfway in Hawaii, where he can be found today. Brandon Lee also took a break from the biz to attend flight school. DOWN THE DRAIN, Rod Barry's directorial debut, finally arrived from All Worlds Video and introduced a new star to the world—Mason Wyler, whose Abercrombie good looks and sleepy baby-blues set hearts thumping and stiffened cocks planetwide.
GayPornLand graduate Wash West shocked the Sundance Film Festival when his Quinceanera (written and directed with Richard Glatzer) won both the audience award and the grand jury prize as the festival concluded. The indie flick was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics and released in August, eventually taking in a respectable $1.7 million bucks. Most newspaper and magazine profiles went out of their way to mention Mr. West's porn past.
Elsewhere, legendary director Jean-Daniel Cadinot finished his memoirs but couldn't find a North American publisher (he still hasn't). Lucas Entertainment Exclusive Wilifred Knight cameo'd in Madonna's "Hung Up" video. The "Yale Journal of Law and Feminism" brought in Michael Lucas as a featured speaker (his second visit to Yale). And Owen Hawk was named NakedSword.com's NakedSwordsman of the Year.
There was a big scandal in February: "The Army has formally charged seven paratroopers from the famed 82nd Airborne Division with participating in filmed sex acts for money," I wrote then. "Three of the soldiers will face courts-martial on sodomy and pandering charges; four others will receive 'nonjudicial punishments' which can include 'reduction to the rank of private, 45 days of restriction to the unit area, 45 days of extra duty and forfeiture of a month's pay,' according to a report. Additionally, all seven soldiers face discharge. The soldiers appeared on a website whose registered owner's address is Fayetteville, North Carolina, the city adjoining the Fort Bragg home base of the 82nd Airborne. That website has not been publicly named but is believed to be Dink Flamingo's ActiveDuty.com."
That wasn't the only big news: Performer Supreme and performer-director Matthias von Fistenberg were arrested and handcuffed by New Rochelle, New York police officers on the set of the Dark Alley Media/Pitbull Productions film THE SHOW. Both were briefly jailed on grounds of public lewdness and quickly released. They had been filming inside a mansion and had the fuzz summoned by a nosy neighbor.
February was a big month for GayPornLand. As I wrote, the "big-big-REALLY-big news this week had everyone on pins and needles awaiting the outcome of the David Forest trial. The uber-agent was charged with two charges apiece of pimping and pandering that carried a maximum of twelve years in prison if he was found guilty. The jury deliberated for three full days and the grapevine was thrumming back and forth and back again as GayPornLand awaited the verdict. It finally arrived: Not guilty on all counts."
Oh, but that's not all! Lucas Entertainment's Michael Lucas scandalized the industry, as well as the mainstream gossip world, when he signed John Paulus to an exclusive contract. This year Mr. Paulus enjoyed his 15 minutes of tabloid infamy thanks to an alleged bareback tryst with singer Clay Aiken. Check out the goods in MICHAEL LUCAS' AUDITIONS VOL.8: SCANDALOUS.
In March, longtime porn reviewer Vincent Lambert stepped behind the camera for the first time to direct a scene in Lucas Entertainment's ENCOUNTERS 2 and was inspired to do so, in part, by (blush...) me! Ex-performer çAndrew Bryant (Falcon's CROSS COUNTRY 1 and DRIVER), whose real name is Josh Weast, had his porn past uncovered and was subsequently fired from his position as a coach at Mater Dei Catholic High School in Breese, Illinois. And Raging Stallion honcho Chris Ward released MANIFESTO, his 100th film as director.
COLT Studio cutely sent out copies of MAN COUNTRY in little wooden trays filled with hay. The Falcon titles BEEFCAKE and UP ALL NIGHT featured the return of Tyler Hill to XXX after a seven-year absence, newly bulked up with all kinds of tanned muscle. Director Mike Esser moved down under and released the first of his acclaimed Australian titles, ALPHA MALES ONLINE (and followed at year's end by PACIFIC ROOT, both of which featured the model-gorgeous blond hunk Rick Chester). Former Blue Blake bodybuilder Tony Cage, already modestly famous for an episode of MTV's True Life during which he bragged about his calf implants, appeared on an episode of daytime yakker Tyra with his new wife and loudly renounced his gay past.
Titan Media introduced Cole Ryan, a young buck with a lean physique and apple cheeks who actually lost his virginity on camera during a scene with Troy Moore in CLOSED SET: TITAN STAGE ONE; he soon left Titan and began racking up notches on his bedpost for other studios. Porn pups Caleb Carter and Trevor Matthews (both from RAD Video's FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS, which I directed) appeared as themselves, and posed as boyfriends, for an episode of MTV's Parental Control reality-dating series; the episode was so popular that MTV snagged Mr. Carter later in the year for an episode of their True Life documentary series. And Gus Mattox broke a thousand hearts when announced his retirement soon after winning the prestigious GAYVN Performer of the Year title.
Oh, yes, the GAYVN Awards. Hmmm...nothing happened there. Just a rowdy party filled with rather shocking wins and one very controversial tie for Best Picture: Lucas Entertainment's DANGEROUS LIAISONS with Rascal Video's WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS 1-2.
As I wrote back in March, "(t)o say it was a rowdy zoo would be an understatement. Did someone spike the punch? ...The crowd (well-lubricated after two hours of boozing and schmoozing) gasped as one when presenter Dean Phoenix announced the stunning tie. Moments later, bedlam nearly broke loose when LIAISONS producer/director Michael Lucas took the stage and had ice thrown at him by an irate audience member. 'Fuck you to everyone who didn't vote for me!' he declared from the podium to equal parts applause and boos.
" 'Well, thank you to everyone who voted for ME,' exclaimed WRONG SIDE... producer/director Chi Chi LaRue. In a nod to their ongoing publicity war in the press, directrix LaRue thanked Mr. Lucas for being 'the best press agent a girl could have all year long. He mentioned me [on his blog] more than he [mentioned] himself!'"
The war of words spilled over into this column, GAYVN.com, Fleshbot.com, GayPornBlog.com, Mark Adams' Video View and elsewhere. Turns out it was Raging Stallion's JD Slater who tossed the cubes at Mr. Lucas, who himself maintained he was only joking and was trying to rile up the crowd for laughs. Everyone argued awhile longer and then publicly kissed and made up in multiple press releases. Ah, the drama! And it was barely springtime.
Porn Star Birthdays for January 1 through January 7: Andel, Scott Daniels, Alexi Ferrera, John Marcus, Dixon Parker, Tom Southern, Scott Williams (January 1); DC Chandler, Josh Hammer, Bruce Hill, Ricky Martinez, Claudio Meneses, Mikey, Mike Vista (January 2); Dirk Adams, Tim Bruno, Rick Estephan, Lorice Jackman, Mark Long, Ben Mason, Eddie Moreno, David Pierre, Tanner Reeves, Luis Sanchez, T.J., Jean Walace, Todd Winters (January 3); Anton, Michael Cooper, Kent Michaels, Lucas Rally, Sean Sullivan, Lorenzo Vargas (January 4); Rick Fernandi, Marc Hamilton, Johnny Rider, Hunter Scott, Eric Wood (January 5); Big Blue, Gerardo Cortez, Mirko, Niko, Robert Razo, Nick Young (January 6); Laurence Cain, Jon Christian, Seth Cullen, Kris Kole, Kane O'Farrell, Tristan Paris, Vasco Roriz, Bobby Williams, B.J. Woods (January 7).
J.C. Adams has covered the gay adult entertainment industry since 1995, and has served as the editor of "Inside Porn Magazine," "Unzipped Monthly" and the Adam Gay Video Directory. 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 - 2006
# # #
Labels: Chi Chi LaRue, David Forest, GAYVNs, John Paulus, Johnny Rey, Michael Lucas, obituaries
