When I have a rough day in the writing mines - and today was rough, thanks - I thank God that I can unwind, go through my files, and post yet another porno story from the olden days. This one stars Damien Michaels, whom I admittedly met only once in my entire life, on the set of a Bukkake - can’t remember who the target was - in fall 2005. A dangerous and distressing shoot it was, yielding zilch for my never-to-be-finished documentary, aside from this bizarre and enticing mini-interview, post-game, with one D. Michaels.

I suppose if you’ve been following the narrative trajectory over here, then you’ll realize that I have a soft spot in my heart for male porno studs who never make it out of the minors. They are famous to no one. They star in literally thousands of movies as bravely anonymous meatsticks. The camera never rightly pans up to their face but for a sick and perverted cutaway shot during softcores as the fake pop arrives and they awkwardly goat it up, the carrier of a false orgasm. These men? My heroes.

And Damien Michaels has a wonderful Bronx accent, doesn’t he? Four years ago I interviewed him, acknowledged the greatness of his Bronxness, and never thought any better of it. But this fall, I happened to put two and two together - and I thought to myself, Jesus Christ, is Damien Michaels the same dude whose audio clip I’ve been listening to off and on for like ten years and playing for my friends because it is so supremely awesome and so supremely campy and so supremely 80’s PORNO??

It could be, friends. It could be.

So why don’t you just sit back and listen closely to this semi-Anonymous 1980’s or 90’s Cheesed-Out Audio Clip that features a finely spun Thespian style line delivery on the count of two big-boobed/heavy-penised individuals and tell me - is it Him??

Interview with Frank Zappa. My goddamn hero.

Just another porno story from Venus, former Penthouse Pet. Here she explains how she got in the business.

I’m a huge Ashley Blue fan, and if you know me at all, then you’ve probably heard me go on at length about her. But I have never talked about Alec Knight. I have never even thought about him much. But he is an interesting case.

Alec Knight - 37 years old, according to AVN’s website - is a porn dude who doesn’t really seem to fit the moldy mold. Sure, he’s got a big honker, but then, he wouldn’t be able to compete in the game without one.

Alec is white, a gentle sort of porn beast, pleasant to be around and basically a witty son of a bitch. He lacks the Brandon Iron pathology, the Luciano beast-inside, and the Mark Wood creepiness. Basically Alec Knight seems like one of the guys you were friends with in high school and used to go off to lunch with. To get a chicken sandwich. If Knight were played by some actor in a Hollywood movie, it would be Seth Rogen.

Does that make him boring? Not in my book. Knight’s vanilla, yes, but in an industry filled with so many peppermint-jalapeño-gravy-boat caramel scoops of orange sherbet, we need some straight up regulars thrown in there.

Hmm. Not knocking Knight, but I certainly would never want to watch him fuck. I used to go to a lot of Jim Powers shoots, and Jim would constantly hire dudes who you really never wanted to see naked: Otto Bauer, Alex Sanders, Nick East, Trent Tesoro, Johnny Thrust, Jenner and so on. Basically every B to C-List level white guy you could think of. A-List white guys usually get smart and try to own their own content after a while - after all, if people can actually stand to watch you fuck, then you might as well just get ten grand together, hire yourself, and make a killing doing it.

But that begs the question - is anyone really making a killing in porn anymore? I am so disconnected from real life porn these days - I don’t keep in touch with Jim Powers, I’ve lost track of Khan Tusion, Wanker’s dead, Ashley doesn’t really keep in touch anymore - that I can hardly tell. I hear the rumors: porn is down 40 percent. But my only real friend from the biz is Billy Watson, and I don’t even know if he’d give me a straight answer on the finances of the situation. If he would, then maybe I’d ask him - hey, man, in this economic collapse, how is porn holding up? I mean, really. And don’t cut any corners. Give me the straight dope, man.

The numbers on porn are really hard to run, because everybody lies. Why would they tell the truth, anyway?

I don’t know why, I just love this.

I can’t believe I haven’t put anything up about Lucky yet!

If I had to pick a favorite performer from my time shooting, then it would be Lucky. It just would. Fair or not. Wesley had the charisma and Pumper the body of death and Brandon Iron’s the most fascinatin’ and Belladonna was the Supastar . . . but Lucky was like my friend. I have no idea where the connection came from since we came from about the most different backgrounds that you could think of, me from a ruralized suburb in North Carolina and Lucky from the hard streets of Chicago, where he became a gang member at a very young age . . . but we were joined at the heart in this weird way and he led me on some porno adventures, to Captain Bob’s house where I saw real live tweakers in jean shorts and to Venice to look up some old school heads who wouldn’t let me keep my shoes on in their apartment, cramped and dingy as it was, it was a spiritual zone. Lucky, who would wear a suit to set about half the time, for some ungodly reason, looking like a 7th Day Adventist preacher, had a mother who was a Wiccan priestess. Yes. She was. Lucky had a grandmother who was a porn aficionado. She enjoyed watching herself some porn, yes she did, thank you very much. When Lucky went to a set he was under instructions to bring back all the free porn he could handle, for Grandma, don’t you see.

This video was taken on the very first day that I met him, in the summer of 2002. He was going on about his girlfriend Kiss, whom I believe he eventually married. For a time.

On August 20th, the LA Times broke a story about the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, who announced plans to sue 16 major adult film companies for violation of workplace-safety laws.

(from the article:) The foundation sued Los Angeles County last month alleging that public health officials had failed to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and to enforce laws requiring employers to protect workers against exposure to bodily fluids. The suit was filed after the disclosure that an adult-film performer had tested positive for HIV.

Essentially, the lawsuit is about condoms — and whether the companies in the suit are legally required to allow performers the right to use them while performing in adult films.

Here is Julian St. Jox, a veteran porn performer, weighing in on the issue soon after his colleague Darren James came up positive in January of 2004. Jox himself had been forced to take two months off of performing due to having been “on the list” of performers who had taken part in on-camera sex with female actors who in turn had slept with James (before his exposure to the virus had become known to himself and others).

Jox’s statements are not unpredictable - he advocates for each performer’s right to choose to use condoms during their on-camera scenes - but what’s notable is his clear affection and appreciation for the adult industry as a whole. He truly enjoys the work,  friends, and money he’s made in porn - it’s just that he’d rather not put his health on the line to continue to pursue his living.

“It’s all lube to me.” - Sanders