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| by Roger T. Pipe |
January 24, 1998
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| Last week I made the four hour trek from sunny SoCal, through the desert to that shining monument to greed, sex and neon, Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show. Winter CES has long been a yearly get together of the who's who in the adult entertainment world and for the tenth consecutive year, I made myself a part of the festivities.
The gathering was part of the main convention, but was once again separated from the countless computer, TV and stereo vendors. After years at the Sahara hotel, the adult portion moved over to the Sands convention center last year and seems to have found a new home there.
This larger venue is perfect for the ever growing number of video, internet and sex toy companies who come to display their wares to a porn hungry public. Judging from the crowded floor, it is no stretch to say that things are getting bigger and better for adult films and home media.
The first order of business was to pass out plenty of copies of my internet reviews to let film makers and talent know that fans and critics out here on the net have our eyes on them. This year, the response to said reviews was much warmer than in the past, as more and more companies seem to see the power and honesty on line porn fans and reviewers have.
Most friendly among the group of directors I spoke with was head of Elegant Angel, (ElA) Patrick Collins. He sat down with me for nearly thirty minutes to discuss his company, their successful 1997 and what the future holds. In short, Collins feels that he needs more direct control over all the product that comes out under his label and promises that each tape Elegant Angel releases in 98 will have his personal stamp of approval.
(Funny though, he didn't make any mention of Toby Dammit or Jay Ashley.) Given the number of AVN awards El A came away with this year, I would say the quality was already great, and only getting better with Collins taking more control.
Some of El A's other directors were also quite happy to talk about their work.
Tom Byron, whose "Cumback Pussy" series has become a fan and critic favorite, discussed his work with a smile and healthy dose of sarcasm. "I guess you like Kaitlyn Ashley." He said, after reading one of my page and half descriptions of a scene he shot with the blonde superstar. "You know, there were other scenes in that movie." Indeed there were, and before we finished, Tom and I discussed every one of them.
Mike South was also on hand, proudly displaying his award for Best Pro-Am series. A title he has taken home two years in a row. New to the El A team, Mike is off to a fast start and was more than happy to show off his new finds. Long a friend of internet porn fans, Mike is deserving of the success he has found, and I wish him all the best. Even if he was a no show at the net-fan gathering.
As always, one of the biggest booths at the show belonged to VCA Pictures. They filled the huge area with stars like Jeanna Fine, Juli Ashton and Kelly O'Dell. However, the biggest news at VCA was not who was there, but the fact that Michael Ninn's brilliant "New Wave Hookers 5" did not sweep the AVN awards.
Ninn is not used to coming up short and considering 'Hookers' was perhaps his best work to date, he has to be understandably disappointed.
Right across from VCA as you enter the exhibition hall was the Evil Angel, (EA) booth.
As always, EA brought its stable of fine directors as well as some impressive female talent. John 'Buttman' Stagliano, John Leslie, Joey Silvera, Greg Dark, Randy West, Rocco Siffredi and Christopher Clark were all on hand, happily displaying their successful work. Reaction from the EA directors was mixed.
While, Leslie was gracious as always, taking time to discuss his new project, "The Letcher.", West seemed a bit miffed and some of the less than stellar marks he gets for his "Up & Cummers" series. To support the successful line of product, EA once again had the most impressive batch of flyers and posters at the show.
The Nikki Anderson poster is sure to be decorating the walls of countless porn fans this year, as it is one of the best I have ever seen.
Ruby, Lelani Lei and Shane Tyler were among the women attracting crowds at the EA booth.
No doubt Shane is the biggest tease in the business, shaking her perfect backside all over the place, stopping hearts and bringing out the worst in all the men there. Still, the show stopper had to be Nikki Anderson. I have been talking up this blonde Euro-Goddess for a year now and she is finally getting the recognition she so richly deserves.
Her still developing English skills make her come off a bit cold at times, but in all areas physical, Ms. Anderson is quite simply, perfect.
John T. Bone was there as well, touting his new company 'Cream Productions'. Breaking from Metro seems like a bit of a risk, but Bone and his number one girl, Jasmin St. Claire felt that Metro was not promoting them enough.
In a year where Metro had huge hits with "Zazel", "Red Vibe Diaries" and "Breeders" perhaps they were a bit too busy to push the latest 'Jasmin Fucks Everyone' tape.
We'll see now if Metro made Jasmin a star, or if it was Bone's marketing savvy. Perhaps it was just her winning personality. Only time will tell.
Also signing for Cream was Tricia Deveraux. While she is not a contract girl, Ms. Deveraux had done a number of titles for the new company. Tricia collected an AVN award in the Best All Girl Scene category for her scene with Jeanna Fine and PJ Sparxx in "Cellar Dwellers 2." It's about time someone recognized the talent and beauty this amazing woman brings to the screen.
Tricia is back in the biz after a six month semi-retirement following her break up with bad boy director Rob Black. She was very forthcoming with information about their relationship. Apparently, the director who is best known for his push-the-envelope sex scenes, had a hard time directing other guys to choke and spit on his girl.
This led him to only allow her to work in scenes with women or with Rob himself. Eventually, however, that was not even enough. "We disagreed on my career." She says. Rob didn't want her in films at all. This attitude led Tricia to do some admittedly stupid things, bringing the relationship to an abrupt halt.
After the break up, Tricia left movies, hoping to repair things with Rob. "He would say things like, maybe in six months if he saw me out on the street and I wasn't in movies" we could talk about it. So, I quit, hoping in time, we'd be back together." Rob apparently had other ideas. "Two months later, when he already had someone else living in the house, I knew he wasn't waiting around, so I came back."
Back indeed. Tricia looks better than ever and seems ready to kick the X rated world in the ass with more of her incredible performances. Ever gracious, Tricia commented on Black's AVN award as top director, she says. "I'm proud of him. He deserved it."
One of the most innovative companies in porn is Xplor Media. They have made Homegrown Video the very best in amateur action, have one of the only ongoing solo series and gave starts to pro-am stars Mike South and Dave Cummings. Even more important, Xplor was one of the first companies to treat on line reviewers and E-zines as legitimate media outlets.
For that alone, we should all be eternally grateful. The big news from Xplor this year is the addition of Brittany O'Connell Productions to the family. Brittany has been marketing her own original tapes with some success and now the world will get to see her unique brand of porn thanks to Xplor's marketing. This should be a good move for both sides and help fill the void left by the defections of South and Cummings.
Metro had a huge and busy booth this year. The critical acclaim and success of "Zazel" anchored a very solid year for them. Contract boy Julian joined Metro girls Misty Rain and Nikki Tyler signing autographs and posing for pictures with adoring fans.
It will be tough to top the big year Metro had in 97, but with Michael Zen at the helm for at least two 'Taboo' movies and the push of a number of DVD titles to go along with Nikki's "Amazing Sex Talk" series, all the ducks would seem to be in a row for another explosive year.
One puzzling question though, why, for a second year in a row, did Metro fork out good money to have Sasha Vinni sign at the booth? She may be all right to look at, but if there is a bigger bitch in the biz, I have yet to meet her. If you can't even fake a smile for a line of fans, maybe porn was a bad career move Sasha.
The Anabolic booth was buzzing as usual. They had a number of lovely young ladies to turn the head of any passer by. Ruby, Yvonne and Euro-babe Dina Jewel were there, pumping the new Anabolic titles. Tall blonde Dina was simply stunning, making her "Gang Bang girl 22" a must see on my list. In spite great support from net fans, Anabolic head Christopher Alexander remains cold to the idea of internet reviews.
However, Sean Michaels did pull me aside after reading a few reviews and assured me that he is on board and appreciates all the support. Sean remains one of the kindest and most gracious men I have had the privilege to meet.
An additional attraction at the Anabolic booth was the free gear. They were passing out the coolest hats and T shirts at the show.
So in demand were these goodies, that when the booth was left unmanned, a group of scavengers raided the booth, looting through boxes, looting all that free stuff. Like someone once told me, "If it's free, there's a line, and if it ain't tied down, it's gone." Guess they better lock it down next year.
Elsewhere, Nico Treasures is rested and ready to come back even stronger this year. Her much talked about deep throat challenge video project has been scrapped. Apparently, Nico didn't like the way she might be perceived after sucking off the fifty or strangers Bone had planned for the shoot. A dig at her one time pal Jasmin perhaps? When I asked that question, I got an earful about the gang bang queen.
Apparently, a friend of Nico's saw Jasmin in a club and asked bout her 'best pal.' When Jas claimed not to know Nico, the guy pressed the issue a bit, prompting Ms. St. Claire to respond with "Look, I don't hang out with the skanks in this business. I have better things to do." Like another three hundred man gang bang perhaps.
CES 1998 - Part 2
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