Owner of HowIGotRich.com insists he and his crew never encouraged the performer known as ‘Kelsey Cummings’ to shoot while underage

BARCELONA—The owner of the affiliate program HowIGotRich.com commented Friday about the Wednesday arrest of two of his crew members. Florida police charged the men with two counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child. Tampa police on Thursday also searched the HowIGotRich offices and seized computers, money and documents, according to owner Dirty D, whose real name is Michael Storm.

Storm's companies include Web Wizard Inc., talent agency TampaNudeModels.com, the aforementioned HowIGotRich.com and a network of adult websites that include PartyWildNaked.com. TheaterSluts.com and GloryHoleGirlz.com. His content is distributed on DVD by Kick Ass Pictures.

The charges apparently are based on accusations made by a female performer who Storm said has used several aliases, including Kelsey Cummings, while shooting for other companies in the industry. Published reports from 2008 refer to the young woman as "Brandy." According to police records, the HowIGotRich crew members and Storm encouraged her to say she was 18 before the shoot took place, even though they knew she was 17 at the time.

“Wednesday, two police departments arrested Stephen Shawn Chastain, 36, and Ryan Jay Holtz, 24, and charged them with two counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child,” reported the St. Petersburg Times Friday. “According to an arrest warrant, Chastain and Michael Storm, also known as ‘Dirty D,’ were present when Holtz asked the girl if she had her fake identification. Storm, 44, gave her a release form to sign and said he knew she was only 17, the warrant states. Chastain said he would pay her $500.”

Speaking from his hotel room in Barcelona, where he had travelled to attend the Barcelona Summit adult webmaster event, Storm told AVN.com the charges are utterly without merit and only self-implicate the performer.

According to Storm, while the Times article says the shoot in question took place in 2007, it actually took place sometime before October in 2008. Because he is out of the country and away from his 2257 and other records—some of which may have been seized—Storm said he is unsure of the exact date. But he did say the first admission from the performer that she had used a fake ID surfaced in Dec. 2008. Despite immediately removing from his site all images, video and promotional material depicting the performer, Storm told AVN.com that for reasons he still does not understand, the performer’s story recently changed again, resulting in the arrest of his crew.

According to Storm, Cummings originally sought him out.

“She responded to some of our Craigslist ads, and eventually a suitcase pimp brought her over,” he said. “She produced ID, filled out the model release, and we proceeded to shoot some scenes that were really nothing out of the ordinary. She rode the Sybian and did a glory hole [scene] during the shoot. There were absolutely no complaints during the shoot.”

It was months later that he first learned about the fake ID accusation in a story posted on AdultFYI.

"That December, she made her first claim about the fake ID, and now [in 2010] she’s making a claim that I was aware that it was a fake ID," Storm told AVN.com on Friday. "These are the radical differences [in her story]. Why she is doing this, I have no idea, but we shot her husband [after the 2008 shoot], and they have each shot [other adult content for other producers] before and after her shoot. Nothing was out of the ordinary with this shoot.”

While the husband was not the suitcase pimp who originally brought Cummings to the set, Storm said the husband was fully aware of the shoot. As far as the accusation that he or any of his crew suggested she lie about her age, Storm vehemently denies that charge, and others.

“It never happened,” he told AVN.com. “Neither me nor any of my crew ever asked her for a fake ID. That simply never happened. She also said that one of my crew discussed with her how much we would pay, and that’s not true, either. I’m the only one who discusses what we pay. She says that I handed her the model release, but typically I don’t even talk with the girl until after she’s produced ID and filled out the model release. It’s just one of those things: Girls flake out, sometimes don’t even fill out the paperwork and storm off, so I’ve made it a habit not even to talk with them until after all of the paperwork is done.

“In fact,” he added, “all of her statements are totally false. We were totally unaware that there was any problem with her ID until months later, when she made the claim that it was a fake ID. But that was the only claim at that point. Since then, the claim has changed dramatically to us knowing and conspiring to use the fake ID, which is blatantly false. I also just learned of a new claim being made that during the shoot, we somehow encouraged her to continue, or I grabbed her arm or something. None of that ever happened, either.”

Regarding the December claim that a fake ID was used, Storm has no clue how or why the allegation came about.

“It wasn’t even a complaint,” he said, “but just a statement she made that she used a fake ID. It appeared on AdultFYI, and I’m not quite sure where the statement originated from or who passed it on. There are definitely some haters out there that are encouraging bad things to happen.

“Once the initial claim was made that she used a fake ID, we immediately took all of her content down, contacted all of our affiliates and removed all of her promotional material, because it’s just not worth it,” he said. “If someone makes some kind of crazy claim like that, it’s impossible to verify. I can’t tell what her age actually was; I can’t tell anything, if she actually lied to me and committed fraud and identity theft. Right away, she’s already admitted to all three of those things, but somehow, all of a sudden, me and my crew knew about all of it and are a part of the conspiracy.”

Storm said if the girl in fact lied and was underage at the time of she shot for him, then there may be other producers out there with her content still on the market, because she said she had performed in adult content previously.

“When she showed up, she told us that she had shot porn before,” he said. “We talked about it. She talked about her husband shooting porn, and how surprised she was to have found out he shot porn by seeing him in a gay scene. So she already had a portfolio and was actively seeking adult gigs when she came to us. She’d already shot; her husband already shot. I don’t remember if we looked any of it up at the time, but I have an interview I videotaped where she talks about it. She had details.”

Storm said that he has been in communication with his attorney, but is unclear at the moment whether an arrest warrant for him has been issued, though he assumes that one has. He said that he has no intention of avoiding the situation by remaining overseas, but needs to coordinate his return through his legal team, which he is currently putting together. He did comment that he had seen a copy of the search warrant for his offices, and it contained a few irregularities.

“I have a copy of the search warrant, which lists only computer equipment,” he said. “Everything on the warrant starts with the word ‘computer;’ however, they took banking records, lots of cash and lots of other things that have nothing to do with the search warrant, and that’s a shame. It’s clearly been done to make it impossible for me to conduct any business.

“I believe a copy of AVN magazine was seized, as well,” he added. “In fact, I can pretty much guarantee it.”

Though Storm expressed confidence that he and his crew will be exonerated, his greater concern is for what situations like this mean for the industry as a whole.

“I think the risk is to the entire adult industry,” he said. “We all shoot models all the time. A claim [by a performer] that they used a fake ID is something that can happen to any company that produces adult material. We check their IDs to make sure they’re 18, but if we’re being lied to and fraud is being committed and if identity theft is being committed, who’s the criminal? Who committed the crime just now? That’s the issue. And to do it months after the fact even opens it up more, because most companies shoot lots and lots of people, so the risk is huge when someone decides to just change their mind.”

Storm said he is consoled by the fact that content producers are not required by law to ensure government-issued IDs presented by performers are in fact legitimate. The new allegations, he added, are of concern to him, but while he believes there is more than ample evidence to show they were fabricated, it is the state’s apparently lax standards that have him decidedly peeved.

“I have no idea if Florida is trying to send a message,” he said, "but what I do know is that they are betting on someone who is an admitted liar and has admitted to committing fraud and identity theft. If that’s their witness against me, then the standard is now very low for attacking any adult company.”

The added irony, Dirty D said before signing off, is that he is known for not shooting performers close to the age of consent.

“First of all, it just about never happens that an underage girl wants to shoot with us, but if it does, we just tell her to come back a couple of months after her birthday,” he said. “I don’t even joke around with it and tell them to come back a day after their birthday. We just don’t do barely legal stuff. It’s not what I’m known for.”

AVN.com has requested a copy of the police report and will continue to follow this story as it develops.

PALM BEACH, Fla.—ICM Registry LLC President Stuart Lawley is a patient man. He has waited seven years for ICANN to breathe life into the dot-xxx sponsored Top-Level Domain ICM wants to manage.

And seven years is long enough, he said Thursday in a letter to the chairman of the board of directors for the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. In essence, the firm-but-polite missive warned ICANN further stalling by the internet’s governing body may lead to unpleasant legal repercussions.

“…[I]t is now incumbent on ICANN to move expeditiously to execute a registry agreement with ICM for operation of the [dot-xxx] Top-Level Domain…,” Lawley wrote to ICANN Chairman Peter Dengate-Thrush. “ICM Registry stands ready to execute the registry agreement that was the product of extensive negotiation between ICM Registry and ICANN staff in early 2007…. [W]ith respect, I hope you will understand that we must protect our rights if it appears that our efforts to work in partnership with ICANN are failing, once again, to bear fruit.”

Lawley’s letter followed by one week an independent arbitration panel’s decision saying ICANN violated its own bylaws when the board withdrew approval for dot-xxx and declared ICM’s registrar application dead in March 2007. In the arbiters’ view, ICANN erred when it allowed reconsideration of the so-called “sponsoring community” to derail contract negotiations that began after the board granted preliminary approval in June 2005. Because ICM met or exceeded all of ICANN’s established criteria for sTLDs at the time, the arbiters directed ICANN to complete the contract negotiation process and make the domain live.

On Friday, Lawley told AVN.com he expects ICANN to do exactly that—now, not at some nebulous point in the future. Lawley anticipates ICANN and ICM signing the fifth version of the domain-registrar contract—for all intents and purposes complete for three years, save for the signatures—when the organization meets March 7-12 in Nairobi, Kenya.

After that, Lawley said he expects dot-xxx to be live within 180-210 days…by the end of the year, for certain. The project’s history to date has convinced him ICANN would be unwise to put up too energetic a fight.

“As infuriating as all of this has been, we have really played by ICANN’s rules to the letter,” he said.

Earlier this week, ICANN President Rod Beckstrom avowed the board will “consider” dot-xxx, “despite the previous considerable stakeholder and public opposition to its approval.” Some have taken that as an indication ICANN may drag its feet out of reluctance to provoke another uproar like the one that derailed dot-xxx in the first place. After the board’s 2005 approval, not only did the adult entertainment industry begin to question the potential for censorship and “ghettoization” of adult content under dot-xxx, but ICANN’s own Governmental Advisory Committee and the governments of several nations spoke against the proliferation of “obscenity” they expected would result following the creation of a “porn channel” on the internet.

No one wants to see that happen again, least of all Lawley, who told AVN.com 102,000 dot-xxx domains have been pre-registered at no cost. It is unclear how many of those domains’ owner-hopefuls will go on to complete registration, but even if every one of them brings in the projected $60 annual registration fee, the total of $6.12 million in revenue would not match the more than $7 million Lawley said he spent in moving ICM’s case through arbitration at the International Centre for Dispute Resolution. In all, he said he has spent about $9.5 million in pursuit of approval for dot-xxx. Much of the money came from the personal fortune he invested in ICM Registry after selling several mainstream dot-com-era startups.

And, he noted wryly, the economic climate in 2010 is much less vibrant than it was in 2006, when ICM’s business plan projected dot-xxx would launch.

However, as indefatigable as ever, Lawley said he believes eventually even dot-xxx’s detractors will understand sTLD is not some modern-day digital incarnation of the bogey man. There are benefits to be gained for the adult entertainment industry and the internet at large, he said.

“The potential benefits are even more attractive today than they were in 2006,” he told AVN.com. “For those willing to step forward and self-identify and self-regulate, collective bargaining [with financial institutions and search engines, for example] will be quite powerful.”

As he has from the beginning, Lawley continues to maintain ICM Registry will not allow dot-xxx to become mandatory. In addition, the registry will be obligated by its contract with ICANN to be “run for the benefit of the sponsoring community.” Consequently, Lawley said, potential domain registrants will be required to prove they are members of the adult entertainment community—not, for example, virtual real estate speculators. Dot-xxx domains will be required to adhere to a code of conduct established by the community of dot-xxx domain owners, who also must adhere to laws governing the jurisdictions in which they operate. Sites in the dot-xxx space must be labeled for their own protection and the protection of folks who would rather not stumble upon online porn, no matter how carelessly they surf.

In exchange, Lawley said, dot-xxx domain owners reasonably can expect to “get more eyeballs on their sites and get more surfers to spend money, because consumers will feel more secure about the people with whom they are doing business.” With a unified voice, dot-xxx domain owners will be able to demand fairer treatment from search engines and financial processors. In fact, Lawley said, he envisions a scenario in which dot-xxx domains will be able to deal with a bank established specifically to meet their needs, perhaps via a PayPal-like system that would provide an additional layer of anonymity and security for both consumers and adult businesses. Such an entity would be able to do away with chargebacks and offer processing fees that are much lower than the “ridiculously high credit card rates under which the industry labors currently.”

In the final analysis, Lawley said, “[ICM and I] are committed to reliability, predictability, openness, transparency and accountability—just like ICANN’s charter says it is. Being in the adult industry, we will be subject to far greater scrutiny by everyone.

“Dot-xxx will only succeed if I deliver for the [sponsoring] community tangible benefits,” he added.” I have a window of two or three years to deliver on the community’s hopes and expectations. If I fail, the whole thing goes away.”

NEW YORK CITY—After John Holmes and Harry Reems, the next two most recognizable male faces from the early days of adult films would probably be Jamie Gillis and John Leslie—and fondly enough, the two were best friends.

"I remember the day I met him," Leslie told AVN. "It was my first trip to New York in 1976, and I was staying with this woman, Sandy, who was an agent in the business at that time, and we went to this off-Broadway that was about the porno business, and Jamie was there with other people and that's the first time we met. I'd seen him in the movies and I was a fan of his, and we hit it off right away, and soon after that, I cooked my first meal for him at Sandy's place. I've cooked for him countless times over the years. The dinner was filet of sole Claudine; I saw it on TV, so I figured I'd just try it, and it came out real good and we had a nice dinner. So we remained close.

"We were on a number of sets together, and always had a good time, and he actually lived with me for a little while here in Marin, and he was with me the day Ecstasy Girls swept the AFA awards in 1980," Leslie continued. "I'll never forget that night. It was a wonderful night. Everybody loved what happened. Everything was well-deserved, and everybody felt that way. It was [Harold Lime's] movie, and the feeling that night was just warm and cozy and fuzzy and wonderful. Everybody was happy for them for winning those awards, and we were staying at the Holiday Inn, I think it was on Hollywood Boulevard, at that time, and the next day we were going to travel to—I was going back home, and we were traveling to San Francisco with [Harold] and Jesie St. James and a bunch of other people; we were going to do a movie up here. So before we went to the airport, we met in this little lounge where we had a bite of breakfast or something, and I was talking to Jamie, and I said, 'What a wonderful night that was.' I didn't want it to end, it was such a beautiful night, and I remember him saying to me, 'It was bittersweet, you know.' So we went to the airport in Burbank and we're together and we both see this woman, and Jamie goes, 'Oh,' and he goes over and starts talking to her, and I'm right with him, and her and I lock eyes, and that was it. That's my wife. So we got on the plane, and Kathleen and I were sitting and talking, and we weren't talking to everybody else, and actually everybody left the plane, and the next thing I knew, they were tapping us on the shoulder, saying, 'You've got to get off the plane now.' And we've been together every since. And Jamie felt very much a part of our relationship, and very close to us, and obviously he was at our house many, many, many times once she moved up here and we married and everything. It was part of how close we were; all this stuff built into our relationship, you know. And he always respected me so much for what I did and my paintings and my music, and obviously my acting and directing."

Another highly recognizable face would have been Ron Jeremy's, and he too has good memories of Gillis.

"When I first got in the business," Jeremy recalled, "Harry Reems had retired, John Holmes was in and out of jail, and so the guy that I looked up to the most was really Jamie Gillis; he was like the number one guy when I got into porn. He was the top guy. He was like number one, Marc Stevens was like number two, and then John Leslie was number three. Jamie was number one. He was also a Jewish boy, we used to talk about that as well, and also was a college graduate; he went to Columbia. And Jamie kind of took me under his wing a little bit; he helped me get a part in Dracula Exotica where I played a henchman. My first dialogue scene was with Jamie, and he had sex with Marlene Willoughby on the big feast table, and I did a sex scene later on in the film."

"He was in just about every movie in the '70s," Annie Sprinkle assured. "He was in one of my first movies, Kathy's Graduation. I've seen it many times, and I used a clip from that in Herstory of Porn. We did a double insertion—two penises in my vagina—which at that time also was a pretty fresh idea; him and another guy with the two penises, kind of rubbing them together. He wasn't shy about getting near a guy. I was so flirty with him. I mean, every girl had a crush on him. Every girl had the hots for him at first."

"He played my dad in Talk Dirty to Me 3," recalled Tom Byron. "He was one of my mentors or heroes in the business even before I got in the business. Him, Joey [Silvera], John [Leslie], Paul [Thomas], these were all people I looked up to. They're the ones that I studied, the ones that I aspired to be. I don't remember when I first met him, but we had some good times hanging out in Europe with Joey, and I just admired the guy. He was an incredibly versatile actor. He could go from playing the daring, debonair leading man like in Misty Beethoven to a depraved lunatic like the Enema Bandit in Water Power. I mean, he was just a great character, and a real smart, funny guy, too."

Gillis had a similar effect on Paul Thomas.

"He was the older pro from New York," said the California-based Thomas, "but it was him and I and John Leslie and a few others, and if I could say that I looked up to anyone, it was him. He was, to me, the best-ever porn star. Very talented, very creative; a dark, twisted sexual spirit. He wasn't some mainstream actor who was trying to pretend he was a porno star, he was the real deal. Every time he gave a twisted sexual performance, you were probably watching an original, the first time that had ever been done. And a great guy, very nice guy. Not all that forthcoming with his time—he was a very private person—but I definitely looked up to him. He was one of the few people that I could look up to, and I did."

But the actress with whom AVN spoke who may have the earliest memories of Gillis was Sharon Mitchell.

"Jamie and I worked together on a lot of loops," Mitchell recalled. "We would go to Peter Ivers' house on Saturday afternoons with the other 10 people that were in the industry in New York back then, and we'd make loops on the weekend, and I think we got paid like $300 or $400 for, I guess, about 40 minutes of us having sex, and it was great.

"But the first time I met Jamie, I was on a set; it was one of the first movies I worked on, That Lady from Rio, with Vanessa Del Rio," she continued. "It was one of the 16mm not-so-big movies with a not-so-small budget, and they were trying to get me to do some sort of double penetration—I didn't even know what it was, and Jamie said, 'Have you ever worked before?' And I said, 'No,' and he goes, 'Goddamnit,' and he went in and I heard him screaming at the director, and there was a dozen eggs that the caterer had on the table, and he started hurling eggs at the director and screaming and yelling, and then he came back and asked me how much I was being paid, and I told him, and then he went back again and screamed at him, and he and John Leslie both were instrumental in helping me with pay scale, not being taken advantage of. I mean, they really were kind of my big brothers."

Mitchell also had some thoughts on a scene that porn viewers of today might find shocking: Zebedy Colt giving Gillis a blowjob in 1975's The Story of Joanna.

"Back then, nobody really gave a shit," Mitchell explained. "I mean, it was the sexual revolution. We were all kind of incestuous anyway, either working together or rooming together or helping each other out in one way or another. That's just the way it was. We were all out-of-work actors. There were only about 30 of us in New York."

"People don’t realize that everything was kind of thrown in together back then," she added. "I mean, any and all fantasies were sort of thrown in, be it rape, be it S&M, be it gay—everything was thrown into the same movie, and the plots were cool because they used to cut them up for the drive-ins anyway. So it really was awesome."

Annie Sprinkle, who worked behind the scenes of that film, had a similar assessment.

"That was a real taboo breaker, for a real straight guy like Jamie, a straight icon, to get a blowjob from a man; that was big," she said. "Back then, I was [director Gerard] Damiano's consort, so we spent a week up at an estate in Rhode Island together, and it was an interesting story because Jamie was just fantastic and amazing in that role. But then, of course, the gardener found a copy of the script, and we all had to escape under darkness of night."

"In the old days, we called him 'tri-sexual' because he would try anything—male, female, other," Jeremy added. "He could get an erection for anything. He could fuck a pound of calf's liver. He did a big giant orgy once where he actually had sex with a stuffed turkey. And no one else but him could do that. I said to him, 'Jamie, what were you thinking about when you were fucking the turkey? Were you thinking about being with a particular female or girls in general?' He said, 'No, just thinking of the turkey.' Motherfucker! I swear to God he would say that, just to fuck with me. Every other guy in porn would need to think of something with his mind to fuck a turkey. Jamie would say, 'No, I'm fine. Just fucking a turkey.' No one else but Jamie could do that. He was the ultimate porn star."

Or as industry vet Bill Margold put it, "If you put pubic hair around a light socket, he'd stick his dick into it."

Another of Gillis' early acquaintances was actress Veronica Vera.

"I had known about him and wanted him to be in my very first movie; I wanted to do my very first sex scene with him but his schedule didn't permit that," she said. "That was in Consenting Adults, which was about 1983 or '4. But one of my best memories was meeting up with Jamie at the Hellfire Club in Manhattan, where we had a sexual experience with a crowd surrounding us. We had this animal attraction, which was easy to have with Jamie, and we had sex in front of a whole group of people as they all kind of gathered and all stood around while sex was happening. This is when sex actually happened at the Hellfire Club. And so then I brought him home to my apartment, which was just a block away from there, and my two young Greek nieces were staying with me; they were both like 18 years old, and they were staying in another room, and when we all woke up in the morning, they kind of jumped into bed and were going, like, 'Oh, what's this?' And Jamie was just in total heaven because there's these pretty young Greek girls as well, which he loved all women, but these were fresh new little nymphettes, so it was just heaven to him. That was fun, and it was an experience that I don't think any of us ever forgot."

Interestingly, gourmet food played a large role in Gillis' life.

"His girlfriends were always food critics," Jeremy remembered. "When me and Jamie went out to dinner together, he could taste a glass of wine—and he wouldn't look at the label; I would hide it from him—or a bit of jam and he could tell me where it was from and the year it was made. He really knew his food."

"Jamie had just such a  bizarre collection of everything," Mitchell added, "and I know from rooming with him in Hollywood years later that if you'd open up Jamie's fridge, there would be like bull testicles and all these oddities, and fruits—he was a member of the Fruit of the Month Club—and this and that, all these odd foods and fruits coming in. He was a connoisseur and he had a very eclectic palate for food, and of course dated many famous chefs and traveled around the world with them."

Gillis was the longtime consort of New York Times food critic and author Gael Greene, who wrote graphic details of their affair in her novel Insatiable: Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess, but in later years, he lived with Zarela Martinez.

"Zarela is a very cultured, very smart woman who owns a very famous restaurant here in New York," Vera explained. "It's a Mexican restaurant. She grew up in Mexico, she went to finishing school in Mexico, she's a very cultured and learned woman, and she has a lot of different literary world people come to her restaurant. When she first met Jamie—she met him through Gael—she started talking books and philosophy to him, which really brought out his mind, which Jamie had a very fine mind; he was a very smart guy but he was also kind of withdrawn; you didn't get that from him right off the bat. So they connected on that level and they started living together—he moved in with her—and they've been living together for maybe at least five years now. She took care of him at the end, which he couldn't have been in better hands. She was really devoted to him, and he died at her home—but for the last couple of years in Jamie's life, he was surrounded by the most amazing thinkers."

But Gillis could also appreciate the simpler aspects of the human condition.

"Jamie was just the kind of guy who loved life; he just could enjoy any situation," Leslie said. "I tell the story, one time he stopped working in the business; he had this one girlfriend who didn't want him to do it anymore, so he just was completely broke, and he loved fruit, right? And he told me, 'I couldn't afford to buy the fruit but I would still just go to the market and hold it and smell it.' He could enjoy just that much of it and be content; it was amazing. That's the type of guy he was. He didn't wallow in it and say, 'I wish I had money.' It didn't have anything to do with that. He would walk around and just enjoy the walk. He was very honest and wouldn't do anything bad to anybody."

But Gillis also had girlfriends inside the industry.

"I wouldn't even have been as involved in the adult business as I was if it wouldn't have been for Jamie," actress Amber Lynn stated. "I lived with him and at one point I was engaged to him, and we had a very serious, very real relationship, so it's devastating. He started contacting me again about a year ago, and he didn't tell me he had cancer, but I could tell that he wanted to be friends and be in contact, so it makes perfect sense to me now. At the time I just was really happy to hear from him. We had not been in close contact."

"I can tell so many stories about Jamie and the joy of being around Jamie and eating with Jamie, like when he demanded wine at the original Pantry, because it was beneath him [not to have wine with dinner], so I had to get a bottle of wine and put it in a brown bag," Margold reminisced. "Serena and I and Jamie sat there and held court. The last time I heard from him, he called up and said, 'How is my baby?' And he was calling about Amber during that fiasco of the [Ron] Sullivan disaster; it was just ripped away from her and it broke my heart, but he knew that I would watch that if anybody tried to hurt her, I would destroy them. I worship Amber and I discovered her and she was the 'Blonde Panther,' but I think Jamie and Serena were the soul couple of all time in this business. They were linked on so many levels and when they held hands, it made me happy."

"I only made a few films with him," said Annie Sprinkle, "but he had a whole range of personas, and in some ways, he was very much about female empowerment and really adored women, and in some ways, he could be very dominant. He could be so sweet and charming, but if there was a woman who liked it rough, he could really go there too."

"There is the story that when he lived with Serena, he would always kiss her goodbye in the morning by kissing her asshole," added Evil Angel owner John Stagliano.

Sharon Mitchell, though, has a wealth of Gillis stories from over the 40 years that she's known him.

"Jamie and I were just really compatible, and when I think of Jamie, I think of two words: 'Ah, yes!'" Mitchell recollected. "If you watch any movie he was in, that's what he used to say after he cums. And I just loved that. Privately, we became close friends, and this is when I was in New York. I was living on Downing Street; I was 17 or 18, and he says to me, 'Mitch, would you do me a favor? I said, 'What?' He said, 'My mom's been dead for a really long time and my dad's a really sweet guy; would you go out to dinner with him?' And I said, 'You know, I don't want to fuck him or anything...' And he said, 'No, no, no; just go out to dinner with him,' and I was thinking, 'Whoa, Jamie's father; this is going to be interesting.' So I made it clear that I wasn't committing to any kind of escort thing. He said, 'No, no, no; that's fine.'"

"A couple of days later, the doorbell rings and there's this little short bald Jewish man out there," she continued. "He says, ' Hi, I'm Mr. [Gillis],' and he's got a bouquet of flowers, very sweet, very nice, and I said, 'Okay, great; let me just finish getting dressed,' and so he gives me the flowers, he comes in, closes the door and he was a total wolf. This guy chased me around my apartment and I was 17 and it was only a studio apartment, and so I'm running in circles in this tiny apartment going, 'Oh, my God!' And I was so uncomfortable! I don't know what Jamie told him or promised him or what he had assumed, but it was completely not what I had in mind, and so that's how I met Jamie's father. I just got so nervous and so flustered. Remember, I was 17; I was still just a kid from Jersey and I was doing Jamie a favor because he did everything from literally negotiating my pay to picking me up and taking me to work. He really took care of me like a sister. He really, really sheltered me. He was wonderful."

Mitchell also recalled a couple of sexual adventures involving Gillis while the pair were living in New York City in the early '70s.

"Long Jean Silver, the girl with the one leg, was my roommate for a while and we began working together," Mitchell said. "And she, Jamie and I worked on Water Power and a couple of things here and there, and we got along really well. Anyway, Larry Levine and all the people that used to manage Plato's Retreat used to hire me every Saturday night; I would take care of the choreography and the entertainment, and there was either a rock 'n' roll band or we would choreograph 20- to 30-minute dance moves, really nice stuff. So I went and I did a show, I remember that night, with Joanna Storm, to Led Zeppelin, where we had knives and we were cutting each other's clothes off—it was very sexy, a big hit. And then Jeannie showed up, and Jamie knew that nobody at Plato's Retreat had ever seen anything like her and her leg, so he wanted to orchestrate us fucking; he just wanted to do that. So I'm still in my little cut-up S&M costume from the show and Long Jean, who had three or four different boots and different prosthetics and so forth—and I know, because I was her roommate and she used to lose her feet all the time—so this night, she had leather-studded thigh-high boots, and so we're kissing and so on and so forth, and taking each other's clothes off and we're fondling each other, and it's taking a while, and Jamie is like this great maestro and everyone is gathering around and looking and it's wonderful—I mean, this is when the Rolling Stones used to go there—I mean, anybody and everybody used to go there; it was like Studio 54: The place to be—and then he goes, 'Now,' and I pulled off her boot and people were like, 'Oh my God!' And then she started stump-fucking me right then and there in the middle of this, and it was like no one had ever seen it before. It was fabulous, and Jamie was like the maestro; like 'Oh, yes!' He just loved that."

But not all of Mitchell's interactions with Gillis were quite so much fun.

"So I get this call at like 2:30 or 3 in the fucking morning," Mitchell related, "and this is one of the few nights I was actually asleep because I was a member of a few rock 'n' roll bands and I was either singing at Max's Kansas City or CBGB's or the Mud Club and I was a rock 'n' roller by night and a porn star by day and I used to work at ABC on the soap operas—I did a little bit of everything. So the phone rings and I pick it up and I go, 'Hello?' and he goes, 'Mitch'—and I hear this whishing in the background; it sounds like Niagara Falls—and I go, 'Jamie?' And he goes, 'Yes, Mitch—come over to my apartment! You've got to get here pronto, quick! Jump in a taxi! It's an emergency! I need you now!' So I thought, oh my God, is somebody OD'ing? I mean, I never know, because I've had those calls with Harry Reems before, where I had to come and give CPR. So I threw something on, jumped in the taxi, took it to 46th Street, and I go up and I find he's fucking [a famous adult actress] in his bathroom; he's got her head stuck in the toilet, and her necklace was actually stuck on some pipe inside the toilet, so in order for her to breathe periodically, he had to continue to flush the toilet. God forbid he should stop fucking her and call the plumber, you know? No, he called me instead. God knows why—so I called the plumber, because I tried but there was no way to get this thing out of there. I mean, it was just bizarre and sad; the necklace was so wound around something that if we tried to pull it off her, it would have cut her. I'm telling you, it was a precarious situation. But did you think Jamie would stop fucking her? No. He had been fucking her for God knows how long before he called me, and it must have taken me 20 or 30 minutes to get there, and I stayed right up until the plumber came."

But Mitchell isn't the only one with Gillis stories.

"I first saw Jamie Gillis in the early '70s, sometimes in 35mm films at the Pussycat Theaters, but mostly in cheap 16mm films at dive movie houses on east Hollywood Boulevard; one dollar to get in," reminisced Stagliano. "He was the one guy in the movie you were always sure was enjoying himself. There was not an ounce of bullshit in his sexual performance. His dick was always hard, even when left without female attention, patiently waiting under the constant movement of the bottom two fingers on his left hand. I remember thinking once that I had never seen him soft."

"In 1989 when I was preparing to shoot the first Buttman scene, I knew that this was the guy to play Eddie, the pervert lead," he continued. "I knew because when I was in an orgy with him in 1983, he positioned himself on the floor under this new young girl so she could sit on his face. I had never seen anyone love asshole like him. I was so in awe of meeting him. There was a new young girl in that orgy that I had been paired with. I had a feeling Jamie really liked her so I pushed her over to him as a gift to the master. She didn’t regret it. He thanked me later."

"Jamie was a very intelligent, witty guy with a very dark sense of humor," recalled veteran salesman Howard Levine. "Nothing ever seemed to bother him. Back in 1986, I was walking down Broadway in San Francisco and I saw Jamie just hanging out on the street. I was working for General Video at the time, and I walked up to him and began a conversation that would be the start of a great friendship. I asked if he was shooting anything, and he replied, 'No,' but he was open to any ideas. I told him that whatever he shot, I could sell. I gave him my card and told him to call me if something came up. About two weeks later Jamie showed up in some old Cadillac limo with Rene Morgan in the back seat. He was very excited. He told me he had taken Rene down to the Wharf where the ships had just come in and picked up two sailors, invited them in the car and Rene fucked them both while he shot it with a handheld camera. On that day, gonzo was born, and this was the first On the Prowl with Jamie Gillis. It sold very well, and was the start of a new genre. He really cared about his craft and was a stickler for details; he always insisted on setting the facts straight. Jamie was a visionary, often copied but never duplicated."

"I am credited with doing the first gonzo movies, but what is called gonzo today really was done first by Jamie," agreed Stagliano. "He came up with the Dirty Debutantes concept of interviewing girls before a sex scene. He did On the Prowl before I shot him in the first Buttman scene in 1989."

Gillis' death inspired some of his peers to wax philosophical.

"He was definitely the intellectual's porn star, the thinking man's porn star," assessed Paul Thomas. "And that's been lost, because it's not valued. Everything now is emphasizing the quick fix. Not just porno; movies, television, everything is emphasizing the quick fix, the fast food. So he was the Paddy Chayefsky/Playhouse 90 of porn. Cool, cool guy; really proud to have known him. He never really wanted to work, he never followed through with anything that took too much follow-through. He wanted to take it easy, eat well, drink his wine. And he was dark and twisted without being an alcoholic or a drug addict, which to me was always so admirable. He kept it in perspective, but he wanted to live an epicurean life."

Or as former '80s star Richard Pacheco put it simply, "He sat at the head of the table."

"He stayed a tough guy right to the end," was Ron Jeremy's appraisal. "I don't think Jamie even feared death. He was just too tough a guy. I don't think he was even afraid of it. There's nothing bad I can say about the guy. He was a good, good, good guy."

"He told me a few months ago that he was dying, but he told me not to tell anybody, and I said, 'No, I won't,'" Leslie explained. "He was diagnosed a year before he told me, but he didn't mention it to me then, and he said they told him he had a year, year and a half to live. So our conversation that initial time he told me, I said, 'Well, now you'll know. It's kind of exciting in a way when you think about it. You're gonna die.' And he was like—he said, 'Yeah; something to look forward to.' And he sort of liked it, and we were laughing about it and stuff, and he called me the next day and told me how much he appreciated our conversation. It's very difficult to talk to somebody who's dying. But we just talked normal, like it was just something else that would happen in life, and he said, 'Well, I'll try to get back to you when I go; I'll try to get back and tell you what it's like,' and I said, 'Yeah, that'd be great, but I don't think you can; you know what I mean?' Which is very, very deep."

"This is probably the most striking blow to our industry," Margold assessed. "Holmes died in '88, and the tragedy of Holmes is that by the time he died, we were sort of relieved. Holmes had suffered so much by that time that when I got the call from [director/historian Jim] Holliday, I said, 'Thank God, because he didn't need to suffer anymore.' Jamie I hope didn't suffer, but Jamie's up there choreographing a section of heaven now where only the most adventurous will want to go. Personally, I'd sooner have him go to hell, because he'd have a lot more fun there."

R.I.P. Jamie Gillis: April 20, 1943 – February 19, 2010

[Photo courtesy of Annie Sprinkle. Top, l-r, actors Michael Gaunt and George Payne, director Ralph Ell, Jamie Gillis, director Joe Sarno; bottom l-r, actresses Veronica Vera, Kim Pope, Annie Sprinkle.]

Several new massagers are available

CHINO, Calif.—CalExotics, a major manufacturer of adult novelties and pleasure products, has released several new products this week.

The new 10 Function Self-Pleasing G and 10 Function Self-Pleasing P are ergonomically curved for intimate stimulation, and the uniquely shaped shaft flexes to move with you. With 10 intense functions of vibration, pulsation and escalation, this ultra-quiet stimulator packs a punch. The state-of-the-art memory chip resumes the last function used, and an instant on/off button makes operation a breeze.

The new Mimi Lil' Massagers are fun, powerful, compact and go anywhere, and they fit in the palm of your hand. With an easy push-button control, there is a shape to meet anyone’s need. The bright colors are also a nice departure from some of the same old color schemes.

For more information, or to stock up on products, contact your sales representative or visit CalExotics.com.

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—Metro Interactive announced Wednesday that its Loaded Digital line is being re-launched and re-branded as the company's imprint for high-end "alt" releases, with director Rob Rotten slated to helm three titles under the label between now and September.

Rotten's first title for the new Loaded Digital will be Sperm Sponges 2, a sequel to his very first release through the company. Already in production, it stars Hillary Scott, Jackie Lin, Vicki Chase, McKenzee Miles and Trisha Oaks. 

"Rob's ambitious Loaded Digital project slate includes titles destined to be classics," said Metro special projects manager Alexandra Taylor. "His films are a perfect match for Loaded Digital's new direction and we expect big results from his twisted vision."

The other two projects Rotten has planned are a new volume of his Scurvy Girls series and a parody of Tim Burton film Beetlejuice titled Beetlejizz.

"Epic productions to come!" said Rotten. "I am stoked to be back at Metro and shooting for the infamous Loaded Digital line. Expect some cult classics to be rolled out this year!"

For more information, visit www.loadeddigital.com.  

Vivid Girl Savanna Samson performs interracial d.p.

LOS ANGELES—Savanna has been "blackmaled”—again.

Vivid Girl Savanna Samson has returned for her second all-interracial feature and this time she raised it up a notch.

The blonde star appears in two anal scenes, including a d.p. with Tee Reel and Nat Turnher in this edition. Samson is joined by Brooke Banner and Veronica Jett in a feature that was directed by Paul Thomas and captured in HD by B. Skow. Mr. Marcus, Tyler Knight and Sledge Hammer also perform.

Samson, the Howard Stern favorite who lives in New York and owns her own signature wine company, is also an AVN award-winning Best Actress. Her latest feature will ship on March 8.

BEIJING—Not to be outdone by the governments in Australia, France or Iran, China, the leading contender in the World Censorship Olympics, has increased its lead this week with the news that people who want to start .cn websites will now have to submit to an application process that will ensure that they are … well, we really don’t have a clue what the Chinese government wants to see from these people other than something they don’t want to see.

“To apply, an individual must visit his or her local Internet service provider's office, submit an identification card and pose for a photograph,” reported the Los Angeles Times. “Applications will then be sent to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for review.”

One is probably safe in assuming, then, that the review process includes scrubbing the ID card against all manner of databases, including ones belonging to the police and governmental agencies that keep track of suspected dissidents. It is highly questionable that they will have a way to scrub for people interested in opening an adult-oriented site, despite the official party line that the rule is to root out the porners.

"Internet security needs to be cured from its roots," a government official said Sunday.

The Times reports experts as saying that people will now try to create their sites overseas.

"Things will definitely be much more difficult now," the paper quotes Chen Nan, a webmaster for an information technology site, as saying. "But people are just going to turn to dot-com domains. If you're not doing anything sensitive, you don't have to worry about getting blocked."

One suggestion, though. If ICANN approves .XXX, Chinese citizens should avoid it at all cost.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has not indicated when the new rule will go into effect.

Photographer and gay erotica pioneer John Palatinus imparted a world of knowledge about the early years of erotic male photography during a seminar at trendy, kinky Antebellum Gallery in Hollywood, Calif., over the weekend. Palatinus started in the 1950s with Lon of New York, Bruce of Los Angeles, Mel Roberts and Bob Mizer of Athletic Model Guild and helped create a whole new genre of male photography. He began snapping hot, straight construction workers and bodybuilders in his small hometown in Indiana, then moved to New York, where his physique photographs became legendary.

Palatinus’ artistic, homoerotic representations of the male form were not appreciated by everyone. In 1958, his studio in Greenwich Village was raided by postal inspectors and New York police, and he was arrested. All of his photos and negatives, as well as camera equipment and lights, were confiscated and never returned. The event effectively put Palatinus out of business temporarily and eventually led to a misdemeanor conviction for conspiracy (notably not obscenity).

"Tomorrow's Man," a collection of Palatinus’ photographs, will remain on display at Rick Castro’s Antebellum through the March 20.

Fabulous drag performer Lana Luster—aka gay adult performer Vince Harrington, aka publicist and marketing guy Michael LaBarbera—is taking to the stage again in a world premiere play, The BLVD. The show will see its debut in West Hollywood March 11 at the Macha Theatre.

Luster, who has had her share of cameos in porn movies, also regularly appeared at any event hosted by drag legends Karen Dior, Gender and of course Chi Chi LaRue.

Written by Joseph Castel and Danny De La Paz, The BLVD’s cast includes Quentin Elias, Brian Milne, Joe Garcia and De La Paz. It’s a sexy comic parody of Sunset Boulevard and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, and the promo poster depicts a nearly nude tattooed hunk wearing a leather collar and strangling a diva.

The show’s limited engagement is scheduled to end April 18, but until then audiences can catch the insanity Thursdays through Sundays.

Cory Jay, Hot House Entertainment’s legendary fister, has returned to the business, and some of his scenes debuted this week in the studio’s online dungeon, Club Inferno. Jay—more tattooed than ever—took a decade-long break from the industry, so his comeback is noteworthy. His first online conquest this century is Hot House exclusive Rick Van Sant, and it’s breathtaking.

A few quickies:

Three new all-black titles debut this month at ThugPorn.com: Thug Seduction’s The Underdog of Porn: The Movie, Pitbull Productions’ Black 2 Nature and Forbidden Films’ Dirty, Funky, Raw.

Former GAYVN Awards judge Steven Saylor (who wrote for the magazine as Aaron Travis) has penned another erotic novel. The House of the Vestals features short stories from Saylor’ Godrianus series. Synopsis: monks and lots of sex. Saylor also is working on Empire, a sequel to his best-selling novel Roma. He said he’s well on his way to completing the final, final draft and expects the sequel out by September. See StevenSaylor.com for more info.

I was sad to see Christopher Trout, until recently the publicity director for Athletic Model Guild, head on to another job. The separation was very emotional for him. “I’ve dedicated myself to the preservation and dissemination of what I believe to be one of the greatest photography collections in existence,” he said. Dennis Bell remains the main contact person for AMG, and he’s relaunching a new and improved AMGCash.com affiliate service to encourage bloggers and webmasters to promote AMG’s premium membership sites AthleticModelGuild.com and AMGBrasil.com.

Lancer Brooks’ 1979 film Bad Boys has been unavailable for a while, but thanks to Bijou Video the shot-on-film classic is out now on DVD. The tale is a twisted take on Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, following a naughty, horny youth who falls into a life of crime with a gang of hustlers. Big Daddy Dick Miller runs the Red Devils, who put on shows for rich men and rob their houses while the owners are “occupied.” To gain membership in the mob, novitiates are gang-raped, and mistakes are punished with sexual humiliation. I’m particularly thrilled because Bad Boys featured the debut of Johnny Dawes, an old-time friend who died more than a decade ago. Dawes thought all copies of the movie had disappeared, so even he saw it only once. Derrick Stanton, Guy Lance and Lenny Koto also star. Director Brooks, by the way, is better known as Tom DeSimone.

Newcomer Brandon Wilde from DV8 Casting bowed online in his first sex scenes for Channel 1 Releasing. The cute 19-year-old from Minnesota not only performed a jack-off solo at C1R.com, but also took on well-endowed Trevor Knight at Suite703.com. If we know C1R directrix Chi Chi LaRue, Wilde will be performing frequently, if only to show off the unique tiger paw tattoos on his chest.

Editor, director and sometimes porn star Andew Rosen told me he’s putting the finishing touches on another movie for Raging Stallion. He said Unloaded “has lots of handsome men in it,” to which I responded, “Well, duh. Tell me more.” Rosen’s favorite scene is a three-way with Brandon Lewis, Dominic Pacifico and Cameron Addams. According to Rosen, “Cameron gets wildly double-penetrated, and then the three of them do a hot train-fuck.” The camera angle makes the cumshots seem to land right into the viewer’s face.

Samantha 38G stars in tale of a raunchy radio station

CHATSWORTH, Calif.—The SCORE Group and XLGirls magazine have teamed up to release the new feature film K-JUGS, starring voluptuous super-slut Samantha 38G.

The sexual antics revolve around the radio station K-JUGS, where Samantha 38G rules the show as the top DJ until newcomer Renee Ross shows up to challenge Samantha for big-boob supremacy of the station.

Meanwhile, K-JUGS is a hotbed of sex where the staff is constantly humping each other behind closed doors. Bailey Santanna can’t keep her panties on as the horny receptionist, Jade Parker is a sex-loving author on a book tour, and Brandy Ryder and Reyna Mae have a live four-way on the air with two studs while Samantha broadcasts the action.

The only way a woman gets hired at K-JUGS is if she has massive breasts and a pretty face. The latest feature from the publisher of XLGirls magazine is available from The SCORE Group’s eBoobStore.com or by calling 1-800-421-0760 in the U.S. and Canada. See the trailer at K-JUGS.com.

A ride on the Sybian, that is, during Thursday’s Howard Stern Show

NEW YORK—Comedian Tracy Morgan apparently had the time of his life Thursday during his appearance on The Howard Stern Show, and well he should have. It’s not every day that a man—celebrity or not—gets to control a Sybian ride with Digital Playground contract star Riley Steele on the Sybian end of the ride. But that’s just what happened—and judging from the report on the Howard Stern blog, everyone got off.

After a one-on-one interview with Howard, who apparently thinks Steele is “going to be the top porn girl,” not least because she’s model-pretty, Morgan took to the set like a mustang in search of a mare.

“Twenty bucks I’ll get you pregnant,” wrote Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese, quoting Morgan. “Extra five bucks I’ll induce labor. Extra fifteen I’ll reduce your period.” It was Gary who then suggested that Steele mount the Sybian with Morgan at the controls.

“Pretty vagina man. Not beat up or nothing. Her shit don’t look like ham hocks,” Morgan said. According to Pugliese, Morgan “changed that. He tore her up on the Sybian.” Yee-ha!

“Tracy stuck around for his interview, but was so wound, he kept Riley’s used Sybian attachment,” the report from the set continued. “He’s going to hang it up next to his Muhammad Ali gloves.”

“This is going to be in my homemade Smithsonian,” Morgan proclaimed.

Pugliese didn’t mince words after that. “Tracy Morgan is hands down, one of the best guests on the show. The dude is raw, real, and fucking hysterical!”

Sounds like Steele helped bring out the real in him.

Adult stars coming to Windy City for new tradeshow

LOS ANGELES—The adult industry is headed to Chicago this summer for Exxxtacy 2010, a new tradeshow that will be held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center July 16-18.

Among the stars booked to appear are Adam & Eve contract girls Bree Olson and Alexis Ford, Ginger Lynn, Ron Jeremy, Sunny Leone, Sunny Lane, Lexington Steele, McKenzie Lee, Monica Mayhem, Mary Carey, Prinzzess and Britney Amber, among numerous others to be announced.

The Major Sponsor for Exxxtacy 2010 is Clips4Sale, the leading downloadable video clip site on the internet. There are still limited sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities available. The Chicago metro area which serves as home to almost 10 million people across three states. 

For more information, visit the show website at exxxtacyshow.com. 

The Donald E. Stephens Convention Center is located at 5555 North River Rd. In Rosemont, and is just minutes from O'Hare Airport. For more information or to sign up, call Taboo Productions Inc. at 877-Exxxtacy or email mike@exxxtacyshow.com. 

Talon, Flame in Bendable Flexems line now available

CHATSWORTH, Calif.—Evolved Novelties has released new products, including an addition to the Bendable Flexems line.

The Talon, which is crafted from 100 percent pure silicone, is ergonomically designed to hits its mark like no other item. This prostate stimulator has strategically placed contours and ridges. It’s waterproof, phthalate- and latex-free, and measures 3.75 inches by 1 inch.

The Talon is available in blue and black, and wholesales for $12.99.

The latest model in the Bendable Flexems line, the Flame utilizes an avant-garde design to ensure maximum stimulation. Soft and pliable, like every item in the Flexems line, it bends and maintains the desired shape. This “universal morphing feature” allows the Flexems to follow the contours of each unique human form, while three speeds ensure a great erogenous experience.

The Flame, available in pink and purple, is shower- and bath-friendly, and is created from nontoxic TPR. It measures 8.5 inches in length and 2 inches in width.

The Flame wholesales for $30.99.

For more information, visit EvolvedNovelties.com, or contact your sales representative.

Terms of the settlement are confidential

LOS ANGELES—In 2005, seven months after suing Google for infringing its copyrighted works by posting thumbnail versions of its photos in search results, Perfect 10 and owner Norm Zada did the exact same thing with Amazon. After years of roller-coaster rulings by a variety of courts—with most going against Perfect 10—the parties in the Amazon lawsuit settled their differences Tuesday in a federal courthouse in Los Angeles.

"Lawyers for Amazon.com and Perfect 10...said the companies had settled the case," reports Business Week. "Terms of the settlement were confidential and wouldn’t be disclosed, Jeffrey Mausner, a lawyer for Perfect 10, said after the hearing. Anthony Malutta, a lawyer for Amazon.com, declined to comment."

In the last major pronouncement on the cases, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2007 ultimately ruled neither Google nor Amazon directly infringed Perfect 10's copyright by posting thumbnail images, but the appellate panel kicked the question of secondary liability back to disctrict court.

"Both the District Court and the Ninth Circuit panel found that Perfect 10 had a clear copyright to at least some of the images in question, and since Google did reproduce tiny versions of those images ("thumbnails"), the District Court ruled that Perfect 10 would probably succeed in establishing at trial that Google had violated its copyright," Mark Kernes wrote at the time. "The question then became, as the Ninth Circuit framed it, whether Google could show that it could prove 'fair use' under the Copyright Act and/or the [Digital Millennium Copyright Act] as a legitimate defense. While the Ninth Circuit absolved Google (and later Amazon.com) of any direct liability for infringing on Perfect 10's images, it refrained from doing so on the question of secondary liability."

While Perfect 10 continues to insist that Google has violated DMCA provisions and thus lost its "fair use" protection, instead of going back into court for a full trial to determine the secondary liability aspects of Amazon.com's linkage to full-sized Perfect 10 images on third-party sites, the two parties apparently have decided to settle their differences privately.

It remains to be seen whether Perfect 10 and Google arrive at a similar understanding.

SAN FRANCISCO—Ahead of the planned March 26 release of its latest major title, Tales of the Arabian Nights, gay adult studio Raging Stallion has partnered with two DVD e-tailers to offer a special two-movie bundle for fans of swarthy Middle Eastern men.

Available exclusively at TLAGay.com and Raging Stallion-owned GayDVD.com, the six-disc set pairs the new title with its thematic predecessor, Arabesque.

The four-disc Tales of the Arabian Nights, directed by GAYVN Hall of Famers Chris Ward and Ben Leon, consists of 10 long scenes starring Wilfreid Knight, Damien Crosse, Francesco D’Macho, Steve Cruz, Derrek Diamond, Austin Wilde, Antonio Biaggi and Angelo Marconi, among others.

Arabesque, released in 2005 to critical acclaim, is Raging Stallion’s top-selling title of the past decade. RSS honcho Ward credits the film for raising the studio’s profile and his own.

Ward has wanted to return to the Arabian theme for several years.

“I really enjoy the look and feel of the men of the Middle East—tall, dark, hairy and handsome,” he said. “Tales of the Arabian Nights is just as good as Arabesque; perhaps even better in many ways. The sex is wall-to-wall non-stop—no plot, just fucking—and the men are so beautiful.

“I think this movie is a great representation of my own style of erotica—a mix of what I learned in my early years at Hot House, with a strong dose of Jean-Daniel Cadinot and Kristen Bjorn thrown in for good measure. It’s a great moment for me and my studio.”

A spokesman for TLAGay.com said Raging Stallion’s films are among the most popular items his company offers.

“Raging Stallion’s epic films have always been huge sellers for us,” said Managing Director Erik Schut. “The special editions of Grunts, To the Last Man and Focus/Refocus that we exclusively carry have consistently vaulted to the top of our sales charts, and I expect Tales of the Arabian Nights to be just as terrifically successful.”

In addition to lush videography and hunky guys, Ward said the special combo edition also features gorgeous still photography by Kent Taylor and Geof Teague.

“The photography by Kent Taylor and Geof Teague is really brilliant,” he said. “These are images that will become classics. Raging Stallion is currently in negotiations to produce a large coffee table book around this photography.”

For more information, trailers and examples of photography by Taylor and Teague, visit RagingStallion.com.

The special-edition DVD bundle is available by pre-order at TLAGay.com and GayDVD.com.

App developers are still fuming over the Black Friday purge of thousands of sexy apps

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Less than a week after the scorched-earth decision by Apple to purge its App Store of upwards of 5,000 apps construed to be too sexual, the fallout among developers, content producers, marketers, and other stakeholders as well as interested observers shows no sign of abating. If anything, it seems to be heating up.

Along with the reactions that range from perplexed to outraged, there also is increased speculation that Apple is planning on having an “Explicit” section in the App Store.

“A developer writes to us and says this might all be academic soon: ‘Looks like Apple are adding a category called Explicit to the App Store,’” reports Cult of Mac, which provided a screen grab of the category on the Apple site. “The developer adds: ‘It’s available for selection when adding a new app to iTunesConnect although I can’t see any sign of it in the actual App Store yet.’”

The category was subsequently removed by Apple, but Gizmodo later reported that an iPhone developer told them that Apple had confirmed the removal of the ‘Explicit” option, saying that they are nonetheless considering the category, but with the caveat, "It’s not going to happen anytime soon."

While the mystery surrounding what Apple has in store for adult-themed apps continues, people within the adult industry and without continue to express their dismay over the decision. ME, for instance, reports that Cherrysauce founder Julia Dimambro is fuming over the purge.

“It’s hypocritical,” she said. “It seems Apple [is] happy to continue with what they consider to be big respected brands such as Sports Illustrated and Playboy. However, their whole reasoning for pulling all adult apps was because of the complaints they claim they were receiving from women. If this is the case, where is the difference between a bikini or lingerie-clad Playboy model, and one that doesn’t come embedded in a branded app?”

ME also spoke with another company upset with the decision. “Steve Shields from Katina Leisure tells ME that the ban is already having an effect on adult content providers. ‘We just lost 150,000 unique affiliate visitors a day from a single client who had all of [his] Apple apps pulled with no warning,’” he told the site.

In the adult realm, Pink Visual’s Director of New Business Development, Liam Colins, gave Apple a piece of his mind. 

“Apple has taken their brand control beyond normal standards, and this is one basis of their remarkable success,” Colins said. “When they are attempting to control and dictate what is viewed, listened to and utilized by consumers on devices they purchased and pay for monthly, however, it becomes an act of censorship, pure and simple. Mobile porn exists, it is prolific and it is desired by many of Apple’s customers. To pretend that people will not watch porn or seek out sexual content on their iPhone or iPods is delusional corporate revisionism.”

Colins, like Dimambro, took umbrage with Apple’s decision to leave certain apps available for purchase while virtually identical apps were left alone.

“The fact that they left Playboy and Sports Illustrated up indicates that this action is not only hypocritical, but that it is based more on corporate strategy than on any deeply felt scruples or actual consumer complaints,” Colins said. “Do they seriously expect people to believe that a kid seeking out inappropriate content via the app store would try searching for ‘Sunny Leone’ before searching for ‘Playboy’?”

Colins said that his quarrel is less with Apple’s policies than the way in which those policies have been expressed, explained and enforced.

“I recognize that iTunes is Apple's medium for distribution and they can choose to sell any product they like for any reason, but they don’t give consumers an alternative, which makes this act censorship,” Colins said. “It’s a sad state of affairs for a company that brought us the 1984 commercial that changed the face of personal computing. The crackdown is even more tragic when one considers that Apple could have opted to implement parental controls and age verification protocols that are already present in iTunes. Instead they opted for a draconian policy and punishing partners who had invested in their product—simply because they could.”

While accusations of hypocrisy have to be of concern to Apple, its tarnished relationship with app developers must be the greater worry, and with good reason. Most developers prefer platforms that welcome them, and Apple is already facing increased competition from open-source systems like Android. In other words, don’t be surprised if that ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ Explicit category is suddenly back for good in the near future.

It’s one thing for Wal-Mart to pretend that sex doesn’t exist; it’s quite another for the creator of the iPad to pretend likewise.

Pro-censorship group worried about Stern's effect on little boys' erections

JESUSLAND—Whatever anyone may think of American Idol, one thing's for certain: It has its share of genuine characters, not the least of which is longtime judge Simon Cowell. According to his Wikipedia biography, "Many viewers of American Idol know Cowell best for his bitingly critical comments and attitude. He is so prominently identified with being blunt and harsh in commentary that audiences on American Idol can make it difficult for him to speak, sometimes booing him even before he makes his opinions known. Ryan Seacrest, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson tended to cut him off very quickly as well."

So when Cowell announced that he would be leaving the show after the current season, rumors started flying as to who would replace him, and one name that was offered was that of radio personality Howard Stern ... which of course set off a flurry of indignation with the conservative religious types, most notably Brent Bozell's Parents Television Council (PTC).

So of course, they've posted a petition to keep Stern off the show.

"WHEREAS Howard Stern is one of the most profane, sexually-explicit and anti-family performers in the history of the broadcast medium," the petition reads in part, "and in discussing the possibility of becoming a judge on 'American Idol' on his radio program gave audiences a preview of what he would bring to the table as a judge, talking about 'getting little boys hard.' ... BE IT KNOWN that if the reports about Mr. Stern prove to be true, we will no longer watch the program; we will share our concern with our friends, family and others in our social circle; and we will contact every sponsor and urge them to consider whether they should associate their corporate image with a man who talks about 'getting little boys hard.'"

Leaving aside the petition writer's obsession with "getting little boys hard," it's interesting to see PTC essentially defending a show which has featured so many people and things PTC doesn't like: A gay judge (Ellen DeGeneres), several gay singers—PTC got very upset at 'Idol' winner Adam Lambert's kinky production number for the recent American Music Awards— and the fact that a couple of the female contestants have appeared nude in magazines or on stage, with one actually making a sex tape of herself.

But whatever previous differences PTC may have had with the show or its performers, they're now worried that if Stern takes Cowell's place, all the show's family-friendly sponsors—Coca-Cola, Ford and iTunes among them—will withdraw and the show will go the way of all bad television.

"Given 'American Idol's' extreme popularity with family audiences, I hope that Fox will put the rumors to rest and announce that it has no intention of adding to the show one of the most profane, sexually-explicit and anti-family performers in the history of the broadcast medium—either as a guest or as a judge," PTC president Tim Winter stated in a press release. "Unless Stern intends to undergo some sort of moth-to-butterfly metamorphosis—though in his case the change would be more like rattlesnake-to-Labrador Retriever—adding him to 'American Idol' would spell immediate death for one of the best franchises in American family entertainment."

"Any involvement by Howard Stern on 'American Idol' would be disastrous and would immediately destroy the show's hard-earned reputation as one of the most reliably family-friendly programs on broadcast television," Winter continued, apparently oblivious of his own prior criticisms of the show. "It would also immediately, and perhaps irreparably, alienate the show's biggest sponsors, which tend to be trusted family brands and would not want their reputations to be tarnished by someone who has demonstrated nothing but contempt for broadcast decency through his words and his deeds."

But at least the "King of All Media" hasn't shown the contempt for free speech that PTC has demonstrated over the course of its existence.

"I've heard a lot of people say, 'Well, he couldn't do the same thing he does on his radio show if he's on TV. He's bound by FCC and so forth,'" added PTC's Melissa Henson. "But let's not forget that before Howard Stern went to Sirius, he was on broadcast airwaves for 20-something years—and during that time, he was constantly waging war with the FCC, trying to see what he could get away with. I wouldn't put it past him to continue to test the limits of what he could get away with, even on broadcast TV."

Apparently it's escaped Henson's attention that Stern's radio show is live, while American Idol is prerecorded, thus allowing its editors to remove whatever overly salty language Stern might use.

What effect PTC's petition will have on Stern's chances of becoming an Idol judge remains to be seen, but publicity value aside, we'd have to ask, why would he want to?

‘News’ is misinterpreted by many to mean that hourglass figures are like a drug, therefore pornography is addictive

LOS ANGELES—Earth to research scientists. Just because the brain produces chemicals when it is stimulated by images or thoughts it finds pleasurable does not mean that pornography is therefore the equivalent of crack. While it may be a neat syllogism that conveniently conforms to a certain world view, the suggestion is arguable at best, dangerous at worst.

Unfortunately, media headline are taking the idea and running with it. Case in point is Fox News, whose headline—“Hourglass Figures Affect Men's Brains Like a Drug”—makes the claim, and whose lead completes the circle. “Watching a curvaceous woman can feel like a reward in the brain of men, much as drinking alcohol or taking drugs might, research now reveals,” Fox says. “These new findings might help explain the preoccupation men can have toward pornography, scientists added.”

The latest revelations are the result of a recent study conducted by Steven M. Platek, a researcher with the Department of Psychology, Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville, and Devendra Singh,a researcher with the Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin.

The study—“Optimal Waist-to-Hip Ratios in Women Activate Neural Reward Centers in Men”—used MRI scans to determine the effect on 14 men aged about 25 years of age who were “scanned while making attractiveness ratings to randomly and individually presented pictures (one from the rear and one from an oblique rear position for each woman) of seven naked female bodies prior to and after recovery from an elective cosmetic surgical procedure to reconfigure and optimize WHR (waist to hip ratio).”

The researchers found that, “Changes associated with cosmetic surgery (aimed at optimizing female WHR) have specific effects on men's OFC (orbital frontal cortex), an area of the brain that is associated with evaluations of rewards.”

In follow up interviews, Platek also has made a connection between his study and the controversial issue of sexual or pornography addiction, which some groups are using to further the argument that pornography, like some drugs, is so inherently addictive that it should be regulated by the government or legally prohibited altogether.

'These findings could help further our understanding [of] pornography addiction and related disorders, such as erectile dysfunction in the absence of pornography,” he said. “The findings could also lend to the scientific inquiry about sexual infidelity.”

The problem, according to psychologist and family counselor Marty Klein, is that there is no clear understating within the therapy community that sexual, internet or pornography addiction actually exists. According to Klein, the sexual, relationship, pornography or internet problems that many people are facing—and which many therapists are attempting to address—are really a problem, but are actually monogamy issues. The media, he adds, is not helping matters.

“The misuse of studies in this way is an old problem,” he told AVN. “I remember a tiny little study 35 years ago which USA Today picked up, with the headline, ‘Men Reach Sexual Peak at 18, Women at 35.’ Therapists and patients have been quoting it ever since.

"’Neural reward,’ he continued, referring to the study, “is a fancy way of saying that our brain enjoys what it enjoys. A pretty flower, a pretty touchdown pass and a pretty vulva all do it for me. Your preference might be chocolate, reality TV and Leviticus. The idea that we could be addicted to our own hormones is like saying exercise is bad for us because we become too dependent on our muscles to lift things.

“Of course we're addicted to our own hormones, and also to the rest of our physiological processes,” he added. “We like the feeling of fullness after we eat. We like taking a deep breath at the sea. We like the feeling of emptiness after a long-delayed pee. It’s just crazy to think we're victims of our own hormones, but lay people love the idea.”

It isn’t just lay people who are making the argument that pornography addiction actually exists, however, as evidenced by Platek comments as well as many others in the therapy industry. Klein is surprised by none of it.

“People are still trying desperately to blame porn for taking men away from allegedly enjoyable sexual relationships,” he told AVN. “But what people don't want to look at is the possibility that monogamy is inherently flawed (remember, it's never, ever worked on a long-term basis in any human society ever known), and that many adult men aren't choosing between exciting, nourishing sex and porn.

“Rather,” he continued, “many men are choosing between partner sex that's boring, aggravating, emotionally expensive or missing and a form of sexual expression that is easy, rewarding, varied and validating (i.e., porn). Under this condition, does the porn choice seem so bizarre that it demands an alternative explanation (e.g., neural rewards, satanic temptation, etc.)?”

Not to us, it doesn’t.

New law updating the state’s obscenity code would apply to all electronic communication

BOSTON—The Massachusetts House has voted to close a loophole in the law that allowed the sending to minors of sexually explicit images by electronic means (i.e. sexting). 

The bill, which was introduced in early February by State Rep. Bradley Jones (R-North Reading) and House Judiciary Chairman Eugene O’Flaherty (D-Chelsea), would close a loophole that last year forced the state’s Supreme Court to overturn the conviction of a man accused of sending explicit instant messages to a 13-year-old girl.

According to wbztv.com, “The amendment unanimously approved on Wednesday would update the state’s obscenity laws to include all electronic communications such as e-mail and text messages. The measure … was tacked onto an unrelated crime bill that would create a new charge of assault and battery on a correctional officer by means of a bodily fluid.”

The bill now heads to the Senate.

ITHACA, N.Y.—Channel 1 Releasing personalities Chi Chi LaRue, Cameron Marshall and Eddie Diaz are scheduled to take part in Saturday’s “Filthy/Gorgeous,” a gala presented by the Cornell University’s Gay-Straight Alliance.

For the second year in a row, C1R co-founder and GAYVN Hall of Fame directrix LaRue will serve as DJ and host for the party. Marshall and Diaz, stars of Black Meat, White Heat from C1R subsidiary All Worlds Video, will provide eye candy.

“Last year the kids at Cornell made me feel like a rock star,” LaRue said. “I hope lightning strikes twice.”

Filthy/Gorgeous will take place from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. in the WSH Memorial Room on campus. Special guest performers this year include Whore’s Mascara and Johnny “The Gay Pimp” McGovern. A charity auction will benefit Sylvia’s Place, an emergency shelter for homeless LGBTQ youth in New York City.

The fundraising effort is co-sponsored by Alternative Breaks, a student organization that runs public-service outings during spring break.

Founded in 2001, Cornell University’s Gay-Straight Alliance is dedicated to providing education, outreach, collaboration and social activities that foster an environment of understanding, respect and unity between the LGBTQ community and the larger community.

For more information about Filthy/Gorgeous, visit the event’s webpage. For more about Channel 1 Releasing, visit C1R.com.

Credits eared playing poker can go toward purchasing porn and other items

CYBERSPACE—Gambling and porn have always enjoyed a certain simpatico of sin, and now one online poker affiliate is codifying the relationship in a novel way that brings the two worlds closer while hopefully making some extra money for itself. CoinFlip.com announced Monday that it is the first poker affiliate to offer adult entertainment in its VIP store.

“We call this new service XXXBack," says the company. "You can use your VIP points to buy one-month passes to some of the world's most popular adult entertainment web sites, like Bangbros or Reality Kings.”

In addition to those two studios, XXXBack currently includes access to Pornstar Network, VideoBox, Ron Harris Studio and Pornstar Classics. Admitting that it is in “uncharted” territory, the site stresses the added benefits for consumers of being able to access porn sites anonymously. 

“After you have requested the pass with your Coins, our system will automatically deliver your registration code to your inbox (on the top right hand corner of the screen),” the company says. “Coinflip.com VIP store acts as the intermediary between you and the adult site. This way you won't have to give your credit card details or any other personal information to the adult sites. Buying adult entertainment passes and watching high-quality adult movies [have] never been easier and more carefree!”

CoinFlip.com users can earn coins (or points) that can be used to purchase other items in their store, as well. A quick perusal found available items such as a 25 euro iTunes gift card, (40 coins), Ray-Ban aviator glasses (124 coins) and Apple TV with a 160 gig hard drive (259 coins), to name a few.

“We realize that bringing adult entertainment to our VIP store is not the most conventional thing to do and it may amuse or even offend some of our members, but for us it's a natural step forward,” says the company. “Here at Coinflip.com we strive to be among the pathfinders in the affiliate world and always bring some extra value to our members, giving you a wide array of choices in how to use your valuable Coins.”

According to Poker News Daily, CoinFlip.com was launched last year by a well-known poker player named Ziigmund.

“Fresh off his runner-up finish in the Main Event of the Helsinki Freezeout, Ilari Sahamies, known to many in the poker world as Ziigmund, has launched his very own blog, Coinflip.com,” the site says. “The free online poker community will play host to videos and anecdotes from the popular Finnish player.”

AVN says it is looking at other platforms on which to offer high-quality adult programming

BENTONVILLE, Ark.—Retailer Wal-Mart, which announced Monday its intent to purchase online movie provider VUDU in a deal whose details remain secret, has indicated that it will discontinue adult programming on the service. Currently, VUDU offers adult movies on the AVN “After Dark” channel.

An announcement posted late Monday to Wal-Mart’s website announced its intention to buy VUDU.

“VUDU is a revolutionary service, built into a growing number of broadband-ready TVs and Blu-ray players, that delivers instant access to thousands of movies and TV shows directly through the television,” the retailer said. “Customers with broadband Internet access and an Internet-ready TV or Blu-ray player can rent or purchase movies, typically in high-definition, without needing a connected computer or cable/satellite service.”

As of Monday morning, unnamed sources had already leaked the news that Hollywood studios were in the process of being informed about the change in ownership, but the question remained whether Wal-Mart was going to keep the adult channel. Some thought it might; most thought it would not. The mystery was soon cleared up.

A VUDU spokesperson confirmed to AVN that Wal-Mart would no longer offer adult programming on the service and that customers who had bought adult movies, as opposed to renting them, would have those purchases automatically refunded. No calls to VUDU (or Wal-Mart) are necessary, the spokesperson said.

“We’ve enjoyed working with VUDU over the past two years in the development of an online service that offers the highest-quality entertainment available to fans of adult content,” said AVN CEO Darren Roberts. "We're currently looking at other platforms that are suitable to carry out this vision."

Wednesday, VUDU began emailing adult studios with the news that it is discontinuing adult programming.

"As you may have recently heard, VUDU was acquired by Wal-Mart," the email reads. "In conjunction with this acquisition we will be discontinuing the 'After Dark' adult service over the coming days.  Upon completion of the shutdown process, we will settle all accounts with you and ensure that you are paid the full amount you are owed under our existing agreement." The company is also requesting that studios sign a voluntary termination notice.

According to The New York Times, the VUDU deal positions Wal-Mart in a market it needs if it wants to stay competitive in the delivery of mainstream digital content.

“Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark., is one of the world’s largest retailers of DVDs,” reported the Times. “But it has so far lacked a way to deliver movies digitally to people’s homes—a glaring weakness as consumers shift from renting and buying physical discs to streaming movies over the Internet.”

Wal-Mart has indicated that the deal is expected to be finalized within the next few weeks.

New hire has more than 20 years of industry experience

CHATSWORTH, Calif.—Pipedream Products, a leading manufacturer of adult novelties and pleasure products, is pleased to announce the hiring of Steve Sav as the company’s new vice president of sales.

“I’ve known Steve for over 20 years, going back to my days in the gift business, and we’ve had a great relationship as both friends and colleagues.  He has worked independently for Pipedream for the past three years handling our mainstream accounts, and I felt it’s the right time to bring him on board to oversee all international and domestic sales,” said Nick Orlandino, COO of Pipedream. “We’re excited to have him here and I’m confident he will be a valuable asset to our customers as well.”

Sav can be reached at steve@pipedreamproducts.com or (818) 772-0100, ext 112.

For more information about Pipedream’s extensive line of adult gifts, novelties, and pleasure products, visit PipedreamProducts.com.

CHATSWORTH, Calif.—The pre-nomination period for the 2010 GAYVN Awards opened Wednesday. The website is live and ready for industry input regarding the best gay adult films, performers and web properties delivered during 2009.

In order to be considered for a 2010 award, a production must have been released between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2009. Newcomers, studio marketing campaigns and web-based promotions and marketing efforts must have debuted during the calendar year 2009.

DVD and web categories are included in this year’s awards lineup.

DVD categories:
Best Actor
Best All-Sex Video
Best Alternative Release
Best Cumshot
Best Director
Best Duo Sex Scene
Best Group Sex Scene
Best HD Feature
Best Marketing – Company Image
Best Newcomer
Best Picture
Best Renting Title of the Year
Best Selling Title of the Year
Best Solo Performance
Best Supporting Actor
Best Videography
Best Web-to-DVD Release
Performer of the Year
Studio of the Year
Hall of Fame

Web categories:
Best Affiliate Program
Best Blog/Gossip Site
Best Genre Site (solo, amateur, twink, bear, ethnic, fetish/leather, etc.)
Best Live Webcam/Webshow
Best Mega Site
Best Porn Star Site
Best Retail/VOD Site
Best Web-Based Marketing/Promotion Effort (single title, studio, performer, event, cause, etc.)
Web Performer of the Year
Website of the Year

Industry members who would like to make pre-nom suggestions to the GAYVN Awards staff may email prenom@gayvn.com for a username, password and link to the submissions page. The pre-nom website, usernames and passwords will be active until 12:01 a.m. PT March 6. Until then, users may access their lists to make additions, deletions and corrections.

“You are free to suggest as many items as you like in each category,” said Janet Gibson, chief operating officer for parent company AVN Media Network. “Do note, however, that being shrewd about your suggestions will yield a more desirable result than creating a laundry list of titles, not all of which may represent your best work or your company’s.”

Studios are asked to provide two copies of each title they would like the GAYVN Awards judges to consider. The DVDs should be shipped to arrive no later than 5 p.m. PT March 12. Address all deliveries to:
GAYVN Awards
9400 Penfield Avenue
Chatsworth, CA 91311

Questions about the site or the awards process may be directed to prenom@gayvn.com.

The 2010 GAYVN Awards will be presented during a gala ceremony in April. Details will be announced soon.

Some background on the enigmatic actor who was one of adult's best

NEW YORK CITY—As part of his upcoming project, a documentary on the birth of the New York hardcore scene, adult historian Benson Hurst spent a lot of time with Jamie Gillis right up until his death last Friday, and Hurst related to AVN some of the information he gleaned from his talks with the actor:

"I spent the last few days before his passing with Jamie, and it's hit us all pretty hard. He was such a great guy," Hurst said.

His Early Life and Career

"He was fourth of six siblings; not particularly close to them but not estranged either. He was a graduate of Columbia University in 1970 and wanted to become a mime artist originally. In fact, he actually was a mime artist for a couple of years in the late '60s and also had theatrical aspirations. He was in Shakespeare productions in lead roles, and I have a few reviews from the New York Times of Shakespeare plays that he did. He played both Laertes and Polonius in an off-Broadway production of Hamlet. A lot of porn people were aspiring actors in the early days, but in Jamie's case, I actually felt it was justified due to the number of real roles that he had played in off-Broadway productions, and everybody knows that in his spare time, he was a taxi driver, which allowed him to continue auditioning for plays during the day."

That was before he was in porn? "Yes, although the details of his sexual escapades as a taxi driver would fill another book; very entertaining."

"Jamie's first introduction to porn was to audition for the now legendary Bob Wolf, who was the loop maker in New York, who was the guy who did the infamous Linda Lovelace dog loop, and he also was the guy who started Eric Edwards, Tina and Jason Russell, and several other early stars. Bob had this basement on 14th Street which was effectively Ground Zero when it came to hardcore in New York. So Jamie saw an advert in the Village Voice in '71, went to this basement, had a Polaroid taken of himself, was invited back a few days later to appear in a  porn loop, which he remembered very well, because after having sex with this girl, he asked her for her phone number, and she reacted with great indignance, saying, 'Who do you think you are, wanting to go out with me? We may have had sex but that doesn't mean anything,' which he always said really titillated him. He loved the fact that just because you had sex with someone didn't give you any rights to ask a girl out."

"He then got a number of roles in pre-Deep Throat pictures, some of them sort of marriage-manual white-coat documentaries that purported to have socially redeeming purpose, and a few pre-Deep Throat hardcore narrative films as well. So he was making these before the watershed moment that was Deep Throat in 1973. And then, Harry Reems was taken off the scene by the legal travails that he went through—the Deep Throat bust in Tennessee—so by the time you get to '74, '75, '76, Jamie was the number-one go-to actor in New York. If I had to name the top five movies, both in terms of box-office gross or in terms of how good they were, Jamie was the lead in each of those, whether it was The Opening of Misty Beethoven, Through the Looking Glass, The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann, Story of Joanna—all of these, Jamie was pretty much the lead, winning the very first awards that were being handed out in the industry."

His Reputation

"He was also notorious for his dark side, and before I met him, I remember my wife saying, 'I'm not sure whether we should have the interview at our house. This is Jamie Gillis, after all. You know: The Prince of Darkness?' And I had a cameraman lined up but he pulled out because he didn't necessarily want to be there when Jamie was there and so on, and it became clear to me that he was a guy with a reputation that genuinely preceded him, and to be honest, to people outside the industry I've said, 'You know, I'm friends with Jamie Gillis,' and they've come back after having Googled him and said, 'You know, he really was a dirty, nasty, mean kind of misogynistic person.'"

"He had a kinky side, and basically, one thing he always said to me, which always stuck with me, I asked him about some of the more supposedly perverse things he did, and he sat back and he said, 'You know, I never did anything that didn't feel right in the moment and right for the person I was with,' and whether that was true or not, I believe that he believed that. As a result, the relationships that he had with someone like Serena were—they sort of lived this relationship out in the sex clubs of New York as well as on the screen of the films they were in, and that was a sort of sadomasochistic although consensual relationship. But I still get people in the industry who go, 'I was never sure about that relationship,' and I know the affection they had for each other right up until the end; gave me all indications that they were just very close and consensual and so on."

His Historical Significance

"What interested me in him was, he was a famous figure for a number of different eras, having started in the 'Swinging Sixties,' or the legacy of the 'Swinging Sixties,' he'd been so very hippie-ish, and then he got into the acting-type porn films, and then he got into the video age, and then he got into the gonzo era with his On the Prowl series, and then he made a number of fetish movies as well. One of the last things he said to me was—we were cleaning in his room, and somebody said, 'This says you won an award for Best Fetish Video; how ridiculous is that?' And he sat up a little bit hurt and said, 'There's people out there that make hundreds of fetish videos every year; it's a production line. I made one and they gave me the award for Best Fetish Movie.' He said, 'Take care of that award,' and you could see that he was a little bit preachy all of a sudden, and I found that amusing and we laughed about it. How many people can have been through all of those different eras and the sharp end of the industry, and yet be as intelligent and cultured as I felt he was. He was unique."

His Off-Screen Life

"He was a keen boxing fan, and he was always recognized. It would be a lot of fun walking with him and see people walk past and then sprint back so they could stand in front of him and look at him again, which surprised me because I just never thought he had that kind of notoriety but I think people recognized his face."

"He moved back to New York I think in the early 2000s, and didn't like flying too much so he didn't return to California very much after that. He supposedly announced his retirement at Christmas 2007 to his partner [Zarela] as a Christmas present to her. In reality, I don't think he'd had too many roles of a sexual nature in recent years. He'd been in a few non-sexual roles and a couple of fetish roles, but that was it."

"On any given night, you would go to Zarela's and if you looked at the 'owner's table,' there would be Jamie, and that was one of my most abiding memories. He would be happy to see anybody. One day, he told me—I asked, 'Do you get recognized much?' and he said, 'I do, actually.' He said, the other day, some guys had stopped and done a double-take and they'd gone up to him, and he was thinking, 'Here comes more fans,' and he was puffing up his chest in a proud way, and one of the guys pointed at him and said, 'You! You! You're the guy who fucked Vanessa Del Rio!' Jamie said that gave him even more pride, the fact that he was known just as 'the guy who fucked Vanessa del Rio' as opposed to being The Great Jamie Gillis."

His Final Days

"His decline was fairly rapid, but he broke the news to me in early December, and he was walking around and fine then but looking a little bit pale. I had to go away for the Christmas break, came back at the beginning of the year, and he was pretty much bedridden from the turn of the year."

"When he told me he was suffering from this, he told me he wasn't telling anybody else, and the reason for that, I think—and he never was too explicit about it, but in conversation with him, I think he feared a little bit that his life might become a little bit of a circus in his last days, and he didn't wish that upon himself nor his partner, who obviously wasn't part of the industry, so he did keep it quiet. But a consequence of that was, a lot of people were taken by surprise because they didn't even know he was sick. It's something he felt bad about, but it's a natural consequence of the choice."

"I sat with him a couple of weeks ago, and I asked him, 'What gives you happiness?' And he said, 'I have no sex drive anymore; I have no interest in food; I'm not interested in watching movies,' and he looked at me and he said, 'Can you imagine that? The great Gillis has lost all of his senses?'"

"I always used to say to him, 'Jamie, you were a great actor,' and he said, 'Well, yes, but in second place, there was a Great Dane.' So he had this mixture of contempt for the competition but at the same time, a sneaking contentment that he was well-regarded. It was this ambivalence; he loved the industry, but at the same time he recognized its limitations. I used to say to him, 'You could have had a genuine acting career, quite clearly,' and he said, 'And what? Be recognized by the mainstream? I'd much rather be recognized by the pervert who frequents 42nd Street cinemas and so on.' Right up until the end, he asked me, 'Do you think anybody will care? Do you think anybody will remember me? And I couldn't be quite sure whether he was doubting his own notoriety or whether he just wanted to have affirmation of it, and I think there was an element of both. I thought the world of him as a person and as an actor."

Jamie Gillis: April 20, 1943–February 19, 2010

Deal gives Hustler Lingerie one of its largest guarantees ever

NEW YORK—Industry leader Hustler Lingerie has signed a deal with Kevco, giving the distributor exclusive rights to market the top-selling sexy lingerie brand in the U.K. and Ireland.

Kevco, a U.K.-based company with a diverse portfolio of brands that includes Pleaser shoes, has given Hustler Lingerie one of the largest guarantees ever in sexy lingerie history.

Hustler Lingerie President Elan Rofé said, "The fact that they're willing to guarantee such big numbers proves what we've known all along: Hustler Lingerie is a global leader in sexy fashion and lingerie. With the introduction of the new collection at new and more affordable price points, sales volume at the retail level will be huge. We're in good hands with Kevco, and everyone feels great about the deal."

Hustler Lingerie is aggressively seeking new deals and encourages any interested parties to inquire immediately.

For more info, email info@electric-lingerie.com.

HORNI MESTO, Czech Republic—Fifty movies after he started a career in gay adult entertainment, Czech performer Johan Volny has added producer, director and studio founder to his list of credits. Exposed, the eponymous studio’s first DVD, is expected to hit store shelves in April.

Volny said his DVDs will mirror the content of the fan site Johan-Volny.com, for which he films himself and friends having no-holds-barred sexual adventures. Volny also reports from backstage on the Czech gay-porn scene.

Exposed features Volny in various clinches with Jimmy Call, Robin Few, Dominik Trojan and Alex Stevens. Chad Ward and Patrick, two of Volny’s school chums, will celebrate their porn debuts with the title’s release. In all, the DVD encompasses 120 minutes of solo, duo and group action.

“Exposed clearly proves that these actors have known each other for many years,” said Stephen Thompson, founder and chief executive of Staxus, under the auspices of which Volny films will be distributed. “The sex between the models is filled with the sort of animal magnetism you’d expect from good pals. A good example is the scene between Johan and Jimmy Call, in which Johan actually bottoms for his best mate—a very rare moment indeed, given that the director is almost always a top.”

Volny said the formation of his own studio was an important step toward what he hopes will be a lengthy future in adult entertainment.

“Finally I can realize my biggest dreams, with porn work both in front of and behind the camera,” he said. “Both on my site and in my DVDs, I always try to show the feelings and affections between the models. I want to demonstrate just how much they really enjoy hard sex together, and as such make every effort not to just show fast, unimaginative sex, which, to be honest, can be really quite boring.

“I’m proud of my work,” he added of the body of videos in which he has performed during the past six years. “I’m also very happy about all the many photos that have appeared of me in magazines, which I try to collect. In years to come, as an old man, I shall be able to look at these hundreds of images and will appreciate everything that I’m now doing.

“Porn is more than just a job for me. It’s part of my life. I think I show this fact in my work, which always has a genuine sense of authenticity about it.”

Thompson, too, is proud of Volny’s maturation in the industry.

“I’ve known Johan since he starred in his very first movie for our studios six years ago,” Thompson said. “Since then his career in the business has blossomed inordinately. What’s more, he’s proved himself to be a very trustworthy and reliable partner for us, not only in front of the camera, but also behind it.”

According to Thompson, Exposed will bow at Homoactive.TV prior to its release on video.

For more information, trailers, outtakes and behind-the-scenes vignettes, visit Johan-Volny.com.

93 million Americans are still without high-speed internet access in their homes

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Federal Communications Commission Tuesday released the results of a nationwide study—the National Broadband Plan Consumer Survey—that assessed the reason why so many millions of Americans are still without broadband connections in their homes. The latest estimate is that one third of the country’s citizens—93 million people—are not connected via high-speed broadband to the internet.

The study was conducted as part of the commission's National Broadband Plan, which will be delivered to Congress March 17. According to an announcement issued Tuesday by the FCC, the Plan will detail “a strategy for connecting the country to affordable, world-class broadband. This will be a strategy for U.S. global leadership in high-speed Internet to create jobs and spur economic growth; to unleash new waves of innovation and investment; and to improve education, health care, energy efficiency, public safety, and the vibrancy of our democracy.”

“We need to tackle the challenge of connecting 93 million Americans to our broadband future,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said. “In the 21st century, a digital divide is an opportunity divide. To bolster American competitiveness abroad and create the jobs of the future here at home, we need to make sure that all Americans have the skills and means to fully participate in the digital economy.”

The survey—which interviewed 5,005 adult Americans between Oct. 19 and Nov. 23, 2009—found that of the 35 percent of adult Americans who do not have high-speed internet connections at home, approximately 80 million are adults and 13 million are children over the age of 5. The survey also found that non-adopters usually have more than one barrier that keeps them from having broadband service at home.

“Over half of non-adopters, when selecting from a menu of possible barriers to adoption, chose three or more,” the announcement read. “For example, more than half of non-adopters who cited cost also listed reasons relating to digital literacy or relevance.”

The three main barriers to broadband adoption are:

* Affordability: 36 percent of non-adopters, or 28 million adults, said they do not have home broadband because the monthly fee is too expensive (15 percent), they cannot afford a computer, the installation fee is too high (10 percent), or they do not want to enter into a long-term service contract (9 percent). According to survey respondents, their average monthly broadband bill is $41. 

* Digital Literacy: 22 percent of non-adopters, or 17 million adults, indicated that they do not have home broadband because they lack the digital skills (12 percent) or they are concerned about potential hazards of online life, such as exposure to inappropriate content or security of personal information (10 percent).

* Relevance: 19 percent of non-adopters, or 15 million adults, said they do not have broadband because they say that the Internet is a waste of time, there is no online content of interest to them or, for dial-up users, they are content with their current service.

“The gap in broadband adoption is a problem with many different dimensions that will require many different solutions,” said John Horrigan, director of consumer research for the Omnibus Broadband Initiative. “Lowering costs of service or hardware, helping people develop online skills, and informing them about applications relevant to their lives are all key to sustainable adoption.”

The FCC also identified four main categories of non-adopters:

* Near Converts, who make up 30 percent of non-adopters, have the strongest tendencies toward getting broadband. They have high rates of computer ownership and positive attitudes about the internet. Many are dial-up or “not-at-home” users, and affordability is the leading reason for non-adoption among this group. They are relatively youthful compared with other non-adopters, with a median age of 45.

* Digital Hopefuls, who make up 22 percent of non-adopters, like the idea of being online but lack the resources for access. Few have a computer and, among those who use one, few feel comfortable with the technology. Some 44 percent cite affordability as a barrier to adoption and they are also more likely than average to say digital literacy are a barrier. This group is heavily Hispanic and has a high share of African-Americans.

* Digitally Uncomfortable, who make up 20 percent of non-adopters, are the mirror image of the Digital Hopefuls; they have the resources for access but not a bright outlook on what it means to be online. Nearly all of the Digitally Uncomfortable have computers, but they lack the skills to use them and have tepid attitudes toward the internet. This group reports all three barriers: affordability, digital literacy and relevance.

* Digitally Distant, who make up 28 percent of non-adopters, do not see the point of being online. Few in this group see the internet as a tool for learning and most see it as a dangerous place for children. This is an older group (the median age is 63), nearly half are retired and half say that either relevance or digital literacy are barriers to adoption.

SANTA MONICA/LONDON—CED and Night Mobile have announced an agreement to build and operate 4HOTtv.mobi, CED's multi-brand mobile offering. 4HOTtv will feature the best of all CED's affiliate studios in one destination for mobile access, and will also offer subscribers access to NightMobile’s content database of more than 9,000 titles.

"This is truly a unique opportunity to bring some of the top studios under one brand," Night Mobile VP JC said. "We are very excited with the opportunity of working with Marc and his team at CED. The consolidation of so many quality studios under one label, providing so much choice, is a sure-fire winner."

According to a statement issued Tuesday, the 4HOTtv mobile site will be optimized for all 3G phones and available globally. New studios may sign with CED by invitation only. Only studios, brands, producers and program suppliers with content desirable to the adult mobile consumer are being assembled to create one of the largest selections of adult entertainment offerings in the mobile world.

Night Mobile provides mobile infrastructure, branded mobile optimized sites, mobile apps and web apps, content encoding, editing and optimization for all 3G & Wi-Fi handsets. It also provides integrated global billing, reporting and support. To date, Night Mobile has partnered with more than 180 brands in the adult entertainment industry, including major studios, content providers, distributors, magazines, nightclubs and cable TV stations.

"The CED mission is to expand the ‘broadcast’ reach for our honored adult program providers and producers worldwide,” said CED president and CEO Marc Bruder. “Cable and DTH pay-per-view, lodging and even the internet VOD avenues eventually all became fragmented and uncontrolled. Mobile exploitation for our adult content suppliers must be focused, regulated, accountable and free from rights abuse and piracy. CED was approached by many companies with the ‘mobile solution’ for our producers, and our unanimous choice to work with was obvious: Night Mobile. We here at CED and our program providers look forward to a mutually long, supportive and lucrative relationship with JC and the outstanding Night Mobile team."

CED represents more than 100 producers, studios and brands manufacturing adult programming in the U.S. and internationally, with more than 300 new title releases each month. CED is a major content provider to PlayboyTV-Spice Networks Worldwide, as well as the exclusive adult program supplier to SkyDirecTV Latin American adult services in Mexico and Brazil. Lodging and hospitality systems, cable operators and DTH services in the US, Canada, South America, Europe, Australia and parts of Asia also are supplied by CED. CED's main focus in the worldwide mobile arena is 4HOTtv, for which CED is the exclusive content provider.  

For more information about CED & 4HOTtv, visit www.4ced.com or contact bruder@brivideo.com.

For more information about Night Mobile, visit www.nightmobile.biz or contact jeremy@nightmobile.biz.