Since this year’s trip to Vegas for AEE was very different for me, I’m not going to write the usual article or journal style recap of the events. Instead I’m just going to kind of empty my notebook into the computer and see what comes up. Hopefully you will be able to get the highlights and I can use the time to apologize to a number of people I didn’t get to see when I was over there.
I knew this was going to be an unusual trip from the start. For starters, I was only going to be in town for a couple of days instead of a week. I was also surprised this year by the warmer reception from the people at AVN. For a number of years, it has been like pulling teeth to even get a press pass to the event. In fact, I didn’t even apply for one this year because I have always been denied in the past. I was even invited to cover the AVN Award Show this year, but had to decline as I had a flight home already booked for Saturday afternoon. This year I was even looking forward to finally meeting Paul Fishbein on the floor.
With such a short trip planned, I decided to skip the four hour drive and just book a flight. After hearing some good things about Jet Blue, I got myself a flight out of Long Beach for a really low price. Anyone who has tried to fight the crowds at LAX or make the drive out to Ontario might want to consider Jet Blue out of Long Beach. Getting to the airport was easy and it was a pleasant experience to say the least. The flight over was short and I would recommend Jet Blue to anyone flying to the few cities they service.
There was a pretty serious rush on rental cars so my choices were somewhat limited. Every car on the lot either lacked a CD player (Very important to have your own tunes when cruising the streets of Vegas.) or smelled like a freaking ashtray. In the end I went with a day-glow blue Neon with matching dashboard trim. It was quite the vehicle with tinted windows and I was sure people might mistake me for Kid Vegas. Looks aside, the car was just what I needed to get me to my usual Vegas home away from home, the Casino Royal. They got me into my room in plenty of time for me to hit the quarter roulette tables and get comfortable for a while.
I had no plans for the evening so I took my too-cool ride out to get a haircut. Anyone who has seen the Rog-do knows that it isn’t exactly a high end salon cut. The Supercuts over near the college was the perfect place to clean up the sides and have a nice conversation. With the Adult DVD Talk party scheduled for Thursday night, I had Friday night free and wanted to try something different. I asked the nice woman what sort of good shows there were in town. She had some good ideas, but I was already set on what I wanted to do with my night off on Friday. More on that later.
Skipping dinner in favor some more roulette, I had some great success on the table and got a call from the gang at Adult DVD Talk asking me to meet them for a buffet. I ended up missing the meal, but joined them in the suite for a few beers and conversation. This is the part I hate to write about because no matter who I list, I know I’ll forget someone. Rog, beer and an empty stomach is never a good mix and I was starving within a matter of moments. Sadly hunger cut into the conversation time, but I had enough time to really enjoy myself. I had some beers with Steph, Drew and Astroknight from ADT and of course Jeff from RAME. The suite was amazing with a beautiful view of the strip and was a perfect place to watch the water show in front of the Bellaggio. Since everyone else had already had dinner, I left at around midnight by myself. Still hungry, I found the lure of the tables too strong to resist. After about an hour of losing and downing free drinks, I ordered some pizza, bread sticks and lasagna from the little pizza place at the Casino Royale. Just like my college days, I went home alone with pizza and had a picnic by myself in bed until I passed out at around three in the morning.
With everyone scheduled to meet for breakfast at Denny’s bright and early the next morning, I knew I was in trouble when Mrs. Rog woke me up with a phone call the next morning. I made way down to Denny’s to pick up a badge from Tricia Devereaux who was kind enough to make sure I was taken care of. There were well over a dozen people enjoying a meal and I was rather upset with myself that I had overslept and couldn’t join them. I suppose that is what happens when you are used to rolling out of bed when the mood strikes me.
Everyone went on to the floor while I went back to the room to get cleaned up. There were a few changes to the show this year and the added security seemed to really slow things up. Luckily I spotted some friends in the line and was able to shave at least an hour of my wait time and make it onto the floor in time for my first round of interviews. In past years I have found that just winging leaves me with a lot of wasted time. Everyone is so busy that they will tell me to come back later only to find that the star has left or that the line is too long to do an interview. This year I tried to do a bit more scheduling and planned to do a lot of assembly-line interviewing in booths with lots of women. That allows me to stay in one spot and let the women just line up. Hey, what guy is going to pass that up?
Adella from Digital Playground had my first round of interviews set up and when I got there I had a table waiting for me. She had lined up five interviews for me starting with contract star Devon. This was the second year in a row interviewing the beautiful blonde so we added to the basic information we covered in 2003. Devon was still with Barrett Blade a year ago so we talked about their break up, her subsequent hiatus from porn and her energetic return to the fold. Apparently she did a scene she really enjoyed for an upcoming volume of “Jack’s Playground” that promises to be something special. Devon was followed by Jesse Jane who has had quite a rookie year. She was in great spirits and offered her prediction on the Super Bowl. (Sorry Jesse, the Titans didn’t make you right on this one.) She also discussed the list of male talent she wants to do scenes with. Some of you might be surprised by at least one name that showed up on that list. Both girls posed for some pictures and really spoiled me with the eye candy. After checking them out, it wasn’t easy to shift gears and ask serious questions of directors Robby D, Nic Andrews and Joone. I managed to calm down and talk with Robby who said he hates to do interviews because he doesn’t think he’s interesting. I’ll leave it up to you to decide, but I think we did a good interview. Nic Andrews didn’t say he doesn’t like doing interviews, but I think it’s pretty clear that sitting down and answering questions didn’t exactly make his day. He has some interesting things to say, including the fact that for his latest movie, they have actually reduced the sex scenes to around five minutes each. Company owner and sometimes director Joone outlined the Digital Playground company philosophy. One of the interesting things he told me was that he considers DP movies to be independent films with sex scenes used as commercials to pay the bills. Many thanks to Adella for setting up the five interviews with the Digital Playground team.
I spent some time wandering around the floor, saying hi to old friends and snapping a few pictures here and there. The number of new or newish companies was amazing to me. It is clear that the porn world is booming and everyone is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Red Light District or DVSX. I stopped by the Sin City booth to say hello to reigning AVN Performer of the Year Aurora Snow. She hadn’t checked my site yet so was unaware that she had earned her third straight Rog Reviews Critic’s Choice award at Best Female Performer. Looking great as always, Aurora was grateful for the recognition and happy to give me a great big hug. Publicist Tina Tyler welcomed me into the booth and promised to set up interviews with Hannah Harper and Shay Sweet when we all get back home to SoCal. I wasn’t able to grab one of the great looking “Angels” posters, but hopefully the girls will sign one of those for my office wall because it’s a great freaking shot.
It has become a yearly tradition for me to spend an afternoon in the Anabolic/Diabolic booth doing an assembly line interview session with whatever hot babes they have signing for them. This year was no different. Even with the massive turnover on the roster this year, I was welcomed behind the glass counters for a closer look at the babes. Gregg Alan and Chico Wang set me up in a comfortable chair at the back of the booth. The interview train started with Lucy Thai. She seems a lot more comfortable in front of the camera with a big dick in her ass than sitting down with a microphone in her face. It was till a good interview, but things were about to pick up in a big way.
I was introduced to eighteen year old Teagan who was just too freaking cute for words. She has a bit of a Britney Spears things going on and was wearing a cute little skirt to show off some very pretty legs. As we sat there talking I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. In addition to her gorgeous face and flawless figure, Teagan has a great attitude and one of the best “how I got into porn” stories I have heard in a very long time. I feel safe in proclaiming that this teen dream is the next big thing. Seriously folks, I haven’t had this kind of vibe since I had a similar interview with Aurora Snow three years ago. (Ironically enough, in the Anabolic/Diabolic booth.)
Though it was tough to concentrate on anyone or anything other than how I was going to propose to Teagan, I did manage three more interviews at the booth. Victoria and Scarlet both had some good stuff to say and I got a good look up Scarlet’s skirt. It always makes for an interesting interview when a tall blonde refuses to wear panties. (And thanks for Wanker Wang for the nice low angle shot of her freshly shaved goody box.)
My final interview in their booth and of the day was with Candace Jackson. We talked for a long time about her career and why this fantastic performer doesn’t work more than she does. Candace had a lot of interesting things to say and I think you will all enjoy that interview when it goes up. Wrapping up my time in the booth, I let everyone know that Diabolic had picked up an award for “Lewd Conduct 16.” Since Mike John directed the movie, there are two trophies waiting, one for Diabolic and for Mike.
As the fans were let in and the floor began to get crowded, I made my way toward the back of the hall and tried to find some more award winners. Erik Everhard and Mike John were both at the Red Light booth so I was able to notify Mike of his best all-sex win at the same time He and Everhard we gracious in victory and invited me back the next day to do a series of interviews with the hot girls they had signing in the RLD booth.
Tom Byron’s Evolution Erotica was on hand for their first big show. I’m supposed to head up to the Valley to see the new offices and do a round of interviews pretty soon. Lizzy Borden was signing some of her XPW stuff in the booth and pulled me over to have a word. She wanted to make sure that everything was cool between us after some of the fun we had on the web. We got along fantastically and Lizzy laughed hysterically when I told her that the Worst Movie award has been retired from the RRCC until she makes “Fossil Fuckers 3.” I also got to meet Guy Capo, Evolution’s director on the rise. He is a very interesting guy and when I do make my trip to the Evolution offices, we are going to do a long sit-down interview.
Finding the winner of the Best DVD for 2003 was pretty simple. Evil Angel’s booth was pretty much in the center of the room and as always, it was buzzing with activity. I was hoping to notify them of the DVD win and also congratulate Joey Silvera on his win as Best Director. Joey wasn’t around at the time, but Tricia Devereaux was there to accept my congratulations. “The Fashionistas” won the award for Best Feature last year and the win as top DVD is yet another trophy for the shelves at EA. As always, Tricia looked beautiful and would no doubt still attract long lines of adoring fans if she wanted to take a seat in the performers’ chairs.
That left me with just two winners to track down and they could have been tough. Elegant Angel didn’t have a booth this year, so finding Thomas Zupko could have been a mess. As luck would have it, he walked by just as I was leaving the Evil Angel booth. He and William H were strolling the floor and he had already read about his win for best feature. “The Opera” was one of the most interesting adult movies I’ve ever seen and he really deserves the honor. Who would have thought that the first two-time winner for Best Feature would be Zupko?
I lucked into the final award notification of the day. While I was heading towards the exit for the day, I ran into director David Aaron Clark and we had a nice conversation. The best part was that David was with Loni who just happens to be the winner of the Best Newbie. She seemed totally unaware that she had even been nominated for the award, but was very pleased. The pint-sized sex pot looked fantastic and we can all hope that she will pose for some pictures in her too-tight Rog T shirt when she gets her award.
With all the work for the day done, I headed home for a quick dinner and a bit of rest before the big Adult DVD Talk party. This year’s party was held in a suite at the Riviera hotel that was just perfect for such an event. Like last year, the party had a great mix of industry insiders, ADT regulars and porn fans. The alcohol and conversation were already flowing by the time I showed up. Those of you who know me well enough are aware that I am not at my most comfortable surrounded by people. A few beers always help and I gravitated towards the people I already know. Jeff from RAME.net was on the party side of the bar this year so I got to hang out with him for a while. Our gracious hosts, Steph and Drew were quite busy, but found the time to introduce me to some people I’ve known only through email.
I got to meet the guys in charge of www.adultdvdmarketplace.com which is a great place to pick up new or used DVDs at really good prices. Since I’m horrible with names, I’m not even going to try and remember who was who, but there were three of them. We talked business for a while, but there were better things waiting in another room. (More on that later.) I talked with JT from www.adultdvdempire.com and we’re working on getting some reviews back on that site. That was all the business to be done though because everyone was having too much fun.
At one point during the party I looked over and saw Julie Night dancing topless with Katja Kassin. That certainly attracted a lot of attention from just about everyone on hand. It was hard not to stare at the action, but I was busy talking to Hustler director Mark Kismet. Mark is a great guy who is very easy going and so tall it was scary. We had a great conversation and I was probably lucky that Julie’s boobs are firm and modest instead of huge or I might have lost Mark altogether. We were also treated to a look at Mason without the costume she has always worn to hide her identity. We didn’t have a very long conversation, but will be doing an interview soon. She’s got a really interesting story that I think you will all enjoy. At the other end of the room, the DVSX contingent was holding court on a couch of their own. I’ve known Constance Le for several years, but this was my first chance to officially meet director Bryan Xin and publicist Sun Chen. The party was really moving along well at that end of the suite, but I was called into another room to check out some special action. God only knows what I missed when I left the action on the couch.
I was shown into a large bathroom where two tattooed girls were going at it in the tub. The action was heating up, but it was quite crowded so I turned my camera over to my friends from www.adultdvdmarketplace.com and let them have at it. While they shot the action, I hung out in the entry way saying good bye to the first wave of people leaving the party. The evening was far from over though. There was still a whole lot of beer left to drink and people to meet.
Steph introduced me to Tom who is quite a big shot in the gay porn world. I’ve been looking for some connections with gay DVD companies to expand the review base on www.dvdpornreviews.com and Tom was just the guy to talk to. He is well connected and a great guy to boot. Apparently he also likes married guys who drink too much, because we hit it off in ways that could have gotten me into trouble if I were so inclined. In fact, we even disappeared from the party into the bathroom for about a half an hour. Relax y’all, there was a very beautiful woman in there with us (Who shall remain nameless to protect her reputation) and nothing happened. But hey, with the three of us in there, all sorts of rumors can start.
After several hours, a whole lot of beer, great conversation and a good night kiss, it was time to head home at around three AM. I found out the next day that I missed some great action in the bedroom. One of the women from the bathtub was keeping herself busy with three guys. See kids, this is why you don’t want to drink so much, you just might miss a mini-gang bang.
For my second and final day on the floor, I had scheduled some interviews at the Cherry Boxxx booth with a half dozen hot babes. The problem I ran into was that I didn’t know who to contact and the whole thing was a mess. Long story short, I am going to have to wait for another chance to interview these girls because nothing came of it. With a huge block of time to fill I decided to stroll around and see what other interviews I could set up. I went back to the Sin City booth to see about a fourth interview with Aurora Snow or with someone else at the booth. Both Aurora and Hannah Harper were busy signing for a long line of adoring fans. I worked out a little group interview thing when we get back home, but did stop the line long enough to get a picture taking with Aurora. That is one tradition I’m not about to give up on.
I figured that I would give the big companies one more try before I made my way back to the Red Light District booth where I knew I could get some good interviews. Since I know absolutely no one at Vivid, that was a totally futile effort. I was hoping to get close enough to Jenna (Without waiting in a two hour line) to remind her that we still haven’t done an interview and that everyone is still waiting to see some pictures of her with her RRFF trophy from two years ago. Finding no luck there, I gave up on Vivid. (I did go back later to try and get a word in with Tera Patrick, but couldn’t get close enough to even ask.) VCA, Wicked and Metro were equally busy and without any friendly faces, I was forced to return home without any big name contract girl interviews from any of them. Maybe next year or perhaps sooner if anyone cares to set something up.
Before heading to the middle of the room, I stopped by the Jill Kelly booth. I am not well liked there from what I hear. On the other hand I have a couple of old friends there. Though I was around when she got into the business, I have still yet to interview Haven. Missing each other at AEE has become a yearly tradition and this year was no different. We had about five seconds to say hello before she had to rush of to something more important. (Just kidding sweetie, but it really is time, don’t you think?) I was the first to interview Jenna Haze back in the day, but she was too busy to give me another sit down. Perhaps we can fix that in the next few months. From everything I hear none of the other JKP girls were even interested in the interview so I’ll have to try and win some of them over. (Cindy Crawford? Ashton Moore?)
With the big companies out of the way I decided to see if I could talk to some folks from the smaller companies. I had seen Lexington Steele at a booth the day before, but never did hook up with on the second day. Everyone is still wondering where he will end up and who will be distributing his Mercenary Pictures product. Sadly I don’t have much to report because we weren’t able to hook up. I’ll get on that now that I’m back home.
At the ADT party I ran into Mark Wood and was surprised at just how friendly he was. I’ve given Mark a hard time over the years and was happy to find that he’s totally laid back about it. We were hoping to hook up for an interview and I wanted to grab Francesca Le at the same time, but they didn’t seem to be at the JM booth very often on that day. I had similarly bad luck with Jeff Mike and Jim Powers, both of whom I would like to meet and interview. I think both would be quite interesting. Perhaps next time.
At the Kick Ass booth, I said hello to my old friend Mark Kulkis. Our relationship goes back to when Mark was at AVN during the one month I wrote reviews for the magazine. Now that he’s doing so well with Kick Ass I figured I’d ask him for a sit down with Mary Carey. He was very nice and told me that if I came back later I could have Mary and any of the other girls in the booth. That sounded like a great plan to me because I have always wanted to interview a real life gubernatorial candidate. (Plus I still need to give Mary’s tits a little touch test.) Unfortunately Mary was not around when I came back and it was another near miss on a great interview.
After striking out a few too many times I really needed to sit down with some hot looking girls for a while. I made my way to the Red Light District booth where I had an open invitation from Mike John and Erik Everhard to interview the chicks there. They gave me a table and started the assembly line of great ass. Katsumi was first out of the gate and after some initial trouble with our communication; we got a great interview done. She did say that doesn’t like California because the food isn’t any good. Maybe that is how she stays so tiny? Or maybe she just hasn’t sampled enough Left Coast meat yet.
Roxy was next and she is also an interesting ethnic mix with a strong accent. It was hard to concentrate with Everhard groping the pretty young thing, but who was I to complain. Roxy also has issues with California though. This time it was our butchering of the language that she had a hard time with. I don’t know why everyone is bagging on SoCal, but some of these girls really need a friendly attitude adjustment.
Nautica Thorn was the next interview and she is just so freaking hot that it is hard not to stare at her. Easily the most photo friendly girl in the booth, she posed for a number of shots and was happy to submit to an RoR (Reality of Rack) test. To be thorough, I did three such tests. Never let it be said that I am lazy or that I shirk my duties. Great boobs aside, Nautica was a good interview and I think you will all enjoy it.
My final interview for the show was a bit of a surprise. Mike John brought Shyla Stylz over to the table. She has been away from porn for a while and had a lot to say about her time with Jill Kelly, what happened there and what she has been doing since. And yes, she has had her boobs done again and was happy to let me sample the new set. I have to say that as someone who isn’t overly keen on fake boobs, Shyla’s rack sure feels good. (And they fill a sweater nicely as well.)
That pretty much finished off my business on the floor. I made a final pass to say good bye to everyone. I got to see Constance Le of DVSX sporting her Rog Rules tank top. That was a nice to see on many levels. I said good bye to my new friend Tom and the many, many gay porn stars he introduced me to. That was really all the fun I could handle for one so I said good-bye to AEE 2004. The rest of my trip was great, including a wonderful show (Mama Mia, go see it. I promise you will love it.) A great after-show dinner conversation, a trip to the Star Trek experience with Jeff from RAME, a missed flight, a mad rush to book a new one and finally home in time to recover before getting back to work.
