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
- Former GAYVN Awards judge Steven Saylor (who wrote for the magazine as Aaron Travis) has penned another erotic novel.
- 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
- 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
