The No on 8 campaign radicalized lots of folk in the gay porn community, and porn friend and fetish photographer Rick Castro turned his Hollywood gallery into a protest art exhibit for the holidays and early part of 2009. The gallery exhibit, "Prop 8: Who Do You Love, Who Do You Hate?" had some fantastic erotic stuff, including a 100-year-old vintage photo of a naked gay couple - really early, early porn! There were also shots of Harvey Milk the gay politician depicted in the Sean Penn movie Milk and a great portrait of the head of the Mormon church with a big cum-shot all over his face. You can see Rick's stuff (including his Kink Gallery and the Tony Ward photos for which he's famous) at his website, RickCastro.com. (He remembers me from the days when he shot Joey Stefano and we were hanging out as part of the Chi Chi LaRue entourage during trips to sleazy parts of Manhattan.) And, yes, some of the art was done by prominent porn folk, but since they used their real names in the art displays, I won't out them....
Director Mike Donner's book is out, and it's very funny! His "How to Be a Gay Porn Star" is a fast read offering very practical tips for guys wanting to break into this weird and wonderful business. The insider help comes from superstars Rod Barry, Dean Phoenix and Justin Wells. There are some very helpful tips, like when working with dialogue "if you don't know what a word means, ask," and, of course, "Don't talk with your mouth full!" It should be in all the porn stores! See DonnerInc.com.
Speaking of books, I have to mention Kent Taylor's amazing full-color, hardback Raging Stallion book Magnum. I got two of them for friends who like hairy, rugged men, such as Steve Cruz, Antonio Biaggi, Jake Deckard, Michael Vincenzo and Arpad Miklos, who are all depicted in positions and glamour shots like you've never seen them in before.
Porn star/musician/activist Marshall O'Boy, who co-founded the very prominent O'Boys sex parties in the 1990s, is now an official Promo Homo. He has registered and is running Promo Homo items specifically to the gay community. He had a company called Conextions, which put labels and items on promotional tchotchkes, but he says, "I wanted something gayer, more fun ... a company catering to the gay community should be big, large and FABULOUS." Meanwhile, Marshall is still doing porn, and he said he was filmed recently being corn-holed by a "big black young gangsta" and that if his crew found out they'd probably kill him. I'll report back with the details of the title and company later....
COLT's Kristofer Weston says that he was a bit nervous on the shoot of Boy Country when they were on a 17-acre estate that has been featured in magazines. He was nervous because he'd never shot a scene in a rocking rowboat before, so it was a challenge for this fantastic director and super-cameraman Todd Montgomery. But the eager models, Bobby Clark and David West, made it a lot of fun, according to reports, and I can't wait to see the finished product....
Some Quickies . . .
* Matthew Rush is moving on from his Lifetime Exclusive contract with Falcon after eight years and we can only hope that he'll do some more mainstream movies, like he did with his comical role in Another Gay Movie.
* There was a day when producers were saying redheads couldn't make it in gay porn, and then along came Will Clark. There hadn't been another notable one for a long time until Hot House Entertainment discovered Tim Kruger, who's not just a redhead but who's also hung like a horse!
* Michael Lucas really did risk arrest (and perhaps "life and limb," as his press release states) to film Michael Does Russia. Not only did he handpick the seven Soviet guys he fools around with, but also he shot it in the country where such activity could get you thrown in the slammer.
* Can you believe it? After getting and really loving the latest Dirty Bird Pictures release Endgame, I reviewed my more than two decades of judging the GAYVN Awards and discovered that the very creative writer/director Jett Blakk has never won a single GAYVN! In this title, he convinces Chad Hunt in his very last on-screen performance to get fucked, and Chad admits to me that he's bottomed in his private life, but saved his screen virginity for the fans until the very end.
* While having a fabulous time schmoozing with old friends at Chi Chi La Rue's store opening in West Hollywood, director Ross Cannon came up to give a big hug and he realized that he was standing right next to a porn title in which he was featured as a model. Yep, the prolific director, some of you may know, has pulled out his other "talents" for a few titles. Even funnier is that right next to it was my best cameo (although I'm always fully clothed, unfortunately), as Jesus in The Devil is a Bottom. It's all available at the fantastic new porn store, and kudos to Bradley Picklesheimer who worked some magic to get the yet-uncompleted storefront to work for a beautiful debut!
