One of my favorite behind-the-scenes guys in the industry, Brian King (Barry Knight of Delta Productions) died in June while walking his dog. His partner of 27 years, Russell Moore, was in the hospital at the time and pulled himself together for a great memorial in West Hollywood. I have favorite memories of the couple taking my partner John and me to their favorite steak house telling us stories about when they fought the L.A. Vice when porn was considered illegal, and telling us stories about the stars of their Jaguar classics. One of the last movies to carry the Barry Knight label is Matt Sterling's A Matter of Size 2. Also, John Summers made a rare public appearance at the memorial service and said he has a new video coming out after a few years on hiatus.
Two of the hottest vids out recently have beautiful sexy men clad in feathers. Gorgeous Brad Patton is purely angelic in Chi Chi LaRue's Heaven to Hell for Falcon. Bradley Picklesheimer, who's behind some of LaRue's best lavish parties, designed the surreal sets for the vid, and Michael Schmidt did the costumes. I saw Bradley in full glory at the opening of L.A. Outfest recently and he confessed, "I haven't been out in drag like this in a long time. This is fun!"
Then, the cover of Red Devil's Dirty Little Sins has wings behind elaborately tattooed star Jacob Slader. He and Brad Benton join writer/director Jett Blakk on the extras commentary to tell very funny stories as they watch themselves. "I don't like to be by myself, this is the first solo scene I've ever done on camera," Benton says. "I had too much lip gloss." Then, he details his odd jerk-technique — holding his hand upside down — which often baffles cameramen when they're focusing on the money shot. Both actors agree that Nick Capra and Rod Barry are bigger talkers during sex than anyone else in the industry. The video is also notable for the first full gay sex scene by Chet White, who's only done bi vids before this.
The latest and most interesting vid put out by PornTeam.com features a 23-year-old named Tommy from Northern California. He sent in pictures and wound up in a "daddy" movie — aptly titled Tommy and Daddy — for the amateur line.
Twenty big pieces of meat are on view in Bel Ami's new XL Files 3. Like the first two, it features eastern Europeans with massive appendages. From the guys who found superstars Lukas Ridgeston and Johan Paulik, these boys are more stunning below the belt than anywhere else, suggesting once again that there's something in the water over there.
How great it is to see some old familiar faces in Video 10's latest DVD releases of classic titles available for the first time on disc. There's All the Way Inn with bubble-butt Chad Conners, blond bottom of choice of the mid-1990s; Physical Education with lanky hunk Tanner Reeves and sweet-faced Alec Powers; To the Hilt with Jeff Hammond; and House of Tricks with Vince Rockland.
Unleashed is Owen Hawk's second movie for his new company, Dark Alley Media. Unlike the first (Mutiny), Unleashed dispenses with storyline in favor of "dark alley" sex. Hawk won three awards — including Best Performer — at the recent Grabbys, and is now Dark Alley's casting and promo director. Owen says he's particularly fond of Jason Tiya in the vid — he's certainly got an eye for talent!
Michael Lucas, who has dubbed himself the "Barbra Streisand of porn," was recently involved in a blog war at GayPornBlog.com after getting trashed by readers after being interviewed. It was pretty funny, but couldn't take away from the fact that Lucas has put out his best product ever, Dangerous Liaisons, which has a superb story, good music, and fantastic acting.
Openly gay director Don Roos' new mainstream film for Lions Gate, Happy Endings (now in theaters), stars Lisa Kudrow, Tom Arnold, and three of Chi Chi LaRue's Rascal Video titles. Well, maybe not star, but they are shown in a snippet in the movie. It's a complex story, but Jason Ritter plays a gay boy who's a fan of LaRue's titles Stone Fox, A Man’s Tail, and In the Can. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Laura Dern are in it also.
Our pals at Cybersocket have just been told by affiliate manager Commission Junction that Cybersocket.com, long considered the Google of gay info, has been deemed obscene (by Commission Junction) and been removed from its site. The Junction not only refuses to pay money owed to Cybersocket, but won't even explain what they deem obscene. "They're obviously going after the little guy because they think we won't fight back," said Cybersocket publisher Morgan Sommer. "One wonders if they make a pattern of kicking off smaller sites to pocket money that should be paid out." Morgan vows to fight! After nine years Cybersocket won't go away. Go get 'em!
Jacob Slader, Brad Benton photo courtesy of RedDevilWorld.com
