This article originally ran in the August 2017 issue of AVN magazine. Click here to see the digital edition.
Above, photo of Blake Riley courtesy Channel 1 Releasing. Inset: Blake Riley in Earthbound: Heaven to Hell 2 (courtesy Falcon Studios)
In a dark alley, a mysterious biker draped in black—his face hidden under a helmet—approaches JJ Knight. Unable to control his attraction, Knight grabs the man’s groin. The intensity rises, Knight quickly worshipping the stranger’s built body. Aching for a kiss, he finally gets the man’s helmet off—exposing the face of Blake Riley, whose appearance elicits a collective gasp from the gay porn universe.
The brilliant tease on camera was masterfully constructed by Chi Chi LaRue in his smash Falcon sequel Earthbound: Heaven to Hell 2. The already anticipated effort was made all the more marketable given it featured Riley’s return to the business after an eight-year absence.
“The porn goddess was shining down on me,” LaRue says. “I got a call from Blake right at the start of casting, and he goes, ‘Sit down because I think you’re gonna fall down when I tell you this, but I want to come back.’ And I was like, ‘Whaaaat?!’ I was just like so happy. He was like, ‘I’ve never looked better, I’ve never felt better, I never really wanted to leave.’”
Like the sequel, Riley’s return was a long time in the making. His on-camera story began in 2006 with his Randy Blue debut.
“I was I think 18 or 19 when Randy and Chi Chi reached out to me via MySpace … yes, MySpace,” Riley recalls with a laugh. “Initially, I was not remotely interested. Things in my life basically took a turn for the worse, and I actually ended up homeless for a short time. I was able to find a computer and reach back out to both of them, and it was maybe one to two weeks later and I was in L.A. shooting my first scene with Randy Blue. I remember being scared out of my mind at first. I didn’t know what to expect. I remember my first solo with Randy Blue, we came up with my stage name during that very shoot.”
Riley quickly became one of LaRue’s muses at Channel 1 Releasing after filming his first C1R film shortly afterward.
“I was flown out to Palm Springs to shoot Knob Bobbin’. I was so nervous because after shooting with Randy, I had met Sebastian Rivers and he was telling me all about the industry; we started dating shortly after,” he laughs. “I remember not knowing really what I was going into, but knowing I just wanted to do the best I could. Later that next day, I was offered the exclusivity with Channel 1 Releasing.”
For LaRue, it was an easy decision: “He was a frickin’ natural from the beginning, and he just had the … most … beautiful … ass I’d seen since Joey Stefano, so that’s kind of saying something. After he was done with the scene, we signed him to a co-exclusive contract. He couldn’t work for anybody else but Randy Blue. It was good to have a model in Randy Blue because Randy Blue was the ‘it’ studio at the time.”
Riley was off to the races, compiling up a steady stream of hits with Channel 1 and being named Best Newcomer at both the GAYVN Awards and the Grabbys in 2008.
“He was in some of the best movies I feel like in my career, like Tread Heavy, Taken—he did that legendary scene in Link: The Evolution with the water hose,” LaRue says. “There was kind of a little bit of a Brat Pack back then with the likes of Blake, Cameron Marshall, Josh Vaughn, Jimmy Durano, Benjamin Bradley, Brent Everett …”
And so epic was Riley’s derrière that he even had it immortalized as the Blake Riley Vibrating Ass. (“It was interesting for sure,” laughs Riley of the memory. “I kind of still laugh about it to this day.”)
“Johnny Hazzard is and always will be the face of Channel 1, I think; he got us off the ground. But Blake Riley was definitely the ass of Channel 1. I mean, we molded and sold his butt as a sexy toy!” laughs LaRue. “The frickin’ thing cost $350. It sold like crazy, but it was just so fucking heavy! We did a movie called Rascal: A Toy Story where this guy that looks like him that came in, and we dubbed him Blake’s brother (Drake Riley), and he starts the scene with a rubber ass, and the ass turns into Blake.”
LaRue notes that lots of other studios like Falcon wanted to cast Riley, but Channel 1 kept him under contract for a long time.
“He was one of those power bottoms that fuck you back, you know? That was always exciting because a lot of times, bottoms will just lay there and be the submissive. He was not a submissive bottom, he was more of a power bottom. And it’s funny, because Blake was the kind of person that if we scheduled something with someone else and it didn’t work out, he could also top, which was a plus. His dick was never soft, and he wasn’t doing any of the trickery they do nowadays to get the dick hard. He was just a horny guy.”
It was a meteoric rise that Riley didn’t see coming.
“The evolution was one that I never expected. I went from living on the streets to being one of the biggest names, at that time, in the industry. I couldn’t believe it, but I enjoyed the journey. As a person, I have to say I grew so much from the experiences I had and the life I lived. I learned a lot about myself as a person, and it’s made me stronger today,” he says.
“By far my favorite experience was traveling Europe with Chi Chi and the Manhunt crew many moons ago. I loved getting to travel and perform at various cities across the country and world, and being able to meet the fans one on one. When I look back on the years with Channel 1, I have nothing but the utmost respect for everyone involved from start to finish. I loved each and every single person that worked within the company that I was able to meet, and can’t say I ever had a bad experience.”
LaRue recalls a small but vocal attack from many in the (mostly anonymous) online community in 2008 after he cast Riley in the bisexual movie Shifting Gears.
“He had never had sex with a woman, and he was really good at it because he had no sexual hang-ups. It was a really fun set, we just had a really fun time shooting this movie, and after he did it, he got a lot of backlash for it, which I think is really disgusting,” LaRue recalls. “They were mad that he had sex with a woman and said he was straight, that he was gay for pay and that he had pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes. It was so fucking stupid … if a straight guy comes into gay porn and has sex with a man, possibly for the first time, I don’t know if people would be so visceral about it, you know?”
Adds Riley: “In all honesty, I couldn’t have given two shits what people said about me for doing that movie. I got to experience something I never had before and I had a blast with the entire cast during that shoot. We all had so much fun and got the job done. And to go ahead and put the ‘rumors’ from the random internet trolls to rest: Yes, I am gay and have been my entire life,” he says with conviction, as if speaking in all caps, laughing about the whole (non) incident.
But shortly afterward, even after re-signing as a Channel 1 exclusive in early 2009, Riley decided to leave the industry.
“I’d like to say it was originally for me to grow as a person and pursue life beyond. But it was for a boy,” he laughs. “I left because I was in a relationship and it was going south because of my career. I chose love, or at least what I thought was love at the time.”
During his absence, Riley moved to Las Vegas for three years and started going back to school. He eventually left the relationship and moved to Arkansas (“Of all places!”) to live with his father until he was able to get back on his feet. He finished his undergrad there and is now pursuing even higher education.
“We remained extremely close, which is always something that I’m very proud of—that I can maintain relationships with these guys after they go away, because they didn’t leave me under bad circumstances,” LaRue says, noting that there was a period after Riley left that they didn’t have time to talk. “Every once in a while, we’d send each other a message, and so I always knew that we were still connected.”
LaRue knew that Riley had developed an even higher commitment to fitness, succeeding in bodybuilding competitions and the fitness world. “He was bartending, and just living the life of a guy. He always maintained good health and body consciousness, just really taking care of himself.”
Then last year, Riley met LaRue in Chicago during the Grabbys, where the performer was put on their Wall of Fame.
“People were really, really excited to see him, that he was alive and healthy and that he was … normal,” LaRue laughs. “You know what I mean; that he wasn’t strung out on drugs or wasn’t in any of the other trappings that come along with a lot of stuff in the entertainment industry … he’s such a sweetheart. He’s a really good kid, and he was raised well, and very humble and very sweet, and somebody that you want to be your friend because he would really do anything for you.”
The two stayed in contact and saw each other a few more times that year. Little did LaRue know that the visit to the Grabbys had sparked renewed interest in Riley, who had begun to think about a comeback.
“That’s exactly what stirred it,” he says. “I saw how much everything had changed, and it kind of made me wonder where I would fit in with all of the new performers. I was just very scared. The unknown of it all, and things have changed so much. I finally decided to do it because, well, I missed working with Chi Chi, and honestly could have used the extra cash.”
Riley notes he’s had nothing but the best support from everyone: “Chi Chi was ecstatic, as was I.” As for his first shoot back? “I was scared out of my mind! I didn’t feel prepared body wise or mentally, but it was probably one of the best—I feel—of my career, past and present. JJ was amazing and patient, as was everyone on set. I felt comfortable and like I had never left.”
LaRue can’t contain his excitement talking about the shoot, noting he specifically wrote the scene to play off Riley’s return.
“He delivered above and beyond in the movie. It was like, ‘Who is that?’ I didn’t announce his return or say anything about it, and I’m the Twitter queen—I want to put everything on Twitter before it even happens. But the marketing on that movie was genius; everything about it really came together. It was kind of one of those things that was meant to be,” LaRue says.
“They did an amazing job together; JJ was really excited about working with him. It was like riding a bike—he just got back on, he came out of his pants ready to go, and off to the races. His butt is even more insane now that it was back then, if that’s possible. It was really just an amazing pleasure.”
And LaRue respects the fact that this time, Riley has other priorities that come first. “He’s really serious about school—it comes first before anything, and I think that’s great. I wanted to cast him in the Raging Stallion movie that I’m about to do with Steve Cruz, and he wanted to do it but he couldn’t because he had some finals. I admire that. I don’t want him to do it unless he can do it, and wants to.”
It’s all part of the maturing that Riley has done as a person in his years away.
“So much has changed. For one, I’m an old man,” he laughs. “I have grown so much as a person and knowing where I’m going in life and accomplishing great things. As a performer, I feel I have also matured. I’ve gotten a lot of life experiences and am more comfortable in my skin. I think that I am more open to trying things now versus before, when I was pretty vanilla. I feel that I am able to tap into the passion no matter what the situation.”
As of right now, Riley has no other shoots in the works. He is focusing on his personal future and schooling (“priorities are important”). But he says he will only work with LaRue in the future.
“Words honestly can’t even begin to describe my love for Chi Chi. We are and forever will be great friends. We don’t get to talk often, but when we do it’s like we never left. Chi Chi has seen me in some of my best and even some of the darkest moments of my life, and has always been there for me—and I feel it’s mutual. Love, love, love her!”
As for his personal life, Riley prefers to keep that side private now. “I think that before, I shared a little too much a lot of times. It’s a Catch-22, but for now I’m keeping my personal life under wraps,” he says. “I have no expectations anymore, and just am going with the flow. The industry will be what it will be with or without me there. I just hope the fans enjoy what I put out.”
