LAS VEGAS – Day 3 of AVN’s Adult Entertainment Expo started off quietly, like a sunny day in suburbia, and finished in an urban whirlwind of crowds, noise and controlled chaos.
At the Arrow installation across the aisle from AVN’s booth, producer Paul Interlandi spent the first minutes of the morning polishing his classic cars, a Thunderbird and a ’73 Corvette. Both were adorned with lavish images from Arrow’s two all-time classics: Deep Throat for the Corvette, Devil in Miss Jones for the T-Bird. And yes, he actually does drive them on the road.
Under Interlandi’s supervision Arrow has been promoting, licensing and generally exploiting its rich archive of classic porn. A good example is the new Debbie Does Dallas comic book, which takes its heroine on a futuristic action adventure.
Interlandi plans to release yet another DVD version of Devil, in a print he personally color-corrected from original sources. The second part of the two-disc set will feature a new, exclusive hour-long interview with legendary star Georgina Spelvin.
This year’s big attraction of the Arrow booth, however, is the mechanical bull, which has been going non-stop since the Expo opened. Interlandi was still waiting for his model-riders. “My girls are all sore,” he explained. “The first day they rode five to six hours each.”
Next door, the innovative AbbyWinters.com installation also had a suburban look: a green carpet that could pass for an English lawn or a putting green. It seemed to reflect the benign, playful nature of the Australian company, which features total amateurs in mostly solo and girl-girl scenes. Available at home only on the Internet, the content is making its way to U.S. DVD release through a distribution deal with Wicked Pictures.
The installation was filled with fresh, pretty Aussie girls, flown over just for AEE. They looked even prettier in their own lighting, supplied by a light-box roof that covered their whole space. None of that harsh convention hall lighting for these wholesome young things.
Abby Winters consultants Kat Sunlove and Layne Winkelbeck watched them frolic approvingly. The company has been benefiting from quite a bit of buzz among expo attendees. “They’re getting all they could have wished for and then some out of this trip,” Sunlove said.
Also getting plenty of attention at the show was April Flores at the Adam & Eve booth. The star of Carlos Batts’ Voluptuous Life was wide awake and looking sensational before A&E’s vaunted contract girls even hit the floor. It’s her first Adult Expo and she was loving the attention from fans.
“They all say they want to see more voluptuous women,” she grinned. Her next movie, Batts’ Young Hollywood, will be released in March.
Not far away actor-director Julian was spiffing up the booth for Sudden Impact, the company he co-owns with Derek Newcomb. “Last year we had a little starter booth,” he said, as he looked with pride at the big new real thing.
“This has already been a really good day for us,” he said. His foreign rep Todd Blatt just closed a couple of lucrative European deals. Now distributed by Blatt’s Antigua Pictures, their DVDs are all re-purposed from content on a network of web sites, including MrBigDicksHotChicks.com.
Along with Newcomb, he does the shooting, but Julian, who is an expectant father, has retired from performing. He turned over stud duties to Barry Scott and Johnny Sins, both of whom he has under non-exclusive contract.
The Exquisite Multimedia-Juicy Entertainment booth near the entrance to the show almost wasn’t there. Danny Gorman, Juicy’s sales manager, said they were originally going to have only a business suite downstairs but changed their minds. Gorman added that he’s glad they did.
“I think fans are important,” said the industry veteran, who now has his own line, Dirty Laundry. “Who else is buying our product? If the fans don’t like it you ain’t gonna sell to a lot of distributors.”
All the way at the other end of the hall the aisles were taken up with dozens of small companies, some with only the most marginal connections to adult entertainment (like a couple of teeth-whitening concerns and an organization called The Libertarians of West Las Vegas). Several were given over to life-size sex dolls, like Real Doll and CyberOrgasmicTrix, with its doll molded from mega-endowed stripper Pamela Peaks.
All the way at the back of the hall legendary director Andrew Blake had his own small booth, presided over by himself and the lovely Faith Leon, one of his favorite models. He said that his latest feature, House Pets, starring Sasha Grey, will premiere on his website, andrewblake.com before it goes to DVD release.
There were many more small booths downstairs in the B2B section, and Friday was their last day of operation. This is a trade only area, no fans, and all concerned seem to like it that way.
Many exhibitors were promoting adult novelties, like 4 Seasons, an Australia-based condom company that said they liked their location at the corner of an aisle but worried that traffic has been down a bit this year.
Longtime AEE exhibitor Make Your Own Dildo Kit complained about roving salespeople who peddle goods from suitcases on rollers without bothering to rent a booth. But he said he always does well at the show. “We’ll keep coming back every year unless something drastically changes,” he said.
Tickle Kitty, a small publisher of sex education books, was at the Expo for the first time. Demi, a sales rep, said, “It has been extremely beneficial for us. Today has been the busiest day.” They’d done some big international deals for books by sex educator Dr. Sadie Allison, which are illustrated by drawings instead of photos, allowing them access to parts of the country with censorship issues.
For Your Nymphomation featured a unique product, a line of locking storage cases for sex toys, “providing “private storage for your pleasurables.” They’re the brainchild of a former accessories designer who said that as far as she knows she still has the field entirely to herself. She seemed to attracting a lot of attention from buyers.
High-end lingerie manufacture Coquette International said the show was a bit slower this year but that he will definitely be back.
The owner of Aneros, the prostate massager (malegspot.com), said he had three good days of business, Wednesday being the best. “It’s good to do B2B,” he said, “but I like consumer shows too.”
Joy Hollywood, the toy division of Sunset Media, was promoting a new vibrator line, Erotic Embrace, based in Chatsworth. “This has been an amazing show,” said owner Tony DeSio. “The reaction has been phenomenal.”
His clit-massager equipped vibrators—two versions, the Wabi and the Sabi—are all silicone and strictly without pthalates, making them healthy, clean and user-friendly.
Amid all the dildo and lube and lingerie booths there were also some DVD manufacturers, all of whom indicated they much preferred the ground level to the chaos of the main floor.
“Organized joy is not for me,” said Vince Miller of Intense Industries. He called the past three days “better than but not as: better than I expected but not as much as I need.” The overall verdict was that he would definitely be back.
Gabor, the colorful owner of Heatwave Video, said, “It’s good down here. I don’t have to be bothered by some idiot asking how big’s that girl’s asshole or how long is Sean Michaels’ dick.”
At 3 p.m. the B2B section shut down and back on the main floor all was loud, intense, crowded action—just what you’d expect from a show packed with eager porn fans, along with plenty of adult and mainstream media doing video interviews at all the large booths.
From the point of view of exhibitors and attendees, it seemed like the perfect way to end the day.
