Internet mystery man Craig Vasiloff posted this note the other day: "There is some confusion as to the ownership and ongoing status of FANtastic! and XXXGeneration Magazine. Due to constant struggles with my current investors who have entered into a material contract breach with me, I have decided to exercise my right and nullify my relationship.
"Currently I own 100% of all intellectual and property rights free and clear of any claim by said partners. Until I either enter into a new relationship to continue the magazine, or settle with current partners, or until further notice from me - XXXgen and FANtastic are my exclusive property. Craig Vasiloff."
Gene sez: For now, many things are on hold for Vasiloff, the man who would be Internet king. Friday, we caught up with him in his Toronto offices.
G. Ross: "What the hell is going on with you?"
Vasiloff: "It's been a long-standing battle to drag a very heavy weight. It just came to a point where the contract that I had with these people [Vasiloff doesn't want to mention names of his money people] has been in default approximately since the CES show. It just got to the point where I was sick of dealing with it, and it's time to move along. There's one major investor that I've been dealing with for about a year. Unfortunately, instead of being just an investor, a lot of it had to do with the girls and the business. He decided instead of just being a money guy, he had to be involved in the day to day. That was more a source of problems than anything else. And there was stuff that happened a while ago, the gossip that was going around, was the direct result of his inability to handle payments and those kind of things. And I had to be the front guy and take the fall."
G. Ross: "Yours has been a fascinating name that's gotten dragged through some website-shit over the last couple of years. A lot of people are saying who's Craig Vasiloff and how did he come into the business?"
Vasiloff: "I wish I had the prominence you speak of. Basically, I come from a music background. I did a lot of web-stuff before. I developed CD-ROMs. I was working in the world of multimedia, so when the Internet came up, obviously, it was something that really interested me. The adult world on the Internet was something that I saw as booming and one where money takes precedence and where you can have a lot of success. Like any business, I basically did a lot of research. In researching the industry, being 3,000 miles away, the only resource I had was the newsgroups and websites. That's basically where I discovered people like Luke Ford. It came around a time when Luke was doing a lot of posts not only on his own site but the RAME site. I noticed a lot of names that kept reoccurring. I contacted these people and asked a lot of questions. One of the things that I saw with Luke Ford's site was that he created an interest. It wasn't always positive. But it was an audience that was there. I watched it for awhile.
"At the time his site got shut down, I was just putting FANtastic together. I was hosting some sites and basically offered to host his site for free. It was my way of connecting to somebody in the business. A lot of it was just a business decision. Actually it was the Luke Ford association that brought the financier in. Luke Ford was recognized. He did have some press. He did have a certain number of hits, and that basically was what allowed me to get the money I needed to get started. It wasn't until after that I got more involved in the business that I started to realize a lot of the negative connotations that were coming out of the Luke Ford site. I sort of had to deal with that over a period of a year."
G. Ross: What spawned XXXGen and where are you sitting with it?"
Vasiloff: "The investor I had at the time was talking about doing a public offering. I expressed to him that taking an Internet site public was just not going to happen, and that there was a lot more legitimacy to be gained from a print publication. Everything I really wanted was to do the crossover between the adult world and the mainstream. Sex sells in Hollywood, and it's been knocking on the doors of the adult industry for a long time. But because of a lot of the negatives surrounding the adult industry, it's very difficult for Hollywood to break in. I wanted to create a bridge to go the other way and allow that to happen. That's basically where XXXGeneration Magazine was spawned. Unfortunately, I'm involved in legal battles with my investors to see what I'm going to do with it. It got to the point where the current issue was done for quite a bit of time."
G. Ross: "Was this the issue where you were premiering Inari Vachs as one of your writers?"
Vasiloff: "Yes. Actually we're behind. The magazine should have come out probably right after CES where it was taking it one step further towards the mainstream. The first issue, we were basically dedicated to the adult world. This issue [the second one] we had opened it up a lot to involve a lot of music. We have interviews with some bands...it's been sitting on the burner for about six weeks."
G. Ross: "Pending resolution of legal problems.."
Vasiloff: "Technically, there is a legal problem. Basically I got tired of what was going on. I said buy me out, you can own everything. I'll work for you and that's it. They basically couldn't meet the arrangements of that contract, and I still stuck around because I like to see something through to the end. It became evident last week that they were unable to continue to finance this thing and I wasn't about to go front a sinking ship and take the fall. I exercised my right to leave. I made them an offer where they can keep XXXGen and FANtastic, pay out a certain amount of dollars and I would start fresh.
G. Ross: "Where does this leave XXXGen Video?"
Vasiloff: "I'm doing stuff on my own. I bought a Martin Brimmer script. I'm still planning on working in the industry. I enjoy the people in the industry. I think I've developed some good relationships. It's certainly an area I want to continue with."
G. Ross: "Is XXXGen you're name to take with you."
Vasiloff: "It's mine, but I don't think I'll take it with me. I probably won't attach that name to the video line, either. What I'm doing is speaking with some different people about forming some sort of partnership and taking a different magazine somewhere else. I think that's probably what I'm going to go."
G. Ross: "Where does that leave the deal you were going to do with Kendra Jade?"
Vasiloff: "The island-thing was all part of the FANtastic arrangement. It was all good on paper, but things just seem to stay on paper. As far as Kendra Jade there was no agreement because she does have a contract with John Kenney. There was no formal agreement with Kendra to do anything. I'm still working on a Kendra Jade website, but as far as films, that will have to be resolved once her agreement with Bo is resolved."
G. Ross: "What are you doing to keep yourself occupied?"
Vasiloff: "I'm going to apply to AVN for a job."
