girlfriend Chander, along with an alleged gun-toting incident, supposedly drew the ire of employer Leisure Time Video, has been courted by Vivid's Steve Hirsch. Hirsch says he wanted Sparkle for the Vivid Raw line.
Sparkle: "I've met with Vivid. They've seen some of the footage I've shot because I do camera. They've also seen a few of my boxes because I ran the art department here at Leisure Time."
The point on all this may be rather moot because Leisure Time has just struck a deal with Sparkle which will keep him around.
Sparkle is currently editing a feature for Leisure Time called, Viva Las Vegas which will be distributed on the Empire label. He was asked if the title wasn't, rather, Viva Kid Vegas, after his most visible critic on the Internet.
Sparkle: "That guy [Kid Vegas] is something else. This business is something else. I don't know how to explain it. I've met the guy. People have told me he's trying to ride on my coattails, but that's cool. I don't trip off that. But this whole Luke Ford-thing with stories about Matt Zane and Al Borda...I don't know where Kid Vegas is coming up with these stories. I'm not a bad guy but I called Vegas telling him the next time he says anything negative about me I'm going to kick his ass. It's one thing to document things that are happening. But to blow out the truth, it can affect somebody in a certain way. They're always referring to me being hyped-up on a substance and carrying guns around. That's not what I'm all about. I don't slam drugs and I don't put guns down people's faces."
Sparkle denies the gun incident in which he's supposed to have rammed a barrel down Chandler's throat. "I'm not a gun-toting guy," he says. "I'm a happy-go-lucky party guy. Chandler was living with me for seven months. I definitely cut it off with her. But that was because I was supporting her, paying the bills, and she wasn't working. I was tired of that. You know how these girls can get. But I definitely didn't shove a gun down her throat. I can promise you that much."
Sparkle also punctures holes in the Al Borda rumors, about him going to work for Borda.
Sparkle: "I've never spoken to Al Borda in my life. On Luke Ford's site they put something about his people and my people getting together for lunch. I've never had meetings with Al Borda."
Sparkle likes to tell what he calls the "real" story behind the Chandler-Tiffany Mynx-Rob Black situation in which Black is supposed to have booted Minx out of casa de Byron for putting Chandler up when Chandler left Sparkle.
Sparkle: "I told Chandler that she needed to get out. She called Tiffany Mynx. Tiffany came over to get her and Tiffany was staying at Tom's house because Extreme is having some real problems. Everyone from Extreme is living at Tom Byron's house. She [Chandler] went over there. Chandler was supposed to have an Extreme deal from Rob Black seven months ago. But then she met me, and I pulled her out of the business, pulled he away from them. You know how Rob is. He took that as a vendetta. So they [Black and company] were all in Brazil. Rob found out that Chandler was staying there. He said to Tiffany, 'you and Chandler get the fuck out.' Black sent some goons over there to escort Chandler and Tiffany out of the house to make sure thay they didn't steal or break anything. Tiffany and Van Damage were planning to leave Extreme anyway because is not making money. He's trying to be the bad boy."
Sparkle said though the story's out that he's some loose cannon like Israel Gonzalez and Cal Jammer, nothing could be further from the truth.
"Mark [Carriere] is ready to build me an office and do whatever he needs to do to get me to stay," says Sparkle. "They don't want me to leave and I don't want to leave." Sparkle admits he's had some issues with one particular employee at the Leisure Time art department.
"I run the art department, I do the boxes, I do the AVN ads, I do the marketing and concepts for mail order, I do the photography then I edit....I produce and direct. I had to put my foot down on how I was being treated. Someone was very jealous and spiteful of me." Sparkle said he didn't want to work in that kind of hostile environment.
Sparkle: "Everyone thinks I run around, that I'm this crazy guy, but I'm responsible for a lot of things. Creatively, I was being stumped by someone who was offended and thought that I was in the way of their own livelihood. I had to put my foot down and say I'm not going to deal with this kind of bullshit, someone fucking with me on a daily basis because they're jealous and spiteful. I'm waiting to see what Vivid has to bring to the table. I'm seeing where things stand. But I'll shoot for Leisure Time.
Contrary to some popular misconceptions, Sparkle said that House of Freaks was very well-received within the Leisure Time ranks.
Sparkle: "House of Freaks has been the best-selling Empire release ever. I think we broke 2,500 titles on that. Mark Carriere thinks it's the greatest thing ever. The only problem we had at one point, because we do mail order, the psychiatrist said there's no way you can do this for mail order. At Leisure Time our guidelines are very tight. There was an issue where we had to re-edit some scenes. But, for the most part, House of Freaks is our baby. We spent 30 grand on it. I have a great relationship and rapport with Leisure Time. They support me 150%."
