Above, the ModelHub booth; Joanna Angel at the Adult Time booth; Kendra Spade, Ricky Johnson and Gina Valentina by the Jules Jordan booth; Greg Lansky and Adriana Checkik. Photos by Rick Garcia/@IndustryByRick
LAS VEGAS—Thirty minutes before the show opened yesterday, the line of fans led from the entrance to the sports book at the first-day opening of the 2019 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Once they got in, attendees could visit the Joint, the concert venue transformed into a meet-and-greet area for performers to mingle with their fans, and the adjacent Muse Hall and Artist Hall, filled with booths representing production companies, adult toy manufacturers and online content providers.
The Joint offered many opportunities for fans to interact with performers as talent agencies filled their booths with new and veteran stars. Near the stage, Evil Angel celebrated its 30th year (XXX) with a mesmerizing art piece featuring the director/producers of the company's history filling the seats of a crowded theater. Familiar faces included Rocco Siffredi, John Leslie, Randy West, Dana Vespoli wielding a camera, and, in the shadows, Evil Angel General Manager Christian Mann, who passed away in 2014.
"We have seven girls signing for us," Evil Angel Social Media Director Liz Sanchez told AVN. "It should be fun. We have a variety of performers. Gia Derza, Katrina Jade, Aubrey Kate, Chanel Santini, Angela White, Luna Star and Ariana Marie. I'm looking forward to meeting more fans. I like to interact with them. I talk to them on social media, so putting a face to a user name is nice." In the early afternoon, Angela White had an autograph line of an estimated 50 people.
"This is my second show," Best New Starlet nominee Karma Rx told AVN at the ATMLA booth. "It's my first one where I kind of know what's going on. I'm looking forward to meeting the fans. I put out a call for help for Red Bulls, and somebody offered to bring me one every day. I'm looking forward to the awards—I know I have three nominations."
In the Mile High Media booth near the stage, Kira Noir said, "I want to see if I win. I have five nominations; hopefully one of them wins. For the Expo, I love being able to see all of the people I don't normally get to see around, because they live in Vegas, or Florida, or don’t shoot a lot in L.A. This is like summer camp for porn stars. I get to hang out with my friends."
"The show is going really good," Mile High publicist Dusty said. "There's amazing talent in our booth, and it's the first time we've done it in many years. It's good to be back, and have so much star power behind us. We have our contract star Brandi Love, we have Lena Paul, we have new faces like Gianna Dior, Carmen Caliente, also Sarah Vandella, Kira Noir, it goes on and on. Pretty amazing lineup."
"It's lovely being back," performer Emma Hix said at the Foxxx Modeling booth. "This is my third year. The first two, I was still learning what it's all about. Now, I'm experienced. I know how to dress [in a matching red bra and bikini set]. I was very elegant, but now—you know, people are mostly naked during this. I'm presenting at the awards show. I'm a little nervous, but very excited. I wasn't nominated, but that's okay. I really want to be there to support everyone I've worked with." Scarlett Sage, at the Motley Models booth, told AVN that she was "really excited to meet all the beautiful ladies I have been knowing on Twitter that I haven’t met yet."
"It's been a little bit crazy," first-time attendee Vanna Bardot said. "Someone came up to me with, like, two hundred photos of me from different scenes I did. I'm looking forward to the after-parties. I've heard some crazy things about them. I'm taking it in, taking it easy. Trying not to go too wild. Yet. I've been eating gummy vitamins like candy."
Serena Blair, Kenna James, Shyla Jennings, Kristen Scott, Bree Mills, Cherie Deville, Whitney Wright and April O'Neil at the Adult Time booth. Photos by Jeff Koga/@KogaFoto
In Muse Hall, the enclosed Adult Time booth had black walls, with performers in black logo garb signing at a desk flanked by a large merchandise booth and a Vivid Radio broadcast desk. Adult Time is the new "master brand" for Gamma Entertainment, Executive Producer Bree Mills told AVN. "It encompasses not just all of Gamma Films' stuff, but all of the original programming we want to do. We have over 50,000 scenes; Vivid is in here, and Burning Angel. Adult Time is the place where if you want to go for anything we do—go to Adult Time. We've got it all."
Mills continued, "It's also where I get to launch all my new series. I'm trying to break every rule in the rule book: binge-releasing seasons, releasing seasons piecemeal, all that stuff. There's new content every week. I, myself, personally, am doing five or six series that I'm directing for Adult Time, and we're looking to bring on many more producers to work with us in the coming years. We have a couple of new acquisitions in the works. I can't say, but if I were to say the names, you’d recognize them. Where we want to differentiate ourselves as a place where people who love to make content are making content."
MindGeek has a walk-through booth, with production companies Digital Playground and Reality Kings on one side of the aisle, with ModelHub facing them. "This is my third year," November 2016 Penthouse Pet ("The Bush Issue") and ModelHub model Mary Moody told AVN. "I'm excited. It's fun. The people have been receptive. I see a lot of the same faces. Everyone's nice and happy."
"It's been awesome. We've had a huge reception," ModelHub Product Marketing Manager Natalia Maurlan said. "People are stopping by, checking out what we have here. We've done it a little differently this year: We have a separate mini-booth in the back for the models who stop by. It’s been really popular with them. They can stop by, kick off their shoes and have a snack—really take their time, to be away from prying eyes. It's a little break from the rest of the show. The show has grown substantially. It's great to see the new faces, the faces that are yet to be discovered. It's been nice to not only meet the models and the people who use our website every day, but also the people behind the scenes as well. I don’t get to meet the people from ManyVids and Chaturbate, for example. It's great that we come together as a community, and really celebrate being part of the adult environment."
Little Caprice, Vicki Chase, Ana Foxxx, Abigail Mac, Adriana Chechik, Jessa Rhodes, Tori Black, Greg Lansky, Teanna Trump, Jada Stevens, Ivy Wolfe, Alina Lopez, Riley Reid and Lena the Plug
Also in Muse Hall, the stylish Blacked/Tushy/Vixen booth returned, an elevated platform with a full bar and lounge, and a gold couch in front of a large shadowbox with 40 AVN Awards. Fans at the signing stations were protected inside red velvet ropes on gold stanchions as they moved from station to station collecting autographs.
"I'm looking forward to enjoying the journey and having a beautiful time with all the incredible talented artists we're with," Greg Lansky told AVN. As far as the AVN Awards Show on Saturday night, "Just being there is doing well, that's the way I look at it. I like everybody to do well. It's nice to be in a place where adult performers get celebrated and loved. That's what I'm all about."
On the platform, Abigail Mac said, "I'm looking forward to having a really good time, celebrating everybody's success. Celebrating the women and men in this industry and really building everybody up this year."
Marley Brinx, Jill Kassidy, Jules Jordan, Emily Willis and Athena Faris are among the performers signing at Jordan's booth in Muse Hall.
"We're off to a fast start," Jules Jordan observed from his front-and-center booth in Muse Hall. “We had a lot of people in here early, right from the opening of the show. Fans and media got their shots right away. We have Kissa Sins, Gina Valentina, Jill Kassidy—Angela White is here for two hours on Saturday—Nikki Benz, Abella Danger, Athena Faris ... They'll be here signing autographs and meeting fans." Kissa Sins, showing off her new boob job under star-shaped pasties at the Jules Jordan booth, observed "I love it here. It’s like Vagina Disneyland."
Kissa Sins, who is signing at the Jules Jordan Video booth
Performer Norah Nova was camming at the MyFreeCams booth in the hallway outside Muse Hall. "I'm looking forward to making lots of lunch money," she laughed. "I'm really excited to see my mom and my aunt. They’re coming to the Awards with me."
At the AVN Booth in Artist Hall, Katie Morgan said she survived the "harrowing" 10-minute drive from her house. "I just love this show; there's so much fun and energy. All the people I haven’t seen in a year. I can go home and sleep in my own bed and go to a convention. It's my favorite."
"Every time I come here now, I enjoy it so much," AVN Hall of Famer Steve Holmes said. I remember when I first came here in 2002, I didn’t know anybody, nobody knew me, I was like a little kid in a candy store. Now, it's like a family reunion with all these beautiful girls and I think 'I fucked her, I fucked her, I fucked her, I fucked her.' Life is good. I'm really excited that this will be my first time on stage at the Awards. I will be presenting. I've won awards, but I was never on stage."
'It's so exciting," 19-year-old new performer Sofia Moon told AVN at the Galaxy Publicity booth. "I'm having so much fun, I can't stop smiling. I feel like a celebrity in a way. Everyone's really accepting. Sometimes people don't look at us so highly, but everybody's happy to be here. I've seen some of my fellow performers, people I look up to, so I'm fan-girling a little bit. I wanted to meet Jason Luv, I met him, I'm super, super excited about that. I want to meet Gina Valentina and Abella Danger. This is really fun. Positive environment. It makes me so happy."
The AVN Adult Entertainment Expo continues through Saturday at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, followed by the AVN Awards ceremony at the Joint on Saturday night. Both events are open to the public. For more information, click here.
Below from top, Kimmy Granger, Riley Reid, Joanna Angel and Small Hands. Photos by Jeff Koga/@KogaFoto
