Because of the AVN Summer Expo, WHICH BEGINS TODAY, there will be only one posting today. However, look for reports on the show plus an account of the Sin City open house on tomorrow's site.
Today's L.A. Times business section talks about the so-called Internet wars between AVN and Luke Ford.
Collins writes: "Paul Fishbein used to think his biggest problems were government censors an anti-porn activists. Then he logged on to the Internet. Fishbein is editor and publisher of the Van Nuys-based trade magazine Adult Video News, generally considered the authoritative guide to the $9-billion U.S. sex business." Collins goes on to describe AVN as a "painfully exhaustive" source of news, gossip and starlet's cup sizes.
"In an industry that is not really that well-respected by the outside world we are really well-respected for being straight-up," Fishbein is quoted as saying.
"But the adult entertainment business is changing, and Fishbein is racing to keep up," Collins writes. One means is by the Internet, and in so doing, AVN "has run smack into Luke Ford, an eccentric and self-aggrandizing cyber gossip from Beverly Hills.
"On his [Ford's] Web site," Collins' article continues, "which is devoted to porn news [actually, now fiction], Ford has repeatedly attacked the magazine for ignoring conflicts of interest, coddling advertisers and downplaying major stories, such as an outbreak of HIV among performers last year--allegations that Fishbein vehemently denies."
Collins goes on to write: "The threat of legal action last month forced Ford to retract a few particularly damaging accusations--but not before he posted the entire demand letter from Fishbein's attorney. The spat has sealed Ford's reputation as porn's bete noire."
'If this were a different age, I'd be in danger of having my legs broken,' he [Ford] muses, referring to porn's fabled mob ties.
Collins quotes a recent survey by the British research firm Datamonitor, that sex sites garnered 69% of the $1.4 billion in worldwide sales of Internet-based content in 1998.
Collins: "Fishbein is now struggling to stay atop the flow of information within this rich but extremely fragmented business, which helps explain why the battle with Ford has become so contentious. Last month AVN launched a spinoff magazine aimed at Web masters of adult sites and retooled its own site as a 'CNN-type' news service. Fishbein acknowledges it's uncertain terrain."
According to Collins, [AVN's} prominence troubles some in the industry. "When a trade magazine amasses as much power as AVN, it becomes an intrinsic part of the industry. And that bothers me," says Rodger Jacobs, a screenwriter [aka Martin Brimmer] and journalist who has written for Larry Flynt Publications, whose Hustler Erotic Video Guide competes with AVN."
Collins: "Luke Ford has amplified such concerns on his Web site, often without the benefit of fact-checking.... While Ford praises Fishbein himself as "credible," he has accused AVN staffers of, among other things, trying to quash his reporting about HIV in the porn industry and tailoring its annual awards show to suit big advertisers.
"The stuff I've written has really shaken them up over there," says Ford, who admits to putting unverified items on his site. He adds: "So far AVN has been a failure on the Internet. They've spent a lot of money and it's just been drubbed by Internet people and adult people."
Collins: "Fishbein calls the allegation of corruption "a flat-out lie" and says that AVN ended up correcting errors in Ford's reporting about the HIV scandal. Although he says he briefly flirted with hiring Ford to do a gossip column on the AVN site, he now dismisses him as "an irresponsible journalist."
Gene Ross has this to say: AVN is hardly struggling to keep on top of this war. On a day-to-day basis it continually kicks the ass of its so-called competition. It will always and remain the source of verifiable information. You will neither read fictious reports of chiffon dresses or lame satires to fill space because sources have dried up.
Dirty Bob writes: "Dirty Gene: Just saw Luke on Luke's site - LITERALLY! It seems that Luke has decided to alienate his viewers (or scare them away?) by running NUDE photos of himself on his most recent daily self-indulgence web page. Actually, there can only be ONE REAL REASON why Luke ran nudes of himself: he figures (incorrectly, I hope!) that YOU will do the same to 'keep up" with him and, as everybody in the biz knows, Luke has ALWAYS wanted to see Gene Ross nude! Don't play his game, Gene. Instead, give him shots of Mark Kernes."
Gene sez: "Even as we speak, Kernes is in the works preparing 3D nude studies of himself emulating the great works of art ala Rodin's The Thinker and Michelangelo's David."
The artist formerly known as Tyffany Million writes: "hello Gene-o! how are ya! I got your email address from Luke Ford. I am looking for a publicist (adult-oriented) and Luke said you might be able to make some recommendations.
The publicist is needed for my new website "www.evilhole.com" which will be finished in 2 weeks. Also I'll be announcing my return to XXX soon. I am currently looking for a comeback vehicle, on par with the caliber of "Latex" and "Shock." I've actually spoken to Michael Ninn about making my comeback with him.....
Well let me know if you can recommend someone. FYI I've already called Joy King at Wicked.
Gene sez: "Oddly, enough, I got approached several weeks ago on a Kid Vegas set by a woman who says she's doing publicity in the vein you're talking about. A gave her a test. I said call me in a couple of days and we'll talk more on the subject. She didn't. So much for her public relations skills. If there's anyone out there in la la land who can actually return phone calls, contact me.
Dave Cummings comments on Moffitt Timlake's Comments on geneross.com, Jul 6, 1999: " Of the $100,000 Moffitt Timlake reported a couple of day's ago as the amount of loss Xplor took from Terri Hess's Dechtar "BK", $16,000+ of it belonged to me! That's a lot of "haircuts"! Dave Cummings www.davecummings.com
Gene Ross sez: "Anyone else who has a Terri Hess horror story is welcome to share them."
Berkeley Boy writes: "Hi Gene, I am attending this year's XXX-treme Adult Vacation (which is sponsored by AVN), and have some questions about the PCR/DNA HIV test that is required. After asking SMS Promotions (who is putting together the vacation) about details regarding the test, they only said that they don't deal with that portion of the vacation.
What do the participants/filmmakers expect to see from me, in terms of proof of taking the test? I found a site that will provide the DNA test (at http://www.webspawner.com/users/hivtest/), but it sounds as though it is anonymous testing, and this is probably unacceptable.
Is there anybody in the San Francisco Bay Area (I live in Berkeley, work in San Rafael) that can help me get the test done properly? I know that I sound like a dumb-ass, but I'm really at a loss here. Any information would be helpful, even if it is only to direct me to somebody who will have the information.
Gene sez: "You're an optimist considering the fact that I seriously doubt vacationers are going to be "solicited" to do porn shoots.
Blow Jobs Becoming the In-Thing in Nation's Capitol School Districts
According to the Washington Post, parents are becoming increasingly alarmed by the fact that oral sex is becoming the latest fad in school. The Post writes about a recent parent-teachers' meeting held at Williamsburg Middle School, where oral sex was the hot topic of conversation.
The principal, Margaret McCourt-Dirner, told about 25 assembled parents that as many as a dozen girls and two or three boys had been engaging in oral sex through most of the school year. The teens, 13 and 14 years old, were getting together at parties in one another's homes and at local parks.
According to the Post, "The news dropped like a bomb just over a year ago... "parents were unaware of a disturbing pattern of middle-schoolers' adopting an 'anything but intercourse' approach to sex. Eager to avoid pregnancy and hold on to virginity, an increasing number of teenagers are engaging in oral sex, according to school and health officials."
"It's now the expected minimum behavior," said Michael Schaffer, supervisor for health education in Prince George's County. "The kids say if you're not going to have sex, at least do this."
Deborah Roffman, a human sexuality consultant to 15 schools in the Baltimore-Washington corridor, said, "I am receiving an increasing number of inquiries about incidents of oral sex among young adolescents, both at parties and occasionally at school. Kids are not just asking about oral sex anymore. They're talking about it, some are doing it, and adults are clueless."
One guidance counselor at the White Oak Middle School in Silver Spring says oral sex, "has suddenly become 'la mode de la sex.' "
According to the Post, dozens of interviews, researchers and school officials throughout the Washington area said they are seeing something new in kids in their early teens: a casual approach to oral sex as a substitute for intercourse and as a reaction against the fear engendered by AIDS awareness programs.
Young people are very casual about oral sex, said Patricia Hersch, author of a book, "A Tribe Apart: A Journey Into the Heart of American Adolescence." "To me, oral sex was more intimate than intercourse. Kids today absolutely don't see it that way. It's done commonly, with a shrug. It's part of the grab bag of sexual activities."
"What you're going to see in two to three years is a resurgence of some STDs. That's the trade-off, said Becky Ferguson, school nurse at Pine Grove Middle School in Parkville, east of Baltimore.
According to the Post, Almost two out of three college students surveyed several years ago by the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction said oral sex is not equivalent to having sex [a fact Bill Clinto would obviously agree on]. Counselors and sexual behavior researchers estimate that by the time students are in high school, about half are having oral sex.
When some parents tried to speak to their daughters, the girls shrugged off the significance of what they had done. "What's the big deal? President Clinton did it," one said.
