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The Adams Report
by J.C. Adams
12/06/00
Vol. 3, No. 46
Well, well, well. As this column was going to press, ultra-busy agent David Forest called me to “leak” the news that he and Ryan Idol, are, as they say, back in bed together. By the time you read this, it will be old news. (And I put the word “leak” in parentheses because my dear Mr. Forest “leaked” the Idol news to anyone who writes on a foggy windshield. Can you blame him?)
I don’t have to recap Mr. Forest’s tumultuous history with Mr. Idol again, do I? Good. It’s gay porn legend, by now. Like it or not, the two men are inextricably linked, and will inevitably be recalled in the same breath together.
Is it any surprise that these two are back in business? Mr. Idol was already popular when he signed with Forest, but even the prickly agent’s detractors have to admit that it was Forest who helped Mr. Idol achieve the legendary status he holds to this day. And please don’t send me any nit-picking e-mails. No one has been more critical of the man than I over the years--when I thought he deserved it. He has certainly provided plenty of cannon fodder.
But can you disagree that there has been no one like him in gay XXX? After Lukas Ridgeston, can you name any other true legends who are currently active? Ken Ryker? No. In November, Mr. Ryker decided to retire from gay porn. Again. Men of Odyssey has canceled--for now--their planned Ryker epic. Derek Cameron? In semi-retirement and loving every moment of it. Besides, he never quite achieved Ryan Idol’s exalted status. Kevin Williams? Tom Chase? Mike Branson? All retired, more or less. Rex Chandler? He’s very retired, and apparently wants nothing at all to do with gay porn.
Mr. Forest tells me that Idol will be touring smaller gay clubs, and his response at these venues will determine how they will proceed with his comeback. “I was totally honest with him,” said Mr. Forest, “and he listened to me. He understands. He knows there is a lot of negative feeling out there about ‘Ryan Idol’ that he is gonna have to work hard to overcome.” Now that’s an understatement if ever I’ve heard one. But Mr. Forest insists that this latest comeback is the real deal.“Ryan is serious about the whole thing. He’s had a rough couple of years, and he wants to show that he isn’t just interested in making money. He wants to get back out there and do what he does best, which is performing.” Expect Idol’s club tour to commence in earnest sometime in autumn, 2001.
And then there’s the natural question: another film? I mentioned last month that Idol was interested in launching the long-awaited Idol Gods. “One thing at a time,” says Mr. Forest. “It would be the next logical step after the club tour. But we’ve entertained no offers. We haven’t talked to anyone about producing it, or anything like that. We want to get some publicity first, get him going with the club tour, and see how all of that works out. Then, if it feels right, we’ll look into getting Idol Gods off the ground. And,” he added before I could ask, “Ryan is open to the idea of getting fucked for the first time on film.”
Well, kids, I don’t know about you, but I’d buy that movie. I’m still rendered breathless at photos of Idol in his heyday, particularly Idol Eyes. Was there any man more beautiful? He has a lot going for him. Let’s hope he’s being sincere about getting his act together.
The mainstream publishing house of Faber & Faber has just published The Boys Across the Street, a new novel by Rick Sandford. Who, you ask? Under the nom de porn Ben Barker, the late Mr. Sandford was a major star in gay XXX in the 1970s and 1980s. Published posthumously, this semi-autobiographical novel follows a former gay porn star who lives across the street from a Chasidic boys' school. Drawn by the boys' faith and determined to prove that Biblical codes against homosexuality are hokum, the adult performer pretends he, too, is a conservative Jew. The collision of porn and religion, sex and friendship, sin and love mixes hilariously. Unfortunately, Sandford/Barker passed away in 1995, but this book is a must-read for anyone who enjoys damn good writing.
Moving on, these days it’s easier to order porn through your cable television company or satellite television provider than it is to get a pizza. Porn has become a $4 billion-a-year industry, prompting even the New York Times to write a major financial-page article on the subject. Did you know that General Motors, owner of DirecTV, sells more porn films every year than does Larry Flynt? Conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch owns EchoStar Communications, the number two satellite provider, which makes more money selling adult films than Playboy. AT&T, the nation’s largest communications company, distributes the hard-core sex channel The Hot Network--and sells adult fare to 50 percent of all hotel room guests in North America.
CEOs and corporate directors refuse to talk about it, considering porn the crazy aunt in the attic. And yet several adult companies are publicly traded on the stock exchange, and deal directly with major corporations like AT&T, Time Warner, Advance/Newhouse, Cox Communications, Arthur Andersen and Comcast. Just thought you’d like to know.
And in case you’re curious (and you’re looking for a dependable investment opportunity), these are the publicly traded adult companies:
• New Frontier Media (NOOF) is an Internet and cable technology company based in Boulder, Colorado which trades on the Nasdaq.
• Digital Rooster develops and operates adult sites from its offices in Toronto and is currently trading on the Canadian Dealers' Network; they’re also investigating the possibility of trading on the Nasdaq.
• Playboy Enterprises (PLA), a porn pioneer, went public in 1971.
• Metro Global Media, Inc. (MGMAE), a video and magazine publisher, has traded on the Nasdaq since 1996.
• LodgeNet does $180 million in annual business selling sex videos and other forms of “room entertainment” to hotels.
(In the interests of disclosure, neither I nor Unzipped Monthly are affiliated with any of the above companies).
If you were watching the Tuesday, November 21 episode of Angel on the WB network, you were correct if you thought the healer tending a pre-vamped Darla was director Paul Barresi. For those who didn’t catch the show, Mr. Barresi appeared only in this scene, and had no lines, but he was rewarded with a nice flattering close-up. Watch for it in reruns.
Bi video director Anthony Rose recently called with news of a fundraiser he’s coordinating in conjunction with the première of Full Frontal, the mockumentary feature film from director Kyle Schickner. (Unzipped Monthly ran a feature on the film back in September). The shindig will be held at the Laemmle Sunset 5 movie theater complex in West Hollywood, on Thursday, February 8.
The movie follows inept director Anthony Rose and his equally clueless crew through the trials and tribulations of filming a gay adult video. The cast includes Kandeyce Jorden from Star Maps, an indie film that made the art house rounds a couple of years back. Full Frontal is packed with XXX industry cameos, among them Vince Rockland, Jeff Palmer, Chi Chi LaRue, Spike, Kurt Young, Cole Tucker, Sharon Kane, and writer Mickey Skee. Mr. Rose tells me the models and other adult industry personalities were more than eager to poke fun at themselves, and the filmmaking process in general.
The première will benefit AIM (Adult Industry Medical), headed by hetero XXX legend Sharon Mitchell. AIM provides health care to adult industry workers, but until now has focused entirely on the straight side of the business. They’re now reaching out to to the gay side. There have been informal talks for years about organizing some kind of health care, at the very least, for gay adult industry workers. Nothing has ever really come of any of those discussions.
But things are now changing: AIM also held a fundraiser in conjunction with the Stable Entertainment première of The Servant on December 15, and Will Clark, Thomas Lloyd, David Thompson, Shawn Islander, and Jeff D’Kota are among the models who have been working to raise money for this purpose. It’s sorely needed.
In addition to admission to the screening, your ticket will also allow VIP access to the after-party at Micky’s nightclub in West Hollywood immediately following the film.
The date and venue for this event may change, so for tickets and information call 310-450-9183.
Finally…I’ve seen sexy (and usually silent) Travis Wade in a number of Falcon Studios videos, and I really didn’t have an opinion about him one way or another. Then I popped Now and Forever from Studio 2000 into my VCR. Little did I expect that it would turn out to be one of the best XXX films I’ve seen this year. In a nutshell, a strangely familiar old man (played by All Worlds Video’s Dan Cross) turns up at a party in Wade’s honor, whispers the words “now and forever,” and then vanishes. Wade’s efforts to suss out the old man’s identity forms the plot of the film. I know a lot of you out there run in the other direction when you read the words “plot” and “porn” in the same sentence, but this is one film you should catch. It’s not dialogue heavy, and Wade carries off his lines without a single awkward moment. He’s that good. He and the lovely Troy Michaels share sizzling chemistry, and there’s a genuinely touching moment that occurs when their characters meet for the first time that is likely to leave a lump in your throat. Wade is paired with Michaels, as well as humpy Steve Cassidy, and both scenes are among the year’s best. The film’s remaining two scenes are standard-fare, and suffer somewhat in comparison to Wade’s chemistry with his co-stars. The film’s technical credits are smooth and professional; director Derek Kent has been around a long time, and really bats this one right out of the park.
Studio 2000 has really been on a roll lately; they released last year’s GayVN-winning Dream Team, and this year have a series of Czech-shot scorchers, as well as the terrific Mavericks 2 on their plates. Expect to see Now and Forever clean up at the GayVNs and next spring’s Gay Chicago “Grabby” awards, along with Men of Odyssey’s Top Secret and Falcon’s Out of Athens 1 & 2.
Faversham…
—J.C. Adams
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