Just the smallest amount of backstory about the general atmosphere at the AEE this weekend so as to illuminate but not enrage: Battle-weary Fleshbot editor Jonno and I have met for less than one minute over the past forty-eight hours despite our intense working relationship and profesional camraderie. The thing that galvanizes our Lewis & Clark-like respect for one another is our shared love of Belladonna. But this is just one of the many heartbreaks waiting to happen in Las Vegas this weekend. Tread carefully and mind the gap - G. Ponante
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"Dear God, deliver me from my fans," said a firecracker of a porn star who wished to remain anonymous after yet another die-hard grabbed a fistful of her bathing suit area while his buddy immortalized the moment on a cameraphone.
As the AEE morphed as it does from a trade show to a fan convention at noon on Friday, veteran porners took a deep breath as the fans poured in like Orcs to a Man-flesh barbecue.
These same fans clotted ten rows thick around Belladonna as she signed at the Evil Angel booth. All I wanted to do was touch her, but they prevented me. Curse them.
But fans weren't the only people behaving erratically. Joanna Angel and Eon McKai didn't show up to a party that they sponsored. (Ed. note: We're told they actually did show up—though for hours late, if that makes a difference.) Ron Jeremy's people twice stiffed me on an interview appointment (If only Ron had known I was waiting, I am sure he would have flown to my aid). And rumors abounded that one of the guys responsible for building of several booths at the Expo, including that of Smash Pictures, was either 1) busted on heroin charges, 2) relieved by the state of custody of his children, or 3) both.
At least one thing remained predictable: attendees of the massive Consumer Electronics Show next door—right down to a BlackBerry'd, rolling luggage-toting man—continued to refer to the entire four days of AEE as "the porno awards". (Well that, and the lamentable fact that Justine Joli still isn't doing guys.)
(Ed.. note: Actual Belladonna interview coming soon.)
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More from Gram Ponante:
· Jesse Jane: Inappropriate
· "You treat objects like women, man."
· Gina Lynn's Feet
· Eva Angelina: How to dodge the draft
Photos by Joel Johnson
Previously: Porn Valley Dispatch Archive