The 2006 Adult Entertainment Exposition – Special Report

Background:

Call it what you will but the adult entertainment industry is
arguably ingrained in almost every aspect of modern life, much to
the chagrin of a small but vocal minority of folks trying to
attack it by any means possible. A quick look at the industry
shows ties to many major corporations, Hollywood, and just about
every community in the form of local video and book stores
catering to the masses seeking to enjoy various forms of sexual
activity. While porn is often discussed in secret or hushed
tones, with snickering and joking to ease the awkwardness of the
moment, the desire to view such material cuts across all
socio-economic lines, all races, and all cultures; regardless of
the specific material favored by individuals. The industry caters
to our collective sexual fantasies and as such, relies heavily on
the perception of desirability, often using slight of hand and
illusion to convey an image that falls short of the reality of
porn. Some of this image is addressed in the documentary Rated X
and the advent of the DVD format has seen the growth of behind
the scenes features that sometimes dispel the myths of the
industry too but our need to believe in the free flowing
sexuality of attractive young women is so great that even jaded
old porn hounds like me sometimes forget this is a business
first. With all the regulations, court decisions, and newfound
support from the feds in recent years, the industry finds itself
under attack like never before hence the need for trade magazines
like AVN (Adult Video News) to address the needs of the
business and provide a positive face for an industry known as
much for it’s scandals as its profitability.

The magazine is best known for offering up scores of
advertisements by production companies and encapsulated reviews
designed to give a quick overview of the 14,000+ titles released
every year but it also includes legal reports, articles and
discussions on industry trends. The magazine also sponsors a
yearly trade show in Las Vegas every January; a show called the Adult
Entertainment Exposition. While there are other shows
throughout the year, some of which are decidedly more fan
friendly and convenient to some people, it’s tough to argue
that the AEE is anything less than a celebration of the sheer
diversity porn has to offer, complete with an award show covering
more aspects of the industry’s releases than anything
conceived to date. The following article attempts to provide one
mans overview of the recent show, noting the impossibility of
seeing everything and partaking in all the festivities the
industry had to offer but like me write up of the 2004 AEE
Show, there was plenty to see and more porn stars in view
than you could possible deal with in a given day.

The Exposition:

The AEE takes place every January at the Sands Expo Center
attached to the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. The AEE is held
concurrently with the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), having
sprung forth from the electronics show after years as a small
(but incredibly popular) section of the famous show. For the four
days the show is actively in session, people from all walks of
life and all parts of the industry meet to discuss porn, conduct
business, and otherwise network while interacting with the
plethora of eye candy the companies hire to hawk their names. The
first official day of the expo is on Thursday but insiders know
that getting into town early offers up significant perks to those
willing to come early, not the least of which are a number of
small invitation-only parties and dinners designed to ease people
into the whirlwind of the expo floor that gets increasingly
hectic as the show progresses.

As the official representative of X Critic, I fielded a few of
these early invites with Wednesday night, the "night of
anticipation" for me, having the most interest. After the
initial registration for press credentials with all the normal
problems, I wondered if perhaps a better system could be used to
facilitate the matter of getting the scores of press credentials
handed out faster and/or more efficiently. That said, the
logistics of any such operation involve endless issues so it is
to the credit of people like Andrew Mun, the Manager of Public
Affairs for the show, to iron out the little kinks that pop up
from time to time.

Sometime later in the evening, I ran into the infamous Robby D.
of Digital Playground in the hallways of the Venetian along
restaurant row. We spoke at length about recent events, like audio
commentaries and how best to joke around in them, after which
I joined him and his colleagues from Digital Playground for
dinner at the Royal Star. The food was excellent but, to be frank
about it, the company was so much more engaging than most dinners
that I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the highlights of the
evening. From sitting beside the lovely Jana Cova, to discussing
the art of public relations with Adella O'Neal, to the sharing of
baby pictures by contract stars, directors, and others invited to
the event; the night went incredibly well. That stars like
Janine, Teagan Presley, Jana Cova, Sophia Santi, and Jesse Jane
all looked better than in their movies goes without saying yet I
hesitate to suggest that the basis of their appeal was simply the
eye candy value they each possess.

After shutting the restaurant down, we all left to prepare for
the first day of the show though I ran into a few performers on
my way back to the hotel and ended up discussing the finer points
of porn until far too late into the evening. As a reviewer, I
sometimes forget that many in the industry do not watch the
movies they make so their perceptions of how they are made to
look is often tremendously skewed compared to what they’re
later told by the producers. I later find out that the heads of
many major companies don’t watch their own titles except in
passing, focusing their efforts on the business aspects of the
business over the parts many of us know far too well. Given the
chance, I’m sure most consumers could offer tips to improve
the content of movies coming from such companies, a fact that did
not fall on deaf ears later on in the week.

Getting far too little sleep then, I slept about as well as a
child anticipating Christmas Day with thoughts of happy harlots
dancing in my head in place of the more traditional fare. Having
been to the show before, I knew that the first hours of opening
day would be among the least productive since past experience
told me that many of the companies would find their spokeswomen
flaking for the first few hours. Part of this is due to the time
change (Las Vegas is in an earlier time zone than most performers
live in) and part of it has to do with the independence of the
gals but it always seems to separate the men from the boys in
terms of which companies have their act together, a fact that
became apparent rather soon this time.

After the cluster fuck of the opening that was delayed
repeatedly by staffers intent on holding us back well after the
scheduled opening time, we all rushed in to see the general
outlay of the floor. The most noticeable booths at the front of
the expo were the Vivid Entertainment and Club Jenna stands. One
of the things I noticed about their booths was that they had a
steady stream of contract stars, all of them looking as glamorous
as one would expect of a star caste system, elevating the status
of their gals substantially over companies that forced their gals
to wear uniforms or allowed their people to dress down.

Some of the best draws of the show were located here with
Lanny Barby and Tera Patrick being among the most popular ladies
of the day. Throughout the show, my personal observation was that
the longest lines were by these two booths with infrequent
exceptions like the rare appearance by the legendary Larry Flynt
and the times when the term “wardrobe malfunction” took
on a whole new meaning as ladies went much further than they were
supposed to, showing enough skin to cause a couple of small
fights as men vied for position to take the most revealing
pictures.

Make
no mistake about it either, the main reason why so many people
put up with the long lines, the inconveniences, and the circus
like atmosphere was the number of ladies signing for the various
companies. Take them out of the equation and you’d have a
hard time counting the tumbleweeds rolling through the aisles no
matter what you’ve heard about the amount of business taking
place on the show floor. Like always, this led to the yearly porn
cold war of ladies whereby companies attempt to get the best
women signing for them in order to create the largest buzz. Some
companies rely on their lovely contract stars, including Wicked
Pictures using hotties like Jessica Drake and Stormy to bring in
the crowds while others chose to employ hired guns like Red Light
Districts selection of the lovely Rita Faltoyano or Evil
Angel’s use of popular ladies like Katja Kassin to bring
fans in for a closer look. In the end, the bigger companies have
the ability to hire the best in the business but the show itself
has been known to elevate the status of the gals who show the
best attitudes, are the friendliest to fans, and come across as
excellent spokesmodels for the line they are representing. For
the women who put the fans first every day, this can easily
generate the kind of excitement that the best publicist in the
world can’t buy them so the AEE is a golden opportunity for
newcomers to make a name for themselves in a personal manner.
With so many directors, producers, distributors, and even
reviewers in the same place, a few well made comments can
certainly put a gal on the fast track to stardom and I watched
more than a couple pour their hearts into such efforts all week
long.

There
were numerous unsung heroes of the show like starlet Felecia Fox,
perhaps the only gal at the show on time, every day, with a
glowing demeanor that never sublimated her raw sensuality but
supplemented it to the point where I’m still amazed
she’s not under contract for all she has to offer over the
flavor of the week types that fade away in no time. Others worthy
of attention were those who assisted fans by taking their picture
with the performers since most fans really wanted something to
truly personalize their experience at the show.

In terms of companies catering to the fans, this was an area
of mixed blessings. The huge lines at Vivid and Club Jenna caused
many to have to choose between getting a few high profile
autographs or passing them up in hopes of seeing a lesser known
selection of women more freely available. This was especially
evident on the weekend when the hordes of fans poured through the
showroom floor in search of some quality time with a barely
dressed hotty. For every lucky twist of fate allowing a fan to
have access to a sexpot like Flower Tucci or Julia Bond without
waiting in a lengthy line, there’d be numerous idiots
bringing dozens of pictures to be signed for later sale on Ebay,
causing the rest of us to fantasize about a perfect world where
such jerks would be thrown in the stockade for the duration of
the show.

By the end of the show though, booths hawking enhancement
products using gals like the fabulous Nikki Loren nearly had me
willing to test them out given the overload of multiple days of
hot women, tons of porn, and the carnival like atmosphere
surrounding the show. It didn’t hurt that most of us were
sleep deprived, trying to fit in some gambling, parties where the
free booze flowed so readily, and the hordes of escorts wanting
to play with us (for a price of course, everything in Vegas seems
to have a price tag attached). A word of general caution though;
if you’re seeking to make this pilgrimage to the porn gods,
make it on Friday (or Thursday if you can swing it) because as
the show progresses, fewer ladies make it to their booths and
many of them skip Sunday altogether.

The Awards Show:

Okay,
by now most of you have heard who the big winners for the year
were for the AVN Awards that took place on Saturday. Audrey
Hollander won best female performer and the majority of other
awards went to The New
Devil In Miss Jones, Pirates,
Camp
Cuddly Pines Powertool Massacre, Slut
Puppies, Dark Side,
and Dark
Angels 2. A cursory glance at the titles winning overall
showed a lot of awards going to relatively few movies but it was
also interesting to note that many of the awards went to titles
we picked last year in the X Critic 2005 Top Porn
Lists so perhaps the quality of the selection process used by
the folks at AVN matched our own laborious work (or maybe the top
titles were so far above the pack as to be universally
appealing). There were relatively few surprises in the show this
year and the lovely hostess with the mostess, Jesse Jane, came
across as one of the most positive and charming ladies in the
role, befitting her position as the lead contract star of Digital
Playground.

The
show was followed by the tremendous number of parties that seemed
so in vogue. What struck me as particularly odd was how many
contract performers could be readily seen at parties hosted by
their competition though it was a chance for rivalries to give
way to the decadent merriment the industry has to offer. Some of
the classier parties included the Vivid gathering, the Sean
Michaels After Party, and the smaller but reportedly fun Andrew
Blake party at Club Ice. There were other parties during the week
well worth attending but these were the big name parties where
the movers and shakers appeared at in droves. Of course there
were a ton of private parties, some of which resulted in
performers skipping out on working the convention the next day I
might add, but they were not open to the public and for all the
rumors of orgies and other misconduct going on at them, precious
few offered any sort of live sex show with limited audience
participation (don’t ask). The common thread for the
parties, particularly the ones either readily open to the public
or “sort of” open to the public was that the ratio of
men to women remained about the same as always with large volumes
of horned up guys hoping to catch a glimpse of the rare
performer. As I’ve mentioned in the past, such parties are
okay for those who enjoy large clubs with the usual club
atmosphere but they typically pale compared to the convention
floor in terms of quality time spent with the ladies.

Pictures!!!

Before I left for the show, I asked people what they wanted me to
focus my efforts on and almost universally they claimed to get
lots of pictures. In the past, I took a few hundred shots and
everyone seemed most appreciative so I tried my best to go all
out this time. I ended up taking close to 500
pictures, editing them down to cut out the worst of the lot
or the ones I’d need 2257 documentation to post (any sexual
conduct between two undressed adults has restrictive rules so I
get to keep those for myself). I tried to get as many of the
ladies as possible, directors, and even some eye candy for the
ladies out there. There were lots of thongs, a few flashes of
breasts, and a few notable celebrities on hand that were willing
to pose. Some of the gals flaked or couldn’t make it to the
show, others made it some of the time, and still others had
restrictive schedules at booths that weren’t set up to
handle crowds so I’ll admit that I didn’t get everyone
in attendance but the companies set it up that way so consider
this as complete a photo essay as a single guy could get while
still trying to find out what’s coming up in 2006. Not all
of the people are identified (for a variety of reasons) but many
of them will be selected in upcoming Spotlight Performer articles
in the weekly Blue
Room Column so keep an eye out to see who we talk about in
the coming weeks (and feel free to email me any corrections or
missing names for exclusive no-prize award recognition).

Wrap Up:

“The industry is evolving” said director Brandon Iron
as he whisked the lovely Gia Jordan away from me, “with the
big guys swallowing up the smaller ones at an increasingly rapid
pace. Competition is thick and it takes a lot of money to stay in
the game these days.” For him, porn is not about the fantasy
so much as a means to pay the bills since it truly is a business
first for those making the movies. With directors moving around
like witnesses in a protection program in the last few weeks, I
just hope they can keep the levels of quality high as they parade
the latest ladies entering the business to an adoring public
intent on fueling the fantasy behind the reality that is porn.
Porn may well be business as he suggested but it’s also BIG
business and that means the rewards are there for the ones who
successfully address consumer desires, wants and needs the best.
2006 is going to be another step forward in that regard given my
conversations with so many of the people that make the movies we
love to appreciate in private but in the immortal words of my new
best friend Robby D., “Enjoy Yourself and have fun!

- Don Houston.