The Pet Projects And Passions Of Pornstars

Though it hurts us to say it, porn isn't everything. Sometimes pornstars need a break from the endless routine of fucking, getting paid, and getting awards for fucking for cash! When they get weary of that world, they do some soul-searching, and they come up with awesome side projects like these.

Pornstars have been showing up more and more often in mainstream movies—just as Andy San Dimas recently did in "Drive"—and though we're always stoked for pornstars who are working on their acting chops, today we're giving props to a handful of folk who have pursuits outside the normal skill set of the adult entertainer.

Music
There are many pornstars who will hop behind the turntables and get things spinning at a club, and some—like Niki Belucci, a nominee for AVN's 2005 Female Foreign Performer of the Year—who turn it into a post-porn career.

However, we really have a soft spot for pornstars who put together musical personae, cut a record, go on tour, and do all those other struggling artists things. Danny Wylde and Chad Alva are in this category, and they have a group called Children (way to veer off from your day job as much as possible, guys!). They even have a music video for their song, "Other People" and while the visuals aren't very fresh, the jams are like nothing we've ever heard. OK, they're slightly New Wave with a healthy dose of screamo, but it grabs us emotionally and that's what counts! Children has officially replaced Pajamaband—the Jayme Langford/Jana Jordan group that seems to have disappeared as of 2010—as the porn band to watch.

· Children (soundcloud.com)
· See the video for "Other People" at Vimeo (vimeo.com)

Booze
Savanna Samson got interested in wine when she was a little girl, and she would help her parents make it in the cellar of their home. "I don't claim to be an expert," she writes, "but I started to dream of one day having my own wine." While on vacation in Tuscany in 2005, she decided that she wanted to leave her mark on the world with winemaking, so she teamed up with Roberto Cipresso and came out with a 70% Cesanese, 20% Sangiovese and 10% Montepulciano blend named Sogno Uno. The wine received high praise from critics and lots of attention from the press ("Saturday Night Live" even joked about it). At the moment, Savanna has three more wines on the market and plans for sparkling additions to her catalog. Oh, and she also has a recording contract with E1 Music, a radio show, a sex advice column, and she's a trained ballerina. And she's an AVN Hall of Famer. So there.

But hey, she's not the only pornstar who's getting into the luxury alcohol game. Everybody's favorite little blonde thing, Jesse Jane, recently came out with Diosa Tequila, a line of blue agave silver tequilas flavored with apple, mango, almond, and whatever "cafe caramel" is. Jesse—who uses her real name, Cindy Taylor, for all Diosa business—says that she loves going out drinking with her friends, but they find most tequilas too strong. She notes, "I thought 'vodka has a lot of different flavors' so I wanted to make a tequila that's sweet." She's had an easy time getting her stuff promoted, too; adult industry people generally have relationships with club owners, and Jesse says she had many requests to hold Diosa parties around LA.

Oh, and we can't forget about Ron Jeremy's rum: Ron de Jeremy. He doesn't want to own his rum though, he just wants to pull a Sammy Hagar: get royalty checks and booze until someone purchases his brand.

· Savanna Samson Wine (savannasamsonwine.com)
· Diosa Tequila: An Orgy of Flavors (diosatequila.com)

Writing
Lots of adult performers write, but we usually only get to see their porn scripts. Tyler Knight (seen above as Tiger Woods in "Tyler's Wood"), however, does short stories, a monthly magazine column, and he recently completed his first novel! Oddly, Tyler got into writing after catching Tucker Max's attention on a MMA forum; Tucker created a thread for critiquing Tyler's writing, and his unique brand of "dirty realism" flourished. His first short story, "Happy Fucking Birthday," was published two years ago in Thieves Jargon magazine, and he's since had work appear in various online and published literary magazines.

His most famous work—discussed during his appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast show—is "Bukkake," a first-person account of working as a mope, waiting to come on a pornstar's face. So maybe some of Tyler's stuff is porn-centric, so what? He's taking his daily world and repackaging it with a grimy, gritty, and yet still sweetly honest voice that goes down smooth. Tyler is a huge fan of Charles Bukowski, and we bet Bukowski would feel the same about Tyler.

· Tyler Knight (tylerknight.com)