GayVN Awards

May 8-9

I am writing this on yet another plane, this time coming home from LA where I attended the GayVN Awards.

Unlike the lavish award shows of the past few years, this year it was a scaled down affair for about 75 industry insiders. And when I say "insiders", it was so exclusive you couldn't get in without an invite no matter who you bribed or blew. Only nominees and judges were invited - no agents, handlers, significant others, personal shoppers, therapists, nor sugar daddies were allowed.

I arrived in my powder blue polyester John Travolta suit and vintage Hawaiian shirt ready for some major schmoozing. Ran into Matt Sizemore on the sidewalk on his way to Cocktails With the Stars at Mickeys. The GayVN's were just a few doors down at Rage. Too bad there was a time conflict, I would love to have attended both.

I'm going to try to recall as many names as possible, even ones I didn't speak to, but believe it or not, I spoke to almost everyone because it was really an intimate affair with a manageable number of people.

Our host, Jeremy Spencer (the gay/bi editor at AVN) gave me a big hug as I entered. His boss, AVN owner Paul Fishbein was there watching over things.

My old friend from years ago, Terry Mahaffy came in right behind me. He's now the acting-President of Falcon Studios, and still looking pretty fine.

Next I said hi to my SF homeboys from Raging Stallion - Chris Ward, J.D. Slater, Micheal Soldier, and Michael Brandon.

Got a hug from Chi Chi LaRue. She still greets me everytime with, "You old tired thing, you." (I don't think she remembers my name...)

Said hi to Paul Baressi and thanked him for the interview last week. Later on in the evening he tried to convince me that I should line up 8 bear-ish looking guys and a location in the Bay Area for him to shoot a movie. Sorry Paul, if I wanted to go through that much work, I'd shoot it myself. I just wanted to get next to someone who's had sex with John Travolta, and probably did it while wearing my blue suit 25 years ago.

Billy Masters ran up and gave me a big hug, gushing about how much he enjoyed my story about his brunch last Sunday in Palm Springs. He's a good person to know, I wanna keep in touch with him.

I was thrilled to see Drew Warner, I feel like he's one of my closest pals in the industry. I admire his air of confidence and that deep sexy voice just melts me.

About this time I took a chance and walked up to a stranger that I thought I recognized. As I approached, it was clear that he recognized me, too. I asked him, "Are you from Oakland?" He immediately replied with an enthusiastic, "Golds Gym!"

The story goes, last month I received a copy of Blue Blake's video "Hard As Rock" whcih was coincidently shot by Drew Warner. The cover guy was Scott Gunz, Blue's latest hot bodybuilder discovery, who made a big sensation in the press when it came out.

I'd seen this guy at the gym a few times, but a few weeks ago I saw him again and noticed a resemblance to the guy in the video. I dismissed the thought that they were the same person because, "the guy in the video is so much taller". Scott got a big kick out of that. We had some laughs, and he ended up sitting next to me during dinner and the awards. A dream come true.

I had a nice chat with TLA Video, also saw Gino Colbert, Thor, Blake Harper, Colton Ford, Michael Lucas, Chad Hunt (Michael and Chad were just on Ricki Lake), Bret Wolfe, Rod Barry, and so many others!

I also realized there are industry insiders, and there are then there are Industry Insiders. After all that hoopla about "only judges and nominees" being allowed in, how did Morgan and Tim from Cybersocket and Karl from Bedfellow get in? Hmmm. They're my pals and super-sweet, I was really glad to see them. They're soon the be the new powerbrokers in this industry.

Earlier that day I read Mickey Skee's scathing article in one of the local rags complaining about choices for the Hall of Fame. I won't repeat it for fear of fanning the fire further. (Got alliteration?)

For the awards presentation I sat right up front between Drew Warner and Scott Gunz (my bodyguards). Chi Chi bagan her hosting duties walking through the crowd acknowledging each director or studio head and reminding us what a wonderful industry we have and how we should all work together in solidarity. And why not? They've all slept with each other already.

The award presentation zipped by at lightning speed. At the last minute I pulled out a pen to take notes on a napkin, and Drew decided to do the same so he could give the info to J.C. Adams for his column in Inside Porn. They were calling names and categories faster than I could write, but it was even more difficult cause Drew was sharing my pen. Thank god he was there to repeat things for me.

I had one more peak experience after the show which, by itself, would have made the trip worthwhile. Super-agent David Forest probably wouldn't have been able to attend this scaled down affair (there would have been hell to pay), but luckily he was nominated for Best Non-Sex Performance in "Brad's Buddies" (based on his life story). After the show, he was standing with none other than Mark Dalton. Ohmygod, I've turned into a swooning schoolgirl! Mark Dalton!

He was standing there in a cut-off black tshirt, showing his fabulous abs, and the shirt said, "Fuck me. I'm famous." Rarely does anyone wearing those kind of slogans actually pull it off. He did. I would. We know.