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| by Roger T. Pipe |
January 1, 2001
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| Flying in a full two days before the start of the show didn't seem like a terrible idea. After all, that meant we could travel early Friday and have a full night of gambling before the weekend started.
There really isn't much to report since no one was in town yet. Mrs. Rog and I got into town at around 4:30 and decided to take in an early dinner. I've always wanted to try Ruth Crist's steak, so we headed over. The restaurant is a lot nicer than I was expecting, more five star atmosphere than a steak house. Lucky for us, Vegas is a casual city and we were early enough to get seated without reservations. I have to tell you, I was expecting quite a steak for the price they charge. Both Mrs. Rog and I ordered the ala carte steak and shared a helping of garlic mashed potatoes.
Even with my high expectations, the meal was exquisite. The meat was perfectly cooked and arrived at our table still sizzling in a heaping puddle of melted butter. (Yes, my arteries hate the Vegas days.) After dinner, we were both full, but figured that a hundred dollar dinner deserved a little bit of dessert. Cheesecake with berries was just the trick and topped off dinner perfectly. It cost a bit more than your average steak dinner, but it was worth every penny.
I had been scheduled to sit in on a porn round table that evening with company executives and other critics, but had left my contact numbers at home. Hoping they would remember where I was staying, I waited for a few hours. Once I realized that the round table was going to happen without me, I took Mrs. Rog over to the Venitian to do a little gambling. The casino was packed and I couldn't find any reasonable roulette tables, so I walked around while she played the slots.
Since most porners stay in the Venitian while at the show, I saw a few familiar faces walking around. Most surprising, I found Jef Hickey playing a nearby slot. After a year away from the business, he is back working at AVN and sporting a new, multi-colored haircut. After winning around eighty bucks, Mrs. Rog decided to turn in for the night. All in all, it was a relaxing, if uneventful first day.
Saturday
CES started today, but my only goal was to pick up my badge for the Adult Expo and avoid the lines on Sunday. We got up and met two very dear friends, J & D for brunch at Treasure Island. It always amazes me just how much food I can eat at one of those things.
Once we finished eating, it was over the Sands Expo center to pick up our badges. Normally, when the adult section is part of CES, this is a quick and painless process for anyone pre-registered. Not the case this year. Once we found the location of the Adult Expo, I was told that only exhibitors could get in on this day and that I would have to show up in the morning to wait in line for my badge.
Big heaping strike two for the Expo. (Strike One came when I was denied any sort of press badges though I spoke to five different people and ended up having to pay the sixty bucks for both Mrs. Rog and myself.)
Realizing that we now had the rest of the day free, the four of us went down the strip to do a little gambling.
For some reason, I just had to check out the M&M Experience. Though I really dig those M&M characters, the place is bascially just a four story gift store with not much that you can't find in other places. We stuck around for a cool little Three-D movie and picked up a few new souvenirs to add to my growing M&M collection. (So it's weird, sue me.) Again, we couldn't find any reasonably priced roulette tables, so I had a good time watching other people throw twenty five bucks down on single numbers. Seven hundred dollar pay offs are cool, but a little out of my price range.
The only thing we had scheduled for Saturday night was a dinner with Serenity and Steve Lane of Las Vegas Novelties. We were joined by a number of other guests, including the former owner of the local hockey franchise, a program director for a Vegas radio station, porners Jacklyn Lick and Miles Long and AVN writer/web guy Tod Hunter.
For a second straight night, we ate an incredible meal. The restaurant is said to be the best seafood place in all of Vegas and it didn't disappoint. Mrs. Rog went with a blackened chick that was just incredible. I settled on the blackened ahai in sesame sauce that is easily the best fish dinner I've ever had. By the time we finished off a few drinks and dessert (This time a piece of Dutch Apple pie that was out of this world.) we were beat and ready to get a good night's sleep before the show.
Sunday
The Adult Expo finally begins. We made our way to the exhibiton hall to pick up our badges. Since AVN took over the Expo, things were a bit different this year. Instead of allowing everyone with a CES badge to enter the hall (Which is how it's been since I started going in the late eighties.) there were special badges that allowed one onto the floor.
Day passes were available for fans for fifteen bucks a day and those folks had to wait outside until one in the afternoon. Though I registered for Mrs. Rog and myself months ago, no badge came in the mail, so we waited in line for about twenty minutes to pick up my badge. They found mine no problem, but had no luck finding one for my wife.
It took another twenty minutes to find someone who would type one up for her. Since both had been charged to my credit card months ago, we were starting off on a bad note. We hit the floor and I was a bit surprised to see just how crowded it was even in the pre-fan hours.
The exhibition hall this year was much smaller than in years past, with aisles that were way to narrow to accommodate all the foot traffic. Making my way around the floor, I made initial contacts with a number of companies, hoping to set up interviews over the rest of the show. As always, most everyone was pleasant.
At the Extreme booth, I was re-introduced to Lizzy Borden who was still a little pissed because she thinks I called her 'ugly' (Which I never did) and 'chunky.' (Which I did three years ago when we both agreed, she was chunky.) Lizzy promised me an interview if I came back in the morning, so I had my first set appointment.
After about two hours on the floor, the fans started to make their way in.
It was close to one o'clock and the aisles became totally packed. Luckily, I had another appointment that took me off the floor. I met up with the team from adult vhs reviews and we headed out for lunch. At lunch, we poured over the final details on a partnership contract that we've been working on for several months.
By the time lunch was over, we had come to an agreement and inked the deal. From this point on, our sites will be partnered and acting as one on-line review group. It's a deal that will allow things to get even better for all the sites involved.
Not wanting to give up on the show for the day, I fought may back through the crowd to the Elegant Angel booth. I had exchanged emails with their PR rep Mitzi and finally got to meet her. As always, the Elegant Angel booth was quite busy, but I was able to set up at one of the tables for my first round of interviews. Against Patrick Collins' warnings, Daisy Chain sat down first.
She has a softer haircut now and was cooperative and enthusiastic as we talked about her rather tragic entrance into porn and what the future has in store for this thirty something veggie only performer.
Taylor St. Claire was next and gave me a great view as we talked.
Taylor was on the floor, kneeling next to her dog and giving me the perfect angle to look down her strapless top. Besides the great view, she had a lot to say and talked with me about the launching of her new web site. (By the way, enjoy the photos, but know that I enjoyed that view for nearly half an hour.)
In between interviews, I talked with Elegant director Robert Madison who was enjoying his many AVN award nominations, but was a bit distracted by this super cute little nineteen year old who is teetering on the edge of the porn pool.
Charlene Aspen was next and gave a great interview. Her personality comes through quite well and as energetic as she is on screen, she seems to do even better in front of a live audience. The final interview of the day came from Paige Saint Claire.
This babe is one to watch my friends. I've admired her work for a little while and after the interview, am even more impressed. Paige is the kind of babe who makes you want to find excuses to stick around even after the questions have all been asked.
Our friends J & D were heading home the next morning, so we joined them for a steak dinner over the Palace Station. While not quite a Ruth Crist's slab, the sixteen inch sirloin for $7.99 is a good tasting, great deal. After dinner, I attended a slightly re-vamped round table discussion with some people from the Anabolic/Diabolic team. Dirctor Mike John, Diabolic President Gregg Alan, Vic from Anything Online and Kurt, the man in charge of most of the editing, joined me in the Venitian Bar for a candid, no holds barred discussion of porn.
This business is so full of bull shit artists and people who don't care about the product or the fans that it always amazes me just how honest these guys are. I don't know if there is a director working who loves porn as much as John and even more refreshing, he's not so ego driven as to hold a few mediocre reviews against me.
We downed several rounds of drinks and probably had the people around us wondering what kind of people sit around and talk about gaping asshole shots, bukkake vs. swallowing vids and just how calloused a porn editors hands can become on the job.
Capping off the eventful Sunday, we hopped into my rented Dodge Intrepid and drove down to the Olympic Gardens. This was the designated place for the annual PST (Pornstar-Trading) IRC chat get together.
In years past, I have been unable to meet this great group of porn insiders and fans, so I was determined to make it this year. Though much of the group had already left. I did finally get to meet Video Ed and joined Jim Gunn and Diablo for a quick drink before returning home.
Monday
The first full day on the floor and at least the morning session was slightly less crowded. I went straight for the Extreme booth to get my Lizzy interview. True to her word, she was ready to go as soon as I got there. We went into a back room where she proceeded to let out everything she's been saving up for me for the past few years.
In all, Lizzy was a great interview. She had a lot to say and wasn't at all afraid to express her strong views. Once that interview was done, I waited around the Extreme booth to get interviews with male star Luciano and new contract director Alek Hydell. Looch was quite professional and Hydell let a few really bad reviews go. I tried to get Jessica Darlin to re-interview, but she hates the noise on the floor so we agreed to do it by phone or email some other time.
I made my way all the way to the other side of the floor to try and set up some interviews with the VCA and Vivid contract girls. Since their booths were so busy, we had to put it off until the next day, but I did get a chance to meet the VCA PR rep who I have been emailing for a while.
While I was at that end of the floor, I popped in for a quick hello with Tiffany Mynx and Van Damage. Her new movie, "Toe Story" is finally out and I picked up a screener copy. Now all of you who have emailed me about reviewing this movie will finally get to see just how good it is. Van also seemed to be having a lot of fun walking by Max Hardcore's booth and saying hello. That's one booth I didn't stop at.
If Max is going to ignore emails and pull me from screener lists, then what good can come of actually saying hello to the cowboy?
Right next to the Max booth was the Evil Angel display.
I had talked with Tricia Deveraux about an interview and was happy when she agreed to do it on the floor.
Though we didn't talk too much about her career as a performer, she was quite candid with her feelings on the HIV situation in porn, Marc Wallice and what the future holds. Included in the interview was news about her position as head of DVDs at Evil and the baby she has coming in about three months.
Now if I can just get John Stagliano and John Leslie ready for an interview, I'll be totally excited.
Making my around the floor, I ran into Mike South and we both decided that it was time to finally do the interview we've been talking about for three years.
As I expected, Mike had plenty to say about the business, his career and even gave a quick lesson in politics. I imagine we could have used up three full tapes if we both didn't have appointments to make.
Politics came up again later that day when Tom Byron pulled me into a conversation he was having with a couple of other guys about the recent election.
Obviously Tom reads my site, because he was quick to remind me that I did endorse and then vote for George W. Bush. Though that flies in face of the what just about everyone in the industry thinks, Tom was at least kind enough to let me voice a dissenting opinion. (I still say that the more money there is in the hands of the average porn fan, the better everyone will do.) Only time will tell if I was right on wrong on that one.
The interview I was most looking forward to at CES was with Lexington Steele. We had tried to set it up for two months, but our schedules just never seemed to work out back home. I found him at the Anabolic booth and they were kind enough to set me up in the corner for the interview. As I expected, Lex was more than a little baffled by his exclusion from the Best Male Performer category at the AVN awards.
He didn't pull any punches as we talked about porn politics, discovering his now famous talent and of course, the state of race relations in the adult industry. I think when you all read the interview you will be surprised by some of the things he says, but most of all, you should be as impressed as I was with this young porn super-stud.
He was also quite happy to thank the voters who picked him as the top male performer in the RogReviews awards.
Allowing me to stay in their booth, the guys at Anabolic also hooked me up with the final two interviews of the day.
First came Aurora Snow, who is so unbearably fresh looking, I almost couldn't believe she just finished a gang bang girl shoot. She was bright, sexy as hell and more than happy to pose for a few photos when we were done. Justine Romee was the final interview of the day and was I ever shocked at how great this one turned out.
With personality to spare, Justine seems to be in the perfect business to quench her sexual cravings. While it was a great interview overall, the highlight for me was that Justine was happy to mix in plenty of sexy talk in Spanish. So much so, that I had to excuse myself right afterwards to cool off.
Monday night was the big AVN Awards, so I went home, took Mrs. Rog to another steak dinner, (This time at the Outback, always a sure thing.) and made my way back to the Venetian for the event.
It's a little hard to believe that just five or six years ago, I would line up to photograph stars as they entered the building. Being on the other side of the velvet rope is a little strange to say the least. My new partners at Adult Vhs Reviews had a table reserved and this year, we could actually see the stage.
I'm doing a whole write up on the show, so we'll just sort of hit the highlights here. As before, there were horsd'oeuvres and a bar. Since I had already eaten, I headed straight for the bar for the first of many vodka tonics that would help me through the evening. Jenna Jameson hosted the awards and threw a few jabs at her former boss, Steve Ornstien.
Though Extreme boycotted the event, Paul Fishbein took a few slaps at Gene Ross during his speech. Extreme actually won a few awards, though I hear they plan to renounce every one of them. One company that didn't win a single award was Anabolic. Anyone else find that incredibly strange?
Evan Stone and Jewel De'Nyle walked away as the top performers and Tera Patrick shocked no one as the Best New Starlet.
The awards seemed shorter than last year and while I could take issue with just about every selection, I'm sure no one there really cares.
Tuesday
This year, the show was shortened from four to three days.
That meant that this was my final chance to get the rest of my interviews. As always, people were slow to make it in on the final day. Those who did, really didn't seem all that excited about talking. Chloe really wanted to do an interview, but had lost her voice and had to re-schedule. The Vivid Girls were just too busy, making it another year with no V interviews.
(Except for Lori Michaels who did one via email a few months ago.) Ditto with the VCA and Wicked Girls. There was just too much going on, so I'll have to try and get Stephanie Swift, Julie Meadows, Kylie Ireland and Alexa some other time.
The one interview I did get was with Tushy Girl McKayla Matthews. Though Tera beat her for Best New Starlet, McKayla was in a great mood and happy to re-interview. She was pretty excited by my announcement that she had won the RogReviews poll as Best Newbie and thanked all who voted for her. Unfortunately, Seymore was busy with some other interviews and escaped again.
That was the beginning and end of my interviews for this final day. Everyone was either too busy or in a bad mood, so I had to pack it in. Sean Michaels was quite kind and promised to hook up with an interview back in LA. Tiffany and Van were unavailable and also promised one at home.
Kristi Myst was scheduled for an interview, but was very ill and had to leave early. As you can see, the final day was just a nightmare, or so I thought.
Wednesday
Originally, the show was supposed to run Sunday through Wednesday, so Mrs. Rog and I were still in town all day. With nothing to do business wise, we spent the day gambling together and had a pretty great time.
Four sessions of bingo is probably more than any person under sixty should endure, but I managed. I even held back my desire to choke the winners in two consecutive sessions as I sat on a final number for the thousand dollar cover all. I finally did find my cheap roulette tables and managed to play for the entire day with minimal money lost.
After being on the go for three straight days, it was nice to just relax, though I am anxious to get home and get the web site updated with all the news.
Thursday
I thought Tuesday on the floor was a nightmare, but it's nothing compared to this travel day from hell.
I woke up quite sick with a cold and sore throat that had me just dying to get home and in bed for about forty eight hours. Add to that a serious rain storm and by far the coldest temperatures we've had on the whole trip and I couldn't wait to get the hell out of Vegas. Our first snag came at the rental car return.
I went with Dollar this year and already wasn't happy with the way the agreement had changed since I made my on line reservations. We arrived at the car return booth with a good twenty minutes to spare, but soon found out that wasn't nearly enough time. After waiting in line for twenty minutes just to return to the car, we made our way to the canopy to wait for the shuttle.
It was pouring rain and freezing outside. It took another twenty minutes for the shuttle to arrive, making us late and leaving us packed on a bus with some really angry, cold passengers. Finally, we arrived at the airport where we stood in line for another fifteen minutes for the sky cap to check us in. When we got to the counter, he informed us that our flight had been canceled.
I was still feeling just sick as a dog and was not thrilled to hear that the next flight available was more than four hours later. With our rental car turned in and not other choice, Mrs. Rog and I spent four miserable hours in the terminal as I got sicker and sicker. Though I still hate the drive over from home to Vegas, this may well have soured me on flying home from now on. If I wanted to be home at seven o'clock, I wouldn't have booked an early flight.
With this journal now at its end, there are a few notes I wanted to add. Some things just didn't fit with the daily reports, so here they are.
I don't think I could have been more impressed with the Jill Kelly booth. Their small collection of movies look quite good and it's clear that this is a company looking to be a major player. Though I didn't talk to Jill, I did get to see Haven. It's hard to believe that just two years ago, this incredible creature was buying Janine movies from me and asking if she could do some porn videos.
Since I was in total non-confrontation mode, I didn't stop by to say hello to Max Hardcore, Bridgette Kerkove, Houston or Kid Vegas. I also didn't run the risk of having my head chewed off by Asia Carrera again.
On that note, I did stop by and see Michael Raven at the Sin City booth. Raven collected a number of AVN awards for his work and for the company. He was more than polite and proved that porn directors can take criticism without getting all pissy. I did meet his wife, Sydney Steele, but I don't think it clicked to her just who I was. She was running late for a signing, so our encounter was brief.
I finally got to meet Jules Jordan and tell him just how good I think his stuff for Rosebud is. He's very down to earth and should have a bright future in this business. Of course, he did give me the sad news that Leanni Lei may have shot her last scenes.
I have to apologize to Jeanna Jameson. We were supposed to do an interview at CES, but when I approached someone at the Digital Sin booth, I was informed that she didn't have any time for interviews. I should have made my way to the front of the line, but I just bailed.
Cherry Mirage was less than thrilled with things at the Wildlife booth. There may be a chance that my current number one porn girl may be shopping her services around to other companies.
Big thanks to the people who were so good to me this year. At the risk of forgetting someone, let me list them here. Anabolic, Diabolic, Extreme, Seymore Butts, Elegant Angel and Sin City, Serenity, Lexington Steele, Vic, Michael Raven, Tom Byron, Tricia Deveraux, April from Seymore Butts, Lysa from Astral, Jules, Sean Michaels, Mitzi from Elegant and Haven. There are a lot more, but you know who you are and most of you hate it when I mention you by name.
Un-intentional Interview Diss'es- Kristi Myst (Sick) Alexandria Quinn (Sick), Kiki D'Aire (Left Early?), Jessica Darlin (Prefers e-mail), Haven (Just Too Popular), The Vivid Girls (Too Busy), Chloe (No Voice).
Other Diss'es- Alisha Klass.
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