It looks like an atomic naked lady porn bomb exploded in here.
Walking through the front entrance of the Adult Entertainment Expo, my senses are assaulted by huge billboards of porn superstars in their sexiest poses, fans frantically snapping pictures and salivating over stars signing autographs and and the bumping techno music that fills The Sands conference hall. It is not my first time hitting the AEE floor and I’m jaded but one glance over at Jiz Lee’s wide eyes reminds me of just how overwhelmed I was by this spectacle last year. It’s fairly outrageous and pretty amazing.
Each booth is set up along rows leading to the back of the hall and to even all them “booths” is a stretch; the mega production companies like Wicked and Adam and Eve have set up virtual condo-sized monuments to the work they produced the last year and the contract stars that they have signing in front. Fans wander up and down the aisles, looking for their favorite stars and periodically stopping sexy girls to ask for their autographs. It’s hard to know just who’s “famous” because there are so many beautiful women, most wearing very little clothing and looking very porn chic. There are too many pairs of furry boots to count and many, many g-strings.
I’m on a particular prowl today. As I’m what the industry refers to as “talent”, I am here to meet and greet. I stop by the Hustler booth to check out the media from the Lindsay Lohan spoof I shot for them and meet producers who are working on new films. In addition to meeting fans and supporting the first year AEE efforts of Good Releasing, this is how I spend a portion of my time- shaking hands, filling out modeling forms, answering questions and showing a lot of teeth and leg in the quest to make more films this year. I also get a chance to get ridiculous with Jiz and the flip camera as we decide that I should take a ride on a giant bucking penis being operated in the middle of the AEE floor.
I throughly enjoy the ride, though I was hoping for a little bit more bucking and less awkward back and forth and spinning around. I try my best cowgirl arm whoop but still feel a little silly…that is until Sasha Grey walks up and decides to ride it too. A little starstruck, I watch as she does her best cowgirl and we share a grin at what seems to be the general silliness of the act.
If seeing Sasha Grey is exciting for me, it’s a huge moment for Jiz, who begins to shake. Courtney Trouble and I decide that Sasha has to know of Jiz’s serious appreciation for her and talk to the camera crew Sasha is traveling with who ask Jiz to do an interview with Sasha. Hoping Jiz won’t pass out, Courtney and I watch happily as they chat and seem to share a mutual love of one another’s work.
These are the beautiful moments of the AEE. It’s like porn Disneyland and Jiz Lee got to meet Cinderella. As for me, well I got to meet my porn hero a few minutes later when we wander by the Evil Angel booth and Belladonna comes down to give me a hug. Again meeting my porn heroes! Now it’s my turn to shake a little and then we all wander away with what can only be described as shit-eating grins on our faces.
Our last stop for the day an thankfully where we get to rest our tired feet is the Good Releasing booth in the Business to Business section of the AEE. Last year the B to B- as it’s called, was held downstairs so there wasn’t much connection between the fan area and the business section. This year, they housed it all in the main room and it was a choice that vastly improved the show. The B to B is comprised of businesses that are in the sex industry. Toy retailers, video distributors, sexual body products, you name it, it’s probably in this section. There are pussy-shaped, cheery-scented car air fresheners and fat-burning drinks that promise to give you “insane libido.” It is in this section that Good Vibrations/Good Releasing has their booth for distribution of the movies they have produced, and it’s a pretty impressive section; 24 movies in the past 8 months. That’s some pretty serious production.
This is the epicenter for queer porn right now, queer porn’s Wicked of Vivid and everyone at the booth is in high spirits. As we sit around jawing about new releases and AEE fashions, the happy energy is palpable, everyone is just so excited to be here and be making movies that we love and feel proud of. Jiz and I do some interviews, walking people through the wall of movies and we take time to down water (it’s so dry in Vegas!) and find a sandwich. I manage to find one of my favorite things in the world- bacon bits!- and am very contented.
As the day winds to a close and they start to shut the lights off on us, in the ubiquitous “get the hell out” gesture, we decide to head back to the hotel to attempt a disco nap before tonight’s festivities! Awards! Parties! Hope is in the air, the thought that one of us might win, that this year is our year and that it’s nearing our chance to represent. So many porn dreams have come true in the last two days, it feels like anything can happen…
-Dylan Ryan
Dylan Ryan is the femme fatale of your dreams. Dealing in high heels and high IQs, this brainy beauty gets you hot and bothered as soon as she hits the screen, then grabs the reigns as a social work student fighting for sex workers’ rights. How freakin’ sexy is that?! Part of the San Francisco porn posse, Dylan makes some of the most exciting and engaging queer porn out there!
