Now then. Last night I had the supreme pleasure of having dinner with my friend Nick, who is in from Toronto doing some work for City TV, interviewing fun and interesting people and engaging in entertaining drama. He took me out for dinner last night and we caught up for a few hours. And it got us talking about how we met. And really, it's all because of gay porn.
It's kind of funny how you meet people who introduce you to other people, and then you look back and go, "Man, how did that happen!?" So our trajectory went something like this: when I lived in Toronto, I both frequented and applied to work at Come As You Are. It's there that I met Cory Silverberg, who launched CAYA. Shortly after Cory denied my work application, I left and moved to San Francisco, then to L.A., and throughout the whole thing he and I stayed in touch. (And no, I'm no longer bitter that he didn't hire me! Not hiring me is probably the best thing he could've done.)
It was when I'd started working at AVN that Cory and I wound up chatting more frequently, as he was reading what I was writing on a monthly basis. Then one day I wrote an editorial about how women find their way to porn, sharing a story about how some women I knew loved watching gay porn because the dudes were hot. Cory read it and - working with Sex TV - contacted Nick, told him about it, and next thing I know Nick is in my cubicle with his cameraman Jim asking me questions about why women love to watch gay porn.
Naturally, Nick and I stayed in touch after that. And then in late 2004, he contacted me with an idea for a new short series they were doing for Sex TV. Would I let him and Jim follow me around while I prepped and left for the Adult Entertainment Expo in January 2005? It would wind up being an hour or half hour show, and it would be great PR for the company I worked for. The answer was yes, yes I would. And before I knew it, Nick and Jim were in my office taping me having conversations with my clients, running around like a madwoman, and swearing like a longshoreman.
My favorite moment from that shoot comes the day that I left for the show. Sharolyn was in town, as my boss had agreed to hire her as my assistant for the five-day expo. Jayme was in town as well, and both of them were going to drive out to Vegas with me. Nick was tagging along in the front seat with a little mini-cam to get some in-between footage. As was often my wont in those days, I drove like a bat out of hell. So when we all got in the car I warned the three of them that they had to be on cop watch, because I was going to speed.
And speed I did. I left Burbank and took the 134. By the time I hit Glendale I was going 110. I didn't even see the cop until it was way, way too late, in Pasadena. Knowing I was so busted, I pulled over and turned to my passengers, saying, "All of you, look really scared and freaked out." (I don't think that was a stretch, considering how fast I was going.)
The cop approached my window and asked if I knew how fast I was going. And I said, "Oh my god, officer, I'm so sorry, there was this guy as I was getting on the freeway and I guess he thought I cut him off, and he was honking and flashing his lights at me, and he was getting really aggressive and shaking his fists and rushing up at me, and I knew I was faster than him, so I just went."
And the cop said, "Okay, because I didn't see anyone..."
And I said, "I think I outran him, but I wanted to be sure."
(Trust me when I say I feel nauseous when I recall this. Horrible behavior on my part, seriously!)
So rather than impound my car, he wrote me up a ticket (worth $350!) and sent me on my way with a suggestion that if it ever happens again, I call the cops and let them deal with the vehicular maniac. I smiled, said thanks, and ran a red light getting back onto the freeway. And then I said, "God, this must be an omen. What else can go wrong this week?!?"
We all know how that turned out!
Meanwhile, I'd told Nick to turn off the camera when all this was going on. When Nick returned home to cut the piece, he called me up to let me know that while he turned the camera off, he didn't turn off the sound... and it recorded the whole thing. So naturally he added it to the final piece.
Classic.
The moral of the story? You never know who you're gonna meet if you watch gay porn!
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