Articles by Joe Zigfield
Porn to Rock: 2
In part one, we began our look at musicians in the adult entertainment industry with Jerry Anders, Ray Burke and Ross Horwitz. In this installment, we'll take a look at Derek Smout, Monica Mayhem and Kurt Lockwood.
Porn to Rock: 1
In the early 1950s, the raucous energy of African-American rhythm and blues proved irresistible to white teens. Disc jockey Alan Freed dubbed the colorblind genre "rock and roll," a term that had as much to do with libido as with the dancing inspired by its backbeat.
Graphic Poke
Adult industry, take heed! Be afraid of Neil Strauss. Very afraid! His best-seller, "The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists," has empowered legions of sex-starved men to seduce the women of their dreams. Say what you want about couples watching adult videos, but more guys having sex means fewer guys masturbating to porn.
Sunny's Outlook
How high is up? When you're a former Penthouse Pet of the Year, a contract girl with the world's leading adult studio and a budding Internet entrepreneur to boot, that might be the only yardstick to gauge your future success.
Renaissance Man
If you were at the Capital Bash adult webmaster party in Ottawa in late October, you likely weren't surprised to see Julius Kedvessy (aka JFK of Fubarwebmasters.com) snapping away with his Nikon D200.
The Gay Triad
Like the spires atop the Golden Gate Bridge, there are three San Francisco companies that sit at the very peak of one of the adult industry's most lucrative genres: gay films. Raging Stallion, Titan Media and Falcon Studios are widely regarded as America's leading producers of gay content.
Adult Magazines Go Digital
The company's core business might revolve around digital editions of coffee-table staples like Redbook and Reader's Digest, but digital newsstand Zinio Systems clearly sees potential in adult magazines.
Exotic Erotic Ball
The Exotic Erotic Ball and Expo made its official debut in New York City recently, marking founder Perry Mann's return to his roots in the Big Apple and a chance to bring an event to the East Coast that has become a yearly mainstay for San Francisco's sexually liberated.
SugarDVD
Mainstream movie rental service Netflix popularized the overall concept of online rentals, and firms such as SugarDVD, XRentDVD and WantedList have been quick to benefit from the growing demand for adult titles that Netflix (or Blockbuster.com, for that matter) won't touch.
HotMovies Fans the Flames
In just three years, HotMovies.com has become a dominant force in the adult video-on-demand space, and its current efforts to generate visibility in the mainstream press could be securing an even stronger position as the market for broadband and adult VOD continues to heat up.
Rick's Cabaret
Most 20-year-olds would be happy just going to a strip club. But Eric Langan was determined to own one. He knew he could do better than the managers at the club where his girlfriend danced at the time.
Diamonds In The Buff
In an industry that's constantly flooded with new faces, the right girl can galvanize the adult marketplace. XBiz asked five actresses who have begun creating waves within the industry to share their thoughts on what it's like to be an emerging starlet.
Bell Rebuilds Penthouse
At 37, Marc Bell is three years younger than the legendary magazine he runs, Penthouse. Yet few people achieve in a lifetime the kind of business successes that Bell has already rung up.
Book 'Em
If they ever come up with a cellphone chip that can be implanted in the skull and operated hands-free by the brain's electrical impulses, Derek Hay would be an ideal candidate to beta test it. As a talent agent, actor and director in the adult industry, he's a multitasking phenomenon who's in constant contact with the performers, producers and other players at the core of the business. In less than six years, the 41-year-old Englishman has made himself an indispensable synapse within adult's nervous system.
The Urge to Merge
If Coke and Pepsi can place their products in mainstream films, why can't an adult marketer? Wicked Pictures scored priceless exposure gratis when the makers of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" shot the protagonist enjoying himself in bed watching Stormy Daniels in Wicked's "Space Nuts." It's the latest sign that, despite the far right's wet dreams of an adult-industry Apocalypse, porn and pop culture's urge to merge is stronger than ever.