Blog Jinx : Queer Porn Mafia in Vegas for AEE/AVN

dylan ryan, me, jiz lee, april flores, carlos batts - avn red carpet 2010

This is a “Blog Jinx” with jiz lee – meaning we agreed to write and post about the same subject simutaneously. i think she did a better job than i did.

holding hands with jiz lee and dylan ryan on the aee floor, pushing our way through the pervs to meet up with casting contacts, friends, businesses, and stars, it struck me: no longer shouting from the top of our lungs to be heard, we are now speaking slightly above average volume about the visibility of queer people in porn. and everybody is listening.

all of us nominated for the 2010 avn awards, a historical event. we were a gang of graduated misfits. no longer sneaking dvd-r’s of undistributed, unwatched works into the purse of fleshbot. no longer struggling for recognition, lost in an army of agents, disbelievers, and bobbleheads. instead we are being noticed, discussed, and celebrated.

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my trip started with up-and-coming porn and fetish star dia zerva picking me up from the airport. 2 hours and 2 vodka-sodas later, i was shooting my very first (non-trans) boy/girl scene with her and her real life man wordman, their six cats waiting in the wings for thier own kisses, scratches, and spanks.

it was an amazing experience, and i am so grateful to both of them for at once listening to my ideas of what a “hetero” scene should look like in this evolving world, and incorporating their own incredible chemistry and ideas into the scene. it ended up feeling like any of my other scenes, and i realised that shooting boy/girl doesn’t mean i’m not shooting queerly.

after the scene we quickly (well, not really) got ready for good releasing‘s aee welcome party. i was looking forward to hooking up with my hotel mates jiz and dylan, and jumping right in to my only goal for the weekend: make new friends, and squeeze the old. immediatly i ran right into april flores, whom i met at last year’s avn and immediatly fell into a deep, intulectual, creatively-driven friendship with. it was amazing to see her for the fifth time in a year and celebrate all that we had accomplished together thus far (notably nostalgia, roulette dirty south, and bordello).

while out in the hall sneaking cigarettes with alison from good for her (and manager of the feminist porn awards) i ran into my newest collaboration buddy eon mckai, another person i met at

last year’s avn that means a lot to me only one short year later. he was on an adventure with his friend bronques, who runs lastnightsparty.com, and for the first time in a very, very long time i was a little starstruck. you see, lastnightsparty is a project i’ve been following for years, a photography style that i really fucking admire – and here was the (very sexy) genius behind it taking my photo right off the bat. that was a big highlight of my weekend, along with meeting aiden starr too.

oh and here’s a really strange video i took in the elevator after the good releasing party.

AVN Vegas Weekend Unleashed – Eon McKai, Bronques, Last Nights Party, Dana DeArmond, Jiz Lee, Aiden Starr, Dylan Ryan, Courtney from Courtney Trouble on Vimeo.

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day two, we get down to business. dylan ryan, jiz lee, and i are all getting ready in our hotel room. here’s another video i took while getting ready for the aee floor.

Dylan Ryan, Jiz Lee, Courtney Trouble Porn Fashion Philosophies from Courtney Trouble on Vimeo.

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on the floor was pretty exciting. dylan ryan got lots of prospects for mainstream work, and it was interesting hearing her reasons to why or why not walk up to a certain producer. jiz lee was recognised by both fans and other porn stars, including sasha grey. belladonna pulled out of her signing line to give us all hugs. if the industry doesn’t know about or care about queer porn, the opposite is certainly true amoung the industry’s smartest, artsiest producers and performers.

the night got a little interesting. skipping all the early parties, we relaxed in our hotel room and took our time applying 5 pounds of fake lashes for our night on the town. we didn’t end up going to the big fake lashes party (hosted by eon mckai and bronques) but instead made a quick stop to satine’s “ultimate afterparty” fetish private party. hung out with wolf hudson and dia zerva, and ended up cuddled in a corner falling asleep.

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saturday was the day we were all waiting for – the red carpet seemed more exciting and lucrative to me than actually winning an award, and we really lived it up. i’m not sure if anybody’s ever whipped thier cock out on the red carpet, but jiz lee was certainly the first-ever female to do it!

in the end, nobody won any awards. champion by shine louise houston had clips showing at the beginning of the cerimony, but didn’t end up winning. good releasing, nominated for best new video production company, were all in attendance, but someone else took home the prize. sitting there the reality of the industry became apparent – stars i had never heard of hosted the show, won the awards, sat in the front row. evan stone and jessie jane clones were everywhere and seemed to be the biggest winners. aside from sasha grey, kimberly kane, and belladonna winning awards, it really wasn’t anything special or ground-breaking as far as actual winners go.

you know, some of us want to be famous in porn. some of us want to be famous, but in our own ways. many of us just want to do it for the fun, the freedom, the meaning behind each scene. one thing we can all atest to is the importance of queer visibility in the industry, and it’s been a struggle for quite some time. i feel like we have broke some serious ground, and maybe next year we will be up on that stage.

jiz lee and dylan ryan falling asleep

until next year…