February, 2013 | Mr. Pink's Blog

The OC: A New Porn Mecca

The San Fernando Valley might be known throughout the world as the home of hardcore porn, but it seems a new challenger has appeared – and it’s only a short jump across LA County. Orange County, home to the Crystal Cathedral, UC Irvine’s huge student population, Disneyland, Gwen Stefani, and that TV show everyone would like to forget, is also the birthplace of many of adult entertainment’s most highly lauded performers: Jenna Haze, Tasha Reign, and Eva Angelina, to name a few.

In its current issue, the annual Sex Issue, OC Weekly has ranked the 20 most accomplished Orange County-based “entreporneurs” from yesterday and today, and editors even allowed the former Laguna Beach star Tasha Reign to grace the publication’s cover.

From Huntington Beach harlots Eva Angelina, Candy Apples, and Jenna Jameson to well-equipped OC residents Peter North, Billy Glide, and Michael Brandon to the most infamous crossover pornstar of the last ten years, Nadya “Octomom” Suleman, it seems Orange County isn’t as conservative and God-fearing as many of its residents would like to pretend it is.

The annual Sex Issue of OC Weekly is freely available throughout Orange County now and ‘America’s Porn Paradise’ can now be read (and ogled) in full online. Still, nothing beats a free bathroom poster of the OC porn industry’s proudest offpsring, writer/director/producer/performer/TV star/Penthouse Pet/UCLA student, Tasha Reign, right?

The Funding of Vanessa Del Rio

Back in June of 2012, Mr. Pink’s reported that Radley Metzger’s 1975 landmark adult masterpiece, The Opening of Misty Beethoven was seeking crowd funding for a Blu-Ray release through Kickstarter. After raising almost the entirety of its $10,000 goal, Kickstarter suspended the project and left 435 Productions seeking an alternative crowd-funding avenue. Cut to February 2013 and reviews are starting to appear praising the completed Blu-Ray, with Twitch calling it “a remarkable release” and the film “an incredible document of a time when the future of cinema was still being formed”.

Now, another legendary (naked) woman of the screen might finally be getting her due… if the donations keep coming in, that is. With a projected budget of $300,000 and less than $10,000 raised so far, a proposed biographical feature film based on the life and work of Vanessa Del Rio hopes to depict and define a central figure of porn’s Golden Age, a woman who bridged the porn world and the mainstream entertainment industry with later TV roles (NYPD Blue, for one) and earned herself a spot in AVN’s illustrious Hall of Fame.

Using crowd-funding website IndieGoGo, director Thomas Mignone, the man responsible for 2007 feature On the Doll and music videos for Morbid Angel, Mudvayne, Soulfly, Slipknot, System of a Down, and Sepultura, hopes to raise the funds required to bring his take on Del Rio’s life to the big (or at least small) screen soon. With rewards ranging from digital downloads and DVD/Blu-Ray copies of the finished film to a visit to the film set and an associate producer credit – the latter what David Mamet calls “what you give to your secretary instead of a raise” – all donations tie contributors to the film and perhaps even to an indelible part of pornographic history.

In Celebration of J. Stephen Hicks

Last week we brought you news of the unfortunate passing of a true original of erotica, J. Stephen Hicks, founder and chief photographer of Digital Desire. After outpourings of love from Hicks’ colleagues and competitors, details of a celebration of the man’s life and work have been released. At Sunset Restaurant near Hicks’ home in Malibu, friends and loved ones of the departed will gather to share in his memory.

In tribute to her late husband, Hicks’ wife Lani vows to keep Digital Desire in operation and trusts Mark Lit and Charles Lightfoot, two proteges of Hicks, to carry on his incomparable work. In praising Hicks’ work and character, his chief competitor and fellow erotic artist, Holly Randall, detailed their occasional clashes over model bookings, magazine spreads, and customers, and noted that she “secretly cursed his talent”. In a surprisingly warm tribute to her main professional rival, Randall calls Hicks “a master at harnessing natural light… and of his craft.”

Hicks’ family released an obituary (excerpted below) which can be read in full at AVN.

Stephen had a restless soul and an ever-growing curiosity about the world. From Bhutan to Africa, South America to Asia, Europe to Mexico, he sought new cultures, new experiences, new canvases for his unequaled nature photography. His passing has left an immeasurable void in those who loved him. But all our lives are richer and more complete for having been touched by his life and love.

Friends and loved ones will gather at Sunset Restaurant in Malibu, California at 4pm on Saturday February 23 to celebrate the life of J. Stephen Hicks. Donations can be made in Hicks’ honor, and in lieu of flowers, to The John Wayne Cancer Foundation, Heal the Bay, and the Surfrider Foundation.

Host a Pornstar in Your Man-Cave

While I don’t have enough excess room in my abode to create my own personal man-cave, I’m sure plenty of you reading this not only have the room, but have the inclination, the wherewithal, and the desire to carve yourself a homey little hovel filled with trinkets and memorabilia, perhaps a pool table, a few lava lamps, and a makeshift bar with ample liquor in constant stock. Go ahead, bro, knock yourself out with the most badass man-cave you can imagine, but it still won’t be complete without one very special item: a fucking pornstar wall decal!

The company, AdultDecalz (the “#1 selling adult decal”!), is now adorning men’s walls with saucy yet refined images of their favorite adult models and performers. AdultDecalz moves into exciting new territory, striking deals with three of porn’s most esteemed studios, Digital Playground, Naughty America, and Evil Angel, with others reportedly to come. Fancy gussying up your den, pool room, or other such hideout with the likes of Madison Ivy, Jessie Jane, Kayden Kross, Selena Rose, Lisa Ann, Esperanza Gomez, and Asa Akira? Well, short of kidnapping the real thing and imprisoning your chosen starlet in some kind of wall-mounted bondage rack*, this is as close as you’re gonna get. Imagine lining up a YouTube-inspired, heavily rehearsed trick shot and challenging your buddy with the same – there’s no way he’ll be able to compete with Kayden Kross’s ass staring him down. You pot everything else, then the black, and win. He goes home. You stare at your killer pornstar decal in privatorum, you dig?

*Mr. Pink’s cannot and does not condone or encourage this course of action, no matter how appealing it may seem on paper.