Last weekend I participated in an event in Chicago known as IML, International Mr. Leather, a pageant of sorts for the leather community. It also happens to be the weekend that the Grabbys are held, an awards show for the gay adult film industry hosted by Gay Chicago Magazine.

For the first time I was honored to be one of the co-hosts this year along with Chi Chi LaRue, Honey West, Matthew Rush and the charming Kent North. Public speaking is not something that I do very often so I was very nervous for weeks right up until my first walk out on stage. I was lucky enough to have two very seasoned pros along side me guiding the stream of conversation at all times except for the two times that I was left to fend for myself with either Kent or Matt.

Upon arrival I found out that I was up for two and a half awards, Best Supporting Actor for Delinquents, Best Duo with Benjamin Bradley for our scene in Delinquents and Best Cock. I did not win any awards, but Doug Jeffries, the director of Delinquents walked away with three!

All things considered, I think I did pretty well as a host. As soon as we were introduced and brought out to the crowd we were left on stage for a bit to mingle together in front of the audience. There were three of us and only two microphones – both of which were been given to Matt and Kent by Honey and Chi Chi. I naturally assumed that because there were only two mikes that perhaps I had read something wrong and was not supposed to be up there, so I left. I began to walk off and I heard Matt say to Kent “Why did he leave?” so I returned to the front of the stage knowing that there had been some sort of error and pretended to speak into an imaginary microphone. The audience got the joke and I was relieved, but still without a microphone. This made the dialog between us somewhat difficult, luckily that was the only time that the three of us were on stage sharing the microphone.

As you may have guessed, I decided to make a shirt specifically for the event. Due to time restraints and plain old procrastination I had to put the finishing touches on the shirt at the hotel. Tyler Riggz called from upstairs when I was in the middle of studding my shirt with my Bedazzler. He asked me what I was doing and when he found out I had my Bedazzler he about creamed his pants. He makes jokes constantly about my tye-dyed wardrobe and things I make with my Bedazzler so to actually see the infamous machine was a treat. He asked me if there were more rhinestones and when I told him that there were 500, he was at my door dressed in a smile from ear to ear. This is what porn stars really do during their off time at gigs.

Last week I had two scenes, two sets of stills and a photo shoot with Greg Thompson for a French magazine. PREF is an oversize, high gloss, fashion-esque magazine that I was very excited to be a part of. It was going to be a long couple of days in front of the camera doing everything from the gritty to the gorgeous.

My first scene was with Tyler Saint, a blond, blue-eyed newbie from LA and good ol’ Tyler Riggz at a resort here in Palm Springs. As I walked through the gate to the set I noticed that we were not alone. There were guests sprawled all around looking like they were waiting for the fireworks display at a fourth of July picnic. I was not in the mood for an audience. I voiced my concern to Boss Lady who promptly told me that they would remain behind the scenes out of sight or pay the $100 to view the festivities, just kidding. I mean, about the cash, Chi Chi of course said that to me in her classic snap.

Being with Mr. Riggz again (our last romp awarded us with Best Sex Scene at the 2006 GAYVNs) was a very comforting experience; it was like being with your brother – kind of. The newbie Tyler was also cool, calm and collected. We breezed through that scene and were home in what I think was record time. I can’t tell anymore, all I know is that I didn’t have to tap my foot at all during the shoot and that is a good thing.

Getting home before sunset allowed me just enough time to grab a can of tuna from my cupboards before I had to meet Greg at the Century Resort for the first portion of our shoot. I raced over there eating my tuna in the truck; it was better to keep going than to stop and allow the foe of fatigue to find me.

Greg wanted to do something truly representative of PS. A mid-century resort of the appropriate architecture with a mountain backdrop was perfect. Unfortunately we lost our sun by this time and had to settle for the lobby. The good thing about that was it allowed us to work with Greg’s signature lighting talents. This man bought the rights to “Let there be Light.” When Greg began to rub his face in an unnerving wiping motion from head to chin in tiny fits, it was clear. We were done there. The owner was kind enough to give us a room to store our costumes and equipment, allowing us to crawl directly to bed.

Although fresh as cucumber water I remained a bit delirious, and still in full makeup from the night before, as I got into my Andrew Christian skivvies. I think the pictures came out pretty good; I did not stay to find out, I had a call time of 2 PM for a scene and still needed to scrape the bronze make up from my body and get to the gym for a pre-scene pump.

This scene was with our newest edition, Blake Riley from Texas. Adorable with big browns and an ass that makes you thank God and request a copy of the mold. Again it was a record time performance, 2.5 hours from make-up chair to shower. OK?

For every movie we are required to do a set of stills. Since I had two movies – I had two sets of stills. Greg and I have this down to a silent science. I was done in 2hrs; we were on a roll. There. I was finally done. I don’t think that I have ever done so much in the way of posing and performing in such a short period of time. Not only did I have to turn on the Johnny Jam twice, two days in a row, but I had to turn it around and be the high-class glossy fashion model in a matter of seconds. Moments after I came, when all I usually want to do is eat chocolate, I had to get in full bronze body make up and work it Linda style.

Tune in soon for tales of my weekend with Chi Chi in her hometown. Now I sleep.

For weeks I had been looking forward to visiting beautiful San Diego for an advertising shoot with Rufskin Denim. I have long admired their clothes and was very excited to be a part of the good work they do.

My good friend Mike let me stay with him. It was so nice to see him again. It had been just about a year since he was sharing my tiny space with me in Palm Springs. Now I was sharing his tiny space – it was so small that there was not even enough room for the internet. That’s not true, it was more about money than space, but I was without the web. After the initial shock I was happy to be relieved of it and the responsibility it carries.

The weather was sublime and my shoot/appearance was so much fun. I am so digging these Rufskin guys. Their style is comfort meets sexy meets Rockabilly cowboy from the city. Just my bag. The shoot took place in a backyard that sang with trees, shrubbery and wind chimes. Two cats meandered around the set taking notice of the commotion sometimes with lizards in their mouths. The supplies were simple: a man behind the camera who happened to be one of the owners, a camera on a tripod, a small reflector and the other partner in his business and his life. They were impressed with the ease and flow of my interaction with the camera and I was impressed with their effective styling and kick ass camera. The pix came out sooooo great. The first two are of me in some of my stuff. I know, I know. It’s coming, it’s coming.

Later that night it was time to turn it out at Bacchus House. These things are cool and fun. Mike showed up with Tyler Riggz with his bf Reed, the guys from Rufskin and some local friends made it a fun night of free drinks, laughing and me dancing in a shower on the dance floor. People remarked to me how fun I was and actually used the word “ham” to describe me. They also commented on how different the guy was on stage compared to what they had expected. I can never hear that enough.

In the end I realized that I like San Diego. I like it a lot!

Tyler and Reed

Lumberjack Mike

Hubert, co-owner and creator of Rufskin

In the tub

The GAYVNs this year belonged to Michael Lucas and Lucas Entertainment for “La Dolce Vita.” I have not seen the movie except for the trailers at the show, but after winning more awards than any other movie in GAYVN history, it is on my short list to watch.

I did not take home Best Sex Scene. I lost to Brad Patton and Brian Hansen for their performance in “Manly Heat: Quenched.” It only makes sense since the two seem to be very much in love (or at least very hot for each other) and that is the kind of energy one needs to create an award winning anything.

My personal highlights were of course the always entertaining Kathy Griffin and seeing François Sagat take the award back to France for Performer of the Year. Watching Kathy throughout the evening proved to me that her role was much more than to MC the show. She took a hold of that room by the shorthairs and never let go. Her impressive impromptu and witty, razor sharp humor only solidified my respect for her as an artist.

Probably the best part of the show happened while my buddy Tyler Riggs was presenting the award I was up for. The audience cheered him to take off his shirt. He took it partly off and explained that he didn’t want to take off the cufflinks. Of course, Tyler LOVES an audience and soon submitted. He then realized that he was stuck; he could not pull his wrists through with the cuffs secured. Kathy saw the opportunity and jumped out on the stage in a sort of cougar-like crouch. She then approached Tyler and got down on her knees in front of him, giving him the diversion he needed to free himself. It was so impressive. That is why she is so good at what she does. She was worth every penny.

It was pissing down after the awards and as BW and I walked back to Kevin’s to dry off and change for the next event we commented on how great the evening was with Kathy. It could have been better and it could have been much worse. Losing the intermission was the best byproduct of the massive technical problems they had at the beginning.

I must say having BW around this weekend at all the parties was most helpful and enjoyable. His presence provided a guarantee of some fun with somebody amidst the crowd of new faces. I tend to become rather unsocial at events like this. BW also knows a lot of the same people I do and a lot of people I should. He likes to “steer” me in the right direction.

The after party was thrown by Naked Sword at a venue aptly called “The Porn Palace.” I got to see some good people and was able to meet some of our distributors and make some friends and allies in the world of Internet Porn. It was a good party, but we slipped out once the Tequila started to overflow from the plastic shot glasses held by the drunken hoard.

We met up with Kevin and some of his friends at my favorite bar Moby’s. What a dramatic shift! With that group we could relax and enjoy ourselves. The hours flew by and before we knew it we were gobbling down delicious pizza and laughing our asses off. It was a fucking great weekend.

It’s that time again. No not tax time, you do not need me to remind you of that, it’s GAYVN award season. Usually the GAYVNs are held in West Hollywood at Rage Nightclub. This year it will be held at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco with all the fanfare it deserves. HELL YEAH! Not only will it be in my most favorite west coast city, but Boy Wonder will be there and we are lucky enough to have the fabulous Kathy Griffin as our award hostess.

This may be a bit of a drag for some of the West Hollywood set since the ceremony draws in some of the hottest Porn Stars from all over the globe. To fill that void, enter the first annual WeHo XXX Awards; a viewer’s choice type of awards show. The votes were cast by fans online and the awards were given out last Wednesday at Micky’s, another popular watering hole in the hood.

Although I went home emptied handed, I had an absolute blast seeing friends old and new and drinking Sapphire tonics. Yummy!

I have no idea who this was but I loved her make-up.

I absolutely love seeing Tyler… I should know by now to bring a step stool when taking pictures with him.

The man who is responsible for all of my worldly travels and the one behind Club Channel 1, Rob Reimer who is looking better and better… YOU GO RIMMA!!!!

You will be seeing much more of this scruffy sucker, Adam Faust, check him out on AdamFaust.com. He is designing my next tattoo.

The beefy, ever hot Jake Deckard.

You have seen these two misfits before. These are two of my best and oldest friends Mike and Mitch. They were kind enough to show up and hang out with me to buffer the madness.