Our dear friend, The Frog, was very gracious to take time out of his schedule to translate the article that appeared in this month’s “sex” issue of PREF magazine in France. In case you find yourself asking, “Is this a direct translation?” I have been assured that it is and I know that it must have been a challenge for The Frog to avoid editing. Enjoy and I sweetly anticipate your comments!

by Clarisse Mérigeot

From screen to song, the smooth bad boy goes “deeper into you”.

Is pornography an art? No doubt Catherine Breillat, whom in our last issue did we interview, would have her word to say. I can see from her pockets her hands flying, wind in her hair, and waving, waving… [Frog’s note: please don’t blame the translation. This is exactly how she wrote it and yes, it reads just as bizarre in French. As for those wondering, Catherine Breillat is the french director of “intellectual cinematographic reflections on sex” like ‘Anatomie de l’Enfer’ whom I defy anyone to sit through without throwing something at the screen, but that’s just me. BTW, the views and opinions expressed inside those brackets are mine only and not meant to represent the views and opinions of Hazzardahead.com, its webmaster, main subject or anyone affiliated with the oh-so-hot company - Frog]

Doing a profile on X-rated actor Johnny Hazzard is a bit like a game one soon gets a taste for. Since this is our “sex” issue, how could we not invite him? Should I expect endless fights to keep his phone number private? “The secret you keep is your slave, the one you reveal becomes your master” my mother taught me when I was a child.

“What do you think of our magazine, do you know it? What reputation does it have in the States?” “You know, I’m not really a big consumer of cultural goods: I don’t even own a TV!” “But PREF has the greatest reputation in American photography circles.”

In the U.S. version of Queer As Folk, Emmett who becomes a star of virtual masturbation, picks “Fetch Dixon” as a pseudonym. Gay pornography has its own codes: top, bottom… To each practice its superstitions, to each practice its lucky charms. I would have liked to share them with you here, but will Johnny Hazzard be up to it? The nickname comes from Chi Chi La Rue, a close and famous friend. “Hazzard, luck, bad luck… [He] has a list of things [he’d like] to do in his life and by joining the pornographic cause, [he] could mentally check one of them.” X-rated cinema is about mixing pleasure with business: why not have fun making a dollar or two?” “[He was] bound for the entertainment industry, anyway.”

“You know, this is the best interview I’ve ever had so far. To provide you with intelligent answers will take some time: I wish so much to give each of your questions the answer it deserves. You really used you head here… I can tell and I appreciate it.” Used my head, right… How to approach Johnny Hazzard? What to say and, on second thought, not do to him? “Being gay has no impact on my life. I consider homosexuality a minor part of my character. I never was a militant and, frankly, whenever I do charity it’s mostly on behalf of animal protection.”

Johnny Hazzard is of average height but Johnny Hazzard is of more than average beauty… His penis is as big as it looks, he’s “happy to confirm”; and he truly is American, not French, by Jove! You thought so when you first got in touch with him but where on earth did you get the idea? One should never believe a media lie: one should never believe the Internet.

The great thing about porn – aside from stirring up libidinous urges – is that men use it as a ruler for penisian holster. [I’m aware there is no such word as “penisian” in the English language, but then there is no such word as the original text’s “penien” in French either except maybe in Catherine Breillat’s diary - Frog.] When you analyze gay cinema, the upside of it is that women have nothing to do with it. Women, they piss us off with their demands and clamors. Far from questions of gender representation and its new and regular demands, [French feminist group] les Chiennes de Garde (”Watch Bitches”) shut up. “I get always asked the same questions and I’m really tired of that. I wish I could have a ready-made set of answers. I wish I could lie sometimes.” “Luckily, sometimes I get solicitations from a publication in your league!”

“J’attends l’amour” : “I’m waiting for love,” etc. As for his most beautiful and most painful love stories, Hazzard takes a chance at telling us the platitude of his life. “Porn stars tend to love other porn stars. Personally I believe that any relationship involving my job will never stand a chance to work out. I love anyone who is neither titillated nor intimidated, that’s my secret. As for those who say there’s nothing in the world like making love to a porn star, they must have a celebrity obsession bordering on the unhealthy! For when it comes to sex, a truck driver that you meet at a bus stop will stand a better chance to make you come your brains off.”

“To say that only men are into porn is total nonsense: I get many letters from lesbians and my blog overflows with straight women who are avid followers of my career. The X-rated entertainment industry is not that far from the mainstream one, after all: sex in itself isn’t enough to arouse you; you need scenery, atmosphere…” One will be hard pressed not to fall in the usual cliché of questions like “Why did you decide to become a porn star?” or “What childhood trauma is at the core of your lifestyle choice?” For it’s hard to imagine getting rammed through all orifices for the mere pleasure of earning money .

“To men, I’m like a challenge. It goes with the job.”

“Let me tell you something: you must learn to top before even pretending to be a good bottom.” “My sexuality off screen is the same than on screen… There’s nothing a muscled hairy-chested male with salt-and-pepper hair couldn’t make me try at least once. Not one position.” “I get hit on a lot, that’s part of the game: men, I’m like a challenge to each one of them. Trouble is most of them are not even aware how heavy-handed they can act sometimes. I try to deal with it by reminding myself it comes with the territory!”

Few are the actors who will take their mum on a set. Johnny Hazzard is one of them; he has luck and he has support… “My childhood made me who I am today: an eccentric and colored man. I’d probably still be waiting tables at my French bar in Boston, L’Aquitaine, if I hadn’t been discovered.” In any case, “protect yourself, at any cost.”: “I don’t need to see friends dropping like flies to think about protection.”

With time, the more lucrative activities are not enough for satisfaction. “Some time ago, my webmaster posted on You Tube a video of me dancing to a Sherrie Lea [sic] track penned by James Collin. James saw it and immediately offered me to sing one of his compositions!” After all it worked for [ex-pornstar and now singer] Clara Morgane, thanks to her new notoriety courtesy of priceless [talk show host] Cauet. Porn stars aren’t more stupid than others, they’re just worse at certain things they were not destined for… For in all honesty, the aforesaid track won’t make the most played songs of the Millennium. “Deeper Into You, [in French] “plus profond dans toi“, betrays here a less-than-evident and more-than-inappropriate subtlety [I don’t get it in French either so don’t ask - Fr.] and when you think about it, Clara Morgane may not have any voice but at least enough good sense to get proper advice. Too busy jumping everything that moves, and faced with such a novel opportunity, Hazzard may have lacked the necessary restraint. […but at least has enough good sense to get lyrics that don’t start with “O baby I’m sexee girl/O baby I’m nastee girl” or end with “Hin, hin what you wanna?” - Fr.] “People are usually surprised to see that I’m only a five foot six. I’m not the one they think I am.” Since Johnny Hazzard has opened up to us the gates of the kingdom that is his intimacy, let’s leave him a chance to express himself: why linger on the one stumble in his journey? He’s handsome, he delivers, he’s hot and he gives to animals: let us be charitable in turn.

On newsstands across Europe today and in better US cities very soon it’s lucky issue 21 of the French magazine PREF featuring yours truly in high-class, glossy print. We haven’t seen this yet, but there should be quite a spread for all the photos we submitted. If that wasn’t enough, François Sagat also appears in this issue. Funny how we keep popping up together…

It’s been non-stop for me the past few weeks boys and girls.

Right after my last post I was due in LA for an appearance, a dance gig of sorts at a small club downtown. This was their anniversary of something or other and they paid a handsome price for my services. I finished at 9:30 and was due to appear at a charity pool party in Palm Springs the next afternoon followed by a fashion show for Rufskin in San Diego that night. It was going to be a busy weekend so I thought it wise to drive back to PS to sleep and wake up in my own bed.

The drive was a breeze so I was in bed by 12:30. At 3 AM I woke up feeling delirious in drenched sheets. I cannot remember being victim to such a terrible bug; I usually am very good with my body, knowing when I am coming down with something and taking the necessary precautions before it gets the better of me. I missed it this time and it came on so hard that I never knew what hit me till it was too late. So I missed the pool party, I missed the fashion show and I missed my mommy.

The next several days were a blur of slow recovery, but I was back to myself by Tuesday. That was a good thing because Friday marked the launch of a little thing called The White Party. The White Party is regarded among us gays as the spot to to shed the winter and show off your spring coat poolside under the Palm Springs sun. I was not so into it this year as I had been in previous years; been there done that. I did although rock it out Saturday night when I danced with Tyler Riggz in the Rascal Lounge to the tunes of Boss Lady, DJ Chi Chi LaRue. After our obligatory set we let loose at the after hours party with DJ Tony Moran. We closed it at 10 AM, needless to say that that was sufficient enough for me. I slept most of Sunday. That was good because we were all due to be on set on Monday, well not me, I was due to start filming on Tues at 2.

The gay newspaper DINKS in Durban, South Africa contacted me to do an interview after I came out on top of their gay adult icon poll. I received 72% of male votes of the 19,000 that participated! I was totally blown away by that and was honored to do the interview.

Toward the end of the interview I was asked how it felt to receive a positive review for “Deeper Into You” from music icon David Byrne. What? Really? I had no idea!

When adult film stars announce a career change—in particular into the music industry—they usually hear grunts and moans, but not the ones they normally hear on the set… …Let’s hear it for Johnny Hazzard, who is taking his stab at being the exception. The Rascal Video exclusive just put out the dance number Deeper Into You on iTunes. DJ and director extraordinaire Chi Chi LaRue filmed the accompanying video for Hazzard.

That is SO COOL! I really dig being the exception…

A while back I was asked to do an event at the Hybrid Café in West Hollywood funded by the Gay and Lesbian Center. The purpose of the event was to promote their new chat room for safe sex. Having somebody of my background was supposed to be the draw and also serve to facilitate the conversation and answer questions involving safe sex and my line of work.

The theme was “Johnny at Home” as they decked the place out in pillows and candles to simulate a comfortable, relaxed sexy feel. Honestly, they did a great job giving this open industrial space a cozy ambiance.

People had the option to drop into the café and chat with me there or sit at home in the comfort of their PJ’s or out of them and chat there. To help increase the foot traffic we had it on Friday at 8. This is prime time for people wandering about sniffing out the buzz. As people go they were a bit hesitant at the idea of coming inside and felt much more at ease gazing through the wall of glass that separated me from the increasing number of party goers outside. Did I mention that I was smack in the middle of the store, on the couch barefoot in a bathrobe? If that wasn’t drawing attention the only thing left would go against certain laws of public exposure for sure.

My generation has it pretty easy. We had no Stonewall Riot, no march on Washington or “gay plague”. What we do have is the power to prevent and treat HIV, more resources and safe havens across the country than ever before, we have a voice in Washington and the Madison Avenue ad machine is hungry for our dollars. Most of all, we are visible and I say this because we need to remember what so many people did for us. We can walk down Santa Monica Blvd and kiss our male friend on the lips without fear of verbal or physical assault. We must not forget the efforts of our brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers that made it possible for the likes of Will and Grace, Ellen and even Rosie O’Donnell to be part of mainstream culture.

There is still much work to be done, but I really think the hardest parts are behind us. Still, it’s important that we all try to help in any way we can. If you’re a big name porn star you can donate an expensive public appearance to help spread the word about HIV prevention. If not, you can volunteer or contribute to causes that help the community. Whatever you do, do it for those that accomplished so much at such a high price to make our little gay world a better place.