Skin City

Behind the Scenes of the Las Vegas Sex IndustryBy Jack Sheehan

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Copyright © 2006 Jack Sheehan
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0060838795

Chapter One

The Oscars of Porn

The air of mock-suspense was palpable. The ballroom on the second floor of the Venetian Hotel, holding 3,500 gaudily but scantily dressed revelers, was hushed as the nominees were being read for one of the major awards of an evening that's come to be called "the Oscars of Porn."

Among the contenders for Best Anal Sex Scene in a Video were: Buttfaced! 3, White Trash Whore No. 24, and Hot Bods and Tail Pipe No. 21. And the winner was . . . Actually, I never heard the name of the winner because by the time the other 12 nominees for the same award were announced, the garbled pronunciations of the presenters had long since been drowned out by private conversations in other parts of the massive room.

I couldn't help thinking that in order to produce sequels to the titles that were being honored this night, there must have been a sizable audience somewhere on the planet willing to buy 23 previous editions of White Trash Whore and 20 episodes of Hot Bods and Tail Pipe.

As easy as it is to poke fun at the Adult Video News Awards that are given out each January in Las Vegas, and the outrageous categories that have been concocted to honor nearly everyone who had sex on camera in the last 12 months, the event is indisputably the industry's biggest annual party and the best marketing opportunity for a porn production company to increase video sales and rentals.

There are so many still and video cameras in the Venetian this night, and such a crush of fans lined up along "the gauntlet" leading to the ballroom of this beautiful hotel (which was constructed, ironically, to re-create the most romantic city in the world), that at first glimpse one might think this ceremony had all the elegance and distinction of the real Academy Awards. At least until two busty blonde women wrap their arms around each other, embrace in a ferocious French kiss, and then release their breasts from their gowns and start to maul each other for the cameras. The explosion of camera strobe lights is suddenly blinding. This is what the fans have come to see, and the resulting pictures capturing this tender moment will be used in thousands of international publications over the next several months to celebrate an underground industry which -- at least on this night -- surfaces for the mainstream to observe and ogle.

I'm attending the festivities with Christi Lake, an adult star who's been a most cooperative and jovial interview for this book, and who has volunteered to serve as my guide for this trek through the jungle. She's even managed to finagle me a ticket with a face value of $225. (Later on I do the math, and discover that if 3,000 of the 3,500 attendees paid for their tickets, the live gate generated $675,000!)

Christi is wearing a beautiful beaded evening gown which would be appropriate for a lavish charity ball or night at the symphony. Just ahead of us in the procession along the gauntlet are Kathy Willets and her husband, Jeff. They are the couple infamous for his videotaping her having sex with prominent clients in Florida in the mid-1990s. A former police officer, Jeff was eventually chargedwith pandering and served several months in prison. More than one elected official, including Doug Danzinger, the vice-mayor of Fort Lauderdale, was implicated in the scandal and forced to resign. And the Willets' defense attorney, Ellis Rubin, pled the infamous "nymphomaniac defense" in explaining that Kathy's behavior with her clients was due to her uncontrollable urge to have sex several times a day. The tabloids ate up the story, and Kathy and Jeff appeared on Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition, and A Current Affair, as well as in mainstream publications that couldn't resist the tale of sex, political corruption, and the outrageously creative excuse for it all.

The Willets now live in Las Vegas and produce their own adult videos. This night Kathy is wearing a black mini-dress, which I notice under the bright lights is totally transparent. When the procession stops for more photo ops, Kathy snuggles with an actress named Raquel Divine, who is co-starring with her in a new video, while Jeff stands quietly to the side. I introduce myself to Jeff and compliment his wife on her dress. "It's totally see through," he says, with an approving smile.

"So I notice," I say. I then wonder whether, the arena being what it is, I shouldn't have said something like, "Nice tits," or even, "Your wife has an amazing ass." I sense he would have reacted pretty much the same and thanked me for the kind words.

Jeff and I then chat briefly about our golf games. He complains that he has always had trouble with a killer slice. It occurs to me we could just as easily be two guys shooting the breeze at a Rotary meeting.

Also nearby is Porsche Lynn, a veteran porn star who just recently did a lesbian scene with Christi which is currently in play on Christi's pay-subscriber website. Porsche is dressed in a long black, faux-fur-trimmed coat and Russian hat. I tell her she looks like Julie Christie in Doctor Zhivago. "Oh, that's my favorite movie," she says. "I've watched it about 20 times, mainly for the fashions."

I learn later from an odd-facts Internet search that Porsche has something in common with a much younger Angie Dickinson. Do you think the average Jeopardy contestant could come up with the question to this answer? These two film actresses are the only ones ever to take out million-dollar insurance policies on their legs.

Right behind Porsche is Juli Ashton, another legend of the industry who in addition to her adult work has appeared in several soft-core movies. She had a sizable role in the satirical film Orgazmo, produced by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, has appeared . . .

Continues...
Excerpted from Skin Cityby Jack Sheehan Copyright © 2006 by Jack Sheehan. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.