I booked my flight to Chicago yesterday! I'm going to International Mr. Leather and the Grabby Awards! One of the extra awards presented at the Grabby's is the Male Flixxx People's Choice Awards. This is your only chance to vote for your favorite gay porn movies. Click the boxcovers below to view the movies nominated at LavenderLoungeMovies.com. Then click the People's Choice banner above to vote! Winners will be announced in Chicago May 23.

MaleFlixxx People's Choice Award
Couples III (Colt Studios)
Cuma Sutra (Black Scorpion)
Dreams of Rafael (Black Scorpion)
Fear (Titan Men)
The Intern (Lucas Entertainment)
Jockstrap (Hot House)
The Men I Wanted (Lucas Kazan)
Musclemen Moving Company Inc. 2 (Blue Blake)
Navy Blues (Centaur Films)
Rock & Hard Places (Kristen Bjorn)

 

Gay activist and playwright Larry Kramer was invited back to Yale last week to receive the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the university's Gay and Lesbian Association.

Kramer used the opportunity to rail at Yale's "conspiracy of silence" on gay history, criticizing an endowment offered to the school by his brother to set up the Larry Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies because it was misdirected, he says, and used for gender theory and 'queer 'studies (Kramer despises the word "queer", calling it adolescent and demeaning). Kramer wishes the school taught more about gay people in history and talks a bit about his new book, The American People.

These revelations about supposed gay historical figures is totally news to me. But it wasn't hard to find some fey looking artwork of our two most famous presidents. Hmm. That's a LOT reading between the lines, I hope some scholars can confirm some of his theories, and throwing down a challenge at Yale, no less, may spark some interest.

Here's what Larry Kramer said in his speech:

"Here are some of the things that I have uncovered about our history in writing my new book, The American People:

That Jamestown was America’s first community of homosexuals, men who came to not only live with each other as partners but to adopt and raise children bought from the Indians. Some even arranged wedding ceremonies for themselves.

That George Washington was gay, and that his relationships with Alexander Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette were homosexual. And that his feelings for Hamilton led to a government and a country that became Hamiltonian rather than Jeffersonian.

That Meriwether Lewis was in love with William Clark and committed suicide when their historic journey was over and he wouldn’t see Clark anymore.

That Abraham Lincoln was gay and had many, many gay interactions, that his nervous breakdown occurred when he and his lover, Joshua Speed, were forced to part, and that his sensitivity to the slaves came from his firsthand knowledge of what it meant to be so very different. And that the possibility exists that Lincoln was murdered because he was gay and John Wilkes Booth, who was gay, knew this.

That Franklin Pierce, who became one of America’s worst presidents, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, who became one of our greatest writers, as roommates at Bowdoin College had interactions that changed them both forever and, indeed, served as the wellspring for what Hawthorne came to write about. Pierce was gay. And Hawthorne? Herman Melville certainly wanted him to be.

That most of the great actresses who endlessly toured America during the 19th century bringing theater to the masses were lesbians and occasionally dressed as men. Just like Katherine Hepburn.

That the plague of AIDS was allowed to happen because much of the world hates us and most of the world knows nothing about us. They don’t know we are related to Washington and Lincoln.

I needed no queer theories, no gender studies, to figure all this out.

Why can’t we accept that homosexuality has been pretty much the same since the beginning of human history, whether it was called homosexuality, sodomy, buggery, hushmarkedry, or hundreds of other things, or had no name at all? What we do now they pretty much did then. Period. Men have always had cocks and men have pretty much always known what to do with them. It is just stupidity and elite presumption of the highest and most preposterous order to theorize, in these regards, that then was different from now."

Gay Alimony - watch more funny videos

Michael Rappaport, straight guy jock actor, makes a compelling case for overturning Prop 8. His ex-wife is gay and he pays "gay alimony" because she can't get gay married. Funny shit and interesting angle.

I really need to keep you all up to date when important movies get added to Gay Video Cafe! Sure, I just assume you can find them yourself, but it's my job to point out the good ones.

To The Last Man - Raging Stallion: Cowboy epic that will sweep all the awards for the year. A must-see, even if you won't spring for the DVD!
Brief Encounters - Pantheon Productions: Matthew Rush gets done by daddy in his first major film after leaving Falcon.
Red Light - Mustang: Steve Cruz directs for Falcon's hairy, more butch label packed with mucho muscle men.
Muscle Bear Trap - Pacific Sun: Paul Barresi feeds the bears big cocks and beefy bubble butts, featuring two of my favorite daddies, Arpad Miklos and Dak Ramsey.
Paging Dr. Finger - Hot House: Twisted medical fetish movie set in an ER. Sicko dark comic elements and my new favorite pocket-gay, Johnny Gunn.
Vintage Bareback: Hairy Muscle Daddy Volume 1: The long awaited debut of MY first vintage release! It's campy, it's hot, the men are unbelievable and it's pre-condom! Part Two and Part Three are also in the cue and coming soon!

The other day I met with the folks from a new site called Carnal Nation. We immediately hit it off and discovered we had a lot of friends and ideas in common. I am hoping to become a regular contributor to Carnal Nation.

My first submission to Carnal Nation is my essay entitled "The Evolution of the Muscle Bear Cub as a Gay Style Icon", a shameless plug for my hairy homo hook-up site disguised as a scholarly think-piece. (Oops, I've said too much...)

The Mission Statement of Carnal Nation reads:

CARNALNATION provides comprehensive coverage of entertainment for grown-ups. We at CARNALNATION embrace and honor human sexuality, and we promise to be current, consistent, and uncensored. We compile event listings; we publish original and incisive content; and we provide insightful commentary on a range of related topics from health to fashion to the latest toys.  We know you take your fun as seriously as we do, so we invite you, our readers, to use CARNALNATION to realize and explore your interests, desires, and curiosities.

CARNALNATION was developed out of a compelling need to counteract those oppressive forces, whether internal or external, that stifle sexual growth, awareness, and fulfillment. We believe that sex is a vital human need and that sexuality is an important component of who we are as individuals, how we relate to each other, and who we want to become.   In our view, fear and disdain of all things sexual have led to a society that too often vacillates between impulsive titillation and compulsive repression.  Such extremes can only have a negative impact on our physical, psychological, and social well being.  Therefore, we strive to inform and entertain without being pornographic or offensive. We make this commitment at all levels of sexuality: the personal, the political, and the perverted.

California prides itself as the home of the entertainment industry. In reality, costs have driven a lot of production out of the state, but people still look to California to work in music, television and film industries. In a further reality check, most of what comes out of the real Hollywood is exploitative crap in the T&A or teen slasher genre, or, dare I say it... hardcore porn.

The "quality" product you see around Oscar time puts a lot of money into the hands of very few people, but the vast numbers of regular people working in the entertainment business get paid about the same as every other industry. They also pay taxes to help keep the business of state government running.

However, due to some research done by a local journalist, one of San Francisco's largest film production companies may lose funding for employee training simply because of the content they produce. It's back to the days of Jesse Helms and the NEA hearings! Read on.

Whipped and Gagged

Is government spending obscene? Well, it paid to train S&M filmmakers.

By Matt Smith

published: April 22, 2009

Talk about an economic stimulus. California taxpayers have paid $46,791 so that employees of the San Francisco pornographer Kink.com might produce more perfect web-based depictions of motorized dildo impalements on FuckingMachines.com; do a better job displaying women as they're bound, gagged, and repeatedly electrically shocked on www.wiredpussy.com; and more effectively transmit images of, well, people doing pretty much what you'd imagine they'd be doing on www.whippedass.com.

That's right: California's government has been subsidizing torture-based pornography. The subsidy has been routed through the California Employment Training Panel (ETP), an agency set up to make state businesses more competitive with foreign and out-of-state ones by paying contractors who train in-state workers. Kink.com, famous to San Franciscans as the pornographer that not long ago bought the massive former Armory building in the Mission District, received its training through the Bay Area Video Coalition, a Mission nonprofit that provides classes in video and multimedia technology.

Kink.com is "legally recognized by California," says Video Coalition executive director Ken Ikeda. "They employ 100 Bay Area residents, and they also pay into payroll taxes. They're a valued community neighbor of ours. In training their employees, we're in complete alignment with the ETP's vision of keeping employees competitive in the international marketplace."

Sadly, this story doesn't have a happy ending, at least from a porn industry perspective.

After I submitted a state public records request to find out how much money Californians had been paying to train workers of Cybernet Entertainment LLC — Kink.com's formally registered business name — I received a letter from ETP general counsel Maureen Reilly, who said the government had been unaware that Cybernet was in the business of narrowcasting videos depicting sexualized torture.

"By long-standing policy, ETP does not fund training in the adult entertainment industry," she wrote, suggesting that the Bay Area Video Coalition might have done more to make the government aware that Cybernet was in the porn business. "Since learning about Kink.com through your Public Records Act request, ETP has informed BAVC that it will no longer reimburse the cost of training the employees of Cybernet."

Well, it looks like I am going to IML (International Mr. Leather) and the Grabby Awards after all! I haven't made reservations yet, but I made the decision after finding out I will be getting a HUGE tax refund! (Maybe I DID make money from my attempt at real estate investing!)

Here are the nominations for the 2009 Grabby Awards taking place over Memorial Day Weekend.
 

Best Movie

Best Men 1-2 (Falcon)


Black Balled 6: Under The Hood (All Worlds Video)

Black Meat White Heat (All Worlds Video)

Endgame (Dirty Bird Pictures)

Home Invasion (Titan Men)

Hung Country for Young Men (Jet Set Men Men)

Paging Dr. Finger (Hot House Entertainment)

The Drifter (Raging Stallion)

To The Last Man (Raging Stallion)





Best All-Sex Video

Black Balled 6: Under The Hood (All Worlds Video)

Blue Movie (Mustang)

Hotter Than Hell 2 (Raging Stallion)

Telescope (Titan Men)

The 4th Floor (Raging Stallion)

Trunks 5 (Hot House Entertainment)



ENTIRE LIST AFTER THE JUMP


I thought I was completely Easter-ed out, but then these pictures arrived from the French porn site, Homopunk.com. Adorable! But true to the punk ethic, it's two weeks late!

The email says, "...well well...Easter time is gone already and i could not resist anymore ...
let’s bring back the hot BUNNYBOYZ !!
so let me introduce you to SCOUT and ISRAEL,
they are 2 hot Tamale from  Brooklyn ....
don’t miss the video...it’s all about THE MAGIC POWERS OF SAUSAGES AND CARROTS !!!"

I love "alternative" guys, which pretty much describes EVERY adult male in San Francisco, but it's rare to see a whole site devoted to punks and alt guys. I hope they are making money. (God, I wish I owned that URL...) Click the link and send some bucks to the struggling Homo Punks.

Today, I finally received a package of vintage gay porn magazines I ordered from Ebay. One of the items was especially unique. It's a calendar of Magnum Griffin models from 1976, including the late great Jack Wrangler as Mr. May. I recognize a few of the models, but it doesn't matter - they are all hot!

The guy on the cover is a fine example of the trim, sinewy, blond, blow-dried "clones" of the 1970's, complete with a brown cigarette! (Just like Alexis Carrington smoked!)

Become a member of the Lavender Lounge VIP Room to see the rest of this extremely rare, vintage nude calendar from 1976 in beautiful sepia tone.

Tattooed muscle gods Bo Dean and Dak Ramsey get together for one helluva hot time. Passionate kissing and cock sucking pave the way for Bo to pound Dak's tight asshole with no mercy. Hard and fast is the only way Bo knows how to fuck and Dak loves it. Our inked up studs finish by cumming simultaneously on Dak's stomach.

SEE MORE AT COCKSURE MEN - SAMPLES IN LAVENDER LOUNGE VIP ROOM

During GayVN week, Raging Stallion's Chris Ward introduced me to his most prized possession, 6'4" blond David Taylor. He had just signed an exclusive contract, along with a whole slew of fresh meat, but Chris was most thrilled by this one. I recognized him from a Jake Cruise photo shoot because those piercing eyes and stunning body were hard to forget. The photo on the right with Jason Crew was shot right after I was introduced to him.

"David Taylor is every man's dream!," enthused company president Chris Ward. "He is a delightful guy and he performs very well on camera. I met him through Howard at FabScout and immediately offered him a contract. David is the kind of guy who comes along very rarely in gay erotica--smokin' hot with a look to die for! We have huge plans for him over the coming months."

David Taylor was born in Southern California, raised in the Midwest, went to college back East to play Division 1 athletics, and finally found his way back to Southern California after spending time in the Marine Corps.

In California, he pursued his acting and modeling career and was featured in soap operas such as Passions and General Hospital and TV shows such as CSI Miami, Las Vegas, and Alias. He did soft-core porn for HBO and Showtime as well. He also appeared in major movies such as Bewitched and The Island. David modeled for Abercrombie and Fitch, Exercise Magazine, Manhattan Cruiser, and Spa in a Box.

Raging Stallion Latest Releases

Falcon sent a link to a blog item they posted with the teaser line "Roman Heart In Guinness Book of World Records..." question mark, question mark. Being in Guinness may be a bit presumptuous, but buying the boy a Guinness might be a more reasonable step toward immortality. In fact, it's his destiny that I buy him a beer... (see headline).

The cover story of the next Unzipped reads, "When I Grow Up I Want To Be A Pornstar", and this is the first generation where kids have actually chosen that as a career. I actually met Roman Heart only a few weeks after his 18th birthday and he was already working a booth for Falcon at a porn convention in Las Vegas. At the time, he told me to keep it on the downlow that he was actually still in High School at the time! The photo on the lower right was just a few months after that first meeting in Las Vegas in January 2005. By Memorial Day, when that photo was taken, he had already done a couple movies and was working the Falcon booth in a leather harness at IML! School still hadn't gotten out yet!

Well, if they had a category for Most Magazine Covers By A Gay Male Pornstar – Roman Heart would have all others beat by a mile. When the 2009 June issue of Unzipped Magazine hits subscribers and newsstands Roman will have the distinction of appearing on more of Regent Media’s magazine covers than any other pornstar since the inception of their publications. June will be Roman’s EIGHTH cover! The June issue of Unzipped will also be the first time Regent has ever shown a full bare ass on one of their covers and we couldn’t think of a better ass to give that distinction to!

His first cover was the 2005 March/April issue of [2] Magazine on which he appeared with then Falcon Exclusive Josh Weston, his second cover was the 2005 July issue of Freshmen Magazine, number three was the 2006 January/February issue of [2] Magazine with former Channel 1 Exclusive Eddie Stone, his fourth the 2006 June issue of Freshmen when he was named Freshmen Of The Year, the fifth was the 2007 January/February issue of [2] Magazine with former Falcon Exclusive Cort Donovan, his sixth was the 2007 February Freshmen Magazine 15th Anniversary issue, and number seven was the 2007 December issue of Men Magazine on which he appeared with all the Falcon Exclusives. Roman commented, “It’s hard to believe that when the 2009 June issue comes out it will have been four years since my first cover with Regent – their support has been amazing and most definitely an important part of my career.”

Unofficially – only because we don’t know anyone who can make it official – Roman has appeared on more magazine covers than any other gay male pornstar of all time. Many thanks go out to all the local and regional U.S. gay publications, foreign magazines and all the U.S. nationally distributed magazines too. The above collage is just a small sampling of Roman’s covers.

More Roman Heart