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By Luke Ford Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Seven B Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve 1994-1997 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Sunday, 5/17/98, I joined my new non-orthodox synagogue for a picnic. It was a warm Spring day, about 78 degrees. Though I worried about injuring my hands, the source of my living, I joined in a game of softball, and later football. I got beat up, skinned my arms and knees, but sacked the quarterback twice. Then I went down hard on one play and fractured a bone in my arm. On Wednesday, I entered Century City hospital for surgery on my arm. Dr. Z----- put a couple of screws into the bone near my wrist to help it to heal properly. I went under general anesethetic about 1PM and emerged out of it at 4PM. Emerging out of G.A. was a frightening experience, complete with moral-spiritual-emotional angst. I worried that I could not wake up properly so that I could leave the hospital that afternoon. Images of people I've hurt hung on my soul. I felt my sins keenly. I don't think I will ever be the same - the experience of being totally vulnerable was shattering. By 11PM, I felt ok and got out of the hospital the next afternoon. Inconsistently, awkwardly, I resumed my life and my writing. Prager-L: Prager opening 5/28/66 Thu, 28 May 1998 17:07:28 EDT ChrisDnld@aol.com prager-l@email.csun.eduIn <<<<Prager talked about how he does not work on the Sabbath.... He frequently works very hard on the Sabbath....He earns thousands of dollars for his lectures on the Sabbath.>> Gil: "You are leaving us much negativity to infer Luke. Explain what you mean by these declarations. Give specifics in how "He earns thousands of dollars for his lectures on the Sabbath."" Chris Donald: Yet more irresponsible gibberish from our resident master. DP earns "thousands of dollars" only in Ford's fantasies and imagination, and in the same sense that a Rabbi earns money on the Sabbath. He does work on his religious sermons during the week and that is no different from many Rabbis and other clergy. Work is defined in a Jewish context as regards the Shabbat, and the utter contempt for context and honesty represented by the above quote is typical of a carrer dedicated to the same. Look for his first book to be published...by the same irresponsible publishers that brought you, "Hard to Find Facts for the Amateur Mail Bomber", and "The Idiot's Guide to Being a Successful Hitman". There is not a single responsible organization, that I am aware of, that has not finally had to ask him to stop attending their functions. That list approaches double digits in the LA area alone. He converted to a religion that he has since leached off of for weekly meals, preyed sexually on their women, regularly disrupted discussion groups, and behaved in social situations so innappropriately that he is on "Black Lists" in his chosen Jewish neighborhood. Can you imagine joining a religious group, only to (actively) become their most continually innappropriate and biggest butt-pain? Why yes, he did so with regards to DP's friendship as a matter of fact. Was respectful for years, actively restrained and friendly, seeking DP out by going to Temple where DP did, only to become Hyde (now) once he had gained DP's friendship. The first person that DP has EVER, in 49 years, had to sue. Fancy that. See a trend here? Anyone else you can name that is so widely viewed as a pariah on a personal AND a professional level? A "religious" Jew that makes a living running a porno web site and and a gossip web site, both overwhelmingly contrary to the Jewish Laws he freely took an oath to follow. If you are NOT Luke Ford, then you are as poor a judge of what constitutes appropriate and responsible behavior as he has turned out to be. And I wish you the best in recovering from that. Luke Ford is not deemed appropriate nor responsible by a single reputable source that knows him well to my knowledge. (If I am wrong, please provide me verifyable evidence to the contrary. I will gladly look into it. I can document MY claims, but won't here unless forced to.) He is, on the other hand, banned from *several* conservativly religious social/singles groups that he has infiltrated and who's hosts and female members he has repeatedly abused over the years. Interestingly, his behavior came up at Shabbat dinner this week- quite by accident. My host, a very fine, religious man who regularly has unknown guests to their home for Shabbat dinner in the spirit of outreach (and whom I'd known not at all prior), was re-telling a "Shabbat Disasters of the Past" story. It was a tale of the most innappropriate, obnoxious behavior by a GUEST you can imagine. Overtly sexual and homosexual innuendo and dialogue the entire night. The host was so shocked and upset, he ended up going into his kitchen to do dishes to get away from this "guest". No other guests that were at his home that night have since returned. You can imagine why. My host was not using anything in his description that would ordinarily be deemed identifyable about the subject. It was just a story. Yet that fact that he was describing Luke Ford was not only *obvious* to me, it was painfully so. I asked two quick questions to ensure for myself that I was not mistaken, and of course, I was not. That enough for you? Chris_ 6/3/98: Porn star Caressa Savage called me tonight, upset with reports on RAME (and quoted on my site www.lukeford.com) that she does escort work in New York… Madelyn Knight called to say the same thing. They both deny ever doing escort work. Felecia, Missy, Jill Kelly, and other girls do girl-girl shows for bachelor parties. Porn agent Jim South arranges them. Caressa has been taking a sabbatical from performing in videos. She's waiting for the HIV crisis to die down before she does her first big boy-girl scene. [She did boy-girl in custom videos about six years ago.] Caressa reports that she has two significant lovers - one male, and porn star Jordan Lee. Other people have warned me against reporting on porn stars doing escort work... Many people in the adult industry, who do not want to be named, believe that the Mafia, particularly in New York, run the escort trade, as well as have their tentacles into porn, strip clubs, and drugs. "You could disappear quickly," porn folks have warned me again in the last few days. They have warned me to stay away from reporting-speculating-quoting on this issue. Madelyn Knight is in a seven year relationship with a man. Both Caressa and Madelyn have children that they deeply love and want to protect. Luke Ford's big sister Ele--- Ford <lnford@thehub.com.au>writes: I would like to tell you about my brother, Luke Ford, whom I love very dearly. You have no doubt read much that he has written about his past, his activities and his commentaries on others. Luke is both intelligent and honest however, due to events entirely beyond his control, he is causing his family much distress and heartache in great contrast to his first twenty eight years. While Luke's perceptions of his childhood are somewhat different to my perceptions of those years, it is true that our mother became suddenly very ill with secondary cancer the night before his first birthday and spent the next couple of years in and out of hospital and other treatment centres. Luke was subjected to a series of housekeepers, nannies and carers as the family struggled to cope. There were times when he was cared for away from our home so that he did not see either of his parents for several months at a time. This was very traumatic for him as he struggled to come to grips with `sick mummy' `mummy sister' `mummy nanny' `mummy Gill' - the latter subsequently became his stepmother. He was four when our mother died. Luke seemed to survive those turbulent years although in hindsight there could have been a lot of anger just under the surface caused by perceived rejection and loss. Luke always had a lot of energy, drive and ambition. Perhaps, feelings of inadequacy caused by the losses in his life, drove him to extremes of physical and mental activity. Then in the mid eighties he contracted glandular fever which wiped out his energy and therefore his activity. It is accepted by medical science that glandular fever, caused by the Epstein Barr virus is often followed by depression. What still remains controversial is the diagnostic entity, chronic fatigue syndrome. But whatever the label I saw my brother slide from an energetic and fun loving boy to an invalid. He suffered heavy nightsweats and nightmares but bore it all bravely and without complaint. Then one day he was involved in a motor vehicle accident in which his forehead impacted with the steering wheel causing a severe gash. His lower face gradually swelled in consequence and has remained that way. There is medical opinion that this affected his pituitary and resulted in something like a frontal lobe lobotomy. But whatever occurred as a result of his illness and/or motor vehicle accident, Luke in some ways is not the boy he used to be. He seems to lack a degree of insight and balance in his life. I suspect he does not feel the tension which exists between being involved in pornography and gossip associated with that industry on the one hand and his religious beliefs on the other. He was brought up in a very balanced, loving and Christian family. His involvement in pornography is heartbreaking to us. We are sorry for the distress he must cause Dennis Prager amongst others. Luke does not seem to understand the significance that while there is no pornography on his Dennis Prager web site, Dennis Prager is nonetheless mentioned on Luke's other website which contains links to pornography. However, as I said, Luke is honest - to wit - his inclusion of this letter on his web site. He is open to gentle reasoning. For example he is aware that his involvement in pornography is sin. He admits that his involvement continues because he enjoys it. He is also now aware that the hurt felt by the son of Dennis Prager in having a private conversation published was not because of the facts themselves which were already public, but because what he thought was a private chat turned out, without warning, not to be private. It seems that at times Luke does not readily recognise such subtleties in the absence of gentle reasoning. We now pray that he will realize that while all sin is enjoyable it will end in disaster and that we all need to constantly seek God's help to live according to the laws of the universe because that is the only way life works. Steve Zimmerman writes on the Prager List: Luke, I'm sorry for all the difficulty you've had in the past, both emotional and physical. It has imposed some limitations on you that you didn't ask for nor probably deserved at the time. But they exist nevertheless and you have a responsibility to recognise them and adjust your behavior and activities accordingly. My son is a criminal defense attorney. Last year, he defended a client who had limited mental capacity due to a head injury in his childhood. The result was that the client could not remember alot of numbers and had great difficulty with complex concepts. He looked and acted normal in every other way. But to his credit, the client recognised his limitations. He carried full identification and all the phone numbers he expected to need. When faced with making a decision based on complex factors, he included a trusted friend or family member in the decision-making process. You need to do something similar. You need to recognise your limitations and act on them. There are certain activities in life that in themselves can be perfectly fine, but when combined, become very incompatible. Pornography and a religious life are excellent examples. The Mormon Church owns many businesses and if they chose to own the Mustang Ranch outside of Las Vegas, it would be perfectly legal. But it would conflict with their value system, so they would not do it, no matter how profitable. Part of our purpose on this earth is to develop a way to make choices beyond considering only that which gives us pleasure. We have a responsibility to ensure that our choices not only avoid harm to ourselves, but also do not harm others. That seems to be the place where you have difficulty. You sister's post, while very enlightening, does nothing to excuse your behavior. Your capacity is not diminished beyond your ability to make intelligent choices and it is your responsibility to do so. And if you fail, you deserve whatever consequences follow, regardless of whatever you've been through up to now. A journalist writes: ...Well, this week I heard back from the media beat editor and she wants a story submission idea. My first thought was I think a profile of Luke Ford, the Robert Hughes of the porno biz would be a good idea. I ran this past a old editor friend of mine along with a few other suggestions and this was his reply: > >2. You asked some good questions about Luke Ford. Why would someone> who> >considers themselves a serious journalist focus upon such a sordid and> tacky> >venue as the domestic pornography industry? Perhaps it's a odd beat, but> it's not> >a crowded one. There are many interesting stories about the sex industry> and it's> >history but so often all the focus falls upon the sexual nature of the> business, that> >the genuine newsworthy items go uncovered. Ford is opinionated and> operates> >out of a strange ethnic guiding light, but there is a definite absence of> quality> >writing about a sub--culture that the majoirity of American males have> become> >familiar with at one time or another in their lives. I think a profile> of Ford might make> >for some very interesting reading. How does he resist some of the more> obvious> >temptations that come with a job like this? Does he and if he doesn't how> does> >that affect his reporting? Is he simply a voyeur hiding behind a press> pass or does> >he have something genuine to add to the conversation about a subject most> >journalists are shy to approach. Getting too close to the sex business> seems to> >frighten off "respectable" writers as if they 're afraid they 'll get> something nasty on> >their shoes. What happens when you roll up your sleeves and dive headlong> in> >the slime and muck of the porn biz?< *** 6/10/98 I drove into the Valley at nine AM for a lunch appointment with director Greg Steel but we ended up missing each other, just as I missed meeting with Marc Wallice six weeks ago. We were supposed to meet at Jerry's Deli at noon. I went both times to the one in Encino and my subject went to the one in Studio City. I drove down Coldwater Canyon at 9 AM to Star World Modeling at 13160 Raymer Street to see my buddies Rob and Joe Spallone, Matt Jade, Wayne Crews and Sal Soldano. I was talking mafia again today with my friends in porn. Bobby G. was the main topic. Notice how folks in porn and in the Mafia frequently refer to people by the first initial of their last name? Bobby G. for Bobby Gallagher. Eddie W. for Wedelstedt, owner of Goalie. Kenny G. for Guarino, owner of Metro and South Pointe Enterprises. Joe Spallone is a long time from of Guarino's. Many folks in porn say the Spallone's are not people to be trifled with, thanks to their "connections...with family." Anyway, Bobby Gallagher bought Milt Ingley's studio off Chandler in the Sherman Oaks area in L.A's San Fernando Valley. A group of pornographers gathered around me today speculating about "Bobby G." Where did he get the money to buy the studio? Gallagher has worked as a gaffer for years, not a high paying profession. To bring the place into conformance with the fire code (fixing sprinklers) cost $40,000. Consensus: Bobby has connections with the Mafia back East who bankroll him. Pornographers and mobsters speak a similar lingo. "XXX and I are family," one guy said to me today. You become a 'made guy' in porno like in the Mob. Eventually, after you prove your trustworthiness, you become "one of the family." You're inducted into the inner circle and you promise to never inform. Most of my interviews are set up by other folks I interview, who then vouch for me. In most every interview I conduct, we, at some point, talk about which items I can write about and which items I can not. There's frequently talk in the porno about illegal schemes - ways to avoid taxes, the government eye, obtain drugs, fake I.D.s, pirated video tapes of mainstream productions like Titanic. A pornographer lent me a bootlegged copy a couple of weeks ago... Porn is an industry of outlaws, gangsters, pimps, actors and hookers. It's not always clear who is who and what is what. A friend writes: I'm feeling so distressed and had such difficulty sleeping last night worrying about you. Read your bio yesterday. We need to have a serious talk. I don't know know much about your world/life but what Iam perceiving (if I am to believe such things as written by chris donald and your bio) is as follows:- * you are losing many friends; * you lost your girlfriend in April; * you have lost your place of worship and are fast losing your religion; * you spend time masturbating behind drawn blinds - watching porno movies; * you are being sued by prager; * you perhaps dont like yourself very much (your bio where you say "I met the enemy and he is me." * you are perhaps feeling guilty (your bio where you say "crashing down like the weight of my sins on my fragile shoulders." * you are not welcome in many places; * you seem to feel no shame in telling the world things that most people consider very private. Luke, something is very wrong - if the above assumptions have some truth in them, then the conflict you are involved in cannot merely be due to difference of opinion - if it is you verses everyone else, its time to consider that the problem could, due to no fault of your own, be with you. I know you pretty well - I remember going with you to dinner at the xxx in 1987 - like me, you feel tense in social situations and tend to talk alot but you were aware of yourself and your effects on others - Irecall you talking about it with me. You were aware of being careful not to offend and sensitive to others perceptions of you - you gave them respect and would have backed off at the first hint that you were becoming tiresome. But it seems this may all have changed - I can't help but blame your illness and/or the accident. Your sex drive also seems to have changed despite the fact that a male usually has a stronger sex drive at 18 than 32. Again I wonder if it was the illness or the accident. That you would write about your sex life for all the world to see - to me - means one of two things - your mind has become so polluted with porn that you have lost all sense of decency or you have been very damaged by your illness and/or accident. I think it is the latter. Even if you cannot comprehend/accept what Iam saying, can you trust me as someone who loves you - and believe me when I say - something is wrong luke - we have to do something about it - perhaps there is treatment which will fix the problem but we wont know until a diagnosis is made - there are tests that can be done - at the very least by further medical investigations you will come to understand yourself better and accept your limitations. The Free Speech Coalition celebrates "Condoms over the Capitol" June 22-23. Expect fireworks. I can't say more now or I will end up dead. Thursday, 6/11/98 9AM Luke arrives at his counselor. I meet with this MFCC babe twice a week to realign my emotions. Then I drive five minutes to my chiropractor to realign my body. He pulls on my leg and tells me what emotions and issues I'm feeling. At 11AM, I stopped by Borders where I picked up three great Bible commentaries - Rabbi Jacob Milgrom's Anchor Bible Commentary on Leviticus 1-16, Baruch Levine's JPS Commentary on Leviticus and Milgrom's JPS commentary on Numbers. I want to read up on what the Torah has to say about holiness, dealing with impurity, contagion and sexual sin. I arrive at Jerry's Deli in Encino (Ventura and Petit) at noon and 20 minutes later director Greg Steel shows up with his producer-partner Ray. As I munch on fruit salad with frozen yoghurt, and an avocado-onion-tomato-cucumber-sprouts sandwich on wheat bread, and they munch on soup and meaty sandwiches, we discuss life. Greg recently arrived on the internet. He does a search on his name: "There were 15,000 results. I thought, 'wow, I'm famous. I'm a star. This is fantastic." I hit the first link, and find out that there was a gay porn star named Greg Steel. Oh no! [Luke Ford just found out there was a gay porn star named Luke Ford, no relation. People keep sending me email, 'I love your ass.'] Greg: I feel like ordering some of his T-shirts with my name on it… What a letdown! Even when I was an alcoholic, I don't remember doing any movies. "The second link I clicked took me to your bio on lukeford.com. Julie and I were reading it. We thought it was great." Luke: You've never taken it up the ass on film? Greg: I have never taken it up the ass off film. Luke: Have you ever put your dick in another's man ass? Greg: No. Luke: Perhaps he was dressed as a girl and you couldn't tell it was a guy? Greg: No. I wouldn't have a problem admitting it. Luke: Just making sure. You and Rey Vince… Greg and Rey: No, no. Rey is a handsome dark-haired young man who wears many rings, and has pierced ears. Greg: I keep saying to Vince, 'are you sure you can't sing?' I feel like I should be the one managing him. Rey is my producer. I met him when I did my feature [mainstream] film last year American Dream with Edward J. Elmos [Stand and Deliver]… [Greg directed the straight-to-video feature $400,000 film for Paramount Pictures.] Vincent was the UPM - Unit Production Manager. He brought Danny Trejo [Con Air, Desperado]… He brought all these elements to my set. So I said, 'this is the guy I want for when I do X.' I try to bring mainstream techniques into my X movies. I wrote American Dream. It features ex-LA gang members. A Mexican-Mafia movie shot in downtown LA. I cast 33 non-actor ex-gang members. I spent three months with them in downtown LA teaching them how to act. They shot a documentary of me teaching them. It was amazing. It's me screaming, yelling, reteaching these guys how to talk shit, how to shoot… Because they are all reformed. All these guys live in the bario in downtown LA. A week before the production, I took these guys to the South Bay, Doug Wilder beach, an empty beach… I taught them how to cry… We did a lot of killing scenes. Some of the people I cast for the production, died before the production. One guy was in a shoot-out, killed in a drive-by shooting. Phenomenal experience. Greg's mother is Jewish. Julie Rage, Greg's wife, is Italian Catholic. "I make matzo ball soup and try to honor both traditions. We keep Christmas and Chanukkah. We expose our daughter to both religions. "I grew up [secular] in Venice, CA, in a dysfunctional neighborhood." Luke: That's why you're in this industry. Greg: I can speak some Yiddish. I never had a Bar Mitzvah though my brother, older, and sister, younger, did. Heatwave's Gabor came up with my porn name, Greg Steelberg, because it was like Spieldberg. It was from my movie Desert Moon, for Sterling, which was huge. It won some AVN awards. Arianna won Best Actress. It was shot on film. And Gabor kept calling me Spieldberg because I did these big epic movies. My brother and sister went to synagogue in West Covina but I didn't. I was born on December 19, 1965 (Sagittarius). By the time I was 13 (in the late '70s), I was playing in a band called THE LOST BOYS. We toured for several years. We released records through Atlantic Records. Had some gold records. I played bass and was one of the songwriters. I basically left home at 15. I quit the music industry in 1987, mainly due to our alcoholism and drug use. We were always going into rehabilitation. The road was killing us… The amounts of cocaine, Jack Daniels whisky, unsafe sex… I would snort coke, shoot…any way I could get it. I haven't had a drink since 1987. I went to AA for several years. I've gone back to speak a few times, in jail… Luke: Rey, are you an ex-addict? Rey: No. Luke: An ex-alcoholic? Rey: No. Luke: Were you abused as a kid? Rey: No. Luke: Have you ever taken it up the ass? Rey: No. Luke: Have you ever penetrated a man rectally? Rey: No. Luke: Maybe he was dressed as a girl… Rey: No. Luke: What are you doing in this industry? Greg: I think Rey and I could make a lot of money, if he would go gay for pay. Luke: You could be a big star. Greg: We could take him out to a Paul Thomas shoot. Luke: Rey, are you tempted that way? Rey: No. Luke: When you were a kid, did you ever look at a man's hairy ass and think, hmmm… Rey: No. Greg: Ever been in a Turkish prison? Rey: No. I can't even handle a woman with hair on her ass, let alone a man. Luke: Rey, do you have a big criminal record? Rey: Not a big one. Greg: Prosecuted but never convicted. Rey: That's right. Luke: Rey, did you ever sell drugs. Rey: Yeah, I did sell drugs. But that was a long time ago. Luke: I'm going to counseling to work on my quirks, so soon I won't ask these rude questions any more. Greg: I hope you don't change. If someone had been asking these questions before, we wouldn't been in this state [of HIV infections]. How long was the internet talking about Marc Wallice before he would get tested? I remember we were talking about it in the office at Elegant Angel. Patrick Collins kept telling Marc, 'You've got to get checked out. You've got to go in there to find out.' So finally, Patrick walked him in there to get his test [which turned out HIV positive]. My wife Julie Rage retired because of all of this. Luke: As a matter of policy, of choice, and as a reflection of who I am, I tend to believe everything you tell me. Until it is shown to be false. If someone tells me something that I find hard to believe, I try to think of ways that what you might be saying is true. If I know contrary information, then I will include it in the transcript of the interview in brackets. Otherwise, I let people hang themselves with their words. If someone has seen you drinking since 1987, I am going to find out. And you're going to look like a liar if that is true. Greg: I've had many people say that I've been doing drugs, due to the length of my shoots…16-hour days… They say, 'You've got to be on drugs.' I say, 'No, what I've got is a 50-page script and two days to shoot it.' Luke: I am ultra-straight in most parts of my life. I go to synagogue several times a week. I have never smoked marijuana in my life, let alone any other type of drugs. I only drink a few sips of wine on religious occasions. But sometimes I like to act drunk or high. And many people believe and repeat that Luke was drunk or high. And it's BS. Greg: Do you know Rabbi Cunin in Westwood? Luke: Yes, Chabad. He's great. Greg: Chabad has great people. I've known them for years. I help them out with their telethon Chabad For Life. I spent three weeks shooting on 35mm film the mainstream feature American Dream, but a year overall. It's the post-production, rehearsals that takes time… I'm writing a movie now, Tribal, about the conquest of Mexico by Cortes in the 16th Century. It started as an X-rated movie but now I want to do it as an R-rated movie, with an NC-17 version with big name actors…and perhaps an X-rated version for home video release. We are not using any adult stars, with the possible exception of Herschel Savage. Malcom McDowell appeared in X-rated films like Caligula. Harvey Keitel did full frontal nudity in The Piano. If the script is good enough, they [mainstream actors] will do it… The script for Tribal now is 150 pages. I have huge research files. It's based on a book published in 1956 by a guy who was Cortes' right hand man. Cortes was one of the greatest strategists and human motivators of all time. My movie is based on the first movie that really inspired me, 1492 by Ridley Scott in 1992. David Mamet inspired me also. I took a two week seminar course from him at Columbia. Probably my best film was Conquest. I wrote and directed it single-handedly. Brad Armstrong was my art director. Luke: How come Brad Armstrong became Wicked's main director and you moved on? Greg: Jenna Jameson. Luke: That's right. He was married to Jenna, their contract girl. Brad and I were both doing these high-budgeted movies and Steve Orenstein [Wicked Video owner] could not afford both of us. So he took the one with the wife… Now, the problem with that is… Look at last year's AVN awards show: Wicked had nothing up for best picture with Brad Armstrong. And I had a $12,000 movie up for best picture. I am more pleased that my $12,000 movie was nominated than winning for Conquest with a budget of over $100K. No matter what my budget is, I work to make a good movie. I don't hold any resent towards Steve, but from reading the press I see that he holds resentment towards me. He told AVN that Steel had a big ego and was tough to work with… Well, if you want to call integrity ego, go ahead. But I'm sorry that you're not getting the reviews you used to, because I am not there anymore. Luke: Does Brad have a background in film? Greg: He has a background in set dressing. Luke: Did you go to college? Greg: I went to UCLA film school for three years and dropped out. I studied under professor Thermand Carney. Luke: I also dropped out of UCLA in my junior year. Greg: I learned more on my first set than in four years of college. I remember coming across your web site, lukeford.com… Julie and my daughter are sitting there, reading it. And we were all screaming about it, we were so happy. And I said, "I want to meet that guy." Luke: And you didn't realize that you had directed me on THE TRICKLE EFFECT? Greg: Right. Shawn Ricks is an old friend of mine. He'd call me to ask me to assistant direct for him, which meant that I would direct the dialogue for me so that I can do the sex. Shawn is a good-hearted person. Luke: And 18 months before that movie, I had a long intense interview with your wife Julie Rage. Greg: She's dying to do an interview. She's retired and wants to speak out on the HIV thing. Tod Hunter from AVN was over at our house last night. You'll have to come over for dinner. I'll cook Matza Ball soup. Luke: Yeah baby. Greg: I wish that I knew more about my religion [Judaism]. My daughter celebrates the Jewish holidays with my family and the other holidays with Julie's mother. I found her the other day reading a book on Chanukkah. I think it is important for her to know about her tradition… I believe in most of the values and traditions and principles of Judaism. History is one of the things I majored in… I'm not putting down any other religion. But I've always liked the Jewish religion, and the Jewish struggle to survive, persevere… We started Kryptic Entertainment in May 1997 to make both mainstream and adult productions. We're going to put up an internet site. I have 30-40,000 chromes of my movies. It won't be a pay site or a money-maker. It will just give people a behind-the-scenes view. I'm making a lot of money already. I get paid well. We notice Edward James Olmos, the actor, walk by. Kryptic has made three adult movies. We just licensed the ACDC songs Thunderstruck and Squealer for my Elegant Angel gonzo project. We sold the third movie to VCA. I grew up listening to ACDC. Impact, the $12,000 movie, starred Melissa Hill and Julie Rage. We just released THE CRAVING. AVN said that it transcended the adult genre and gave it nine nominations for the coming awards. I used live wherewolves doing attack scenes. . Tyce Bume, a fantastic mainstream actor. He sent in his picture. The third one is a news action, like BROADCAST NEWS. We sold it to VCA because we did not want to spend the time on distribution like I did on the first two movies. I'd rather make movies. Elegant Angels purchased it, but they don't want to release features, so they sold it to VCA, and I'm making a gonzo movie for Elegant called Thunder Pussy. It's Julie running wild behind the scenes of one of my sets. It's a staged set within a set. We're putting together a highlight reel. Such as when the Jerry Springer TV show came on to one of my sets for three days (Lost Angels). The beginning of 1997. Then they flew us to Chicago. It turned out to be a fair look at the adult business. There wasn't screaming or fighting on the TV show. Rey: I've been in the adult industry for about a year. The mentality in this industry is different from the regular movie industry, and from any other industry. Greg and I have fun together. Luke: Do you date any of the [porn] actresses? Rey: No. Rey and Greg laugh. Greg: I try to give him the benefit of my experience from all the women I've dated in this industry. Luke: How many? Greg: I've dated three actresses and one director. Luke: Kelly Holland [Tony English]. Greg: Yes, we were together three and a half years. Luke: She told me about a boyfriend who used to help her edit. Greg: She used to help me edit too. And she's a lame lay. And she lived with me. Art Attack was ours. We were together from 1990 - 93. I worked for BonVue in the late '80s doing bondage movies. I worked for Bob Best and Bill Majors [the character Merlin in Robert Stoller's book COMING ATTRACTIONS]. Kelly was a camera operator. Bob Best tells me he has a new cameraman for me… So Kelly Holland struts in with her arrogant attitude and she says, "I'm your DP for the day." And I look at her, and I say, "Hey honey, you've got this wrong. This is a bondage movie. [American bondage flicks won't show penetration for fear of obscenity prosecution.]" And she says, "I'm your DP." And I say, "We don't do sex in this movie, you're going to have to get out of here." She goes, "I'm your DP." So I say, "somebody fuck this girl up the ass, she obviously wants to get laid." She flips out. She says, "Look you sonofabitch, I'm the director of photography here…" So that night we go out and we're together three-and-a-half years. In bondage, every week I used a different name. Luke: Have you ever met Ernest Greene? Greg: Oh yeah, Ira Levine. He's great. Intelligent. I love the people in this industry. I have lots of friends such as Michael Ninn, Paul Thomas, Michael Zen… Bud Lee and I were at the AVN Awards last year. And our cameraman Barry Wood won best videography for the third straight year and no one screamed louder than Bud and I. And it wasn't even for our movie. I will rarely say anything bad about anyone in this industry. Kelly Holland yes, because she's arrogant. She wants to be a man. I was with Christy Canyon for a few months. Luke: Did you ever get your hands on her big bazooms? Greg: Yeah. Luke: Wow. Those are magnificent knockers. Greg: She is a very cool person. And I know her husband Jeremy Stone who is cool too. Christy and I didn't have a relationship. We were each getting out of a relationship [Christy with mobster Tommy Sinnopoli?] so we simply hung out and had fun. Rey: They were horny. Greg: Christy and Tim are the perfect couple. They were friends for years. Luke: He used to perform live sex and pornos… He used to be with Kelly Nichols. Greg: I also spent time with Patricia Kennedy, Kym Wilde. Luke: Before she was married? Greg: Yes. Luke: Were you the father of one of her kids? Greg: No. When I was with Kelly Holland, I cheated on Kelly with Kym. Luke: How was Kelly in bed? Greg: She was good in bed the first date. And that was the hook. And then she was horrible after that. She's 15 years older than me. Luke to Rey: Have you schtupped any of these girls? Greg: That's yiddish for… He's not allowed to. Rey: I'm technically not allowed to… Luke: Have you fluffed any to ready them for a scene? Rey: No. Luke: Have you fluffed Shawn Ricks? Rey: No. Greg: I have made it a rule on my sets that the crew does not schtup the talent, 'cause if they do the talent loses respect for them. No hanky panky on my sets. No time. If I ever catch it on my set, people are kicked off… If there is free time on one of my sets, somebody is getting their ass chewed. Luke to Rey: You don't like sex or are you married? Rey: I am not married and I love sex. I am just not attracted to most of the girls in the industry. I see them having sex on set. It's just a business. I'd rather meet someone new. Luke: Do girls have to suck your dick before they can work for Kryptic? Greg: That's a fair question, because that goes on. Rey: I had to suck Greg's dick to work for him. Greg: What they have to do is audition, a cold-reading. They have to read for any role in my movie, even a porno. Luke: Is "audition" or "cold-reading" a metaphor? Greg: No, I am serious. They have to read. I don't just cast by who I want to see fuck. Granted, there are roles in my movies that are just sex roles, which I will usually give to the contract girl. But anyone who wants a real role in my movies has to audition. The acting in my movies is a cut above the rest. I pay more money than anyone in this business. Male actors make $1000 a day with me, and sometimes they don't even do sex. But I demand more than anyone else in this business. I'll pay actresses up to $3000 for one scene, but they all have to do the dialogue. The actors like it, and they want to work for me. They know what I demand. American Dream is still in post-production. I want to start shooting Tribal by the end of the year. Some of it will be shot in three different countries - US, Mexico, Nicaragua. We're leaving in a month for Nicaragua to scout locations. We use adult movies as a practice ground to keep our chops up for mainstream. I have shoots scheduled for Gabor at Heatwave, and then for VCA. I've spent weeks editing Thunderpussy, the gonzo for Elegant Angel. I'm trying to keep my wife busy now that she's retired [from porn]. She dances on the road, she does makeup (trained for it years ago) and she does PR for many of my movies. We get a lot of mainstream attention. Anyone from Rhino Records to the E Channel were on my last set. We try to mix the mainstream with the adult. Greg forgot his wallet, so I gave him $10 so he could buy gas to drive to Chatsworth to meet with Ron Sullivan aka Henri Pachard at LBO. Ron has directed production for LBO for almost two years. I arrive at my "family's" home around 2PM - Star World Modeling at 13160 Raymer Street in North Hollywood to say hello to Joe and Rob Spallone, Matt Jade, Sal Sodano and company. Rob feels queasy after a mild case of food poisoning last night. Sal has reason to feel queasy, because he suspects that ex-Rob employee Sarah sent some gangsters (speed dealers) over to beat him up a few weeks ago. He was gone, though he wished he would've stayed because he can shoot straight. Sal and Rob keep heat [a .45 Magnum]. Sal: Sarah's been a speed freak and always will be. Sal, new producer Alex look at Sal's new AVID, which took a month to build, not several days as I wrote earlier this week. Rob reports that he received 60 phone calls today from talent looking for work. We're all sickened by Lennox's scene with Don Fernando because Lennox appears so drunk. She looks like she is about to throw up on Don, which mirrors how she feels about him, I hear. I spot several spelling mistakes in the title sequence. Rob to Sal: You listen to him [Luke]. He knows what he's talking about. Lennox sucks Don's cock. Her face appears puffy and swollen. Several years ago she was a beauty. Rob's new female Rotweiler dog BJ pads in and out. Sal says that Reagen Senter discovered Lennox around 1994. She normally prefers black guys. Sal remembers when Eric Edwards shot MAKING IT for Factory Video but forgot to plug the sound in. So Sal spent two months dubbing words from other movies into MAKING IT to make it make sense. And AVN, reports Sal, couldn't tell. Sal says that he introduced Rod Fontana to the business. Rod was a NY cop who got laid off around 1975. Joe and Rob introduce me to Herschel Savage, who entered porn in 1976. He retired in 1998, then returned to porn with the help of his buddy David Christopher in 1997. Rob: "Luke Ford is the greatest. He prints what people tell him. If I tell him that Herschel Savage is the greatest douche bag in the world, he prints it. Then if you call him up, he prints what you tell him." Luke and Herschel are overwhelmed by these words. I ask Savage if he strongly objects to my using his real name. He does and so I don't. Rob gives Herschel a stack of printouts from my web site (mainly of my interviews with Rob). Herschel: "If Rob Spallone is in your corner, no one will ever fuck with you." Herschel sees that I am recording every word. "Oh no, he's recording the whole thing… Let's do a [Howard Stern type] fart contest. Did you hear that guy? I was in the dentist chair, when he did a 30-second fart…" Rob: He had a guy on two days ago who could fart for two hours. Rob has the phone number of Howard's producer Gary BaBaBooie, and other members of the show. "If you think you have connections," Rob says to us… "My friend James DiGiorgio calls me up…," says Rob. Herschel is concerned that I have a broken arm and Joe Spallone is missing a thumb… Rob: Jim says, "Rob you are all over the internet. This fucking guy Luke Ford says that you're a gangster…" So, the next day, I called Luke up and he came over and did an interview. And ever since then, he's become the hottest thing in the business. He gets death threats, hate mail… "You know who the godfather is? Sal Sodano… "I think Luke is an FBI agent. He's wired." Herschel: "Rob, why aren't you eating?" Rob: "I told Luke Ford, and he printed it, that I was going to lose 20 pounds by July 15." Herschel to Luke: How much money are you making from your internet sites? Luke: About $3,000 a month… Herschel: It's taken me a year, but I'm now one of the top guys in the industry again… Not bad after a ten year layoff. The girls like me. I do the top features. I entered the industry in March of 1976. I was a real actor in New York, tired of always chasing work. It was tough making rounds, finding agents, consistently working… My girlfriend a friend of R. Bolla. She told me the name of this agent who booked straight and porn work. Dorothy Palmer. She's in her '80s now. She was a trip. She'd ask you to your clothes off, because she got turned on by looking at guy's dicks. I did my first loop for Sal Sodano's partner Ted Snyder [gunned down around 1990] and Bobby Genova. The industry was nothing like it is now. I was lucky to make $6-7,000 a year. I did live sex shows at Show World, which was managed by Joey Silvera. Sharon Mitchell, George Payne…later Jane Hamilton… New York used to be the capital of the porn scene. I retired in 1988. Luke: Why did you return? Herschel: I was looking for an outlet. My marriage fell apart [from '83 - '95]. David Christopher encouraged me. For the most part, it's been good. I've done over 100 videos over the past year. I work about 15 days a month. Luke: How old are you? Herschel: How old do I look, Luke? Are you going to print this on the internet? I am 39. I'm making some inroads into mainstream as well. On Friday, June 14, Flag Day, Italian descended Joe Spallone celebrates his 41st Wedding Anniversary with his wife Barbara, who's Jewish. They have three sons - Rob at Star World, another son is a doctor, and another son languishes in a Barcelona jail (drug smuggling). Herschel Savage: "We're all Rob's girls." Luke: Yes. Wayne Crews, Matt Jade, Herschel, Mike.." Rob: You're all my bitches. Is Reb still alive? I want you to call every day and assure me that he is still alive. You think he's a nice guy. He wants to play baseball and softball with the little kids… Luke: Yes, I like Reb. Rob: He's a cunt and a child molestor. He called me a mobster and a thug. He should die of AIDS slowly. He should be in a car accident and have his limbs cut off. Millenium calls. Rob: Hi baby…what's happening… Rob says his wife leaves soon for seven weeks in New York. Rob may spend two week with her. He looks forward to her leaving. "I need to open up some [adult] stores fast but we have a lot of politics pressure. It's hard to open a store. Palm Springs. "We're going to have big parties when my wife leaves." Herschel to Rob: By the way my friend, you fucked it on the over. [Herschel bet the Bulls minus five on Rob's recommendation and the Chicago team won by about four, so he lost his bet.] Rob: I am not a gambler. I used to gamble a lot. Gambling is a rough way to make money. Luke: Rob, do you know any bookies? Rob [deadpan]: What's that? Luke: It's like a mobster or a thug. Rob: Ask Reb, he's big on thugs. Herschel: Bookies know thugs. Rob: Herschel knows his shit. Bookmaking is illegal. Like Boogie Nights? Luke: You know, connections, family… Rob: What is that? Luke, you're an FBI agent. We may have to strip you down to make sure you're not wired. Wayne: He's carrying a tape recorder. Herschel to Rob: Don't get so enamored of his fucking tape recorder, 'cause that may be the last happy moment you have. Rob: People will be sending me tapes in my cell. Herschel: I'll be visiting. 'Here's the new one Luke brought out.' Luke: This tape recorder has become famous. There's talk about Sharon Mitchell, PAW, AIM and FSC. "They're looking for a new place before they get closed down." People say things that they won't let me quote. Herschel wants to make sure that Rob gets along with his friend Sharon Mitchell now. I hear Sharon earns $650 a week from the FSC. Joe Spallone: I used to get up every morning and read the LA TIMES. Now I read www.lukeford.com. It's the first thing I do when I get out of the shower in the morning. Rob to Luke: I want you to get your own talkshow. Luke: I want that too. I worked in radio for four years. Luke, Rob, Joe and Sal Sodano discuss how we can set up our own internet radio station and broadcast interviews, talkback shows and the like. There's also talk about a family picnic, which I am warned to stay away from. Talk about how to hide the picnic from the police. Talk about which celebrities have come to Star World Modeling to watch porn shoots. Such actors as Beverly D'Angelo and Scott Baio held C-lights, the little light which exposes the genitals for closeups. The two actors were researching a forthcoming mainstream movie about porn. Many sports stars come by as well…various members of the Dodgers, Lakers, LA Kings… Luke: What do you say to strangers who ask you what you do for a living? Rob: I tell them I make movies. Luke: What sort of movies? Rob: You don't want to know. [Laughter all round Rob's office. ] Luke: How do they treat you? Rob: They're fine with it. Luke: Do they try to save your soul? Rob: I've never seen that. Herschel: They know he is going to hell anyway. Rob: This [porn] is hell. It can't get any worse than this. No way. Luke: Be afraid. Be very afraid. Herschel: What's bad about where we are? This is great. Gourmet Video and Star World Modeling were subpoened 6/10/98 for an investigation of Liza Harper and her boyfriend for pimping/prostitution. Jeffrey Douglas coordinates the industry's defense. He tells everyone "that he's working for the good of the industry." Douglas reads lukeford.com regularly and spends much of his time putting out fires that I start. Nikki Sinn walks in with her husband of the past 18 months. She wears a black plastic miniskirt, black sweater and black stockings. She tells me about her new series for Gourmet: "A bunch of titles like Guilty As Sin, So Sinfully Yours…" Rob walks over to introduce Nikki and I. He finds out that we already know each other. Wally Wharton introduced me to Nikki Sinn two years ago. Nikki to Luke: "You have something on the web that I hear is good…" Rob to Nikki: He'll write whatever you say. Nikki: That is good. Luke to Nikki: I came to your place over two years ago. Nikki: Oh god, I remember. You've lost weight [about 30 pounds]. I thought you were such a weirdo, with your polyester suit and yarmulka… You were asking me all these questions about how my boyfriend [Brook] felt about my career. Rob: I had a friend who had a friend for eight years…And he turned out to be an FBI agent. I still can't trust you Luke. Rob to Nikki: Did Luke ask you if you were in the Mafia? You look great [Nikki]. I haven't seen you in six months. Luke asks Nikki about various past flames including Ron Sullivan. Nikki lives about five minutes from Wally. "We're still tight. She's one of my best friends. She's writing on the surfer scene the last two years. "I've been dancing more the last year. I've only done three scenes in the last seven months, two of them were with Herschel. I hate making the rounds looking for work." Nikki is scheduled to work on Sunday. She plans to get an Eliza test Friday. Rob tells her that test is no longer the industry standard. Now it's the more expensive PCR-DNA test, which has a four day turnaround. Nikki says that her gynecologist says that the PCR/DNA is no more accurate than the Eliza test. It's not clear whether her co-stars will demand that she present a recent PCR-DNA. Torris writes on RAME: " IT shouldn't be whatever some person's gynecologist says that determines valid credentials. It should be one form only with no backsliding. Otherwise the same bullshit that lead to Wallice is going to stay in place. "My astronomer told me that if Jupiter is aligned with Mars that I'm immune from infection". Ok good enough for us." A group of us talk about pornographer Peter Davy and his leased Rolls Royce. Peter supposedly keeps a gun in his car. Peter, "a very nice guy," say several persons, is organizing with Nitro Productions a porn star cruise featuring Nikki. I'm told to turn off my tape recorder. I hear talk about problems between John Bone and his partner Charley Frey. Talent aren't getting paid. Talk about Gabor at Heatwave not paying people. Gabor is called a "drug-dealing scumbag." Talk about the Teflon Don [John Gotti?]. The Don phones. I can't write about it… It never happened… Other talk which I cannot repeat on pain of death. Rob gets warned about me. He's told that our latest interview is dangerous. We go to a computer and read the interview. Rob has no concerns about it. I'm introduced to Tony Michaels, who performed in about 25 videos. He won't talk to me my while my tape recorder runs. Rob: "Write that I tore your clothes off to see if you were an FBI agent. That I threw you out of my office. Tomorrow we will make up. But don't say that." Luke goes to his weekly acting class. At 3:50 PM, Friday, 6/12/98, my buddy Rob Spallone calls to ask me to remove a real name from my list. He said he hadn't read the latest interview with him but that he'd been receiving a lot of phone calls about the "mob shit." He said all that talk was hearsay. And I, Luke, am supposed to say that I don't believe it either. So, I, Luke, don't believe it either. 'Cause Rob Spallone is my buddy and I do most anything he says. On RAME, KEWLTEDDY@AOL.Com writes: Binky wrote regarding Luke Ford---->>I don't really understand where he's coming from. I've seen his site>and his >>posts and there's a very schizophrenic quality to it; Ms. Alexandre follows---->There is no cohesion to the way he writes. It is very disjointed and >convoluted. There's a lot there that doesn't say anything. Like when Bill>Margold talks. Hmmmmmmm, lemme see---- Luke often posts (close to) verbatim interviews with people in the porn industry and HE is assailed with the notion that HIS writings are disjointed & convoluted; Could it possibly be that Luke covers a rather "motley crew" of people in an amorphous "world of porn", and THAT is where the purported "schizophrenic" qualities of his postings stem from? At the risk of being called a Luke Ford ass-kisser(I might as well get THAT Outta the way before someone is SURE to post as such...so see, I've saved someone a step in their response) let me please say this----- I find Luke's writings to be absolutely, positively and superbly CONGRUOUS with regards to the "field" in which he covers----LUKE COVERS PORN, FOR CHRISSAKES! Luke isn't covering affairs of "national security", for cryin' out loud! I think (my opinion only!) many people who don't like Luke really miss the point in regards to what Luke "does"....which is simple, really: Luke Ford is privy to certain porn insiders and certain porn industry facts that he writes about in a straight-forward manner, warts & all---Luke doesn't CENSOR, which is one of the things I really like about the guy--- To say Luke is not informative, entertaining, provocative and eye-opening in his writings regarding porndom is suspicious, at best.....idiotic, at worst. Luke Ford's writings are, in the opinion of some, at times, to be disjointed, chaotic, schizophrenic and convoluted---(an opinion I DON'T share) Pithy reason as to why his writings are interpreted as such----- HE COVERS PORN! every adjective(schizoid, convoluted, disjointed, etc.) to describe Luke's writings could be easily used to describe the world of Porn.... I believe Luke paints an unbelievably accurate picture of the porn industry as it exists today. Keep up the good work, Luke, far.....far...far more people appreciate the work you do than don't, IMHO.
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