I Think Something's About To Happen...

...but that's all I'm going to say about it, for now.

"You Know, I Never Thought I'd Be Worried About Going to Death Row...It's, It's Just Really Hard..."

Starting November 5th (tomorrow) Here! TV will present a seven-part documentary about porn stars "Everything You Wanted To Know About Gay Porn Stars* *but were afraid to ask." According to a recent interview in the Advocate (thanks Will for this tip) documentarian John Roecker "captures those often-troubled souls of gay adult cinema."

What's interesting about this as far as we are concerned is that one of the "porn stars" Roecker interviews is Harlow Cuadra:

"Roecker is particularly proud of the episode centering on Harlow Cuadra, a former porn star and escort accused (along with boyfriend Joseph Kerekes) of brutally murdering rival porn producer Bryan Kocis. “This kid was being pummeled on the blogs, so I wrote to him in prison. I wanted to give him the same respect I gave everyone else. I said, ‘If you want to tell your story, here’s your forum.’ ” Roecker interviewed the now–27-year-old by phone from his Pennsylvania prison, and the audio appears in the film along with personal photos he acquired from Cuadra’s mother. Roecker considers his work with Cuadra “the most emotionally draining experience” of his life.

As Cuadra awaits trial, scheduled for January, Roecker says prosecutors have been asking him to turn over letters he exchanged with the inmate, even though he says those letters and their telephone calls had been monitored. “I’m not doing anything illegal,” he says. “If there was a smoking gun, I’d go to the authorities.” Roecker has kept in touch with Cuadra since and hopes to follow up with another chapter in the series."

"This kid was being pummeled on the blogs..." Really? Well that's shocking. Does anyone know of any blogs that might have engaged in this sort of pummelling? Anyone have any idea what blogs Roecker might be referring to?

Buuuut seriously folks...also of interest to us here are two of the other interviewees: Jason Ridge, who tried a few months back to create a "Free Harlow" campaign as a publicity stunt to promote his fledgling studio, and Caleb Carter, an early promulgator of the now discredited "hit man" story.








Hmmmm...given this Advocate quote by Roecker that he set out on a crusade to address the wrongs wrought by those eeeeevil Harlow-pummelling blogs out there, not to mention the story direction two of his other interviewees would have undoubtably urged on him...I'd say anyone who views this documentary should be prepared to do so with a skeptical eye.

Which won't be me, it looks like. I was a Here! subscriber for a while (it is a pay cable service, like HBO), but I never watched it. Until now, there was never anything on this channel that interested me. Then, I moved and changed providers, and they don't carry it. Which is just as well, because based on my previous subscription, I doubt I would have elected to in any case.

So, if anyone out there manages to get Here!, you'll have to fill us in with comments on how this show goes. But like I said, take this thing with a grain of salt (it looks like you'll need to keep a full salt shaker handy near your TV for this purpose).

A trailer clip below. You can clearly see Roecker's main overall storyline he's pushing here: The nightmare dark side of being in gay porn. He actually managed to convince a couple of these knuckleheads to shoot themselves up with needles and light a crackpipe on camera.

Also interesting to me is how Roecker uses a near-blinding stage light on the floor, to illuminate his subjects from below. This is a common photographic trick, used when you want to make your subjects look as bad as possible. From this angle, every shadow becomes unflattering, every flaw and wrinkle is highlighted, and the subjects are made to age about ten years as a result. Incidentally, this lighting technique became infamous earlier in this political campaign season, when a John McCain hating photographer used it to take really bad pictures of the candidate (she was fired by her magazine as a result).

Like I said, salt shakers people, salt shakers!



Update: Promo video for the Harlow episode:



Update 2: First comment posted on Jason Curious' thread:



Update 3: Here! seems to have pushed back the scheduled air date of the series until later this month, as according to J.C. Adams a pre-broadcast screening will now take place in L.A. on November 19.

Update 4: Harlow gets a marriage proposal. Hey why not, Scott Peterson gets them all the time! In any case, another clue as to the slant this documentary is about to take.

Update 5: John Roecker (left) and Jason Ridge (right). YJCMTSU!:



Update 6: Jason Curious plans a celebratory afterparty.

The Big 22

Undercover informant, prosecution witness, porn star, mainstream actor, director, studio owner, blogger, screenwriter, and wearer of ridiculous red pimp outfits "Brent Corrigan" turns a mathematically certain 22 years old today.

This day is of course an annual day of celebration for Brent and his fans; and conversely, an annual day of mourning and bile-swallowing for those unfortunate, unlucky and/or unwise investors in a small Pennsylvania-based bareback twink porn company. In retrospect, mortgage-backed securities would have been a slightly better investment (the $700 billion government bailout does not cover the collapse of porn companies).

SOTC once again sends birthday greetings to Brent, and wishes him continued success in his endeavors!



Update: Geez, writing this post made me realize...I'm celebrating a birthday too! SOTC was launched October 30, 2007. Wow, a whole year of this! Seems like it's been, oh, 8 or 9 years at least... :-p

Update 2: Brent is once again nominated for a Cybersocket Award. Although I must say, getting a nomination this year isn't quite achievement it was last year; this year, Cybersocket has decided to blow open the nomination process to as many as 15 candidates per catagory, and was willing to accept as little as a single nomination to fill those empty slots. In other words, the only legitimate bragging rights any site will be able to get out of these Cybersocket Awards will be to win an award.

Update 3: An Angel Skye shout out to Brent.

The Tawana Brawley of Gay Porn?

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Geoff's Motive Theory

Some comments here are so interesting, they really deserve their own seperate threads. This IMO is one of those instances:

"In 2001, Kocis was newly bankrupt, meaning that his debts were discharged then, but that he had to forfeit most of his assets. He could keep his home, but if he wanted to keep his personal property including his clothes, he had to value them on a mark-to-market basis and buy them back from the court, forking over monthly cash payments at his bankruptcy lawyer’s office. He would not be able legitimately to apply for and get credit, except for a low dollar secured credit card, until 2008, which he did not live to see.

I estimate that Kocis could have produced one of his cheesoid dvds for somewhere in the low to mid five figures, assuming he paid the models generously. Where did he get his start-up and continuing operating capital if he were still in bankruptcy? Did he ask his parents for it? Did he dig up a bunch of Chock Full o’ Nuts coffee cans in the back yard? Or did he go to a high-interest underground lender who would be unforgiving about repayment.

Such an underground lender might know a lot about the gay porn industry, be able to judge a project’s probability of success, maintain wide contacts in the industry, have numerous gay porn film clients, and, again, wouldn’t be fucking kidding about taking back the principle and the vig.

All goes well for three years. Kocis makes his films, establishes a Rolodex of models, gets distribution, establishes an industry reputation, and the money starts rolling in. But he fucks it up. He plows his income into lifestyle and not into the business. Small businessmen do not have Rolexes and Maseratis until they retire. Kocis remains dependent on the underground lender for operating capital.

Then the bottom drops out. Kocis has a falling out with a star model. Kocis knows that this may cause his house of cards to collapse. Rather than say nice knowing you and good luck, he mounts a campaign to intimidate and discredit the model. His desperation in emails and phone calls is palpable. Disaster strikes. The model reveals what both he and the model have known from the beginning, that the model was under age at the time of filming, and that the films that secure the underground line of credit are worthless.

The next sixteen months are a maelstrom of desperation. Distributors won’t touch him or his product. Worthless assets. Declining revenue. Mounting interest payments. Repeated threats. He hires lawyers who won’t be paid more than the initial retainer to file lawsuits against insolvent defendants. (Ask Sean Macias what he cleared, or better yet his partners, if he has any.) The underground lenders conclude that they won’t get their money, and decide to make an example of Kocis for the gay porn industry.

Cut to Virginia Beach and Joe and Harlow, who are just as broke and desparate. It is whispered in their ears that maybe they will be allowed to live if only they do this one thing. The whisperers know that Joe and Harlow are incompetent and will be caught, but they also know that these two mooks will not be safe even in prison if they talk.

September 28, 2008 8:10 PM"

Update: Well well well, look at this...

Brent: The Book

Yep, it's a coming:


I envision "Siren's Tale" with a bit more detail, and being finished thru to the end of the Harlow and Joe trial. A perfect ending point, IMO.

Thanks to some tipsters (who have sworn me to secrecy), I know a bit of "behind the scenes" drama that swirled about Brent after the murder...drama that's never been publically revealed, that I assume has been held back for this book, and will absolutely knock you socks off when you finally read about it! So yeah, if it's all included (and I can't imagine it won't be!) we are talking about a gay best seller here, easily. Think of the "blood in the pool" moment from Greg Louganis' autobiography, THAT kind of suspense level. It'll be good, trust me!

CC in AA

This photo may be a thing of the past for witness #172 of the 385, as according to the latest from Jason Secrest:

"In other "show" news last week, I was surprised to find an incredibly sober Caleb Carter at Here Lounge for our Friday happy hour show from 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm. Carter says he's now a proud member of AA, a far cry from the boy we knew on MTV's True Life."

Hmmm. Well, if he's serious, you know what I say? Good for him! I wish him all the best in this personal lifestyle correction for the better.