blog.iafd.com - News and Reviews from the IAFD Staff

Exxxotica DC 2024

The Exxxotica tour made its third stop in the DMV area. The show here is smaller with less exhibitors and had the vibe of an intimate affair. An attendee would be able to chat with their favourite star and not feel like they were holding up the lines. The industry talent also told me that the attendees were more likely to spend money at this show rather than just gawk so everyone was happy.

The busiest booth was the Loyalfans spotlight booth with Alex Coal and April O’Neil consistently having people waiting for them. The Chaturbate booth was the second busiest as the cam models regularly interacted with the physical attendees in addition to their online cam room.

The nights were laid back with the after-parties being at a neighbouring restaurant. People didn’t go too crazy, and this show was a good stopover before awards season start next month.

Rest of the photos on Flickr

Exxxotica New Jersey 2024

Exxxotica returned to New Jersey on October 25-27. I attended the show mostly to catch up with the boss over at IAFD and get some ramen at this local place called Yaraku that offers a mean cheap bowl.

The show was busy and at times overwhelming if you are antsy with crowds. The foot traffic on Fridays can be bumper to bumper given the free attendance for women. Saturday is steady in attendance throughout the day while Sundays are not as slow as the other locations on the tour. The crowd behaviour was respectful, and there was no alcohol sold at the show presumably due to state law.

There were less major booths compared to last year, and it made the lines longer to visit with the performers. Many of them were in costume since Halloween was the following week. Violet Myers at Loyalfans held the longest lines with people accruing hours before she was scheduled to sign. Both Alex Coal and April O’Neil had their share of waiting attendees at the same booth.

April O’Neil cosplaying as April Oneil from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

After-hours is when the alcohol came out as Exxxotica hosted parties each night. Friday and Saturday featured a live band and large crowds while Sunday had a more laid back trivia contest that focused on sex and porn.

Rest of the photos on Flickr

Exxxotica Miami 2024

Three weeks and one hurricane later, I should just give an abbreviated summary of the most senior Exxxotica show in Miami. The Miami show gives me an opportunity to meet some of the newer talent that are based in Florida. The show is easy to access in the sense that it’s near the airport and the convention center is next to the host hotel. The crowds are not too heavy, and the food in the surrounding area is excellent.

Suck and Blow, a stage game by James Bartholet

I didn’t see any signing talent with huge lines but that may be because of the constant entertainment at the main stage where crowds gather. I also saw Florida-based talent randomly walking around the show like Kelsi Monroe, Leana Lovings, and Daisy Lavoy.

Rest of convention photos

As for the off-hours, I didn’t stray too far away from the hotel with Mr. Blue Lou Boyle. Even though I kept getting invited to the after-parties by my feature dance friends with incentives of free alcohol, I was just too beaten to hang out at strip clubs.

Oh, and Rose Carter, thank you for being magical.

Exxxotica Chicago 2024

I really enjoy photographing Exxxoticas. They are just really laid back shows where you can meet and greet the performers for more than 5 minutes. Many of signing performers also enjoy doing the show, and they look forward to seeing their repeat attendees.

Violet Myers easily had the longest lines at the convention. People were lining up 2 hours before she started signing on Saturday. I’ve commented before that I didn’t know why or how she is so popular beyond being hot (and nice). I should poll people in line at the next show to confirm.

This year in Chicago was very busy, but the show retained its typical experience which extended outside the show hours. All four locations of Exxxotica feature after-parties, but the Chicago and New Jersey shows are the ones that have parties at the host hotel. There fans can greet some of the performers in a more casual setting.

Besides fans attending these conventions to meet their favourite performers, industry people attend to network and collaborate on shoots. With the popularity of self-production these days, you have performers from all over never needing to step foot in the production hubs of Los Angeles, Las Vegas, or Miami and instead meet at an Exxxotica.

Photo gallery on Flickr

AVN Expo 2024

It took a while, but I was distracted by personal life stuff. This year’s AVN Expo was smaller and cheaper than last year’s wallet shock of a show. Resorts World is still a very expensive venue when it comes to food and drinks, but moving the show off the same week as CES made it more affordable.

As such, most of the industry was staying at the host hotel rather than the backup hotel. The show itself was hosted in a smaller area with less exhibitors compared to last year. That was fine because I didn’t have to move around as much. Even though there was less attendance due to the lack of CES crossover, the crowd density remained the same. At some point, I was jostling in a river of crowd traffic with my camera banging against people including one person that was carrying a motorcycle helmet for some reason.

CC Doll, Aria Valencia, Sky Pierce, Rissa May, Harley Haze at Hookup Hotshots

The best booth at the show was a new one from Hookup Hotshots. The beautiful starlets signing there were accessible and there were backgrounds to shoot them against without a crowd. Angela White, Abella Danger, and Violet Myers had the longest lines at the convention, and Brazzers seemed to have the busiest booth.

I did not party too hard this year with all of the distractions and was more busy walking girls back to their room since there were so many predators out and about.

I stayed away from the awards red carpet and watched The Royal Rumble instead. Congratulations to the deserving Chanel Camryn for winning Best New Starlet though.