Now that 2023’s AEE/X3 shows are behind us, let’s take an even further look back at the 1989 Winter CES show.
Photographer John A. Mozzer (who is also known around these parts as performer Alan Adrian) shared a bunch of photos he took around the 1989 Winter CES – when the adult exhibitors were tucked away on the second floor of the Sahara, and private parties were where you rubbed your elbows.
We can’t recommend enough getting lost and clicking around John’s meticulously captioned galleries over on SmugMug – it’s a cornucopia of the NYC downtown scene (and elsewhere) peppered with some familiar faces and a really great eye for the candid…
Click on the picture below to see the rest of the CES gallery:
Last stop of the Exxxotica tour, this show at the Dulles Expo Center in Virginia was the smallest of the four this year. The energy was overall good, and I had a chance to test out a new ring flash setup for the first time. I had no idea what I was doing on the fly so some of the photos from the first two days were underexposed.
Kay LovelyEmma SirusNikki Dial
I enjoyed meeting old friends and making new ones. After blinding Kay Lovely in Jersey with yet another new light setup, I had a chance to gab with this statuesque beauty longer and tinker with both her lights and my flash. Meanwhile, the decorative booth at Emma Sirus caused some focus issues that wasn’t obvious until after I reviewed the photos. I also saw the return of Nikki Dial, who is an incredibly lovely woman to talk to. I almost didn’t recognise her since twenty years is a long time between seeing her.
Delilah Cass & Ivy MinxxxApril O’NeilAlex Coal & Lilly Bell
The afterhours of the convention were a little more laid back this year. With the temperatures dropping below freezing, I just didn’t want to go very far beyond checking out a party that Chaturbate models Ivy Minxxx and Delilah Cass were hosting nearby. I ended up being the Behind The Scenes videographer for April O’Neil as she greeted random dogs during the weekend. I also got to see Alex Coal and Lilly Bell eat several times if you’re into that.
We get a short break with the holidays before reconvening for AVN and XBIZ in January.
It’s that time of year again! Time for the Annotated list of AVN Awards nominees for 2023. (Really, the material is from 2022, but the show is in 2023, so they call it 2023.)
I know. Sounding like a broken record for the past year, Exxxotica New Jersey was the most attended Exxxotica I have been to in the last 12 years. Organisers said that attendance was even larger than a typical AVN Adult Entertainment Expo (AEE) but it wasn’t obvious due to the larger square footage., which kind of scares me on what a post-pandemic AEE would look like the same week as the Consumer Electronic Show.
Angela White for Brazzers
Like the past Exxxoticas this year, Angela White and Violet Myers had the longest lines stretching haphazardly several booth lengths. Even when Brazzers officials would try to stop the line near the end of the day, fans would continue to wait in line hoping that Angela would continue signing after closing, which she did.
Violet MyersBlake BlossomMila Monet
A new booth debuted, Ricky’s Room, by Ricky Johnson that featured Blake Blossom and Mila Monet. I congratulated Blake on her Best New Starlet title with AVN while I was surprised to learn that Mila had been in the industry since 2019. The pandemic has thrown my sense of timing off. I didn’t stray too far from the hotel in the after hours.
On to the last convention of the year with Exxxotica DC.
This may sound repetitive, but the second post-pandemic Exxxotica Miami show was the busiest out of my years of going to the Florida shows. Not only were there many more attendees that persisted through the three days, there were also much more exhibitors in that they opened up an additional hall to house them. I like going to the Miami show because it is often the only opportunity for me to see talent from the Florida-based industry. Most of the shows I go to are dominated by talent living in LA or Las Vegas.
Brazzers crew: Luna Star, Alexis Fawx, Angela White, and Ebony Mystique
Brazzers had the busiest booth at the convention, and Angela White had the longest lines waiting for her. She would spend at least five minutes with each fan. On the day that I decided to wait in line (for about 30 minutes), I spent my five minutes talking about my bar cat who had died while I was at the convention. She asked me not to share photos, but I did. I know there’s an urban dictionary term for awkwardly imposing your grief onto non-consenting subjects, but I forgot what it is.
Lexi Lore & Leda Lotharia
Ivy Minxxx & Daphne Madison
I think the main reason I go to Exxxoticas is hanging out with my friends during the downtime. Even when there is no onsite after-party, I would be catching up and eating pizza & cookies with people I hadn’t seen in months or years in the lobby couches, pool, or outside smoking areas; sometimes until 5am even. When I hung out with talent, they would be propositioned by skeezy fans that I see at numerous shows who present themselves as producers to collaborate on shoots.
Tom Christian & 19HoneysuckleEvangeline DarlingDaisy DevilleChaturbate booth
The one party I did go to was hosted by Chaturbate at a night club with a good balance of men and women. Even though I do not spend much time on the site, I have befriended many of the webcam models over the years since their events are more accessible than the competition. They also don’t mind too much when I drink their hooch.
