Shooting the Bull – Page 2

Exxxotica Chicago 2025

Exxxotica kicked off its 20th year of touring (+- that one pandemic year) with another big show in Chicago. In looking back at my photos over the years, Chicago has been my most frequent Exxxotica stop. Attendance has always great and the convenience of the convention center, hotels, and restaurants being near the airport just makes it the easiest show to get in and out of.

Fridays are always intense while Sundays had a much steadier stream of people than at other locations. Phoenix Marie had the longest lines, and the LoyalFans spotlight booth had several new people signing for them this year like Chanel Camryn and Hailey Rose.

This year marked the return of the Exxxotica Fan Choice Awards aka the Fannys, hosted by Maitland Ward and Usama Siddiquee. Having not attended the previous Fannys in Atlantic City, the amount of production the organisers put into this gala surprised me. The amount of people participating on the red or pink carpet also surprised me since Chicago was not the home base for many of the walkers.

That weekend I also visited with prolific Chicago pro-am producer, Tad Pole and his TadpolexStudio, before he embarked on his annual Exxxotica Chicago orgy. This year featured 20 men and 8 women. I didn’t stay to watch, but several of the participants said that it was the best thing they ever did. I also met people the next day that griped about missing the orgy. :)

AEE 2025

AVN’s Adult Entertainment Expo (AEE) moved to Virgin Las Vegas after a two-year stint at ResortsWorld. Virgin was somewhat familiar grounds since AEE was at the former Hard Rock Hotel & Casino from 2013-2020. Beyond the familiar layout, the atmosphere and security was more similar to ResortsWorld. Newer talent complained about a strict dress code that was consistent with those of previous years.

AEE was spread across two large rooms while the Adult Novelty Expo and Internext were in separate areas. Vixen and Fleshlight hosted a pop-up store outside of the convention. Brazzers had the largest and most popular booth at the show with lines for Abella Danger, Angela White, Lily Phillips, and Violet Myers waiting for more than an hour.

Photo Gallery on Flickr

Congratulations to Anna Claire Clouds for winning Female Performer of the Year at the AVN Awards. I first met Anna while sharing a smoke with Don Juan Demarko at Exxxotica Denver in 2018 and joked about the industry need for three-part stage names. It has been a pleasure to watch her growth over the past years.

Congratulations also to Jeff Vanzetti and Peter Van Aarle for their long overdue inductions into the AVN Hall of Fame. Without them, there would be no database for the obsessive fan that need a name or number to the person they just fapped to. I only knew Peter for a brief time, but he was a mentor and ideal as a historian for the industry. Jeff had the technical know-how to put IAFD together and the temperament to manage a motley group of contributors that followed. I am glad that the selection committee recognised and gave them their flowers.

X3 2025

XBIZ returned to the Hollywood Palladium for its fourth edition of the X3 show where fans get to meet some of their favourite performers. Given the ongoing fires in parts of Los Angeles, some industry talent from out of town were apprehensive about attending. However, XBIZ LA and X3 went off without much of a hitch.

The start of the X3 show was delayed by an hour due to a reported bomb threat. Once the police and their bomb dogs cleared the venue, we had the busiest X3 show ever in terms of attendance. The organisers run a good ship. The most popular booths were Brazzers, Fleshlight, and Ricky’s Room while the most popular signer was Violet Myers.

The show also featured a musical performance by rapper, Bia. I didn’t know her beforehand, but she was entertaining and led a raucous concert.

I couldn’t attend the rebrand of the XMA Awards, but the judges made the right call on many of their picks. Congratulations to Anna Claire Clouds on winning Female Performer of the Year, Gal Ritchie for Best New Performer, and Lilly Bell for G/G Performer of the Year.

For the 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.

X3 2024

The third annual X3 show on January 17-18 in Hollywood was the most successful with attendance being at a max. There were no omicron fears to worry about as in the first year, and the weather mostly cooperated with the outdoor lines unlike less year.

Logistics for the show also changed. I noticed that only Hussie Models had an agency booth this year, and the lack of agency booths contributed to less talent signing. Less talent and more people made for some tight spaces. The stage presentations by exhibiting companies brought large crowds to the front, but also hampered the people that were signing in front of the stage. Fortunately, there were no distracting celebrity musical performances so people signed on until the end.

Brazzers had the busiest booth for the third year in a row, and Angela White again was the most popular signer at the show. Their security coordinated lines that did not impede the flow of traffic.

I liked how the organisers ran the show overall and made on-the-fly decisions to improve the flow of traffic. For example, many of the talent signing upstairs were brought downstairs to the perimeter on the second day to make them more noticeable and pull some of the traffic outwards.

Naked News crew — Cosplayground featuring Naked News

I did not attend the XBIZ Awards this year due to an emergency back home. I heard it went well, and there were no surprises. The red carpet photos looked dazzling.

Gallery on Flickr