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Exxxotica DC 2021

Exxxotica makes its first appearance near the nation’s capital. The convention isn’t actually in the District of Columbia, but calling it Exxxotica Dulles or Exxxotica NoVa does not have quite the same marketing ring. Given the new area, I wasn’t sure if this show would be the smallest one after the pandemic, but it turned out not to be. In fact, it was very busy. With less exhibitors and more attendees than the show in Miami, there was a steady crowd every day drawing from the DMV population.

Having met and photographed many of the same exhibitors the past three post-pandemic Exxxoticas, I interacted more with the popular webcam performers this time around; especially Chaturbate. Even though the booth is sequestered behind individual plexiglass displays due to health concerns, the Chaturbate models were accessible going outside the booth and checking out rest of the convention. They were also accessible hanging out around the host hotel and after-parties. I met up with Mary Moody for the first time in nearly 2 years, and she asked if I was vaccinated before hugging me which made me realise that I wasn’t wearing the COVID yellow wristbands that I had worn in the previous Exxxotica. I hung out with AVN Favourite Webcam Couple, 19Honeysuckle and Tom Christian, at and after the parties and made pretty photos of Evangeline Darling during off hours.

Since this seemed to be the first Exxxotica in December, I saw plenty of people wearing holiday-themed apparel like Lilly Bell and Fiona Frost. The lines to see the performers at the Bad Dragon booth were evenly distributed. Vicki Chase hosted one of the official Exxxotica after-parties while Alex Coal vacillated between being a go-go dancer and bouncer, wielding a baseball bat.

This had been a successful Exxxotica season for 2021. I didn’t know what to expect after a year of cancellations due to the pandemic. Here’s to an even better one for 2022.

For the rest of the photos…

Exxxotica New Jersey 2021

The largest adult convention this year and possibly the largest one that Exxxotica has held in New Jersey, you wouldn’t think there was a pandemic by the attendance and the behavior of the attendees. Like the previous Exxxotica shows this year, most of the attendees did not wear mask nor did they bother to obtain the wristbands that designated them as vaccinated. People didn’t care and the performers signing did not discriminate. One thing I also noticed was that there wasn’t any alcohol on sale on the premises. Since it had been two years since the last show, I couldn’t remember if that was always the case in New Jersey

Again, like in Miami, Violet Myers and Kenzie Reeves had the longest lines at the show with people waiting over an hour to greet them. Luckily, Violet let me skip her lines for a couple of snaps. Kenzie consistently wore a mask that coordinated with her outfit, but I never did ask her why she chose to do so while scores of attendees breathed upon her. Instead, I wore a mask myself around her out of respect for if she was concerned about her own health. Both Violet and Kenzie maintained their long lines through Sunday when the crowd thinned out.

The after-parties at the host hotel were also raucous every night. Both Alex Coal and April O’Neil hosted trivia night with the theme of “Are You Smarter than a Porn Star?” However, the team that beat them were mostly comprised of porn stars. Heh. Looking forward to Exxxotica DC in December.

For the rest of the photos…

Exxxotica Miami 2021

The second adult convention since the pandemic started, this year was the busiest Miami show I’ve attended. Not the crowded madhouse that Chicago was, but a steady stream of attendees kept the performers busy especially in the evening hours. There were very little mask-wearing attendees or wristbands denoting their vaccination status. Kenzie Reeves was the only performer I saw who consistently wore a mask.

The front of convention hall were dominated space-wise by the webcam companies, Chaturbate and MyFreeCams. I saw 3X AVN Favorite Cam Couple, 19Honeysuckle and Tom Christian, and popular performers like Hime Marie and Jade Baker webcamming. I even saw Sabina Rouge several times webcamming without recognising her. Being that this was Miami, there were a lot of beauties walking around, and I didn’t approach many of them because my reluctance to photograph non-industry people out of respect for their privacy. I missed out on meeting a lot of east coast talent as a result.

Even though there were many attendees, I couldn’t pinpoint which performer had the busiest lines between Kenzie Reeves and Violet Myers. I think the crowd love was just spread out, and I think they were most likely to be enjoying the stage shows. I was pleased to see my friends, Taylor Blake and Alex Coal, again and having a grand time. Taylor was bouncing around from booth to booth while Alex was doing the chicken dance in an appropriate onesie. Onward to New Jersey, the home of IAFD and the next Exxxotica.

Flickr for the rest of the photos

Exxxotica Chicago 2021

The first convention since the pandemic started, Exxxotica Chicago was a madhouse this past weekend. Tons of pent up energy in the air, a rampant amount of people that attended combined with less exhibiting talent made the event less casual than in previous years and more hectic like an AVN expo.

Mask wearing and social distancing were almost virtually nil, and I doubt the attendees were all vaccinated. Chaturbate was the only booth that took precautions with plastic screens separating the cam models and public. Exxxotica provided wristbands for those who could prove their vaccination, but the talent did not discriminate against greeting those that didn’t have wristbands. So I did not understand the point unless it was an insurance or local requirement. Even though I wore a mask when I could, I realised it was impossible to have a conversation with the performers without their being able to also read lips due to the noise.

Seeing many performers like Vicki Chase, Alex Coal, and April O’Neil again was a pleasure. Violet Myers easily had the longest lines at the convention and made me curious whether the fans lined up because of her obvious looks, her scenes, or some other online notoriety since I was not familiar with her performances. Some performers like Cadey Mercury, Madi Collins, and Jade Baker were at the webcam booths while others like Kaitlyn Katsaros were just walking around and visiting. Fiona Frost was even one of the Exxxotica Hotties, go-go dancers for the con.

For the rest of the photos…

AVN 2020

Two weeks along with a bout of the AVN flu have passed and I still feel fatigue from thinking about the show. Must be because of all the “lived experiences” that happened in the frenzy of that week.

Adult Entertainment Expo

Photos on Flickr

In reviewing my photos, I can see the mortality of continuing to cover the show. I took much less photos this year, not because the show was smaller (it was only slightly smaller than last year). I had broken my foot in September, and it started swelling again during the show. I was content to have longer conversations with my friends and then allowed random people to stop me from doing what I did best which is take more photos. I even had an assistant for the first time which unintentionally slowed things since everyone tried to flirt with him. This, in turn, led me to see less of my industry friends overall.

The most popular people signing were Angela White, Riley Reid, Abella Danger, and Adriana Chechik. I don’t like cutting in line, but I did for the first three because they agreed to it beforehand while the logistics of doing so with Adriana due to the placement of the Evil Angel booth was impossible. If I were to line up to see all of them in a day, it would take a combined 2-4 hours of waiting to see them. They are popular not just for what they do on the screen, but how they interact with the fans. Riley absolutely crushed it by signing for her own booth from opening to closing every day despite a bout of food poisoning on the second day.

Jules Jordan had the best booth overall in terms of talent and access. Angela had her lines there. The Evil Angel – Manyvids corridor was the most frustrating since it wasn’t navigable whenever Adriana was signing. Having the Manyvids women elevated inside their booths made them inaccessible in general.

AVN Awards

I attended the AVN Awards for the first time in four years. It felt weird going this time as a guest without my camera, but it was fun to catch up with friends that I didn’t talk as much to on the convention floor. There weren’t too many surprises with the winners since I knew many of the voters. Even though we didn’t practice groupthink, there seemed to be a consensus around specific winners in polling the voters.

Congratulations to Angela for winning Female Performer of the Year for the third straight time and to Charlotte Stokely for repeating as G/G Performer of the Year. Congrats also go to Gianna Dior for winning Best New Starlet.

About Ginger Banks

I used to spend a lot of time on camsites. So when I first met Ginger Banks nearly five years ago in Dallas, I knew her as the girl who cammed from her university library. I’m not sure exactly how we hit it off, but I found her to be more mature and adept at engaging people than the typical camgirl I meet at cons. The years go by, and Ginger became more prominent advocating on issues pertaining to the adult industry. If you have read an article about performer rights or mental health in the past three years, Ginger is likely to be quoted. Why do I bring this up?

Because I photographed her before the con! She was a riot. If you would like to see more of the photoset including the naughty, it’s probably on her onlyfans.

Acknowledgements

I would like to give a shoutout to my boys at IAFD, ADT, and XCritic. I’d also like to thank Mark Spiegler, Miles Long, and Evil Angel for their hospitality that week.

Thank you to Ginger, Paige Owens, Kira Noir, and Jocelyn Sweets for making magic with me.