Tales from the 2005 Adult Entertainment Expo

"It's like ComiCON with Tits" - These are the words my friend uses to describe the Adult Entertainment Expo, in Las Vegas, after his first day at the convention. The show, is total insanity. The quiet conversations of the early morning 'trade show only hours' are shattered by the roar of the crowds and the beeps of digital cameras as thousands descend on the single biggest adult convention ever.

At the apex of it all is Jenna Jameson - the reigning queen of Porn. Jenna isn't the prettiest of them all, she isn't the youngest, but for some reason the fans just eat her up. The line to get her to sign a picture, her book or even body parts wraps all the way around the Club Jenna booth and spills over into the next. The focus is so great that it actually steals the thunder from the main Vivid booth making many of their other contract girls seem like 'also rans'. Through out the conference, Jenna is flanked on either side by bodyguards who wear shirts that proclaim 'Touch Her and Die'. They scan the crowd like secret service officers on steroids. A woman in the booth is handing out samples of Jenna's new herbal sexual enhancer 'J22'. "It really works!" she exclaims, "both men and women can use it". I pass. Jenna isn't the only porn star hawking 'herbal enhancers', several other starlets at the Vivid booth had their own version, and at the Adam and Eve booth they were handing out their own brand. For some of these guys they're collecting their own form of erectile helpers as they pose for pictures with their favorite star. Their hand moving dangerously close to a breast or the top of their ass of the star. "I take pictures here for myself," describes one fan who snaps away. "Talk about wank material!" exclaims another to his friend who has just taken his picture with Jenna.

Across from Jenna is Tera Patrick. Husband/Director/Promoter Even Seinfeld (AKA Spyder Jones) passes out magnets promoting Tera's latest film 'Reign of Tera' he gives me at least five. He shows them off like a proud dad showing pictures of his kid. "It's so fucking cool, you're going to have to check it out". Some of the other Vivid contract girls try to put their game face on, but you can tell that all the attention on Jenna and Tera takes attention away from them. In the vivid world it seems the mark of super stardom is now having a 'Club' before your name...Club Jenna....Club Tera...

Not far behind the Club Jenna booth is Digital Playground. Press stream constantly through the booth and you can't pass by without seeing at least one of the girls doing interviews. I'm part of the sea of press flowing through the booth. I walk back through a curtained area for my interview with Teagan, she's polishing off a hot dog, sitting cross legged with her shoes off, looking more like the teenager she is than the uber porn star she'd become. She smiles and I forget for a moment that this is going to be an interview, it feels more like a chat, I'm sure it feels funny for her as well to be thrust into the spotlight, it's all overwhelming.

I wander the floor. It's easy to get a glassy eyed stare and find yourself running into people. "Sorry Man" I say as I literally plow someone over, "I totally wasn't paying attention". Most people are good natured but some are simply determined to get as much face time with their favorite porn star as they possibly can. I'm standing in line to get a photo and a picture of Nautica Thorn. Another photographer turns to me and says "I can't believe some of these guys, they actually think they have a chance with these girls". The truth is, this show is hard work - four days of signing thousands of naked pictures of themselves, enduring enthusiastic fans and doing it all while trying to look like the porn star that all their fans expect. "I'm conserving my energy", sighs Chanel Chavez as she signs a picture of herself having a three way. She looks tired already and I spare her having to pose for a photograph, she seems to appreciate it.

It's a strange show, people run around frantically from booth to booth having their favorite porn star sign something, anything. Some of them are 'brave enough' to have their picture taken with one of the porn stars, and the stars are incredibly gracious as many fans spend more time high fiving their friends than ever taking to the star.

I go outside to take a break, the noise, the energy, the insanity of the show has begun to get to me. As I walk out of the show I see the line. It wraps all the way down and around the lobby of the convention center. People are lined up there like they're waiting to be the first to see a major movie, that somehow they are the lucky ones who their friends will envy because they were there. After a short break
I am inexplicably drawn back into the show floor. I hate crowds, but somehow there's a sense that everything is happening inside the show. It's THE place to be. If you're not there you're missing it.

I walk towards the back of the show floor to interview Lily Thai. She's decided to take a break from performing for a while. Even as she talks about stepping back for a bit she's constantly reminding me that she will be back. Who could blame her. For today these women are rock stars, they're famous even if they haven't made a single film yet. I'm over at the Juicy booth talking to Sofia Layin, "I've only been doing this for a few months", her first movie isn't even out on DVD but there's already a line of people wanting her to sign autographs, take her picture. I'm one of those people. She writes 'Geoff - I want to blow you! - Sofia Layin'. Where else can a guy go and have a pretty girl sign a nude picture of herself with that kind of sentiment?

It's strange, am I fan, am I press? What exactly are you supposed to do at an adult convention? Like a teenager stumbling over his words trying to ask a cheerleader out I clumsily ask Sandra Romain for a picture. She smiles and I snap and I move on to the next. As I cover the show floor I realize that getting the girls to sign a picture is more about the time you spend with them than the picture itself. In many ways the girls and the fans are here for the same reason, to share in the intoxicating elixir of fame. To help create the wonderful illusion and mystique of adult entertainment, and for many to go back home and show off the pictures.

In many ways it's not about the reality of the show, it's about the legend. I'm talking to a producer about a party he went to the night before, "It just sucked, a total sausage fest. They even ran out of cups, can you believe that!?! But they turned away so many people away at the door that now the party is legend, it's so much bigger than it ever was."

- Chris Thorne

See our photo coverage of the Best of 2005 AVN Show as well as our Expanded Photo Coverage