Flashbacks
J. Brian’s "Flashbacks"
I was reading the Gay porn times news blog today and there was a piece about the re-release of a J Brian movie from the seventies. This brought back a memory which I had forgot about. My almost first porn movie. Funny how you think about the decisions that could have changed your life and who was there with you at the time. It was a Sunday night in 1980 and I was at the Endup with my friend’s Tyrone and Wayne. Tyrone was one of the MC’s at the Endup’s famed Jock strap contest. On this particular night they needed judges for the contest and it meant free cocktails so my friend Wayne and I were up for the gig. You know at the time we never refused a free drink. I was 21 years old at the time and I guess what you would call a twink. Tall skinny and cute but I sure did not know it or think so at the time. We will get to that later.
Well I had one to many cocktails that evening and I guess you could say that I was over served. Well the contestants in the contest were all cute twink types and it was fun looking at all of they’re cute little butts while they danced to the loud disco music. The ones that I remember were Jamie Wingo and Ron Pearson who both latter went on to do porn movies. Yes I said movie’s, porn was on film in those days. The fact that Wayne is hung like a horse and he would have been a great porn star and I’m not hurting in the dick department either is what almost got us both started in porn. What was funny is that this guy was lurking in the toilet checking out all the boy’s as they took a piss. Wayne and I thought it was funny that he was staring at us while we took a piss. We soon found out why and had a good laugh about it. We were being auditioned and did not even know it.
During the contest there was this guy running around and handing out his business cards to all of the cute boys in the club including Wayne and I, the same guy lurking in the toilet. This guy was named J. Brian. At the time I had no clue who he was so I asked my friend Tyrone who this guy was. Tyrone said he was a porn director. Now at the time I was young and the thought of fucking on film did cross my mind but the repercussions totally out weighed the benefit. I think we all had fantasies of doing porn but my major concern was what would my parents have thought about it. Me and Wayne both giggled about it and said there was no way we would ever do porn.
So I decided against it when J.Brian offered me $500.00. Funny thing is J. Brian was determined to get me in his movie so he came back and countered my refusal with a offer of $1,000.00 to which I told my friend’s Tyrone and Wayne and they both said don’t do it. So I told J. Brian no again he countered with $1500.00. I was a little drunk and I laughed at him and said no again to which he said he would give me the $1500.00 and an all expense paid trip to Hawaii. I told Tyrone about the new offer and that I had never been to Hawaii .Tyrone took J. Brian’s business card from me and tore it up and told J. to leave me alone. Funny thing is I have still not been to Hawaii nor have I done a porn movie and I reallty do not Drink anymore.
Now unbeknownst to me J.Brian did convince a couple of the contestants to do his movie. Jamie Wingo and Ron Pearson signed up to do the movie as well as Leo ford who was Jamie’s boyfriend and another friend of mine Guy whose porn name I can not remember Guy dated Cory Monroe at the time. I did not know that they were going to do the movie and I did not find out about it until J. Brian came back to the Endup to promote his new movie Flashbacks. So I asked Ron about it and how much he got paid for it and Ron told me $500.00, I told Ron that he should have held out and told him what I was offered. Needless to say Ron was a little pissed, I jokingly told Ron that if he needed me to be I would be his agent.
Now what is really sad about this story is that so many of my friends are now all gone. So I guess that is why I tend to block out big chunks of that time period. It is kind of painful to think about the fun we had and not be able to laugh with your friends who were there with you. I lost track of Jamie Wingo, last I heard he was living in LA, Ron Pearson died of AIDs complications in 2001, I had just seen Ron 2 months prior to his death and he was the picture of health. We had dinner together with a former boy friend of mine Michael. Michael also dated Ron after we broke up. Ron saw me talking to Michael and asked me who he was. I asked him if he wanted to meet him and he said yeah so I set them up. I introduced them on Halloween at a big "Gift Center party" in 1984. They went out for several years. I have not seen Michael since Ron died and I hope he is still with us.
Leo died after getting hit by a truck on his motorcycle while I was in LA visiting Tyrone who moved there with his lover Rick. Tyrone passed away in 1994 of AID’s complications after he and Rick moved back to the Bay Area. It was a very hard time for me but I am dealing with it much better now. Tyrone lived in the same apartment complex as me and we saw each other every day and it was great having such a good friend around. He and I would play video games constantly and get stoned on the good weed that he would get to stop the nausea from the AID’s drugs. When he passed a large chunk of my life went with him. Rick just disappeared after Tyrone died. Like Michael I tried to stay in touch but they both just disappeared.
I decided to look up J Brian on the Internet and there was not much information about him other than the fact that he was murdered. The movie Flashbacks’s was the start of the careers of several porn models and was based on the Endup Jockstrap contest. Funny how you tend to forget such pivotal moments in the history of porn. I am not sure why seeing that J. Brian story brought out this memory flood but I thought that I would write it down so I could share it with you all. I guess that whole six degrees of separation thing is true. Every one is connected by at least six degrees. Jamie Wingo helped Jon King get his start in porn with the help of David Forrest.
I meet Jon King in 1985 after he and Tyrone became friends. We became fast friends and we had allot of the same friends. One thing that is funny is that I did not see the movie Flashback for several years after it came out and when I watched it, it was a total trip. Tyrone and I laughed about that night at the Endup when these boys got their start in porn. He also told me that could have been me in that bad movie. Yes I will admit it was not the greatest movie or maybe it was just a bad video copy I really can’t remember because I only saw it once and did not really pay that close attention to it.
Now it would almost be like a home movie because it was full of my friends. Maybe I will look for it and get a copy and go down memory lane. The one friend of mine during all of that time who I still see is Wayne. We had a big laugh the last time I saw him at a good friends 50th birthday party. Because we are all headed for the big 50 this year and most of our close group of friends who are still with us have already crossed that threshold or will be in the near future.
Since being there at the beginning of the porn careers of a few legends in Gay Porn I have meet several other porn stars and the one thing that they all had in common was that they were all kind of shy in groups which I just thought was funny. How could they get naked and fuck on film when they could not even walk up to a guy that the thought was cute. Ron said that it is just a way to escape who he was and to act out his fantasies. One thing that they all told me about porn was that it was work and not really all that sexy.
Most of the scenes that were shot took hours to film and what you saw on film or Video was all editing. Do this for 20 seconds do that for another 20 seconds and so on and it would all be edited together and some parts would be replayed multiple times. Every time you see a different camera angle it means a cut in the action. These cuts in a video mean that you stop and wait for the camera’s to be reset and the lighting to be changed and you could take a break until they are ready for you. Have you ever noticed that allot of the guys have this hard time busting a nut? Well it is because they have been worked like dogs. Porn is not pretty until it is edited. The real stars in the porn or even the movie industry are the editors.
Oh yeah I forget to tell you all who won the Jock Strap Contest. Ron Pearson did and I think the first prize was $100.00 which was a good chunk of change in 1980. I think in the movie it was Leo ford who won the contest I really can't remember though. I miss all my porn star buddies and just hope with all of the new bareback production that none of you will have to go through what I went through during the dark ages of the AID’s pandemic. Like Chi Chi says wrap it up. Stay safe and live a long life.
This is Elmysterio and I’m out.
