Monday, August 08, 2005

Porn Again

Billy Idol is celebrating his 50th birthday this year (30th November). Perhaps aware that his sexual charms are fading, he's offered the head of Vivid porn videos $15k per girl to attend his birthday bash.

And when he nearly killed himself on his Exile motorbike, he still managed to issue a press release refuting a claim that he had found God. He said he had been misquoted in an interview, and was not "born again" but "into porn again".

The snippet above made me laugh, but also reminded me that, strange to tell, the California based "head of Vivid porn videos"who got Mr Idol's offer is from Swansea. On the eccentric The Wolf Man Knew My Father: Notes From The Margins Of Welsh Popular Culture, David James gets this write up.

Ex-miner from Swansea turned international pornographer. He co-founded the Vivid Video empire in Los Angeles. The company structured itself like one of the great Hollywood film studios of the Twenties, using the star system to package its actresses like goddesses. Now porn divas are as well known as pop stars and mainstream actors. James is arguably the most culturally influential Welshman alive.

He has also been covered in the Economist. A Welsh Born Icon? The jury is still out.

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