Pornstar Deaths Cloud 2012's Memory

This has been an exceptionally bad year for the porn industry. I'm not talking about declining sales of dvd's.  Porn studios will adapt.   I'm not talking about Los Angeles County voters' decision to mandate the use of condoms for porn videos.  Only the AIDS mafia cares about that ineffectual and self-serving ballot measure; now they can feel good about themselves and the salaries they get from their non-profit constituents.  No, I'm talking about the deaths of young men who have sex for the gay world's pleasure, and whose legacies are forever recorded on video.

The biggest name of course is Erik Rhodes who had a fairly long career going back almost 10 years for studios like Falcon and Raging Stallion.  Handsome, well-endowed, and with a sculpted mega massive bod fueled by steroids, he died of a heart attack that probably had to do with his reported use and/or dependency on GHB and amphetamines, among other stuff, not to mention those goddamned steroids.  To croak at the age of 30 would have required a lot of drugs all working at the same time; but on top of that pharmaceutical stew of death, there were confused, maybe even pathological, psychological issues which he wasn't shy about revealing through the internet media.  I really feel sorry for this guy who, though no stranger to the emergency room and at least one harrowing nightmare at Bellevue, probably never got the psychiatric help he so obviously needed.  I have a friend who's a shrink with a Castro-based group of patients, including not a few porn players, who has alluded to (in generic terms, my friend is totally professional and doesn't name names) the porn stars who muddle through each day, feeling unloved, unappreciated, unwanted, unfulfilled, depressed, despondent and who search for relief at the gymn, in the bars, on the internet, in the park, on the street, or in the arms of a guy who doesn't give a good goddamn about his problems.  Some of them are very much like Erik who at 30, was mournful that he was getting 'old' and losing his looks.  And I'm still oversimplifying this culture of self-destruction.  Blogger Derek Hartley, who knew ER, writes most eloquently about a doomed pornstar's life...Erik's death was a self-fulfilling prophesy.

And then, there's the issue of Erik's HIV status. It turns out he was poz.  Is anybody out there surprised?  Obviously he barebacked in his personal sex life (so what?) and there's a lot of shit swirling out there about his threesome with another escort and a rich client the night before he died.
These revelations have been posted on more than one website, unleashing a lot pent-up resentment against barebacking and the porn industry for 'degrading' and 'exploiting' professional sex performers.  You have all heard or read this bullshit before.

I don't watch much mainstream gay porn so my connection with Erik Rhodes is mostly cultural.  Of course I'm sad, but I felt a connection with the loss of Josh Weston who also died this year of  an undisclosed reason.  Josh was 39, nicely built and had an interesting sexy face.  After his career in mainstream porn came to an end, he shifted into bareback porn (connect the dots, guys) and bottomed in a slew of videos for most of the better studios.  I liked watching him get fucked, and I'm glad I bought some of those videos.  Josh, we'll remember you where you liked to live best, in a sling.  R.I.P., dear heart.

Nelson Troy is dead after running into automobile traffic in Mexico and they say methamphetamines were found in his system.  He was also an underwear model and used one of the ads in his bbrts profile, which I foud kind of irreverently gutsy.  Openly poz, and a great bottom...his best work was in 'Double Fuck My Ass' for SX with Drew Peters and Andre Barclay, the whole video is a pozapalooza.

Shorty (in stature only!) Dick Damonson died in New York.  He worked for TIM, and starred in the group fuck closing scene in 'Fuckholes 2,' one of the best videos ever.  Drug use is only rumored here, but Dick might have been going through some rough personal times.  Blogger Rawtop writes about hooking up privately and fucking Dick, and reading that entry still always gets me hard.

Nathan Price, who worked mostly out of England, died this year.  I know only the name but you can find his work, if you look for it.  Cause of death undisclosed, as far as I know.

Adam Faust was only 38 and fairly clean-cut for the talented and noteworthy fisting top that he was.
He did many many videos which will be enjoyed for decades to come.  A heart attack in his parents' home is what has been reported, but the net queens are reporting tales of rampant drug use.  This educated man (an MBA) might have been on the brink of getting his life together, since fucked up as he may have been, he obviously had the smarts to overcome any problem.

Wholesome 'Sean' from the Corbin Fisher studio, died prematurely this year.  Not much to go on here, and no mention of drugs.

And Roman Ragazzi, who worked mostly for Raging Stallion, committed suicide at the age of 38.
Despite the Italian name, RR was actually Israeli and worked at the Israeli consulate in New York until he was outed and then resigned.  He then worked as a personal trainer and got into porn.  Here's another beefy, muscular stud who didn't have to go the way he did.  There's certainly been no mention of steroid use, but I can't help but wonder if depression is a side effect of steroid use.  These guys usually have great bodies that require a bit more than simply gymn work to look as they do...and steroid aren't illegal.  So, is this shit worth it?  Let me close this installment with on observation: no bareback pornstar looks like he's a steroid abuser.  I can't think of one, not one.  Wasted, maybe. But never bulging, bloated and pumped up with steroids.  These muscle gods should fuck that shit.  They'd still look hot without steroids.  Now, meth is another story altogether...sadly...and that's all I'll write about that.

So, pack off 2012 and let's not go there again.  I am really happy with the results of the 2012 Presidential Election where the good guys won, the bad guys lost and the American people demonstrated that they can not and will not be bought.  We also showed that big money and big religion has met its match.  So I happily kiss 2012 good-bye and look forward, with optimism and enthusiasm, to 2013.

Happy New Year, men.