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from www.examiner.com – With Hurricane Sandy leaving many on the East Coast without power, it’s time to break out the candles and rediscover romance. And what better way to celebrate than with this year’s Exxxotica Expo, the nation’s biggest event devoted to love and sex. (And porn.)
Highlights of this year’s three-day fest in Edison Nov. 9-11 include a seminar with adult legend Tera Patrick reading from her best-selling autobiography Sinner Takes All, the Exotic Car and Bike Show featuring over 100 custom vehicles, and a special Saturday performance by Naughty by Nature.
Also appearing at Exxxotica is the multi-award winning Teagan Presley. In this exclusive interview, I spoke with her about the role Paris Hilton played in her launch, what music and comedians drive her wild, and what a decade in the business means to her.
Q: What are you up to these days?
I did seven days and fourteen shows dancing in Las Vegas, and it was very, very exhausting.
Q: Had you ever done anything like that before?
No. The most I’ve done is three days.
Q: How does dancing in Vegas compare to other places in the U.S.?
It’s a little different in Vegas just because there are so many clubs, but it really works out well because I work a lot for the Hustler Club, and they own a lot of them around the country, so it was really nice to go there and do another booking for them.
Q: Tell us a little about your history of attending Exxxotica.
I was at the very first Exxxotica. It was a lot smaller back then and completely different. It’s really expanded and become a really amazing convention—it’s one of the conventions that I look forward to every year.
Q: How does the vibe compare with the annual Adult Entertainment Expo in Vegas?
They’re probably about the same size now, but it’s a lot more chaos when you’re in Vegas. The Exxxoticas are usually a bit more laid back; people aren’t running around like a chicken with its head cut off like they usually are in Vegas (laughs). It’s a lot easier for me when I got to all the Exxxoticas. That’s why I love going to them…every year, as soon as they put it on their calendar, I mark off those weekends so I know that I’m going every single year.
Q: Do they reach out to you?
Because I’m a contract girl for Adam & Eve, Exxxotica deals with Adam & Eve, so basically I go there for publicity. And also because I’ve gone to a lot of the Exxxoticas from way back, it’s just kind of standard that I go with them. And I’m lucky enough to have them have me there.
Q: Who throws better parties, Exxxotica or AAE?
I tend to like the parties more at Exxxotica. I know that’s a little weird; It’s just because, like I said, the Vegas stuff is craziness—you literally don’t even get to eat a meal, you’re going from one thing to the other to the other. Because it’s Vegas, so it’s chaos. At least with Exxxotica New Jersey, or any of the Exxxoticas, there may be multiple parties that night, but there’s not 20 going on….In Vegas they have strict dress codes, and for every guy that enters the club, there has to be a girl. So Exxxotica’s more fun for the people that get to go.
Q: What do people usually talk to you about at these conventions?
Usually either upcoming movies or dance gigs, whether they’re going to one or they want to go to the one, or whether they’re going to be near their area. Just random topics. Especially now that we have Twitter, it’s really opened up with the social media networks. I think it gives you more things to talk about, at least with your fans, because they’re taking more of an interest in you because they’re reading your everyday posts on your Twitter and so forth. So it really gives them more of an insight into who you are, and not just who you are in movies.
Q: What were your ambitions when you started in the business?
I originally did it to get back at my boyfriend at the time.
Q: That seems to be a common theme—Jenna Jameson said the same thing in her book.
I’ve heard tons of different stories from girls. When I went up there to meet up with the company, it was Red Light District. And they were really nice to me, and they offered me a very, very substantial amount of money, which was a lot more than most girls were getting at the time. And they said, “If you don’t feel comfortable, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to send the model release, we’ll still pay you,” so they were really stand-up about it. And it left a really good taste in my mouth to the point that afterwards I kept coming back and shooting because it was a positive experience for me and not a negative one.
Q: What was it that Red Light liked so much about you?
I don’t know, it’s just the waves that was going on. Basically, when girls come in the business it comes in waves or phases, and I think at that time it was like the lower end of the wave—it was like low tide. And they, I guess, saw something in my personality or, I don’t know, they really just liked me, and they liked my look and they were persistent and very nice to me, and I said, what the hell.
Q: One of your earliest scenes was included as bonus material in the Paris Hilton tape, which was the biggest seller of the year. Did you know you would be included in that at the time?
No, I had no idea. I think that was my second or third scene ever….They told me in a phone call that I would be in one of the bonus scenes, and that movie sold like crazy—it was like pancakes at IHOP (laughs). It was insane. And it was really cool, though, because even people now will still come up and they’ll say, “I have that movie, and you made that movie worth the purchase.”
Q: On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rate Ms. Hilton’s performance?
I don’t know because I didn’t see it. I’ve heard mixed reviews of it; some guys didn’t really like the night vision.
Q: There’s a lot of trends in adult, but night vision isn’t gonna be one of them.
No, I very much hope not.
Q: How did that kind of exposure help launch your career?
It really helped the exposure with a lot of the other companies. I was freelance at the time, so I got to work with a lot of different companies before I got contracted with Digital Playground.
Q: You also appeared in an episode of Entourage. How did that come together?
Digital Playground had set that up for me, and it was me, Devon and Jesse Jane. I think it was a one- or two-day shoot, and it was really easy; everyone was really nice and it was a lot of fun. It was made to recreate Comic Con, so they made this hotel hallway look like a giant Comic Con. So you actually had people dressed up in all these costumes, and it was just really amazing to see and then go watch it on TV and see it all come together. It’s a lot different than doing an adult movie.
Q: What’s the best piece of advice you ever received from someone in the industry?
(Laughs) I think it’s the best piece of advice that I pass on to every girl that’s either thinking about going into the business or is: Everything that you do in this business is forever, especially now with the Internet. Before, you could hide afterwards. [Now] there is no hiding. So if you do this when you’re 18, and you’re 25 and out of the business and you have kids and a husband, and then you’re 60 years old, it’s still going to be there, and you have no control over where it goes.
Q: What things would you have done differently in your career if you could change something?
Let’s see. I think I would have started feature dancing a lot earlier, because when I first got in the business, girls were making bank. Because that was still when the clubs were doing really well…when Jenna Jameson and Julia Ann did the Bondage tour, they made a killing. But I was just sacred of strip clubs, that’s crazy (laughs).
Q: Feature dancing’s supposed to be a lot more lucrative than the movies, right?
It depends. Just like with movies, every girl has a different rate. Some clubs can’t afford a certain rate so you can’t go to certain clubs, but you try to make yourself available to all the different clubs. But it’s definitely been nice as another little cushion. Like, if something happens or we’re not shooting for a while, I always have dancing.
Q: What things would you have done the same?
Basically, everything. Exactly how I got in, I learned very quickly that this is an adult business, you know? And I was a kid when I got into it.
Q: Not literally a kid, though—18 years old, right?
(Laughs) [I] had just graduated high school; I had just left my parents’ house. I was going into the world as a newbie. So it made me straighten up and get a head on my shoulders very quickly.
Q: A lot of guys in the industry tend to be older. How does that color the way you look at things?
I was a around a lot of the old school people, so it was very much where they taught me how the business was before me. It kind of changed to the point where I never really dated guys my own age after that; I always dated older guys just because of the maturity level that they had. I think the only thing that really changed was that. And now I only work with women, so it’s now a little bit in the opposite arena.
Q: Some people are against dating within the industry. How was it in your situation?
I’ve done both. And both equally failed for me in the past. Right now, I have a relationship that’s prospering, but I think that’s just because you go by a person-by-person basis. It’s very difficult; that’s why I tell most girls that go into the business that if you’re going to do this, and you want to be in this business for a while, I know this is weird or hard to hear or whatever, but I would stay single when they do this.
Make it like some women do with their normal careers—like, if they want to be a lawyer, stay focused. Because that’s the only true way—it is very difficult. I mean, it’s fun to date, but I’m a serial monogamist, so literally I would go from relationship to relationship (laughs). You just have to have your head on straight, because if not, it’s going to be difficult.
Q: What makes you feel sexy?
I don’t even know anymore (laughs). I know this is going to sound really weird, but I love blues music. When I play blues music, I feel so sexy; I don’t know why. I imagine a movie where a woman’s playing blues music and she’s throwing on a sexy little dress or anything like that, that’s the impression that goes into my head and that does it for me. I’m very weird (laughs).
Q: How have those feelings changed over time, since you have a family of your own now?
It’s definitely changed just because I do have a family now, so your body changes…I’m not 18 years old anymore (laughs). So you definitely change, and I think I’ve gotten more in tune with how I am and just how I feel with things, because it’s a lot different from when I was 18 (laughs). I’m not as crazy, and I’m actually a little more conservative. And that’s very weird to say, but I am (laughs).
Q: Are there any blues artists you want to give a shout-out to?
I don’t know (laughs). I’m addicted to my Pandora app on my phone. I love Larry Garner and Little Milton, and of course I love B.B. King. It’s very weird, because you can hear me getting ready for the conventions and you can hear blues music blaring down the hall (laughs).
Like people are for musicians, I love stand-up comedy. Because I’m from Texas and from the South, I love the Blue Collar Comedy Tour and things like that. Alex Reymundo and Ron White happened to be in town in Reading, PA, and I went to one of their shows when I was on the road. And I never really get to go do stuff when I’m on the road, because I opt to sleep. So you usually see me inside of the hotel room and the club and that’s it. But I had to go see their comedy show, and they were really amazing. I laughed the whole time. Like, I didn’t want it to end.
Q: Laughter is a big aphrodisiac.
I know.
Q: How many dates do you do a year for dancing?
Forty-plus weeks a year.
Q: That’s a lot. Do any of the other girls in the business do more than that?
A lot of girls do a lot. Christina Aguchi does a ton of dates. Alexis Texas does a lot as well. Lisa Ann—I think those are the three that do the most that I know of.
Q: Do you have an all-time favorite scene? What made it so memorable?
I actually have two of them. One was from when I was doing boy/girl, and we went to Bora Bora, and we shot two or three scenes a day, and it was just amazing being in that type of location—we literally didn’t have TV, you didn’t have a cell phone, there was no Internet—so we were all trapped on basically a little island together. Luckily, no one fought or killed each other, so that was awesome (laughs).
It was just amazing to be able to shoot in that type of location in that such of an extreme level of a movie. And it was such a great level that it didn’t feel like work at all to me; it was so amazing that I didn’t even feel or realize that I was working. And I think when me and my husband started our own company, I think when we shot our first movie that was a big memory for us, because it was the start of a new chapter.
Q: What kind of things would you typically do to prepare for a scene?
Obviously, you eat a lot healthier before—no pizza or things like that. Make sure your nails and everything are clean cut. Basically, how you would do before a normal modeling gig. Make sure you go in with clean hair and no make-up on. [Wear] loose fitting clothing so that it doesn’t leave lines all over your body.
Q: In your situation, were there ever any concerns with physical health?
No. I mean, when you check off that box, like “this is what I will and won’t do,” that’s the consequences…birth control is always something you should be on. Even if I was just going out and having sex with normal people and I was out of this business, if I’m having sex I would want to be on birth control. So you take the necessary precautions that you need to if you were going to do anything, because even if you’re checking that box to do it in a movie, you’re probably going to be doing it in real life or you’re going to do it in real life. So the same kind of code applies.
Q: You never had any problems?
No…we’re all consenting adults. You take care of yourself. You’re an adult; that’s what you’re supposed to be.
Q: Overall, what are your feelings about your time in the adult industry?
It’s been really amazing, because this January, it will be nine years. So that’s almost a decade, and to me that’s a little craziness, because I never would have thought that when I was 18 years old that I would still be in this business almost a decade later. So that’s really made me think and just watching the business, how it’s evolved through the years, and with the Internet and DVDs and VODs—with most people getting their things online or ordering it online, just everything.
How the business has evolved as a business is amazing to me, and then the different waves of girls that come in, and meeting new people all the time that I’ve actually stayed friends with through the years, it’s an overall giant good memory that I think is going to stick with me forever.
Q: What other career goals do you have that you’re looking forward to achieving?
I don’t even know as of right now. I haven’t made any new ones, because I kind of already achieved the ones right now, so probably within the next year I’ll make a new set of ones. But I think being a contract girl—I went from Digital Playground, now I’m with Adam & Eve—and then just dancing and going to all the conventions, I think, that’s just basically keeping myself busy.
Q: Do you have any other messages?
I hope you guys in are able to keep warm and healthy and everyone’s doing okay despite the storm, and hopefully we will still be able to see you guys at Exxxotica New Jersey. If you’re not able to make it, just know that you’re in our thoughts and our prayers and that we love you guys.