Porn Valley- If you’re looking to get laid you might have heard of the LA Xpress where on Fridays Bill Margold can be found literally and otherwise. That’s because Margold writes a column for the weekly and has been doing so for 37 years.

“I love writing this column,” states Margold. “And my life story’s on the back page of this paper.”

Margold’s also the perennial host of the Legends of Erotica Show, www.legendsoferotica.com which is held annually during the AEE convention at Ray Pistol’s Showgirl Video.

And that’s what I talked to Margold about: the recent show that inducted Tom Byron, Sunset Thomas, Shane, Stephanie Swift, and honored the late Gerard Damiano, the director of Deep Throat, www.xxxdeepthroat.com.

“The show was very emotional and very gratifying,” says Margold of the recent one last week.

“The concept of less is more [as far as inductees are concerned] makes it more valuable. There’ll be no more than five inductions every year from now on.”

As protocol goes, a past inductee generally has the honor of introducing the new guy or gal.

Sunset Thomas was inducted by Ron Jeremy. And Shane’s induction, according to Margold was accompanied by a beautiful letter written by Greg Zeboray, the insurance man for the industry.

“And then her husband finished off the induction,” relates Margold.

“I warned people that when they come they’ll definitely cry and Shane definitely cried. She was probably the crowd favorite because she’s so adorable.”

“Byron was ostensibly going to be inducted by Paul Thomas who needed more reminding than, I guess, it took to get him there, so he didn’t get there.”

Hence, Margold performed the honors and gave a “laudatory” speech about what it’s like to be a stud in the business.

“I praised Byron as one of the most famous and enduring studs of all time. I mentioned [Jim] Holliday’s name many times and Holliday is the one who christened Byron ‘The Kid,’ and sort of lived out a lot of adventures in the industry through Byron. Because Holliday used to show me pictures of himself as a younger man and there was a marked resemblance there. Perhaps more wishful thinking, but I thought it was very special. And when I hugged Byron I told him that Holliday was looking from wherever he was boring his angels to death. I was very proud of Tommy.”

Likewise, Swift’s inductors didn’t show up, so she was introduced by Byron.

But Margold feels that the Damiano tribute was the highlight of the evening.

“Many letters had been written,” he says. “Veronica Vera, Georgina Spelvin- a beautiful letter from her; Annie Sprinkle, Jody Maxwell, Jamie Gillis. And a fan wrote a letter. I read it to the fans. It was very well done.”

Also during the evening porn journalist Jared Rutter was honored with a Carnal Medal of Honor. Margold also brought Rutter on stage and had him read some of the Damiano letters.

“He spent the whole night on stage and was moved by it,” says Margold.

“He’s a quiet, shy man and he deserves all of this. And it’s sort of fitting because I was the one who inducted him into the XRCO Hall of Fame per Holliday’s orders. We would have put him in anyway, but Holliday demanded it on a deathbed-type of situation.”

“I guess the word to sum Rutter up is fair,” Margold goes on to say.

“More than any other word because he doesn’t really go after anybody. He doesn’t gossip. He doesn’t hold grudges. He is a survivor and I don’t think the XRCO would have survived without Rutter. He held it together because Holliday and I were nuts. Many times he screamed at both of us. I thought that was sort of cool.”

“But I guess this Legends show is the epitome of what I do best because it means more to me than anything else. And what makes this special beyond any other show I’ve ever gone to is that the audience listens. In rapt attention they listen. You could hear a pubic hair hit the floor and that means a lot to me.”

Looking ahead to next year Margold mentions that Peter North will be inducted and speculates that Heather Hunter will go in as well as Ona Zee, Felicia and possibly Jill Kelly. At least that’s the way it looks right now.