Porn Valley- I would give props to Dale Dabone if I knew exactly what giving props meant. Does that mean I give Dale a toy pistol, a palm tree or a breakaway beer bottle from an Indiana Jones movie? In any event Dabone did more for revamping his p.r. image in one evening on KSEX than John Kerry has done in months on the campaign trail. Dabone was a guest of Wankus on KSEX, www.ksexradio.com, and Dabone, walking into the lion’s den as it were, was polite, polished, erudute, colorful and gave one of the best detailed accounts of what it was like being a porn star I’ve ever heard.
In introducing Dabone, Wankus was very frank about past comments in which he labeled Dabone a cocky piece of shit. But you could sense the hatchet had already been buried last week when Wankus directed Dabone during a DVSX shoot, and last night was just the formality of signing the peace treaty. So it was not surprising to find Wankus praising Dabone and not burying him. Dabone appreciated the introduction and said maybe that’s the only good one he’s received. Wankus re-hashed the instance when Dabone was on a KSEX program with Jacklyn Lick and said he didn’t get a good impression of Dabone. Dabone, who was exiting the porn business at the time, hastened to remind that it’s a business that can go either way but can fuck with the heads of those participating in it. “If you’re a male talent and single it’s a very lucrative business. But if you’re going with somebody you’re not just working for yourself. You’re trying to make that other person happy.”
What Dabone was getting around to was the fact that he was seeing someone out of the business. “She didn’t dig the whole thing.” Consequently, Dabone said when he was on the show with Lick that night, about 60% if what was coming out of his mouth was him and 40% was the anti-porn propaganda he was getting at home. Fortunately, said Dabone, his mind was also occupied with other outside past times like motorcycle stunts. “So it wasn’t a total I quit.” Dabone said the experience taught him a lot. “That’s why I don’t make decisions for anybody but myself now.” Dabone was quick to admit that he did lots of things in the business the wrong way. “I won some awards. I did a few good things but I did a lot of things the wrong way. I pissed some people off.” Dabone said he was getting to the point where he was working so much but felt down about it. “I started believing what some people- that weren’t in the business- were telling me. You start thinking that maybe I’m dirty or maybe there’s something wrong with me.”
Being from the feature side of the business, Dabone commented on the darker side of it which produces product not necessarily to his fancy. “Their idea of porn is basically girl getting raped on screen. That’s when I feel dirty to be in the business. That’s when I look at it and say, damn, this isn’t fun.” On the other hand, Dabone said he thoroughly enjoyed doing the scene for DVSX where it was hot, sexy and passionate. “It’s fun stuff, and I think that’s important.” By his comments, Dabone said he didn’t mean to piss some hardcore fans off. Dabone said he’s seen instances of young girls driven to tears in the business. “They’re too young and too stupid to know they can say no.” Wankus said one of the girls Dabone worked with last week called Wankus prior to the shoot explaining that she got her asshole ripped on another set and spent time in the hospital.
Dabone, who came in the business in 1998, said a lot of the guys who came in at the same time with him and shared his view towards passion and sex are now totally hardcore. “I hear some of the things they say behind the scenes- I’m going to make this fuckin’ bitch cry. I’m going to fuckin’ spit in her face. Are you serious?” Dabone said he generally gets yes answers to that question prompting his asking if those guys ever got shoved into lockers in high school. “Or do you need to take something out on women? What is it?”
Getting back to the Lick incident, Wankus said he sat and observed wondering if Dabone actually believed that he was too good for the business with the impression he was giving. Dabone said he thought about it and didn’t mean to come across that way. “There were so many things that had built up.” Dabone said it was actually the first time that he let all his feelings surface like that. “I was upset by a lot of things.” Dabone said especially when you get screwed over in this business. “And it happens to you, you do something that you think is good.” Dabone recalled instances where he was asked to dispense favors: “Dale, cut your rate and I’ll get you back. You hear that fifty times from the same person. Then when you ask them, you bring it up, can I take you up on that, then they go off on you like you did something wrong.”
Dabone wasn’t trying to make himself out to be a choir boy. “I have desrved every bit of criticism.” Dabone said he’s gone to sets with his mind on other things. “Thinking about a motorcycle event or something that happened with my girlfriend that pissed me off. Then I’d go to work with a chip on my shoulder. People who thought I was a dick might have had good reason to think that.” Stating he wasn’t perfect, Dabone said he never claimed to be Mr. Likeable. “I just try to come in and do a good job and leave.” Dabone said the advantage of being single-single in the business is tyhat you can do your job without thinking about problems at the house. To that extent, Dabone said porn is a good job for males.
Dabone also made a point of stressing that he’s never dated a girl in the business. “I thought that would work- dating civilian girls.” To illustrate his point about the potential disaster of porn relationships, Dabone mentioned Evan Stone and Jessica Drake as a couple who had all the makings of a successful relationship yet split up. “If there was a relationship that could make it, that was it. When I heard they broke up I was sad. I was thinking, damn, if they can’t do it, who can.” Dabone’ advice to newbies in the business is to make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into.
Wankus also brought up the Porn Star Karaoke incident in which Dabone is alleged to have done a “You know who I am” number. Dabone said he was pissed off to have read the details. Wankus said he got it from both a bouncer and the owner of Sardos that Dabone was supposed to have uttered the comment. Dabone said Joey Ray was his witness to what actually happened- that Dabone, in the middle of a comeback, embraced incognito status. “I liked going to places and not getting recognized.” Dabone’s rationale for that is that people would say some of the damndest things in front of one of his girlfriends.
Dabone claims he walked up to the door and was asked if he was in the business. His comment was: “‘You must not know who I am, cool.’ That’s what I said. What I meant was if I’m coming to a place where porn people are and they don’t know who I am, that’s cool.” Wankus said all of this got translated as Dabone stating pompously, “Don’t you know who I am?” After Dabone was waived in, another comment was attributed to him asking about whether the place was crowded. When told yes, Dabone allegedly said, Good, because I only sing to a packed house.” Dabone claims he never made the comment. “I don’t sing! I play drums. I’m a drummer.” Dabone said his intention was not to sing but to hang out. Dabone said while he may come off as cocky, he’ll also be the first one to lampoon himself. Dabone said he got up to sing, but realizing that he was a “feature guy” among gonzo players, announced to the crowd, “I’m the guy you fast-forward through.”
Dabone said his comment got twisted in the press to where he was to have said, “I don’t do all of this gonzo-shit.” Dabone said because of twisted instances like that, he hasn’t gone out for 2 1/2 years. Dabone gave another example of him and Mark Davis hanging out at the Bar Fly, once, only to see on the Internet that he and Davis were gay lovers. It was pointed out that Joey Ray also takes a similar pounding. Dabone said Ray is a freak. “He’s the type of guy that will say, I was at a Rave last night blowing this guy. And he’ll say it convincingly. If p[eople are worried about me or him being gay, maybe it’s because you want a date. And if you think I’m so gay maybe you wouldn’t mind if I take your wife out for dinner. It sounds arrogant, but I say things like that.”
Wankus could see where some people doing scenes with Ray might get taken aback by a glib comment. Dabone said some of the best advice he was given in the business was to throw allegations back in the face of people and make them prove it. On the other hand, Wankus lauded Jason McCain for his homesty when he admitted to doing gay scenes for the money. Dabone’s of the general belief that guys and girls in the business are freaks. “People do crazy things and if you get them at the Palace after hours, on Kool Aid, people get even crazier.”
Dabone said it a big time jump for him moving to L.A. from North Carolina. “I was a small time kid. I was a big fish out there and wanted to see what I could do out here.” Dabone said his eyes were opened to crazy things he didn’t know existed. Wankus re-capped how Dabone got involved in the scene he shot last week, noting that Dabone, in all honesty, was kind of at the bottom when first choices ran out. Wankus said he was urged to call him but didn’t want to. Dabone said he’d refer to get the straight-up because in the industry, people spend a good portion of the time pulling daggers out of their backs. Wankus said he finally called Dabone’s manager David Forest explaining the situation. And when Dabone came to the set, he was awesome, according to Wankus.
Dabone said there’s directors out there who like him and don’t. The ones that do, like him for a reason. “The ones that don’t I’m sure I’ve given them a good reason for not liking me.” Dabone said his resolve has been to come to set focused and with a clear head. “I gave you what I normally do.” Dabone said there are reasons for the awards he’s won. “Because I did a good job at something.”
Dabone however lives under the umbrella of pragmatism knowing that you can do all the great scenes in the world but fuck up once and that’s the story that gets out. Wankus likened that to being called gay after sucking one cock. “Whoever the director might be,” Dabone agreed, “even if you do a hundred great ones, they’ll remember a couple of bad ones.” Since making his return to the business, Dabone assesses his performances in the past two months as golden. “I try to do good and keep a good attitude. I don’t care if I’m on the set forever. I just do my thing and work.”
Dabone had a lot of additional comments and we’ll get to those in a follow-up piece.