Porn Valley- Grant Michaels, who’s repped by L.A. Direct Models, www.ladirectmodels.com was a guest of Sports Swami last week. Swami caught up with Michaels who was stuck in traffic on the 405 on his way to do a scene for Cherry Boxx. “Thrilling this traffic.”
Michaels notes that he still maintains a job in corporate America. “I just do the adult biz on the side,” said Michaels who’s been a porn performer for ten months. “So far it’s great. I’m having a blast.” Michaels said he does vitamin sales for major retailers like GNC but expects that his porn profession will become common knowledge sooner or later. “I love that job and it balances the craziness of the industry,” says Michaels. “I do a couple of movies a week. Other than that I’m involved in business deals, promotions.”
Swami imagined that Michaels puts in a lot of hours as both jobs are concerned. Michaels agreed.
Michaels said it’s often that he has to make up work on the weekend. “If I can take scenes on the weekend it’s great; but if I have to take them on a week day, my accounts are always open on a Saturday or Sunday, so I would seem them on a weekend and catch up for lost time.”
Michaels said it isn’t just a matter of working hard or long hours but working smart. “You can get a lot done if you manage your time correctly. Sometime I’ll have a movie in the Valley and make sure some of my big accounts are in that area before and after the scene. The funny thing is I don’t know where I’ve been the last two hours. It’s kind of a funny situation. I’m really living the double life you might say.”
Michaels stresses that it was never his game plan to get into the adult business. “I started dating a porn star. When you’re from the outside world and you’re dating a porn star it’s all fun and games until you start caring about her. I kind of hit a crossroad where I really cared about this girl but she wanted to stay in the adult biz. She’s a big name. She said I’ll tell you what- I’ll try and balance everything out by getting you involved. We tried it. It worked for a little while but relationships in the adult business are extremely challenging and it didn’t work out for us. I’m now single, but that’s basically how I got in. I came in from the backdoor you might say.”
Michaels said it was Kim Chambers that he had been seeing. “She’s a wonderful girl. We’re still friends. I can’t say a bad word about her. She’s probably going to be out of the adult business soon- don’t quote me on that- but she’s got a lot of new ventures going on with Internet sites. After a long career in the adult business she wants to get out. And I’m a rookie. I want to stay in. I’m starting to make a name for myself and get work with the bigger companies. I want to be here for awhile. We just wanted different things, that’s all.”
Michaels, it was noted, is from Zimbabwe. “Most Americans don’t know where that is,” Michaels states. “That’s in central Africa. It’s just above South Africa and is a separate country from South Africa though people think I am South African. I was born and raised there. We have a Communist government in charge there that’s made things a real mess. Me and my younger brother who’s actually also in the adult business- we came over here in ’97 to make a new life for ourselves. As far as my parents, there’s not a lot of porn in Zimbabwe. I think it’s still illegal. You can get bootleg tapes that sell for about a $100 each. But I don’t think my folks in their Sixties watch too much porn. At least I hope not. So I don’t think they’re going to watch their son.
“I think my mom would be shocked initially then say as long as you’re being careful,” Michaels continues. “I think my dad may actually pat me on the back and say good job, son. I don’t think my dad will mind. He’ll be cool and I think my mom will get over it in time. I haven’t told them yet. It’s kind of awkward because I tell my folks everything that’s going on in my life but I missed that minor detail.”
Asked for his opinion on the Terrell Owens story involving Nicollette Sheridan, Michaels thinks it was blown out of proportion.
“I unfortunately missed it. But I studied marketing so I would have loved to have seen it. I’m sure they’re not going to show it again, either. Remember, you’re asking a guy who’s pretty open-minded about sexuality and marketing and that kind of thing. It really didn’t sound over the top to me.”
Michaels said he really didn’t know where the race aspects comes from. “I don’t think it’s a racial slur on Terrell. She’s a beautiful woman. I don’t get it. I guess a lot of people are saying the ad implies that a major named athlete like Terrell is giving up responsibilities by going out with the broad. People are going to realize that it’s all tongue in cheek. It’s all in fun. Terrell is scoring too many touchdowns to miss the game for some broad. He can always get a beautiful blond after the game, I’m sure.”
Michaels apparently made some remarks about women performing with blacks that were construed as controversial. Michaels was quick to point out that he’s new to the business and still learning about the industry.
“One of the things that surprised me getting into the industry was the discrepancy in the pay rates that women get and I’ll clarify that,” he said. “You do a solo scene. You get X amount of money and the pay rate increases as the girl goes from solo to girl-girl. Then she’ll get paid more to do boy-girl. She’ll get paid a little more to do boy-boy-girl. She gets paid more for anal and on and on it goes. That pay scales makes sense. But where it starts getting confusing to me is they say we’ll pay you more to work with black guys then with white guys or any other race for that matter. For black guys we’re going to pay you more. I didn’t understand that.
“To me it’s sort of a slice of racial bigotry in what should be a very liberal and PC-correct society we live in,” Michaels went on to say. “I’ve actually lost jobs where a girl had the option to work with me in a scene but she had another option to work with a black guy in a scene. Because she’s going to get more money by working in that interracial scene, of course she’s going to take it. So you see how it actually directly affects me and any other talent that may not be African-American. I just think it’s wrong. And whatever way you try and slice it and try to explain it and rationalize it as to why girls get more money for interracials, it really doesn’t pan out.
“You can say, well, black guys are tough to work with and it’s going to hurt your name in the industry. Well, that’s an insult to black guys. Or you can say black guys are better performers and it’s going to strengthen your name in the industry. That’s an insult to me as a white guy. Anyway you try to slice it, there’s no real good explanation. It’s just wrong and I think all pay rates should be equalized.”
Swami was trying to advance the argument that certain taboos still exist within certain parts of the country.”Maybe if were in the Fifties or Sixties,” said Michaels. “Maybe stretching it to the Seventies- fuck, man, we’re in the New Millennium. Everywhere I go in L.A. I see a hot blond woman walking around with a good looking black man. I see sometimes more interracial relationships than I see regular relationships. I know L.A. is a liberal city but that’s just a reality. It’s not taboo any more. It’s very accepted. It’s very normal and so I don’t really buy the whole it’s taboo-thing any more. Maybe if it was Prohibition, yes, but no. Not in 2004. I’m sorry.”
Swami begged to differ with Michaels’ assessments and Michaels begged to differ with Swami’s differing.
“What is pornography all about?” asked Michaels rhetorically. “It’s all about living out the fantasy. Maybe your fantasy is young Asian girls. Great. Maybe your fantasy is blonds with big boobs. Great. Those are the kinds of tapes you’re going to go for. But whatever fantasy you’re buying, lets look at the taboo-thing. When watching a porn and getting into the porn for the visual stimulation, you need to identify a little with the cock that’s doing the fucking. I ought to know but I’m just a white guy, so even if the woman in the porn is a turn on, I can’t really identify or get turned on by the scene because I do not have a big black cock like Lex. That’s too much of a distraction for me to just relax and enjoy the scene. I need to identify with at least the penis has to somehow resemble me and my little fantasy life.
“I’m thinking if you’re going to go into all the states where it’s all taboo,” Michaels continues, “surely these guys still want the visual that they can identify with. Maybe I’m reading it wrong and looking at the situation from my perspective. I’m trying to look at it from a taboo aspect. But it really doesn’t sell on the whole- why do we watch porn? For the visual fantasy that it creates in our mind. But to me in my mind it’s unfair [the pay discrepancies].
“I don’t know how an unfair situation is allowed to exist in an industry that makes so much money like this. It wouldn’t be allowed to exist in other industries. You wouldn’t have people in the computer business getting different pay rates based on skin color. It wouldn’t happen in any other industry. I’m a little confused. That’s why I posted on the Internet boards. I just wanted to see what people thought and what response there was.”
Michaels said he went with L.A. Direct Models because Derrick is a smart business man. “And he’s got the biggest and fastest growing adult agency in the business. He’s talent as well so he understands what goes behind the scenes. Actually my brother- Justin Magnum is his stage name- he was over at L.A. Direct first and he’s getting a lot of work through Mike Moz and Derrick. I figured this is where I’ve got to go. And they’ve been good. They’ve been great.”
Michaels will be at AEE signing for a company called Blue Steel. “It’s a herbal Viagra,” he explains. “It’s full of all the right amino acids and herbs required for sustained erections during scenes. I’ve tried it. It works. It definitely helps. And they wanted me to run their ads with Carmen Luvana and Kelly Tyler. I did a series of ads for them both print and TV ads that went on cable. I’ve been getting great residual checks. I’ve been quite surprised and delighted by that.”
Swami put the question of a dream threeway to Michaels wondering what two women he’d pick. Michaels said Lauren Phoenix and Savanna Samson.