The book, page 11, Jerry Butler and "Channel J"

Even for me this page lacked some finesse. The clear use of staples and I believe "post-its" to attach the pictures could have been improved on from an artistic standpoint. The pictures are all kind of hoo-hum too. Clockwise from the top left the boys are Jerry Butler, Randy West, Cal Jammer and Sean Michaels. Everyone has other appearances in the book, but Jerry Butler deserves some honorable mention for his historical value. First I'm going to *gasp* break with format skip ahead to show you a larger picture of him from later in the book: Not a particularly breathtaking guy, but he had a husky, daddy thing going that hit the right spot. Anyhow, in New York City in the 80's at the dawn of cable TV, the channels above 13 were given letter denominations (MTV was "G" etc.). Channel J was community access, but after 11 pm they showed adult content. All pre-teen boys knew about this quickly, and many a sleepover featured viewings. Its was mostly boring: Naked talk shows, "The Robin Byrd Show", phone sex ads ("970-PEEE...add an extra E for extra pee!") and ads for escort agencies like "Geisha to Go" were their standard fare. Between this unending boring content there where occasional snippets of porn movies to keep you interested. The clips were less than 3 minutes I would say, but through deft use of our VCR, I managed to capture Jerry Butler doing a girl doggie style in a field for about 60 seconds. That grainy, crappy mini scene was the first porn I ever really owned, so Jerry has a space in my heart. He also has an autobiography called "Raw Talent", but it was pretty self congratulatory and I admit I never finished it. Channel J also showed gay content on Friday nights after midnight. I swear I wasn't looking for it, but one night I happened upon the moment that "made me gay". The scene I stumbled on was two guys in a dorm room talking about girls. They were drinking beer in cut off sweat pants, shirtless, so I suppose I should have seen it coming, but when one guy suggests that its okay for men to "use each other" when girls aren't around and promptly begin to blow the other one, I was shocked. I scrambled to change the channel immediately but it was too late. The hard-on in my pants was all the proof really needed that another fag had been born.

The Book, page 9-10, Jon Dough

With the exception of my old buddy Randy West, The next two pages are devoted to Jon Dough, who is a prime example of the "everyman" type in straight porn. Most straight guys get freaked out if the dude in the picture is too hot. Either they are jealous or unexpectedly intrigued and tingly. In any case, most straight male porn stars are decidedly normal looking (and/or horse hung). I liked Jon because he was hairy and reminded me of a cute plumber/pizza guy/construction worker...which is I guess why he was so popular. Jon Dough even had a "best of" compilation which I have never seen before or since for a straight porny. Unfortunately Jon Dough hung himself a few years back. Randy Spears writes him a nice epitaph on his old myspace page. For the morbid, there is a website that lists dead pornstars and how they've died. Surprisingly high number of suicides and homicides. Unsurprisingly high number of OD's and AIDS deaths.

The Book, page 4, Randy Spears

And now one of my favorites of all time: Randy Spears This top photo is Randy West and Tori Welles. Randy W. is looking reasonably hot and buff, but below is my boy Randy Spears, who makes many more appearances in "The Book". The two photos together have some nice symmetry i guess, but it's really all about Mr. Spears for me. The way he's grabbing the girls ass while staring down at her in this photo seems...convincing I guess? He at least seems caught up in the moment. Also note the cigarettes on the bedstand...nice touch huh? Randy always kinda seemed like that guy who got all the girls and you'd be jealous of, but he was also so normal looking...very guy next door. I thought he had a perfect body: muscly, but natural looking too. And that awesome hairy chest....I still think about him in the shower..... Randy Spears was one of very few straight male porn stars of the time that had a wide enough appeal that he could appear in solo videos supposedly marketed toward women (he was in two: "Stud Squad" (out of print) and "Straight to Bed" (Catalina). The 6 photos of him I posted are early internet finds from a time where there were no sites dedicated to male porn stars. He stood out not only to me I guess. Now he has a yahoo fan site called "Spear me Randy".

The Book, page 3

This is Randy West, getting what I alway thought looked like an amazing blow job from some girl. Its that snarl on his face.... The girly parts were a little prominent for my tastes, but I still thought it was a hot photo. I'm not sure who the other guy is. Randy was a staple of straight porn at the time and was in hundreds of movies. He had a good body, big cock and had that 80's private investigator look. With his mustache I liked him, but I thought he looked weird without it.