2009 in Review

It’s over! Finished! Gone forever!
2009, the year that wasn’t, is no more!

When you live in LA, you get used to mild catastrophes like earthquakes, fires, riots, and when they do happen, everyone seems to wake up from whatever egomaniacal head trip they’re focused on and start to look around and contemplate the insignificance and temporary nature of the human condition.
But that oh so humbling feeling is nothing some good old impulse shopping can’t cure.

But then came the so called downturn of the economy, the ultimate reset button, the crusher of dreams, the bringer of thrift, modest ambitions and bottom feeding expectations! Now at last we have to deal for real and re-examine our junkie habits in an addictive consumer society where more is never enough…

When the dominos started to fall, it quickly became apparent how interconnected and codependent we truly are.

I was contempt shooting the Red Chair without concern for its actual cost(8k per year) because editorial and campaign shoots were covering the bills.
Meanwhile, models were hopping on airplanes on a whim, sometimes for the day, and that fuzzy warm feeling from astronomical page views count was a big enough reward.

This went on for years, and I was asked often why I wasn’t turning this project into a paysite, but it was the last thing on my mind.

First, it’s expensive to operate, and big companies like Twistys, Danni, Digital Desires, and their affiliates have flooded the market, and any paid content is available for free somewhere if you know where to look.
Second, having filled their coffers in times of prosperity, their huge operating budget fueled by a large customer base gives them access to any talent, location, prop or gear. How do you compete with that?

You don’t.

But all these page views were proof that even the most humble independent erotic project can find an audience of millions. As a free project, the Red Chair had both traffic and brand recognition.

I used to fantasize of what could be achieved if each visitor would contribute a dollar. Crazy…
One day, the military trained Cheryl, aka Black Velvet looked me square in the eyes like a drill sergeant and said: “pick your boots up and do something about it!”

So a donation page was created, but now of course I had to communicate with my audience and beg for their support, making one clever sales pitch after another via endless bulletin posts. It felt about as natural as asking a naked guy to give you a high five while he’s busy jerking off.

It was on! And surely all those amazing antiques on La Cienega would soon become part of my set in a huge new loft full of new shooting possibilities. Right?

Naïve expectations, like turning appreciation into cash, often bring cold showers.

The response was modest, in the dozens, not millions, for one very obvious reason: Who wants to pay for the cow if the milk is free?
In theory, it was an amazing out of the box idea, but with no practical application, creating a membership site became the only realistic option.
The upside was that any x-rated content could now be displayed on my own terms, and that was probably the biggest incentive. Moderation just kills the spirit.

The public service era of the Red Chair was indeed over.

A talented plastic surgeon friend became the official sponsor, and my jedi webmaster and I went to work on a fully integrated Flash design for the next few weeks, while a wisdom tooth removal provided me with enough Vicodine to endure the resizing of over 10,000 images!

Some older galleries didn’t make the transition for lack of paperwork (you don’t mess with 2257) and despite repeated attempts to get it from the models 3 years after the shoot, only 3 out of 20 bothered to reply.
But you can’t bitterly dwell on the past, so moving on…

A promo ran ahead of the launch and a few dozen supporters became a couple of hundreds.

To accompany the launch, a modeling contest, offered cash prizes instead of some bullshit title like “Hottie Next Door”. The talented Andrea Young created a “Red Chair Beauty” Pin Up and the whole affair proudly declared itself “A Contest that Doesn’t Suck!“.

But oh boy did it ever…and we got caught flat footed.

Our software just wasn’t robust enough for the thousands of votes and hourly visits. Some vote count went missing, thumbnails would occasionally disappear, and rumors of rigging began to emerge, followed by insult letters, angry phone calls and metaphorical bomb threats …until we found a way to stabilize the damn thing.

The 3 models that were enjoying a comfortable advance in the beginning got all but wiped out by those who had the advantage of name recognition, took the lead and never lost it.
This of course caused even more drama…Surely I was receiving sexual favors to justify a 2,000 vote lead. Contrary to those reports no, Vickie6, Stephy C, Kymberly Marvel and I were not having foursomes while tweaking the vote count.

As for any future voting contest….NEVER AGAIN!

As mid summer approached, the gloomy economy really hit hard.
Subscriptions numbers were low, over 20 models canceled their trips,
but as depressing as things were getting, there was only pushing ahead.
Fortunately I had a bunch of older unedited shoots sitting on my hard drive, preventing any content shortage, and I was able to gleefully revisit the good old days when there were, hum…fewer pillows.

In the first 6 months since the launch, I was so busy editing photo sets (each takes 4 days) that I left video editing to a few capable editors, but the combination of low pay and picky creative demands from this control freak wore their patience down.
I then realized a lot of Imovie tutorials on YouTube were made by 12 year olds, which begged the question, am I smarter than a 5th grader?
But preteens can’t edit adult videos, so after spending an hour figuring this stuff out, I suddenly felt like James Cameron in the editing room, minus the 3D, the millions, and the really, really hot blue 10 foot tall warrior babes of Pandora.
What I did have was some really talented renowned musician friends who let me use their tunes as a soundtrack to the ladies misbehavin’. My man and great Red Chair supporter Igor of IthinkThatsHot.com calls it porno music. Hum, dude, I don’t think clubby electro punk would be a good fit. Would it? Keep your Ipod handy and let me know!

Regular video updates made the difference, and subscriptions increased immediately, even though I’m well aware that Red Chair videos are not on the level of the photography. But a little sound and motion is better than none at all until I can get my hands on better, more expensive video gear.

On a technical note, I had been operating a faulty camera for all of 2008. The photos just didn’t “pop” like they used to and it took massive amounts of tweaking to get any life out of the mud I was getting. Fuji stepped up and gave me a new camera. Great company!

Make up artists are a big part of what makes the Red Chair look glamorous,
And with Roshar gone to NY and Daven Mayeda having hit the big time, I was thrilled to find the very talented Jessica deBen who rocked most of the year’s shoots.

Gossip on Model Mayhem has hit a new low, and this year ran the gamut from “I know this model who got crabs from the Red Chair” to “I know for a fact he raped 6 models”. Models are kind enough to send me screenshots of these defamatory messages when they land in their inbox. Very disturbing stuff which unfortunately can deter some models from doing a shoot, and could easily lend their authors in a courtroom.

At this particular moment and for completely unrelated reasons, I wish to extend a very warm “hello how are you?” to miss Kimberly Jane Trad, Gizelle, and Natalie Addams. You remain an inspiration.

At the same time, the more gossip spreads, the more I feel like giving the tabloid junkies of the modeling world something to talk about. It’s not all glamour and glitter folks!

2009 also saw the emergence of copycats on Model Mayhem, starting their “Red Chaise” or “Red Couch” series. Are you REALLY this creatively bankrupt that you couldn’t come up with your own idea? Congratulations, you’re biggest achievement is proving to the world that you have absolutely no imagination.

Of course the Red Chair wouldn’t exist without the beautiful alluring women who dare to explore their sexuality in front of the camera. Having witnessed this enough times, unless you’re a seasoned adult performer, it’s a lot like walking to the edge of a bridge before a bungee jump, and once you let go, realize that it’s a pretty liberating experience.

So how did the class of 2009 do?

The incredible natural beauty Nyx Noire and her very awesome BF Jericho gave us a beautiful hardcore send off with a finale worthy of Peter North, and looking back, there are many things I would have done better. Do over guys? Say when…

Sierra Marton followed in the footsteps of her pal Nicole Marinello, demonstrating that you don’t work this hard on your body to keep it hidden under your clothes.

Celebrated fetish muse CeCe LaRue decided that everything had to be tried at least once, and later decided that once was enough. We shot her with whatever clothes she wore walking through the door, because nothing could possibly top her butt cheeks falling out of her torn jeans.

Akara was an unlikely candidate. At first we didn’t gel at all. But then she decided to give this whole naked biz a go knowing the Red Chair would give her the right photos to go knock on doors and get noticed. Even though she was awesome, that didn’t pan out and the Red Chair remains her only erotic shoot to date.

Jenise came back for seconds 6 months after her first shoot. This girl is totally chill and never thinks twice about doing anything. She really brings it knowing that getting off can make for stunning pics!

Amber Chase and Anna Stevens are porn pros from Oregon, and if you knew what they get paid per shoot, you’d understand how generous it was of them to participate. I tossed in the seriously well hung Ryan Blink in the mix, who didn’t leave anyone hanging. This was also the most hardcore shoot to date, with everyone having a great time in the process.

Our contest winner Victoria Taylor, aka Vickie6 showed up two years after we first professed our mutual admiration on Mayhem. While most of her shots consisted of her alternatively shifting her badunkadunk from left to right for legions of adoring fans, 2008 marked the year she began doing more explicit shoots, with an elusive bj session on model Sidney posted on the phenomenally talented Aeric Meredith Goujon‘s blog. She rocked the Red Chair solo and with Indiana Hottie Stephy C, our second place winner, who since made it to Playboy, not that it means all that much anymore. I prefer her super hardcore shoots with Sidney, as captured, again, by Aeric, to whom body fluids are what paint used to be to Michelangelo Buonarroti.
Back to our shoot, what truly leaves me perplexed, is how two barely five feet tall women can down 3 gallons of Sangria(by request) in one evening….and not even be tipsy. Damn…

Ms Vanessa felt that her 2006 shoot was just too mild considering the Red Chair’s evolution, and decided to make a comeback. She calls herself a sexy nerd, I call her outta control hot. One of my very favorite models. We need more African American models in the chair, don’t you agree? I’m pretty sure she’ll be back in 2010.

Ok kiddies, if you’re concerned that your MM career will end at 25, all you need to do is look to Atlanta model Maria Whitaker, who makes 40 look completly irresistible. She took her first plane ride ever just to be in the chair, and with her hubby’s blessing, requested a little manhandling. In retrospect, we both agreed that we should have pushed it a little further. There’s always next time…

Cadence St John enjoys a huge notoriety in the Alt Porn world, going hardcore for Burning Angel and displaying her cool punkitude everywhere else. She brought her cool BF to the shoot but we never moved past her solo set. Though she’s awesome in person, I think the Red Chair was too structured as a shoot for her personality, and you can tell from her other shoots that she does best when set loose. Can’t fit a square peg in a round hole. Meanwhile she has some awesome new shots in her portfolio by the ever so talented Chad Michael Ward.

I first noticed Andrea MJM in a Ken Marcus shoot, the famed Marquis de Melrose of whom I am a huge fan. Andrea did not experience the Red Chair, I experienced her. Setting all personal ambitions aside, this fiery Jewish woman is a wicked class act who embraces life fully, and her personal stories are novel material, the kind you’d read under the covers with a flashlight. She came to the chair twice this year, did two very orgasmic videos, and the massive number of page views her photos have received make her bare none the most popular model of 2009.

Tara Ryze is another famed Alt model who was in town with her friend Betty Jaded with more free time than she had wished for due to last minute cancellations. Not so unfortunate for me, as we hooked up a shoot and she put her head in the game and went balls out. Alt blogs went in shock: “Tara Ryze did what?” and from our ongoing convos, she’s gung ho and ready to do it again! Tara you see, is simply the coolest Alt model I’ve ever met.

Davorah Fine made her mind up quickly about the Red Chair, and soon she drove from San Diego to LA, got naked, got herself off, and left with a promise to return for some boy-girl action and bigger boobs. There’s something to look forward to! And Davorah, please remember to tell your sister in law Beautiful Blake about the Red Chair will you? Seriously…..

V is the model I shot in the sponsor intro who got her amazing new boobs courtesy of our sponsor. She had always intended to do the Red Chair, but then she got a BF, and then she got mad at him and did it anyway, but in a hurry. She’s not a model at all, but you would never know from her photos. Round 2 coming soon in 2010!

Jen is deaf and lives in a world of silence, but is so tuned in to her environment that a few gestures were all she needed to take directions. She’s a far better model than most who can actually hear. What do you make of that? We hung out for a few, but I ran out of note pads and Daisy her service dog barked at me a lot. Not only were her photos terrific, but she made me rethink many things I take for granted. Thanks Jen.

Olivia Alize
is a well established adult performer who operates under too many aliases to keep track of. She gets big fat checks for shoots, so the fact that she would consider doing the Red Chair pro bono was a welcomed charitable act. We explored a lil’ vampire theme, and when all else failed, resorted to superglue to keep her beastly canines firmly in place. We were going to shoot more, but the porn world keeps her busy…and rich! (The teeth did come off later btw)

Bianca Bravo
got some brand new boobs and decided to flaunt them for the Red Chair first. We shot and it was hot. I pulled out the HD cam but she more or less started telling me that she needed to get paid for that. She’s absolutely right, and I hope that soon memberships will increase to the point were everyone can be paid, including myself! It also made me appreciate those who never asked for anything in return even more.

Maegan Christine had a lot of good intentions coming to the Red Chair, however I’m not sure whether it was all the smoke from her Hookah or the lack of male “talent”, but I felt her enthusiasm slowly evaporate as the shoot progressed. But she’s beautiful and we got hot photos, which is all that matters.

Scarlet Shaylen‘s innocent look is deceitful. When she expressed interest for the project, I asked her if she had ever done anything like this. She showed me some photos that were shot for a Michelle 7 series, which my mind was put at ease. I also sent her to shoot with some great local shooters so she could make the most of her California visit. The favorite moment of our shoot came when after 10 minutes of playing around with two vibrators, she asked: “is it ok if I let go?” I wasn’t sure what she meant, but then she came really hard and it all made sense. Duh…The fact that she asked for my permission was kinda hot. She wasn’t feeling doing any video and that left many, including me, disappointed. But don’t give up on her just yet.

Renée Grey had a beautiful, but conservative portfolio, so I was miles away from imagining the orgasm marathon she put herself through. What started innocently enough with a few pas de deux in a tutu, continued with some serious toying around. By day’s end she had come so often that she lost all muscle control in her face and could no longer talk. Absolute best performance of the year. Total rockstar. We should give out awards, no really…

Praised be those alluring erotic muses who offer their beauty and pleasure to the desires of others!

I want to thank also the 686 fantastic people who have joined to support the Red Chair as members. Without you, there wouldn’t be a Red Chair today.
Anyone who has ever contacted the Red Chair with any technical issue, criticism or wish, knows how much your patronage is valued.

Finally, the biggest epiphany of 2009 came on December 31st, when I suddenly realized that Art, Skin and Sin spelled………..!

Here’s to making 2010 the best year in the Red Chair ever!

Cheers!

-marc

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2 Comments

  1. Allen
    Posted January 4, 2010 at 12:58 am | Permalink

    Congrats on a successful year and taking it to the next level! Some of the most insanely hot women ever have graced that lucky piece of furniture… Here’s to 2010 bringing more of the same!

  2. Jayman
    Posted November 2, 2010 at 2:11 am | Permalink

    Just joined your site, The reason I joined is Scarlet Shaylen!!!! MORE PLEASE!!!!!!

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