Exxxotica Expo 2009

Jersey Girls Bring Out the Bad Boys



Exxxotica New York, rebranded as Exxxotic Expo and relocated to Edison, New Jersey (after being too deemed too hot to handle in its original home of Secaucus, NJ), is the last Northeast vestige of the big gala "porn industry trade show," a genre dominated, for obvious reasons, by the West Coast - Southern California being the defacto home of the adult film industry and "Sin City" Las Vegas right across the state line - and to a smaller extent in Miami, Florida (porn stars and industry types tend to like the sunnier climes, if only to maximize their tan lines).


Exxxotica is back...in town!

Reading about the controversial Exxxotica Expo held last week (September 25-27) in Edison, New Jersey made me pine for the old East Coast Video Show held annually in Atlantic City up until 2003, with one brief soujourn in the exotic confines of - are you ready for this? - Baltimore (!) in September 2004 (when it was called the Home Entertainment Retail Expo and held at the Baltimore Convention Center; I remember it well because I had just started dating a new girlfriend and gave her all the sex toy swag I picked up at the show!).

Regardless of one's stance on pornography, experiencing these garish, balls-out trade shows is a pop cultural phenomenon in itself, if only for the people watching. Depending on your point of view, it's either another chapter in The Decline of Western Civilization: The Overly Permissive Years or represents The Ultimate Truth (and lowest common denominator) as far as catering to Man's Basest Desires. Either way, it's quite...a trip. I'm reminded of late great author David Foster Wallace's review of the 1998 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, which in his essay "Big Red Son" was described as "the Apocalypse [taking] the form of a cocktail party." Foster continued,

The adult industry is vulgar...The industry's not only vulgar, it's predictably vulgar. All the cliches are true. The typical porn producer really is the ugly little man with a bad toupee and a pinkie-ring the size size of a Rolaids. The typical porn director really is a guy who uses the word class as a noun to mean refinement. The typical porn starlet really is the lady in Lycra eveningwear with tattoos all down her arms who's both smoking and chewing gum while telling journalists how grateful she is to Wadcutter Productions Ltd. for footing her breast-enlargement bill. And meaning it. The whole AVN Awards weekend comprises what Mr. Dick Filth calls an Irony-Free Zone.

The Exxxotica 2009 event, held at the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center located at the Raritan Center in Edison, NJ, was organized by Victory Tradeshow Management (VTM). It became the last-minute destination for the adult consumer show after community and political leaders raised opposition to the event being held in Secaucus, NJ. Not that the Edison community didn't want for its share of controversy, as well, maybe as a result of this TV commercial that aired in New York and New Jersey:



But not from the Village Voice's photographer who posted the following (NSFW) highlights slideshow:
Village Voice's Exxxotica Expo Slideshow

According to a Victory Tradeshow Management press release, highlights of the show were to include EXXXOTICA's massive "Fantasy Island" attraction (sponsored by Genesis Magazine) featuring over 20 top adult film stars meeting fans, including Digital Playground contract stars Jesse Jane(R)...


Outlaw performer Jesse Jane
twirling her guns

...and Stoya, Wicked Pictures star Stormy Daniels, Adam & Eve's Bree Olson and Kayden Kross, Vivid Girl Sunny Leone, SexZ Pictures' Hillary Scott; AVN Performer of the Year, Sasha Grey (who starred in Steven Soderbergh's experimental indie film The Girlfriend Experiment)...


Sasha Grey starred in Steven
Soderbergh's "Girlfriend Experience"

...LA Direct Models Gianna Lynn, Penny Flame, Lexxi Tyler and Audrey Bitoni; as well other top adult performers such as Teagan, Roxy DeVille, Sunny Lane, Paola Rey, Taryn Thomas, Moxxie Maddron, Arianna Armani and more. Also appearing at other booths are Vivid Girls Savanna Samson, Hanna Hilton and Nikki Jayne, adult hall of famers Ron Jeremy (who'll show up anywhere there's craft services)...


Ron Jeremy guarantees a captive audience of fans

...and Taylor Wane, and stars Gina Lynn, Travis Knight, Alexis Amore, Evil Angel Video's Lexi Love, Courtney Cummz, Roxy Reynolds, The Love Twins, Sasha Hollander, Morgan Dayne, Victoria Zdrok, Flower Tucci, Gianna Michaels, and a casting couch of thousands. Other attractions, according to VTM's press release, were to include "the Ms. EXXXOTICA Competition, the bone-crushing action of the Professional Pillow Fight League, the world's most dangerous game show "Strip for Pain," titillating and informative seminars, stage shows, and much more. There will also be daily all-star panels of adult's biggest names answering questions from audience members, exotic dance routines, music..." as well as "the latest DVDs and products from the world of adult, fashion apparel, health and beauty products and services, and just about anything the open-minded adult could desire from the world of adult and beyond."

Did I forget to mention that Amy Fisher, the now relatively long-in-the-tooth "Long Island Lolita" (hey's she's 35 now) and part-time stripper and "sex tape" star, also posted with her hubby Lou Bellara?

Oh, the humanity.


Amy & Lou: Someone forgot to take out the trash

Related Links:
Exxxoticaexpo (MySpace)
Village Voice's Exxxotica Expo Slideshow
2009 Exxxotica Expo Commercial (YouTUbe)