A star is porn

Barry Lowe is please to find his favourites made the cut in a new compendium of gay porn greats. 

Miklos Arpad (real name: Péter Kozma) died February 3, aged 45, apparently a suicide, in New York. He was a Hungarian-born gay porn actor I had never heard of, and I had never seen any of his films.

These days there’s such a plethora of porn on the net for free that you can view clips without ever learning the names of the actors you’re watching. How much more difficult is it to track down your favourite star’s name so you can collect his other films. I’ve been attempting (unsuccessfully) to find the name of a particularly rough bearded Mediterranean/Arab straight porn actor for over a year now.

My interaction with porn greats has been rather limited to interviews with the likes of the late great Erik Rhodes, Roman Heart, Kristen Bjorn, or socialising with the likes of Blue Blake, Gino Colbert and Carlo Cox. One up close and personal was with Chris Stone in the Nob Hill Cinema in San Francisco where patrons were instructed that the “City of San Francisco prohibits the touching of the genitals or the buttocks of the performer. However, solo and mutual masturbation are permitted.” It was a rule made to be broken unless you attempted to insert your finger up a stripper’s ass.

Humungous-dicked Scott O’Hara was responsible for the inclusion of a story of mine in John Preston’s Flesh and the Word. I was also invited, along with many others, to do what I liked to a packet of Scott’s ashes after he was cremated. I regret now that I declined.

Of those porn stars listed above, the recently departed Miklos Arpad, Erik Rhodes, Roman Heart, Scott O’Hara, and Blue Blake make it into a stunning new colour picture book, Gay Porn Heroes: 100 Most Famous Porn Stars, by JC Adams from the prodigious publishing house, Bruno Gmünder. I’m not really into those tomes with portentous titles such as 100 Favourite Things to Model with Ear Wax or 100 Favourite Sperm Recipes or 100 Arseholes to Felch Before You Die, but this coffee table opus is a must-have. And, okay, I lied about the sperm recipe book. Although there are far fewer than one hundred recipes included, you need a hell of a lot of spunk to make a yolk-free omelette.

Adams’ book is full of photos of erect tops and dilated bottoms, some even clothed and it’s hard to fault his choices. I’ll admit there are a number of inclusions I’ve never heard of, but that’s understandable as my interest in porn waxes and wanes and I, too, resort to the internet for a quick tug and instant gratification. You know how much energy you have to use up slipping a DVD into the player and turning on the TV? I can come twice in the time that takes.

It’s nice to see a lot of the stars I grew up with make the cut: Kurt Marshall, Al Parker, Jon King, the immortal Casey Donovan, Chip Noll, Chad Douglas, Dick Fisk, Jack Wrangler, Kevin Kramer, and Kip Noll, along with my more recent favourites such as Brent Corrigan, Matthew Rush and Brent Everett.

Oh, I have met another inclusion, Jeff Stryker, twice. Once in a one-on-one conversation. The second time he was totally naked and had an erection. But that’s another story.