CYBERSPACE — There’s nothing sadder than a host without his co-host and on Wednesday, May 24th YNOT Bob found himself sans LAJ, his usual sidekick on the weekly Hump Day Show on YNOTRadio. Fortunately for the lone YNOT Bob, notorious pornographer, co-owner of Extreme Associates, and focus of federal obscenity prosecution Rob Black was available.After Bob discussed the latest sensational attempts to locate and exhume the remains of Jimmy Hoffa and protested the existence of an unauthorized YNOT Bob Myspace page, temporary co-host and ultimately much beleaguered producer, Johnny Brasco, brought Black on air.
In true Los Angeles form, the manic video bad boy was broadcasting live from the driver’s seat of his car as he drove to see his shrink so he could vent about “all the pain and all the drama in my life.”
Black, who nearly carried the show by himself for long stretches of time, explained that “I got OCD real bad, so I’ve seen the guy for the last six years and I take meds so I only wash my hands 10 times a day and not 75 and do goofy shit like that.”
Even before the stress of an obscenity charge loomed menacingly over his head he would talk with his therapist every two weeks. According to Black, the man sometimes “looks at me and says ‘what the fuck? Go work at McDonald’s!’”
After admitting a profound disinterest in leaving the adult industry even for the romance of fast food, Black brought the audience up to date on his court case, explaining that the U.S. Supreme Court had refused to hear the case without explaining why, which is something it opted for in the recent Barbara Nitke/National Coalition for Sexual Freedom vs. Gonzales pro-active free speech case, as well.
According to Black, he and his attorney expect that their day in court will be “anywhere from a year away to two years away,” but that it is an absolute certainty. Sounding both hyper and exhausted, he said that his legal council is watching to see where a related ACLU case goes in hopes that the decision will provide a useful precedent for him. He confessed a weary fatalism, stating that he feels “so numb to everything, but it is what it is.”
When Bob asked him how he felt about industry peers that think he should serve time in prison for his content, Black was generous with his opinions, chief among them that anyone who thinks their content is somehow safe from government intrusion is kidding themselves. While a lively conversation occurred in the YNOTRadio.com chat room, Black called Seymore Butts, whose Showtime series Family Business has given him a degree of mainstream respectability that belies his earlier extreme antics, a “fuckin’ punk” and a “fuckin’ crybaby” who stiffed his distributors after pulling a title. Black’s opinion of Max Hardcore was far more generous. “At least he’s a man,” he opined.
Throughout the drive time conversation, Black – however passionate or profane – maintained a wicked humor and articulated many points near and dear to pornographers’ philosophical hearts.
“Why is Hollywood able to make movies with priests fuckin’ kids and Jesus fuckin’ the Virgin Mary but if you make fuckin’ anything in a porno, it’s no! Nobody can ever have a good argument why, cuz it’s a bullshit cop-out. A movie’s a fuckin’ movie,” he insisted energetically.
He illustrated by example mentioning the highly controversial French art film, 120 Days of Sodom, available in the mainstream rental circuit. After watching it, he reported thinking “I should make a porn version of this, but actually make it a porn. Would that be obscenity? It was a literary fuckin’ award winner!”
According to the Internet Movie Data Base, 120 Days of Sodom was confiscated in West-Germany in 1976 during its premier and classified as pornographic and violence-praising, although it was released mere days later for general distribution throughout the country. “White ring round the hub” copies of the DVD released prior to August 1998 can sell for $600 and are among the most expensive collectable discs in the world.
Phone problems complicated the latter part of the Hump Day Show, which remained lively until the very end.
