Groove (Part 1)

     I had given up on trying to train Stefano.
     It was October, year of our Lord 1992.  The previous August, Inana Productions had expanded in a big way.  Angel Morelli, the owner and my boss, bought a giant warehouse in the city of Oceanside that spring.  It now held four sound stages, offices, editing suites, and all the other facilities for conducting video production.  Less than half the warehouse space was taken up by the operation, even after our set decorators emptied out the self-storage spaces we'd kept our props and furniture.  Angel wanted to be able to expand further without having a third location, and he got it.

Groove (Part 2)

     Fang had a valid California driver's license, and she had her own car.  It was time to cruise.
     She absolutely loved her car.  It was a 1971 Chevy Impala four-door with the 454 motor and oxidized blue paint....  The spitting image of the car Harry Dean Stanton drove in the movie "Repo Man."  The two-ton bomb was the largest car Chevrolet ever made, eighteen feet long from bumper to bumper.  While a lifetime of Los Angeles sun had trashed the paint, the interior was almost showroom condition, down to the AM radio.  This wasn't too surprising, as the Caprice only had 42,000 original miles on it.

Groove (Part 3)

     There were eleven Inana folks gathered at the mansion Friday evening, all looking forward to getting high on Ecstasy and wreaking havoc in public.  Present were Bekka, Sue, Toxica, Jenna Ng, Demetrius, Pill, Andy, Sally, Melissa, Jolene, and Stefano.  The hits had been distributed and washed down with the first beers of the night, everyone chatting and batting about ideas for which neighborhood in San Diego to terrorize.  The collective porn people were feeling gung-ho already.

Groove (Part 4)

     Rico Carelli met me at the door of his office, all smiles and arms outstretched for an Italian man-hug.  I gave him one, then introduced the baby ducks I had in tow.  Behind me were Trish Carreza and Feather.  Both were in the market for new cars, and Rico could deliver them nearly painlessly.  He'd put other performers at Inana behind the wheels of brand new Cadillacs; if he had his druthers, the parking lot at our Oceanside studio would look like his new vehicle storage lot in Anaheim.

Groove (Part 5)

     Lawrence Pelton survived.  Larry Bennett did not.
     The shootings in Los Angeles were major news, of course.  The local news in San Diego opened with the story, and so did the national news. Mr. Ronald Haley, a former executive at adult film studio Leisure Time Video, first entered the production area of Vivid Video in North Hollywood.  He shot four people (two Vivid executives and two performers), stole a car from an uninjured employee, and left.  Then he went to the offices of Hustler Publications on Wilshire Blvd. and La Cienega, entered the business offices of Hustler Video, and shot another three people (two executives and a security guard).  Despite knowing Haley's work history, talking heads kept wanting to connect Haley's outburst with the gun battle at Inana Productions a year ago.  Police sketch artists rendered, from descriptions, a man who looked like an unshaven Hunter Thompson.  The jacked Audi was being searched for, but finding a fairly generic-looking car in Southern California was like spotting a single goldfish in a pet shop's feeder tank.

Groove (Part 6)

     After I dropped off Trish, the radio got tuned to 770 AM, KNX News Radio, the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles.  The shootings were being discussed almost nonstop, only interrupted every ten minutes for the all-important traffic reports.  Both Pelton and Bennett had been taken to local hospitals, their current status not yet known.  Executives from Vivid and Hustler were holding a joint press conference at five. at the Hustler building.  Neither had said much more than the standard "it's a shock and a tragedy" statements.

Groove (Part 7)

     Bekka, Terry, and myself were at home in Encinitas about 10:20 the next morning, waiting on our two mafia bodyguards, Joey "The Fisherman" Falcone and Frankie No-Neck.  They arrived precisely on time, both looking sharp in dark grey suits, every inch the mafioso professionals they were.  Both had a single suitcase and a single briefcase, them explaining they also had garment bags in their cars --- fresh suits --- but were otherwise prepared for a while.  Joey laughed, "My wife doesn't like when I have assignments that keep me away from home for several days.  She really hates this one.  I'm gonna be the personal bodyguard to Becky Page!"

Groove (Part 8)

     At Jane's suggestion, we went to the barbecue place next door to the Hell's Angels' bar in East Oakland, bringing our pork sandwiches and beans and greens and bean pie inside, to eat at a booth.  That way we could accompany our meal with a beer.  Budweiser, of course.  Like every other collection of outlaw bikers, the Hell's Angels knew there were really only two kinds of beer: Budweiser, and That Other Shit.  When in Rome....

Groove (Part 9)

     On the taxi ride up to Cloyne Court co-op, on Ridge Rd. at La Loma, my pager went off, and it was Bekka.  And she'd put in an odd combination of codes, both "911" (major shit is happening, call ASAP) and "411" (big news, call soon, important information available).  When the cab driver dropped us off, I took in the scene at the co-op.  It was definitely a blow-out.  I could hear 77-style punk rock being played live, the singer trying to ape Joe Strummer's voice.  There was lots of talk and laughter and activity, but it seemed to lack the same sort of uncoordinated efforts of a large crowd fueled on alcohol.  We strode in like we owned the place and paid a guy wearing a King Vitamin crown and fur robe for our beer cups.  I wasn't in too much of a hurry to start drinking, I wanted to find a resident with a private phone who I could bribe into letting me call San Diego.

Groove (Part 10)

     I was standing in the back yard with a cigarette and a full cup of beer, enjoying the peaceful wiry feeling of a good Ecstasy high.  A girl with frizzy blue dreadlocks drifted up, seeming to consider me from several yards away.  I nodded in greeting, which she took as a sign of tacit approval, and came up to me.

Groove (Part 11)

     An hour and twenty minutes later, Rinny and I went back downstairs.  Jane and Kristen were playing Uno with two other residents at a table, Jane sitting in Kristen's lap.  Jane looked up at us, glanced at her watch, and said, "I see you went into the bonus rounds."
     Rinny replied, "We did.  That was.... wow.  So I don't suppose I could bribe you two into letting me keep him all night?"

Groove (Part 12)

     I called Bekka that night and told her I would be staying over another night, Jane wanted my presence and possible support when she met Kaitlyn's parents the next afternoon.  "Translated, that means the little darling wants you around to bulldog her if she tries to throw down on Maitlyn's mom," Bekka said.
     "You know, dear, you might be right," I responded.

Groove (Part 13)el

     I returned home around midday the next afternoon.  Bekka and her entourage were just about to leave, heading to downtown San Diego for some antique-hunting.  They'd already worked out a plan.  So Bekka wouldn't feel like she was constantly crowded, Frankie No-Neck would walk a few yards ahead of her, scanning for trouble.  Joey would be several yards behind,  Terry would be at her side.  They'd agree where they were headed to, and start walking.  At a shop, all four would go in, the two wise guys poking around briefly, casing the shop, then exit and wait outside while Bekka did her browsing.

Groove (Part 14)

I returned home around midday the next afternoon.  Bekka and her entourage were just about to leave, heading to downtown San Diego for some antique-hunting.  They'd already worked out a plan.  So Bekka wouldn't feel like she was constantly crowded, Frankie No-Neck would walk a few yards ahead of her, scanning for trouble.  Joey would be several yards behind,  Terry would be at her side.  They'd agree where they were headed to, and start walking.  At a shop, all four would go in, the two wise guys poking around briefly, casing the shop, then exit and wait outside while Bekka did her browsing.

Groove (Part 15)

     Larry Bennett;s memorial service was on Saturday.  His actual funeral was a private, family-only affair.  The memorial service was open to all, but particularly to the adult film community.  The service would be another show of solidarity.  Our businesses may compete, but our personalities should not.  We're all in the same racket, and the world really doesn't understand us, so we must be able to lean on each other.

Groove (Part 16)

     It was clear this would be a day-long event, the world's most twisted company picnic.  MacArthur Park is already well-used on a Saturday, and the massive influx of porn sluts, studs, crew, fluffers, front office folks, brass and lots of hangers-on added to the energy.  The hangers-on tended to be people like a gaffer's roommate, or a B-list porn star's cousin.  They were more than a little overjoyed to be there, especially with the star power that had come out.  I was seeing a lot of old familiar faces around.  Another big difference between Gardena and MacArthur Park was attire.  At the Crystal Chapel, all the girls were dressed fairly modestly, nothing that would turn heads.  That was to demonstrate to the Moral Militia people we were to be taken seriously, this was not the Parade of Harlots.  Now, dressing like the trope of a porn star was the style of the day, a show of solidarity again.  I noticed a trend towards semitransparent material over bra-less or undie-less bodies, just opaque enough so the viewer couldn't be quite sure.

Groove (Part 17)

The Previous Monday....

     The taxi dropped me off in the big traffic circle on the west end of the UC Berkeley campus.  I'd looked up where McCone Hall was, and started walking that direction.  Jane had already told me when her instructor for Geology 101, Professor Hodges, would be at lunch.  I was timing it so I'd be there right before class got out, so I'd be able to go in and speak to the prof in private.

Groove (Part 18)

     Well, well.  The INS came to visit me today.
     I was banging away  at my keyboard in my Oceanside office when Gina buzzed me.  "There's two guys from Immigration and Naturalization headed up to see you, and all they would tell me was it was 'about an employee.'  They should be there any second, so put away your damn little glass pipe."