Random Notes From a Red Notebook at the 2025 AVN Show

LAS VEGAS—It's weird coming back to this place, so familiar for so long. The AVN Expo first came here more than a decade ago. Much has changed, but the layout is the same. The dark corners with rock-and-roll memorabilia have been replaced with sunny southwestern tans and reds, the casino ceiling is now a grid of interlocking triangles hanging over new pathways between the slot machines and table games. The casino bar has been moved close to the entrance, a circular indentation in the ceiling the only evidence that it was ever there. At 11:30, the fans waiting for the noon opening have made an orderly line winding through the casino, with crossings kept clear by polite security guards pointing out that this is the middle of the line, it continues over there. The trade entrance is busy, with security checking credentials and tote bags, and marching everybody through metal detectors... I enter between performer Lauren Phillips and Nexxxt Level talent agent Andre Madness... At the My Free Cams booth, the traditional white couches are camouflaged with MFC-branded pillows and blankets. Lauren and I meet a friend of hers from FanCentro, we go out for coffee. In mid-cup, a guy from a blog asks to interview Lauren. She agrees, and walks over to the camera. Their backs are to me, but I can see the camera when they move so I'm in the background. I can't hear any of it, but later she tells me that the questions were on a piece of paper and "disorganized. Not linear enough for my taste. That's the way my brain works. He kept asking about doughnuts, I thought he was really talking about orgasms. You know, 'O'"... AVN veteran Sherri Shaulis gives me a hug, laughingly tells me, "People are asking me where stuff is. I don’t know."... As we walk back to the show, Lauren sees the Vixen Media Group boutique, says "I didn’t know Vixen was here"... Coralyn Jewel setting up her sign and pictures at the AVN booth. We met 10 years ago on a three-day Luc Wylder shoot. "That was when I was just getting started"... Ricky Johnson: "It's been a good vibe. The girls are having a good time. I like seeing people interact"... At 12:09, the Brazzers booth already has a long line behind the sheer back wall of the booth, enforced by stanchions and security guards... There's a discernable difference between the veterans, with their life-size banners, headshots, and ready smiles, and the newbies, tentative, shy, with photos from a photo lab... Emma Rose says hi, gives me a hug. She has roses at her booth and she's wearing rose perfume. Go figure... Shay Sights, at the LoyalFans booth, in a modest knee-length black dress that wouldn't be out of place at a cocktail party... Jewelz Blu: "My favorite thing at the convention, besides meeting all the fans, is seeing the fans who watch all my live streams and my cam shows. The face-to-face interaction is very special"... At the Load Boost booth ("C*m like a porn star") a cornhole board is repurposed as a ring toss with silicone dildos as targets. Winners get a 6-inch rubber sperm with the company logo. T-shirt: "Hot Girls Drink Tequila"... Alison Rey: "The show has been really, really good. It's so good to be back at the Hard Rock/Virgin. It feels like home. I was only signing for one day this year, so my fans came to see me in a nice stream. It was awesome seeing everybody. And today I was working on the Adult Time podcast. I could wear warm, comfy clothes for the very first time at Expo. It was nice to play both of my parts this year: talent and social media"... People playing Twister at a booth... Remy LaCroix in rapt conversation with a fan at the 101 Modeling booth...Blake Blossom: "Everybody in line has been super kind. They like my Fleshlight. It's been fun to have people see my Fleshlight in person and interact with it. It's interesting to see how they choose to play with me. It's been great. I recognize a lot of my fans from last year and the year before"... "Long day, but hey, we're here," Bella Blu says. "I have a smiley face, I can talk to people, I'm good." A pendant hanging around her neck has a tiny 3-D image of Coco Lovelock: "She had these made for her friends. There's another one with her in her pretzel pose, with her ankles behind her neck"... Abella Danger and Angela White have the high-profile corner positions at the Brazzers booth, with Kira Noir dead center. No wonder the line is so long... At the Brazzers podcast booth, Ricky Greenwood, Tommy Pistol, and Mick Blue are talking with a moderator. They flag down director/performer Danny D to join them... Laney Grey always has a line of fans. Elizabeth Skylar, in a cutoff Hookup Hotshot T-shirt, says "I couldn't wear this," flipping up the shirt to show pasties under a fishnet top and pink leather harness. "I had my boobs out," she adds with a laugh. "I feel it's better now than it was last year. I like that there are four different rooms. Everybody has a good spirit"... Even new talent has dedicated fans: At the Nexxxt Level booth, Yaya Gingersnatch tells me that a fan brought printed screencaps of her videos for her to sign. "That blew my mind. He had me sign for him, not for him to sell later. Just me and my body parts"... Veteran performers Kiki Daire and Katie Morgan are also at Nexxxt Level. We take a moment to catch up... A guy with a shirt that says Randy West Productions. I don’t know if it's the retired performer/director who passed away last fall or the mainstream announcer I know from my game show days. I didn't ask... There's a guy at the Elegant Angel booth who's a dead ringer for Bill Margold in the '70s.  I was waiting for him to call me "Kid"... Rissa May talking animatedly with a fan at the Jules Jordan Video booth... Max Fills good-naturedly grousing about being dragged from a different booth by a fan to get a picture with him and Hailey Rose, and letting it drop that they recently got engaged. "This year I'm really excited to be signing for Brazzers," Rose tells me. "The line is so much bigger than I expected. I really do this for the fans, I've built such a good community and relationship with so many of these guys. They're the reason I'm here, they're the reason I do this. It's incredible to have that kind of support, to feel that support and to feel that community. I can't even compare that to anything else. Actually, some guy proposed to me today. I was very sad to say I had to decline, because I'm already engaged to my wonderful guy." Fills adds that they were pleased to have met couples who are fans... T-shirt: "Smile If You Wanna Have Sex"... Jeffrey John Hart, Holly Randall and Suze Randall at the Elevated X booth. Holly asks "Have you met my mother?" and we are introduced. I tell Suze I've been a fan of hers for a long time—"Longer than we'd like to admit"—and I remember when she flashed the entire NBC network. Suze looks at me, puzzled, until I say "On the Tom Snyder show" and she smiles in recognition. Holly never heard that story and asks me to repeat it for the documentary crew following Suze around... After that, Hart tells me about another project he's working on, and asks me to keep it quiet... Anna Claire Clouds watching Jules Jordan and Tony Rios getting interviewed by a Fuse reporter. We chat momentarily before she's asked to join them... I get stopped and asked to be interviewed by a video blogger from Taiwan. Sure. He gets my name wrong twice before I show him my credential so he can read it. That's okay, I probably would have stumbled over his name too. People start to drift out as the 8 p.m. closing time nears. The White Party is tonight. The Saturday show will start earlier, at 11 a.m., but it closes at 4 p.m., so people can prepare for the AVN Awards presentation that evening. It's not over... just almost. Photos by Tod Hunter, Toby Acuna & Mari Blue For more photos from the 2025 AVN Show, click here.