THE ADULT FILM MINUTE: Once per month, except for occasionally when there’s a multi-part series, Dr. Chauntelle Tibbals will be telling us a little bit about what’s going on in adult entertainment and why it should matter to you.
While the hot ladies and the horny dudes get 99.9% of the ink/black pixels, making porn takes a lot of elbow grease, and it’s not just the people on the box covers doing the work. Because it’s March (and because I figured it would be interesting), I asked some of the lesser-known guys who work in porn what they do when the cameras stop rolling. March Men-ness, get it? Anyway, here’s the first one.
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David Lord is an award-winning director of porno. He’s the mastermind behind many Adam & Eve pictures, including Trashy, a love letter to inked ladies everywhere; the “Student Assassin” half of the campy double feature, Grindhouse XXX (Teagan Presley plays a student! Who’s also an assassin!); and an homage to classic hotness, 9½ Weeks: An Erotic XXX Parody.
I’ve seen a lot of Lord’s work, and he has a rock-and-roll aesthetic that’s really unique in the world of porn. Only after talking with him did I realize that the look and feel of his porno is only one component of a larger artistic endeavor.
At his core, David Crawford (Lord’s given name) is an art director, and his whole life is a kind of art project. Everything he does contributes to crafting an aesthetic that swirls around rock music, hotrods, and hot babes (his words). To me, that sounds both interesting and exhausting – because how does one embody such a vibe while still being a functioning member of society? By opening lots of businesses, that’s how. As such, when he’s not making Trashy porno, Crawford is busy running Kustom Kulture Tattoo and The Chop Shop.
Kustom Kulture opened in Hollywood, CA in 2009 and nearly bombed soon after. “When we first opened, I didn’t understand the rat race that’s tattooing in Hollywood – there’s basically a shop on every corner, so we moved to the [San Fernando] Valley pretty quickly,” Crawford explained. “Now, Kustom Kulture is more of a neighborhood place, a local spot.”
This location seems to gel more with Crawford’s porno roots, and the neighborhoody vibe is more in-line with his art direction – better a cool, local spot on a quiet street than jockeying for position between tattoo tourists and reality stars.
The Chop Shop came about a bit differently. You’d have to be living under the world’s most uncool rock to have not noticed the recent resurgence in barbering. In a socio-historical nutshell, classic barbering waned to the point of extinction in the 1970s. Cutting short hair and doing straight razor shaves, consequently, became a subsidiary of cosmetology. By the turn of the century, every working barber basically resembled your grandfather. But no longer! Barber poles are now spinning on practically every corner, be it outside a sports-themed cut-and-a-Coors place or some hipster hovel where a guy with a beard will wax your upper lip.
Crawford got in on this game in 2010, when he found out that his favorite local spot to get a beer and listen to some metal while getting freshened up was for sale. “One day I heard the shop was for sale, so I went in with a business partner,” he told me. “The Chop Shop is along the same scene as the tattoo parlor, and it’s been a phenomenal success. I’m very proud of my staff and everything we’ve accomplished.”
(And I’ll tell you guys a secret – *wink, wink* – it’s a little bit of an industry hang out.)
The Chop Shop is basically an extension of Kustom Kulture, both of which are another branch of director David Lord’s filmic art direction. “David Lord the character is David Crawford – someone who loves art, loves rock and roll, and loves fun,” Crawford told me. “That’s what I bring to all my businesses – great art, cool sh*t, a place you want to hang out.”
Lifestyle, bro.
Visit Dave on Twitter at @davidlordxxx.
Dr. Chauntelle Tibbals is a sociologist specializing in gender, sexualities, work and organizations, media and technology, and popular culture. She has been studying the adult entertainment industry for over ten years.