You can listen at 10PM EDT/7PM PDT tonight at
It will be on channel 1 Raw Talk with Melissa Hill, and people are encouraged to call in and ask questions about the fake Union. I will be listening.
Coming Up, a LOT more on Shy Love and some names you haven’t heard before like Sheelagh Liberboim and ….Lots of interesting stuff around The VIP Connect being used as a front for prostitution. I have a meeting on the very topic in Downtown Atlanta today…go figure.
4 Responses
Sooooo….I listened to the show. I’m not even disappointed. Not even appalled. Disgusted, probably, is the word that best recaps my feelings. The same old auto referential shit, a couple of remarks about Oklahoma, of course forgetting all the industry shit happening in the industry in the last few years, and no debate at all. I’ve even tried to call (5am and from Spain), but a very rude lady just cut me off before i could even say who I was (not even hello or goodbye, in typical porn industry style). Time to sleep for me now but I’ll write a piece about this farce and the Union altogether, possibly this week. I don’t know what Mike thinks about this, but i feel like I have wasted two hours of my time; not the first time, but I have never regretted it like this time, that’s for sure. Mike, you might want to edit the piece and take away the “encouraged to call” piece replacing it with “paid ad.” And not an effective one.
@SabrinaDeep
Thanks for the heads up…sorry the outcome was so disappointing. Did they mention existing stripper unions and if they’d play a role? By example or active support?
Sabrina, my feeling is that you are a very influential and important person in the adult industry and that any issues you have are indeed valid. I only caught the last 30 mins and I heard some very good points, I also noticed that Melissa who gets almost no call ins ever….most shows have none, got a lot last night, so people were listening and making up their own minds and THAT is a good thing.
I encourage people to call because I want them to be involved and to participate, like you did, then they can decide for themselves, like you did. It wasn’t a paid ad I support 100% the talent having a say in their own destiny no matter what organization they choose to do so. Talent has been complacent for far too long.
I will post a link to the archive when its available
I don’t think I’m influential at all, but thanks, Mike. Everything I’ve suggested in the past year to both APAC and the union has been completely ignored. All good, of course: it means that the concerns i raise don’t exist or they are not perceived as important. It’s sad though to hear the show debuting with apologies about the union website looking shit and unprofessional; if it’s not an important aspect I see no reasons for apologies. Obviously someone else’s think that it is an important aspect indeed and hence the apologies. But never a follow up to fix the easiest of the problem like a website and its content. Imagine the rest.
Last night I’ve heard once again a lot of words about the union being the saving grace of the industry; I’ve heard invitations to join it and offers to take care of performers problems. Too bad that at today whoever joined the union has heard only a bunch of words, many of which lies and that there is no connection whatsoever between the union and their members. I ask you: do you know exactly who’s in the union board? Where can this information be found? If you are a performer and need the union’s help how do you contact the union and whom? Phyllisha? Maybe; I have her contacts, you too I guess, but other performers where do they find those contacts? Check the website? Have a look at it.
Latest updates on the website are from September 2015. There is an invitation to vote for the board in September 2015….I was left that elections were to be held in March with results made public in April. No track of that anymore. I haven’t heard anything from anybody. Never received a ballot. Voting and results dates have disappeared from the site. You wanna access certain things on the site? You need a login. Try to signup and see what happens. I have never received a login. If I did and forgot, there is no retrieve login details option. Check the forum. ppl were asked to submit and vote for logos. Different logos have been chosen ignoring the votes. Forum is dead. Last messages are from ppl complaining of no activity and of site disastrous status and spelling mistakes. Yet to be corrected.
Going back to last night, I’ve heard that this is an international mother union and that any other industry union must submit to this one as chapter: false. I can create a union in Spain and I don’t need to say “piu!” to this union. I’ve heard that the union is not only about performers but also about any other industry category, internationally; then somebody said (not sure if Melissa or Phyllisha) that of course escorts are not covered because they are illegal: misleading and uninformed! In many european countries escorting and prostitution are perfectly legal; if I’m not mistaken, escorting is legal in vast areas of the US too and in small areas even prostitution is legal.
It’s this, once again, amateurish approximation, lack of information and communication and ongoing opacity that I can’t stand anymore, Mike. I’ve discovered 3 days ago that there is something called “phone tree” where someone from the union is supposed to call you and then you are supposed to report that call yourself to two or three other members recommending them to do the same with 2 or 3 other members and so on. What is it? Smoke signals in an Indian reserve (no pun intended to native americans)?
I have the feeling that Phyllisha is moved by great intentions but she is not ready to let go responsibilities for whatever reasons. And I’ve learned to doubt of organizations (whose scope is to represent a vast amount of people) run by just one individual, especially when that individual has clearly not enough organizational and communication skills to run the business alone. And last but not least, I hate to be lied and I hate to waste my time for things that then get dropped by those who asked for help without even taking the courtesy to explain why and what’s going on.
Yes, some of the words last night were good, but don’t tell me that we needed a union to say those words. You me and many others are saying them since years without the need of a governmental authorization. Changing attitude and producing facts and actions is a completely different story, though. I welcome the idea of the union. I have offered my help. But so far I’ve heard only a bunch of already heard and known words not followed by any action. Because 6 months have passed already, allow me to doubt of the goodness of this initiative. A big hug to you and your readers.