Porn Valley- So the adult performers are forming a union, huh? How do you like them apples?

Today, L.A. Times reporter Caitlin Liu wrote a story about how the adult performers formed a union Tuesday night. Which is news to me. Because I was at that meeting Tuesday, and I don’t recall any mention of a union. Liu, in addition, writes to say that this so-called union is going to be called the Adult Entertainment Workers. Not to be confused with The Adult Entertainment Garment Workers.

On the other hand, my personal recollection of events was that there was an oversight committee being formed with the name The Adult Actors Guild attached to it and that they were going to draft a series of proposals for review in asit-down pow-wow with AIM. That was about it.

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t be splitting hairs in such fashion if not for the fact that I got what I would have characterized as a cordial call from Don Hollywood Wednesday morning, polite as it was, but sternly taking me to task for writing any kind of story from Tuesday night, that there was an alleged gag order in place.

“I’m extremely disappointed- I’m extremely unhappy about it [the adultfyi story],” Hollywood was telling me.

All of which was news to me, judging by the fact that Liu, with no apparent gag on her order, quotes Tony Tedeschi who was at that meeting. And Liu has Tedeschi – who is fast emerging as a staunch performers advocate- voicing support in favor of a union. Which is Tony’s business and he has every right to say what he thinks.

But the only reason that I’m now mentioning Hollywood by name is the fact that I was under the impression Hollywood and I were having a civil man-to-man chat over the matter. Except in a white man dealing with Injuns gesture, Hollywood felt it prudent to go behind my back and call a number of people in the business on Wednesday and start talking shit about me. All of which suggests to me that Denny’s should probably name a “slam” after him. And I would know all of this because a couple of people felt it prudent to rat Hollywood out.

Though I’m probably older than him, more galling, though, was Hollywood’s I’m going to tell your father-style threats to call AVN and let them know what I said at the meeting. Notwithstanding Hollywood’s on-going spews and angst about how AVN has pulled the Erotica L.A. rug right from under him. Patronizing me one step further, Hollywood suggested that by my being a journalist, perhaps the performers meetings weren’t “the place” for me. If that wasn’t a veiled, patriciate, Bush-esque threat of a news black out, I never saw a veil.

The last time I checked, I never patronized Hollywood’s methods for filing torts and I would have expected the same professional courtesy from him when it comes to my filing stories.

And for being a lawyer, you’d think Hollywood would possess a bit more sophistication when it comes to dealing with the press. But evidently not. Child of naivete, Hollywood evidently didn’t put two and two together when he saw Liu with a notepad which was being kept pretty business from what I could see.

Because in his conversation with me yesterday, Hollywood seemed to harbor the simple-minded notion that Liu was going to abide by some gentlemen’s code of honor and not write a story.

“As far as I know, the official line was no comment,” Hollywood kept telling me.

“My understanding from Marcus is that this was closed door that this would be something that remained in the room,” Hollywood continued. “And that’s what I told the reporter from the L.A. Times. We stood around and monitored what was being said to her as best we could. Everyone who was at the meeting was respecting that no-comment.” Some monitoring.

But having been a journalist most of my life I could have assured Hollywood that the L.A. Times doesn’t send a reporter out in the middle of the night to pick up orders from a Jack In the Box.

Hollywood, apparently speaking for everybody that was at that meeting, and you got the impression he was- continued to say how vexed he was to discover that Tuesday night’s discussions had been published, that I had somehow “breached the trust of talent” and that to him was irresponsible.

“Had they been published by the Los Angeles Times and credited to comments made by anyone to the Los Angeles Times I would have been equally as upset,” Hollywood went on to say. I guess Tedeschi’s quote made Hollywood’s Thursday morning seeing as how The Times’ version of events from Tuesday was substantially different from my account.

My key suspicion in all of Hollywood’s bluster, though, is the fact that, by virtue of his presence at that meeting Tuesday night, Hollywood’s concerned that his name will somehow be stigmatized by association with the word “union.” Judging by what he had to say to me, Hollywood wasn’t exactly looking for the union label in his underwear.He even told me as much when he brought up Johnni Black’s husband and his attempts several years ago to form one.

“When groups have been formed in the past, it’s been detrimental to talent,” Hollywood mindfully points out.

“If you will recall, a number of years ago, Johnni Black’s ex husband wanted to do a similar thing,” Hollywood said. “He wanted to form a union. At that point in time it seemed, as I recall it, that he was looking for some personal financial gain or notoriety.

“He appeared to me that he had an agenda that was not totally unselfish,” Hollywood continued.

“But that cost people. People that aligned themselves with that union at that point in time subsequently reported having problems with production companies, having problems getting work. History in the United States has shown us repeatedly that when a labor union attempts to unionize any group in any industry that it creates problems and that there is fall out from it. So, by necessity, I think that those plans remain as unpublished plans. Again, I’m not the spokesperson for this group.”

Don Hollywood certainly had me fooled.