I used to have breakfast several times a week with Steve Seidman. We’d meet at this rickety senior citizens dive in Porn Valley where the waitresses wore resuscitators.
Originally from the South Jersey-Philly area, Seidman’s a true Runyanesque character with the gambling habit to prove it. He started in the business as a performer in the Seventies but spent most of his later years writing for porn mags. Now it seems only fitting that Seidman would begin his new career as a hack.
To explain, Steve’s now out of the adult business having discovered that the lucrative porn industry ain’t so lucrative, so, to earn a living, he’s driving a cab in Las Vegas.
Always a guy to land on his feet, Steve tried his hand at a lot of things in porn and was even a talent agent for awhile, but I suspect it was more of a ruse to get free handjobs than anything else.
Then there was the time Seidman and John Gray were called on as expert witnesses by the prosecution in a trial against Girls Gone Wild. Mantra, which is owned by Joe Francis, was being charged with using underage girls in their productions. Two of the women who wound up on boxcovers apparently brought the charges.
In his testimony Seidman happened to mention 2257 and the proceedings had to stop. Seidman thought that was pretty rich.
"It was hilarious," commented Seidman.
"They needed a five minute recess to look up what 2257 was. I said Jesus Christ. I'd hate like hell to have you guys defending me in a case like this.”
The trial was held in Denton, Texas.
"You know what Denton's like?” asks Seidman.
“It's like the asshole of Texas. It's worse than Amarillo. The jury was six men and six women. It was just fucking hilarious."
Because Gray was profiled in a Playboy's Sexcetera segment, the defense was apparently attacking Gray's credibility. Seidman quotes Gray as saying, "Yeah but I didn't appear nude- nobody wants to see me naked."
The funniest Seidman story I can recall was when he and Harry Weiss co-hosted a show along with the performer Dee on the old KSEX. The show was called Dee and The Fat Men. Seidman at the time was feuding with Bunny Ranch owner Dennis Hof, and Hof was suing him for defamation of character.
One night, unbeknownst to Seidman, Hof arrives at KSEX and confronts Seidman. www.adultfyi.com/read.php?ID=1519 Oh the fun.
Removed from all that drama, Seidman tells me he really enjoys driving a cab plus the fact that he gets paid. Because he works the 4am shift, Seidman says his chances of running into people he knows from the industry during the AEE convention next week might be a long shot at best.
