The guys at customs know me by name....

So, to recap for those who might be inquiring.... I got my ass kicked by Brenn Wyson on Naked Kombat. It's not like I didn't expect that to happen. The guy makes his livelihood fighting. I put up a good fight, but I didn't go over board.... no reason to damage myself seriously, when I had an upcoming trip to Toronto, and Thanksgiving with family the next day. To his credit, Brenn's a really cool guy. We actually started joking around, even before we started fighting.... He promised to train me, the next time I came out to Florida to visit. Sweet! After our fight, he mentioned that he hadn't seen the Golden Gate bridge, so I drove him out there, so he could get to see it at night.... I have a feeling we're gonna be pretty good friends.

Next day was Thanksgiving, so spent it with my family in the bay, and then early the next morning I was off to Toronto! Shot with a website that I've worked with before.... EbonyD.com. Incidentally, nominated in the same category as mine for a Cybersocket. (BTW - Have you voted for Edger9.com?) I have a good relationship with the manager's of the site, so don't feel conflicted working with their site too. Toronto, even though mild by Canada's standards, is still a little too cold for me. Craving some good moderate California fall weather.... However, the view for my room is nice. One more shoot today, and then I'm back in SF. See you all soon!

Fresh steamy hot... Steven Blank!

Got those pics I promised from photographer Steven Blank. I'm still stunned by the caliber of these photos.... If I didn't know myself, I'd think I was a model, instead of the whore I am! :) Enjoy!

Naked Kombat - Round 2

I have another shoot with Naked Kombat this Wednesday, and I'm a little nervous. I can always hold my own in a fight, but the people at Kink, are not letting me off easy..... at all!!! They've paired me with Brenn Wyson, who's a relative newcomer to the porn world, but as a fighter he has mad skills. He even owns a boxing gym in Florida! (Gulp!) This is definitely going to be a tough fight. The dude is bi, so I'm sure we'll have some things in common.... Either way, if he likes it rough, we'll have a good time. It's been forever since my last match with Dak Ramsey, so I have to spend the next couple of days training at the gym HARD. Wish me luck.... as I try to hold on to my winning streak.

Steven Blank photos are coming!

Just a taste to wet your appetite.... but trust me you're gonna eat it up when all the photos are here. Check out this cool photo in Slick-It-Up pants, done by Steven Blank!

The Fear of Fame

Sorry guys, I haven't been posting lately. Shame on me! Slap me with your ring hand. It's been pretty busy lately, as I'm trying to focus on stuff outside of porn. Have an upcoming project producing a corporate video, while I look for new work in mainstream media. Also, had a recent photo shoot with Steven Blank, but wanted to wait until I have photos from that before I updated the blog with the info. Have to get ready for some upcoming trips to Toronto next weekend, and L.A. the weekend after that, for my appearance at 'Cocktails with the Stars'. Everything in my life seems to be getting faster, and I just had to take a deep breath before plugging away at it again.

There's something I've wanted to write about for awhile, but was unsure how to begin. People have the general perspective that being famous is a good thing. I've always looked at it as a double-edged sword. Working in media from the age of 17 as a model and writer, to what I do now as a producer/model.... I've pretty much seen it all. For the longest time I was wary about doing anything in front of the camera, beyond the occasional modeling shoot... because I could see how it changed people. Not only you as the subject matter, the object of affection.... the star. But also, people around you... their perspective of you, and how they felt about themselves. For many of you.... Race Cooper is your first introduction to who I am. However, there are a whole slew of people that are used to me as J.R. Anderson, from a travel show I hosted a long time ago. I fell into that job, by accident... and although I'd been around famous people a great deal, I was unprepared at how things would change.

Simply put, I was freaked out by how the publicity of one's life becomes a persona onto itself. It wasn't all negative. I had some great interactions with fans, and had some wonderful fan emails that were heartfelt and still make me smile, but there is more to that.... Any time I tried to stay 'real' in an interview or talking with anyone on camera frankly, I would be giving part of myself away. It's an inevitable thing. Those that would watch me, would be watching me in the comfort of their own home. Automatically feeling a connection with someone that was in their living room, bedroom, in their daily lives. Suddenly, my persona was not my own.... it was theirs, and anything I said publicly, could then be owned by the public. The only thing is.... when I did the travel show, I didn't have any persona. I shunned the idea of it, not wanting to become something I wasn't. I was essentially the same guy I was, when having a beer with friends, that I was on screen. Looking back, for my own safety... that was a mistake. It's no surprise that people related well to me.... I was being me. But it came with a cost of having strangers on the street, grab my ass for no reason, people I'd never met before saying how their life growing up was just like mine, and eventually about three stalkers I had to try to avoid in Toronto. Even friends who had known me forever changed, and would introduce me to other people not by my name.... but by my name, and then by the show I was hosting. It took it's toll on me.... and after my season ended... I took a very long break from the spotlight.

Coming back to the spotlight now... I realize that I was afraid to talk about that time. But if I didn't, it would start repeating itself. The weird fans, and emails have started again... and although I'm better prepared to deal with it, there's a knot in my stomach when I think about how crazy things could get. Fear is powerful. Americans consume it like it's a product. My only answer to battling my fear of fame, is to embrace the fact that entertaining and connecting with people, is what I was born to do. Regardless of the land mines that come with it, I won't let it get to me.... and talking about it, is the first step. Everyone should have a healthy respect for fame. I've gone into it, and know exactly what to expect, and can't cry foul because of it.... but at the same time... those that watch me, shouldn't expect to know everything about me, and should understand that under all the adoration, glorified images, and lights..... I'm just a regular guy, with fears just like the rest of you. I'm just now taking the last step, to becoming totally fearless.

Everyone's Guilty Pleasure

I've commented from time to time on my friend GPcrush, but have to give kudos to her blog today. Lots of hot videos, reviews, and interviews of up and comers in the porn world, at her site Guiltily Pleasured! Known to everyone in the porn industry, she has a unique take from a straight-girl perspective, and I've always bounced ideas off her, when I had something I wanted to post that was personal. Intellectually, someone whom I love to have conversation with... Plus, she's a PIG!! Oink, Oink!! Be sure to check out her blog if you haven't, it's a definite good piglet place to go.

L.A. Vibe

Been in Los Angeles for a couple of days now... and just found the time this morning to finally blog about it. I'm in town shooting with Chi Chi LaRue for Black Balled 7, and I think this film is going to be major HOT! Spent Friday with my good friends Alessio Romero and Silverfox at their new pad in downtown L.A. I LOVE THESE GUYS! Seriously. They are the sweetest fucking people in L.A. Saturday, I hung out with super-porn-fan Tamara (GPcrush), as we originally planned to go see the movie 'Precious', but got to the theater to find all the good seats were taken. So, instead we toured around Hollywood and made fun of people and stupid stuff. LOL funny! Check out the video at Madame Toussau's House of Wax.

Yesterday was the first day of shooting for BB7, and I Chi Chi told me she already had a good feeling by the time we had our cover photos finished. Everybody got along really great, and were joking around and talking like we had known each other forever. It's always good when you can get ensemble casts, to work together, with little to no drama. Black Balled has besides myself, Eddie Diaz, Aaron Ridge, Scott Alexander, and Cameron Adams in it. Very, very hot cast!!! Tons of big black dick to go around... you might need a wheelbarrow for it.

Oh, yeah... and it was Chi Chi's birthday yesterday.... so we all sang Happy Birthday for her. She's awesome!!! It's a rare occasion to get to work with someone, and immediately have a connection right off the bat. LOVE HER! One more day of shooting today.... for our fuck scene. Yummy!

Edger9.com nominated for a CyberSocket!! WOW!

This is the coolest shit, to wake up on a Monday, and find out that Edger9.com was nominated for best black themed site. Something I created, and worked very hard on has been nominated for it's first award! How fucking awesome is that?? Granted this could be the first of many, but for some reason it really feels special when you work hard at something, and it gets noticed. :) So, calling all piglets on deck!!! VOTE NOW!! And then clear your cookies, and vote AGAIN!!! (Is that bad?) Go to Cyberscocket's page, and make this my first porny award. This is sooooooo fucking awesome!

Oink Alert! BDSM scene with Sam Swift on Edger9!

It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I get the shit beat out of me.... and fucked like crazy, in the newest scene on Edger9. Got to work with hot Canadian bad boy, Sam Swift... and our chemistry is crazy HOT! Check out all the piggy goodness, here!

Rough Gods vs. Race Cooper

The great Michael Alago sent me pictures today, from our shoot earlier this year in NYC, with some new pictures he's added to the Rough Gods site. Sweet!

The Minstrel Man is coming....

For those that know me, they know that I would never intentionally try to hurt anyone. The only thing I've always wanted to do is help people, and to entertain. I might push boundaries at the same time... but I've always been the class clown. I discovered the power of seeing people laugh and smile, at a young age, and I was hooked. With learning what was funny, and what wasn't over the years... I've come to understand that before you can make fun of other people, you have to be able to laugh at yourself. Which is why I don't tend to take myself too seriously.... I just can't. It's not in my DNA. When I came up with last year's Halloween costume, it was exactly in that vein. Try to make people laugh, and don't take yourself so seriously, that you can't do drag. Everybody last year, got the joke. I had some hesitation, thinking that fellow African-American's might not get the statement I was making, in how far we've come. However, even black people I saw on the street, loved it; and tried to grab my pancakes.

Coming up with this year's idea, I knew I might need to push a boundary, but with a response so great to "Aunt Jemima", what could I do? And like a bolt of lightning... it came to me. The Minstrel. Certainly the concept of a black person, doing black face, might give people pause... but when you think about it.... it's still kinda funny. As I started applying the make-up, my mind traveled back to the African-American studies I had as a kid. I was well aware of the concepts of 'Jim-Crow', even at the age of 8. The pictures and early films I saw of the white concept of black culture were disturbing, because of their ignorance. As I greatly exaggerated my lip-line in the mirror... slowly that feeling started to evaporate. The image looking back at me was ridiculous, and the more make-up I applied... the less the images of history started to sting. Because as I went through the motions... more than anything, I wasn't mocking black people, but more the stupidity and ignorance of what the white-concept of being black was. Ironic, yes..... but definitely a joke that I though black people will get. I mean if we can laugh at Dave Chapelle, pretending to be a blind black person in a KKK suit.... could my costume be that insulting in this day and age? Apparently so. Shortly after arriving at Queens Are Wild, I had to be talked to by the director of 'Stop AIDS Project', and the manager of the venue, because one of the other black staff people had become upset with my costume. To try to explain to that person that was upset, would be futile. He just didn't get it. And rather than take myself too seriously, I agreed with the club manager's request to remove my make-up.

So, what have we learned? America is a complex place, where sometimes it's okay to make fun of your own cultural history... and sometimes it isn't. That no matter how far black people have come in terms of captains of industry, invention, society, and position, they can still cry foul in the future, when confronted by someone from their own culture, with a different point of view. Yeah, seems weird to me. I wasn't upset when I had to take it off.... if anything... it made me laugh. I shared the laugh with my friends, who know me, during the rest of the event... and as we went for a bite to eat afterward. A thought that struck me was this. Have we become so heady in our thoughts of black culture, that we have to erase everything from a darker history in time? There's a lesson that we had in my class, that stuck to me. It's not the name calling or the images of minstrels that hurt us in earlier centuries.... it was the intention behind it. The intention to keep us as buffoonish jokes, or to strike fear into our hearts and into our community was there.... but it didn't work. We're still here, moving forward, carving our place in the human existence... and history has dictated that we are more than black-face players, singing happy mammy songs, with slapstick antics. So, as a reminder.... of the stupidity and ignorance of by-gone era.... I'll be bringing the Minstrel Man back for Halloween night. Sorry, if some people don't understand who I'm mocking.... but if you have to explain a joke, it kinda takes away from the laughter.

"Honky" is spelled with a "Y" / Dirty! Reviews

A few things to show you on the net today.... First, The Sword posted a story on my earlier post on Blackballed 7 and my "Aunt Jemima" costume from last year. Glad they get my twisted sense of humor, and the irony of putting racial deconstruction with a racial stereotype isn't lost on them. Laughed my ass off when I saw that! Thanks Naked Sword! But just for clarification.... "Honky" is spelled with a 'Y'. ;-)

Second, the Dirty! reviews are in.... and they are so fucking good! Jack Manly states, "Ty LeBeouf and Race Cooper have such chemistry together that you'd think you were watching their home movies as real life boyfriends." Martin Cox of ManNet also adds, "It doesn't get any more hot redneck than this, with guys like Race Cooper and Ty LeBeouf actually drinking beer out of a six-pack on a dirty, nasty couch sitting right on the bare ground in front of their trailer." You can check out both reviews on Steve Cruz's blog or on their respective sites. Swweeeettt!!!!