Real World Star Dustin Zito Admits His Porn Past

Oh dear. That awkward moment when you tell your lady that you used to get filmed having sex with guys for cash. MTV's iconic reality show Real World has another sexy cast for 2011, this time filming in Las Vegas. Some gay fans of the show have recognised 24-year-old Dustin Zito from such websites as Fratmen (under the name of 'Spencer', pictured here), where he got frisky with other 'college' dudes as the camera rolled. The website has now taken down all evidence that Zito was ever 'gay for pay', but it's too late - his girlfriend has found out all about it, prompting a fraught on-screen confession. 

"Wait ... what? I didn't get taped having sex," Zito initially claims. "Yeah, OK, I got naked and stuff. There wasn't no touching involved." His love interest Heather is well aware that a lot more went on. She asks: "So you never did anything where you touched anyone else?" He know's he's been sprung. "On a video, yes, I did." 

"I was raised in a very strict religious upbringing, where being gay was wrong," Zito has explained to Ology entertainment website about his experiences after gay porn work. "And as I grew, I talked to people and I learned hey, there's nothing wrong with this. It's whatever floats your boat, you know? The only thing is, I'm open to a lot of progressive situations ... a lot of people know that I say I'm straight, but they wanna test me. They wanna turn me gay. The tell me 'oh, you're gay and you just don't know it yet,' and I'm like 'No!' They say, 'well how did you go down on a guy if you're straight?' And I say 'well, how do you kiss your mother?!' If I want to be straight, why can't I be straight? Why is there always this grey area?" 

Source: Same Same

[Fratmen may have taken down all evidence that Dustin was gay for pay, but you only have to do a Google search on 'Spencer Fratmen' to see that it's definitely not disappeared entirely off the internet. You can still see much more of 'Spencer' - and just a warning, there is totally full frontal shots - over at gay porn site JustUsBoys.]

Zack Braff: "Not Gay ... But I'm Not Too Straight"

Zack Braff says he's NOT gay, and insists he's the victim of a hacker - who broke in to his website this morning and posted a fake 'coming out' statement (see below). The statement appeared early morning, reading, "I have been hiding a secret inside me for too long. The human mind can only bare so much before it explodes in emotions and, well ... it is time to let the world know. I am excited and proud to announce that I am an open member of the homosexual community."

But Zach's rep tells TMZ, "He was hacked, that site has been down since 2006." Zack then posted his own statement to his Facebook, writing, "My old website got hacked. Someone issued a 'coming out' statement on my behalf. I'm still straight and in love with my girlfriend. But not too straight; I still love musicals, brunch and Doogie Howser."

Source: TMZ

Wishing a Tres Fab Birthday to Josh Hartnett

American actor Josh Hartnett turns 33-years-old today. Born in San Francisco, California, he has three younger half-siblings named Jessica, Jack and Joe. He attended Cretin-Derham Hall High School before switching to South High School in Minneapolis, from which he graduated in 1996. Hartnett was active in sports as a child, especially football, and did not entertain the thought of becoming a performer, until an injury left him unable to participate on the athletic playing field. A relative encouraged him to audition for a stage production of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and to his surprise, he won the part of Huckleberry Finn. Now in love with the stage, he went on to star in a slew of high school plays. Hartnett got his first job at a local video store. He also worked at McDonalds and Burger King for a short time before getting his start acting at Youth Performance Company in Minneapolis. After finishing high school, a move to New York to attend the prestigious Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film at SUNY Purchase did not go as well as he had hoped for, and a year later at age 19, Hartnett found himself in California.

Shortly after arriving in Los Angeles, he caught an improbable break, landing a part in the short-lived but acclaimed drama Cracker, on ABC. "We made 16 episodes of Cracker and I loved doing show, but unfortunately no one was watching us." He had, however, made himself known. He then performed in small plays and on national television commercials before being cast in his first feature film, playing the son of Jamie Lee Curtis' character in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, released in 1998, it performed well at the box office. Hartnett has since developed a steady film career, having appeared in many Hollywood films, including Pearl Harbour (2001), Black Hawk Down (2001), 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002), Wicker Park (2004), Sin City (2005), The Wrong Man (2006) and August (2008). "I'm trying to choose scrips by character, " Josh explains. "I'm not so worried about creating a career. I want to create good roles, because I want to be the best actor I can be."

In the early 2000's, Harnett was approached several times to play the role of Clark Kent/Superman in the upcoming film - at the time helmed by Brett Ratner - but always turned it down, not wanting to commit to a predicted ten-year role. More recently, he's starred in Bunraku (2010), Girls Walks Into a Bar (2011) and Stuck Between Station (2011), and is due to appear in the upcoming movies Singularity and Dark Star Hollow. "We're all on a journey," says Josh. "The average American switches professions four times. I'm lucky to be in a business where I can change the character I am playing every couple of months."

Josh became a vegetarian at the age of 12 - though he did eat meat during the shooting of The Black Dahlia for his role as a boxer - and was voted the sexiest vegetarian in the world by PETA in 2003. In 2008, he starred in a campaign for Emporio Armani fragrance, 'Diamonds for Men', being featured in both print and television ads for the fragrance, thus becoming the first male celebrity to represent Giogio Armani Beauty. Josh has also featured on many magazine covers over the years, such as Details, Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, GQ and Vman, in addition to being in other magazines like Vogue, People, Glamour and InStyle. Josh dated his childhood sweetheart until the two decided to go their separate ways, and more recently dated Scarlett Johansson for a couple of years. "I've had my heart broken, and it's not fun," he explains. "But I'd rather have my heart broken then break someone else's heart."

Ashton Kutcher Naked With One and a Half Men

No bowling shirt, no problem. In the first peek at Ashton Kutcher's debut on Two and a Half Men, Charlie Sheen's replacement leaves little to the imagination. "All will be revealed," the sign held by nearly nude Kutcher, 33, along with equally underdressed cast mates Jon Cryer and Angus Jones reads. And for those wondering how Kutcher will fill Sheen shoes, producers say he won't be playing the bowling shirt-sporting, womanising Charlie Harper. "I can't replace Charlie Sheen, but I'm going to work my ass off to entertain the hell out of people," Kutcher said in May, when the cast change was announced. Sheen was famously fired from the CBS sitcom during a battle with the show's creator Chuck Lorre over his behaviour on and off the set.

Source: People Magazine

Wishing a Tres Fab Birthday to Jared Padalecki

American actor Jared Padalecki turns 29-years-old today. Born in San Antonio, Texas, Padalecki is of Polish ancestry on his father's side. Jared was only twelve years old when he started studying acting. He took to the stage all throughout school at James Madison High, competing on his school's speech team and appearing in school plays. In 1999, the then 17-year-old won Fox's "Claim to Fame" contest and had the chance to appear at the Teen Choice Awards. The opportunity led to the young actor signing up with an agent and beginning his professional career. Padalecki's first credit was a minor role in the 1999 film A Little Inside. In 2000, he was cast as Dean Forester on the television series The Gilmore Girls, a role he played until 2005. Last month, when asked if he would ever consider making a Gilmore Girls movie, Jared said: ""One hundred percent. I would truly love to. It was so fun. I have nothing but fond memories of that show. I came to it straight out of high school, I grew up on the show, and I'd love to go revisit that character."

Later in 2005, Jared was cast as Sam Winchester on the television series, Supernatural, a role for which he is now best known. Sam and his brother Dean (Jensen Ackles) drive through the United States hunting paranormal predators. Or, as Jared succcinctly puts it, "It's a spooky show, with tons of archetypes and tons of mythology. We'll also discover that things that go bump in the night aren't the only reasons to be afraid in this world." The sixth season of the show, created by Eric Kripke and filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, will begin airing later this year. Over course over his time in television Jared has also had a number of movie roles including A Ring of Endless Light, Flight of the Phoenix, Cheaper by the Dozen, New York Minute, House of Wax, Cry Wolf, The Christmas Cottage and most recently Friday the 13th.

Although he and his Supernatural co-star Jesen Ackles were once voted "Sexiest Ghostbusters" by People Magazine, the hunky actor is nonetheless surprisingly body conscious: "I'm a little self-conscious about my body. I love to wear hoodies because you can get cosy and eat some food and your belly doesn't show." Not that fans of the show having trouble with either of the pair getting sexy and shirtless. In fact, even in the fanfic world, they have inspired a whole genre called 'Wincest' - works of fiction that depict or assume a romantic or sexual relationship between Winchester brothers. And with that, we'll let Jared have the last word on love. For those looking, "Just be yourself and the right guy will come along, whether it be today, tomorrow or the next year. It'll happen!" And then there's this - "Don't place expectations on someone. Enjoy the time you have together, and let it go where it goes.

Suggested Reading: "Marquee Moon" by Bryan Waterman (2011)

Television's Marquee Moon
by Bryan Waterman (2011)
Continuum 33 1/3 Series Vol. #83

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


When word circulated earlier this year that Television's 1977 debut LP "Marquee Moon" would be the subject of a new volume in the Continuum Books 33 1/3 series, fans of the band - and fans of the 70's era NYC downtown music scene in general - marked their calendars and held their breath, waiting impatiently for the book to be released. You can exhale, music lovers. The book is on store shelves now, and, as expected, it was well worth the wait.

Stitching together untold hours of exhaustive research through library archives, books, newspapers, magazines, internet websites and who knows what other obscure sources, author Bryan Waterman takes us back in time to the spring of 1974 and begins our journey through New York City's Lower East Side music scene - through the front doors of a dingy little dive bar called CBGBs - and details the story of one of the most celebrated and influential bands to emerge from the club: Television.

Beginning with the well circulated story of how Television founding members Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell talked CBGB owner Hilly Kristal into booking the group during a chance encounter outside the club on a spring day back in 1974, author Waterman details some of the earliest days of what will come to be known a few years later as the New York City punk rock scene. Television's story IS a CBGB's/punk rock story in some respects...up to a certain point. You can't tell the story of one without the other, they are too intricately tied together in history to seperate them. The same is true for many of the other artists who emerged from the same downtown scene as the members of Television. The New York Dolls, Suicide, Wayne/Jayne County, Patti Smith, the Ramones, Blondie...each of these groups and many others to a greater or lesser extent, share a part of Television's early story. They are all well represented in the pages of this book.

In Marquee Moon, Waterman digs back even a bit further, examining the various and numerous early musical, literary and artistic influences that would later be reflected back in Television's music and in their live performances. The fact that the group was based in New York City and the influence the city itself had on their development is explored. The formation and earliest days of the band are outlined and we tag along as the group slowly and methodically build themselves up from just another buch of kids with a practice space making some noise and trying to write some songs. The story progresses on through their early shows at CBGB's, Max's Kansas City, the Hotel Diplomat and other fabled 70's era NYC music venues that have now all passed into history. Only the stories of those hallowed venues remain now and Television's story is a part of the legend of each of them.

The book also details Television's early demo recording sessions and the groups seemingly never ending quest to secure a recording deal. Being one of the earliest of the CBGB bands, it must have been with some slight sense of chagrin that the members of Television watched as bands such as the Ramones and Blondie came up on the scene just behind them but were soon signed to recording deals and already releasing albums while Television continued to court the ever-elusive deal.

Finally, in July 1976, Television signed with Elektra Records. That November, after a few months of intense rehearsals, the band convened with legendary Led Zeppelin engineer Andy Johns at A&R studios in New York to begin work on capturing their sound on vinyl. In February 1977, the bands long-delayed and highly anticipated debut album, "Marquee Moon," featuring a color-stressed group photo (by famed photographer and friend of the band Robert Mapplethorpe) gracing it's cover, was finally released to a mostly positive critical reception and nearly universal fan acclaim. In the 30-plus years since the album was released it has greatly influenced the music of untold numbers of musicians the world over and is still being discovered by new listeners all these many years later in 2011.

Chapter 6 of "Marquee Moon" goes into a detailed song-by-song lyrical and musical analysis of the album. The author does a fine job deconstructing and examining the musical and lyrical content of the songs appearing on the album. I know lots of people love to read this kind of geeked-out, overly analytical stuff, but for me, I've never really been too interested in what other people perceive as "the meaning" of song lyrics. To me, each song (by any group) is interpreted best by the individual listener. As a reader, I usually have a pretty difficult time retaining my interest when an author gets too deep into the "true meaning" behind any given song - after all, it is his interpretation only. So as I read chapter 6, I must admit to skipping around a bit in order to keep my eyes from glazing over. Be certain, this is no slam on the author - it's just how it is in general when I read this kind of critique on any group and their recorded musical output...I love the history of a band and the details of the creation of an album, but I'm just not the lyrical analysis guy - it's just not my thing. The chapter certainly takes nothing away from the fact that the rest of the book is a real page-turner, and I'm sure there are those readers who will find it to be the most interesting chapter in the entire book.

Being that the release of the album culminates the Television story as far as this particular book is concerned, Waterman wraps things up in chapter 7, devoting a few pages to discussing the events surrounding the release of Marque Moon and what happened to Television after the album was finally released.

Obviously, fans of the band should consider "Marquee Moon" as required reading. The book will also be a welcome addition to the bookshelves of anyone who is seriously interested in the history of the CBGB scene and the early-mid 70's era musical and artistic landscape of New York City as a whole. With the amazingly accurate detail of attention paid to the early history of the band, there is no doubt in my mind that Bryan Waterman, had he chosen to do so, could have written the authoritative and complete history of the group. Considering that the band split up in 1978 shortly after releasing a second album ("Adventure") for Elektra Records and have only regrouped a few times in the past couple of decades to perform and record on an infrequent basis, he has basically accomplished this task anyway and has done an entertaining and well organized, informative and chronological job in doing so.

-NYCDreamin


*As part of the promotion for the book, author Bryan Waterman along with "Some Girls" (Continuum's 33 1/3 series Vol. #81) author Cyrus Patell were interviewed on WFMU's "This Is The Modern World with Trouble" show on June 28th. The interview segment runs nearly an hour and features some great music including a rare live recording of a Television performance of "Satisfaction" from 1978. Click HERE to listen to the archived audio.

*You can keep up with the latest events surrounding the release of both books and also read more from both authors on their blog Patell & Waterman's History of New York.