Sad story. Not a tragedy...

books:


	• Wonder Bread & Ecstasy: The Life and Death of Joey Stefano Charles Isherwood Alyson Books, 1996 - 220 pages average customer review:based on 37 reviews view larger image
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A Tragic Life Revealed.

The first time I saw Joey Stefano in film I was overwhelmed by his beauty, his body, his sexual appetite, and his vulnerability. I think that vulnerability; that good boy/bad boy persona that was able to reach out beyond the screen is what made him into the "star" he became. Those who saw him fantasized being with him, and in the process, perhaps to protect him from all those things that could and would hurt him. His meteoric rise to fame, and his tragic demise are recounted in this sad tale about a man who became a legend in his own time.
One thinks of stars who's greatness was cut short...Kurt Cobain, Judy Garland, Carole Lombard, among others...and then there too was Joey Stefano.

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Sad story. Not a tragedy...

What I got out of this was a portrait of a beautiful, self-involved, rather self-indulgent young man who gave in to his weaknesses and lack of motivation or ability to do anything aside from relying on his looks and sexual prowess. As such stories usually go, this mindset led Stefano down a road of self-destruction and eventually death. It's certainly a fascinating portrait of a time and place very specific in Gay pop culture and adult-film history; this is a must-read for any porn aficianado for the very colorful events and characters that pop up in Joey Stefano's story. The author does a good job of outllining the events of his life and contextualizing them in the gay-porn scene of the late '80s to early '90s when gay video really came of age.

However, i must again disagree with those who characterize this story as a "tragedy". A tragedy implies that the participants had no choice or fought valiantly against the forces which eventually overwhelmed them. Joey Stefano made his own choices and was clearly not willing to own up to them---yes he was gorgeous and had great sexual mystique but he was all too willing to squander his gifts in a morass of drugs and self-degradation which he enthusiastically participated in. Clearly he was too willing to buy into the myth that you are only worth as much as your beauty allows (a too-prevalent attitude in the gay world) and his unfortunate lack of self-awareness was his ultimate undoing.

Compare and contrast him with the story of his mentor, Chi Chi LaRue---a large, homely man who became one the most successful business people in the porn world. LaRue had enough character and self-awareness to realize that looks would not get him along in the world---hard work, character, and a willingness to confront harsh realities are all necessary qualities for anyone but especially to those not gifted with dazzling good looks. LaRue becomes the de facto hero of "Wonder Bread and Ecstasy", especially considering that although Stefano barely gave him the time of day during their friendship/collaboration LaRue stood by him through anything and everything. That Stefano perished at an early age, burnt out and used, and LaRue emerged successful and thriving to this day, says much about the vagaries of vanity, empty self-gratification and excessive worship of beauty in the gay mainstream media.

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Why?

The only thing that I got out of this book what that Joey Stefano broke the glass celing in the porn world for being a bottom. It is his life story but it is just the same: A troubled kid with a drug, sex, and alcohol problem. I would have like to have read a store where he turned his life around and made an impact. I dont recommend this book.

A Parable for Our Gay Times

With the explosion of porn distribution on the net and the constant rise and fall of "stars" being basically anyone paid to be naked for an orgasm in front of a camera at any time in their lives, the story of Joey Stefano is a cautionary tale that many ought heed. This entertainingly written and fairly well researched biography is a brief but revealing text. Perhaps Stefano's life could not carry a longer book, either. In any event, the reader will join him on a fast down escalator into self-destruction that shows the reality of low self-esteem, emotional insecurity, and short life span (in the marketplace or, like Stefano, literally) that often marks the human fabric of this industry. Well worth the investment of time and money, not least because a number of the people in the book, like Chi Chi LaRue, continue as active presences in the business of the meat market.

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You sir are no Norma Jean.

I'll cut some slack for this being Isherwoods first book but alas ther is nothing to see here. His Norma Jean approach to Nick Iaconna life is cliche' at best. To Isherwoods credit he does include morsels of what was going on in gay culture at the time of the early nineties which are genuinely intresting observations. Isherwoods took the E! true hollywood story approach to this bio and quite frankly been there done that.There are no new insights or revelations about the porn industry or gay culture.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Video pornography has been a staple of gay male culture for decades, but there is little written about the people who perform or produce this entertainment. Charles Isherwood has written a modern tragedy about the life and death of porn star Joey Stefano. After a rapid climb to the top, Stefano died of an overdose at age 26. Isherwood is a good reporter who holds no illusions about the porn industry. Ecstasy and Wonder Bread is both a hard-hitting exposé of an industry that uses people up and then spits them out and a sympathetic portrait of a young man whose desire for attention and fame was equaled only by his inability to say no.

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