Remembrance

I spent the morning in a small theater in Hollywood at a memorial service for award-winning porn director David Aaron Clark.  I’d met him once before... at the AVN Expo in Vegas a few years back.  I remember him being reserved, but friendly.  He was a big guy - big in body, but also... a gentle soul with a giant heart.  Artist.  Intellectual.  Writer.  Pornographer.

It was a small affair with 40 or 50 of his closest friends and peers.  They had a nice film tribute, followed by eulogies from some of the adult industry’s biggest names.  Producer John Stagliano.  Fetish artist Michael Manning.  Porn stars Mr. Marcus and Kimmy Kahn.   Manning delivered an intelligent and moving tribute.  Marcus injected some humor, directing us to tell the person we came with... “I love you and there ain’t shit you can do about it.”  Kahn read a poem she’d written for the occassion, struggling to keep her emotions in check.  Author Susie Bright weighed in during a "Notes from Afar" section.  It was a lovely remembrance.

I’ve been a fan of his for some time.  If you haven't seen any of his films, think Andrew Blake ... but a bit more down and dirty.  He mainly shot Asian girls and interracial, but always with an artistic bent.  My friend was very close to him.  They used to chat all the time.  She took his death pretty hard.  Clark died of a pulmonary embolism.   I went along to show support. 

I was struck by a few things.  First... I can’t believe I hung out with porn stars this morning. Definitely surreal.  What really struck me, though, was just how ... touching and respectful the memorial was.  Clark wasn’t into organized religion.  He also loved the New Beverly Cinema (even shot one of his films inside).   It was the kind of service I’d hope to have for myself - thoughtful, humorous and sincere.  I'll admit... I choked up a few times.

Look... we’re all the same - whether we work on a farm, in corporate America or on a porn set.  We all have jobs to do.  If we’re lucky, we get to do something we love.  Clark had a passion for filmmaking and it showed.  There are only a handful of adult directors who know what they’re doing.  He was one of them.  He started out as a writer for Screw magazine.  His reviews were (as Stagliano said) “on another level.”  He was a perfectionist and expected brilliance.  He was deeply literate, had a wry sense of humor and full of interesting and pointed observations.

David Aaron Clark, through his work and in the relationships he had formed, left his mark on the world.  He was a good man.  His new movie, Pure, is nominated in over a half dozen categories at this year’s AVN Awards show in January, including Best Director and Best Feature.