Page 74 - AVN March 2017

FEATURE
2017 AVN Awards | By Dan Miller
GRAND FINALE Top, Isiah Maxwell, Jessica Drake and Karlee Grey (photo by Rick Garcia/@IndustryByRick); Best Actress Kleio Valentien; co-hosts
Aspen Rae, Riley Reid and Colin Kane; performers dancing to Flo Rida’s final number (photos by JFK/FUBARWebmasters.com).
74 | AVN.com | 3.17
Kat Dior and Ariana Marie presented the first award of the
night, All-Girl Performer of the Year, to 24-year-old Jenna
Sativa.
“Thank you so much, AVN, the recognition means so much
to me,” Sativa, clad in a sleek black pant suit, told the audience
before giving a shoutout to her agent Mark Spiegler. “Mark,
thanks so much for making me your first all-girl performer …
and all the Spiegler Girls, and some of my best friends they
showed me so much love—Shyla Jennings, A.J. Applegate,
Riley Reid and Skin Diamond. And all of my fans who’ve been
amazing to me.”
The Miami native, who has accrued more than 100 credits
since her 2014 debut, later thanked “all the directors, the
makeup artists, the people behind the scenes.”
A pair of hot couples accepted sex scene awards—Kendra
Sunderland and Mick Blue picked up Best Boy/Girl Sex Scene
for Natural Beauties (Vixen); and Megan Rain and Manuel
Ferrara took home Best Anal Sex Scene for Anal Models (Tushy).
Sunderland, who went viral in 2015 with her naughty
cam session she shot for MyFreeCams in the Oregon State
University library, won an award for her first-ever sex scene and
the first DVD from Vixen.
“Oh my god, I’m so happy to be part of this industry. I love
it. I love all you guys. Thank you, Tucker, for being such a
good boyfriend. Thank you, Greg Lansky, for believing in me,”
Sunderland told the crowd.
The 21-year-old phenom, who on Friday was named Lansky’s
first Vixen Angel of the Year and received a gold & diamond
‘V’ necklace, said Lansky “didn’t believe me that it was my first
time” performing.
“And I was like I’ve done my research, I’ve watched a lot, so I
know what [Mick] likes,” Sunderland said near the photo booth
backstage. “And I did what I normally do when I have sex and I
guess people liked it.”
Blue said, “She was fucking amazing.”
“It’s really rare to see a performer like she is with such
natural, positive sexual energy that she has,” he told AVN.
“That you can literally just let go and enjoy the scene to its
fullest and just go with the moment and that’s what we did. We
just let it go and Greg did the rest. He captured it and made a
masterpiece out of it.”
Not unlike what Rain and Ferrara threw down in Rain’s first
scene for Tushy and first AVN Award.
“Here’s the thing: Greg’s my friend but how he shoots is not
so much my style but he got me to go do that scene because
it was Megan,” Ferrara, the only five-time winner of Male
Performer of the Year, told AVN.
Ferrara looked at Rain and repeated what he said on stage,
“it’s your butthole not mine, so I shouldn’t get an award for
this.”
The night began with a memorial reel in memory of those
industry members who have recently passed away. This year
a special tribute segment went to Mark Stone, the longtime
producer and musical director of the AVN Awards Show. Stone,
whose younger brother Gary Miller is the executive producer
of the AVN Awards Show, was the leader of the AVN Orchestra
in addition to writing and directing numerous comedy bits that
have become a signature part of the production.
The red-carpet arrivals snaked around the Hard Rock Hotel
& Casino for more than four hours before showtime as porn
stars and the industry’s finest made various fashion statements
and worked the crowd. Nominee Jason Brown came in an
immaculate white suit wearing a shiny stormtroopers’ helmet;
one couple came dressed as clowns; and the notorious Ivan
wore a red-and-black, horned Lucha Libre mask with a gold
Best Web Director world championship belt slung over her
shoulder.
But it was Wicked Girl Jessica Drake who wore perhaps the
most memorable gown, a flowing version of the American-flag
with several holes burned into it. She completed the look with a
red handbag with the hashtag #NotMyPresident on one side.