I'm very much saddened by this. He was always a stand up guy to me. Always very respectful and kind to me. When I was in Columbus he came by my feature dance to give me a t-shirt from when he participated in the Special Olympics Ohio. I just happened to be wearing the shirt as we speak when I read the news of him passing away. The irony of this coincidence makes me especially sad, cause as I read that he's passed away I'm wearing something special that meant something to him and that he gave me. Thank you Den for all your respect, kindness and well wishes throughout your lifetime and I know you'll have the same in the afterlife. xox
RIP Den. We exchanged e-mails last month and here is part of one of his: "It is nice that I have a little time left so I can have visitors over and can give things away.
It makes me feel good to help others." Condolences to his family and friends.
Den was a kind and awesome guy who I was happy to see anytime in Vegas at the show. Unlike so many in and around the forums and the "biz" he was a complete gentleman (and a scholar) who took the time to care, and as funny as it may sound to some given the context, to stand for his values. I didn't realize he was in failing health, but it's good to see that he had a lot of friends and fans who cared for him as much as he did for them. I think, truly, the end of an era here folks.
I just read this news and I'm very sad to hear of this. Den was a super cool guy to me when I first started going to conventions back in the early 2000's. I hadn't seen him in a few years but occasionally we'd correspond. His contribution to the biz can't be measured and the adult world will definitely miss his voice. RIP Den and thank you.
Not much to add. Den was the go to guy to see if I wanted to spend money on a rental or purchase for years. His quickly accessed and concise reviews probably saved me many dollars over the years and the few emails we exchanged were always friendly. He will be missed greatly. A true pioneer.
wasnt ready to see this after the news Im still reeling from from last night..I always sent Den movies regardless of any company's policy or attitude towards him and the guy was always very genuine in his thanx for me taking the time to remeber what a fan he was of Mike's and my flicks. Im bummed I only got hang/chat w/Den what, 4-5 times in person? am heavily bummed to hear this. rest in peace Denny, your pal ~ T.Von Swine.
I would always look forward to Den stopping by the booth at the AVN expo. He was a genuinely nice guy and an institution in this business. He will be missed.
Nothing says I love you so much as a tongue in the ass. 2884 Posts 1/03
Posted - Jun 18 2011 : 4:18PM
When his retirement was announced I felt a loss of an important resource for the industry. This, I guess, explains everything, and I'm deeply saddened. I think the show of respect from industry insiders speaks for itself. RIP Den.
I was really bummed to read six days ago that he had retired, now I read that he has just passed away? If that is not a clue as to just how short life can be, I am not sure what is. May he rest in peace while viewing the ethereal 24 hour porn channel in the sky along with Chambers, The King, Robbins, et al. Who will have the wherewithal to pick up where he left off and emulate his style of reviews so that fans of adult fare may continue to be educated properly enough in new releases to make a good decision on renting or buying without having to read through lengthy, biased diatribes only to wind up with a DVD that doesn't include the BTS as was stated on the back cover? Quantity of reviews 10.0 Quality of reviews 10.0 Consistency of reviews 10.0 Accuracy of reviews 9.90 Breadth of reviews 10.0 ================= CAVR legacy of reviews 9.98 A damn near perfect 10 for Den!
He did the type of thing you never really appreciate until it's done and now that he's gone, I'd assume that people would be using his work as a very valuable reference from now until . . . Forever. Good on you Den!
Fat bottomed girls make the rockin' world go round! 1551 Posts 5/09
Posted - Jun 18 2011 : 8:28PM
I read where Den would give a small commision to the women who performed in films he produced years ago. Every time he sold one, the performers would get a portion of the proceeds. I would have liked to have met him. Rest in peace. Edited by - dogzcatcher on 6/18/2011 8:30:33 PM
Sometimes I just "wanted the facts" as Joe Friday would say and he delivered. Although for descriptions I dig Xcritic (Don Houston) and our own Astroknight and Bono One He will be missed. RIP I just read in the AVN article that he did some time rather than rat out friends simply for selling porn. I find that admirable Edited by - algaliarept on 6/18/2011 10:14:58 PM
I never met or interacted with the man, but I will miss going to IAFD to read his reviews. My thoughts and prayers go out to him, his family and friends.
My apologies to everyone here: Den had asked me to just go along with the "retirement" idea and not let anyone know about his illness - he was actually a very private person. Dirty Bob
I just have to add a "me too" to Dirty Bob's apology. I'm happy he's free from his physical pain, and glad he didn't have to endure it for very long. May he and Peter be off comparing notes somewhere...
The combined industry knowledge these two guys had is simply mind boggling. Many years ago I was lucky to get to stroll the AVN show floor with both of them for a few hours. I'll always remember that day fondly.
That is true - Den did give small commissions to the girls he shot. He also shot a tremendous number of "custom" video scenes for some of his customers. This only lasted a few years; he closed the video company down a long time ago...back in the late 1980's.
Patience is a virtue, but who wants to be virtuous? 4283 Posts 4/00
Posted - Jun 20 2011 : 2:32PM
I remember seeing you and Steph with them that year. I just remembered something about Den that, to me, reminds me of what a great guy he was. Quite a few years ago, I sent him a polite email asking him why certain Evil Angel movies were getting such low ratings when he obviously liked some of our others. I was curious what he didn't like about the movies with the low scores. He responded and told me that he felt so strongly against movies that showed a girl getting choked, that if the movie contained it, he gave the movie a low score, even if he thought the rest of the movie was good. I told him I understood his concern and tried to reassure him that we wouldn't release something that hadn't been consensual, and he suggested that maybe he wouldn't review our movies that contained choking. He very humbly said that maybe he didn't get what it was that people enjoyed about watching that, but that he couldn't in good conscience give a good review score to those movies. It was perhaps the most pleasant disagreement I've ever had with someone, and I respected the heck out of him for it. Before John's trial, Den reached out to us and talked to us about his experience. He was so mild-mannered, and such a stand-up guy. I'm so sad thinking that someone who probably never hurt someone else once in his life, would have had any suffering at all in the end. It just doesn't seem fair. I'm so happy that he knew how much everyone loved and respected him.
I was trying to think of a way to say the same thing, but I don't think that I can do so better than Tricia did. The first time that I ever had a "conversation" with Den was in this thread, which took place about a week before the 2006 AEE, which was when I actually met Den for the first time. I disagreed with Den pretty adamantly in that thread. When we met the next week, there were no hard feelings on Den's part. He was really open to constructive criticism and the conversation continued in person. As a result of our personal discussions, Den made some changes to his scoring calculation, that he had wanted to make, but previously hadn't been able to figure out how to implement. Den and I became pretty good friends that week. It's a shame that it took AEE to rekindle that friendship every year. After AEE, we'd email each other for a while and as the year passed, those emails became less frequent. Then we'd see each other and we'd start emailing again. After I stopped going to AEE (I'm pretty sure that he didn't go either, the first year that I stopped going, which made it easier for me to not go), we pretty much lost contact. I shouldn't have allowed that to happen.
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horndogger Deactivated User
229 Posts 8/04
Posted - Jun 20 2011 : 10:45PM
R.I.P dude. I enjoyed Den's reviews. They were simple and to the point. Lots of info was provided to us. Horndogger
I knew as well, and yes, it was a burden. I'm just glad he's free of pain right now. "I do not as a rule seek advice about food from thin people..." - Jeffrey Steingarten
Yeah definitely a sad moment. Years ago I had pretty much given up on even reading reviews. Just felt they had become too negative, most of the time. Den was a refreshing change and got me back into reading them. His "no-choking" rule really helped me since it's something I try to avoid. I liked that kind of honesty though. RIP Den!
I havent been past adt in a while, I just found this out on Den's website. My condolensces to his family. Wonderful guy, concise and to the point reviews. A friendly guy when you wanted to know something on a film. He'll be missed.
I loved Den's no BS reviews! In '97 he made a couple custom videos for me and he also let me do some guest reviews. I used the handle Basementchild. Tempus fugit!
Today marks five years since our friend and fellow ADTer Den passed away. If you didn't have the opportunity to cross paths with Den, you can read his obituary from AVN at the time. He answered every e-mail I ever sent him and was always appreciative of everything.
For the past month or so I've been seeing a bunch of different articles about who's nominated for what and who won something or another. Way back when I used to be social enough to attend trade shows I was fortunate to be able to walk the floor at the AVN show with Den (and a few others) while he sought the winners of the CAVR awards. He had trophies made each year and engraved with the recipient's names. (I wonder how many performers might still happen to have a CAVR award trophy hanging around somewhere?) It was really cool to be able to witness the genuine, thankful responses he would get from the winners.
^Thank You for the bump. I never heard or read anything negative about Den. He seemed like decent nice man who had nothing bad to say about the porn industry. I'm including a link to his top ten list and while mine might have a few different names. I can't disagree with his choices because these women should all be part of our own list of favorites.