“06880” does not want to be the TMZ of hyperlocal blogs. Wednesday’s post about Staples High grad/porn king Mike Kulich’s defense of drug company owner/vile human being Martin Shkreli should have been our celebrity ration for the week.
But Kerry Quinn — a Staples 1992 alum — just published an intriguing story in Playboy.* It involves Pamela Anderson, Tommy Lee and their very infamous sex tape.
So here goes.
In February 1995, Kerry was a University of Michigan junior. She and 100 spring break friends got upgraded to a 4-star Cancun hotel. That was not good. They worried such a classy place would ruin their “binge drinking, hookups and general shenanigans.”
No problem.
Hung over, they saw Pamela Anderson — “in a white bikini and real sheer sarong” — walking by. (In 1995, Kerry reminds us, Anderson was “the second coming of Marilyn Monroe.”) A “rocker dude” was in tow.
Turns out, she and Tommy Lee were getting married.
Kerry Quinn’s photos ended up in the Globe tabloid.
Kerry had only 10 shots left on her camera (“photography was hard in the 1990s”). Her film ran out before the ceremony, but she got a few good photos before that.
A lot more happened — Tommy Lee bought Kerry a piña colada, for example — and then a Globe tabloid photographer bought Kerry’s film for $275. He promised to send back her other photos, of a (drunken) winter formal.
He never did.
After the ceremony, Kerry asked Pamela Anderson for a photo with her. “Her mouth said, ‘Yes,’ while her eyes said, ‘No,'” Kerry writes. “I gave zero f–ks and smiled while my friend Rachel took a picture.”
But wait! There’s more!
The newlyweds checked out of their hotel (“spring breakers weren’t exactly honeymoon aphrodisiacs”). They headed to a private yacht, where they filmed their infamous sex tape. After being stolen from a safe, it became one of the best-selling porn videos ever.
As Kerry points out, “If I hadn’t been the spring break rep who negotiated a 4-star hotel for a bunch of college kids, then they might not have checked out and gone to a yacht. And maybe they wouldn’t have made that infamous sex tape. Who knows? You’re welcome, America.”
That’s the story. Now, “06880” promises not to run another Staples/porn-connection story.
Unless it’s a good one.
(To read Kerry Quinn’s entire story, click here.)
*Yes, it’s still around.
(Hat tip: Evan Stein)
The Globe never gave Kerry her winter formal photos. But they did quote her.
Sorry – you should have kept to the stated policy of not being the local TMZ. Like most of their stories, this one has very little going for it.
Gee Dan, thanks So much for reminding British Columbians of home-grown, multi-talented, multi-married Pam! We are all So Very proud of the gal, hoping and wishing her new book of prose & poetry (who knew?) stays at the top of the NYT bestsellers list! I’m particularly proud to say that I was at the football game our “Blue Zone Girl” was discovered! ‘Twas the highlight of my life!
Would a story about Marilyn Briggs (Chambers) be considered a good one?
It’s been told, ad nauseam, but here is one fairly recent version:
http://www.connecticutmag.com/core/pagetools.php?pageid=11870&url=%2FConnecticut-Magazine%2FSeptember-2009%2FThe-Story-of-M%2F&mode=print
It’s a sad story. She died at age 56 while subsisting in a trailer on the cheaper outskirts of LA. She was used, cheated and abused by one lowlife man after another.
Back at the time of “Behind the Green Door,” people who should have known better celebrated the supposed freedom it represented. (For example, colleges like the one I attended screened the film at their student film clubs, with nary a complaint from the administration.
Some locals still think her short-lived celebrity and connection with Westport is something to be excited about.
I’ve written about Marilyn twice. The first one got more hits than any piece I’ve ever written on “06880.”
http://06880danwoog.com/2009/04/13/remembering-marilyn-chambers/
http://06880danwoog.com/2013/08/30/marilyn-chambers-the-sequel/
Good for you for indulging your ‘Inner Page 6’. Years ago I recommended you add ‘Page 6 style Blind Items’ to this blog, not least because The Real Page 6 had done some Westport, CT based blind items (that I accurately guessed before most people had even picked up their morning lattes because of my familiarity w/WSPT;-).
Westport isn’t as bohemian and saucy as it used to be, but it’s also not just soccer moms and middle class values, apparently.