I helped to create Kiwi porn king Steve Crow, or at least the open, breezy attitude he has to his trade today. It goes back to the late 1990s when I wrote a story for Unlimited magazine called "Learning from the porn sites", on the theme that adult websites are always the first to adopt the latest net trends (the issue's busty cover remained Unlimited's best-selling for at least half a decade).

Anyhow, I interviewed Steve, who at that time was selling X-rated discs via PC World's classified section. Steve stayed in the background, with his then girlfriend being the public face of their company, Vixen. When I quoted the (then) mild-mannered Steve in my article, referring to him by his real name (it never occurred to me not to), he phoned me shortly after publication. He was quite freaked out. Apart from his own rep, he had a business on the side, with other partners, developing property in Remuera. Straight-laced Christian John Banks was a customer. Steve's partners weren't happy that his day job had been revealed to the world.

I don't know how the property biz turned out in the end. But certainly, once outed, Steve quickly warmed to his role and soon became the positively flamboyant porno king we know today, and proprietor of the Erotica expo, among other adventures - including a plan to run for the Auckland mayoralty against the aforementioned Banks (and of course the incumbent Dick Hubbard).

Steve gets a lengthy, good-humoured profile in today's NZ Herald, coupled with a story on his plans for a $5 million share float that would make Vixen only the 10th publicly-traded adult entertainment company in the world, and help fund further expansion. I won't bother wishing him luck, since I don't think the planet's particularly short on porn. But on his form so far, I don't think Steve will need it.