Interviews and photography by
Benjamen Purvis
In honor of the Weekly's seventh birthday or anniversary or whatever we're calling this, we threw ourselves a little party and invited some of our favorite cover models from the past. I told them there'd be all kinds of drinks and music and cool people there, so imagine their surprise when they showed up and realized it was just us and them! At least they stuck around for a few minutes to catch up with us.
Wow, Destiny, since appearing on our March 25, 2004, cover you've become Playboy's Miss January 2005 and are a contender for Playmate of the Year. I even saw you clapping along next to Rivers Cuomo in Weezer's "Beverly Hills" video. Why are you even talking to us at this point?
Destiny: Because I love you guys! I've been really lucky to have done all these great things in my modeling career, and I'm very appreciative of all the different opportunities that come my way.
Yeah, posing for the Weekly in a candy bra and thong was certainly a different opportunity. You walked with your back to the wall at all times because that bottom is so revealing, and you had to constantly adjust your top to keep yourself from falling out of it. As a young model, you have to pounce on opportunities like that. By the way, you made off with that outfit after I photographed you back in August. Have you had the chance to wear that stuff lately?
Destiny: No, I needed it for evidence! I didn't think anyone would believe I really wore a candy bra and thong for this. The outfit was actually kinda heavy, but I had so much fun shooting this cover. And the frosting on the cake [by Layers Bakery] was so good! I can't wait until this issue is out on the stands.
You've made some guest appearances on that Playboy reality show on E!, The Girls Next Door. And Anna, you starred in your own NBC reality show after appearing on our May 20, 2004, cover. You went from having the greatest time of your life—hanging out with me in your underwear—to what I imagine was probably the worst thing in the world: hanging out with a bunch of regular guys as the grand prize in Average Joe: The Joes Strike Back. How did you handle that crushing transition?
Anna: I know, nothing compares to shooting in your Underoos in front of your favorite photographer! I actually felt sorry for the Average Joe guys. At least I had variety. Those poor guys, all they had was me.
Yeah, poor guys. Here's something I've noticed: In addition to being a terrific springboard for girls who want to get on reality TV shows, the Weekly seems to be as good a place to start as any for girls who want to get into Playboy and those types of magazines. Karen, after appearing on our cover, you did some nude photos and videos with Mystique Magazine. Can you give us some free copies?
Karen: Yes, you can have a copy of my sexy, hot, sensual, exciting magazine! Just so everyone knows, this is a very classy nude shoot—like Playboy, just better. It was my first nude shoot and I am so happy with the results.
You were on three Las Vegas Weekly covers in the span of just 13 months-—that's a record. And the two issues whose cover you appeared on in 2003 hold the first and second-best pickup rates for that year. Why are you so great?
Karen: I don't think I'm so great; I think I'm just simply "bella". And that's why people take so many copies and make all the stands run out of those issues. Also, I think you pick awesome cover stories for me to model.
Yeah, you modeled for one awesome cover story about spending 24 hours in a strip club, and for another awesome cover story about mold. One cover story that we've run every October for the last three years is the Reading Issue, which we tie in with the book fair. Melissa, I've made you our official Reading Issue Model and have cast you in a different pulp-inspired scenario every time. Your 2003 cover got the Weekly banned from a car wash because customers found it offensive, your 2004 cover and feature photos won us some design awards at a couple different competitions, and your 2005 cover holds the current record for the Weekly's highest pick-up of all time. What's your take on the Reading Issue covers? Offensive, right?
Melissa: I absolutely love them. Shooting is a lot of fun, and I have to hand it to you for coming up with these great cover ideas. I never know what the final cover will look like until it comes out on the stands, since you always shoot me against a white backdrop and then do your magic in Photoshop.
You're very proud of your butt, and I've highlighted it in quite a few photos. Didn't you say it's helped you win contests?
Melissa: No butts about it: I recently won Miss Rio. A girl's got to use her assets.
Desiree, you've got a lot to be proud of, too. We got a whole bunch of fan letters after your cover came out, and just about every male designer in our office had that cover pinned up at his desk for months afterwards. That must feel pretty great.
Desiree: It does feel great! It was flattering to walk down the street and have people pick up the Weekly to see me. It's a thrill to make someone want to have my picture up by their desk.
One guy who writes a letter condemning us nearly every time we feature a model on our cover compared your cover photo to something you'd see in Hustler.
Desiree: The world is made up of all kinds of people. We would all go loopy if we tried to make everyone happy.
He's sex-obsessed anyway. You should see some of the graphic stuff we've had to edit out of his letters before we publish them. Tiffany, you posed for our April 22, 2004, cover story about prudes and their resentment of sexy Vegas. You're a professional, old-fashioned Southern girl, so naturally everyone asks you if you were really naked when I photographed you for your cover. You've never given a straight answer before, so are you ready to at last tell the world whether you were actually naked or secretly clothed when you shot that photo?
Tiffany: It's always more fun to wonder, right? When my cover was out, I honestly didn't think that I would be recognized at places I go regularly: my health club, my grocery store ... but the Weekly is everywhere! I was in a business suit at the grocery store when a clerk asked if it was me on the cover that week, and I told her it was my evil twin. I will never live that cover down at my dentist's office! And at my health club, I was asked to autograph the cover. It's cool that people pay attention. I'm far from being a celebrity, so it was interesting to be recognized. And it really helped with my modeling career. I have a special place in my heart and in my bank account for that Weekly cover!
Well, Oushyn claims to owe her entire modeling career to her Weekly covers. Oushyn, I've seen you in billboards all over town, but you told me you'd never modeled before I put you on our May 27, 2003, cover. Were you just lying to me or what?
Oushyn: It's true! The closest thing I'd done before your cover was sitting in as a photo extra for a restaurant feature in Bon Appetit magazine. And the only reason I got that was because I worked at the restaurant! The photographer needed a seat-filler swilling a glass of champagne, and I could do that well. I'd never pursued modeling prior to meeting up with Las Vegas Weekly, so I'm a late entrant in the field. By trade, I'm a graphic designer.
So it must've been weird coming down to our studio and posing in a bikini for your first real attempt at modeling.
Oushyn: My first studio experience went great. Initially I felt out of my element posing in my bikini in front of a white backdrop, but you really made me feel so at ease and had fun with it. The first sight of my Weekly cover stacked around town was surreal! Then came some compliments and a barrage of teasing and nicknames from friends, which I won't detail here ... I've since appeared in the Sushi+Sake billboards you mentioned, a Swedish men's fashion magazine, numerous print shoots for Bellagio, TI, Casino MonteLago and in a national TV commercial for Caesars Palace.
So you really do owe it all to us? That's so flattering! And Ruth, you and your sister became the official Palms Girls shortly after you appeared on our July 29, 2004, cover. Did we have anything to do with that, or am I crazy?
Ruth: I do think that the exposure of being on your cover helped. It also may have helped that my sister was on the cover of Time magazine the month before.
Yeah, but Time magazine didn't cleverly feature your sister in a bikini to promote their cover story on the release of The 9/11 Commission Report, like we did. At the time we thought people would overlook that story if there wasn't some eye candy on the cover, but when photographer Iris Dumuk went to shoot you, she had to do it without the book because it had sold out in every store she went to that day! Your issue had a great pickup rate, but was that because you were in a bikini or because of the public's interest in the book?
Ruth: I suppose anyone would like to think that the great pickup rate was due to the fact that they were on the cover, but considering the book had sold out everywhere, I would probably have to say that it was due to the public's great interest in The 9/11 Commission Report.
Well, it's like they say: Commission reports come and go, but the public will always have a great interest in models wearing revealing clothing. Take Candice for example. Candice, you told me your career exploded after you posed for our May 12, 2005, tribute to the famous Miss Atomic Bomb photo. Were you just making a pun or what?
Candice: I'd had a lot of work before, but since Las Vegas Weekly's Centennial cover, I've been swamped. After that issue came out a man researching various Miss Atomic Bomb photos from the 1940s and '50s wrote me a letter telling me he was pleased to see my updated version of the classic Vegas icon. He said the interesting thing about my pose is, it's not a direct copy of the well-known 1957 photo, but it does duplicate another pose that was taken at the same time but never previously published. That's something we didn't know when we shot it. He said my photo has the potential for becoming the 21st- century version of the 1957 picture, and that I'm one of the few individuals who has the title "Miss Atomic Bomb"! I thought it was nice of him to send that to me. I wasn't expecting that cover to turn out as well as it did, but you did a great job.
Well, we usually try to make our cover models look as good as we can. But then, Loudie, I gave you six arms on your October 9, 2003, cover. What was I thinking?
Loudie: Well, my character was a busy spider babe telemarketer. Telemarketers get heat because no one wants their calls, so Las Vegas Weekly wrote a cover story titled "In Defense Of Telemarketing." It was great! I had a great time shooting for it. I think you're an awesome art director and photographer. I mean, look at how amazing Miss Spider Babe came to be! When I first saw the final version around town, I didn't even recognize myself. I had to do a double take. Everyone said they loved it.
I always like to hear that people like our covers. Lina, what kind of comments did you hear about your Christmas 2003 cover?
Lina: That I'm fat.
Shit! Wow, sorry about that. But you look about 15 pounds thinner now, seriously ... Wow, I wasn't planning on keeping you guys any longer, but that's really a terrible way to end this thing, so let's keep going for a minute ... Lina, you were angry at me when you read the table of contents blurb that mentioned how you used to be a gang leader. Did you consider reforming the old gang and doing a drive-by on me?
Lina: Yes, but we shot at the wrong building and hit someone else instead of you!
I lucked out there. And I promise never to mention your gang again. So, what's everybody working on these days?
Lina: My web site, linaso.com, a few films, calendars, and possibly starring in a musical comedy in Las Vegas.
Ruth: My sister and I have been very busy working different modeling jobs around town. We just got our new website up, ruthandryan.com, and are working on our own swimwear line. We recently finished shooting our hot new 2007 calendar that will be for sale on our website around the first of year. We also just signed a contract to work with a new up-and-coming energy drink.
Destiny: I still live in Vegas and still go to UNLV. Hopefully I'll graduate in the next couple semesters, depending on how many classes I can take. Right now I'm so busy with school, modeling and travels. I'm learning how to DJ and I'm really pumped about it. It's so much fun. And I have my website, destinydavis.com. It has my online store and more pics of me. Playmate of the Year is coming up and I'm in the running, so go to playboy.com and vote for me!
Anna: I've had the greatest time since Average Joe ended. From flying all over the U.S. doing guest appearances to being the host of an infomercial for one of my favorite hair stylists, William Whatley. I recently fell into managing a Los Angeles band called Bad Mitten. I knew nothing about the music business, but after listening to them perform their stripped-down, shot-up blues rock, I was blown away. And I've started my own modeling agency, Tru Talent. You can check out my website, annathemodel.com, for more info.
Tiffany: I feel so lucky to live here and meet the great people I get to meet and experience what I do because of my career. Las Vegas is really picking up in the modeling world, and it's really exciting to stay so busy with it. I'm also a real-estate agent, which has always been great in Vegas. I recently went back to flight school—my passion—and hope to get a job flying a private jet eventually.
Oushyn: I'm traveling extensively for both graphic work and leisure, and I just recently returned from Sydney. I've just completed a logo for Mayor Goodman for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which will be held in Las Vegas next year. You can see my work at oushyn.com.
Desiree: For me, it's SSDD [Same Shit, Different Day]. Conventions and print advertising. I recently shot for a new condo project that's going up in Downtown San Diego, so I guess the billboards will be up in the next few months. You can always get updates on my future activities at desireeonline.com.
Karen: I do full-time modeling and acting, so I'm constantly traveling for different shoots and assignments. I just did a music video with Ice Cube in October. I think the song will come out on his new CD in 2006. The song's about low rider lovers. And everyone can get a signed copy of Mystique Magazine at my site, kalucha.com. I have a 2006 calendar, DVDs and magazines for sale there.
Loudie: I'm a busy bee. I'm prepping for an upcoming photo shoot and working on my real-estate license.
Candice: I'm doing conventions and more print work. I'm also working on my clothing line, Little Diablo Clothing. Check out littlediablo.com and sinalittle.com. I've got kick-ass stuff!
Melissa: I'll be shooting for the Rio's special events this year.
Hey Melissa, what should we do for next year's Reading Issue cover? We always seem to plan these things at the last second.
Melissa: We'll just have to wait and see. I know you'll come up with something fantastic.
Hey, before you go: Will the rest of you guys be on our cover again?
Lina: Yes, when you set it up, Benji!
Desiree: Absolutely, I look forward to it!
Ruth: I would love to be on your cover again. It was a real pleasure working with everyone from the Weekly.
Oushyn: After the bikini cover for the Summer Guide and that Scooby Doo take-off, I'm naturally curious to see what you have in store for me next!
Destiny: You're such a great guy, so I always look forward to shooting for the Weekly.
Tiffany: If you'll have me! Love to!
Anna: I would be honored! Anytime!
Candice: I would love to be on the cover of the Weekly again. The Centennial cover came out awesome, so now I'm curious to see if I can make my second cover look just as good as the first.
Loudie: You guys better put me back on the cover, or else!
Karen: Are you kidding me? I would love to do another Las Vegas Weekly cover! I've been trying to convince you to give me another cover to impress my fans out there. So we have to cross our fingers and hopefully I'll get another cover in 2006 or something. Ben, let's do it! Make me a Las Vegas Weekly Pet again! The awesome covers are what keep the Weekly exciting!
Special thanks to Impact Models.