Fallen Angels and Lost Devils

Video Bob 1953-2004

Video Bob, the larger than life photographer who has photographed many models over the past five years that have appeared across the Grooby sites died on Sunday aged 50.

Due to respecting his privacy I’ll be vague about certain details. Bob started as a member of Shemale Yum in 1996 and soon started corresponding with me as a fellow fan of the girls, he then began sending copied TS tapes for my enjoyment as they were unavailable in the UK, this led to us meeting in Florida and Bob starting editing some tapes of mine
Bob started shooting in 2001 and after a few hits and misses he became a regular photographer getting many great shoots for Shemale Yum but really finding his niche with black shemales all over Florida who appeared on Black Tgirls.

In 2001 Bob and I flew to Brazil to shoot the first VHS/DVD release from Grooby Productions, “Shemale Yum takes on Brazilian Transexuals”, Bob shot many of the scenes and edited all the tapes he continued to work on all the tapes right through to “Butt Surfing Shemales” which he passed on because of other work committments.

Bob was possibly the most irritating person I’ve met. He had an incredible knack of annoying people by doing very little. Luiz in Brazil would call him “But Bob”, because after Bob had just had the best meal in Brazil, been wined and dined and met-up with a cute little trannie for the night…when asked in the morning how was his night, he’d reply;
“It was good BUT……”.

Bob, Frank and I once had a night in Vegas accompanied by Alannah Starr, Saigon Lee, Ivy, Gia Darling, Joanna Jet and three more gorgeous girls – after being limo’d around town, VIP’d at every club, danced and cuddled with the girls and basically had what some people would pay $1000’s for…Bob complained because he couldn’t get any free sex. Despite all this he had a child-like quality to him, excitable, petulant, sometimes naive and always putting himself into amusing situations (amusing to those around him) his stories will go down in our history as legendary.

Bob was larger than life, his appetite for food, fun and girls was voracious. Whether looking at a buffet or a naked girl, his expression would be a cross between Marty Feldman and Peter Boyle from “Young Frankenstein”. Since working with us over the last few years he realized what he truly loved to do – photograph the tgirls.

Bob lived large. His presence will be missed by all the Grooby crew as well as the 100,000’s of members who have enjoyed his photos and video clips over the years. I suspect the stories about him will continue for a long while…

We pass our sympathies onto his wife.

Eric aka Somchai aka Sombat aka Todger. You will be missed …

A longtime photographer for Ladyboy Ladyboy and a very Grooby guy, Eric (aka Somchai aka Sombat aka Todger) died on Saturday after a battle with cancer.
Many people knew Eric had been ill with colon cancer and it looked like he had it beaten, his spirits were back up, he’d restarted shooting for the sites (after only a short break) and
when Frank and I saw him in April, he was very excited about his project, LBLB Forum which we were doing together. Only a month later, he called to say he’d been given 6 months to live as the cancer had spread.
His wife was with him throughout his whole illness and when he died.

A Brummie by birth, most would have taken him for almost a Geordie … having lived and worked in the North East of England for most of his life, he talked and looked the part. He’d been coming to Thailand
for many years, eventually settling in Pattaya area where he was well known among the ladyboys and the girls.
Eric first started working for us in June 2003, shooting many natural type Pattaya ladyboys and frequenting the bars that many members had never heard of. His work grew better
as his eagerness to improve his photography (and pornography) skills grew and he has produced some of the most memorable shots and models on Ladyboy Ladyboy over the past 5 years.

Eric and I spend more time together over the last 3 yrs, he was an integral part of any Grooby trip to Thailand using his knowledge of the local scene to get us around the town. He was in turns infuriating, drunk, embarressing and lecherous – but also generous, jovial and
gentleman-like. I think most of his friends would agree, Eric was not the best drunk and often a figure of controversy in the local bar and ex-pat scene.

The transsexual porn world has lost one of it’s true characters. The ladyboys of Pattaya one of their main benefactors. Grooby has lost a great photographer and contributor and fans and travelers to Pattaya will miss his
regular reports on the scene there as well has his generous pointers on where to meet specific ladyboys.

I’ve lost a friend and a fellow ladyboy afficionado. Keep on rocking, Eric!

A selection of Eric’s work over the years…