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This thread is fascinating, love hearing some of the Herbiceps lore and stories. Herbiceps was one of my first intros into fbb, I remember scouring the free clips section, and being addicted to a clip of Rebekah Kresila doing pushups, and checking Andy's Muscle Goddesses (the lite version without the music lol) daily for any additional free herbiceps clips.
A few years later in late high school I decided to finally get a membership but since I didn't have a credit card I had to mail in cash in an envelope haha, but once I finally got that login it was pretty magical- so many videos and photos to access all at once. Very overwhelming but amazing.
Still a massive fan of herbiceps to this day, and love that they're willing to jump into new categories and try new things, particularly VR which is a game-changer. Cheers!
Mental ability might be on the decline already, but I tend to believe to have cammed with true legends on the old HBC site. Eventually getting confused with FTV, or maybe imagining things here.
Enlighten this fella please, have they all been active on HBC?
Not that I’m asking about the secret sauce but what was a wild subscriber peak on the old site? And who were some notables that were really driving memberships up?
Well, the internet was thirsty for any kind of content. Back then, the hottest names on my site were Stephanie Park, Jennifer Broomfield, Sarah Dunlap, Christine Roth, Elena Seiple, Colette Nelson, Summer Montabone. DtV had membership, James Cook from FtVideo I think was still only selling DVDs/VHS tapes by mail, but had a website to sell them. DtV had a membership site, but it wasn't curated at all. Davemeister had a big site back then, I think, not sure what happened to him. So it was early as a membership site, and one where we had girls doing some strength stuff, and included a wide range of muscle types. I also didn't charge a very high price.
O.J. Heller was a master and I would consider him a visionary, but I don’t know what motivated him to focus so much on what were considered “oddities” of the time. The person or team who decides to do that research will definitely be taking on a labor of love.
I assume the same thing motivated OJH that motivates all of us. He was a true pioneer in the wilderness though back then, but he still managed to find lots of strong and muscular women willing to flex and demonstrate strength. I find his content totally fascinating. I just wish there was more of it around. I'm glad I was born in the era I was, but I would love to have met Joan Rhodes in her prime and some of the women OJH photographed. I can't imagine the thrill he must have felt finding a new discovery back when this sort of thing was so rare.
If I had the money back then, I would have travelled into NY from Europe. Now I have the money, but NYMC does not exist any longer.
Where is the time machine when you need one ....
Back then, there was so much less interction between fans and muscle girls. There were the pioneer fans who would show up at shows and book sessions or just politely meet and take some pictures with competitors, but there was a sense that they didn't belong. That's how I felt, though I was lucky enough to be from New Jersey, where they had fan-friendly events put on by Bob Bonham and Kenny Castle and sponsored by guys like Charles Peoples. Tre and I (and TomNine and some others from the DtV chatroom) met in person at a Women's Strength Exrtraveganza event, which was an annual NPC show (maybe an IFBB show too some year or years?) with the additional strength element on-stage (curls and bench with a % of bodyweight). It was a great event, and one year DtV sponsored it, and we all gathered and volunteered to help DtV get content from the show. I had been to the event the previous year, but hadn't known what to do with myself as a skinny socially awkward 18-19 year old. I remember grabbing an instant camera from the hotel lobby shop and asking Summer Kahlish to take a few pictures of her, and then did so with a few others. That at least gave me an excuse to say hi. Grabbing the camera from DtV's rep at the show and being with the other guys (and Sheila Burgess) empowered me to have a job and all of a sudden, I was interviewing various competitors and taking video of them for the DtV site. Something clicked and the rest is history.
But what was so tangible back then, and still is today, is that this was mostly a closeted fetish for men. I began to believe my job was to take the stigma out of it, and make it what it should be, the most fun fetish in the world. We were dudes with great taste, not weirdos! :) Even as our content has perhaps become more overtly nodding toward the fetish of it all, we try to shoot stuff that we think is fun and in good taste. The cam site is a whole nother ball of wax, and has certainly personalized things on a deeper level if you care to take that plunge. Social media also now personalizes these women like they never were before. We no longer feel alone or as isolated with our weirdness like we did back then when now you can see giant muscle girls with tens or hundreds of thousands of followers on social media. Its been quite a shift over the last 20 years in all sorts of ways. The latest is the VR for us, talk about personal, its so damn incredible its hard to believe. The technology is such a long way from waiting for jpg images to download in 4 parts in the mid-90s.
Back then, there was so much less interction between fans and muscle girls. There were the pioneer fans who would show up at shows and book sessions or just politely meet and take some pictures with competitors, but there was a sense that they didn't belong. That's how I felt, though I was lucky enough to be from New Jersey, where they had fan-friendly events put on by Bob Bonham and Kenny Castle and sponsored by guys like Charles Peoples. Tre and I (and TomNine and some others from the DtV chatroom) met in person at a Women's Strength Exrtraveganza event, which was an annual NPC show (maybe an IFBB show too some year or years?) with the additional strength element on-stage (curls and bench with a % of bodyweight). It was a great event, and one year DtV sponsored it, and we all gathered and volunteered to help DtV get content from the show. I had been to the event the previous year, but hadn't known what to do with myself as a skinny socially awkward 18-19 year old. I remember grabbing an instant camera from the hotel lobby shop and asking Summer Kahlish to take a few pictures of her, and then did so with a few others. That at least gave me an excuse to say hi. Grabbing the camera from DtV's rep at the show and being with the other guys (and Sheila Burgess) empowered me to have a job and all of a sudden, I was interviewing various competitors and taking video of them for the DtV site. Something clicked and the rest is history.
But what was so tangible back then, and still is today, is that this was mostly a closeted fetish for men. I began to believe my job was to take the stigma out of it, and make it what it should be, the most fun fetish in the world. We were dudes with great taste, not weirdos! :) Even as our content has perhaps become more overtly nodding toward the fetish of it all, we try to shoot stuff that we think is fun and in good taste. The cam site is a whole nother ball of wax, and has certainly personalized things on a deeper level if you care to take that plunge. Social media also now personalizes these women like they never were before. We no longer feel alone or as isolated with our weirdness like we did back then when now you can see giant muscle girls with tens or hundreds of thousands of followers on social media. Its been quite a shift over the last 20 years in all sorts of ways. The latest is the VR for us, talk about personal, its so damn incredible its hard to believe. The technology is such a long way from waiting for jpg images to download in 4 parts in the mid-90s.
How beautiful all your story dear friend. I am 50 years old and I enjoyed your story, for a moment I traveled back in time and revived those beautiful women you named. I envy you if you attended and see it live. Just today I could see them on video and you have done it. excellent.
Question for Herbiceps.
You taped many of the greats in your time - but were there any that you had really wished to - that you didnt get to for some reason?
Wow, so many...I occasionally got to shoot with women that were in the mags or WPW, but it sure would have been amazing to shoot with some of my favorites from my teenage years. I would most like to time travel to shoot with Michelle Ralabate, Laura Bass, Lisa Cynkin, Alphie Newman, Debbie Kruck, Ocean Bloom, Shelly Beattie, a young Melissa Coates, a prime Kim Chizevsky, Cory or Lenda or Rachel also of course.
For my era, I also missed shooting a lot of greats, too many to mention...many near-misses for one reason or another. Those are the ones that cause me real pain, cause they could have happened. Looking back, I should have made it happen with a few that I didn't, and many I wish I had shot more with.
That makes sense. Pretty rare bavk then for someone to host their own site (Jodi Miller, I remember, and maybe one or two were hosting geocities or aol homepages lmao) but there was basically nothing except the shooters. Now they can post their own stuff though given how social media is it tends to be over filtered, over edited, relying too much on angles for perspective at times. I appreciate that HB has, for example, given us shoulder height videos of the women so that their biceps aren’t under or over exaggerated.
All those women were great. I remember the big Cindy Phillips talk on the old boards. In particular I remember her counting video, which is one of my faves of all time of any video
The first female I remember with her own website was a geocities site for Kelly Dobbins. Of course, that turned out to because her husband, Rick, was one of us :)
But paysites were a new type of thing back then. I made a site for Cindy Phillips and Britt Miller and Mindi O'Brien and some others in 2003-2005 before I started shifting to the webcam thing. It was fun, but also some work. I think they all made some decent money, and it was also worth my time. Britt and Cindy exited stage right with their bodybuilding careers, but they were both amazing. Mindi requested to take over her own site with her husband Dennis, and I was fine with that. We still did shoots for years, and she's one of the all-time greatest for sure.
This thread is fascinating, love hearing some of the Herbiceps lore and stories. Herbiceps was one of my first intros into fbb, I remember scouring the free clips section, and being addicted to a clip of Rebekah Kresila doing pushups, and checking Andy's Muscle Goddesses (the lite version without the music lol) daily for any additional free herbiceps clips.
A few years later in late high school I decided to finally get a membership but since I didn't have a credit card I had to mail in cash in an envelope haha, but once I finally got that login it was pretty magical- so many videos and photos to access all at once. Very overwhelming but amazing.
Still a massive fan of herbiceps to this day, and love that they're willing to jump into new categories and try new things, particularly VR which is a game-changer. Cheers!
Thanks for this post, really gratifying to hear. It really was an under-supplied area back then. Fans growing up now don't realize the deprivation that we went through back then. Cheers, my friend.
- Colette Guimond -- YES, she cammed on and off with us for years, probably also FT -- she actually married (I think) one of the guys from the DtV chatroom!
- Alina Popa -- YES, she did some camming with us for sure
- Marja Lehtonen -- I don't think she cammed for us, only FT, but maybe for a minute...I did shoot with her once, amazing physique
- Cindy Philips -- YES, for several years she cammed and would come back on for years occasionally after retiring as well to pay a few bills or whatever
- Sarah Hayes -- YES, she did a lot of camming for us, and was sensational...she's too busy these days
- Hazel Piazza -- I think so, but I'd have to check
- Sarah Dunlap -- YES, she did a lot of camming with us on and off for years
There you go
I “ran” into Sarah Hayes a number of years ago. In reality we had emailed a few times and it turns out she had taken over the volleyball class I had taken while in school so we were able to connect that way. Got to spend 15 or so minutes chatting with her after. Wonderful woman.
Summer montabone is definitely a blast from the past. Haven’t thought of her in ages.
I recently talked with Shelly Jones (within the last two years). Some members right remember she had discovered GWM, requested her pics taken down, and then i was able to get her to reverse that.
Y’all shot a few mins of video with her at a show many many moons ago that was part of my awakening, it’s one of my faves, and I asked her about it—she didn’t even remember shooting it. It was just at the booth with the shirt rack that a few one offs appeared in. It really was the Wild West still
Back then, there was so much less interction between fans and muscle girls. There were the pioneer fans who would show up at shows and book sessions or just politely meet and take some pictures with competitors, but there was a sense that they didn't belong. That's how I felt, though I was lucky enough to be from New Jersey, where they had fan-friendly events put on by Bob Bonham and Kenny Castle and sponsored by guys like Charles Peoples. Tre and I (and TomNine and some others from the DtV chatroom) met in person at a Women's Strength Exrtraveganza event, which was an annual NPC show (maybe an IFBB show too some year or years?) with the additional strength element on-stage (curls and bench with a % of bodyweight). It was a great event, and one year DtV sponsored it, and we all gathered and volunteered to help DtV get content from the show. I had been to the event the previous year, but hadn't known what to do with myself as a skinny socially awkward 18-19 year old. I remember grabbing an instant camera from the hotel lobby shop and asking Summer Kahlish to take a few pictures of her, and then did so with a few others. That at least gave me an excuse to say hi. Grabbing the camera from DtV's rep at the show and being with the other guys (and Sheila Burgess) empowered me to have a job and all of a sudden, I was interviewing various competitors and taking video of them for the DtV site. Something clicked and the rest is history.
But what was so tangible back then, and still is today, is that this was mostly a closeted fetish for men. I began to believe my job was to take the stigma out of it, and make it what it should be, the most fun fetish in the world. We were dudes with great taste, not weirdos! :) Even as our content has perhaps become more overtly nodding toward the fetish of it all, we try to shoot stuff that we think is fun and in good taste. The cam site is a whole nother ball of wax, and has certainly personalized things on a deeper level if you care to take that plunge. Social media also now personalizes these women like they never were before. We no longer feel alone or as isolated with our weirdness like we did back then when now you can see giant muscle girls with tens or hundreds of thousands of followers on social media. Its been quite a shift over the last 20 years in all sorts of ways. The latest is the VR for us, talk about personal, its so damn incredible its hard to believe. The technology is such a long way from waiting for jpg images to download in 4 parts in the mid-90s.
Great stories, its bit of a replacement of what I missed back then, helps to visualize how it really was.
No doubt, things have become much more personal and that is also a reason why I never got tired of HBC: the bodies alone are fascinating but could not keep me for idk 20 years. Its the atmosphere that developed over the years. Where it was always the same dumb questions and answers back then (whats the size of your biceps? 18 inch!), it now often is a thougthful communication these days. The variety of service has never been greater (and i had a lot of it: from the odd posing, cosplay, following through the prep, online dinner and drinks, to living out sexual fantasies at both end, and even a sort of dark rite for a mistress). And while there was always a bit of a struggle for good conversation between fans and performers, the good vibes finally seem to take over.
And still events like NYMC, Extravaganza and "celebration of female muscle" appeal to me for one reason: they have been purely about womens bodybuilding. No figure, no fitness and also no male bodybuilding. Hardcore athletes and fans under one roof. Maybe I romanticize too much here. It just feels like: I have indulged myself a lot, lived out my fantatsies. Just missed out at the one premier event. The icing on the cake.
I think to remember that Pam Howard also had her own site. She offered some extra in her private section: financial news. Reading the wall street journal, pumped up with pictures of her - posing. Wicked.