Quicksand Fans

I'm not sure if I put this topic in the right place. Long story short, I'm probably a little younger than most here, but I am a VHS enthusiast. I grew up with VHS and have been collecting and watching tapes for years. I actually bought a tape not too long ago! A few years ago, a friend of mine told me he had a few professional quicksand videos on VHS. I assume he got those tapes when VHS was the most popular format. For me, there's so much mystery surrounding those tapes and I'd love to own a few for my personal collection. The only problem is, I have absolutely no idea where to find them. I tried searching the "Adults Only" section of Ebay, with no luck. I suspect not many people would be willing to get rid of something so special, hence the empty search results.

So, where on Earth can I find twenty-something-year-old quicksand VHS tapes to purchase? I only want maybe two or three to add to my collection (and to watch) and I think owing something like that is equivalent to owning a piece of history. It's a reminder of the way things use to be.

I only own 2 quicksand videos that I purchased on VHS. One from Kaol's Quicksand Videos and one from W.A.V.E. Productions.

A20 wrote:I only own 2 quicksand videos that I purchased on VHS. One from Kaol's Quicksand Videos and one from W.A.V.E. Productions.

I have so many questions!

How were these tapes packaged? Were they simply plain black and/or white boxes with the name of the video on the spine or did the boxes actually have art on them?

Do the tapes have trailers or sneak previews of upcoming releases?

How were these videos advertised? Fetish newsletters? Internet (the internet was probably a very different place back then)? Something else entirely?

Ordering online probably wasn't a thing back then, so am I correct to assume the tapes were mail order only? Were they mailed discreetly?

I've got a box full of 'em. The majority came from MPV, but there are some others from W.A.V.E., WamTec,...there may be a couple of others I'm forgetting.

The MPV and W.A.V.E. videos were in plastic cases with full color artwork, plus printed face and spine labels on the tapes themselves. The WamTec were unlabeled, in cardboard sleeves with a typed or Xeroxed list insert.

Advertising was online, but you're right, it wasn't like the Internet as you know it. WamTec (the Wet And Messy Tape Exchange Club) ran mostly via the usenet. ASFWAM (alt.sex.fetish.wet.and.messy) and ABEFWAM (alt.binaries.erotica.fetish.wet.and.messy) were the two biggest sources for downloading pictures. MPV had a website, as did W.A.V.E. And Kaolumbia, of course!

Moving video via the web wasn't really a thing then, but pictures told pretty good stories when it came to advertising the contents. Not unlike what the MPV or QSV websites look now, actually.

There was a physical newsletter that ran for 8 or so issues. Messy News, I think it was called. I wrote a few columns that appeared in it. I actually still have those newsletters!

Chimerix wrote:I've got a box full of 'em. The majority came from MPV, but there are some others from W.A.V.E., WamTec,...there may be a couple of others I'm forgetting.

The MPV and W.A.V.E. videos were in plastic cases with full color artwork, plus printed face and spine labels on the tapes themselves. The WamTec were unlabeled, in cardboard sleeves with a typed or Xeroxed list insert.

Advertising was online, but you're right, it wasn't like the Internet as you know it. WamTec (the Wet And Messy Tape Exchange Club) ran mostly via the usenet. ASFWAM (alt.sex.fetish.wet.and.messy) and ABEFWAM (alt.binaries.erotica.fetish.wet.and.messy) were the two biggest sources for downloading pictures. MPV had a website, as did W.A.V.E. And Kaolumbia, of course!

Moving video via the web wasn't really a thing then, but pictures told pretty good stories when it came to advertising the contents. Not unlike what the MPV or QSV websites look now, actually.

There was a physical newsletter that ran for 8 or so issues. Messy News, I think it was called. I wrote a few columns that appeared in it. I actually still have those newsletters!

Oh Wow! Thank you!!! Thank you for answering my questions and giving me one hell of a history lesson! Perfect!

If you find your old newsletters, would you be willing to share them here, for the younger members? Or for those who were unaware such a newsletter existed back in the day? You could always use photoshop or gimp to censor names to protect the privacy of everyone who contributed to the newsletter.

ETA: I did a bit of research and found a some information about the W.A.V.E production company. I also got to see what the tapes look like. They are exactly as you described and look pretty cool! Asking prices for W.A.V.E video tapes are very high. I found a few listings on ebay, but nothing quicksand related! Looks like you have some gems on your hands, Chimerix! Take good care of those tapes!

I had a whole shelf of quicksand VHS tapes but I donated them last year to the people doing the documentary film of W.A.V.E. Prod. Old clamshell boxes from MPV, WAVE, Kaol, D'Wasted, clip tapes...

If you really want to go back in time you could look for the original tapes from Chuck Lang and clip tapes from WAMTEC - the Wet and Messy Tape Exchange. Then came Dave's clip tapes from MPV. Chuck's stuff is especially rare and most rare were any two that were identical. As soon as I read about Chuck in an ad in SPLOSH magazine I sent him a check for $100.00 and asked for whatever that would get me. In true Chuck fashion he sent the check back and told me that was too much! I didn't care I just wanted his tapes. I sent him a $10.00 bill, cash in an overnight envelope and a couple weeks later I got a couple of VHS tapes with hand written labels. I'm not sure the tapes were even new but I was overjoyed. I've still got every one he put out. I think I was also Kaol's first customer as I begged him for a copy of "The Mind is the Key". At that time I also collected all of the clilptapes from Mark Kelley's WAMTEC. These were plain VHS tapes that came with a printed list of what was on them. It was always a variety of wammy stuff so there might only be a single qs scene on there taken from movies or television. Dave did a much nicer job of collecting just the quicksand scenes and making those available. He also had a separate mud tape collection. I had them all and they still fill a footlocker in my storage space.

Then came the first vids from MPV issued on VHS. Dave began talking about his first effort on usenet in the a.s.f.w.a.m group and I ordered seconds later. I was so happy that somebody was doing a fairly professional job of creating my life's interest that by his second shoot I was with him behind the camera. The first tapes had were in full color plastic boxes and looked really nice with cover pictures and descriptions. I've got them all in storage. Eventually Chuck Lang moved on and collecting clips became easier to do online as the internet picked up speed and capability. I encouraged Dave to move to DVD and people quit buying VHS but it took a while. If you want to find something really rare you can look for the MPV tapes that featured Brinke Stevens which she sold autographed at shows and at her website. That would be special.

I have at least six tapes from Chuck Lang and most of those from WAVE, Kaol, MPV and a few others. Studio 588 never offered any VHS products as we have been digital from the start. Although I do not watch any of these anymore, none of what I have is for sale. I suppose maybe someone will create an archive that will keep these items in a more or less complete collection.

As a related matter I have often thought it would be an excellent project for someone to create a complete list of community-produced material, from the beginning through present day. I would envision something like Crypto's List for this, although perhaps in the form of a computer database, and listing at least the titles, producers, synopses, and media. I am ready to help with a complete list of my own material if anyone ever decides to undertake such a project.

I think that Duncam summarized the VHS scene regarding our community pretty well.

Video Cassette Recorders (VCR's) were a big deal. It wasn't just VHS at the beginning. There was also Beta, a Sony standard. But VHS won in the end, for better or worse. And so VCR technology is now remembered as VHS.

It represented the first on-demand TV viewing for regular folks. And for obsessive voyeur types like myself, it became the center of the universe. Comics and Gothic romances and other forms of print media suddenly lost a lot of importance, because nothing held the attention like video.

Many hours were spent scouring every shelf in the video rental stores - especially in the Horror and Adventure/Action sections. Each little thumbnail picture on the back label had importance. To rent or not to rent, that was the question. Many a clip was discovered this way.

And VHS was the only delivery mechanism when I started shooting. I'll never forget hitting the pause button on a remote and starting four machines simultaneously to make copies, back in the day. The labels and box inserts were a pain sometimes, but it seemed like the way to go. I have always tried to be as pro as possible.

The transition to DVD was not easy, but it got done. Even so, I doubt I will ever be caught without a working VHS machine.

I have lots of the DVDs still that I ordered, but don't go back to the VHS days.