38 J u s t o u t • january 19.2001
T M O R E M EN IN YOUR U F E EVERYDAY AT M EN M A G A Z IN E.C O M
Continued from Page 1
herhart has lived an unusual life for a gay
| r pom starlet. H e’s 33 years old, single and
mm the father o f three children he seldom sees
because they live with his ex-wife in Los A nge
les. His regret about that is obvious.
Raised in a religious family from Salem, Eber
hart chose the Marines as his means o f escape. “I
thought, ‘W ell, I’ll come back a man.’ ”
He served four years and was stationed in
Saudi Arabia for eight months during Desert
Shield and Desert Storm , serving as a truck dri
ver at an airfield refueling Harriers and Cobra
jets. He says he wasn’t involved in any front
line action hut acknowledges the “fear of think
ing every day, ‘Som ething had could happen.’ ”
A fan of his W eb site has come to Portland to
see him a few times, and he made the mistake
o f meeting him. This same stalker figured out
where Eberhart lived by clever use o f some
shots Eberhart took from his apartment win
dow. Right clicking, printing, a little research
here in Portland, and the guy had it narrowed
down to one o f two apartments.
Eberhart winces: “They play the fantasy,
whatever it is, over and over in their head, and
as soon as they don’t get that thing they think
they’re supposed to receive, then they get pissed.
T h e last thing anyone wants is rejection.”
Asked if he has any qualms about being so
exposed on the Internet, he simply replies, “Oh
yeah.” Becoming more reflective he adds, “I guess
the part that really eats at me is 1 come from a
strong religious family, and so at the same time
I’m doing this, there’s that little voice in the hack
of my head telling me that I’m gonna go to hell.”
Despite his background, Eberhart says his
mother does have some idea about his career
path. "M om knows this is what I’m doing, this
is what I’ve done.”
W hile discussing how he feels, overall,
about being naked to the world, Eberhart
reveals some of his own inner conflicts. "T his is
what I had to do to get to where I am now. It’s
not something that I really like about my
self... that I am an exhibitionist. I totally relate
to strippers, d an cers...it’s something we all
have in common. You don’t choose how you
are, you just have to accept it. This is how I
am, this is what makfs me tick.”
Then he laughs and mentions another
^
downside: “The worst part of having a
Web cam is you’ve got to keep the
1 herhart ’s interests now focus on the Internet
He says he realized about two years ago that he
- had gone as far as he could with a looks-based
career and with hartending. W hich led to his
involvement with Adult Web Creations, a com
pany specializing in producing Web cam sites.
His good looks haven’t kept him from setting
up his own site, Ericexposed.com, which includes
a Web cam showing him at home and at work.
For $19.95 a month, subscribers can watch Eber
hart in the office, at sleep.. .and at play. Videos of
him also are sold on the Web site.
Although Eberhart originally didn’t perform
for the cam, he says that after six months o f
having it on all the time, he simply got bored.
“Hell, I figured I was gonna do it anyway.”
Eberhart sounds surprised by his own per
formance. “T h e exhibitionist in me comes out,
then later, I’m like, ‘O h my God, I can’t believe
I did that.’ ” He does draw
the line at having sex
with others in front o f the
whole wide world.
T he benefits of having
your own W eb cam site
are mixed, according to
Eberhart. He gets hun
dreds of e-mails from all
over the world. Fans send
him presents. O ne took
him skydiving. You can
hear the pride in his voice
as he describes these posi
tive aspects of W eb fame.
And he notes that he’s
received surprisingly little
negative or anti-gay reac
tion to his W eb presence j
via e-mails.
O n the downside,
however, Eberhart quietly j
tells me he’s going
Eric Eberhart first gained local exposure at Silverado
through a “stalker thing.
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Eric Eberhart
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^
apartment clean... you have
to keep the mess off the cam.”
Eberhart repeatedly turns the
discussion hack to his new W eb
creation business, obviously full
o f enthusiasm. It’s clear he thinks
any chance o f success for him lies
in the business end o f the Web.
He knows his days o f relying
on his looks are limited, and he
seems to enjoy that challenge.
“If I wasn’t doing this, I wouldn’t
know what else— I mean, this
has really been good for me,
Boxxes/Brig— 1035 SW Stark St.................................... 1
CC Slaughter»— 219 NW Davis St................................. 5
Chopsticks Express— 2651 E. Burnside St................. 13
Club Portland— 303 SW 12th Ave............................... 11
Darcelle XV— 208 NW Third Ave................................... 5
Dirty Duck Tavern— 439 NW Third Ave......................... 6
Eagle PDX— 1300 W Burnside St...................................7
The Edge— 333 SW Park Ave....................................... 10
Egyptian Club— 3701 SE Division St............................. 8
Embers Avenue— 110 NW Broadway ......................... 9
Estrellas— 2845 SE Stark St........................................... 4
Fox and Hounds— 217 NW Second Ave......................14
Frontline— 1125 SW Washington St............................. 3
Hobo's— 120 NW Third Ave.............................................S
JOQ's— 2512 NE Broadway ........................................ 12
Kokopeli’s Choice— 2845 SE Stark St...........................4
Neighbors— 1417 Villard St.................................Eugene
North Bank Tavern— 106 W Sixth St............ Vancouver
Panorama— 341 SW 10th Ave........................................1
Scandals Lounge— 1038 SW Stark St.......................... 1
Shanghai Steakery— 16 NW Broadway ..................... 9
Silverado— 1217 SW Stark St...................................... 11
Starky’s— 2913 SE Stark St.............................................4
300 Club— 300 Liberty St. S E .............................. Salem
3 Friends Coffeehouse— 201 SE 12th Ave................... 2
Three Sisters Tavern— 1125 SW Stark St..................11
Touchstone Coffee House— 7631 NE Glisan St......... 15
because I see how a business starts.”
As he says near the end o f our interview, “I
don’t want to be a pom star, and at 33 this is as
far as I can go— I better start using my head.”
T h en he adds, “I can honestly say I’ve gotten
all o f this out o f my system.”
As he walks away I’m delighted that Eric
Eberhart turned out to be much more than a
hunky guy on a glossy page; he turned out to
he a regular guy you’d like to know. ■ n
R ic h B r a y is a Portland free-lan ce w riter who
thinks it’s best fo r the Internet that he not put a
W eb cam in his life.
Guide courtesy of
Ijustrrrni