Breast Reduction

Haney took a job selling ads on a start-up rag called Night Moves. When the editor landed herself in jail for a reason Haney still can't recall, the publication was thrown into his lap. "I didn't know what I was doing, made a lot of mistakes. But I learned a lot." Luckily, the learning curve was on someone else's tab. When Night Moves went belly-up, Haney returned to deejaying in clubs -- and hating it.

So, Haney says, "I sucked up all of my humility and walked into the office of the biggest asshole in the world and asked for a job selling ads at his adult publication." At least there was room to grow, Haney figured. And in February of this year, still working for that company, Haney moved to Denver to begin Adult Stars, an adult monthly that lasted just two months. Haney found his own financial backers to start the Rocky Mountain Go-Go.

For his first order of business, Haney planned to knock the Oyster out of its warm bed. Where the Oyster had grown complacent with chintzy spot-color advertisements and dated design, Haney offered four colors and a clean, superior layout. He went after the Oyster's bread and butter: escort agencies, adult clubs and personal ads. His rag also differed by including local sex stories and doing profiles of local performers, such as his Q&A with "Hometown Honey" porn actress Kylie Ireland. Even the paper itself differed: The Oyster prints on tissue-thin newsprint; Haney chose a higher quality stock closer to binder paper.

Elaine Leass, editor and publisher of the Oyster, says she has seen only one issue of Go-Go and came to no judgment. "There's been so many papers that have started up [since the Oyster began in 1976], put out a few issues and folded, so I don't spend much time reading them, because that is generally the trend."

And with a circulation of 55,000 -- more than twice the size of Haney's -- at distribution points stretching beyond the Rocky Mountain region, the Oyster is tough competition. After five issues, Haney's longing to change reached the surface. "This town just wasn't ready for the type of adult publication I was going to put out there. At the same time, neither were we," he says of his four-person, mostly rookie staff. Now Go-Go remains sex-friendly but goes beyond the industry with, for example, stories about local and national bands. There's also a restaurant review by a scribe with a tattoo on his chin, titled "Josh Ford: Tattooed Food Critic."

The new emphasis has also inspired Haney's staff. "I want to be respected as an artist," says art director Corey Cox, 27. "And it's hard to get respect as an artist when you're just doing adult stuff." Haney's sex-advice/adventurer columnist, adult entertainer Stephanie Glenn, was relieved she still had a job. "He didn't tell me to tame the column," Glenn says. "He told me not to let it get racier than it already was."

Haney will distribute 30,000 copies of Go-Go into restaurants and bars, not just liquor stores and adult bookstores. "I'm not trying to report the evening news," Haney says. "I'm not going to tell you the latest on the EgyptAir situation, because we're not a news source. We're trying to be an honest-to-God, good local guide to entertainment."

Entertainment, honest to God, without the X.