The inventor Nikola Tesla had a proclivity to give himself electrotherapeutic shocks. According to biographer Richard Munson, Tesla suffered debilitating depression, and it was not unusual at the time to deploy mild shocks to treat such an ailment. Each morning he would disrobe and stand naked upon his “vitality booster,” gradually administering higher doses. Michael … Continue reading
The Brooklyn Museum’s latest offering Studio 54: Night Magic, curated and designed by Matthew Yokobosky, Senior Curator of Fashion and Material Culture, could, for some discerning spectators, be alternately called Studio 54: Lite. The curatorial focus is, of course, on fashion and design, so adjust your expectations as such. It’s about meticulous attention to lavish … Continue reading
What has Dennis Cooper wrought? Not only writing some of the most deliciously depraved and literary luminous experimental novels for decades, he’s also inspired a multitude of similarly demented writers who came up after him. Of course, Dennis has his own deep and dark influences from the Marquis De Sade to Rimbaud to Jean Genet … Continue reading
“I love everything that’s bad with America and that’s what I make movies about,” explains our preeminent filth elder John Waters. John isn’t the only one. Shortly before Waters’s Hag in a Black Leather Jacket (barely) graced screens, Andy Warhol was publicly embracing the tacky, trashy and terribly capitalist side of American culture. From cheaply and … Continue reading
“I’ll never forget the humiliation of bringing my portfolio up to Carmel Snow’s office at Harper’s Bazaar and unzipping it only to have a roach crawl out and down the leg of the table. She felt so sorry for me that she gave me a job,” writes Andy Warhol in The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: … Continue reading
Last week, Vanity Fair published “Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick: A Brief, White-Hot and Totally Doomed Romance,” a rambling yet nostalgic look into Andy and Edie’s short-lived mutual obsession. Comparing Andy and Edie to, at once, Marilyn Monroe and Romeo and Juliet, the article is a lot, but it also managed to rekindle my fascination … Continue reading
“There is no before,” exclaims Flawless Sabrina, discussing the nuances of drag names in the beginning of the iconic 1968 drag documentary The Queen. For fellow queens, trans and gender non-conforming people and generally, anyone invested in queer history, it’s nearly impossible to imagine a before Flawless Sabrina. Drag pioneer, mother and grandmother to numerous … Continue reading
Writing about nightlife isn’t easy. Something about that transcendent substances and dancing-fueled atmosphere gets lost in translation when put to a page. Not that many academics and fellow writers haven’t attempted to capture that rhythmic, sweat and glitter-drenched disco ball-illuminated utopia. But, staid and stodgy academics that haven’t stepped foot in a club in the past 20 years or maybe ever don’t typically spin captivating tales of after-hours debauchery. Continue reading
After the dreamy crack of fireworks and a soar of cinematic strings, Lana Del Rey begins her lush love song “National Anthem” with the frank line: “Money is the anthem of success.” Celebrating the all-too-rich, beautiful and doomed, the corresponding 8-minute long video features Lana immersed in a Kennedy-esque Camelot fairytale with A$AP Rocky playing the JFK to Lana’s Jackie. Continue reading
Are all major institutional exhibitions on queer culture doomed to fail? That’s what it unfortunately seems like, especially in the wake of self-asserted “groundbreaking” exhibitions like Art AIDS America (though not identity-based per se, obviously touched on queer culture and activism) and more recently, the Museum of the City of New York’s Gay Gotham. Curated … Continue reading