“Shut Up! Well, Fuck You All Very Much”: Watch Divine Spread Filth Through 1980s Ohio
Drag / Music / Party Out Of Bounds / Trash

“Shut Up! Well, Fuck You All Very Much”: Watch Divine Spread Filth Through 1980s Ohio

“Well, fuck you! You wanna fuck me, don’t you? I know. I know. I don’t blame you. If I was all of you, I’d want to fuck me too. You don’t see too many of THESE in Dayton, do you, honey?” Who could deny the demented allure of our putrid and preeminent filth deity Divine? … Continue reading

Throw, Throw, Throw Yer Coats!: 20 Things I Would Steal From “Studio 54: Night Magic”
Art / Fashion / Music / Party Out Of Bounds

Throw, Throw, Throw Yer Coats!: 20 Things I Would Steal From “Studio 54: Night Magic”

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

Young Man! There’s No Need To Feel Down!: What The Fuck Is With Trump’s “Y.M.C.A.” Fixation?
America Is Doomed / Camp / Music / Trash

Young Man! There’s No Need To Feel Down!: What The Fuck Is With Trump’s “Y.M.C.A.” Fixation?

Young man! Did you ever imagine that “Y.M.C.A.,” that beloved cheesy endorsement of cruising bathing boy beauties at a health spa full of “everything for a young man to enjoy,” would be the chosen soundtrack to the insidious creep of fascism in the United States? Did you ever believe that the Village People, that iconic … Continue reading

What The Hell Is With This Disco-themed Political Attack Ad?
Trash

What The Hell Is With This Disco-themed Political Attack Ad?

Political attack ads are almost always trashy–lurid details about an opponent’s sordid life, wild speculation, tasteless graphic design and distorted mask-like images of politicians’ bloated, malevolent faces like cartoon villains. But, few ever strive to become art or at least be so bizarre that they reach a level of aesthetic greatness that can only be … Continue reading

Love To Love You Baby: Sewing Threads of Desire in Sophia Narrett’s “Certain Magic”
Art

Love To Love You Baby: Sewing Threads of Desire in Sophia Narrett’s “Certain Magic”

“Isn’t sex more erotic when spiced with a sense of danger? But how much danger?” asked music critic Stephen Holden in a review of a Donna Summer album. Those really are the questions, aren’t they? What is the line between eroticism and violence–or at least, threat–and how does one know if they’ve crossed it? Disco … Continue reading

Disco Inferno: How 1979’s Doofy and Dangerous Disco Demolition Night Foreshadowed The Alt-Right
Party Out Of Bounds / Trash

Disco Inferno: How 1979’s Doofy and Dangerous Disco Demolition Night Foreshadowed The Alt-Right

In our constantly accelerating culture of crazy from Trump’s Twitter tirades to Nunes’s nonsense memos to art world shenanigans like deciding xenophobic border wall prototypes are “art,” it can be difficult to find time to pause and reflect. But, sometimes the most ridiculous historical moments can have chilling contemporary resonances. Case in point–the late 1970s … Continue reading