Lo! A Monster Is Born: “The Horror Show!” at London’s Somerset House Is Everything an Exhibition Should Be
Art / Film / Music

Lo! A Monster Is Born: “The Horror Show!” at London’s Somerset House Is Everything an Exhibition Should Be

“Everywhere I seem to go on this island seems to me I find degeneracy. There is brawling in bars. There is indecency in public places. And there is the corruption of the young. And now I see it all stems from here—it stems from the FILTH taught here in this very school room!” So spits … Continue reading

Hanging Round The Low Life Dives And Other Zombie Go-Gos: Tal R’s “Keyhole”
Art

Hanging Round The Low Life Dives And Other Zombie Go-Gos: Tal R’s “Keyhole”

In Michel de Certeau’s The Practice of Everyday Life, Vol. 1, Certeau draws the comparison between city walkers and voyeurs. He writes, “To what erotics of knowledge does the ecstasy of reading such a cosmos belong? Having taken voluptuous pleasure in it, I wonder what is the source of this pleasure…” (92). While here Certeau speaks of gazing at the city from above, his description of an “erotics of knowledge” could also delineate strolling through the sleazy façades of red light districts. Continue reading

Dim All The Lights: Tim Lawrence’s ‘Life And Death On The New York Dance Floor, 1980-1983’
Books

Dim All The Lights: Tim Lawrence’s ‘Life And Death On The New York Dance Floor, 1980-1983’

As a connoisseur and supporter of nightlife as an important domain for activism and art in the face of judgments of its superficiality and frivolity, I naturally jumped at the chance to dive into Tim Lawrence’s recently published study of New York nightlife Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor, 1980-1983. At 600 pages, … Continue reading

Do You Love Me: Sleaze as Redemption in Tennessee Williams’s Joy Rio
Books

Do You Love Me: Sleaze as Redemption in Tennessee Williams’s Joy Rio

In his collection of sleazy and very very queer short stories Tales of Desire, which features stories ranging from the shockingly early Dennis Cooper-esque “Desire and the Black Masseur” and the sublimely titled “The Killer Chicken and the Closet Queen,” Tennessee Williams bravely dives into the power of sleaze as redemption and transcendence in his stories “The Mysteries of the Joy Rio” and my personal favorite “Hard Candy.” Continue reading