Nao Bustamante Puts Her Own Spin on Nightlife Memorials in “Brown Disco” at OCDChinatown
Art

Nao Bustamante Puts Her Own Spin on Nightlife Memorials in “Brown Disco” at OCDChinatown

All I need is a disco ball. In life and in art. Spotting its sparkling exterior with a cursory glance toward the ceiling at any bar, concert venue, or tchotchke-covered restaurant brings a relieving, comforting sense of home. Similarly, any artwork that includes a mirror ball is immediately a favorite. Just search around this very … Continue reading

God Is on the Dance Floor in Joseph Liatela’s “Nothing Under Heaven”
Art

God Is on the Dance Floor in Joseph Liatela’s “Nothing Under Heaven”

I don’t think I’ve ever come closer to seeing the face of God than when listening to Sylvester’s manic, soaring gospel cry, “Take Me to Heaven.” It’s not a fluke. Sylvester, too, saw his music in religious terms. In the biography The Fabulous Sylvester, Joshua Gamson reveals that after a particularly transcendent show, Sylvester, along … Continue reading

“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

You Are A Star And You Only Happen Once: madison moore’s “Fabulous: The Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric”
Books

You Are A Star And You Only Happen Once: madison moore’s “Fabulous: The Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric”

“I want you to teach me how to be fabulous,” pleads Macaulay Culkin inhabiting the role of infamous club kid Michael Alig in 2003’s cheeseball Party Monster. In response, Seth Green’s James St. James spits back, “We have nothing in common,” picks up his metal lunchbox/purse, and changes his mind, quoting William Blake: “The road … Continue reading

Dance This Mess Around: MoMA’s “Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art In the East Village, 1978-1983”
Art / Party Out Of Bounds

Dance This Mess Around: MoMA’s “Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art In the East Village, 1978-1983”

I’m not used to suffering from invasive flashbacks inside a major museum. But, pulling back the heavy curtain, leading into Kenny Scharf’s Cosmic Closet, a cozy yet mind-altering intergalactic Day-Glo-painted trash utopia, I was immediately sent through a time warp to June 2011, boogying to The B-52s “Planet Claire” and Martha and the Vandellas “Jimmy … Continue reading

Disco Ball As A Metaphor: Phoenix Lindsey-Hall’s “Never Stop Dancing”
Art

Disco Ball As A Metaphor: Phoenix Lindsey-Hall’s “Never Stop Dancing”

I’m a sucker for disco balls. There, I said it. If anywhere or anything includes a mirror ball, I’m immediately a fan. I’m like a moth to a shimmering, glittering flame.

But beyond my lizard brain fixation with shiny objects, disco balls can be harnessed as a complex symbol–a metaphor for community, excess, escapism, utopia, self-fashioned identity and even, safety in nightlife. 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