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
“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
Phew! Well, I don’t know about you, dearest Filthy Dreams readers, but yesterday was quite a day, especially for former Trump campaign advisor Sam Nunberg who shined bright like a diamond all afternoon into evening, performing a jaw-dropping and awe-inspiring flameout on live TV. It was a glorious tour de force, worthy of an Oscar. … Continue reading
Well, hello there, sweetest of sweet Filthy Dreams readers! Grab yourself a roll of tape, some bubble wrap and start helping us pack!!! Drink?! We don’t have time for that!! What’s that? Why are we being so demanding? Well, both of your faithful Filthy Dreams founders are moving. While Emily is making the move this … Continue reading
Is it possible to look back to that gold lamé-draped, handlebar moustache-wearing, disco-dancing, cruising post-Stonewall era of the 1970s without the lens of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which would irrevocably alter the course of LGBTQ life? Can you look at artwork, photographs and other documentation from that decade without searching for the images and names of those who would disappear in the decades to come? Or of the others who would become continual caregivers to friends and lovers? Or the clubs, bathhouses, piers and others spaces that would be shuttered for fear of transmission? Continue reading
In his book Role Models, our preeminent filth elder John Waters writes, “Explain what? A role model? Someone who has led a life even more explosive than mine, a person whose exaggerated fame or notoriety has made him or her somehow smarter and more glamorous than I could ever be? A personality frozen in an … Continue reading
Who would have thought that tossing orange and peach roller-skate wheels across a concrete floor to a disco tune could be so powerful? That a seemingly simple gesture could have such complex conceptual and political consequences? Continue reading