kenny mellman
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Last night I checked out Taylor Mac‘s performance at HERE, The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac, which he is performing in rep with his other one-man show, The Young Ladies of... As I work on what I want to write about the performance, I thought this video of Taylor performing "The Palace of the End," an
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Armond White always sparks some controversy with his take on films. This week's review of the hyper-hyped The Dark Knight may exceed his usual ability to evoke vitriol. As of now there are 297 comments on the posting at Rottentomatoes (we at New York Press are still free from the tyranny of the anonymous hate-filled screeds of commenters—but not for long). And this is by people who haven't even SEEN THE MOVIE! Just wait until they skip work on Friday to sit in a dark theater on a bright and shiny summer day to wallow in Gotham's superhero muck.

I did see the film on Tuesday night at an IMAX screening and left with a terrible headache...

Continue reading "Don't Hate on Superheroes" here.

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Last week we reported on some of the revealing details about Matt Drudge's Chaka Khan and Young and the Restless fascination that was found in Craig Seymour's memoir All I Could Bare, about Seymour's stripper days. D.C.'s LGBT paper, Metro Weekly, followed it up with an interview with Seymour, in which writer Will O'Bryan asks him if Matt Drudge has called to congratulate him on the book. Seymour's answer is pretty fun as well:

"No. When Vanity Fair did this big profile on him I e-mailed him. I think we exchanged a couple of e-mails.

A couple of weeks ago, I e-mailed just to let him know he's in this book. 'If you want me to send you a copy, I will.'' I didn't hear back from him. I didn't really expect to...

Continue reading "More Matt Drudge" here.
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White-boy rapper Oh Snap! recently turned up at Santos Party House with his track, "I’m Too Fat to Be a Hipster." You gotta hear this one
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This morning it was announced that director Spike Lee will film Passing Strange, Stew and Heidi Rodewald’s Broadway production that blurs the line between rock show and musical. According to the press release: "The film of PASSING STRANGE will be shot during two performances in front of a live audience on Saturday, July 19 at
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When Greg Burgett, one of my music writers, mentioned he wanted to write about the song of summer, I immediately told him it had to belong to Hercules and Love Affair. The group's debut LP is one single after another, strange enough with Antony's vocals and upbeat enough to get me dancing anytime I put it on (which is a lot, and I've had interns and other editors wonder aloud when I'd tire of listening to the tracks). Of course, I'm a sucker for "Blind" and think "Raise Me Up" is amazing. But I seem to find something different to love about every track (for example, Athene reminds me of 80s Spanish pop star Alaska and tracks that appeared in old Amoldovar films). Greg made a strong case that Gnarls Barkley changed the summer song landscape with 2006's "Crazy", and now Hercules and Love Affair is set to open for Gnarls in August (unfortunately in D.C.)

Thing is, I also know that disco is a little too much for most music fans to stomach: too gay, too black and too much fun. But hopefully a few more will find their way to some of the most danceable music of the summer. Also, if you're looking for a more authentic read concerning Andy Butler, the guy behind Hercules, beyond the mainstream press, check out the latest issue of Butt magazine...

Continue reading "Hercules and Love Affair" here.
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In his NYMag piece, Philip Weiss tried to explain why Spitzer and other men are giving themselves permission to have sex outside of marriage. The folks at the new-ish site Big Think decided to go a step further, so they interviewed Weiss about his thoughts on "stepping out" of a monogamous relationship. Turns out Weiss
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This past weekend Florent Morellet’s Meatpacking diner Florent finally closed. A man known for his typographical flair and design flourishes removed one letter from the restaurant’s name for an appropriately punny ending. Photo thanks to blog Pica + Pixel
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Writer Craig Seymour isn’t the first to delve into his stripper past for a sexy memoir. In All I Could Bare, Seymour exposes the formerly lax laws of Washington, D.C.’s gay bar scene during the early ‘90s when Marion Barry was mayor, which allowed groping (and more). It’s a humorous and intriguing portrait of a time when our urban centers seemed to be more fun—and desperate.

But it’s in Chapter 11 that things get really juicy. Seymour tells the story of his time as the “black boy” on the stage for men with dollar bills to stuff in his socks, but also his times "hanging out with my friend Matthew, a cool-ass white boy who loved Afrika Bambaataa and Chaka Khan and had hip-hop lyrics written on his white Converse high-tops." And you'll never guess who Matthew turns out to be...

Continue reading "Stripper and Matt Drudge" here.
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