*69: Another Month, Another Michael Alig In Prison Story

You may remember Radar's recent visit to club kid killer Michael Alig; now, it seems New York magazine wants a little behind the bars face time with nightlife's deposed court jester. While perusing the article, this salient quote jumped out at us:

Alig is desperate to be loved—by the skinhead, by his therapist (“Michael,” the shrink has to tell him, “you are not allowed to touch the therapist”), by me, by everyone. And this is why he is reluctant to tell me about what is perhaps the worst punishment for his crime: a pinched nerve in his back that has gone untreated by prison doctors for the past seven years and caused numbness from his groin area all the way down to his right foot. One of the results of the loss of feeling is that he has lost muscle reflexes in his bladder and sphincter. He is incontinent. His mother is constantly sending him new underwear, and he regularly has to wash his soiled sheets in the toilet in his cell. The condition is called Cauda Equina Syndrome, and, if left untreated, it can result in a permanent loss of sensation. But the thing he’s really worried about is, who will love an incontinent man in his forties? “When I ever get out of here,” he says, “I will never find a boyfriend.”

Right, it's the "Oops I Crapped My Pants" factor, not the whole butchered someone -boxed their corpse - and sent it floating down the river thing that's the dealbreaker.

Party Boy in a Cage [NY magazine]


Michael Alig ;New York Magazine ;Prison

*69: This Almost, Almost Explains Courtney Love

Speaking of drugs, grunge widow Courtney Love revealed in a recent interview that she was given LSD at the tender age of four-years-old. According to The Sun:

"Because I was given acid at four, I think my mind was freed."

Ah yes, free your mind, and your boobs (and self-respect) will follow.

No word on the bounteous pharmacopeia that Frances Bean has been partaking of, but let's hope it pales to her mother's consumption. Otherwise, it will cement for us that Courtney Love is the Generation X Judy Garland, with Frances cast as Liza Minnelli.


Courtney took acid at FOUR [The Sun via goldenfiddle]

Courtney Love ;LSD ;Musicians

*69: Amy Sedaris is Crafty

We're loving Amy Sedaris's new book I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, where she shares tips, tricks and recipes for being a consumate party host, dispensing wisdom on everything from inappropriate introductions ("This is Barbara, she can't have children") to things to avoid saying to the grieving ("Did she smoke?" "Was he drinking?" "Where were you when this happened?"). You can listen to her advice on having a first date in your home here (via the Village Voice)



Amy Sedaris ;Books ;First Dates

*69: William S. Burroughs Redux

We enjoyed our last WSB clip we wanted to post another one. We particularly fond of the dramatic reenactment of the Dr. Benway routine, especially his hippie-looking assistant and Drag Queen nurse. We're glad Burroughs opted for a career as a writer and not as a healthcare professional.





William S. Burroughs ;You Tube

*69: The Wau Wau Sisters

In our continuing effort to spotlight indie entertainers we adore, we present you with The Wau Wau Sisters. The alcoholic, acrobatic duo of Tanya and Adrienne have shared the stage with the likes of Kiki & Herb, Le Tigre, and Murray Hill,; and performed at the Shortbus after-party during the Toronto International Film Festival (they have a cameo in the film).

The sisters blend neo-burlesque, acrobatics, and comedy into a scintillating cocktail of naughty fun. Their original songs are hilarous and their cover songs are retardedly delightful (see: "Sister Christian"). Oh, and their bodies are ridiculously fit.

Listen, we've certainly gotten ourselves into some acrobatic positions after a few cocktails, but having seen these ladies, we've come to the conclusion it's best to leave it to the professionals.


The Wau Wau Sisters [site]

Wau Wau Sisters ;Acrobats

*69: George Michael is Stupid!

George! George! Wake UP!
We have had this conversation before.

We don't care that you use drugs. We don't care that you cruise for ugly, pasty, overweight British guys in bushes.

We love that you had a concert and lampooned both the US and British Governments with an inflatable doll.

But, George, this falling alseep in the car thing has got to stop! Even in the heyday of our drug use we could manage to dress like Andy Warhol, down two xanax, six or seven martinis, black out and still wake up in our own house. Not that operatorLA ever did anything like that, but he could have. That's all we are saying.

Really.

HIRE A FUCKING DRIVER, GEORGE!

*69: Perez Hilton

ok, operatorLA will admit it. He is a bit envious of Perez Hilton. Why, you may ask? Well he is getting quite a bit of attention lately and operatorLA is an attention whore. However, operatorLA doesn't understand why Mr. Hilton is getting all the press or why he would even be considered for Details "The Power 50."

Let's consider what Perez does. Ummmm. Hold on, we have to think here. He... oh yeah, he sits on his fat ass and just writes about celebrities on a mediocre website. That's powerful?

And let's not forget, he also has a great knack for showing up to events looking like a hot gay mess.

operatorLA has met Perez Hilton a few times and let me tell you Perez, you are no Michael Musto.

*69: Mike Albo

We've said it before and we'll say it again: we love Mike Albo. His monologues skewer pop culture with the authority of someone who buys Star, Life & Style and In Touch and reads them with equal parts disdain and envy.

Here Albo plays Tony Testa, the fey assistant to Jennifer Lopez, or "Ms. Lo" as he refers to her.






Mike Albo ;Jennifer Lopez ;Humor

*69: Justin Bond

Audiences are probably used to seeing Bond gussied up as the boozy Chantoosie Kiki Durane, one half of the punk cabaret duo Kiki & Herb. But La Bond is quite a character in his own right. He frequently performs with his band the Freudian Slippers, and coming this fall, he's going to be on the big screen again (Kiki & Herb had a cameo in the movie Imaginary Heroes) in John Cameron Mitchell's sextastic Shortbus as...Justin Bond.

In an interview with Paul Hagen in the latest issue of Metrosource Bond reveals just how he wound up aboard the shortbus.

"In the mid- to late '90s there were places where there was a lot more public sex in New York. When we did Foxy on Saturday Nights at The Cock, there were these huge competitions where people would do all these crazy sexual things on stage. And then there was a back room, where people were having, you know, all kinds of crazy sex, and I really liked that," says Justin Bond - the performer who gained renown as Kiki of the legendary duo Kiki & Herb. "I enjoyed the vibe there because it was kind of funny and it was light. It wasn't this really agro kind of like, you know, crystal meth, squeezing your nipples, 'Pick me! Pick me!' kind of vibe," he adds.

Bond oversees quite a bit of public sex in the latest cinematic tour de force from John Cameron Mitchell, Shortbus. Mitchell raised a few eyebrows when he announced that he'd make a movie in which the actors participated in actual sex acts. Nevertheless, he set out on an improvisation-based process, featuring a cast of relative unknowns, who would be willing to be totally free with their sexuality on camera.

So it's a little surprising when Bond saunters onscreen and introduces himself as "Justin Bond." But Mitchell had written the part of the "Mistress" of Shortbus - the artistically and sexually freewheeling salon around which the film's events revolve - specifically for him. "I didn't have to use the name," Bond explains. "But in the script, the character was Justin Bond. And in my real life, I've been identified so strongly with the character of Kiki for so long that it became a nice thing for me to establish an identity outside of Kiki for myself."

Read the rest of the interview after the jump.

Justin Bond ;Kiki and Herb ;Shortbus


KIKI & HEDWIG
"In the old days that sort of rock 'n' roll thing was thought of as a very head-banging, kind of straight guy thing. It's somehow interesting that two fags brought these rock 'n' roll shows to the stage," says Bond.

"It has a lot to do with this club Squeezebox that happened in the '90s," he continues, mentioning the party that once regularly rocked Don Hill's. "They had a house band and all these drag queens, and they were singing rock 'n' roll. John was really inspired by all that, and that's what got the character of Hedwig started," Bond explains. "I used to host these trashy club nights in the East Village in the '90s. And he was a big fan of Kiki, and he is a big fan of mine."

Even though Mitchell had known him for years, Justin's character still evolved over the course of the process. "Initially the part of my boyfriend was written into the movie, and he was the DJ at Shortbus. But the other characters were workshopping for like a year or two before the film was made, and they developed their storylines. I was either on tour or in college in London, so I wasn't able to really workshop a big narrative structure for myself," Bond says. Then he lets loose one of his glorious, volcanic laughs. "By then the boy who was my boyfriend who was a real DJ and I had broken up, so it was probably for the best."

And that may be how Justin Bond ended up kissing a girl. "The make-out scene felt really awkward," he says of the uproarious sequence in which he swaps spit with the charachter of Sofia, while being frequently interrupted by the remote-controlled vibrating egg in her vagina. "I kept thinking, 'God, this woman is really uptight!'" Bond says of his costar, Sook-Yin Lee. "Then once filming wrapped and we were hanging out in Cannes, I realized she's a really hot, very kind of sensual person," he explains. "I think that's testimony to her really being in the character."

Yet in a movie where the audience sees most of the main characters participating in actual sex, this touch of tongue tango is as risqué as Justin Bond gets. "The thing was, I could have, I guess, been sexual," he explains. "I was more interested in being a voyeur than actually splashing my, you know, tiddly bits on the mean screen."

Tiddly bits or no, Bond points out that being a queer artist is always a risky proposition. "I was talking to some reporter who said, 'Do you think that what you're doing is dangerous? I mean, you're in New York after all.' And I had to say, 'Well, yeah, we're in New York, aren't we? And Kevin Aviance just had his jaw broken," Bond says, referencing the well-publicized gay-bashing. "It's still a dangerous city, and it's still a culture where they're trying to make laws that prohibit gay and lesbian people from having the same civil rights as everyone else. So until the culture changes, there's still gonna be the trickle-down of these arrogant straight people who think that they can just come and fuck up your shit."

SUR LE PLAGE
However unlikely, what began with the friendship of two edgy performance artists ended up amidst the glamour of the Cannes Film Festival. "I've known Paul and PJ for years," Bond says of Paul Dawson and PJ DeBoy, who play the film's central gay couple. "So it was really fun to be in a film with them. And it was great when we were all in Cannes, we all just kept pinching ourselves. We couldn't believe that we had all been sitting in Paul's living room 10 years ago, just sitting around, playing guitars and singing and smoking pot and just being friends, and then, 10 years later, we were on the beach at Cannes doing the same thing, only in front of a thousand people."

"We had a big concert the night after the premiere in Cannes," where he performed "We All Get It in the End," the anthem he sings in Shortbus, says Bond. "It was so nice of John to give me that big number at the end. I guess a lot of people had seen the film, either at the screenings or at the actual premiere at the Grand Palais. But we did that song at the finale of the show and the audience was singing along. Fantastic!"

"I'm really curious to see how people respond to it because I think it is an important film," Bond says. "I don't know if you were in New York during the blackout, but it was so unbelievable. It was the most magical night, and [Mitchell] tapped into that," he adds. "It recaptures this period in my life - the absolute joy and innocence."

BOND AMBITION
Justin Bond and I are in a quandary. It's time to talk about what comes next, but as we speak, he has not yet opened on Broadway in the latest incarnation of Kiki & Herb. "I'm sure it went beautifully. See you at the Tonys!" Bond quips, releasing another roar of laughter. He continues: "I'll be doing a lot of touring with Kiki & Herb, and I'm just going to play it by ear. I've never had a plan; I've just been lucky that things worked out the way that they have, and we'll just see what happens. I don't really want to make films for the sake of making films, and I don't want to do shows for the sake of doing shows." But he does get a bit wistful as he considers the films and shows that have led him here. "For me, even before it opens on Broadway, it's so exciting that Kenny [Mellman, aka Herb] and I, who started out playing in this restaurant that seats 50 people in San Francisco 14 years ago, ended up playing on Broadway." And after one last fiery blast of laughter, Bond neatly brings to a close a conversation that, like his career thus far, has been sexy, surprising, politically charged and often outrageous. He ends with a rousing statement of his raison d'être, and it's a damn fine one, if I do say so myself: "If any sort of trashy, messed-up, crazy queen out there wonders if it can happen, and starts to think that it can, then that's all that matters to me."

*69: Christine Ebersole Flies Her Freak Flag

It's Ebersole Day here at The Operator, where we turn your attention towards and interview with New York magazine. Ms. Ebersole is ever so sincere, ever so kooky, and ever so talented.

You’ve said that you believe the dead communicate with us, and your portrayal of Little Edie is eerie …

Yeah, I’m channeling it. I inhabit her and she inhabits me. I feel a partnership there.


You live in New Jersey. Would you rather be closer to your work?

My secret desire is to move back to New York in the next ten years. But how do I let go of Maplewood? It’s like Shangri-la. It’s so culturally diverse, and all my children are adopted—a transracial family. And we’re not the freaks. Everybody flies their freak flag high in Maplewood!

Once Grey Gardens goes to Broadway, you’re eligible for another Tony. Is that important?

That’s just the cherry on top. I wouldn’t turn it down. It would be nice to have bookends.


Talking to spirits while raising a multicultural brood in the hinterlands of Jersey: How can you not love this woman? If anyone deserves to win a Tony Award this year, it's her.


Channeling the Grey Ghosts [New York magazine]

Christine Ebersole ;Grey Gardens;Musicals

*69: Anna Matronic

A tip of the hat to The Music Slut for leading us to an interview with Scissor Sister Anna Matronic in this month's Venus Magazine.

What are some of the Scissor Sisters’ favorite movies?
My favorite movie of all time is Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, which I’ve hipped all the Sisters to. Some of our collective favorites are 2001: A Space Odyssey, Gremlins, Female Trouble, and any movie involving Muppets.


I am always interested to know what musicians are listening to. What’s on rotation on the bus, on your iPod? And what are some of your favorite new artists?
My iPod is a mishmash, in true Scissor Sisters style. Lately I’ve been listening to Silver Apples, a psych-rock band from the 1960s, but I’ve got everything from Talking Heads and Richard Hell to Otis Redding and Nina Simone to Miles Davis and Eric Dolphy. Some of the new children I’m listening to are the Knife from Sweden, and I know I’m among a great throng of people really digging on Gnarls Barkley.

You can read more of the interview at the link below, but to get the whole shebang you'll have to trudge on down to the newstand.

Anna Matronix (sic) Interview [Venus Magazine]


Scissor Sisters ;Ana Matronic

*69: Gore Vidal

We here at The Operator love intelligent, outspoken rabble-rousers, and at the top of our list is author/playwright/aristocrat/professional homo Gore Vidal. At eighty years old, Vidal's wit is still as sharp and his insights as precise as they've ever been. He was recently interviewed in The Progressive and had some choice words about the state of our nation.


Q: In 2002, long before Bush’s current travails, you wrote, “Mark my words, he will leave office the most unpopular President in history.” How did you know that then?

Gore Vidal: I know these people. I don’t say that as though I know them personally. I know the types. I was brought up in Washington. When you are brought up in a zoo, you know what’s going on in the monkey house. You see a couple of monkeys loose and one is President and one is Vice President, you know it’s trouble. Monkeys make trouble.

Q: What can people do to energize democracy?

Vidal: The tactic would be to go after smaller offices, state by state, school board, sheriff, state legislatures. You can turn them around and that doesn’t take much of anything. Take back everything at the grassroots, starting with statelegislatures. That’s what Madison always said. I’d like to see a revival of state legislatures, in which I am a true Jeffersonian.

Q: Do you see any developments on the horizon that might suggest an alternative?

Vidal: Newton’s Third Law. I hope that law is still working. American laws don’t work, but at least the laws of physics might work. And the Third Law is: There is no action without reaction. There should be a great deal of reaction to the total incompetence of this Administration. It’s going to take two or three generations to recover what we had as of twenty years ago.

And perhaps his most salient point:

This is an eternal war against terrorism. It’s like a war against dandruff. There’s no such thing as a war against terrorism. It’s idiotic. These are slogans. These are lies. It’s advertising, which is the only art form we ever invented and developed.

Gore Vidal Interview [The Progressive via Lady Bunny]
Gore Vidal [Wikipedia]

Gore Vidal ;Politics ;authors

*69: Ashlee Simpson Falls for Fall Out Boy

Ashlee Simspon and Pete Wentz are apparently a couple. Man, they're like Sid & Nancy for the tween set. Ol' Ash Simps even got so wasted over Labor day weekend that she blew chunks in the bathroom at the MisShapes party. Hilary Duff and Joel Madden better watch their backs if they know what's good for them.


Ashlee Simpson ;Pete Wentz ;Gossip

*69: Rupert Everett

You know how we love the queers here at The Operator. operatorLA has a small space in his gay little heart for the likes of Rupert Everett. He would love to stalk the man and have sex with the wily Brit. Perhaps operatorLA will embark on his own sexaul stalking of Everett, who is known for doing the same thing to Ian McKellan back when they both worked in London Theatre.

Ms. Everett hs penned himself what sems to be a very interesting memoir entitled, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins: The Autobiography. The books highlights events in his childhood but best of all, he tells it like it is when it comes to the Hollywood divas that he has worked with.

Rupert Everett

UK publication, Daily Mail, is running excerpts from the books that you can find here.

And in true diva style himself, Everett is still lashing out at Hollywood's homophobia:

"Without doubt gays are discriminated against in show business," the 47-year-old actor said. "The straight one gets to walk down a red carpet with a beautiful girl and everything works out, and the gay one has to backpedal and do independent movies. Yet everything Hugh Grant does, I could be in."

*69: Travolta's Cockpit

When you live in LA as operatorLA does, you are privy to alot of gossip about celebrities. There is always someone who knows someone who saw a certain celebrity do something.

Ever since operatorLA came West he has heard non-stop rumours about John Travolta. There were the stories from the older queens who said they used to cruise with Travolta in the 70's at the downtown YMCA. There was the story from a an assistant to a celebrity who said Mr. Look Who's Talking keeps an apartment in NY for his lover. Yadda, Yadda.

It's all speculation. But then you see pics like this and it makes you wonder. Sure, they could be close friends-operatorLA has been known to give kisses on the lips to the straighties he loves best, but a pic like this does nothing to squelch the rumours.

John Travolta ;
YMCA ;

*69: Michael Ian Black

As you well know, we here at The Operator have an affinity for the The State and it's various spin-offs, including the deranged comedy stylings of Stella. One of the breakout stars of that comedy troupe is Michael Ian Black (we loved him as gay camp counselor McKinley in Wet Hot American Summer), who's now the editor-at-large for the recently relaunched Cracked magazine.

Black talks to Fishbowl NY about his new position, the state of comedy these days, and why Stella wasn't renewed by Comedy Central.

Black: I think Comedy Central gave it a fair shot. The fact is we were just too weird for a mainstream audience to embrace. I'm incredibly proud of the work we did on Stella. I think the show is terrific. Unfortunately, America did not agree with me. Yet another reason why I hate America.

You can read the full interview at the link below.

So What Do You Do, Michael Ian Black? [Fishbowl NY]

Be Michael Ian Black's Friend [myspace]

Michael Ian Black ;Comedy ;Stella ;Cracked

*69: Stalking Amy Sedaris

If you know anything about The Operator, you know we have a fondness for monkeys, booze, and hardcore porno Amy Sedaris. We're super excited because She's going to be promoting the release of her new book I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence with a tour.

From Publishers Weekly:

Sedaris's sidesplitting guide to throwing parties hopes to return readers to the times when the word "entertainment" was "charmingly old-fashioned, like courtship or back alley abortions." While her tongue is firmly in cheek, novice party-planners will actually find some helpful hints along the way as Sedaris offers instructions and real recipes. Her tips run the gamut from how to properly freeze meatballs (freeze them on a cookie sheet before putting them into a freezer bag so they won't stick together) and deal with the inebriated ("Better to cut them off rather than pretend it's not happening and then allow them to stay over and wet your bed"). She's a generous but crafty hostess ("A good trick is to fill your medicine cabinet with marbles. Nothing announces a nosey guest better than an avalanche of marbles hitting a porcelain sink"). Etiquette pointers include inappropriate introductions ("This is Barbara, she can't have children") and things to avoid saying to the grieving ("Did she smoke?" "Was he drinking?" "Where were you when this happened?"). Her advice is both practical and hilarious; her instructions on removing vomit stains ends with "or just toss it, chances are you've stained it before."

If you're as fanatical as we are about Sedaris, you can find the schedule for her book tour after the jump.

AMY SEDARIS: Book Tour, Sesame Street [Product Shop NYC]



AMY SEDARIS' I LIKE YOU BOOK TOUR
10/5/06 7:00 pm Philadelphia, PA 215 Festival (at Central Library)
10/16/06 7:00 pm New York, NY Barnes & Noble - Union Square
10/18/06 7:00 pm Chicago, IL Borders Books - North Michigan Avenue
10/19/06 7:00 pm Raleigh, NC Meredith College - Jones Auditorium
10/20/06 7:00 pm Durham, NC The Regulator Bookshop
10/21/06 1:00 pm Charlotte, NC Park Road Books
10/21/06 7:00 pm Asheville, NC Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe
10/23/06 8:00 pm San Francisco, CA Herbst Theatre - City Arts & Lectures presents an evening with Amy Sedaris ***SOLD OUT***
10/25/06 7:00 pm West Hollywood, CA Book Soup - Sunset Boulevard
10/27/06 Austin, TX Texas Book Festival First Edition Literary Gala
10/28/06 8:00 pm Austin, TX BookPeople Bookstore
10/30/06 Seattle, WA TBA (An Evening With Amy Sedaris - TheWarrenReport)
11/3/06 7:30 pm New York, NY Symphony Space - Amy Sedaris & David Rakoff Plan A Dinner Party: Every audience member will receive a free cupcake made from Amy’s famous recipe. ***SOLD OUT***
11/4/06 1:00 pm Aventura, FL Macy's Aventura Mall
11/4/06 6:00 pm Fort Lauderdale, FL A Night of Literary Laughter, hosted by the Broward Public Library Foundation at Artserve (1350 East Sunrise Blvd.):
11/5/06 1:00 pm Miami, FL Macy's Dadeland Mall 11/5/06 6:00 pm Coral Gables, FL Book & Books, Coral Gables

Amy Sedaris ;Hospitality ;Books

*69: Mary Lynn Rajskub

We neglected to watch the Emmy Awards, as we don't have a television, but spent this morning combing the internets looking at all the award show fashions (and playing find the plastic surgery scars). We were floored when we came across this picture of Mary Lynn Rajskub, who stars in the award-winning "24".

Like we said, we don't watch the TV, so this duckling to swan transformation was quite a shocker. We remember her when she a sketch player on Mr. Show, relegated to the late night hinterlands of HBO. My how times and looks have changed.

So, if you want to go from plucky comedian to near-anorexic bombshell, that's your prerogative. Just please tell us this new look has nothing to do with Rush Limbaugh.




Mary Lynn Rajskub ;Emmy Awards ;Fashion ;Celebrities

*69: Robbie Williams is as Straight as they Come

Should Robbie Williams top Out magazine's "gayest straight guy" poll? Not according to Jake Shears...


Robbie Willams ;Musicians ;Gay

*69: Brooke Hogan

We had thought that the first pic of young Hogan's new grill, which was enough to wake us from our xanax haze and make us puke up our vodka bile, was all we were going to see of this stupid fad. Sadly, we were wrong.

Very Sadly.

Now we need to start over on our enebriation for the day. Bitch is gonna have to start paying for our booze if she keeps this up.