GAYLETTER

“I miss the old New York” is something I hear often enough to make me wonder, as a young and beautiful twink, what the hum and hustle must have been like to cause so much nostalgia. What was life like before Mayor Giuliani’s Quality of Life campaign during the 90s destroyed so much queer history and culture? I could imagine it was grittier, certainly more raw, what with Times Square having previously been a burgeoning center for sex and drugs. At its core, it seems to me that the nostalgia is based in what freedom used to exist in the same spaces that are now occupied by throngs of life-sized Elmos and Cookie Monsters. Getting back to what used to unite people seeking out refuge (and getting off in some dark space) is the inspo for the project Dirty Looks is bringing to NYC this weekend. Their LA event, a 24-hour porn theatre called Sesión Continua, is coming to Brooklyn to showcase a marathon of early, pre-VHS, gay and lesbian pornographic films that flirt with the avant-garde. Reminiscent of the storefront porn theatres that once flourished, this quasi-installation welcomes you back in time to a 25-seat space sure to enhance the intimacy of watching porn with strangers. The screenings à la Sesión Continua exist in free fall: no set attendance times, no schedule. Come and go as you please, just please don’t cum and go. That’s rude and breaks health code.  —Gayletter

The other night I finally sat down to watch La La Land. After all of the turmoil surrounding that film, I packed my vape, wore my objective glasses and told myself: I’m not going to be upset if I like this movie. Well, that really didn’t matter, because I didn’t like it. I found it boring, except for that dinner scene, and most surprising was how awful the score was. It got me thinking that, musical or not, soundtracks are so often overlooked by the average cinephile. Clearly some queers have ideas for revamping the soundtrack to their favorite flicks, like Marco Gomez. Cruising, a 1980 American crime story about a serial killer who targets gay men stars Al Pacino and Karen Allen (I live for her bone structure). Under the moniker False Witness, Gomez “presents an opportunity for critique on modern queer aesthetics” through a “sonic reinterpretation” of the film. The majority of the victims in Cruising are those involved in the 1970s leather scene. The bodies at stake in the film are still very much at large in our community, with Folsom Street Fair and Folsom East drawing huge crowds every year, so while the plot line of the film may hit a bit too close to home, Gomez plans to infuse contemporary electronic music as well as some selected tracks from the 70s and 80s to “reframe and examine the cultural and sociopolitical contexts of the film.” Hollywood should really take some notes on what queer cinema and queer performers are doing. We need less City of Stars and white composers winning Oscars — this seems like a fine place for the academy to start their research! This Friday, Sept. 29th at the Spectrum!  —Chris Stewart

We are back at the NYABF at MoMA PS1 and we are super excited because we simply love printed things and the people that love them. Also we get to premiere our latest issue (GAYLETTER Issue 7).“The 2017 NY Art Book Fair will feature over 370 booksellers, antiquarians, artists, institutions and independent publishers from twenty-eight countries.” We will be located right behind the entrance — in the (XE)ROX & PAPER + SCISSORS SECTION that’s right, once you enter MoMA PS1 the first thing you should do is find us at booth A75. The event will take place from September 21 – September 24, we’ll be there from Thursday for the preview which will cost you $10 to enter with “proceeds going to support NYABF17. The first 2,000 visitors to pre-pay online or to pay at the door (while supplies last) will receive a Ticket Edition by Emma Kohlmann.” You don’t have to come to the preview, come say hi any day this weekend, we’ll be there waiting for you with open arms, our team is very willing, ready and able. Come get a magazine, we’ll have a few copies of sold out issues (1 and 4), so come early before they are gone. The fair is also a great place for people watching, or to go on a date or simply to meet your new hook up — I’m serious. Have a few drinks (they have alcohol) and don’t forget to flirt with everyone you can, no need to carry a bad attitude with you. It never works.  —Abi

I’ve always been drawn to documentary photography. It’s what I studied in college and, for the most part, it’s the type of photography that I focus on in my own work. There are so many things to be said for artistically cataloging and documenting people, places, events, society, and politics in a visual way for everyone else present and future to have. Tom Bianchi is not necessarily known as a documentary photographer in the ways that Nan Goldin or the members of Magnum may be; rather, Bianchi’s approach is subtle and seemingly more un-self aware (which, in my opinion, kind of makes the work more poignant). All of this is to say that there is an upcoming talk and tour (on September 14th) by Bianchi as his exhibition FIRE ISLAND PINES: POLAROIDS 1975-1983 comes to a close. The exhibition consists of dozens of Polaroids documenting the gay community in Fire Island Pines, one of the few places that people could be openly gay in that era. In addition to the photos being “whimsical and playful,” they also “harken to the long tradition in art of celebrating the male physique.” If you’re queer, into history, and/or love artful documentary photography, this exhibition and talk with the artist is not to be missed.  —Connor Atkins