GAYLETTER

Did you pick up your copy of GAYLETTER Issue 8? If you answered no, I suggest you change that. We featured a bunch of beautiful, beautiful people, and among them is pop-music-alt-damsel Cody Critcheloe, better known as SSION. When Cody told us he had a new album coming out we got super excited. He had just released “Comeback,” which tells the story of an old flame returning to the appropriate lover who is more than willing to accept that skank back. It’s also a pretty obvious play on words. Ssion hadn’t released new music since 2012, so a new single six-years later is most definitely a comeback. “O,” out on May 11th, is Ssion’s third studio album and to celebrate the release he’s throwing a cute party at Mission Chinese. There’s going to be food, drinks and he’ll be playing the album. I’m stoked about it because when we got together to create his feature for Issue 8 (with Slava Mogutin) he was telling us all about how he made it in a basement in LA. Cody said he just kept inviting people to be on the album so that it had the flavor of a mixtape, like something corny you’d curate in high school, but with indie-pop and indie-rock royalty (Sky Ferreira, Devendra Banhart, Ariel Pink). The official singles, “Comeback,” “Heaven Is My Thing Again,” and “At Least the Sky Is Blue” (check out our behind the scenes coverage) have been on my Apple Music repeats for a while now. I am eager and ready for more!  —Chris Stewart

Y Tu Mamá También is the first phrase I learnt in Spanish. Growing up in Australia we didn’t have much need for the language so it’s not really taught in schools. I studied Indonesian in high school which was sooooo useful! lol. I learnt the phrase Y Tu Mamá También because it’s the title of the 2001 Alfonso Cuarón film that is screening tonight in Brooklyn at the Alamo Drafthouse. When it was released 17 years ago it not only launched the careers of its director and its stars Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal, but it was also the highest box office opening in Mexican cinema history at the time. And it did that by only making $2.2 million it’s opening weekend. “The film tells a coming-of-age story about two teenage boys who take a road trip with a woman in her late twenties. The film is part of the road movie genre, set in 1999 against the backdrop of the political and economic realities of present-day Mexico, specifically at the end of the uninterrupted 71-year line of Mexican presidents from the Institutional Revolutionary Party and the rise of the opposition led by Vicente Fox.” It is a very sexy, gritty and engrossing film with a rather queer twist ending. You can see it tonight (May 2) at 6:30pm with a Mexican-inspired menu created by the Drafthouse executive chef Ronnie New, with drink pairings from their beverage director Vincent Favella. This is a much better way to celebrate Mexico than partaking in the upcoming Cinco De Mayo nonsense. A disfrutar!  —tom

A few weeks ago you read Tom’s brief report of David Bowie Is: the sprawling, several gallery museum exhibition that features the late musicians costumes, personal ephemera and more. As a part of their Target First Saturday’s series, the Brooklyn Museum has tapped local nightlife go-getters Horrorchata and Tyler Ashley to bring their acclaimed Bushwig party to take over the Beaux-Arts Court and… thrown down. The show lineup is gaggy, mostly cause it features so many amazing NYC/Brooklyn performers who I’ve had the blessing of seeing many times, including the haunting Untitled Queen, Charlene: queen of all things that make you say wow, Patti Spliff, Maxxx Pleasure (amazing drag king I used to see perform at our Alma Mater, Purchase College) and others. If you haven’t been to one of these first Saturdays, I’ll quickly clue you in because one time I ended up at one by mistake and on a really high-dosage edible. The event will feel brief, and the space is a little bit moot, but it makes it the perfect place for Horrorchata and her gang to take over because lord knows they can make any space work. Plus, there is a bar, so really you just need to show up. If you’re a good time, you’ll arrive at 5:00PM on the dot to make the most of the happy hour(s), which goes until 7:00PM, and if you’re smart you’ll wear a lock that pays homage to David, the grandfather of all things bisexual and hero to butches, femmes, fags, dykes and punks everywhere.  —Chris Stewart

We haven’t been to Pussy Faggot in some time. Started by Earl Dax, P.F. was designed to showcase some of the best performance talents in the world. If you’ve never attended a night then you are in for a big treat. Earl is an expert in bringing together some of the weirdest and most wonderful artists alive. The last Pussy Faggot was over a year ago because their resident host (and living legend) Ms. Penny Arcade has been touring her amazing new show. This Friday Earl is gathering “a group of folks to join us for the opening night performance of Phoebe Legere’s Speed Queen, her world premiere original musical at Dixon Place! After the show there will be a little soiree with Phoebe in the Dixon Place Lounge. Get $10 tickets (regularly $19-$22) to this performance when you use code FEMMETOP for advance purchase. The musical is based on the life of “Joe” Carstairs, the lesbian speed boat racing champion of 1926 whose lovers are rumored to have included Marlene Dietrich and Tallulah Bankhead. Phoebe portrays Carstairs and several of Carstairs’ lovers in a musical that blends Legere’s penchant for camp with her formidable musical chops and that gorgeous 4-octave voice.” I mean, I’m sold on that description alone. If you don’t know Phoebe, here’s a quick run down from Earl: “Her career spans everything from starring in cult films like Mondo New York to opening for Bowie on his Sound + Vision tour. She was signed to Epic Records at 16, and performed at the opening night of Pyramid Club where she was often the lone female amongst colleagues like Lady Bunny, RuPaul and Ethyl Eichelberger.” Ok, work. See you Friday, March 9th Ms. Phoebe, Ms. Arcade and of course Ms. Dax!  —Gayletter

The way I see it, there are two types of people: there are the people who believe in only what they can tangibly hold, and then there are the people who are able to see outside of the box of tangibility. This event is for those who fall in the latter category. Failure — a Queer workshop, according to founder and host Ragamuffin (pictured), “is a monthly event celebrating the queer body through performance, conversation, and joyful debauchery. Each month focuses around a specific conversation… so this month we are talking about MAGIC — magic as a concept in literature, popular culture, cultural heritage etc.” Magic plays such an important role in many religious, indigenous, and historical contexts, so it’s fantastic that Failure is holding a workshop on the topic. Beyond the educational aspect, this event also serves as a valuable venue for experimentation. Ragamuffin said, “I created Failure in 2016 as a weekly happy hour… as a platform to try new work and discuss their processes. It has since expanded beyond drag in an effort to connect artists in Brooklyn who might not share the same circles.” MAGIC will feature performers Merlot (who recently released a fabulous single), Scarlet Envy, and lovely gals Thee Suburbia and Tyler Ashley, who always gag us. Resident performers Ms. Ter and La Llorona will also be in attendance. There will be a late-night open stage at 2:30am for any performers looking to explore new work. If for some reason you can’t make it (tragic!), rest assured that Failure happens every 1st Thursday of the month.  —Connor Atkins

We heard from Erin Reznick, the Co-Editor in Chief of Phile Magazine — “a biannual publication which investigates sexual subcultures, trends and issues from a sociological point of view to better understand the complexities of human desire...intersecting the styles of an academic journal, art publication and sex magazine.” I looked at the first issue of the mag and I’m into it. This Saturday, February 24th, they are bringing us a launch event at The Dreamhouse with a whole bunch of our favorites: CHRISTEENE, Latex Lucifer, Gio Black Peter, La’fem Ladosha, James Cerne, Michael Magnan, Haruka, Kissmedeadlydoll and many more. Also, Phile will be launching a “new online video library,” premiering on their site right after the event. “The video library will provide access to a variety of erotic and artfully made videos and short films.” Performances are expected to begin at 10:30pm. Don’t miss a thing, and congrats to Phile on your new issue!  —Abi

We love the Bureau of General Services Queer Division, the book store in The LGBT Center. You can find some really great queer literature there, from one-off zines to luxurious art and photography books, to vintage pamphlets, to GAYLETTER and her contemporaries. In fact, this past Christmas, it’s where I did all my shopping for the other GL queens. But BGSQD is more than a printed matter purveyor. They host talks, workshops, and events with visiting queer artists, which we often write about in our weekly newsletter. This event is a talk by nationally syndicated talk show and podcast host Rob Redding, and he’s discussing his autobiography “Out Loud.” In this book — which “ranked No. 2 on Amazon.com” — Redding “recounts how losing his first boyfriend to gun violence forced him out of the closet.” It’s a story of race and sexuality and it sounds juicy for sure. “Out Loud” is neither his first nor only book; rather, it’s his most recent of 9 best-selling books. Yasss prolific writing! Following the talk, there will be a conversation between Redding and Terry Roethlein of Gays Against Guns, which should be just as juicy.  —Connor Atkins