GAYLETTER

Last Sunday we attended the current show of “cabaret performer” (he’s sooo much more than that) Joey Arias’ at Joe’s Pub. We sat in Joey’s reserved section (that’s just how GAYLETTER rolls), ordered some food (the best thing about Joe’s Pub is their full menu) enjoyed a couple of martini’s and witnessed one of the best performances we’ve ever seen Joey give. He’s been touring for most of the year, going from London to Mexico and everywhere inbetween, so it’s clear he’s had the time to fine tune the act. Let’s just say it was pitch perfect from the first song (Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Purple Haze’) to the last (The Ronette’s ‘Be My Baby’). Joey shared some hilarious stories in between songs and ordered plenty of drinks for him and his bandmates. His residence at Joey’s Pub is a warm up to his “West Coast tour, anchored by a headlining concert at the historic Castro Theater in San Francisco on Valentine’s Day.” Don’t think too hard about it homo, just go.  —tom

Where do I even start? Ok, let’s talk about how prominent Mike Albo’s peen was in those white pants, I appreciate that he thought about that detail, I also left the theater singing the lyric “cock in common” (you need to find out for yourself what that’s about because I don’t want to give anything away). In his latest show titled ‘The Junket’ Mike puts on display his career indignities and lets us all laugh about them, throwing shade around while keeping it all very real. This all happens while he takes us through his journey as a journalist. I particularly loved his hilarious story of “going on a crazy, over-the-top press junket and becoming a gossip item; a pawn in the acrimonious war between Old and New Media. He’s such a fast-paced, engaging storyteller that he manages to pack tons of information into a show that runs a little over one hour.  —Abi

With so much good stuff happening at the “biennial of live-visual art” Performa, it’s hard to decide what to see. Thankfully we have insider information about what’s going to be most cunt. The french curator Charles Aubin and the playwright/director Marc Arthur are co-curating 'Two Arrabalesques,’ a night of art and performance supported by the Spanish Cultural Institute and the CUNY Segal Center. Since one of the themes of the biennial this year is surrealism, they both “are coming at this project to really think about the impact of surrealism on artists today.” As Marc explains “Charles and I both love the work of Fernando Arrabal who is perhaps best known as a close collaborator of Jodorowski and Topor but that’s all just boring historical stuff...What you see when you come will be an incredible reinvention of the concept of surrealism as seen through some of the most provocative and inventive artists out there...” The event features interventions by a variety of artists from different backgrounds: Gage Boone, Todd Colby, Mel Gordon, Jamie Isenstein, item idem, Joseph Keckler, Irvin Climaco Morazan, Jacolby Satterwhite and others. Marc adds that it’s going to be “like being in Paris in the 30’s when you’re in there and we’re going to take it to that level and beyond...” I’m so ready to experience this trip.  —Abi

We haven’t seen this show, but as Abi mentioned to me Penny Arcade is in it so really what else do you need to know? ‘The Mutilated’ takes place on Christmas Eve in New Orleans in the late 1940s. It’s one of Tennessee Williams’s later plays, and tells the story of “Trinket Dugan (Mink Stole), a Texas oil heiress and cancer survivor, hiding away at the Silver Dollar Hotel with a painful secret; and her buxom buddy Celeste Delacroix Griffin (Arcade), a vagrant, shoplifter, an over-the-hill (though always hopeful) prostitute and Trinket’s only real friend and the only person who knows her secret.” Tennessee has said the style of the play “is kin to vaudeville, burlesque and slapstick, with a dash of pop art thrown in....[An] allegory on the tragicomic subject of human existence on this risky planet.” The show’s run has been extended until December 1st, cos why wouldn’t they?  —tom

Last week I went to see the performer David Mramor as the character Enid Ellen. Enid Ellen is a busted girl, but that’s what makes her so much fun, she is a “channeler of Mother Nature, with dreaded hair and hooker boots...brought to the Earth by way of a beached whale.” I mean call me a weirdo, but after he told me that whale story I was really into it. “Enid travels the universe with her pianist Greg Potter to spread the word of Nature.” His show is part of the amazing Queer New York International Arts Festival that’s ending this weekend. The sassy and talented Nicholas Gorham is also part of the show. David says he created Enid with very nice intentions: “I want people to have fun, think, and feel raw. The body is so raw and emotions and sex and humor are raw and I want people to sit on the edge of their seats. Who knows my bulge might pop it like its hot!” Enid sounds nuts!  —Abi

We saw a performance of the Material World at last year’s gay-themed Hot! Festival at Dixon Place. I’ll briefly describe the musical so you get an idea of my, perhaps, mild resistance to go see it. It’s set in 1921 and stars a 12-year-old Marxist named Gittel (Sarah Stiles) who lives in the Bronx with her parents, Papa and Mama, both Jewish socialists unhappy they fled Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution. Sharing their apartment is a modern-day slacktivist so overwhelmed by the world’s problems, he does nothing but talk about them, plus a Kabbalah obsessed Madonna (Erin Markey) and an air-headed Britney Spears. When the show was first described to me it honestly sounded like a bit of shit show; a weird mix of themes and characters. What I saw was instead something rather remarkable. It was sweet, sincere, hilarious and interested in exploring big themes like mysticism and activism, identity and loss without ever straying too far into existentialism and putting the audience to sleep. It’s a musical for people who don’t like musicals, and it’s on for one night only at Joe’s Pub, our favorite place to watch a show (food and wine and spacious seating — why can’t it always be like this?) Get your tickets now!  —tom

Lately some of our interns and writers (well one, hi Cameron!!) have taken to calling Tom and I “daddy.” It makes us laugh cos he’s only a few years younger than us. We mention this because one of our favorite daddies (and good friend) the “acclaimed Israeli pianist,” Daniel Gortler, who has performed around the world as a soloist “including the Berlin Radio Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony, NDR Symphony, North-West German Philharmonic, Bochum Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the Houston, San Francisco, New World, Atlanta and San Jose Symphony Orchestras” (daddy has been everywhere) is performing Wednesday afternoon. Included in his repertoire are “Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Mozart's Fantasie in C minor K. 475, 2 pieces from Schumann's Fantasiestuck Op. 12, and his Fantasie in C major Op. 17.” Come enjoy a lovely afternoon filled with classical music and hopefully a roomful of daddies to choose from.  —Abi

Miguel Gutierrez performs his show ‘myendlesslove’ at Abrons Art Center from October 16th to 19th. It’s so perfect for GAYLETTER that if we didn’t include it we’re sure we’d get angry letters asking why we left it out. Here’s how Miguel describes it: “The piece unravels as a search for the poetics of gay sex, exploiting time-honored clichés about sentimentality, longing, and how we look beyond ourselves for love.” This is brilliant performance art ladies and gentlemen that you gotta just go and see for yourself. It’s only the third time he’s ever performed this show which is inspired by a life changing breakup. Very cleverly he combines pre-recorded material with live performance while also managing to get naked. For all of you performance art and progressive cock lovers, this show is going to make you want to immediately sign up to the Miguel Gutierrez fan club. His exploration of connection and disconnection in contemporary gay relationships is poignant yet titillating.  —Abi