GAYLETTER

This weekly party started out as Hair (we mentioned it when it began), then it was Sissy, now it’s Cissy, I can’t think of a better group of names for a party to go through. Dream, who’s one of the hosts of the party says, “I started calling it sissy because I wanted to play with language that had been used to hurt queers in the past, and reclaim it, and because even then I identified as a non-binary queer with serious femme leanings, cissy seemed right...and then as I started being more open about identifying as a trans woman. Cissy, is a joke about people who are/will never be cisgender, and play even further with those ideas.” Good for you Dream, it’s a great thing to be open about who you are. It’s 2016, it really is the year to say bye bye to those who don’t get us. It’s all about the gender spectrum, anything else just sounds boring. One last thing, I heard there’s a BK queen who’s been saying GAYLETTER doesn’t cover queer events in Brooklyn, yo what’s good? I’d recommend you go to the GAYLETTER archive and have a look at all the BK events we’ve featured before in the past years you come for us, k?  —Abi

The new Ryan Murphy directed series about the murder, trial of O.J. Simpson that premiered Tuesday night on FX, plays right into a certain demographic’s 90’s nostalgia perfectly. That demographic (I was 14 when his trial took place) will find great pleasure in reliving one of the strangest celebrity trials of the last 30 years. OJ Simpson’s trial for the murder of ex-wife Nicole Brown and her lover Ron Goldman was BIG news. I grew up in Australia (all the way down there) and still we were bombarded through TV and Radio with every twist and turn in the case. The series features Cuba Gooding Jr. as O.J., John Travolta (hi queen) as O.J.’s lawyer Robert Shapiro, David Schwimmer as Robert Kardashian, Sarah Paulson as prosecutor Marcia Clark and Selma Blair as Kris Kardashian and from the first episode it is full of drama and plenty of 90’s fashion (hello big cellphones and big suits!) This series manages to be both suspenseful and completely camp. If we weren’t in the midst of a never-ending Kardashian koma, I doubt the family would be featured so heavily in the storyline, but whatever, of course they were a part of the largest tabloid story of the 90s. After watching the first intense episode I have to admit, I’m thirsty for more. Remember the 90s, I sure do!  —tom

I love that almost every letter in 2016 so far has featured a new party. We heard from Dream about this new one. “I’m throwing a new party with Katie Rex at Alphaville in Bushwick. It’s called Software and it’s an all-femme lineup, which I think is sort of unprecedented and super important in the Brooklyn queer scene — NYC’s queer scene is still primarily dominated by cis white men…” Dream told me that Katie is one of her favorite DJs in NYC, who also runs the all-girl collective Factory Girls. “We both love being girly and dancing to techno, so throwing an all-femme party together seemed obvious. Katie and I both identify as female and primarily work in the gay scene, so we wanted to throw a party by gurls, for everyone.” I’m so glad that Dream is so good at writing a party description, let me just do one more last quote: “This party is to remind them [people] that the girls know how to turn it out — and look amazing while doing it. The name Software perfectly embodies this, juxtaposing our soft femininity with our mastery of technology, making you sweat on the dance floor…” DJs for the night are  Serena Jara, Katie rex, Suga Shay, Umfang and Dream gurl herself. Performances by Slater G. String and Momo Shade. Girl power, get it girls!  —Abi

Judith Bernstein is a feminist artist whose work can be seen in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art. She is “best known for her erotic drawings and graffiti art. During the beginning of the feminist art movement, Bernstein was a founding member of the cooperative feminist A.I.R. Gallery in New York.” Mary Boone gallery in Chelsea is showing some of her drawings of giant screws that also look like big, hard, black dicks. They’re very interesting to look at. The gallery has been showing this work since Jan 9, in an exhibition titled Dicks Of Death. It’s curated by Piper Marshall, a young, and very stylish, curator who has been featured in W and Vogue magazine and sort of looks like a 1970s styled Amy Adams. The term “Dicks of Death,” is a “Marine nickname for the processed beef franks included with beans, is so termed for its foul taste and similarity in appearance to male genitalia. The offensively flavored and phallic shaped food is Government Issue, served to soldiers in ready-to-eat rations. Bernstein lifts this term to zero-in on the war-time phallus and to show us how aggression and patriotism is institutionally packaged to fuel political conflict.” Check out the show before it closes in a couple of weeks. Those dick screws along with the other phallic artworks are very Instagrammable.  —tom

We love how many new independent magazine’s there are out there. Especially one’s that aren’t afraid to talk about sex, baby. Math Magazine is a “playful and provocative dirty magazine featuring words and images for sex-positive people. Issue One includes photos by Sophie Ebrard, artwork by Stasia Burrington, and words by Tim Josephs, to name a few.” From what we’ve seen it looks like a beautifully designed mag. This Thursday, February 4th, they are hosting a launch party for issue one with DJ Hazyl at Bizarre Bushwick. You can expect “sexy surprises like sex education in a dark corner with Dirty Lola of Sex Ed. A Go Go.” Sounds like a great way to launch a new publication. From one publisher to another, congrats Math Magazine. Welcome to the family!  —tom

It seems that the Cock in its new location is popping off since it opened, the boys are really into the new space. Even the boys that have never been to the Cock are trying it out. I mean it’s always fun there, just make sure you keep your eyes on your wallet. We got an email from the musician Casey Spooner telling us that he’s celebrating his birthday this Wednesday, February 3rd at the Cock. It’s presented by Dreamhouse, and it’s being called “Nights of the Templar.” I don’t know why, but that’s let’s just go with it, Casey is very creative, recently got a text message from Victor Jeffreys (who’s co-hosting the event along with Gage of the Boone from The Spectrum) with an image of Casey’s head surrounded by a crown of cocks. DJs for the night are A Village Raid and Lauren Flax. Let’s go celebrate Casey’s day of birth with some sleazy fun. If you’re not so familiar with this queen, check out the great feature/interview we did with Casey in GAYLETTER issue 2. Yeah, that’s a shameless plug, but someone’s got to do it! Mmm mmm mmm.  —Abi