GAYLETTER

Charlie Kaufman is the writer of two of my absolute favorite films: Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. Both films had a profound impact on me, their surrealist and beautiful stories literally changing my understanding of what a movie could be. Kaufman’s latest film, which he wrote, and co-directs with Duke Johnson, is a stop motion animation featuring a British customer service expert named Michael Stone, (the author of “How May I Help You Help Them?”) who is completely bored with his life and everyone in it. This is brought to life in a very Kaufman-esq way by having every character in the movie, besides Michael (David Thewlis), voiced by the actor Tom Noonan. That is until he meets a dowdy woman named Lisa in his hotel, voiced brilliantly by Jennifer Jason Leigh. Michael is drunk and can’t get enough of this woman with a voice as unique as his. In one of the movie’s best scenes she softly sings Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” first in English, then in Italian. They fuck. He is enraptured. This is what it means to have someone wake you up. But like many spells cast while intoxicated, it doesn’t last. Anomalisa is a grim look at modern life, middle age and finding love, but it’s also weird and funny and thought provoking. Go see it and tell us what you think.  —tom

I forgot it’s a long weekend this weekend. Thanks Martin Luther King Jr., just one more reason to love you! Here’s a party that you will definitely need an extra day to recover from. The London party Horse Meat Disco is in town, at Output this Sunday night, January 17 and they are ready to turn you out. The party goes over two rooms. In the main room is music by Horse Meat Disco and Sean B. & Will Automagic. In the Panther Room (sounds sexy lol) music is by Mike Servito and Ron Like Hell. They’re all amazing DJs that will keep you on your feet way past your bedtime (drink plenty of water queen, but not too much — don’t want to flood your brain, aghhh!) Hosts are Marco Ovando, Paloma Perez, TJ Samson. Tickets are a little pricey at $45 but it’s a special occasion so whatevs. Have fun party monsters. And remember, MLK is one of the few holidays worth celebrating!  —tom

I was looking over links the other day on gayletter.com and in one of the articles from 2010 we said that we pretty much recommend anything that Ladyfag does. She wasn’t a fan of our last write up for Holy Mountain, but we wouldn’t write about her if we didn’t love what she does. And I got to give it to her, she’s consistent, she’s been throwing awesome events even before we started this newsletter. Since we are now at the beginning of a new year, and a new journey, it feels right that we tell you about Holy Mountain: Journey XVI. As Ladyfag puts it, “It’s 2016...the future is now. Crawl out of your cocoons, my sweet cyborg queens & slither your Giger tails & scales out of the primordial ooze to a place where music is god, & dancing will set you free. The truth is out there… 2 Floors. 4 Rooms. 1 Mountain...Holy Mountain!” Some of the best DJs in NYC will be providing tunes for the night: Michael Magnan, Nita Aviance, Ryan Smith, Total Freedom, Dicap, Juliana Huxtable, Greg K. and Chapman. Amazing line up, I’d go for that alone. P.S. If you go all out with a “SERIOUS GIGER OR CYBORG LQQK,” you’ll only pay $5. Yassss Queen.  —Abi

I became familiar with The House of Ladosha a couple of years back by the incredible T-shirts they produced (Rihanna even wore one). The collective of both visual and musical artists has been around for awhile now so it’s nice to see that they’re still going strong. The group is putting on a gallery show and they wanted us to tell you that you’re all invited! The opening at BHQFU in Brooklyn is happening this Friday, January 15th, at 8pm. The show titled THIS IS UR BRAIN features many members of the House of Ladosha including “Cunty Crawford Ladosha (Adam Radakovich), Neon Christina Ladosha (Christopher Udemezue), Paws Off Ladosha (Riley Hooker), Magatha Ladosha (Michael Magnan), La Fem Ladosha (Antonio Blair), and YSL Ladosha (Yan Sze Li) with collaborations from house members like Juliana Huxtable Ladosha. Following the exhibit there will be an after party with live performances by Contessa Stuto, Thurmon Green, Sam Banks and the House of Ladosha in the same space + drank. We will also have live DJ sets from ABBY, TYGAPAW, False Witness and Juliana Huxtable.” Art show, party, live music, cute kids, what the fuck more could you want from a Friday night in January 2016!?  —tom

Friend and contributor to GAYLETTER, photographer Benjamin Fredrickson, has two new shows happening in January. It’s just the beginning of the year and he’s already so busy. The one we’re talking about this week is a collaborative project titled ‘Nydia’ which he’s worked on with artist Juan Betancurth. Here’s what Ben had to say about it: “The exhibition features a selection of large format Polaroid photographs that I made with Betancurth’s mother as the subject, wearing Betancurth’s provocative handmade sculptural objects and tools.” When I first saw images of Nydia, my initial reaction was “WOW.” Nydia is pictured in various suggestive situations wearing her son’s sculptural objects. “Bentancurth and his siblings were subjected to his mother’s unusual manner of discipline using self-devised contraptions for punishment. As an adult artist far from Columbia and years from childhood, he has found inspiration in her objects of punishment for his sculptural work.” Interesting! I’d say don’t miss this one.  —Abi

It was quite a night on Tuesday as we headed uptown to see Australian comedian Pam Ann’s latest show. In a theatre above a Turkish restaurant, The Triad, the modest space was not as comfortable as the last venue we saw her at (Joe’s Pub), but once she got started it didn’t matter where we were. She filled the room with laughter while putting on a slightly haphazard (apparently the result of too much Xanax the night before) but still totally enjoyable show. If you are unfamiliar with Pam, here’s a little backstory. Her onstage persona is that of a brash, drug-taking, cock-sucking, loud-mouthed flight attendant. Throughout the show she lays into pretty much every airline and their flight crews. She is crude, cunty and hilarious. The reason the show is called ‘Downtown Galley’ is because, in-between costume changes, she plays clips from Downton Abbey with her character superimposed into the scenes, rattling off obscene things to the cast. It really has nothing to do with the rest of the show, but is fun none the less. If you’ve never seen Pam please go to this show, it’s only on for 2 more nights and while not as polished as her previous shows, is still A LOT of fun.  —tom