GAYLETTER

We told you to go to the Guggenheim to sneak into the Grimes show a couple of weeks ago, and guess what we’re telling you to do it again! But don’t sneak in this time, just sign up to a museum membership and you’ll get into this one and all future parties for free! Yay. So what’s up with this event anyway. Well Art After Dark is your chance to see the museum’s current shows, at night, which is so much chicer than seeing them during the day. Plus they have wine and beer and a DJ. The current exhibition includes Alberto Burri: The Trauma of Painting and Photo-Poetics: An Anthology. “As you move through the galleries, the museum will fill with the sounds of a live set by deejay Ms. Nix. (aka Nicole Lyn).” Doesn’t that just sound lovely? Yes, yes it does.  —tom

Starting this Thursday to Saturday there is a dance program going on at Danspace Project in NYC. Patrick Gallagher who’s dancing in it sent us an email as if he was writing a post for the newsletter. I really appreciate when someone knows how to sell themselves and takes the time to write an email that makes sense as supposed to a tedious press release. Here’s what Patrick had to say about the show: “Andy de Groat was the original choreographer of the legendary work Einstein on the Beach. He and director Robert Wilson were lovers. After the first tour of Einstein to Iran in the 1970s, the relationship ended. Andy’s choreography was subsequently replaced by Lucinda Childs, because her company made up the majority of the cast. Andy de Groat, a gay dancer from New Jersey, was erased from the history of the work. Andy moved to Paris in the mid 80s where he developed a huge following in the European contemporary dance scene. But he is unknown to most American dancers, despite his contributions to Einstein.” If you haven’t seen Einstein on the Beach at BAM then you have a chance to get a taste of the original choreography by Andy de Groat. He also mentioned that he’ll be performing in “a sexy yellow jumpsuit which has been hiding in storage in Paris for 30 years…” There will be plenty of other dancers performing with him, but I just ran out of space to mention them all...  —Abi

I watched this film at 3am, drunk, in a bunk bed, and I still loved it, which should tell you something about how good it is. Based detailed research into Kurt Cobain’s death, filmmaker Benjamin Statler, and detective Tom Grant, who was hired by Courtney Love to find Kurt days before his death (he was in rehab getting ready to divorce her and about to take her out of his will) pretty straight out assert that Courtney had Kurt killed. There’s a lot of interesting evidence, but the most fascinating is probably the fact that Kurt, at the time of his death, had an amount of heroin in him that would kill a large elephant, 10 times the dose needed to incapacitate an average user. How, experts ask, was he able to shoot himself in the head with that amount of heroin in him? Also, he wasn’t suicidal according to his close friends, and why did the handwriting in the suicide note match a writing test sheet found in Courtney’s bag? This is a really well made doco — required viewing for all Nirvana and early 90’s conspiracy theorists!  —tom

My family all live in Melbourne so I gotta get my Xmas gifts for them waaay in advance if I want them to get there on time. My mum (we spell it with a ‘u’ in Australia) and my sister (we spell that the same way) also have their birthdays close to xmas so there’s a bunch of shit I have to buy. And finding unique gifts can be a pain, which is why I’m recommending the Etsy Holiday Handmade Cavalcade. Basically all the Etsy shops based in NYC come together to sell their wares at the Chelsea Market. There’s everything from jewelry, greeting cards, art, beauty products, clothing, gifts for baby and much more. The best part about it being at Chelsea Market is that if you get hungry you can sneak off and grab a bite from the food court. Go to the Los Taco, taco stand. One of my friend’s is Mexican and this is the only place in the city he’ll eat a taco from. Their secret is they cook their tortillas in lard so they’re extra fatty and tasty. But back to the point of this post — homemade gifts,  there’s going to be thousands of them, most of them will probably weird, misshapen shit you wouldn’t give to your worst enemy, but I’m sure you can find a couple of gems. Enjoy!  —tom

This new museum sounds intriguing. It’s the first museum that reacts to emotions, “and turns them into art. The Museum’s exterior changes color to reflect the mood of the city by scraping social media and other real-time data.” This could either be amazing or a big old yawn. The fact that it’s sponsored by Glade makes me nervous that it could just be a giant ad in disguise, but whatevs, I think it’s still worth checking out. “Each installation invites emotional interaction. Touch, feel, play, listen, imagine and breathe. Step into the first kaleidoscope controlled by emotion. Float through the feeling of calm on a lavender cloud. Use your own biometric data to create a MoodLens — or unique emotional selfie — and match it with a perfect custom fragrance.” You had me at ‘lavender cloud.’ Smoke some greens and get in touch with your feelings.  —tom

The other day two of my friends came over to watch TV with me and when the first one arrived (William) he was like “oh those are interesting pants,” referring to my long johns. I was like yeah they are old, they are comfortable. Also, I like being warm at home in the winter. The second friend (Christy) arrived and of course brought more shade. I had a mind to tell him that they were vintage McQueen because he loves a label, but the only problem is that he also has good taste, and I knew no label was gonna save these johns, they were red, with some sort of dumb design pattern that kind of looked like fake McQueen, but they were not right, they were H&M. I trashed them during my hangover the next morning. Now I kind of wish I would’ve kept them so I could have worn them to this party. At least I would’ve stood out... This party Ruffhouse (hosted by Bryan Beretta and Brian Pizza, with music by EJack) encourages you to wear long johns, I think they can be kind of sexy especially if you can get a good ass silhouette and a nice front shape. The white thermal ones are the sexiest. Please don’t wear anything too over designed, if you don’t want those queens to grill you. “Strip down to your Long Johns and union suits for this edition of the always sexy RuffHouse...get your long underwear on and lose your inhibitions, it might be cold out but this one is gonna get HOT.”  —Abi

I just watched the You Look Good music video and it’s so much fun, so many familiar faces, dancing all naked having a great time. Just made me wonder why don’t people take their clothes off more often and have these kinds of parties with their friends — dancing nude is so liberating. Tits, dicks and balls flopping around, it’s just so great. This is the official release party for Dalin’s video You Look Good. I’d recommend you to do your research about his music cause I am not writing a music review, but he is gonna be performing at this event! I am mainly writing this to tell you to go to this fun party. I have a feeling it’s gonna feel similar to the music video, but the only thing is they’ll have clothes on. Here’s the deal, “you are invited to step into our world of love, dance, celebration, and of course Music!!! Dalin is putting on big big show where anything could happen…” Lots of happy queer people with great energy involved in this event. Music and performances from Bridget Barkan, Asa Lovechild, Charlie Sheena, Rify Royalty, Shane O’neill, Elizabeth James, Machine Dazzle. DJs David Sokolowski and DJ Dandylion.“Bring your fantasies, your moves, your love, and your booty...” and your molly...  —Abi

I live for some Erykah Badu. She’s been busy lately, having just released a new mixtape (which is brilliant) and also hosting the Soul Train Awards (a bad night for Iggy Azalea — google it if you don’t know what I’m talking about). She is one of the best live performers I have ever seen, and is as talented telling a joke as she is at singing her songs. This Wednesday, December 2 is your chance to see the queen perform in her hometown of Brooklyn at the Kings Theatre. Tickets are sold out, but their are a bunch available at Stubhub, starting at $145. I know that’s a little pricey, but trust me it’s worth it, besides, you’re not a bag lady (see what I did there) you can afford it, treat yourself to some Baduizm.  —tom

We had a chance to go to an early screening of the film Carol, Todd Haynes’ romantic period film starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. The film has dominated the Film Independent Spirit Award nominations announced Tuesday, earning six major nominations and is likely to earn Blanchett an Oscar nomination. It’s a lesbian love story, based on the 1952 book called The Price of Salt, which was trailblazing in that it gave the gay characters a relatively happy ending, something that was unheard of in the 50s (gays normally ended up dead or in jail — thanks for that straight people!). The plot of Carol begins when “Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara) spots the beautiful, elegant Carol (Cate Blanchett) perusing the doll displays in a 1950s Manhattan department store. The two women develop a fast bond that becomes a love with complicated consequences.” When we left the room, we realized it was too early in the day to see this film — we got sort of sad and confused whether the film was invigorating or depressing. At 2pm we went to have a few glasses of red wine to process how we really felt about this film. It was a straightforward story, filled with real emotions, elegantly shot, subtlety touching, a tad long but Miss Carol turned us out.  —t&a