GAYLETTER

Here’s something fun to do over the weekend while it’s still nice outside. There’s a pop-up photography village in Brooklyn Bridge Park called Photoville. Exhibitions are housed in 65 shipping containers spread across the park. There’s two exhibitions that really caught my eye. First is Misha Friedman’s “The Iron Curtain” (pictured) which documents how “Russian LGBT youth live in a country that vilifies homosexuality.” It’s a very important collection of photos that have even been recognized by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Second is Jeff Sheng’s “Fearless” which features 200 LGBT student athletes between 2003-2015. “The series was just published as a personal memoir and photography book with an afterword essay by retired NBA basketball player Jason Collins.” Along with these amazing exhibitions there’s so much more going on in the park during Photoville’s two week run. There’s nightly “outdoor projection programs; site-specific works; tents with vendors, publishers and gear demonstrators, panel discussions, talks and workshops; and a food & beer garden by Smorgasburg and Brooklyn Brewery.” Sounds hot.  —tom

So apparently it’s NY Fashion Week, yeah I know, weird right? I’m still hungover and covered in sand from last weekend — I have no idea how I’m going to pull myself together for all the upcoming parties. Maybe I won’t! Maybe I’ll just watch Netflix in bed all week and save myself for Saturday for the latest edition of Wrecked. This is a special one. The legendary artist Wolfgang Tilmans (pictured) is DJing along with the Wrecked crew (Ryan Smith + Ron Like Hell), Michael Magnan and Sean B. Hosts include Ashton Anders, Michael Bullock and Stewart Uoo. Wrecked parties are always a lot of fun. Expect a lot of dancing, lots of boys, sweat, bodies, booze, poppers…the usual suspects. Come early, stay late. Fuck fashion week and retarded PR white girls with bad attitude, this is the only party you need to be at! Click here for advance tickets.  —tom

This is the 4th annual festival of Drag in Bushwick, Bushwig. It’s a super creative and brilliant event with over 100 performers that celebrates the “whole spectrum of drag, performance and queer music.” You will seriously see things you’ve never seen before. If you want to be able to say you’ve seen original drag queens, then this is a place for you to go. I would say that the only thing similar to this that exists in NYC is Wigstock, which was an outdoor drag festival that happened in the 1980s in Manhattan’s East Village — there’s an amazing documentary about it, google it, you must watch that too. So back to this event which sounds, cray cray, “The main event is all ages and being held outdoors. Friday night there will be a special Bushwig ball that will crown Mz. Bushwig 2015 and a secret afterparty will be held on the Saturday night...” Check their Facebook page for updates. Some of the highlights include: BBQ, Crafts, Photo Booth, Lady Bunny, No Bra, Macy Rodman, Chae Buttuh, Eartheater and Bushwick’s very own Horrochata, Babes Trust, Untitled Queen, Merrie Cherrie (Dragnet) & Cherry Pepsi, plus, a live performance by Bottoms and so much more...  —Abi

Take the day off work and head to Jacob Riis Beach in Queens for a day of sun and sand, large naked lesbians, hot Latinos with giant subwoofers, fresh made cocktails hand-delivered by sketchy looking dudes and hot hipster boys in speedos as far as the eye can see. We have visited the beach the last two weekends in a row (with our friend Charlie) and couldn’t recommend it more highly. Fuck Fire Island, fuck the Hamptons, Riis is where it’s at. It’s close enough to Brooklyn and the city that it makes day trips ridiculously easy. The water is perfect, the crowd is as diverse as it gets and the cruising is bananas. The beach is long, but the spot to be at is in front of the abandoned mental hospital (lol) on your left, if you’re facing the water. It’s the perfect backdrop to the rowdy crowd that take over the sand. Be careful while you’re there the cops love to find any opportunity to write tickets, mainly for drinking, or peeing in the long grass. Enjoy those sun rays while we still have them!  —tom

I hate talking like this, but it is what it is — summer is nearly over. I know, I don’t like to think about it either, but at least if we’re aware of it, we can take advantage of every warm day we have left. Which is why we suggest you take the opportunity to attend the last Warm-Up for the season. It’s a good one! Closing out the series is the Long Beach rapper Vince Staples (he's so hot! pictured) along with electronic musicians Derrick May, Clark, Dan Bodan and Season. It’s a long weekend, and it’s the last one so the crowd is probably going to go HAM. Sneak in some booze to avoid the long lines at the bar, and wear a diaper to avoid the long lines at the porta-potties. If you’re anything like us you somehow missed every Warm-Up until now. Not to fear, they saved the best till last. See you there homo!  —tom

Yo Yunique! Thanks for your email. I got it. Yunique wanted us all to know about this party she’s putting together with Neon Christina, and Tygapaw (Fake Accent). Yunique is “a queer female identified Jamaican artist living in NYC. I’m apart of a collective with 2 other Jamaican queers labeled “Bruk 0ut!” An organization  focused on elevating the Caribbean culture within the community.” I am from the Caribbean too, yes Dominicano, so I just got super excited. On their Facebook page the party is described as “a Caribbean Queer Basement For the Massive!” You gotta trust me with this one, this is gonna be a good party. Especially with this line-up of DJS: Juliana Huxtable and Joey Labeija as headliners, then, TYGAPAW, SHYBØI and BattyJack. Don’t come to this party tired or with an attitude, that’s not gonna work. Alright! Loosen up, get ready to get your pussy reset (more about this later), see you there! “Unno Ready?”  —Abi