Wowie zowie, the party for my debut photo book, PAGES, was a smasheroo success!

More reporting to come.  In the meanwhile, this great write-up at Next Magazine‘s website by Wil Fisher sums things up nicely!

I hope you can join me for the release party for my debut photo book, PAGES.
I wanted some place fancy—So I chose the Cock!
It’s a Happy Hour affair—Wednesday, November 13th, from 7 to 10pm.
The party, like the book, is an homage to Page.  (Or is it crass exploitation? You decide.)
Linda

P.S.
After selling out at the NY Art Book Fair, PAGES is now available at stores.  See list below.

Wednesday, Nov 13th – 7 to 10pm – The Cock, 29 Second Ave * No Cover // 2-for-1 Drinks

PAGES IS NOW AVAILABLE AT STORES,
INCLUDING THESE NYC LOCATIONS

Artbook at PS1
Dashwood, 33 Bond St
Love Shine, 543 E 6th St 
McNally Jackson, 52 Prince St
Printed Matter, 195 Tenth Ave
St Mark’s Bookshop, 31 Third Ave

More Stores to Come!

Mail-order copies available at Peradam

Usually it’s a drag-filled week leading up to Halloween.  This year it was TWO weeks, with my friend Angela DiCarlo throwing a fab costume party in mid-October. 

For about the millionth time, I wore my always-fetching mini-skirt hajib.  Although I prefer to call it a burqa.

A week later it was off to PS1 for a party sponsored by Candy Magazine, which exalts gender-bending as chic and fashionable.  For Sylvia London and I, it was Burqa 2.0.  (I loaned her my extra!)

Upon arriving, we discovered the party was sold out so we had to sign up for the waiting list.  But we managed to entertain ourselves hanging out in the lobby.

Finally,  with only an hour left of the party, we were told we could enter—at full price!  I yelled some subversive stuff about “Revolution!” and “Art for the masses!,” and then we left, giggling all the way to the subway(!)   The party—a drag ball—didn’t look that super anyway.  Barely anyone was in drag!  Like, duh.

Then on Halloween Eve, it was time to recreate Wigstock in Tompkins Square Park for an indie movie called My Dead Boyfriend, based on the novel Dog Run.  Speaking of dogs—Too easy!—I got the job through Lady Bunny (woof!), who, of course was Wigstock’s host and organizer.

At last came Halloween.  I hung out in Hell’s Kitchen, where my burqa was admired by all!

Next year, I’ll wear a new costume, I swear!  (But that doesn’t mean you won’t see me in my burqa for other holidays and outings.)

Downtown New York has lost a couple of iconic figures.

Codie Leone, a.k.a. Codie Ravioli, who first made a splash on the NYC nightlife in the late 1980s, died very unexpectedly this week, from heart failure, while walking her dogs in the East Village.

Codie had a fascinating story.  She started out her life as a male in Ozone Park, Queens, and by age 19 had fathered three sons.  But soon after, it was bye-bye Queens, hello Manhattan, where she began transitioning and living full-time as a woman.  (When she died, she was in the process of shooting a reality TV show about reconnecting with her sons.)

When I met Codie, circa 1988, she was one of the “Boybar Beauties,” the troupe of drag-queens and trannies that used to perform extravagant shows at the Boybar nightclub on St. Mark’s Place.  She was also a salesperson at Patricia Field, where everyone shopped for their trendy drag and clubwear fashions.   When she died, she was back working at the store as a hairdresser.

I must admit I was intimidated by Codie at first.  She was fashionable and fierce, and I always felt like a dork around her.  But then I realized she was quite genuine and friendly as I got to know her, especially over the past few years when she would style wigs for me and we’d hang out and chat.  She had a husky voice to go along with her feminine features, and I liked her New York frankness.  She was a fun-loving person, with tons of friends from the nightlife, the fashion world, even her old neighborhood—She was a major part of many people’s lives.  I’ve been thinking about her a lot, and I really miss her.

Shorty after Codie’s departure, came news of the death of Lou Reed, “the godfather of punk.”  

Coincidentally, I had just finished reading Please Kill Me (published in 1996), an oral history about the birth and growth of punk rock, in which Reed figures prominently, including as the lead singer of the incredible Velvet Underground.  (The band’s song “Heroin” has got to one of the most powerful songs of all time.)

The book mentions Reed’s long-time relationship with a transgender woman, and, as I read the book, I was struck in general by the amount of queerness in early punk—Andy Warhol’s clique of misfits, the New York Dolls and the gender-bending glitter rock scene, bisexual David Bowie, trans rocker Jayne County, freewheeling writer William Burroughs, and Ramones producer Danny Fields and various others who embraced and created an incredible alternative music scene.  The 1970s gay scene is so associated with disco, but early punk also had it’s homo side.

By all accounts, Lou was a real curmudgeon, a tell-it-like-is type.   Just like Codie in a way, although she wasn’t grumpy.  Both of them make me want to be more forthcoming in my own life.  In many situations I feel like I bite my tongue to be polite, but I think it’s time I start speaking my mind—not to be vindictive or rude, but to be authentic.  Life is short, why hold back?  I’m a trannie punk and I’ve got something to say!

I’m hardly a beauty expert, but I was happy to share my opinions about how drag looks have changed over the years for a new article in Beautylish.com.

My insights are accompanied by pix from The Drag Explosion, my photo capsule of NYC’s gender-bending scene from the late 1980 to the mid ’90s.  I call the era “B.C.” for “before contouring,” when makeup was much more “natural” compared to today’s contour craze. 

See what I mean?  I like the modern look, but I do think the heavy facial definition has a tendency to produce queeny clones.

The article is by Stella Rose Saint Claire.  When we got together, we figured out that we had first met several years ago at a mutual friend’s party in Seattle.  Since then, Stella has moved to NYC and established herself as one of the most stylish gals in town.  (She updates about her fab life on Twitter.)

Another glamour girl responsible for the article is Bec Stupak, the creative director of Beautylish.  The former New Yorker is now living in Los Angeles and spreading beauty worldwide!

There’s nothing as powerful as the Feminine Mystique!

Oh, no!  Monday Night Bingo is no more at Hotel Chantelle!

Oh well, it was a great run for over a year…  But time to move on!

More information about new Bingo ventures to come!

(And I still have my Saturday gig, Le Bingo, at Le Poisson Rouge!)