BY TRAV S.D. | For Black History Month, a brief introduction to the Hyers Sisters—pathbreaking black singers and actors whom I only just learned about while putting together my recent post on bandmaster Patrick Gilmore, who booked them for the World’s Peace Jubilee and International Musical Festival in 1872. It has been plausibly claimed that the Hyers Sisters […]
BY MICHAEL MUSTO | As a professional talking head, I’m in virtually every documentary known to man—whether it be about club kids, Fashion Week, or the bald lady from the first Star Trek film—but I’ve never been the subject of my own doc, and it’s not for lack of trying. Sure, my flaws and lapses […]
BY JOEY DAYTONA | The idea to drive up to Plymouth, Massachusetts for Thanksgiving came up at a Halloween party in the West Village. I’d met some interesting people at DJ Spooky’s birthday party at Damon Dash’s gallery in Tribeca years ago and stayed in touch with an amazingly creative couple. I’d mentioned to them […]
BY MICHAEL MUSTO | Women’s issues are prominently being felt, particularly the appalling way that society tends to treat them as obsolete when they hit a certain age. In the movies, The Substance is an over-the-top sci-fi romp about a celebrity (played by Demi Moore) who tries to outsmart the aging process and stay relevant […]
BY CHARLI BATTERSBY | For November 10’s Jewish Comics Experience (JewCE), I dressed as Supergirl. There aren’t many cosplayers at small, one-day comic conventions like this. But I always cosplay at cons. And I have to be on good behavior when I’m dressed like Supergirl; wearing that big red “S” on my chest obligates me […]
BY TRAV S.D. | There’s a lot going on at the moment, so you can perhaps be forgiven for missing news about the upcoming Geraldine Page centennial. The widely respected stage and screen actress, who passed away in 1987, would be turning 100 this coming November 22. To mark the occasion, Torn Page, the family-run […]
Between Two Worlds | BY PUMA PERL The day after, 2016. Sky, gray, colorless. Lower East Side streets silent, locked down. Nobody knew what to say, where to look. “Good Morning” greetings sounded almost obscene. Last night, rather than witness the country turning red, I decided to walk my dog, Fae. Through the Vladek […]
BY CHARLI BATTERSBY | The subway ride home from New York Comic Con (NYCC) is always an adventure. The 7 train leaves from Hudson Yards, half a block from the Javits Center. Most of the people who board the train there are coming straight from the con. I sat down on the subway bench in […]
Life before the Presidential Election The autumn dawn jolts her out of sleep. She skims the paper, barely reading headlines. Still, the newsprint soils her hands. Finding the housekeys she lost minutes ago, she feels the jagged edges that unlock home. Canada, Australia, Ireland. Words swirling in her mind like incantations. Pedestrians shuffle […]
BY MICHAEL MUSTO | Like an embarrassing itch, Broadway jukebox musicals just won’t seem to go away. Whether they tell the life story of the musical artist whose hits they use (like The Cher Showand Tina) or they string those songs together to construct a fictional, unrelated narrative (like Mamma Mia! or The Heart of […]