Category Archives: Celebrity
Lady Bunny and Bianca Del Rio Team up for Hateful Hags
Hateful, sassy and sometimes lewd and crude! Lady Bunny and Bianca Del Rio team up for a Vimeo event called HATEFUL HATES NETWORK.
(From INSTINCT Magazine)- For drag performers, performing during these challenging times has proven to cause performers to be beyond inventive. From shows direct from their living rooms to Brandon Voss’ Drive ‘N Drag nationwide series, queens have managed to keep their art alive and thriving during this time. Sherry Vine & Jackie Beat for example, have continued their famed Battle of the Bitches shows live online, (the most recent was the Halloween themed Battle of the Witches) and another famed duo is about to hit our small screens with their own patented brand of twisted comedy.
Legendary Wigstock creator/DJ/drag legend Lady Bunny and RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 6 winner turned stand up drag sensation Bianca Del Rio are co-anchoring HHN: Hateful Hags Network, a roast/cable news channel hybrid, where they will be delivering everything from filthy jokes to a a musical number, in only the way this duo can. They promise equal opportunity hate for RuPaul’s Drag Race queens from all seasons, tossing in some costume changes and…a surprise guest?
Lady Bunny exclusively tells EW “Enough with COVID and politics. It’s time for something really important… back-stabbing drag queens!” while Bianca Del Rio adds: “Due to COVID, some ‘Drag Race’ queens have opened OnlyFans accounts. Bunny and I would never do that. Not because of any moral objections — because we’re ugly!”
Tune in to ‘HHH: Hateful Hags Network’ on Thursday, November 12th at 8PM EST. Tickets are $9.99 at Vimeo.
NYC Pride June 25th 2020 Live Stream
NYC Pride and our partners at WABC Channel 7 are proud to announce a special broadcast event on Sunday, June 28, 2020, from 12:00 to 2:00 pm to mark the 50th anniversary of the first Pride March held in 1970.
In this unique year, NYC Pride is committed to saluting front-line workers alongside several leaders in the community being honored as Grand Marshals: Dan Levy, The Ali Forney Center, Yanzi Peng, and Victoria Cruz.
While it may be a different type of celebration, the tradition of commemorating the LGBTQIA+ movement will continue!
The special will feature performances by Janelle Monáe, Deborah Cox, Billy Porter, Luísa Sonza and more.
Expect to see appearances by Wilson Cruz, Miss Richfield 1981, Margaret Cho and others. WABC’s very own Ken Rosato and Lauren Glassberg will be joined by special guest co-host Carson Kressley, along with correspondents Sam Champion and Kemberly Richardson.
James Bidgood at Museum of Sex

James Bidgood was born in Madison, Wisconsin in 1933, at the height of the Depression. From the time of his arrival in New York at 18 years old, he immersed himself in the underground worlds of drag, hustling, and pornography. In the 1950s, Bidgood was a drag queen and set and lighting designer at the legendary New York nightclub Club 82. He attended Parsons School of Design, and went on to design elaborate costumes for society balls, among other jobs that would come to inform his art.
In the 1960s, he turned his attention to “physique photography,” the highly-coded gay pornography of the time, where he found creative freedom, an eager audience, and his own groundbreaking artistic voice. Bidgood was proudly and uncompromisingly “out” during a pre-Stonewall moment when rapid social change around gender roles and sexuality coexisted with widespread hostility and discrimination against homosexuality. His work stands as a crucial link in the history of queer art and cinema, as historically important as it is visually ravishing.
Extraordinarily, almost the entirety of Bidgood’s work was shot in his tiny Hell’s Kitchen tenement. Bidgood literally lived in his sets, and used colored lighting, homemade props, and a variety of clever illusions—from the ingenious use of forced perspective to complex, Rube Goldberg like mechanisms that operated moving sets, fans, or lights—to create impressionistic wonderlands.
The culmination of this work was Pink Narcissus, a dreamily erotic feature-length film depicting the allegorical fantasies of a gay prostitute, and shot almost entirely in the same apartment. Upon its release in 1971, Pink Narcissus was an immediate underground hit, but due to creative disagreements between Bidgood and the film’s producer, Bidgood took his name off the credits, and the film was released anonymously. While rumors flew that the film had been made by a major, presumably closeted Hollywood celebrity, Bidgood remained in obscurity.
Since his rediscovery in the 1990s, Bidgood’s work, made for the worlds of mail-order pornography and midnight cinema, has been exhibited in such prestigious venues as The National Portrait Gallery, The Brooklyn Museum, and the Musée d’Orsay, and is included in vaunted collections such as the Tate Modern, London and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Alongside Bidgood’s remarkable photographs, this exhibition brings together a variety of ephemera from his extraordinary life, from vintage physique magazines, showing the original context of the work, to vintage photos from Bidgood’s time as drag queen Terry Howe at Club 82—all evidence of an extraordinary, productive, and utterly uncompromising life.
‘James Bidgood: Reveries’will be on view through September 8th, 2019.
All images courtesy of The Museum of Sex. Full color images courtesy of ClampArt New York.
MUSEUM OF SEX
233 Fifth Avenue (@ 27th Street)
New York, NY 10016
(212) 689-6337
MUSEUM HOURS:
Sunday thru Thursday 10:30 am to 11pm.
Last entry is 9pm
Friday & Saturday 10:30 am to 12am.
Last entry is 10pm
Last ticket sold 2 hours before closing
I’m From Driftwood Gala March 27
VISION
I’m From Driftwood envisions a world where every lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer person feels understood and accepted, and every straight person is an ally.
MISSION
I’m From Driftwood aims to help LGBTQ people learn more about their community, straight people learn more about their neighbors and everyone learn more about themselves through the power of storytelling and story sharing.
Increasing empathy and empowering individuals is accomplished by creating an apolitical forum for LGBTQ stories from every age, race, gender, background and culture. The stories deepen our understanding of each other, preserve history, and open hearts and minds.
VALUES
The most personal and meaningful stories are shared when the storyteller is in a trust-worthy, welcoming, judgment-free environment. I’m From Driftwood strives to create that environment on every level, whether you’re a long-time supporter at one of IFD’s events or a first-time visitor to the site. Be yourself, be comfortable and let’s get to know each other.
Grace Jones June 29th @ World Pride NYC
THE AMAZING Grace Jones will take center stage for an unforgettable day of music on Saturday, June 29th at Pier 97. Jones is most famously known for her post-disco dance track “Pull Up to the Bumper,” and an array of features in motion pictures including “Conan the Destroyer,” “Vamp,” and the 1992 classic, “Boomerang.”
In 2017 NYC Pride evolved Dance on the Pier, a 30+ year institution, into a new multi-day LGBTQIA+ cultural experience named Pride Island. After a hugely successful two consecutive years, NYC Pride is excited to bring Pride Island to Hudson River Park’s, Pier 97, in the heart of Hells Kitchen. This event showcases everyone from legendary soul singers to indie pop bands, this new inclusive experience creates a central hub for the LGBTQ community to celebrate Pride. This event has a legendary history of attracting the biggest performers for any Pride event in the world. Previous performers have included Cher, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson, Demi Lovato, Years & Years, Tegan & Sara, Tove Lo, and the late Whitney Houston.
Don’t miss the biggest live music event in NYC Pride history and help us give back to the broader community! NYC Pride will be selecting nonprofits within the local New York City area to receive grants as part of this community-driven event. Pride Island serves as a fundraiser to help NYC Pride raise crucial funds to help produce a multitude of free events such as our new Youth Pride, Family Movie Night, PrideFest, The March, The Rally and many more!
Tickets are selling fast! Over 3 Million people are expected into NYC that weekend!
GET TICKETS!
Nick Adams Facebook Page
The wonderfully charming and delightful (and sexy) triple threat on Broadway, NICK ADAMS is touring now with the Tony Award Winning FALSETTO’S!!! #cantwait! And recently you are able to see him on Comedy Central’s THE OTHER TWO!
He has over 23,000 fans on Twitter, but only 7000+ on FB – so I am asking my network, to LIKE his page, to help get his numbers up! This guy is so awesome and amazing! And a little bird told me, he has a CD in the works! (Which I have been telling him for 6 years, he needs one!).
World Pride NYC The Gayest Day of the Year!
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The Largest LGBTQIA+ Street Festival in New York City!
All eyes will be on New York City as we commemorate 50 years of the Stonewall Uprising. Our attendees are from all five boroughs and beyond making PrideFest the single best opportunity for businesses to connect directly with the LGBTQIA+ community.
SHADE Queens of NYC
Where have I been?
My friend PAIGE TURNER asked if I saw her on SHADE – Somehow this flew under my radar until now! Apologies!
Relationships, community, family, and faith are in the spotlight in Shade: Queens of NYC, a docu-follow-musical-reality show that explores what happens to New York’s fiercest, funniest drag queens as they vie for fame, fortune, and love.
Shade: Queens of NYC reveals a side of drag life beyond the usual glam, glitz, and next-level lip syncing, instead focusing on what happens to our queens when the wigs come off.
The cast of queens includes: Justin Nako/Chelsea Piers, Chris Yoon/Jasmine Rice LaBeija, William Bailey/Jada Valenciaga, Nathan McManus/Holly Box-Springs, Kristian Seeber/Tina Burner, Marti Gould Cummings/Marti Gould Cummings, Daniel Kelley/Paige Turner, and Jesse Havea/Brita Filter.
Catch up on YouTube if ya missed it!
Harvey Fierstein’s TORCH SONG Limited Run

I am SO LUCKY, that as a young gay boy about 22 years old, I think it was 1982, I made it to New York city (from small town Michigan) and got into Studio 54 for an amazing evening and also got to see Harvey Fierstein on Broadway in Torch Song Trilogy with Mathew Broderick and Estelle Getty! ( I had read about the show in After Dark magazine, and seeing the show was the primary reason for my trip).
In that eye opening trip to the big apple I saw amazing clubs that are no longer around. I also met Andy Warhol on that trip! All the things I had read about NYC were true! What a trip! My little gay life would never be the same!
Harvey and the story left such an impression on my soul. I followed Harvey’s career over the years and saw his works whenever I could. He is genius to me, and “an icon.”
So I was THRILLED beyond belief to see Torch Song, a compact version of Torch Song Trilogy, make it to the stage in New York!
And with Michael Urie no less! Who I met in Chicago when he performed “Buyer & Cellar”. He is so wonderfully talented.
It’s magical that Torch Song is at the Hayes Theater, on it’s 35th anniversary, on the same Broadway stage where the Tony Award-winning premiere forever changed the face of popular entertainment. Along with the talented Drama Desk Award Winner Michael Urie, Academy Award winner Mercedes Ruehl shines are Arnold’s mother.
Torch Song Trilogy won Tonys for Best Play and Best Actor in a Play for Fierstein. 3 years on Broadway, it was truly a landmark show!
I am sure most of you know the story, but there may be some younger people reading who do not know the story; This show is fiercely funny and heart-wrenching. Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song follows Arnold
Beckoff’s (Mr. Urie) odyssey to find happiness in New York. All he wants is a husband, a child, and a pair of bunny slippers that fit, but a visit from his overbearing mother (Ms. Ruehl) reminds him that he needs one thing more: respect.
This story was of Arnold’s struggle to be accepted as a young Jewish gay man living in New York City in the late 1970s and ’80s. What’s amazing, in some ways, is that it was powerful then to me; this is pre AIDS, pre gay marriage, PRE EVERYTHING and today the story is still just as powerful.
“Forty years after writing Torch Song, it still speaks to audiences making them laugh and weep and happy,” says Fierstein in a statement. “Unbelievable. And to now return to the theater where it played all those years ago… Beyond wishes… Beyond dreams.. Beyond the most outrageous fantasy.”
“A great play makes you think, and what’s going on in the White House is always in the back of our minds,” Urie told NewNowNext about the timeliness of the revival. “We’re all confused, terrified, and clinging to each other, so Arnold, the ultimate caretaker, is the kind of friend we need right now. Yes, he’s flawed, but he has so much heart and compassion.”
I urge you to see this brilliant show, if you haven’t already! LIMITED RUN!!
Join Arnold on this all too human journey about the families we’re born into, the families we choose, and the battles to bring them all home.
Torch Song is playing at the Hayes Theater at 240 West 44th Street.
Directed by Tony Award nominee Moisés Kaufman
www.torchsongbroadway.com
CHER The new CD and Tour!
SEE THAT GIRL…
WATCH THAT GIRL…
SHE’S THE DANCING QUEEN!
She’s back! At 72 and going strong!
The one and only Cher will released Dancing Queen last week, a new album of all Abba hits by Warner Bros. Records.
The Oscar, Emmy and Grammy Award winning icon was inspired to record the album following her stunning performance in the recently-released mega-hit film, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
Commented Cher: “I’ve always liked Abba and saw the original Mamma Mia musical on Broadway three times. After filming Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, I was reminded again of what great and timeless songs they wrote and started thinking ‘why not do an album of their music?’ The songs were harder to sing than I imagined but I’m so happy with how the music came out. I’m really excited for people to hear it. It’s a perfect time.”
Dancing Queen was recorded and produced in London and Los Angeles with Cher‘s longtime collaborator Mark Taylor, who previously produced Cher‘s global smash “Believe” which was number one in over 50 countries. And it does not disappoint! I truly love the last song on CD I think the best, “One of Us”.
Cher is scheduled to be awarded a Kennedy Center Honor on December 2nd in Washington DC.
She is a co-producer of the The Cher Show, the upcoming Broadway musical opening on December 3rd ( we saw it in Chicago and LOVED IT!) 35 smash hits! Info here.
She is currently performing a residency at MGM Resorts. Get tickets HERE!
NEW TOUR – The Here We Go Again Tour is the seventh solo concert tour by American singer-actress Cher in support of her twenty-sixth studio album Dancing Queen. It is the first time the singer tours Oceania since her Living Proof: The Farewell Tour in 2005. The tour started on September 21, 2018 and will finish on May 18, 2019.
Cities with Ticket links HERE
RuPauls DragCon 2018 NYC!
During the final weekend of September, tens of thousands of people will fill New York’s Javits Center. Many will be dressed in colorful wigs and fierce heels; they’ll flock to panels for over-the-top makeup tutorials and fashion runway shows. Others will wait in line to meet former contestants from hit reality TV show “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” and they’ll buy merchandise such as “Charisma” pins and “Oh, Pit Crew!” underwear. All this for a $40-a-day ticket.
Welcome to DragCon, or more specifically, RuPaul’s Dragcon, the multimillion-dollar extravaganza that’s the drag industry’s answer to comic con.
Debuted on the West Coast in 2015 off the success of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” DragCon now happens twice a year: September in New York — Sept. 28 through 30 this year — and May in Los Angeles, California. And it’s become big business.
“In New York at the Javitz Convention Center, DragCon sold out its first year” in 2017, Fenton Bailey, executive producer of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and co-creator of DragCon with fellow executive producer Randy Barbato, tells CNBC Make It. Andre Charles, better known as RuPaul, is a partner in DragCon, according to the company.
Last September, at the New York and Los Angeles conventions, over $8 million worth of merchandise — particularly wigs, makeup and “Drag Race” merchandise such as T-shirts — sold on the convention floor, he says. That doesn’t include the $40 entrance fee ($70 for the whole weekend) each of the 35,000 attendees had to pay in N.Y.C.
In its near decade on the air, it’s not only entertained, it has also helped introduce much of America to drag and its community. The show features contestants outside of their drag clothes, talking about personal hardships like being unaccepted in society or their family. In addition to Emmys, in 2010 the show won Outstanding Reality Program at the GLAAD Media Awards, for fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBTQ community and surrounding issues.
Read more about the Money Making Sensation HERE
THREE DAYS OF ART, POP CULTURE, AND ALL THINGS DRAG – SEPTEMBER 28, 29, AND 30
JAVITS CENTER
Broadway Bares Raises $1.8 MILLION
Sexy seamen were ready to sink Battleships, frolicsome friends played “Striptionary,” and a rambunctious round of flashlight tag involved the entire audience during the steamy evening of sensational stripteases at Broadway Bares: Game Night.
This year’s record-breaking edition of the annual spectacular raised $1,875,090 with two standing-room-only performances at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom.
Produced by and benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Game Night gave your ordinary night out a tantalizing twist with striptease production numbers inspired by beloved board, video, and arcade games.
Check out more photos on Gay Cities