Camille Paglia
Adam Rodriguez
Aiden Turner
Ashley Peldon
Christopher Meloni
Clark Gregg
DeeDee Magno
Emmylou Harris
Jesse Plemons
Keren Woodward
Lee DeWyze
Linda Hunt
Michael Fassbender
Reggie Smith
Rodney King
Roselyn Sanchez
Yung Joc
The post April 2: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch! appeared first on The WOW Report.
April 2, 1945 – For 35 years, I have much admired the work of Lydia Susanna Hunter, who uses the professional name Linda Hunt. I am just zany for small people and Hunt is nothing, if not diminutive at just 4’9”. Like Jessica Lange in American Horror Story, Glenn Close in Damages or Robin Wright in House Of Cards, LHunt lends major acting cred to the cast of a television series. She plays quirky Hetty Lange, an M-type character, on the immensely popular NCIS Los Angeles, a series, I admit, I have never viewed, sorry Ms.Hunt.
Hunt, a lesbian in real life, should be beloved by gay people for playing Billy Kwan in The Year Of Living Dangerously (1982), a very fine film co-starring Sigourney Weaver and a pre-insane, not yet antisemetic, still very hot Mel Gibson. The role won Hunt an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. This was the first Oscar won by someone portraying a member of the opposite sex. I’m not talking about a turn like Barbra Streisand’s in Yentl, a girl playing a boy; Hunt actually convincingly portrays a male character. Her performance is complex and deeply touching.
When you think of an Academy Award winning actor who is an out and proud lesbian married to a woman, Jodie Foster is probably the first, or even only name that comes to mind (there is also Melissa Etheridge, as Sam Smith reminded me at this year’s Oscar broadcast). She notably won over Cher, who was up for her portrayal of Meryl Streep‘s lesbian best friend in Silkwood. I like to imagine how different the past Academy Awards might have landed if Hunt had played the Cate Blanchett role in Carol. That would have livened things up a bit.
Hunt studied at the famed Goodman School Of Drama. She had her film debut in Robert Altman‘s zany musical movie, Popeye (1980). Other credits include the school principal in Kindergarten Cop (1990), filmed in Oregon, where I reside, plus the lesbian Alice B. Toklas in the underrated Waiting For The Moon (1987), plus dozens of other films, some excellent and others dreadful. But, Hunt’s contribution is always craft-worthy, original and interesting.
Hunt has received two Obie Awards (a sort of Tony Award for Off-Broadway), plus a Tony nomination for End Of The World (1984). She created the role of Aunt Dan in the terrific Wallace Shawn‘s biting comedy Aunt Dan And Lemon (1985). She portrayed Sister Aloysius in the 2005 Pasadena Playhouse production of Doubt. Hunt also appeared as Pope Joan in Caryl Churchill‘s Top Girls (1982) at London’s Royal Court Theatre.
Television has been kind to Hunt with memorable roles on The Practice (1997-2004) and HBO’s Carnivàle (2003-06) before landing the gig as Henrietta “Hetty” Lange on NCIS: Los Angeles, which recently reached its 150th episode. It’s interesting that she’s been an out of the closet actor for most of her career, but she is rarely on a list of out and proud LGBTQ stars.
Hunt is one of those working actors that I always admire. I wonder if she sings; she would be simply mesmerizing in a Vegas show. Hunt has been with her wife, Karen Klein, for 27 years. They married in 2008. The couple lives in a classic cute 1917 era Craftsman bungalow in Hollywood with their three dogs.
I think Hunt would make for a most interesting guest at a cocktail party.
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Naked activists stormed the London headquarters of HIV drug manufacturer Gilead, protesting what they described as the “extortionate price of medicines”. Five protesters removed all of their clothes to reveal letters spelling out G R E E D painted on their backs.
Around 30 other activists rallied outside, temporarily blockading the traffic, shouting “pharma greed kills”. The protest was part of a “globally coordinated day of action against pharmaceutical greed”, with similar protests taking place in cities around the world.
Gilead Sciences is the manufacturer of Truvada, the antiretroviral drug used widely in the prevention of HIV. Last month NHS England stalled plans to make Truvada available as an HIV prevention drug through pre-exposure prevention (PrEP) treatment. An NHS study showed it can drastically reduce the chance of HIV infection by up to 86 percent.
Alex Craddock, 24, linked this to his decision to join the protest, adding:
“I felt outraged and let down by the decision. It’s not just NHS cuts, but the cost of these drugs. Pharmaceutical greed is blocking my access to PrEP. My health and that of many of my friends shouldn’t be at risk simply because these companies choose to put profit before people.”
Dani Singer of ACT UP London said,
“The public won’t be taken for fools by ‘Big Pharma’ anymore! Globally, more than two billion people do not have regular access to the critical medicines they need. This is one in three of the world’s population.
Every year, 10 million people die from diseases because drug pricing blocks access to effective treatments. One reason for this is the high cost of medicines under patent protection.”
Protester Jake Chambers added,
“We stand here naked, completely vulnerable, a state in which the current system leaves millions around the world. We also stand with bareness and honesty, and we demand that drug companies be exposed in the same way.”
(via Pink News)
The post #LGBTQ: Naked Protestors Occupy Truvada Makers’ Headquarters appeared first on The WOW Report.
Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku
Architect Zaha Hadid, whose designs include the London Olympic Aquatic Centre, died Thursday following a heart attack on Thursday in a Miami hospital. She was 65. The tributes to this amazing woman and her work have been pouring in.
She created such an incredible it’s hard to overstate how important she was to the world of architecture. Her first major commission in 1993, was the Vitra Fire Station in Weil am Rhein in Germany and her other creations include the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in London, the Riverside Museum at Glasgow’s Museum of Transport, and Guangzhou Opera House in China.
Hadid was born in Baghad, studied at Beirut University and left for London at the Architectural Association. In 1979 she set up her own company – Zaha Hadid Architects.
Here are just some of her greatest hits.
Vitra Fire Station, Weil Am Rhein, Germany
Bergisel Ski Jump, Innsbruck, Austria
London Aquatics Center
London Aquatics Center
Galaxy Soho, Beijing, China
Galaxy Soho, Beijing, China
Guangzhou Opera House, Guangzhou, China
Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London
BMW Central Building, Leipzig, Germany
Phaeno Science Centre, Wolfsburg, Germany
Hungerburg Station, Innsbruck, Austria
Collins Park Garage, Miami
Danjiang Bridge, Taiwan
Super-yacht design for Bloom + Voss
Below, her friends and colleagues commented on the sadness and suddenness of her passing.
“The Pritzker Family and the Pritzker Architecture Prize organization are deeply saddened by the passing of Dame Zaha Hadid. She was truly a pioneer in the field of architecture. The 2004 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate, she represents the highest aspirations of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. She also served on the jury for one year. Zaha Hadid will be remembered for her talent, creativity, commitment, loyalty and friendship.”
“I feel immensely privileged to have known Zaha as a very dear and loyal friend, as a confidante, and one of the most extraordinary talents of our time…. When my son was very young, Zaha showed him how to write his name in Arabic. It was the moment I realised the genesis of her remarkable architectural language. She was an extraordinary role model for women. She was fearless and a trailblazer – her work was brave and radical. Despite sometimes feeling misunderstood, she was widely celebrated and rightly so. I will miss her deeply as will the world of architecture.” –Amanda Levete
“Devastated by the loss of a great architect & colleague today. Her spirit will live on in her work and studio. Our hearts go out.” –Daniel Libeskind
“Dame Zaha Hadid was an inspirational woman, and the kind of architect one can only dream of being. Visionary and highly experimental, her legacy, despite her young age, is formidable… She leaves behind a body of work from buildings to furniture, footwear and cars, that delight and astound people all around the world. The world of architecture has lost a star today.” –Jane Duncan, President of RIBA
“She was a tough architect, which is needed as a woman at the top of her profession and at the height of her career. She will be sadly missed as an iconic leader in architecture and as a role model for women in architecture.” –Angela Brady, former President of RIBA
“So sad to hear of death of Zaha Hadid, she was an inspiration and her legacy lives on in wonderful buildings in Stratford & around the world.” –Mayor of London, Boris Johnson
“Sad news. She was astonishing, a groundbreaker, including as a powerful woman who showed that great architecture is not just a man’s game.” –critic, Michael Kimmelman
“I am so so so shocked, I have no words.” –Paola Antonelli, MoMA’s Senior Curator of Architecture & Design
“Shocked and deeply saddened to hear the news of Zaha Hadid’s death: one of the great architectural figures of our time.” –architecture critic, Paul Goldberger
“She was a great architect, a wonderful woman and wonderful person… Among architects emerging in the last few decades, no one had any more impact than she did. She fought her way through as a woman. She was the first woman to win the Pritzker prize.” –architect, Richard Rogers
“Architecture today lost one of it’s greatest. Zaha Hadid has died. Zaha was the current Norman R. Foster Visiting Professor at the Yale School of Architecture where she had taught regularly since 2001. She will be greatly, greatly, missed.” –Yale School of Architecture
“Zaha Hadid was, as her name signifies, made of steel. She had a radical vision and a particular sensibility about the world and she fought for its realization with courage against all odds. Her untimely passing makes us wonder what was yet to come. She will be missed.” –architect, Moshe Safdie
“I am devastated by the news of the loss of Zaha Hadid and cannot comprehend the enormity of her passing away. I became very close to her as a friend and colleague in parallel with my deep respect for her as an architect of immense stature and global significance… I think it was Zaha’s triumph to go beyond the beautiful graphic visions of her sculptural approach to architecture into reality that so upset some of her critics. She was an individual of great courage, conviction and tenacity. It is rare to find these qualities tied to a free creative spirit. That is why her loss is so profound and her example so inspirational. And, besides, she was my dear friend.” –architect, Norman Foster
(via Design Boom; ArchDaily)
The post Remembering Architect Zaha Hadid & the Amazing Work She Left Behind appeared first on The WOW Report.
Scooter LaForge, Cynthia Rowley & Jenny Dembrow
I was asked to participate by curator Natalie Kates in a worthy art auction to benefit The Lower Eastside Girls Club of New York. The event was Wednesday night at the Highline Loft in Chelsea and all of the proceeds went from the auction support Alphabet City Art School which offers free visual and digital arts programs to girls and young women in NYC’s Lower East Side.
I have to admit I didn’t know a lot of the artists (I know Linda Simpson, but she wasn’t there) but the ones I did know that were, like Scooter LaForge, were fun to hang out with. He was with Patricia Field, who told me April 12th is THE LAST day of her store. Pat just celebrated with an exhibit of a lot artists and designers at Howl Arts last Thursday night and the day after Rock Paper Scissors. A slew of the gang from Wednesday night, including Girl’s Club founder, Jenny Dembrow, and Pat all got to ring the bell at the NASDAQ, along my old pal Jody Morlock, Jody Morlock, who loaned her fab one-of-a-kind coats to DJ Donna D’Cruz.
One of the hosts of the event Cynthia Rowley and I have something in common that I had to share with her. It seems she has a gold baby grand piano and so do I, and not only that, I have a hay bale bench, designed by my friend Gaston Marticorena AND SO DOES SHE. Not only THAT, we both use ours as piano benches too. We decided that we the only members of this VERY small club.
My date Susan Kilkenny also had a bit of coincidence. She’s at the home magazine and website, Domino, and the next day she was set to do a studio visit of artist, Nic Rad. She went to show me his work, and there was the man in person.
My own piece was a chalkboard screened with a color by number line drawing that is mean to be drawn on and erased by the purchaser, so I had to encourage bidding as you’ll see below. It was a fun night that raised lots of much–need dough.
In 2013 the LESGC moved into a permanent Center for Community on Avenue D – a 30,000 sqare foot program space! They are dedicated to the advancement of girls with mentoring, wellness, arts, academic support and career training programs. To find out more, go here.
Patricia Field & Scooter in one of his hand-painted jackets
Scooter LaForge
Donna D’Cruz in Jody Morlock
Jody Morlock coat
Artist Nic Rad & Susan Kilkenny
Debbie Harry by Bob Gruen
Fred Tomaselli
Shepard Fairey
Chairman Trump by Knowledge Bennet
Elizabeth Winnel (my date, Susan, was the high bidder!
Zefrey Throwell
Diana Copperwhite
Wayne White
Swoon
Linda Simpson
Trey Speegle
The post “Rock Paper Scissors” Auction for LES Girl’s Club Brings Out a Flashy Art Crowd appeared first on The WOW Report.
There’s a special two-part Brill of it All this week, with your fairy god-babe Dianne Brill at New York Fashion Week, taking you behind the scenes to meet the designers, the models, and the makeup artists that bring the magic. First up, it’s the super-chic Georgine show. Watch as the ever-effervescant Di interviews the designer about what it takes to conquer the fashion industry.
Next up is The Blonds, always the MUST-SEE spectacle at the top of everyone’s fashion wish lists. The sequins! The beads! The corsets! It’s all BEYOND gorgeous. Dianne gets a sneak-peak at the outfits before they hit the runway, and has a brief chats with makeup artist extraordinaire Kabuki and the designers David and Phillipe Blond. Watch parts 1 and 2 below.
The post #TheBrillOfItAll: Dianne Brill Storms New York Fashion Week appeared first on The WOW Report.
Why you gaggin’, Hector??? You just HAVE to understand how INSANE Lena Dunham is as a director and sociologist! In last weeks episode of Girls, Dunham brought back Christopher Abbott’s character Charlie- the REALLY sweet boyfriend to Marnie, played by Allison Williams. Abbott quit the show at the end of the second season abruptly, without his character’s relationship with Marnie being completely sussed out. Last Sunday, he pops back up, looking like a transracial Latino Fan Club “top”, hanging out on a street corner with a gang, and he apparently has some kind of non-specific accent, a nefarious beard, tattoos, and is later presumed to be a drug addict. It’s kinda like how Madonna co-opted an English accent during her London years with Guy Ritchie. Or how former NAACP president Rachel Dolezal identifies as black, even though both her parents are white. All of this is the complete antithesis of delicate, super caucasian “bottom” Charlie (pic below) we once knew… an apparent tortured, more passive sounding board for the butch antics of Marnie…talk about a re-working of the binary. Charlie basically became a catcalling macho muck about, and the only remnants of his former self are those puppy dog eyes.
This brand new Charlie is super alpha-hot, a gay man’s backdoor fantasy. However, Dunham’s narrative is clever in showing that the fantasy that may seem exciting, dangerous, and freeing, can also be just posturing…ultimately speaking more about ones own self-loathing issues and insecurities… a hopeful checkpoint on the road to self-actualization. Did I forget to mention that none of this really matters ’cause he’s SUPER HOT?!?!
Lena Dunham:
This episode is called the Panic In Central Park. I wrote the episode in kind of a fever dream…something that occasionally happens. I go home and it all flows out of me. When I wrote it, I had recently watched the film The Panic in Needle Park and was very inspired by the entire vision of that movie, which is Al Pacino and Kitty Winn playing a pair of young, heroin addicts in love, navigating their way through New York City. I wanted to tell a contained romantic story that utilized our characters, while stepping outside of the typical realm of the show…It’s one of the most powerful experiences I’ve had!
Girls, Season 5 airs Every Sunday on HBO.
The post “Girls” Lena Dunham Is A Gay Man and Charlie (Christopher Abbott) Is The Reason Why appeared first on The WOW Report.
Luis Camacho
Alec Baldwin
Amanda Bynes
Aries Spears
Catherine McCormack
Cobie Smulders
David Hyde Pierce
Doris Day
Eddie Murphy
Eric Braeden
Jane Goodall
Jennie Garth
Leona Lewis
Matthew Goode
Marsha Mason
Picabo Street
Sebastian Bach
Tony Orlando
Wayne Newton
The post April 3: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch! appeared first on The WOW Report.
Brando in The Men (1950)
April 3, 1924– Marlon Brando:
“Homosexuality is so much in fashion it no longer makes news. Like a large number of men, I, too, have had homosexual experiences and I am not ashamed. I have never paid much attention to what people think about me.”
Marlon Brando at the height of his powerful career, approached acting in a way that challenged Hollywood’s concept of performance, and the way he lived his life was an affront to the entire film industry. His very being seemed to undulate with energy like a live wire in search of a socket. His physical and emotional persona appeared to burn through the celluloid on which it was printed.
Brando appeared in a series of films that made it impossible for the industry to ignore him. He smoldered, abused, ripped his t-shirt in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), proved he could do Shakespeare as Marc Antony in Julius Caesar (1953), popularized the whole butch leather biker look in The Wild One (1953), and he wore the shit out of a longshoreman’s jacket whiling breaking your heart in On The Waterfront (1954).
Brando earned four Oscar nominations in as many years, finally winning for On The Waterfront. Back in the early 1950s, Brando was operating on an entirely different level than any actor around him.
If Brando had just been talented, he would probably have returned to the Broadway stage where he started. Hollywood did many things, but serious, experimental art was not really one of them.
In the 1970s, his The Godfather (1972) and Last Tango In Paris (1972) period, Brando’s work is quieter and more introspective. He disowned Hollywood with his legendary rejection of his second Academy Award. He also became lazier, being paid $14 million dollars for 12 days work on Superman (1978), and even abusive, pushing director Francis Ford Coppola to the brink of a breakdown while filming Apocalypse Now (1979).
Brando, before the weight gain at the end of his career, was spectacularly sexual and ruinously handsome. Off-screen, he presented something new to film fans; he wore dirty jeans, motorcycle boots and t-shirts rolled over his formidable biceps. During the 1950s, the gossip magazines had been doing features about family outings and chaperoned dates. They had no idea how to process Brando. He was so smart, realizing that shunning publicity was publicity itself. He could play the game as suavely as any studio star; he simply played the game by a new set of rules, with no studio contract, dialogue coach, personal trainer, publicity handler or entourage.
Brando was a tough guy who was also a ravishing beauty. He was expelled from his high school for riding a motorcycle through the hallways. He came to the rescue of a skinny kid being bullied by schoolmates, picked him up, threw his arm around him, and stated: “I’m your new best friend”.
Brando’s bisexuality was not a secret in the Broadway community or in Hollywood. His greatest love affair was with fellow actor Wally Cox. Their relationship lasted a lifetime and beyond. After Cox took his final curtain call in 1973, Brando kept his ashes. On Brando’s final bow in 2004, in accordance with his wishes, their ashes were mixed together and scattered in Death Valley.
“If Wally Cox had been a woman, I would have married him and we would have lived happily ever after.”
Brando possessed of an insatiable libido, among his main courses: Burt Lancaster, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Leonard Bernstein, Noël Coward, Clifford Odets, Stephen Rutledge, Tyrone Power, Montgomery Clift, and Rock Hudson. For dessert: Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, Grace Kelly, Rita Hayworth, Shelley Winters, Ava Gardner, Gloria Vanderbilt, Hedy Lamarr, Rita Moreno, Elaine Stritch, Tallulah Bankhead, Ingrid Bergman, and Edith Piaf. I guess Brando could have whoever he wanted. A Hollywood insider once insisted to me that when Paul Newman showed up at the stage door to meet him after a performance of A Streetcar Named Desire, Brando took the younger actor for a tour of the city on the back of his motorcycle and that they disappeared for three days.
James Dean was one of Brando’s most lasting yet troubled male relationships. Their affair went on for years but it was always turbulent. At one point they had a big stand-up fight at an industry party witnessed by dozens of people in the biz.
Brando had a bit of a fling with Cary Grant, spending a weekend with him in San Francisco. Grant was also having a thing with actor Stewart Granger, who then became another of Brando’s conquests. Brando admired Gielgud while making Julius Caesar but they didn’t exactly have a romance, rather Brando performed sexual favors for Gielgud and told his friends:
“I owed it to him because he really helped me with lines.”
Throughout his life, Brando recorded his thoughts on audio tapes and stashed them away, never imagining that they would one day become a most valuable tool in telling his story. They have been skillfully gathered in an absorbing documentary Listen To Me Marlon by Stevan Riley. You can find it on Netflix or Showtime-To-Go.
Brando was also a political and social activist, most especially for the American Civil Rights Movement and the causes of Native Americans. He actively supported John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election. In the summer of 1963, he participated in the March On Washington along with Harry Belafonte, James Garner, Charlton Heston, and Sidney Poitier. Along with Paul Newman riding shotgun, Brando participated in several Freedom Rides.
My favorite Brando performance is his droll mafia don, Carmine “Jimmy the Toucan” Sabatini, who bears startling resemblance to a certain cinematic star, in The Freshman (1990) opposite young Matthew Broderick.
“The only reason I’m in Hollywood is that I don’t have the moral courage to refuse the money.”
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Her upcoming 92nd birthday on Sunday, April 3 will be a cause to celebrate for her fans, the legendary Doris Day will spend the day surrounded by a few close friends at her home in Carmel, California. People magazine said,
In her honor, the Doris Day Animal Foundation has organized a celebration called “Doris and Me” on April 2 at the Cypress Inn in Carmel.
Although Day surprised friends and fans two years ago by unexpectedly attending her 90th birthday party, her first public appearance in nearly two decades, it’s unlikely she’ll attend this year.
The party will feature performer Scott Dreier, who will sing some of Day’s greatest hits, along with Bernie Kopell from The Love Boat, who also costarred with the actress on The Doris Day Show. Brian Nash and Kym Karath, who played Day’s children in her 1963 comedy The Thrill of It All, are also expected to be at the party.
Day, who’s in good health, spends her days taking long walks in the garden, tending to her dogs and occasionally surprising fans by making an appearance on her terrace, which overlooks the Quail Lodge Golf Course in Carmel.
Her manager Bob Bashara says,
“She’s in remarkably good health. She’s in good spirits, and she’s remarkably resilient.“
She told People in 2014 that she enjoys occasionally indulging in ice cream or a glass of wine,
“Just one glass.
I feel young and I enjoy good and healthy things.“
(via People)
The post #Legendary: Doris Day Turns 92… appeared first on The WOW Report.
The decorating Novogratz family used to live around the corner from me in New York, and we have several friends in common. They bought my painting Make Your Mark for the W Hotel, and have been really supportive of my work and are just as nice as they seem. Last year they made a big move to L.A. and bought yet another house to redo. This time, it’s a castle!
Robert and Cortney have been blogging for People about the process —renovating a 1926 castle in the Hollywood Hills. Now we get to see the results in a new web series, The Castle Next Door: The Novogratz Family Take Hollywood.
The design duo is famous for their decorating shows on HGTV that featured their 7 kids; Wolfgang, 18, Tallulah & Bellamy, 17, Breaker, 15, Five & Holleder, 10, & Major. Cortney says,
“It took us about eight months start to finish and the kids were involved a lot more than they have ever been because they’re older now.”
Throughout the series, the family shares their tricks for updating their home with a fresh, modern look. You can see all ten episodes here on People.com. Here are Episodes 1 and 10, the big reveal, below. Watch.
(Photos, Matthew Williams; via People)
The post #RealEstatePorn: The Novogratz Nine Renovate a Hollywood Hills Castle appeared first on The WOW Report.
Million Dollar Listing Season 5 is less than three weeks away and in the past, most of Frederik Eklund‘s multi-million dollar listings seem to be in Manhattan, where $15 million will get you a condo, albeit a VERY nice one. But in Brooklyn that amount gets you 19th century old-world style merged with 21st century luxury. Remington House in the borough’s Park Slope might just be the priciest listing ever in this neighborhood. Built in 1887 by C. P. H. Gilbert for James H. Remington, whose father was a founder of the Republican Party (boo) it became a New York City landmark in 1973. The meticulously restored home is an exceptional 32 feet wide. (I once owned a brownstone which was the standard 20 feet wide and my good pals still have one considered much fancier at 25 feet wide.) This house features 13 wood-burning fireplaces and lots of original details, like plasterwork ceilings, moldings, and inlaid oak floors. You get a formal dining room, a sitting room, a family room, a den, and a library. Upstairs, the third-floor master suite also has its own sitting room plus a luxurious, spa-like bath clad in Calacutta gold marble and with a fireplace and a soaking tub. Outside is a manicured garden with a cedar-paneled fence that is spacious enough to have a full outdoor kitchen with a separate garden apartment. 8 bedrooms, 4 baths + 4 half baths over 5 floors and 8,200 sq. ft. The only drawback that I can attest to having lived in a 4-story brownstone for a decade is that there is a LOT of up and down. Wherever you are, there’s something on another floor that you need. I know, sounds like a problem you might like to have.
Million Dollar Listing, Season 5 premieres on April 21 on Bravo.
(Photos, Douglas Elliman; via Architectural Digest)
The post #RealEstatePorn: This $15 Million Dollar Listing in Brooklyn Is SPECTACULAR appeared first on The WOW Report.
The firehouse as it looked circa ’63
OK, not $10 million. $9,975,000.
The UES former firehouse that was Andy Warhol‘s first studio is on the market. 159 East 87th Street, just east of Lexington, is a two-story building that dates from 1910. Art critic Blake Gopnik, who is working on a biography of the artist, told ArtNet News,
“As a successful commercial illustrator, Andy Warhol had spent the previous 13 years working out of his various homes. In 1963, he was only just becoming known as a fine artist, so it’s no wonder he didn’t invest in a fancier studio.“
Warhol was becoming a celebrity himself, both praised and reviled, just six months before debuting his now infamous Campbell’s Soup Can series. Gopnik said,
“The fire house only cost $150 a month, but it was a wreck, with leaks in the roof and holes in the floors, but it was better than trying to make serious paintings in the wood-paneled living-room of his Victorian townhouse, as he’d done for the previous couple of years. Andy moved into the firehouse on January 1, 1963, and his lease on it was terminated the following May —leaving a gap of more than half a year before he moves into the famous Silver Factory.“
Andy & Gerard Malanga on Gerard’s first day of work at Warhol’s studio at the firehouse, June 11, 1963. (Photo: Edward Wallowitch)
“offers a developer a blank canvas to create boutique condominiums, a mixed-use rental or a luxury townhouse.”
For rent 50+ years ago for $150 a month; for sale in 2016 for $10 million. An early silkscreen of Warhol’s, like this Triple Elvis maybe a couple thousand in ’63. It sold at auction for almost $82 million. As an artist I’m asking, what’s a better return on your money?
This Triple Elvis (Ferus Type), 1963, sold at Christie’s in New York $81.9 million in 2014
(via Artnet News)
The post #RealEstatePorn: Warhol’s First NYC Studio Is For Sale. Got $10 Million? appeared first on The WOW Report.
It was certainly a glamorous evening at the Beverly Hilton last night. Everybody you’ve ever met (and THEN SOME!) gathered for the 27th annual GLAAD Media Awards, which was televised for the first time in nearly a decade, and will be aired in a broadcast tomorrow night on LOGO. (You’ll have to DVR it, of course, because YOU’LL be watching the HBO/WOW documentary Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures).
In attendance: Demi Lovato! Nick Jonas! Taylor Swift! Caitlyn Jenner! The gorgeous ladies of Transcendent! Paula Abdul! Zendaya! Ruby Rose! Danny Franzese! Keke Palmer! Perez Hilton! Derek Hough! and THE BEAUTEOUS Candis Cayne!
The nearly 19-hour-long ceremony (that’s what it felt like, sorry guys) presented Demi with the Vanguard Award, and Orange in the New Black star Ruby Rose received the Stephen F. Kolzak award, given to an LGBT media professional who has made a difference in promoting equality and acceptance.
As the night came to a close, Demi performed her emotinal new power ballad “Stone Cold” for the crowd, and received her trophy following an introduction by tour mate and close friend Nick Jonas. She said how excited she is to be a role model and LGBT ally.
“I always knew that if I made it as a singer that I would need to use my voice for so much more than just singing. This award means so much to me, more than any music award because this is the real stuff.”
Check out pics below.
A photo posted by Genevieve Lamb (@lambpants) on
A photo posted by Celebrity pictures (@celebritiesandpictures) on
How incredible is @kekepalmer? What a genuine, adorable person!
A photo posted by Daniel Franzese (@whatsupdanny) on
Above pics: Pacific Coast News. Below pics: Me. And they’re really blurry, I’m sorry. I was drunk. I should point out that the ceremony was SO LONG and the food was SO BAD that Tom Campbell ordered pizza and had it delivered to the Beverly Hilton so that we would all have enough sustenance to survive the evening.
Pictured: Tom, Bambiana, Xristina, Nikki Calabrese, Bionka, and Nya.
The post #GLAADAwards: Nick Jonas, Demi Lovato, Taylor Swift & the Gorgeous Ladies of Transcendent! appeared first on The WOW Report.
Debbie Harry, 1978. Photograph, Robert Mapplethorpe
If you’re a regular WOW Report reader, you may know by now that World of Wonder founders, Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato have made a new, critically acclaimed documentary about the late photographer, Robert Mapplethorpe. Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures which premieres on HBO tonight. Of course, myself and everyone at WOW has his work on the brain, but Vogue is noticing that today’s designers are picking up on the vibe too. An excerpt from Vogue‘s take;
From the backroom of Max’s Kansas City—replete with Fran Lebowitz in her trademark men’s suits and Debbie Harry in her braless T-shirts—to the basement of the gay nightclub Mineshaft and its leather accoutrements, he chronicled the hedonistic sartorial evolution of New York City. His album cover for muse (and roommate) Patti Smith’s 1975 Horses is as arresting now as it was then—and an androgynous bellwether for someone like Hedi Slimane, who pulls off a similar genderless rock-waif air so well at Saint Laurent. And when Mapplethorpe befriended the permanently elegant Carolina Herrera on a private plane en route to Mustique, they stayed friends until he passed away, with Mapplethorpe often shooting the designer.
On the kinkier side, modern-era collections ranging from Shayne Oliver’s Hood By Air to Alexander Wang’s chains for Spring or David Koma’s Pre-Fall body-modification nods all owe something to Mapplethorpe’s pioneering and uncompromising spirit.
“Anything goes” seemed to be his guiding credo. “Once I’ve taken a photograph, I’m not shocked anymore,” he once said. “I’d been through the experience.”
Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures premieres on HBO tonight at 9PM.
Mugler Pre-Fall 2016, Alexander Wang Spring 2016, Hood By Air Spring 2016 ready-to-wear
Patti Smith, 1975
Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter, 1979. Photo, Robert Mapplethorpe
(via Vogue)
The post Vogue Sees Mapplethorpe’s Influence on Today’s Runways appeared first on The WOW Report.
The ’80s mantra: “I do coke/So I can work longer/So I can earn more/So I can do more coke” is given a musical spin by hot douche Tom Sandoval (of Vanderpump Rules fame) and EDM producer Kill The Noise, from their latest album OCCULT CLASSIC. The video features Sandoval and various nightclub denizens dancing and snorting lines, cheerleaders pinning him down and forcing him to do bumps (poor dear), and a giant disembodied golden nose hovering blow off a red carpet. Um, fabulous?
The press release accompanying the video stresses that the video does not glorify drug use:
The song and video are not pro-drug, but a commentary on destructive habits. Kill The Noise explains: “In this story the message is that if you aren’t careful, you can become figuratively (and literally) consumed by your lifestyle of addiction. The main character in this story has found himself stuck on an endless merry-go-round that goes nowhere.”
Of course, it goes without saying, that I don’t condone that sort of lifestyle either.
But if I DID, this would be my theme song.
Watch it below (via Jezebel)
The post Must-See Video OTD: “I Do Coke” by Vanderpump Rules’ Tom Sandoval (Not That We’re Endorsing Drug Use) appeared first on The WOW Report.
I’ve been a fan of ’70s sex god Peter Berlin since I first discovered his erotic post cards at age 12, and hid them in my comic books so my parents wouldn’t find them. He was the very embodiment of disco-era gay culture, with his brazen, in-your-face sexuality, deliciously tight pants, and that instantly identifiable Prince Valient hairdo. His compulsive self-portraiture and the gay cult sex films that chronicled his relentless cruising, makes him the original King of the Selfies. He’s one of the interview subjects in the upcoming HBO/World of Wonder documentary Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures (premiering April 4), and I had a chance to talk to him the other day about life in the ’70s, how he BECAME Peter Berlin, and what his life is like now.
JSJ: Congratulations on your recent gallery exhibit in NYC. How did it come about? What was the reaction to it (in the press and with the attendees?)
PB: I was introduced to Brian Clamp from ClampArt Gallery in NY by Arthur Tress, a well known photographer and friend. Brian approached me to do an exhibition of my Vintage Photographs. We had a great show, very well received and we sold quite a few photographs.
Will there be a coffee table book?
We are in discussions with a book publisher for a book, but nothing is definite. As of now, there is only a paper back book published by Janssen in 1990 (out of print). And there is a very limited printing of 2 self published photobooks, but they are only available by special order.
Where did the name Peter Berlin come from? How did you create and perfect the persona of Peter Berlin?
There you would need about 20 pages to answer this question… but I think that Jim Tushinski’s Documentary gives a good overview of my life and career. That Man Peter Berlin… now available streaming on Fandor. In short, my real name Armin, Baron Hagen Von Hoyningen-Huene is too long and difficult for the marquis so I came up with a very simple name. PETER BERLIN.
Let’s talk about the image though. It was the perfect look for the times, and so perfectly actualized. How did you arrive at it? Did you have any inspirations?
I think it was very organic. I never had anyone I wanted to emulate, nobody to look up to but myself. My ‘look’s were coming out of the desire to accentuate my sexuality. I made my clothes. I had to make them myself, I didn’t have anybody to make them for me. It was necessary. Everyone has a body and everything should look good from the head to the toes and that includes the crotch and ass and crotch – they are the centerpiece of the body. I felt in in those days they were neglected by the average public. I have a dick why hide it? I had the clothes to look the best i could. I had a very definite way I wanted to look so I became my own designer, my own hairdresser, my own art director, my own photographer.
You were an enormous gay icon in the ‘70s, ‘80s, and into the ‘90s. Your pictures are instantly recognizable and encapsulate a period in gay culture that no longer exists. Do you look back on it with nostalgia? When did you realize it was over?
WHAT? IS IT OVER?
HA! What I guess I mean is that the AIDS epidemic in the ’80s sort of put an end to the hedonism of the ’70s. Was there a point when you looked around and noticed that that way of life was ending?
No. All my friends died. In that sense the party was over. At some point I realized, though, I should have a good time and I shouldn’t sit there and mourn my dead friends. I blocked that all out and usually there were drugs to help that. The party stopped when I couldn’t do drugs because my body wouldn’t let me, because of my age. I know some people can party ’til the end of their days. Good for them. Unfortunately, not me.
Do you remember the moment you first realized you were famous? The first “fan” reactions?
The attention I got was before I was famous, and I have a very modest degree of fame… I always say I am “sort of famous.” I don’t understand the concept of being a fan. When I see halls and stadiums full of people adoring one singer or one actor, you know, it’s strange to me.
You lived in New York, San Francisco, and Fire Island in the ‘70s. How did they differ? Which city was the most fun? Where did you have your greatest conquests?
I had a good time wherever I went. My feeling of a ‘good time ‘was the same in every place I went. The ’70s were an amazing time in all these places.
You talk about your friendship with Robert Mapplethorpe in the documentary. Who were some of your other contemporaries? Who else from that period did you hang out with?
I only “hung out” with a few friends and family, but otherwise I was not a fan of “hanging out.” I met many famous people but was more interested in going out and cruising the streets rather than “hanging out” with them.
You spoke about the serious business of sex back in the ‘70s — how you went out alone, to be seen, how you didn’t talk to friends when you ran into them. Could you tell me a little more about how you approached hooking up in those days?
I was running around like a dog in heat, like thousands of other gay men during the 70’s. I dressed in my hand made outfits and attracted people to meet to hook up. It was that simple.
Tell me about your life today? Do you still photograph? Are you recognized often? Do you go out or are you a homebody?
My life today would be of little interest to anyone. Mostly any photographs I take now, I point the camera outward not towards myself, capturing moment on my daily walk of the homeless, nature, and very mundane things around me. Im not recognized often, and spend alot of time at home.
My favorite thing is sitting and thinking. I think a lot. Try to make sense of my world. It’s weird times, man. I’m easily bored by people. I don’t make new friends, it’s a boring life. All my good friends are gone.
“Peter Berlin” is long gone.
He’s not in my mind!
Yeah. I say to myself: Peter don’t put yourself down. It seems that image I created, it sticks in people’s minds. It gives people a good feeling.
It’s a good image. It’s a peaceful image. Strong image. It’s a beautiful image and it’s an EROTIC image, don’t forget that. That was the whole idea of Peter Berlin. I didn’t want to have my mother say “Oh this is a very nice image!” And that’s what I achieved!
For me, youth was something very specific and beautiful and just something I lived through and just enjoyed. And now I’m looking back and I images, yes people still know them, but people ask now Peter Berlin, is he dead or is he still alive? And I’m sitting there thinking about what crescendo I could put and the end of my life?
What do you think that crescendo is?
The wish or vision I would have would be to get my voice heard or seen, that means I would love to make a big film. I made two stupid movies in the ’70s…
No, no, no, they weren’t stupid AT ALL!
They were nothing to write home about. I did them I’m not ashamed of them. But I’m definitely not proud of them.
But, Peter, it’s a matter of perspective. When I saw them at age 16, they changed my world. They opened up so many windows in my mind. They were very important to my sexual awakening.
I realize that some people look at me like I did something, helped people find strength in their homosexuality. That wasn’t my purpose. I just wanted to look good and take photos. I just wish I’d made a film I was proud of. Still hoping. My crescendo.
What a book or a memoir?
Unfortunately I’m not a writer. When I talk, people say: You should write a book. I do have a unique story. I’d love to have a small budget for a film to tell my story. To be the one who creates it with my vision.
Well, I hope that comes to pass. Thank you for your time, I had a nice time talking to you. I’ll introduce myself to you at the Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures premiere next week and we can talk some more!
Thank you, goodbye.
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Congratulations are in order for wowlebrity Josh Altman, who married his lovely girlfriend of five years Heather Bilyeu at the St. Regis Resort in Aspen, Colorado. The bride and groom exchanged vows in an intimate traditional Jewish ceremony, saying their ‘I do’s’ in front of 82 of their closest friends and family.
‘It’s totally family oriented,’ Josh told Us Weekly. ‘It’s just really close family and friends and a celebration.’
The bride – who is the former assistant of Josh’s rival, Madison Hildebrand – wore a custom Nektaria bridal dress which included a long, flowing train and more than 6,500 hand-sewn pearls and beads.
‘Aspen Mountain is the backdrop of the ceremony,’ Bilyeu said. ‘We really wanted to… have our décor work with that and showcase the mountain and play up the rustic Aspen vibes.’
Ah, yes. “Rustic.” Check out the Instagram pics below.
The wedding ALMOST didn’t happen at all. If you remember, the couple called off their nuptials in 2014 after squabbling over details.
From the Daily Mail:
The twosome had been fighting for months and postponed things indefinitely at that time.
Heather confronted Josh about their plans at the time.
During an episode of the hit show she argued with Altman over their lack of communication regarding the wedding after he announced that he had spent the day trying on tuxedos.
‘You are so like on another planet right now,’ she said. ‘What are you doing looking at tuxes? We haven’t even talked about anything with the wedding… like colors, or how many guests are coming and is it here, is it Cabo, is it Hawaii?’
‘Why are you stressing out over this?’ he asked in response.
‘Because I’m not included in it,’ she replied. ‘This is our wedding, we’re supposed to be planning it together. It just feels like you’re starting to plan this wedding without me.’
‘I think we have some great ideas,’ Josh said.She then fired back: ‘Who’s we? Because I didn’t come up with any of your ideas.’
But last October the pair eventually set aside their differences and set the date for Saturday when they committed to marital bliss.
Tun in this fall, when MDL:LA returns to Bravo.
The post Million Dollar Listing’s Josh Altman Weds Longtime Girlfriend Heather Bilyeu appeared first on The WOW Report.
Before his death aged 42 Robert Mapplethorpe worked with writer Patricia Morrisroe on her definitive biography of the artist, originally published in 1995. The long-awaited Kindle version of Mapplethorpe: A Biography by Patricia Morrisroe is now available (get your copy here).
Mapplethorpe was completely candid with her. He told her everything… even if what he revealed wasn’t necessarily always flattering. Ultimately Mapplethorpe was a documentary artist. He lived to take photographs of his life, and he lived to have others write about it. Of the many writers he befriended Patricia was the one in whom he arguably confided the most in many hours of taped interviews, excerpts from which are featured in our film.
“He, he said at the time he thought I reminded him of Patti Smith. but I think it was more the coloring… not the Jersey accent.”
He was by this stage seriously ill. Listening to the tapes you can hear the frailty in his fading voice. It’s very haunting.
Following his death Patricia interviewed over 300 people and completing the monumental task took over six years.
“When it was first published in 1995, the biography was very polarizing. Some critics loved it, others hated it. Patti Smith hated the book… I think I only had one phone conversation and this was not a happy person and you don’t want an angry Patti Smith on the other end of the line.”
We interviewed Patricia for our documentary Mapplethorpe: Look At The Pictures (airing on HBO April 4th). It was a long and fascinating conversation and here are some highlights:
“I interviewed him 16 times from that August ’88 ’til probably a month or two before he died in ’89… and you absolutely saw week by week or every other week a real deterioration. He would always be sitting down in his chair because he did not want to see me—to have me see him shuffling in.
He knew the book was gonna come out after his death. At that point it didn’t really matter to him
He wanted to know if I was Catholic. Being Catholic was very important to him. And I remember at the time he said, ‘Then we understand one another.‘”… I think he really meant, ‘You understand the concept of going to confession, of, of confessing your sins.‘
I think he recognized that time was running out, you know, and he wanted to start talking.
At one point he looked at me and said, you know, ‘I’m dying,’ you know. You know, what do you say to that? It was just Robert being very straightforward… as if he was reminding himself that he was dying because he knew that I knew very well. I think I said, ‘I know.‘ I don’t think I said I’m sorry because it was a statement and Robert did not want your sympathy… I think it would have gone badly if you had said to him,
‘Oh, Robert, that’s so terrible.‘
In the interviews he was always very polite and very nice to me. You know, he’d compliment shoes. He liked my shoes. That said I remember coming in wearing, and I was very proud of this, Romeo Gigli jacket, but the collar came up too high and my hair was down. He said,
‘That looks really confused. I mean you’ve really gotta wear your hair up or, you know, get rid of the collar.’
And I remember going to the tailor because, I mean Mapplethorpe had such an extraordinary eye.
Mapplethorpe was most verbal about his sex life…. Robert lived for sex. Now when he first told me that I thought, “Okay. You know, that’s fine.” But I mean little did I realize how much the man did live for sex. And, as he said to me, sex was more important than the pictures. But that should come as no surprise given the pictures. I mean… was he gonna talk about the flower photographs? I mean I don’t think he knew really a tulip from an orchid. I mean the man wasn’t a botanist.
And I just listened. And I thought, ‘you know I’m writing your biography. You really wanna be telling me all of this stuff?’
He liked me to come on Sundays because many of his friends had country homes and they wouldn’t be around on Sundays, and he wanted company.
I remember going on a trip to Coney Island with him because he remembered Coney Island, going with Patti. And he just wanted to be able to eat a hot dog and he couldn’t ’cause his system wouldn’t be able to digest it. And it was a Sunday and it was a gray Sunday. Often I would come back from these meetings, these Sunday meetings with him just… you know, boy. It was rough.
When Robert was in the hospital he received a beautiful bouquet of flowers and someone had opened the card and, you know, it said, ‘Love, from Mom and Dad.‘ And, you know, Robert was so happy that they had remembered. Well it turned out it was for the patient across the hallway, so I think even at the end he didn’t get exactly what he wanted…
Robert was not a reader. Robert liked to read Page Six of The New York Post, but if he were alive and my book came out he might’ve said,
‘Hm, it’s a little long.’”
The post #MapplethorpeMonday: Fenton Bailey Talks to Mapplethorpe Biographer Patricia Morrisroe appeared first on The WOW Report.
The gorgeous ladies of Transcendent, which returns to Fuse on June 8 for season 2, take a moment to stop and chat with E! on the red carpet at the GLAAD Awards last Saturday night.
(via E!)
The post The Ladies from ‘Transcendent’ Chat with E! at the GLAAD Awards appeared first on The WOW Report.
: #Repost @fusetv) The lovely ladies of #Transcendent at tonight’s #GLAADAwards! The show is nominated for “Outstanding Reality Program,” and it returns with an all-new season on Wednesday, June 8. See more at on.fuse.tv/transcendent. @glaad #glaad #fuse #asiasf #BecomeWhoYouAre #transgender #lgbt #lgbtq
