Fiiiiiiiiinally, we dragged Season 7 fan favorite Ginger Minj kicking and screaming into the Transformation studio, where we had a marvelous heart-to-heart about her family, her childhood, and the beginnings of her career. The final look is based on the bingo-playing Southern Baptist women of her church, in all their bouffanted and pastel, chiffon-wearing glory. Check it out below.
The post Ginger Minj Transforms Me into a Sweet Little Old Church Lady appeared first on The WOW Report.
April 20, 1937- George Takei:
“I am a Buddhist, not a Christian. But I cannot help but think that if Christ ran a public establishment, it would be open to all, and He would be the last to refuse service to anyone. It is, simply put, the most un-Christian of notions.”
Today marks the birthday of the person I dislike the most on our pretty planet, Pat Robertson. Let’s put the bigoted, demented and decidedly un-Christian host of The 700 Club on a rocket into deep space and instead celebrate the birthday of that great celestial hero, George Hosato Takei Altman, also born on this day.
It is odd for me to feel so much love for Takei, having never watched Star Trek the television series or any of its series of films and reboots, but let’s face it, until recently Takei was most famous for playing Senior Helmsman, Hikaru Sulu, of the USS Enterprise on the television and film series.
He is also a social justice activist, social media superstar, a Broadway star, and subject of To Be Takei, a documentary about his life and career. Takei’s acting career has lasted more than five decades. He has more than 40 film credits and he has appeared in hundreds of hours of television programming.
Based on his own family’s (along with 120,000 other Japanese-American US citizens) heartbreaking experience in one of our country’s shameful Japanese-American internment camps during WW II, Takei developed the musical Allegiance which had a sold-out world premiere at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in 2012. Allegiance has a score by Jay Kuo with a book by my friend Marc Acito and Lorenzo Thione. It played on Broadway this past autumn and winter, with Takei starring in both versions. The musical garnered respectable reviews, but only had a short run on Broadway. We will see if Takei gets a Tony Award nomination. I sure hope so.
Takei shared a Grammy Award nomination with his Star Trek co-star, the late Leonard Nimoy, for Best Spoken Word Recording in 1997. He also received a star on Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk Of Fame in 1986.
Takei is thought to be the most influential person on The Facebook, with more than 10 million “likes.” He gives witty, smart Tweets and has 2 million followers on Twitter. The King (or Queen) of Social media, he also has his own site, GeorgeTakei.com. He gives a hell of a TEDTalk.
Takei’s crucial role on the bridge of the USS Enterprise was one of the first regular roles of Asian-Americans on American television. In the 1960s, simply being the only Asian-American on that spaceship opened doors for other Asian-American actors to larger, more interesting, fully drawn characters other than the usual buffoons, bad-ass Kung Fu masters, or minions of the enemy.
Takai was just five years old when his family was taken away from their home in LA and sent to a detention centers in central California and then to Arkansas. He has spent a lifetime speaking out about the human rights violations of the internment of Japanese-Americans during the war. Takei is an ardent supporter of The Japanese American Citizens League, Human Rights Campaign, and he is Chairman of the Japanese American National Museum. He is most importantly an outspoken advocate for the Asian American and GLBTQ communities, speaking out and working tirelessly against California’s Proposition 8.
Takei officially came out of the closet in 2005, even though he had been out to his friends and co-workers for years.
“It’s not really coming out, which suggests opening a door and stepping through. It’s more like a long, long walk through what began as a narrow corridor that starts to widen…”
Takei married his partner of 20 years, Brad Altman, in a Buddhist ceremony at the Democracy Forum of the Japanese American National Museum in September 2008. Fellow Star Trek actor Walter Koenig was his best man, and singer/actor/civil rights activist Michelle Nichols who played communications officer Lieutenant Uhura was the maid of honor. Takei claims William Shatner (Captain Kirk) was invited to the wedding, but neglected to RSVP. The Takei-Altman marriage was one of thousands of same-sex marriages that took place during that brief time when same-sex marriage was legal in California, before Prop 8 banned same-sex marriage in the state. It did not affect their marriage or other same-sex marriages entered into before it passed in November of 2008.
Takei and Altman appeared in a celebrity edition of The Newlywed Game. They were the first same-sex couple to be featured on the series. They won the game, taking $10,000 for their charity, the Japanese American National Museum.
Takei and I appear to have many things in common: we are both native born Californians, Buddhists, members of SAG, married to men, and he starred on Star Trek while I was featured as Third Tribble From The Left at my neighborhood’s annual summer block party and pageant.
Fun facts: Takai studied architecture at UC Berkley and acting at UCLA. He appeared on the 12th season of some show titled The Apprentice, hosted by a short-fingered vulgarian, which is not the same thing as a long-fingered Vulcan. Last winter, following Donald Trump‘s wish to ban all Muslims from traveling to the USA, Takei denounced him, saying:
“It’s ironic that he made that comment on December 7, Pearl Harbor Day, the very event that put us in those internment camps. A congressional commission found that it was three things that brought that about. One was racial hysteria, second was war hysteria and third was failure of political leadership. Trump is the perfect example of that failure. What Donald Trump is talking about is something that’s going to make his logo ‘America Disgraced Again’.”
Asteroid 7307 Takei is named in his honor. Takei:
“I am now a heavenly body. When I found out about it, I was blown away. It came out of the clear, blue sky… just like an asteroid.”
The fact that Takai is one of the most popular individuals on that Internet thing gives me a little faith in the human race.
The post #BornThisDay: Actor/Advocate, George Takei appeared first on The WOW Report.
After spending the past eight years in jail, OJ Simpson says he’s planning to pursue reality TV veteran Kris Jenner – AND her ex, Caitlyn Jenner – if he’s released. Writer Ian Halperin claims Simpson, who is 68, has nursed a 30-year crush on the 60-year-old Kris Jenner.
Halperin is making a documentary on Simpson. He eligible for parole next year, after he was jailed in 2008 for kidnapping and stolen sports memorabilia. (What a guy.) The film-maker has also written a book on the Kardashians and says Simpson wants to marry Jenner.
As you know if you have a TV, Kris was married to Simpson’s former bff, lawyer Robert Kardashian, who died in 2003. He was part of the legal ‘dream team’ that helped get Simpson acquitted of the 1994 murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman.
Halperin told The Sun:
“OJ has had a crush on Kris for ever. He believes the relationship that Kris is in now with Corey Gamble is a sham. He believes he is the man for her and intends to pursue her when he gets out of prison. There is definitely a long history there.
He is very likely to get parole next year, so it won’t be long until he is released.”
Halperin says Simpson is also fixated on Jenner’s ex, Caitlyn Jenner.
“OJ is obsessed with Caitlyn. He is struck by how she has captured the hearts of the world and said with a straight face, ‘When I get out of here I would consider dating her too’.
OJ definitely has a plan when he gets out of prison and he intends to be around the Kardashians.
He is going to pitch to them about getting a spot on the show. He is broke, he needs money and he feels his only chance to get back on TV which is his dream, to hook up with his old ‘family’.”
OMG. That’s just too weird for words. But with Donald Trump winning New York last night, being GOP frontrunner for President, you know, stranger things have happened. Never say never.
Kris Jenner, Robert Kardashian, OJ Simpson and Nicole Brown Simpson
(via Yahoo News)
The post #WTF!?: When OJ Gets Out of Jail, He Wants To Date Kris Jenner –AND Caitlyn! appeared first on The WOW Report.
Jwan Yosef, 2015
Steven Parrino, 1992
“Yup.”
Cute, huh? If you check out his Instagram you can see why Martin likes him, at least on the surface. Lot’s of hot selfies, plus some art too. I wanted to check out the work, so I did a little research. He’s had two solo shows in London and if you ask me, his work is NOT as hot as he is.
Yosef’s conceptual, minimal canvases, twisted and coming off the stretchers look cool, but if you know your art history, you know that the late Steven Parrino got there first, 25 years ago. No, they aren’t exactly the same, but conceptually close enough to be derivative. Parrino has been copied a lot over the years, so it’s really no surprise.
Art critic, Jerry Saltz, wrote in 2007 after Parrino’s death,
Jwan Yosef
Gerhard Richter
“Overestimating Parrino would be as much a disservice to him as underestimating him would. He wasn’t a radically original artist. But he was radically dedicated to his narrow idea of what painting could be. He may have talked about death and nihilism, and he wore a black leather jacket everywhere, but Parrino didn’t want to annihilate painting. He came of age, he said, when‘the word on painting was ‘Painting Is Dead.’ I saw this as an interesting place for painting … and this death painting thing led to a sex and death painting thing … that became an existence thing.’
All this sounds bad-boy and romantic, but that ‘“existence thing’ at the end is crucial. He vividly demonstrates that no matter what you do to a canvas—slash, gouge, twist, or mutilate it—you can’t actually kill it. Painting lives, and so, for the moment, does Parrino’s work.”
Yosef went to several art school’s including Central St. Martins in London, a very good school, so he’s well-educated and knows his art history, one assumes. He’s been in many group shows and has had two solo shows recently. He’s got other work too which is a bit derivative as well, of one of the most successful living artists in the world, Gerhard Richter. Yosef’s portraits, mostly in black and white, look a bit too much like Richter’s black and white blurred photo-paintings of the 60s to captivate. And he has made some black and white word art which is everywhere as well, I don’t need to give you examples. So…
Making original art is not so easy. As the late critic and filmmaker Emile de Antonio once said,
“Most artists have no ideas. Good artists have one idea. Great artists have more than one idea…“
So, while he’s developing his own style, Jwan’s got a hot, new, rich, famous boyfriend to keep him distracted. Back to the studio, kid.
The post Ricky Martin’s Hot, New Artist Boyfriend, Jwan Yosef’s Art Is NOT So New… appeared first on The WOW Report.
This year, the screenings at RuPaul’s DragCon are a freakin’ doozy! There will be three movie screenings with Q&A sessions! First up is Jawbreaker with a Q&A following with director Darren Stein and one of the film’s stars Rebecca Gayheart and will be hosted by cinefile Peaches Christ. Then we have a screening of Gregg Araki‘s Mysterious Skin featuring a Q&A with Gregg following the film. After that, there’s a screening of the WOW and Blue Oyster Films produced film Dressed As A Girl and it will be followed with a Q&A with director Colin Rothbart and stars Amber Waze, Holestar, and John Sizzle. All this AND a special screening of Viva!
17 years ago, she killed the teen dream in the 90’s and we’re still dealing with it today. Get out your brightest crop top and join us for a special screening of the cult classic Jawbreaker followed by a Q&A hosted by Peaches Christ with Rebecca Gayheart and the remarkable director Darren Stein.
From the director of The Doom Generation, Totally Fucked Up, and The Living End, we’re pleased to announce an intimate screening of the poetic and transcendent filmMysterious Skin. Stick around after for a special Q & A with the poignant and incomparable director Gregg Araki.
UK director Colin Rothbart in his feature film debut rips off the wigs and wipes away the mascara to find the real people behind the figureheads of East London’s much-hyped alternative drag scene. Following in the tradition of Paris Is Burning and The Cockettes, DRESSED AS A GIRL paints a compelling London portrait that pulls audiences beyond the performances into a mesmerising and previously inaccessible underworld.
Filmed over six years and following six cult stars as they swim against the tide (Jonny Woo, Holestar, Scottee, Amber Waze, Pia Arber and John Sizzle). The film follows the literal highs and graphic lows of this popular tribe, revealing the personal struggles of each heroine. Dressed as a Girl demonstrates how the power of friendship can ensure survival against all odds, and how individualism is a group activity. These radical, iconic, players come together to form a sturdy house of cards, and no matter how high the tide is – there’s always a laugh to be had.
Screening will be followed by Q&A with director Colin Rothbart and cast members Amber Waze, Holestar, John Sizzle
VIVA stars Héctor Medina as Jesus, a young hairdresser working at a Havana nightclub that showcases drag performers, who dreams of being a performer himself. Encouraged by his mentor, Mama (Luis Alberto García), Jesus finally gets his chance to take the stage. But when his estranged father Angel (Jorge Perugorría) abruptly reenters his life, his world is quickly turned upside down. As father and son clash over their opposing expectations of each other, VIVA becomes a love story as the men struggle to understand one another and reconcile as a family. VIVA was a hit at the 2015 Telluride Film Festival, and is Ireland’s entry for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award this year.
The post RuPaul’s DragCon: Screenings of ‘Jawbreaker,’ ‘Mysterious Skin,’ ‘Dressed As A Girl,’ and ‘Viva’ Just Announced! appeared first on The WOW Report.
I bet you never knew that John Quincy Adams was a delicately featured prettyboy… Or that James Garfield was a pouty-lipped Leo DiCaprio-doppelganger with piercing grey-blue eyes? Or – holy crap – Rutherford B Hayes was the UBER-HUMPY DADDY OF YOUR DAYDREAMS. Hotheadsofstate has portraits of US presidents as young men, and, trust me, almost all of them are game-changing eye-openers. For instance – I was shocked, SHOCKED, to discover that both Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford were COMPLETELY BONER-INDUCING as young twenty-somethings. They could be porn stars! Check them out below.
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
John Quincy Adams
Andrew Jackson
Franklin Pierce
Ulysses S Grant
Rutherford B Hayes
James Garfield
Chester A Arthur
Grover Cleveland
William McKinley
Teddy Roosevelt
William H Taft
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
FDR
Harry S Truman
Dwight D Eisenhower
John F Kennedy
Richard Nixon
]
Gerald Ford
Ronald Reagan
George HW Bush
Bill Clinton
Obama
See the whole list here.
The post Pictures of 25 Presidents When They Were Young and – Dare I say it? – Hunky appeared first on The WOW Report.
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory – the man who signed into law the hotly contested anti-trans “Bathroom Bill” – fell flat on his ass while taking his place at Duke University press conference. HA! Karma is a bitch, dude. Watch it below. (via BoyCulture)
Vaguely disappointing, though, is the way the Today show team – Al Roker, Natalie Morales, Tamron Hall, and Willie Geist – cheerfully chirp “Well-done, Governor” and “That’s grace under pressure” – without acknowledging the controversy surrounding the bill or the homophobia/transphobia of his actions. It’s tantamount to endorsing it. Yuck, guys.
The post #Karma: Watch Despicable, Homophobic NC Governor Pat McCrory Fall on His Ass appeared first on The WOW Report.
Check out the latest videos from our WOWPresents Network! Feast of Fun, Mike Enders, Matt Zarley, Aurora Andrews, Bear Naked Chef, and SO MANY MORE all have new videos from the WOWPresents Network!!! Watch all these and more right now on the WOW Report!
Here are the latest videos from our fabulous partners! Make sure you subscribe to their channels for new videos!
The post Watch New Videos From the WOWPresents Network! New Videos From Feast of Fun! Mike Enders! Matt Zarley! Aurora Andrews! Bear Naked Chef! appeared first on The WOW Report.
Hunky WOWPresents MCN content creator the The Bear-Naked Chef Adrian De Berardinis is coming back to your computer and mobile screens this May when he takes his cooking web series on the road to Madrid, Spain! Check out this teaser for the new season and make sure you subscribe to his YouTube channel so you don’t miss the premiere!
The post YUMMY! The Bear-Naked Chef Returns to YouTube! appeared first on The WOW Report.
April 21, 1947– Iggy Pop:
“Nihilism is best done by professionals.”
Would it surprise my friends or the wonderful readers of The Wow Report to know that I am a fan of James Newell Osterberg, Jr., the music and the man? As contemplated a #BornThisDay feature about Broadway Diva, Patti LuPone, who shares a birthday with Iggy Pop, I metaphorically patted myself on my diverse taste in music (metaphorically, because I am not even limber enough to touch my toes).
Pop is a poster boy for the physical extremes and self-abuse in Rock Music. He was one of the pilgrims of the late 1960s emergence of the Punk movement that would come in the 1970s.
As the songwriter and singer for The Stooges, Pop used his energy against the audience rather than attempting to encourage their support. He snarled lyrics that celebrated the baser aspects of the human condition, a contradiction and contrast to the songs about peace, love and understanding from the hit-makers of the era.
Unfortunately, Pop and his peers, Lou Reed and David Bowie romanticized the use of heroin, a drug that continues to ravage the music biz four decades later.
Pop was raised in a trailer park in Michigan and started his life as a musician as the drummer for his first band The Iguanas, from which got the charming nickname, Iggy. He briefly attended the University Of Michigan, but moved to Chicago, where he learned to play The Blues from performers like Howlin’ Wolf. Inspired by a concert by The Doors, Pop changed in his musical direction, and formed a new band that he named The Psychedelic Stooges.
The new band did their first gig at U of M in 1968, and they toured for the next year. Pop generated a lot of buzz, an especially energetic performer, if not always in a way appreciated by the audience members. He began leaping into the audience, a move later popularized at punk shows as “stage diving”. He smearing himself with food and cut himself with broken glass.
Except for of a small, dedicated group of fans, public reaction to the Stooges’ live shows was mostly negative, and the response to their first album was indifferent. But a second album, Fun House (1970), with the single Down On The Street somehow ended up on the charts. Yet, the internal dynamics of The Stooges had started to unravel because of the unabashed drug and alcohol use of its members, and Pop struggling with his heroin addiction. The problems had a noticeable impact on the Stooges’ live act, and they lost their recording contract in 1971.
In 1972, a chance meeting with Bowie was impetuous for Pop to continue with his career, and a deal with Columbia Records was arranged with Bowie’s help. Pop and Bowie went to London to begin work on a new album. With a new band, now called Iggy And The Stooges, the new album disappointed the execs at Columbia, who had expected a Pop solo album. Despite Bowie’s involvement, Raw Power (1973) kept with the tradition of poor sales and the band broke-up the next year.
But, Pop went back to Bowie for help with his stalled career. Bowie took Pop on his world tour for the Station To Station album, and then the pair settled in Berlin, bringing a period that would be exceptionally productive for both of them. The first two Iggy Pop solo albums: The Idiot and Lust For Life were both released in 1977. Both albums placed in the UK Top 30 and gave Pop his first taste of commercial success. A world tour followed, with Bowie on keyboards.
But, the success was short lived. Pop’s next three albums failed to generate sales, and his label dropped him.
The renewed interest in Pop’s music in the mid-1980s was, yet again, instigated by Bowie: this time though a new recording of Pop’s song China Girl on Bowie’s massively successful album Let’s Dance (1983). Royalties from the song, along with another Pop song, the title tune on Bowie’s follow-up album Tonight (1984) gave Pop another crack (so to speak) at dealing with his heroin addiction. Bowie produced Pop’s next solo album Blah Blah Blah (1986), with tracks credited to Bowie/Pop, plus a cover version of Johnny O’Keefe‘s Real Wild Child, Pop’s his first Top 10 Hit.
Pop made another Stooges style album, Instinct (1988), which was a commercial flop, and Pop was dropped from his label again. He signed with Virgin Records and released Brick by Brick (1990) which found the perfect compromise between the hard rock and commercial pop extremes of Pop’s music. The terrific single Candy, a bright duet with The B-52s’ Kate Pierson made it to the Top 20. Also in 1990, Pop played Vincent Bugliosi in the Manson Family opera composed by John Moran.
In the 1990s, Pop put out Pop Music: American Caesar (1993), Naughty Little Doggie (1995), and a dip into Jazz with Avenue B (1999). Pop was finally a Rock and Pop Music Icon. This was significantly aided by the use of his song Lust For Life in the heroin romp film Trainspotting (1996 directed by Danny Boyle, and cover version of Pop’s songs by performers as different as Slayer and Tom Jones.
Pop has also dabbled in acting, taking small roles in films like Sid And Nancy (1986) and The Color Of Money (1986), Cry-Baby (1990), Snow Day (2000), Coffee And Cigarettes (2003) and inexplicitly, The Rugrats Movie (1998).
In the aughts, Pop returned to Stooge’s style rock with Skull Ring (2003) with collaborators Green Day, Peaches, and The Trolls, reuniting the three surviving original members of The Stooges for the first time since 1974. In 2004, Pop opened for Madonna‘s Reinvention World Tour. In 2008, Pop helped induct Madonna into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, performing raucous versions of Madonna hits, Burning Up and Ray Of Light. The Stooges were inducted in 2015.
My favorite Pop album is Préliminaires (2009), a lush, romantic work with jazz touches. Pop said that the album was his response to being “sick of listening to idiot thugs with guitars banging out crappy music”.
Last month Pop released a more rockin’ album, Post Pop Depression, & he is touring this summer.
Pop lives in Miami. Like me, he is a vegetarian, and has done ads and promotions for PETA. In the terrific Todd Haynes’ film Velvet Goldmine (1998), Ewan McGregor portrays a character loosely based on Pop. McGregor performs the Stooges songs TV Eye and Gimme Danger in the film.
My little Rat Terrier, Junior, claims that Pop’s I Wanna Be Your Dog is his favorite song ever.
Despite their very close friendship, including living together for most of a decade, Bowie and Pop insisted that they were never lovers. Still, Pop identifies as bisexual and he has said that he does get around and admits that he’s known for having had lots and lots of sex. He says of that reputation: “I wish I could have had more.”
“I would characterize my penis as sort of like a powerful interest group within a political party at this point. It used to be the entire political party.”
Pop With Bowie
The post #BornThisDay: Musician, Iggy Pop appeared first on The WOW Report.
RuPaul’s DragCon is coming in LESS THAN A MONTH! Are you READY? Yes, May 7th and 8th! And with more than 40 amazing panels and dozens of meet-and-greets, it’s going to be THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE! Do you have your tickets yet?
Every day between now and then, we’re going to be highlighting a wowlebrity that will be in attendance! Today, we celebrate the incomparable Sherry Vine!
Having established herself as one of NYC’s downtown darlings, Sherry also tours the world with her all live singing, comedy shows; performing regularly in Montreal, Berlin, Helsinki, Estonia and Sydney to name a few. Miss Vine is a founding member and co-Artistic Director (with Joshua Rosenzweig and Erik Jackson) of Theatre Couture, and has starred in all of their productions including; the smash sold out hit CARRIE, DOLL, the Off Broadway hit TELL-TALE, CHARLIE, KITTY KILLER, THE FINAL FEAST OF LUCREZIA BORGIA, e.s.p. and THE BAD WEED ’73. Sherry can be seen in numerous films; WELCOME TO NY, WIGSTOCK, THE RASPBERRY REICH, STONEWALL, CHARLIE, SCREAM TEEN SCREAM and FRANCESCA PAGE. Sherry starred in two seasons of the variety show She’s Living For This and more recently wrote, produced and starred in her first film, Just For One Day which will be playing the film festival this year.
Miss Vine is perhaps best known as a YouTube sensation with her hysterical video parodies that have been viewed over 14,000,000 times! Sherry and creative partner Josh Rosernzweig have just launched gaySVTVworld on Sherry’s YouTube channel as a one stop destination for all your gay entertainment needs and are releasing a new video every single day for free!
Her new state-of-the-art website contains all of her videos, songs, blog, pictures, merchandise and a full schedule of appearances. www.SherryVine.com
Sherry will be on the Club Legends panel.
Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
And check out these hysterical videos.
The post RuPaul’s DragCon 2016: Come Meet Sherry Vine! appeared first on The WOW Report.
A photographer named Paparazzo in Felinni’s La Dolce Vita is the eponym of the word “paparazzi”. Fellini took the name from an Italian word that describes a the annoying noise of a buzzing mosquito. As Fellini told Time magazine,
“Paparazzo … suggests to me a buzzing insect, hovering, darting, stinging.“
To further than analogy, in the 60s & 70s Ron Gallella was the fictional king bee. The Bronx-born photographer practically invented the paparazzi market in this country. His obsession with getting on-the-go shots of the likes of Jackie Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor made him famous. It also got him sucker-punched by Marlon Brando, who broke his jaw and knocked out five teeth.
At 85, Galella is now retired. The only event he comes into the city for these days is the Met Ball, the annual celebrity bonanza that is the Costume Institute gala.
His new book, Sex in Fashion, is out now, and he told Vanity Fair,
“I’ve always felt that I’m more than a paparazzo. I’m a photojournalist, that’s what I got a degree for in 1958, from the Art Center College of Design in L.A., after a five-year stint in the Air Force. I worked hard at my craft, too. I was discharged in 1955, went to school, and then in 1958, I came back to my father’s house in the Bronx. I didn’t have money for a studio—like [Francesco] Scavullo, whose father had a building on 65th Street—so the streets became my studio. I built a photo lab in my father’s basement, and I started doing something that wasn’t being done, which was capture spontaneity. Other photographers would do posed and well-lit pictures. I captured celebrities in their environments: at parties, in airports, when they were not aware of the photographer or the camera. This was the real them. That’s what photojournalism is about.“
They are great pictures. It’s hard to imagine today’s celebs making a coffee table book, but in 50 years, they’ll probably look interesting. Most things do.
Galella stalking Brando
Sophia Loren
Kate Moss
Cher
Grace Jones
Lauren Hutton
Barbra Streisand
Aretha Franklin
Bianca Jagger
Catherine Denieuve
Robert Redford
Ali McGraw & Ryan O’Neal
Mick Jagger, Jann Wenner & Bette Midler
Jack Nicholson
Diana Ross
Brooke Shields
Andy Warhol & Lee Radziwill
Elizabeth Taylor
Sharon Tate
Mick & Jerry Hall
Jackie Kennedy Onassis
(via Vanity Fair)
The post #TBT: Liz, Jackie & Cher Are Still In Their Prime In Ron Gallela’s “Sex In Fashion” appeared first on The WOW Report.
“I’m sorry, where are you again..? The corner of Kitchen Dick & Woodcock…?”
No, we moved. Now we’re right at the intersection of Inyo & Butte…“
The post #SignsoftheTimes: Just Turn Left at “Meth Bible Camp” Road… appeared first on The WOW Report.
So another day, another tragic celebrity death – this time the genius
that was Prince and yet another ‘I was there’ pop culture moment.
Beware – this is a l o n g anecdote…
It was January 1995 and I was a young Assistant Producer working on
The Sunday Show, BBC2’s new live show based up in Manchester.
Alongside newcomers like David Walliams, our other on-screen reporter
was US supermodel Veronica Webb – a stunningly beautiful ‘it girl’
from NYC who I was responsible for (setting up VT stories and the
like).I’d somehow become good friends with ‘Our Vera’ (as I liked to call
her) and had earlier been posted over to Manhattan to film with her
and to hang out at niteclubs and that. She was fab and glamorous but
was about to become even more fabulous…In late February, Vera rang me from NYC and told me she had become
‘friends’ with Prince (code for shagging) and ‘did we fancy doing
something with him on The Sunday Show?’ She promised she could get an
interview with him – his first in ten years – while he was over tour
in the UK. ‘So, were we interested?’Of course, everyone in BBC Manchester jumped to it and within seconds
we had changed the editorial of the opening show tx’ing on Sunday
March 5th 1995. Ian Stewart was to produce and I was to assist, write
questions and sort everything out (and keep Veronica happy).Thus began an incredible Prince-related week, I was flown down to
London and I then tried to get Veronica to tie Prince down to our
filming schedule. This meant a series of bizarre nightly phone calls
with Veronica at around 4 or 5am (i.e. this was when Prince was
winding down for the night after his gig and after the afterparty orgy
or whatever) and trying to get him to agree to locations and
questions, etc. So far so typical TV…Eventually he agreed to film on the Saturday that week, the day before
our first TX (by now my parents were heartily sick of answering the
phone at 4am). Finally it was happening – except for one strange
caveat. As Prince was in dispute with his record company, we wouldn’t
be getting an interview with ‘Prince’, we would instead be getting
either a ‘Ghost’ as Prince was dead or perhaps a Japanese Kamikaze
pilot character whose name I forget. This was before the whole ‘Artist
formerly known as’ stuff so I was very confused but tried to be cool
with it – it was bloody Prince after all…Then, on the Friday night I was called over to Claridge’s where
Veronica was staying in order to go as VIP guests to see Prince
perform at Wembley. He sent his Rolls Royce and his chauffeur and,
thanks to our traffic problems lateness, actually delayed the start of
the gig until we – that is to say, his girlfriend, Veronica – arrived.
That definitely felt v cool…What didn’t feel so clever was me trying to be professional and
stupidly turning down an invited back to Prince’s hotel room
afterwards to hang out and party all night with him and Vera and his
pals. I still remember everyone saying to come but we had a shoot the
next morning and I was a BBC employee trying to do the right thing.
What a bloody fool I was…The next day, Saturday, at about 8am the crew took over Dick’s Bar at
the Atlantic Bar and staged a set ready for Prince/the Ghost of Prince
or maybe even the Japanese Kamikaze pilot persona. We waited and
waited but, after about 8 hours or so, gave up. Prince was sleeping
and forgot to turn up…He was embarrassed though and called Vera to arrange for us to film
the next day at Wembley – and promised to perform live on the Sunday
Show if we did an OB link. Once again, everyone jumped to it and the
very next day we arrived at Wembley at 10am…Here, once Prince actually arrived, things became very weird. We
couldn’t look at him directly in the face or speak to him (remember we
were about to film an interview but hey, ho). However this all changed
when he decided to get on stage and start playing. Me and Vera went up
on stage and stood there while Prince serenaded us (I remember I made
myself useful by brushing her hair at one point).On stage, playing his guitar, Prince was incredible – a world famous
musical genius who spoke to us without any pretension or artifice. He
rocked out and blew everyone away with a blistering performance of
‘Sexy Motherfucker’ live on BBC2 at lunchtime on a Sunday. This
interview will be amazing, I thought.It was – but for different reasons. As soon as he stopped playing, the
Ghost of Prince appeared and he stopped talking. Now mute, and
uncommunicative, we retired to the interview location above the stage
and tried to film the interview. Prince, now masked, refused to speak
and answered only by whispering in his soon-to-be wife, Mayte‘s ear.
She would then interpret him and speak for him…Bizarre though it was – it was pure TV gold and I’ll never forget
sitting two feet away from Prince as he whispered and giggled his way
through his first TV interview for 10 years.Afterwards, everyone went off happy and relieved. I was so relaxed I
didn’t mind waiting for ages for my cab and went and sat in the
canteen alone – here I was delighted when Prince joined me and ate and
laughed and chatted again completely normally. I felt very privileged
to experience Prince the regular guy…The whole thing was just a fantastic mad experience and remains one of
my proudest moments and coolest memories.But if only I had said ‘Yes’ and gone off to his party…
RIP Prince – you were fucking amazing.
(Photos: Pacific Coast News)
The post The Story of an Incredibly Odd Interview Prince Once Did for BBC2 (as Told By Steven D Wright) appeared first on The WOW Report.
As you probably already know, the iconic artist Prince tragically passed away this morning. If you’re anything like me, you’ve been sucked into a deep, emotional tunnel revisiting your favorite Prince playlists today—including this 2008 gem: a duet with none other than the Queen Bey at the 2008 GRAMMY Awards. If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and watch the two of them perform “Purple Rain” and “Baby I’m A Star” with a dash of “Crazy In Love” with Prince on guitar. Legendary.
*Snaps*
In addition to that, Beyoncé covered my favorite Prince song of all time “The Beautiful Ones” at Glastonbury 2011:
Rest in peace. We love you, Prince!
The post It’s Time to Revisit the Time Prince and Beyoncé Joined Forces on Stage and It Was Basically Too Much Greatness For Everyone appeared first on The WOW Report.
Friends of WOW legendary film maker John Roecker and post-power-punk icon musician Dylan Melody strike again! Buy the new Roecker/Melody record here
The post Roecker/Melody’s Sizzling Hot New Video “What the Hell Happened?” appeared first on The WOW Report.
I took the trusty WOWPresents crew out onto the Boulevard today to share in the grief over Prince’s untimely death. Unsurprisingly, most people listed “Purple Rain” as their favorite song, with “Little Red Corvette” coming in a close second. My personal two favorites “Bat Dance” and “You’ve Got the Look” drew mostly blank stares from the younger generation. Everybody, though, could agree that it was a tragic day for music fans. “Music is medicine,” said one young fan. “And Prince was our doctor.” Poignant words.
The post #JimmyOnTheStreet: James St James Talks to People on Hollywood Boulevard About the Tragic Passing of Prince appeared first on The WOW Report.
April 22, 1946– John Waters is undoubtedly one of my favorite people on our pretty planet and one of my best reading experiences of the current decade was making my way through his memoir Role Models (2011), a collection of essays about his idols (many of them mine too), some living, some dead, most dating back to his teenage years. Under my own New Austerity Program, I borrowed this book from the library after making a pledge to check-out books from my local branch rather than purchasing them in hardback from Portland’s Powell’s City Of Books. I loved Role Models so much that I purchased it anyway, even though I had already studied every page before returning the library’s edition.
Waters and I share a passion for Tennessee Williams. His started early in life, when the nuns at his Baltimore Catholic school told Waters that if he saw a film written by Williams he: “would go straight to hell”… so naturally he headed for the library to find the “joyous, alarming, sexually confusing” writer who saved my life”.
We also both have a thing for singer Johnny Mathis. In his essay about Mathis, Waters remembers seeing a basement full of his friends French kissing to Mathis music. Waters explains:
“I knew then that not only did I want to be a teenager… I wanted to be an exaggeration of a teenager.”
Note that Waters wanted to be a teen, as if being a teenager were not simply a matter of putting in the time, but a lifestyle. You could actually fail at Teenagerdom if you didn’t do it right.
One of my favorites of the chapters in Role Models is one about Mexican porn director Bobby Garcia, “who has blown hundreds and hundreds of really cute marines and lived to tell about it”, and whose favorite film turns out to be The Hours (2002). Garcia claims to have seen it at least 25 times.
Waters’ writing is stealthy engaging, full of devotion and delight. I often feel that writing for films would be the ultimate place that all writers dream of escaping, but here Waters is just the opposite. He claims that a filmmaker who writes a book always feels joyous and celebratory. He is allowed to be the fan he wants to be in Role Models.
Maxims from John Waters:
“Be interested in other people’s behavior and try to figure out why they did it. That’s what’s so interesting to me, and it’s not quite so obvious, and everybody has horror stories, everybody has secrets, everybody has things they’ve done that they’re still trying to explain why they did. So if you can understand why other people did it, then maybe you’ll be better with yourself, and you can be a happy neurotic, which is what I’m trying to be.”
“I write about being gay in a refined way. I’m trying to give it grace, a word I would never normally say. I also hate the word ‘journey’ and ‘craft’ and ‘rigorous’ and ‘openly gay’, which always makes me laugh. Do they say, openly heterosexual so-and-so is appearing tonight? And that phrase ‘practicing homosexual’. Like, if he keeps practicing, he’ll get it right. First of all, I never call myself a gay artist. History decides if you’re an artist. I certainly think I’m equally right for gay and straight people.”
“I don’t have a gay agenda, although I vote gay. If someone said they were against gay marriage, I wouldn’t vote for them. But I have no desire to mimic something Larry King does eight times, and I like Larry King. Good for him! He’s helping us. I hope he gets married 10 more times. Just don’t make me do what you want to do.”
The self-dubbed “King Of Filth” has directed 17 transgressive films since Hag In A Black Leather Jacket in 1968, including those starring his muse, superstar Divine: Pink Flamingos (1972), Polyester (1981), Hairspray (1988), plus the fabulously demented Serial Mom (1994). My favorite John Waters flick is the rather sweet, even tender, Pecker (1998) with Lily Taylor, Edward Furlong, and Christina Ricci.
In 2014, I very much enjoyed his funny book about his adventures as a hitchhiker, Carsick. This travel book is about Waters putting his life on the line when, armed with his singular wit and a cardboard sign that reads “I’m Not Psycho”, he hitchhikes from his home in Baltimore to San Francisco, braving lonely roads and scary drivers.
Before he leaves for his zany adventure, Waters fantasizes about the best and worst possible scenarios: a friendly drug dealer handing over a lot of money to help finance films with no questions asked, a demolition-derby driver with a filthy sexual request in the middle of a race, a drunk with a revolver terrorizing and holding him hostage, plus a Kansas vice cop entrapping and then throwing him in jail. His actual rides include a gentle, octogenarian farmer who believes that Waters is a hobo, an indie band on tour, and Water’s unexpected hero, a hot young, blond, Republican driving a Corvette named Brett Bidle, who thinks Waters is a homeless man. Worried about Waters, he drives him from Maryland to Ohio, 4 hours away. Later, Waters reconnects with Bidle in Denver. Bidle then drives waters to Reno, 1000 miles west. Before moving on, Waters arranges for Bidle to use his San Francisco apartment for a while. Carsick is filled with subversive humor and warm observations about life.
I admire Waters’ assortment of interesting friends which include would-be Presidential assassin Squeaky Fromme, bank robbing heiress Patricia Hearst, former porn actor Traci Lords, and A-List actors like Kathleen Turner and Johnny Depp.
Besides being a film director/screenwriter, Waters is an occasional actor, stand-up comedian, and journalist. He is also a visual artist. One his own works is a Waters-ian version of a baby stroller made of leather bondage straps and featuring sex club logos. He is also a world-class art collector, with important pieces mixed with his famous fake food collection and dirt from serial-killer John Wayne Gacy‘s yard. Waters is a bit of a bibliophile, with a collection of over 10,000 books.
Waters, who is single, still lives in his hometown of Baltimore where all of his films are set. He also keeps apartments in NYC and San Francisco, and a summer place in Provincetown.
Waters says that making his kind of movies is too expensive nowadays. It is rough for him getting financing. I hope he has one more in him.
The post #BornThisDay: John Waters appeared first on The WOW Report.
Andy Serkis
Amber Heard