On the 55th anniversary of the NYC bar riot at which everyone over 75 now claims they threw the first bottle, I thought I would post this piece about the expiration of gay bohemianism in the 1980s. More a series of not terribly well-integrated notes than essay, it was originally… Read More »1989: The Year the C20th & Gay Bohemianism Ended
I was contacted recently by Xavi Sancho of the Spanish national newspaper El Pais, who commissioned the recent profile of me, for some quotes for a major feature he was writing analysing the Taylor Swift phenomenon. Published last Sunday, here’s the Google Translate version of the standfirst: On May 29 and 30, the… Read More »‘The J.K. Rowling of Pop’
The Toy Boy’s Tale – Part II of my Liberace post. Published in 1988, Behind the Candelabra, a kiss and tell expose, credits Liberace’s much younger lover Scott Thorson on the cover of my 2013 edition, along ‘with’ (in smaller font) Alex Thorleifson – a celebrity biographer whose previous best-known work was My Life with… Read More »Thorson’s Liberace
On trying to love the flashy, gnashy, piano basher This will shock you, but Liberace was not my cup of peculiar. Frankly, I found his persona slightly repellent as a kid in the 1970s. Maybe it was just rejection of my inner fabulousness, but he reminded me of a sexless,… Read More »Even Liberace’s Smile
Last month, a profile of yours truly was published in the Spanish national El Pais, (words: Rafa de Miguel; photos: Manuel Vazquez). You can see my full ‘spread’ here. I think they’ve been very kind to an ageing Metrodaddy. I was asked to suggest a suitable location in Manchester. I… Read More »El Pais Profile of Mark Simpson