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
From the gender-bending antics of Eurythmics and Culture Club, to the propulsive synthpop of Depeche Mode, New Order, and the Human League, was there ever, asks Mark Simpson, a more spectacular time for pop? In 1983, the year that McDonald’s introduced Chicken McNuggets and the second Cold War was at… Read More »1983: The High Summer of (Synth-)Pop
Mark Simpson speaks to the mother of Myra Breckinridge, and scourge of imperialism, monotheism – and monosexuality (Arena Hommes Plus, Summer 2009) It’s a bad connection, and I’m having difficulty hearing the last living Great American Man of Letters. He says something else I don’t hear and I ask him to… Read More »Gore Vidal Turns Off the Lights on the American Dream
Mark Simpson on the Cold War with Cuddly Toys (Arena Hommes Plus, Spring 2008) The titanic Superpower confrontation of the early 1980s between the Soviet Union and the United States saw the deployment of several new and terrifying strategic weapons systems, including Cruise Missiles, Pershings, SS-20s, B1 Bombers, and SDI/Star… Read More »Fluffy Ideology: The Cold War With Cuddly Toys