Confessions from the Velvet Ropes

Motherfucker party and Confessions from the Velvet Ropes featured in the New York Post; Flashback!: Diana Ross on the Muppet Show!

Today's New York Post features this terrific article on the rock 'n roll behemoth that is the Motherfucker party, and Confessions from the Velvet Ropes is cited as evidence that the MOFO phenomenon is going mainstream! But did the gorgeous and talented Justine D. really pronounce The MisShapes "contrived"? I smell a Manhattan clubland turf war brewing!

For those who don't know, the Motherfucker New Year's Eve blowout will be held at REBEL this year, and all the rocker glittery glitterati and bisexual bad boys from the boroughs will be in attendance. Remember: Motherfucker is a dictatorship at the door and a democracy on the dancefloor - so work a look or New York's #1 doorman, Thomas Onorato, will send you straight to the New Year's gulag, whether that be McSorely's or in a time machine back to Xenon.

 

In Confessions from the Velvet Ropes, there is an especially wild tale from a past Motherfucker party in which nazi-like security guards ordered Mofo founder and DJ, Michael T, to turn off the music. It happened to be the last song of the night, "Love Hangover" by Diana Ross, a Mofo tradition and tribute to one of the party's influences, Studio 54. You may have seen footage of Miss Ross performing this iconic song, but have you ever seen her perform it on The Muppet Show?! Feast your eyes on the below clip, and have a Happy New Year!

Love,

Glenn Belverio

Confessions from the Velvet Ropes on ABC News Now: Glenn Belverio and Thomas Onorato interviewed by Katrina Szish of Us Weekly Magazine on ABC New's THE BUZZ

Author Glenn Belverio and doorman Thomas Onorato on ABC News

(Thanks to my friend Damion of sfluxe.com for uploading this to Google video)

Disco Years by Ron Galella: See Andy Warhol, Elizabeth Taylor, Halston, Steve Rubell, Ian Schrager, Liza Minnelli, Grace Jones, Madonna, Diane von Furstenberg, Mick and Bianca Jagger, Keith Richards and Dolly Parton in all their disco glory

Shame on me for not posting about this fabulous book sooner: Disco Years, by my favorite photographer Ron Galella, is packed with so much glitter, decadence, flesh, and fierceness, you're bound to get a disco whiplash when you venture into its pages. The forward is written by my friend Anthony Haden-Guest and there's an afterword by Village Voice institution Michael Musto. Yes kids, before there were the MisShapes (back when well-read hip-sters were sharing a banquette with William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg), Merlin Bronques and Lastnightsparty, there was paparazzo Ron Galella, Studio 54, and DJ sets untainted by irony and poisonous postmodernism. Oh yeah, and there was Michael Musto. He's really old. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

A few years ago I had the pleasure of interviewing Ron Galella at his home in New Jersey, and I felt like a kid in a candy store when he led me through his basement archives--a massive labyrinth and pop culture holy site, home to over one million Ron Galella photos. I'll never forget the turkey banquet his wife Betty effortlessly whipped up for me after the interview and their bunny menagerie--both live and replica. My essay that accompanied an exhibit of Galella's work in Toronto can be read here.

After devouring the calvacade of images in Galella's book--many of which were taken at the legendary Studio 54--you might want to pick up a copy of Confessions from the Velvet Ropes to read my interview and profile of Marc Benecke, the orginal doorman of Studio 54.

Thanks for reading,

Glenn Belverio

Camille Paglia takes on Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Madonna in US Weekly Magazine

Above: Camille Paglia goes bird watching in Melanie Daniels drag

Today's online edition of US Magazine features this very amusing interview with my friend and collaborator, Camille Paglia. In it, Professor Paglia takes on today's so-called sex symbols, from the embryonic (Lindsay Lohan) to the prehistoric (Madonna) and as usual, doesn't hold back.

"These girls are lowering themselves to the level of backstreet floozies," the author of Sexual Personae, Vamps and Tramps, Sex, Art, and American Culture, and the recent Break, Blow, Burn says in the interview. "It angers me because I fought a bitter fight to get feminism back on track and be pro-sex at the same time. This is degrading the entire pro-sex wing of feminism.”

Camille and I go way back, back to when I met her at a lecture at the 92nd Street Y in 1992. In 1993 we collaborated on the short film, Glennda and Camille Do Downtown, which played at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival and won first prize for best short documentary at the Chicago Underground Film Festival. Recently, she very kindly blurbed me and her quote appears on the back cover of my book, Confessions from the Velvet Ropes: "Glenn Belverio has a devastatingly urban eye. An ultra-hip arbiter of style, he commands the fine line between fashion and flash. He is a superb guide to the underworld of earthly delights."

And to that I say to my fellow Jacqueline Susann fan, "Thanks, doll!"

Thanks for reading,

Glenn Belverio

* Christmas Stocking Stuffer Double Header Suggestion: For the astute readers and film and pop culture buffs in your family, ask Santa to pick up a copy of Camille Paglia's book that analyzes Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and also a copy of Confessions from the Velvet Ropes. After all, does your nephew really need more socks and underwear?