"
I know you are out there, just wanting to put your wig on, just like me. And I know you're just waiting to have a good time. Just put a little ball earring on, a little bad sunglasses, and a big, bad wig on, 'cause it's good. It feels good, works, it does." It is, or was,
Wigstock, an annual outdoor drag festival held in NYC, starting in 1985 by
"Lady" Bunny and friends. Each year
the party grew, moving to
Union Square in 1991, then
to Christopher Street waterfront in 1994 to deal with the expanding crowd.
2001 was supposed to be the last year, but
the party came back in 2003,
in conjunction with the annual HOWL festival. That carried the tradition on for another two years, and
Wigstock's official website is stuck in 2005, a reminder of the festivities that were. You can
reminisce with Gawker, or take a short journey back to 1987 with
Wigstock: The Movie (part 1 of 4), not to be confused with the longer film of the same name,
capturing Wigstock 1995 (part 1 of 8).
posted by filthy light thief
on Mar 9, 2012 -
18 comments
Late July 2011, would-be guests of the
historic and storied Chelsea Hotel (also known as
Hotel Chelsea or simply The Chelsea)
were informed on their reservations were suddenly canceled, in preparation for a year-long renovation project, which some people
speculate is a union-busting strategy. Given the concerns for the future of The Chelsea,
some came to throw last-minute parties, while long-term tenants held more somber gatherings. On August 1st,
current guests were abruptly escorted out, increasing anxieties about the plans of
the new owner, elusive real estate investor Joseph Chetrit. Even if this is the end of the era, the hotel's
long and varied legacy lives on ...
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Aug 6, 2011 -
47 comments
The
long-polluted New York rivers are
getting cleaner, but can still be dangerous to swim in. There are
efforts underway to clean up the Bronx River, but that will take years, if not decades. Until then,
signs are posted, warning would-be swimmers, yet people still risk sickness to battle the heat. One current safe solution is
the Floating Pool Lady, a barge that was remade into an 82-foot-long city parks department swimming pool.
She first arrived in the Bronx in 2008, and
she'll return to the Bronx in a week. There's a new Big Idea to bring swimmers back into the rivers:
the +Pool, a floating swimming pool located within a river, designed with a series exterior walls to filter the river water and make it safe to swim in. While that's in the early design stages, you can take a chance and
jump in a swimming hole.
posted by filthy light thief
on Jun 24, 2011 -
26 comments
Damon Winter is a photojournalist who has worked for The Dallas Morning News, The Los Angeles Times and
now works for The New York Times. His work on
a more sports-focused beat in Dallas lead to
his update on athletes from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics as part of the
2008 Olympics coverage. As a photographer with The New York Times, he won the
2009 Pulitzer Prize for
feature photography, for his
first time out on the road, covering campaigns (narrated slideshow, 3min 19sec). Currently, he is sharing
his photos and
writing from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, which are included in NY Times
Lens Blog (prev. Lens Blog features:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5). If that's a bit heavy, check his
photographers journal (narrated slide show, 2min 34sec) and
his article on creating
double-exposure juxtapositions from days or weeks of shooting large-form film.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Jan 20, 2010 -
6 comments
