Two Articles This Week In The NY TIMES and NEXT Magazine

In an unusual confluence, two feature articles I've been working on for the past couple of months were published in the last two days. I wrote an article about the emergence and growing popularity of Boylesque for the NY TIMES style section, which appeared in Thursday's paper. And then I have a feature in NEXT magazine's "State of Drag" issue, about the sex and dating lives of drag queens. 

The TIMES piece came about as I've been a bit of a Boylesque fan-boy since attending Tigger's "Man-A-Tease" at the Coney Island Sideshow By The Seashore three summers ago. I think it's a fascinating twist to the whole neo-burlesque revival and really puts an unusual male spin on a traditionally female art form. My story in NEXT came about as they were searching for ideas for the state of drag issue. A friend of mine who has recently been performing in drag told me how it had greatly improved his sex life and that intrigued me.  Not enough to don drag but so much so that it got me to write about the dating lives of drag queens, something I feel is not discussed or heard about even. 

Anyway, hope you enjoy these stories as some weekend reading. And you can look for a couple more stories from me in the TIMES style section in the coming weeks.

Boylesque Boys Bare All At the Coney Island Freakshow

Last night I headed all the way out to the ends of Brooklyn and the beaches of Coney Island USA. I went with some friends to see the 5th Annual Boylesque Show (which I've written about before) aka Man-A-Tease at the Sideshow by the Seashore, home to the infamous Coney Island Freakshow.  This years program, curated by Tigger, was quite stunning with the addition of an actual freak to the lineup....Seal Boy!  You can read all about my adventures on the NEXT magazine blog today.  As a bonus, here's some extra pictures below that didn't make the cut.....

Boy-Lesque By The Sea

In July, I went out to the Sideshow-By-The-Seashore at Coney Island to see the Pontani Sisters burlesque show.  Well, now the boys have gotten in on the act.  Last Friday, I attended the Boy-Lesque show called "Man-A-Tease", hosted by downtown performance nudist Tigger.  I'd been to the Boylesque review before, as this was the 4th annual show.  But this year, Tigger stepped it up a notch with the addition of a trio of real pros from Chi-town known as The Stagedoor Johnnies.

These three gorgeous and inventive artists presented some stunning new numbers which really brought the boys up to the level of the ladies. Jett Adore (pictured below) did a Zorro number and worked his cape like nobody's business.  Bazooka Joe did a steamy number with a towel...actually lots of towels. And Ray Gunn got a standing O with a burlesque version of the Matrix. Seriously. The night ended with a marching band themed number which was awesome (pictured above).  Maybe it's my past history as a band fag but I loved this number especially.

There was also some pre-show stripping by Go-Go Harder as well as performances by the Evil Hate Monkey, who was recently crowned King of Boylesque in Las Vegas, and a special appearance by Julie Atlas Muz at the end of the show.  Overall, it was a very sexy and entertaining night at the Sideshow by the Seashore.