Stephen and Michael, party hosting duo Kids With Snakes (who, incidentally, are on the bill for my birthday party on the 14th), and I have been meaning to set up a shoot for about a year now. We see each other all the time but it’s been super difficult to schedule something where all three of us (and all my equipment) could be in the same place at the same time. So last weekend it just all sort of came together at the last minute, and we shot in Stephen’s yard and apartment in Williamsburg.

They and I have something in common, which is that there are lots of people who don’t like us. Plenty have good reason (we admit it), and plenty have no reason at all. It doesn’t really matter because we all have lots of love in our lives and we have amazing times with our friends. But, you know. There’s always a special bond between respective recipients of ‘net hate. I think that’s part of why Sarah and I get along so well.

Anyway, for being photographed so often by everyone, and despite having no problem taking their clothes off outdoors, the boys are still shy in front of a camera. So it took some time to warm up, but I really love a lot of the shots we were able to get.

Click any of these images to see larger.

More after the jump… (more…)

Already getting a lot of RSVPs for this… which is good, because it’s got an insane lineup! Take a look below at the flyer for my birthday party, happening at the Annex next Saturday (June 14). Great hosts, great DJs, open bar, awesome gift bags… what more could you want out of a Saturday night? For those of you who haven’t seen or heard Alan Astor, his performances are awesome. Really exciting. But since my intern (not I) is handling the guestlist, you must RSVP, even if you’re my friend, even if you’ve told me you’re coming. Many, many thanks to Geneva and Kellie the Intern for coordinating so much of this!

IT’S BRAD WALSH’S BIRTHDAY. JOIN HIM AND FRIENDS EARLY AT THE ANNEX ON SAT. JUNE 14 FROM 8:00 TIL MIDNITE TO CELEBRATE! OPEN BAR ALL NIGHT FROM ZYGO ENERGY VODKA! GIFT BAGS TO DIE FOR, SPECIALLY DESIGNED BY LOVE BRIGADE TO THE FIRST 200 THROUGH THE DOOR! HOSTED BY CHRISTIAN SIRIANO (PROJECT RUNWAY), THE MISSHAPES, ULTRAGRRRL, MELISSA BECK (MTV + OXYGEN), JUSTIN BECK (GLASSJAW), CAMERON & ROMINA, ANTWAN, GENEVA, KIDS WITH SNAKES, ALANAKATESYOU & MORE! LIVE PERFORMANCE BY ALAN ASTOR! DJS DIMITRY!!!, MIKE NOUVEAU, PETER PAZDROWSKI, & MORE! $8 AT THE DOOR, $5 WITH RSVP TO RSVP@JUNK-MAG.COM. FRIENDS CAN RSVP TO THAT ADDRESS FOR COMP GUESTLIST. 152 ORCHARD. WILL BE FILMED. SPONSORS INCLUDE BEN SHERMAN, ZINK MAGAZINE, 24 PRINCE RESTAURANT, SESAC, LOVE BRIGADE, & ZYGO ENERGY VODKA.

Okay, so. My birthday is two weeks away. I want these like you wouldn’t believe. There are only two pairs left in a gold size 11, which means someone has to get them for me very soon if someone is going to get them for me. Wellll, nevermind! Technology is wonderful.

On Friday I got to go with Christian to have dinner with Lucy Walsh and then go to her dad’s show at Madison Square Garden. I had never seen The Eagles before; they were amazing! They sounded so perfectly put together. Every moment was spot-on, and their set was three hours long! I knew the basics (“Hotel California” of course) and I knew Don Henley’s hits (“Boys of Summer” and “Dirty Laundry”) and one or two of Joe Walsh’s solo songs. But I knew so many of the other things they played and never had any idea they were their songs. Lucy was great, I like her. At one point she exclaimed “my dad looks like Kill Bill!” She introduced us to him backstage and all I could think about was that everywhere my music is for sale online, his name is always right there on the page as a “maybe you’ll like…” simply because we have the same last name.

Definitely one of the coolest shows I’ve been to in New York. The place was sold out, the second of three nights in a row, many thousands of people dancing and singing along. It was great. At one point we were visited by the Naked Brothers band from Nickelodeon, who are interested in having Christian on the show? I don’t know. It was awkward because the young one was like ten years old and I think we had just been talking about something raunchy. Also, their mom was on Thirtysomething.

A few weeks ago my mom told me that our family cat, Eliot, was dying. She said he was lying on the floor quietly and hadn’t eaten for days. He’s a big fat lazy angry cat who doesn’t do much other than eat, poop, and bat at you with a claw. But he was calm and skinny and she was sure he was on his way out. He is 16 years old. So I bought a gravestone for him online, had it engraved and sent to her house in Ohio. It takes a few weeks for them to make and send it, so I was worried he was going to be dead and buried for a while before the marker was in place. But then he got better. Now he’s fine and walking around and his gravestone arrived today. Mom sent me a photo of it… neatly placed in the backyard garden as though he is buried underneath it. But he’s probably rubbing up against it and hobnobbing with the dogs in the sun. Because he’s alive. Yet his grave is already clearly marked with an epitaph and his silhouette. Mom is creepy.

Click to see some more photos… (more…)

Acura and GenArt are celebrating the launch of the new TSX with a few parties across the country, at which my art and the art of a couple other people (including genius Nikola) is being presented gallery-style. “Gen Art and Acura invite you to ‘Capture the Night’ with the debut of an exhilarating photography exhibition embodying the spontaneous nightlife spirit of the new TSX campaign.”

Molly Sims is hosting the LA launch on June 5, and there are additional dates in Atlanta (June 26) and Chicago (July 31). The photos of mine that they are showing include Geneva, Anna, Kate, Alana, Sarah & Karen.

Carolina! You may remember her from her wrangling talents, and you can watch the Logo Awards on June 7 to see her dance like a maniac for Cyndi Lauper.

Click any of these images to see larger

Yesterday she and I hopped into a car (she lives like ten feet from me) and took ourselves to Williamsburg, where I photographed her in a bunch of Christian’s stuff. Dear Google: Christian would like you to know that these clothes are all designed and made by Christian Siriano. Also, he cut my hair again and now I feel ten times better about myself, even though today is day two of this shirt that I am currently wearing.

First of all, Carolina’s gorgeous. The whole time we were shooting my brain was saying ‘wow.’ Second, the clothes are amazing. That gold shirt is the one he wore to the Sex & the City movie premiere a couple days ago (which, by the way, he made in a few hours the day of), and the fuschia poofy dress is the one that Holly wore on Make Me A Supermodel. The big black belt was a rare Beacon’s Closet treasure of a find. I’m so happy to have so many inspiring people around me all the time! Summer begins.

Tomorrow Christian and I get to go see The Eagles with Lucy Walsh! That’s kind of amazing all around. But today is an interview day. Before the day is done I vow to have completed my outstanding Q&A’s! Why do people want to know what I think about anything? I’ve had questions sitting in my inbox for a while for three different things; one of them is 25 questions long and clearly they are only going to print like three of them… I’m going to just suck it up and start typing my answers… now!

Consider this an afterthought to the last couple posts… two wonderful songs from two very different places. Below you’ll find a high quality version of Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” [the one most often going around the net currently is crappy], and another track from the Republic Tigers called “Golden Sand.” You need to buy both of these albums.

The Republic Tigers - “Golden Sand”

Katy Perry - “I Kissed A Girl”

I took Alicia’s picture a few months ago at a party, and pretty soon after that we found each other online and got in contact to spew accolades at each other. So when she came back into town after a trip to Italy (she’s from Kansas City), we met up to discuss her music, my music, her travels, and my… back yard. I had a great time just fucking around and hanging out. No pretension or awkwardness, really, for relative strangers.

We had to reschedule the visit from earlier in the day to 7pm, and then when she arrived she had to sit around for an hour listening to a (really hot) dude explain to me and Anna our parts in a movie that we’re going to do this summer. But it actually all worked out for the best, because when everybody left it was getting dark outside and we went to the back yard to do photos, and they started to come out great.

Click any of these images to see larger.

Beautiful Bodies, “Touch Me”

Her band, the Beautiful Bodies, is really good. I really like “Touch Me” on their MySpace. It’s only a matter of time before this song gets co-opted for an iPod commercial or something. She also sings a bit on some of the new Republic Tigers (who I love) album, who were why she was in town this weekend (they were on Letterman). Their album Keep Color is like Nada Surf and Interpol and Stellastarr had a threewaybaby.

The Republic Tigers, “Buildings and Mountains”

It seems that between Alicia and the Republic Tigers and Ssion and the 20 or so transplanted club kids with more original style than I’ve seen around here in a long time that Kansas City is the New New York.

1. Tonight Kathy and I will be doing an IMpersonal liveblog of the American Idol finale [we gave up when I got drunk and bored, so Kathy just added on to last night’s post, right below this one], mixing this and this seamlessly and with plenty of disdain.

2. Just randomly checked this and was surprised… from this server alone, based on a post with a download link long since buried way back in this blog, my Ashlee Simpson remix has been downloaded almost 80,000 times. That’s a lotta Ashlee.

How bad is coffee? I know it’s bad for your teeth, and I know it can irritate your stomach and such, but is it bad for you in the long run? Is coffee one of those things that they go back and forth about? Sometimes it’s bad for you, sometimes it’s not? Someone tell me if it causes problems!

Last night I went with Christian to the Logo Awards at MTV. The room was very small, it’s the same studio they shoot TRL. I would guess maybe 60 people were there? Maybe more, I don’t know. I’m really bad at estimating crowds. Here’s Times Square from the roof, taken with my phone:

Our table during the show itself (three hours) was just us and Caroline Rhea and her boyfriend. She’s so funny… I had to admit that I still can’t bring myself to change the channel if I happen to stumble upon Sabrina. Actually, she brought it up! I don’t know why that show makes me feel so comfortable; I never watched it when it was current. Leona Lewis was milling around looking amazing and Michelle Williams introduced Lady GaGa who was insane and wonderful and ended her song with a confetti rain that I’m still digging out from my heres and theres. The Cliks and Dangerous Muse played, too, and they were both fantastic as usual.

Lady GaGa feat. Colby O’Donis - Just Dance

Cyndi Lauper sat maybe five feet from us during the show, and was super nice when we met her. But her song! Oh my god, she did a new song called “Into the Nightlife” and she was AMAZING. I nearly let everything loose in my pants right then and there. Cyndi Lauper singing and dancing on a stage right in front of us in the MTV studios. It was one of those moments I wanted to call my mom because we used to listen to She’s So Unusual all the time. I won’t lie, I called her from the dressing room.

Cyndi Lauper - Into the Nightlife

This was the first annual Logo NewNowNext Awards, and the first award was the one Christian was up for. So when he won, he won the first NewNowNext Award ever given out. And then later when he presented an award something happened… you’ll have to watch.

A couple more pictures after the jump… (more…)

Finally found the time to get things together and finalize some more images for the 410BC shoot I did a little bit ago. It’s hard to get caught up after being sick and having so much pile up!

The four models were all great to work with, all from Basic. My favorite was Matt (above). He had a really thick Bronx accent and was of course also a musician. Very nice and laid back, shook everyone’s hand and wanted to know what we were up to later. If he had a black eye, Kathy would have married him right there on the spot.

Last week on the subway there was a woman who looked strikingly like that monstrous fishboar Andrea Peyser, I think maybe it was her. I just don’t imagine her being able to take a full ride without eating someone’s face; she needs to cab it. Every time I question “why would ____ be on the subway?” I think about the fact that I’ve been on the train with Hugh Jackman. If he can ride the train, Peyser certainly can. She was sandwiched uncomfortably between a guy with Encino Man hair and huge orange headphones, and another guy who looked like Will Forte doing Sam Zell. She seemed very unhappy. And look! This paragraph is already long enough to pass for one of her “columns.”

On Friday I shot PFYM’s Doree and Jessica for their book. And then I got really drunk with Kate and Alana at Christian’s new apartment, which is gigantic and beautiful. He already made it amazing and he’s been there less than a week. Those girls are amazing. I can’t handle it. Kate tells it to me like it is and I love/hate her for that. Alana lies and then pretends to be high, just to be cool. I want to spend every day with them. I got a huge royalty check from iTunes last week so I spent a lot of money on good food this weekend. Who knew good fish was so good?

I’ve been writing about Alan MX a lot lately. Here I go again! As I’ve said before, he’s one of my favorite new artists, and his label debut Warpsichord is out soon. We decided recently to do an EP, possibly an album together, and we’re going to start work on it right away. Here’s an example of the type of music we’re going to make together; it’s an unmastered preview of a remix I’m doing of his song “Captain America Video.” The words and vocals are his, the music and some backing vocals are mine. Take a listen and let us know what you think! I’m really happy with it and can’t wait to play it next time I DJ. Listen to it on something with good bass!

Alan MX, Captain America Video (Brad Walsh Remix)

“When Baldacci is on fire, nobody can touch him.” This is the Booklist quote on the big ad for David Baldacci’s new book that’s plastered all over the subway. And you know that book Sweeter Than Honey by Mary B. Morrison, who looks kind of like a vamped pussycat doll version of Toni Morrison [though not so much in this photo; the one from the ad is mysteriously not online]? The quote on that one is “she certainly knows her way around the bedroom.”

First, that one is not even praise. That’s just calling the girl a slut. Though by the looks of her available photos the quote is probably accurate. But it’s the Baldacci quote that I think must have been taken out of context:

“We must kill David Baldacci. Every time we shoot him or hang him his supporters are quick to his rescue and hospitals, being obliged to do so, revive him. But what if we douse him in kerosene and light him ablaze? Who can help him then? There is simply no rescue. When Baldacci is on fire, nobody can touch him.” -Booklist

Also, I think I once counted Dr. Zizmor’s name appearing on his subway ads fourteen times in each poster. Fourteen actual printed instances of his name on one single poster. And don’t even get me started on Creflo A. Dollar and his smarm hands.

This weekend I made the difficult choice to pull out of the show I was to perform with the group Northern State in June. Difficult because I really like them and I really wanted to debut some new stuff. But being sick in various ways recently and for the next couple of weeks means that I am completely unable to practice and prepare as I should, and I know that anything I’d do on June 3 with them would just be an ill-conceived embarrassment. It was a hard decision to make, but it was unavoidable. But, Northern State really are a great live show, and if you bought a ticket just to see me, you should still go and see them. To make it up to anyone who already spent the $14+ on Ticketmaster, I’m offering free downloads of my last album and EP ($16.98 value on iTunes). To get them, just send an e-mail sometime this week to say that you bought a show ticket already. Someone will provide you with a download ticket for the album and EP.

Justin from the band Semi Precious Weapons is not only a talented musician, but he also designs some really cool jewelry that’s been picked up by stores ranging from Urban Outfitters to Barney’s. On Friday I hosted Tatler at Lotus and he gave me a piece from his line, Fetty, a shiny medallion with “magnetic” written in jeweled Braille. I saw the gold tooth and axe designs as well, and I have to say, I want it all. Like Future86. They want it all, I want it all. I hope Antwan reads this and implodes. He is Future86’s biggest fan. He hears them and his face goes like this.