Plenty of websites have made fun of the kids who go out in New York, drawing images from the galleries upon galleries of weekly updated party photos to be found on the net. But, while we have nothing against the mockery of Blue States Lose, we figure there should be a place to shout out the good stuff too: the great outfits, the gorgeous people, pure eye candy.
Brad says “Cameron and Romina are the modern day American Gothic and they’re neither a complete couple nor completely American.” Kathy says “they’re king and queen of the prom that is constantly going on in the part of my brain that also can’t stop humming ‘Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want.’”
Alanis Morissette and Ryan Reynolds broke up and now he’s engaged to Scarlett Johansson. Alanis says she’s not mad at him for that but her new album is super angry. Plus, I think she’s pregnant? Lucky for us, that translates to some brand new energetic sounds from the most recognizably scorned woman of the 90s. Take a listen to two tracks from Flavors of Entanglement: the heavy electro “Straitjacket” and mello-pop “Giggle Again For No Reason.” Both go into territories that she hasn’t really explored much before, and with a fair amount of success. Still sounds like her, but whoever’s been in the studio with her has had a heavy hand here and there, and Guy Sigsworth seems to have had an influence beyond just the production of “Underneath.”
The Presets were so good! Sarah and I missed the opener, Walter Meego, but I had seen them before at Ruff Club a few months ago and they were great. But we arrived right as the Presets were going on. They opened with one of my favorites from the new album, “Talk Like That,” and then did my favorite from the first, “Down Down Down.” People went nuts. Bowery was sold out, the whole floor was dancing, it was great.
Sarah and I were up front dancing for most of the show with Jenny and Elhaam, who came with JD from Le Tigre and Sia. I think this may be the only place in the world where you can go to a GA show by a band you love and practically expect that your friends are going to be bringing two other musicians that you love, and then you’re all going to be dancing to the songs you love, and it’s not going to be even a little bit awkward. The two of us went up to the way back for the last few songs to get a bird’s-eye view of the whole place. Their last bit before they left the stage was a continuous performance of “Are You the One,” “Kicking and Screaming,” and “My People.” By the end, all our jaws were on the floor, Sarah had twirled into a chair, and Jenny was probably not wearing underwear. Great fucking show.
And I wore my new gold trophy shoes, many thanks to Elizabeth! I like pretty much all the shoes by Alessandro Dell’Acqua that I’ve seen in the last few days. Maybe it’s because I am [perhaps more than] a bit gaudy… I feel like an Oscar today!
PS - nobody cares that I’ve been posting cell phone pictures in my recent blogs instead of real photos, right? It’s just a lot easier to carry my phone with me than a big camera to shows and events and stuff. Obviously I’m still posting real photos from real shoots and everything, just random bloggy stuff is coming directly from my phone.
I’ve had an exciting few days! On Tuesday night Christian and I were invited to the True Colors tour at Radio City, and we went with Geneva. Cyndi Lauper was, of course, amazing. She followed up “She Bop” with “Into the Nightlife” AND she played “When You Were Mine,” which almost made me turn inside out with excitement. The B-52’s: I knew every word from beginning to end. Old stuff, new stuff, I love them so much. The Cliks and the Indigo Girls were good too. Rosie O’Donnell and Margaret Cho were both very funny and I loved seeing them, but I just plain don’t like Regina Spektor. Tonight I am seeing the Presets at Bowery for the first time. They’re one of my favorite bands of the last few years, but I haven’t seen them live yet!
Last night was the Bravo A-List Awards taping, and I got to go with Christian. He presented something and he won something! He makes me happy. He looked very nice, but I hate trying to come up with something to wear to these things. If it were up to me I would wear a hoodie and shorts. When he did the press line on the red carpet the staff made me go with him, which I hate. Normally I slink around back and meet him at the end of it and we go in, but this time I was right in the center of the mayhem and so uncomfortable. This is why I prefer to do my interviews via e-mail. I can barely answer questions on the phone without getting verklempt; I would hate to have to go from camera to camera all the time. I don’t know how he does it.
Since some people like to skip over it, I’m just going to give a complete celebrity interaction rundown in one paragraph: I finally met Kathy Griffin, and loved every minute of it. We found ourselves in the green room talking to Rachel Zoe and Candace Bushnell while Jerry Springer watched TV in the corner. We were seated behind Anna Sui, next to Rachel Dratch, and in front of Gilles Marini. Lauren Hutton was an absolute mess, as everyone will see when the show airs on the 12th. Margaret Cho is still one of the greatest people I’ve ever met. Nikki Blonsky was very nice and looked awesome in the dress that Malan made for her. Caroline Rhea is pregnant and almost fell, and she gave Christian the ugly plastic (amazing) wristwatch that he made fun of when we sat with her at the Logo Awards. All of the Real Housewives (both coasts) were gorgeous and insane. I loved them. And, much as I hate to say it, NY Alex really looked great. Her husband Simon, however was a black sequin trainwreck. I had met most of Christian’s PR cast before, but met Kit for the first time last night and loved her. I still love Victorya. We went to a diner afterward.
Tila Tequila. Her dress. Her voice. She was like… well, you know when a kid draws a stick figure and then scribbles over it in every color and then explains “this is my person I made, and she talks like this: ‘blah blah blah!’” That was what Tila Tequila was like. A scribble that said blah blah blah.
I even have some blind items for you! WHICH member of foreign royalty in attendance boasted loudly that he was the reason we are currently all paying $4 for gas? And which straight up-and-comer related to his friend that here in America events like the Bravo awards were great because he could “hook up with anyone,” whereas in Europe everybody knows he is married?
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.
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.
Here’s an easy chance to get a bunch of cool stuff for free with little effort on your part. To win a set of Radiohead’s new Best Of compilations (CD of 17 tracks and DVD of all 21 videos), as well as the full Touch Me album from JunkMag favorites The Beautiful Bodies, all wrapped up in an Anna Nicole Kill Shop Kill canvas tote bag, just comment below with your best Seventeen-style Traumarama.* Our favorite will win the prize. You have until June 4 at 3:00pm EST. ETA: Nikki wins! Total traumarama.
*Comment anonymously if you like. Just include your e-mail address when you comment, and it will show up only to us. We will contact you later if you are the winner and nobody will know that the embarrassing story belongs to you!
Being a music biz and PR lady by day, party denizen by night, Geneva Simms has mastered the art of looking good. She checks in with us now and then to offer tips and recommend products that have been tried and treasured, plucked from the vast market of beauty, makeup, and hair products for ladies (and sometimes men!). Suggestions can be sent to her here.
Living in NYC can be likened to being on a constant vacation: late nights seven days a week, brunch time all-you-can-drink cocktails on weekends, beach access just a subway trip away, being endlessly entertained and on the go all hours of the day if one so chooses. Having lived here as long as I have, my idea of vacation has become to visit my mother in Ohio and do absolutely nothing. However, just because I don’t leave the city to hit the beach doesn’t mean that I don’t spend any time in the sun. On most weekends in the summer, I’m running long distances to train for the NYC Marathon, so I get more than my fair share of sun exposure.
Recently, to lessen the blow of sun damage to my skin and hair, a friend of mine suggested I try Fruits & Passion Tahitian Monoi Nourishing Milk and Nourishing Hair Mask. The main ingredient, Tahitian Monoi, is extracted by soaking and softening Gardenia flowers in coconut oil. These products are great at conditioning my hair and skin both pre- and post-sun without being too heavy or oily. Plus, the scent takes me back to happy days when I would slather on sun tan oil without thinking about sun damage and did travel to distant places to spend time on the beach.
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!
IMpersonals are daily AIM conversations between your Editors, because copying and pasting is much easier and usually more entertaining than thinking of something of substance to say.
This time our friend Kate has a moment.
KATE: last night my friend matt gave me a tattoo of our boss… it’s kind of really amazing
BRAD: wait what
KATE: with all professional equipment, of course
BRAD: what does “a tattoo of our boss” mean BRAD: is there a bald guy on your ass BRAD: or a guy on your bald ass
KATE: our boss is a tiny korean man and we draw little cartoons of him all the time KATE: and his name is No KATE: so i have a tiny korean man on one of those old bikes from the 20s KATE: and his hands are off the bars and it says “No Hands” KATE: i make bad decisions sometimes, but I’m pretty stoked on them.
Once just the 'Nightlife Photos' section, this has been expanded to include it all. Sift through photos from parties, studio shoots, live bands, portraits, and more.
Venture into the Stripsters section to take a peek at boys and girls next door in compromising positions. Every one of them makes our toes tingle and our hearts beat a little faster.
