Amanda Lepore’s Big Top @ Carnival

At the height of the club kid days I was in junior high and high school on Long Island, with large bangs and way into grunge. I also loved 70’s disco and 80’s freestyle. I was far removed from the NYC club scene, even though I was only an hour away from Twilo, the Tunnel, The Limelight, Life,what have you.  Hell, the first time I saw Amanda Lepore she was making an appearance at a fetish night at my favorite club Manray in Boston when I was in college.

The first and last last club kid-esque party I attended was Happy Valley, a few years ago and I loved it. People were really fucked up there, and looking awesome. I danced, met nice people, and there was always something to look at. Michael Musto ate cotton candy I gave him.

Interested in finding out what the status of the 90’s club movement was today, I headed to the first night of Amanda Lepore’s Big Top at Carnival. I arrived at 2AM with a very attractive  friend.

Your senses are semi-assaulted immediately when you exit the elevator which is a very good thing. Red and black stripes and fun house mirrors are right in your face. The coat check girl was super nice, and there were drag queens immediately. It is not possible to have a bad time at Carnival, the decor is amazing, there are real carnival games run by shirtless men, vintage strip teases projected on a large screen, and you enter the light up floor dance area through the mouth of a giant scary clown! I forgot the porn star appearing as  “The Strong Man” working the Man or Mouse attraction.

Due to my super  late arrival, I missed the performances, but did get to say hello to the gorgeous Ivy Winters. She juggles, eats fire, walks on stilts, is a costume designer, and you can file her under hot girl realness.

A big plus of the night was the presence of the ultra glam, high fash,brilliant, super hot Ladyfag! She is one of the hosts of the party, and her hair is a legend.

The highlight of the night was my chat with one of the founding members of the Village People, Randy Jones. He loved the party. The reissue of his book Macho Man will be out soon.

Amanda was looking perfect, even when I took her pic at 3 am. When is she not? She is so gracious as well!

Kenny Kenny looked fantastic, and like me he couldn’t be bothered going in the very crowded elevator, and took the stairs to exit. No small feat in his shoes!

There were a lot of young kids who deserve an “A” for effort but not quite pulling together their looks properly. I was disappointed by the lack of people in the vein of traditional club kids or preferably Leigh Bowery; however I did arrive late so maybe I missed it? Maybe I need to get over the fact I will never experience what has already happened? There were many people there between 2 and 4AM who looked amazing or super cute, and they are featured in the slide show below. I just want more!

BlackBook has a blog post on the party that explores this subject  with authority.

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Hair image database? YES PLEASE!

So I found  a website where you can search tons of photos of amazing hair styles by DECADE!  There are archives from the 1950’s to now, and these photos are no joke.  Style, length, colour are also search parameters. You can search using all four and amuse yourself for hours.  It’s not just for the ladies, there are male styles as well.

Hairdressers Journal Interactive is the name of this invaluable site. It is a British site which makes even more magnificent and they use the word “hairdresser”  which I also do.  I think it is way cooler than “stylist.”  I think I have offended stylists by calling them hairdressers before. Is this a non PC term?

Go ahead – search “avant garde” and “1970’s” and you will have 38 images to look through. Search “quiff”  and “1960’s” and there are 16. “Asymmetric” and “short” with no decade selected gets you 263 results. I just did a search for men’s long hair in any decade and there were 101 photos. I had to close the window because  it was too awesome.

It’s also some kind of super helpful online community for people in the hair biz, but I just use it to fuel my desire to live in decades past, and to annoy my hairdresser. These three photos I showed to my hairdresser, and said “combine these please!”

Mink Stole asked us for Hairspray…

and we didn’t have any! I always have hairspray.  Hairspray has been my profile pic on social networking sites. The one time I didn’t  have it was the most appropriate time to be holding, ever.

I downsized my huge bag to a small gold vintage purse to attend the East Coast premiere of  the sexy  women in prison indie Stuck! at the Boston Underground Film Festival. I wanted to be more agile when maneuvering myself about to meet  the handsome, super talented director, Steve Balderson, and the legendary Mink Stole! As a result, hairspray was left in my dressing quarters.

In my panic of actually meeting said persons, and arranging to see them at the party, I called Miz Octy and asked her to bring my ginormous pocketbook for security purposes.

Miz Octy and I happened to be in the Ladies Room rifling through our bags when Mink Stole walked in. Cut to  Mink Stole asking us for Hairspray. Cut to us rifling through our ginormous pocketbooks and coming up empty. Mink Stole said something to the effect of  “You’re pocketbook  is that big and you don’t have any hairspray or mascara in it?!” Yes we always carry this much shit in our bags, and no we don’t have a tube of Mascara or particle of hairspray. A dirty shame.

As we left the Ladies Room a gentleman was waiting  came to take her to receive her Lifetime Achievement Award from the Boston Underground Film Festival. I forgot  the whole purpose of the party wasn’t for me to meet Mink Stole.

The below video of her acceptance speech isn’t of the best quality, but what am I CNN? Be sure to lower the volume anytime a scream or clap is called for. I’m so happy I was able to arrange my business trip around this event. Hello! Its  Mink fucking Stole.

Party pix  below are from The Friendly Toast in Cambridge, Mass. Featured: Mink Stole,  Mr. W and Miz Octy, DJ Chris Ewen (my fave from my days at ManRay in Cambridge) Super Cute Joe, Hot Stefanie and a cool vintage mannequin, and nice people.  Missing – a photo of Steve Balderson. He’s so sweet!

Spanx for reading!

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