Michael Alig: Almost Free At Last!

Michael Alig was imprisoned in the ‘90s for collaborating on the murder of a clubbie named Angel Melendez. Alig was the outrageous promoter who would have loved the idea of urine-filled chalices, though his kicky debauchery turned to way more unsavory mayhem as all boundaries seemed to drop off like an escort’s BVDs.

Well, double bolt your doors, because an insider tells me that Alig is getting out of Elmire Prison before Thanksgiving [November 28th]. The facility approves this move: Alig’s just waiting for the green light from Albany, and it looks like it’s happening very soon. Once released, Alig will live in the Bronx with an ex-club kid friend of his, with whom he can compare any unused drink tickets. He’s finishing his memoir, Aligula, and plans to have an art show of his paintings. And what does he want to do for an actual living? “What you do,” the insider told me. “Michael wants to be a pop culture writer and commentator.” Oh, shit. I can just imagine what he’ll do to get my job.

Michael Musto, queen of New York gay gossip scene on Out.

Wonderful news!
Fagburn once interviewed Michael live from prison.
A charming, enchanting and very witty man, I thought, as drug-crazed killers go.
At the end I asked if he'd record a message for my answerphone; "Hi, this is Michael Alig. Richard's not here right now, so leave a message... OR I'LL KILL YOU!"
He laughed and said; "That's too sick!", but I managed to talk him round.

PS I'm pretty sure this is Michael's Twitter account - at least James St James swaps tweets with him, though that could be a fake account too...

Gays Against Gaga: Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?

"I hate it already. A gay anthem, whether it’s 'I Will Survive' or 'The Man That Got Away' or 'And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going', BECOMES a gay anthem because we find ourselves empathizing with the singer’s passion or pain or exuberance. It’s the realization that their pain is our pain too, that their joy is our joy etc. It’s that our commonality has brought us together.
“It’s ALMOST NEVER because it was written FOR GAY MEN TO HELP GAY MEN DEAL WITH BEING GAY MEN. That’s just cynical and obvious. It’s like bit like Susan Sontag’s explanation of “pure camp” being something that strives for greatness but fails spectacularly, while “contrived camp” is something that intentionally sets out to be bad and cannot, therefore, be as satisfying.
“Gaga here isn’t allowing us the choice of deciding whether or not this song will be a gay anthem (like 'Bad Romance'), she’s TELLING US that it is, and that makes it somehow less pure and less satisfying. It’s contrived. I haven’t heard the melody yet, and although I’m sure it will be a foot-stomper, I already feel manipulated."

The lovely James St. James, quoted on the great new Tumblr Gays Against Gaga.

• Image from I Hate Gaga by David M. Buisán.

• Many thanks to Buy Kurious for the tip-off.