SassySays.com Courtney Love’s Art Show #AndShesNotEvenPretty

Courtney Love’s first ever fine art exhibition of works on paper entitled And She’s Not Even Pretty.

On display now in New York City through June 15th at:

Fred Torres Collaborations

527 West 29th St. (btwn. 10th & 11th Aves.)

New York, NY 10001

SassySays.com So excited that @RoBear_ is following me on Twitter! You should follow him too!!! #FF

Sassy Live at the GLAAD Media Awards NYC Red Carpet 2012 Teaser Clip. More coming soon to SassySays.com and VivaLaRiviera.com !

SassySays.com - Drag History Month - January 31, 2012 – Chic & Sassy

Chic & Sassy have been friends and collaborators for over 10 years. Their first show Chic & Sassy: The Higher the Hair the Closer to God was part of the Off-Off-Broadway NYC International Fringe Festival. In 2006, they co-founded the premiere queer NYC political comedy troupe Gender Offenders. They have worked closely with Marriage Equality New York for civil equalities and have hosted MENY’s The Wedding March across the Brooklyn Bridge. They can be seen on their Channel: Youtube.com/SassyandChic in The Chic & Sassy Show. Chic & Sassy’s first CD the drag hip-hop or “DRip-DRop” We are… Chic’Speare & SassTronica features the hit single “GurlEMC2” & the tribute to the Stonewall riot veterans “Since Stonewall.”

Chic & Sassy walk the line between gender, gender roles, social perception and stereotypes. They are above all else, Artists and create thought provoking visual illusion in their performance.

Ever evolving, in 2012, Chic & Sassy are branching out into new media and will be seen in a new incarnation… Stay Tuned!

For More: www.Chic-and-Sassy.com

SassySays.com - Drag History Month - January 19, 2012 - Chi Chi LaRue 

@DJChiChiLaRue

Sassy & Samara interview Chi Chi LaRue in New York City

SassySays.com -Drag History Month-January 16, 2012 Justin Vivian Bond

Justin Vivian Bond (born May 9, 1963), formerly simply Justin Bond, is an American singer-songwriter, performance artist, occasional actor and Radical Faerie. Described as a “fixture of the New York avant-garde”, Bond arose to notability playing the role of Kiki DuRayne in the drag cabaret act Kiki and Herb from the early 1990s through to 2004. Born physically male, Bond is transgender and eschews gender-specific honorifics and pronouns, preferring “Mx.” and “V” respectively.

Born in Hagerstown, Maryland, Bond went on to study theater at Adelphi University before moving to San Francisco after graduating in 1985. It was here that v met Kenny Mellman, and they began a cabaret act together, which would eventually lead to them creating the characters of Kiki and Herb. Bond designed Kiki to be an elderly alcoholic woman who would perform covers of pre-existing songs in her own distinct style. Bond decided to bring an end to the Kiki character in 2004, subsequently embarking on a solo career, and starring in John Cameron Mitchell’s film Shortbus (2006) as vself before releasing vs first EP, Pink Slip (2009), and then an album, Dendrophile (2011). That same year also saw the publication of a memoir, entitled Tango: My Childhood Backwards and in High Heels.

Bond self describes vs voice as being “kind of woody and full with a lot of vibration”. For vs musical work, Bond has received numerous accolades including the Obie Award (2001), Bessie Award (2004), and Ethyl Eichelberger Award (2007). Bond was also nominated for a Tony Award in 2007.

For more on Mx. V: www.justinbond.com

SassySays.com - Drag History Month - January 15, 2012 - Kevin Aviance

Kevin Aviance (born on June 22, 1968 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American female impressionist, Club/Dance musician, and fashion designer and nightclub personality. He is a very popular personality in New York City’s gay scene and has performed throughout North America, Europe and Asia. He is a member of the House of Aviance, a local gay performer’s group. He is known for his trademark phrase, “Work. Fierce. Over. Aviance!” He won the 1998 and 1999 Glammy Awards, the award for nightlife personalities in New York City.

Aviance was raised in Richmond, Virginia, in a close-knit family of eight siblings. His father provided for them as a landscape contractor. From an early age, Aviance dedicated himself to the study of music and theatre, his first experience in drag was in the seventh grade. His early influences were “punk, Boy George, Devo, and Grace Jones”. He moved to Washington D.C. where he worked as a hairdresser and did drag performances. He developed a bad crack habit but with help of the House of Aviance he was able to overcome it, after his initiation in the house he took the name Kevin Aviance. He later moved to New York City and made a name for himself as a dancer/performer at Sound Factory, a club mainly for queer Latinos and blacks. Major DJs and club promoters saw him performing and started hiring him, he became one of a handful of drag performers in NYC able to support themselves solely on performances. His career as a performance artist and club personality began in Washington, DC, continued in Miami, and eventually landed him in New York City. In 1989, the House of Aviance was founded in Washington by Mother Juan Aviance. In July 1999 Aviance performed as part of Billboard’s sixth annual Dance Music Summit.

Aviance has appeared in several films, including Flawless starring Robert De Niro and the independent film Punks. Besides his feature-film work he has made guest appearances on such shows as The Tyra Banks Show, and America’s Next Top Model, also hosted by Tyra Banks. His songs Din Da Daa, Rhythm Is My Bitch, Alive, Give It Up and Strut, have all reached Number 1 of the Billboard dance chart. The only one of his singles not to peak at Number 1 to date is Dance For Love. Aviance’s most successful dance radio hit to date is Give It Up released in 2004. His second album, Entity is a more consistent effort than his first but seems to be available online only.

On June 10, 2006 while exiting the Phoenix, a popular gay bar located in the East Village section of Manhattan, Aviance was robbed and beaten by a group of men who yelled anti-gay slurs at him. Four suspects were arrested under New York’s hate-crime law, but reports say up to seven men were involved in the attack. Aviance was not dressed in his gender-bending performance clothes but as a boy, he had to have his jaw wired for a month. He also suffered a fractured knee and neck injuries as well as blows to the face.Despite suffering a broken jaw, he insisted on appearing in the city’s gay pride parade later that month.

On March 21, 2007 all four assailants pled guilty, receiving prison sentences ranging from 6 to 15 years in plea agreements that included hate crimes embellishments. The four young men, who range in age from 17 to 21 years old, [would have] faced up to 25 years each for the attack, had they been found guilty in a trial. All had been charged with gang assault as a hate crime.

Recently, Aviance appeared on the song This is New York City (Bitch!) by the transgender rap group, La’Mady from the album Jonny McGovern Presents: This is NYC, Bitch! The East Village Mixtape. In April 2008, Aviance staged a comeback to the club scene and entertainment world, and was reunited on stage with Junior Vasquez, who had previously worked together but had become estranged over a professional dispute. At Cielo, a club in New York known for its lighted walls, the tandem performance marked the return to the spotlight for Aviance, performing two of his new hit singles. He most recently recorded a cover of Britney Spears’s Gimme More, produced by Jonny McGovern and Adam Joseph for inclusion on The East Village Mixtape 2: The Legends Ball.

 For More info: www.facebook.com/kevinaviancefans

SassySays.com - Drag History Month - January 12, 2012 - Amanda Lepore

Amanda Lepore is an American transgender model, musician, nightclub hostess, fashion icon, performance artist and New York City Icon. She has appeared in advertising for numerous companies, including M.A.C. cosmetics, Mego Jeans, The Blonds, Swatch, CAMP Cosmetics, and Heatherette, which has used her likeness on clothing as well as hiring her as a model. Lepore is also noted as a muse for photographer David LaChapelle’s work. She participated in his Artists and Prostitutes 1985-2005 exhibit in New York, where she “lived” in a voyeuristic life-sized set.

 According to Michael Musto, Lepore grew up in the Essex County community of Cedar Grove, New Jersey. Lepore told a reporter “from day one she knew she was a girl,” and in her teens she began making costumes for a go-go dancer in exchange for hormones. She says her parents soon took her from public school and hired a private tutor, then took her to a psychologist who helped her get a hormone prescription. Lepore says she then got married and moved in with her in-laws, who assisted her with getting sex reassignment surgery. She says she left the marriage after several years and moved to New York City, where she worked in a nail salon and as a dominatrix before meeting Michael Alig and becoming a fixture on the New York nightlife scene. She soon met David LaChapelle and began collaborating with him.

Lepore has appeared in fashion magazines, including French Playboy, Ponytail, DAMn and TUSH. She is on the cover of Lords of Acid’s 1999 album Expand Your Head and on Thighpaulsandra’ 2006 album The Lepore Extrusion.

Lepore had a cameo in the 1998 documentary Party Monster: The Shockumentary as well as the 2003 film Party Monster. She was also featured in Another Gay Sequel in 2008. Lepore has also had cameos in music videos for artists including Elton John, Thalía, The Dandy Warhols, Girl in a Coma, Grace Jones, and TIGA for his cover of “Sunglasses at Night.”Lepore appears in many of Cazwell music videos, including “Watch my Mouth” and “All Over Your Face”.

In October 1999 Swatch released “Time Tranny”, a watch designed by LaChapelle with Lepore on the face displaying a printed crack on the glass and marble stripes as the background. A second version displays no cracked glass and a blue and yellow striped background.

 Possessing the hourglass measurements of 39-23-37 and standing at 5’2, Amanda Lepore is very petite.

Her first single, “Deeper,” is a 2003 dance song written by Lady Bunny.

In 2005 Lepore released her first album, Introducing… Amanda Lepore, which contains “Champagne” and “My Hair Looks Fierce”.

In April 2006, Integrity Toys launched an Amanda Lepore doll produced by Jason Wu as a benefit for AIDS charities.

In 2007 she released two remix albums, Fierce Pussy and My Pussy E.P. Lepore also sings the main title for Another Gay Movie, “I Know What Boys Like”. She also performs “Cotton Candy”, from the soundtrack of Another Gay Sequel.

Lepore was a part of True Colors Tour 2007, a 15-city North American benefit tour sponsored by the Logo channel, hosted by comedian Margaret Cho and headlined by Cyndi Lauper. The tour benefited the Human Rights Campaign, PFLAG and the Matthew Shepard Foundation, and it included Erasure, Debbie Harry, The Gossip, Rufus Wainwright, The Dresden Dolls, The MisShapes, Rosie O’Donnell, Indigo Girls, The Cliks and other special guests.

Her second album I…Amanda Lepore was released in 2011.

Lepore has a line of cosmetics in partnership with CAMP Cosmetics called “Collection Lepore”, as well as a signature perfume.

SassySays.com - Drag History Month - January 10, 2012 - Joey Arias

Joey Arias is a New York City based performance artist, cabaret singer, and drag artist.

 Born in Fayetteville, North Carolina on October 3, 1969, he was six when he moved with his family to Los Angeles. After singing with the rock band “Purlie” on Capitol Records and a stint with famed improvisational group the Groundlings, he moved to New York City as a teenager and eventually got a job at the Fiorucci designer clothing store. He and other store staff were known to first ever perform live (dance & model clothes) in the shop windows. While working at the store he became friends with alternative icon Klaus Nomi, singing backup and designing sets and costumes. While in New York he also performed with a band called “Strange Party” which recorded and performed in various nightclubs. Joey also possesses the rare unique gift of the “Z” chromosome. His sometimes “alien-like” persona is quite true to tell.

 Arias gradually became involved in the burgeoning 1980s New York performance art scene, appearing regularly at Club 57 and other downtown venues. During these years he also began crafting a successful career in cabaret, based on his talent for channeling the vocal style and mannerisms of the legendary Billie Holiday. He has since recorded several albums and pursued an international nightclub career.

 Upon the death of his dear friend and artistic collaborator, Joey became executor to the Klaus Nomi (Sperber) estate. A tribute to his friend is held in Berlin every year. A film on the life he shared with Klaus is currently in the works.

Arias is also notable for his portrayal of Joan Crawford in New York productions of “Christmas with the Crawfords”, an original holiday spoof of Christina Crawford’s book Mommie Dearest. The San Francisco based production premiered Off-Broadway at the Grove Street Playhouse in 2000 starring Arias as Joan. Arias also starred in a 2001 revival of the play at the Chelsea Playhouse.

Arias can also be seen along side performers Miss Sherry Vine and Raven O at the Bar d’O annual reunions held at Indochine on Lafayette Street in New York City.

Film credits include: Big Top Pee-wee, Mondo New York, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, Flawless, and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar and Wigstock: The Movie.

His most recent work was performing in “Arias with a Twist”, a collaboration with puppeteer Basil Twist, at HERE Arts Center in New York and before that as the Mistress of Seduction in the Las Vegas show “Zumanity”, an “adult-themed” Cirque du Soleil show running at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino.

Check out this New York Times Article on Joey:

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/fashion/joey-arias-of-arias-with-a-twist.html?pagewanted=all