Diva Worship
Like reciting lines from
All About Eve or belting out show tunes at a piano bar,
Divas! The Fabulous Photography of Kenn Duncan (out October 7) is unapologetically old-school gay...not that there’s anything wrong with that. The compilation of dozens of portraits of showbiz legends like Bernadette Peters, Carol Channing and Jennifer Holliday celebrates the strength, glamour
... more
Puritan Revival
Sure, you know that Massachusetts was the first state bold enough to legalize gay marriage. But how much do you know of the state’s humble beginnings? If most of your education about the colonists was gleaned from pop culture (remember
The Brady Bunch Thanksgiving episode?), then essayist and public radio commentator
Sarah Vowell’s entertaining book
The Wordy Shipmates (
... more
True Confessions
Watch out: Here comes another piece of
Madonna product!
Madonna: Confessions (available October 4) is a glossy, hardbound collection of photos taken during her 2006
Confessions tour, all snapped by her longtime right-hand man,
Guy Oseary. Having forked over a sizable percentage of your income to see the damn show from so-so seats, it would be understandable if you rolled
... more
Don't F*** with the Chef
New Yorkers who are used to getting their way are in for a surprise when they enter
Kenny Shopsin’s restaurant. No copycat ordering. No Cobb salads without bacon. No parties larger than four. And he reserves the right to kick you out for any reason he might come up with — and will.
So how did Shopsin’s get a cult following? It’s the method behind the madness. If you want
... more
Nude Attitude
From Abercrombie & Fitch ads to Falcon videos, images of male beauty in media are largely the same: Young, well-toned and white. Photographer
David Leddick strives for more inclusion. His stunning book of photography,
The Nude Male: 21st Century Visions (out September 23) — a compilation of more than 120 artists’ works — is an appreciation of men in all their
... more
Ad Infinitum
We flip past ads in magazines, zip past billboards at 70 mph and plow through commercials with TiVo. But after devouring Stéphane Pincas and Marc Loiseau’s
A History of Advertising (out now), we may alter our ad-averse ways. In their comprehensive book filled with vintage posters, print ads and photos and stills from commercials, the authors mine iconic ads for minutiae,
... more