I love dark places, martinis, passionate kissing, naps, modern art, great movies, filmmaking, talented writing, good cologne, interesting conversation and going places I've never been before. Sometimes I like to take someone with me.
Watch me:
Being interviewd by Cate Magrane for The Realm of Never. Produced by Chris Delgaudio.
Being interviewed on local television by Jon Griffith for his show "Talking About" This is the short version we taped specifically for the internet:
(Click on "The Fame Game" to order this unforgettable saga)
There are few pleasures in life greater than hearing Dean Martin sing in English or Italian or both (like here). My man Dino! A class act always!
Music
Sinatra, The Beatles, Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Idol, Billy Joel, Billie Holiday, Bobby Darin, Elvis Presley, Diana Krall, Diana Ross, Dean Martin, Elton John, Louis Armstrong, Dinah Washington, Michael Buble...rockabilly etc etc More recently I'm becoming seriously addicted to Amy Winehouse--for which I've already been to rehab twice--to no avail.
Movies
Silence of the Lambs, Vertigo, The Godfather, What's Up Doc?, Some Like it Hot, The Exorcist, Laura, Blue Velvet, All About Eve, Strangers on a Train, Dressed to Kill, Hannah and Her Sisters, Gilda, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Bringing Up Baby, Rosemary's Baby, Rope, Wife Vs. Secretary, Match Point....Anything John Waters, Almodovar, Hitchcock, David Lynch.
It really depends on my mood. One night I was depressed and found myself tremendously cheered up by watching "Gidget." It made me feel better.
The perfect example of a film's power to transform and touch and move...is what happened this weekend. It was raining and cold here in New York. On the inside too. I was very melancholy and the phone was not ringing...but I had the movie "Music & Lyrics". It's not the sort of movie I would usually choose-- a sappy sentimental romantic comedy. Somehow it made it onto my Netflix list and it arrived on Saturday, like a message. Like a good omen. It was the potion I needed and totally lifted me. I found myself weeping when Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant did the duet "Way Back Into Love" (Oh yes, I can be quite a wuss). The song is also very corny but so razor sharp, so perfectly suited to where I am in my life right now--and how I feel--I would have given a finger to have written it myself. This is actually Drew and Hugh singing it in the demo version. Drew is charming in the movie and her voice is really sweet and, after a hiatus, I'm in love with her again.
Television
Law & Order, Project Runway, Forensic Files, 48 Hours, Judge Judy (favorite Judy quote, "The world is filled with stupid people. Touch every third person and you're touching an idiot."), I Love Lucy, Cold Case Files. I also just love going around and around stopping 1 minute here and 3 minutes there.
Books
Reading is like watching movies. It really depends on your mood. Heavy biographies to chick lit. But some of my favorites off the top of my head:
"City of Night" by John rechy (Rechy has had a major influence on my life and career). "Lolita" by Nabokov, "Veronica" by Mary Gaitskill, "A Certain Age" by Tama Janowitz, "Play it As it Lays." by Joan Didion, "Anne Sexton" by Diane Middlebrook....Charles Bukowski, Dennis Cooper, Dominick Dunne..Cheever, Carver, Richard Yates, Capote, Patricia Highsmith,David Sedaris (I was the first person in the world to interview him)...oh God...so many, I know I'm leaving dozens out.
I fell in love with Mary Gaitskill the first time I opened her book of short stories, "Bad Behavior," in a book store in the West 50s in Manhattan. She's really, really good.
Heroes
My parents--who love me in spite of the spectacular mess I am. Other than that, I'm obsessed with brilliance. I love discovering and acknowledging talented people who haven't become mainstream yet.
I'm totally turned off by people who clone themeselves into becoming part of a scene in order to feel accepted.
In the history of brilliance my favorite era is the 1950s and 60s. I'm particularly moved and inspired by fiercely sensitive people who put so much of themselves into their art that they flared white hot for a brief period and then burned out at an early age, leaving a totally compelling and untouchable body of work. (Joe Orton, Billie Holiday, Lenny Bruce, Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift, Bobby Darin, Sylvia Plath). Depression, suicide, fascinates me? Why? I guess it's always been in there, somewhere.
I also love artists whose talent inspired others and changed the direction of their field (Sinatra, Picasso, The Beatles)
My muses are beautiful things that die too young or tragically without fully realizing their potential: James Dean, Sharon Tate, Sal Mineo, Jean Harlow. I could spend hours lying in bed devising fantasies where I save them, and what might have been had they lived.
Then again I lie in bed devising fantasies about a lot of things...but I do have to keep a little mystery to myself. Don't I?
Interested in meeting people who recognize talent. To discuss it, advance it, admire it. "Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, true talent instantly recognizes genius." I believe in a "pay it forward" mentality. I try to do good things for
I'm in the process of producing and acting in an independent stylish film noir...it's really unusual and provocative with a lot of extraordinary talent on board.
About me:
First, I am a human being, although I resent that implication. I'm just as ambitious as most of you but I like to think I hava a heart and soul and brain...and other things you might find interesting. During my struggle to grow, to climb, to become the person I'm supposed to be, I've learned a lot, I've become better, I've been hurt. Have I ever hurt anyone? Probably. But it was only when fighting for something I really believed in with my back up against the wall. I want my work to be recognized but I also want you to know me for me.
My latest book is the balleyhooed novel, "The Fame Game" Although I try to be dignified about it, I guess I'm like most people in contemporary society, and I can be a bit of a whore about promotion. Let's face it, we all have a little bit of prostitute in us. It doesn't have to be sexual. But as artists we have to promote what we do! It's part of who we are. It scares the shit out of me--that there's so many talented people with things to promote. And here we are..all waving our arms. So I shall start my waving and then move on.
There's way too much info about me here. But, as usual, I'll spill out pieces of my life, like emptying out an overstuffed handbag onto the table...and let you pick through it and examine what you find interesting.
I call "THE FAME GAME," "Hip Chick Lit with a dick," because it was written by me. It's not really chick lit--but people who like that genre will dig it. It's a steamy story, a contemporary satire on the obsession with celebrities, tabloid culture, and the frantic quest for fame. It follows the careers of 3 very ambitious, lusty, urbane, wannabe's--grasping, climbing, desperate, backstabbing--all on a frantic quest for celebrity. There's a gorgeous female model who wants to act, a sexy male prostitute who wants to write, and a famous director's daughter who will do anything to prover herself.Very fun, very modern "Valley of the Dolls" but with literary bite. Did you read Liz Smith's column about me? She called me the new Jacqueline Susann saying THE FAME GAME is "juicy, nasty, funny, and intense." I can do worse than being compared to Jackie! And it does have the steamy love scenes,intrigue, and the deceptively gorgeous characters. So it made me feel really, really good.
Because I have worked for so many years in New York and Los Angeles as an entertainment journalist I am considered a "fame expert" and a "celebrity observer," which came to good use when satirizing the tabloid culture in "THE FAME GAME."
I'm also here to have you know something about me. And maybe learn about you. So...More about me, by me. I'm the usual unique guy. An average-looking knockout, extremely passionate and intense--in an apathetic, laid back kind of a way. I'm very happy-go-lucky and content, except when I'm being moody, broody & brilliant. I go through periods of extreme ambition and activity which I counteract with longer periods of exhaustion and laziness. I'm very clear-headed about my own confusion.
I'm an Italian-American guy with dark hair and eyes and a fluctuating appearance. Although I'm considered a beaut in my own right, I realize one person's paradise, someone else wouldn't look twice at. Sure, there's plenty of guys who are better looking than me, younger, with a better body. My body fluctuates depending on my mood and love life. But I will compete with any man on a total package level.
I'm sure you'd find me uncomplicated and without baggage, as long as you have an extremely complex mind that runs on a very twisted track. Basically, I'm a good guy, though, sort of intriguing, never boring. I'm abnormally talented in about 3 areas--completely hopeless at everything else.
I'm a Native New Yorker, lived in LA for awhile, now happily settling in NY again. I like to spend time on both coasts to futher feed my somewhat schizophrenic nature.
I'm very smart about things I know about, and I'm usually interested in things I know nothing about. But there's a fair share of things that I have no interest in at all. I don't waste my time trying to become enthusiastic about people and things that bore me.
I'm not a Republican or a Democrat. I'm a human being who wants what's best for all people. I try to look at issues in a realistic and compassionate way, without the blinders of being fanatically attached to any party. I want to believe in the good of all people, yet I'm canny enough to realize that we will never live in a utopia and we need rules and guidelines to live by. Evil exists and must be kept in check. I'm talking about you. I'm talking about me.
I've always been a conspicuous person. Since my earliest memories. People--on sight--either like me very much or despise me. That's just something in me. I try to be normal...but that "thing" in me is there. It rears it's head. So let me announce hear and now...I'm a pretty nice guy. Let's play nice. Some time it's in our nature to attack. And now isn't the world sometimes ugly enough without that?
What I do (for a living, that is): I make my living as a writer, mostly entertainment journalism. As I mentioned, I'm often considered a "Celebrity Consultant" or a "Fame Observer," and my opinion is sought on curren A-List topics...or legendary show business tales.
Like many people, I've had a long time fascination with Marilyn Monroe. My first novel is entitled "THE MARILYN DIARIES" which is a fictional recreation of the infamous lost diary of Marilyn Monroe. So it tells her life story as if written in her own voice--as I imagine it...it is available at amazon.com and barnes&noble.com. It is my dream that David Lynch read it...because I know he has an interest in Marilyn...and I feel a kindred spirit to him in many ways.
Another book of mine, an official, authorized literary biography of the writer, rebel sexual outlaw, provocateur, male hustler, JOHN RECHY. "OUTLAW: THE LIVES AND CAREERS OF JOHN RECHY. His book "City of Night," is a gorgeous classic and paved the way for generations to come.
"A new book "BOYS LOST & FOUND" a collection of short works is also available by Gival Press.
Here's my Marilyn, my muse, my girl, my obession, proving why she's "Marilyn" in hair and makeup tests taken for a movie she didn't live to complete. She died a few months after this footage.
Who I'd like to meet: Maybe you! You'll never meet anyone else like me. I'll never meet anyone else like you. We have to go through hundreds of people to find the few we can actually have some sort of connection with. I'm interested in meeting every creative, intriguing, ambitious, warm-hearted person in the world who has an ounce of integrity. I figure it won't take long.
Just a side note...I don't ACCEPT pages set to "PRIVATE" unless there is a message introduding yourself.
Physically, I guess I find myself attracted to confident individuals who do what's right for them, without following dictated trends, or language, or styles in order to feel cool, accepted and attractive. My motto of late: Take a good book to bed--or an author who's written one!
I hope you had a good work week and that you are having a great weekend! How is your weekend coming along? I hope you have a productive and peaceful week! Love you! xo
