Where's the Party?
'Getting In' Flyer King David Kennerley in Conversation with Clubkid Ernie Glam
Getting In: NYC Club Flyers from the Gay 1990s by David Kennerley is a book I meant to get when it first dropped — but it sold out.
There is a new edition available, and in honor of the fresh printing, Kennerley appeared in conversation with ageless clubkid Ernie Glam at Maison 10 in NYC Friday night.
I made sure to buy my copy, though I also walked out of the place without paying at first. Embarrassing, but then, considering the illegal goings-on Ernie had just told us about in a nearly 50-minute talk, forgetting to pay would come low on the list.
I filmed the whole Q&A (sorry in advance for some activity near me, including an ongoing conversation that never stopped), posted below, but in a nutshell, Kennerley made a strong case for how the past should not always be left there, and how flimsy flyers meant to alert queer guys to hot parties 30 years ago can also be seen as art, and as totems of a different time.
The book is well over 200 high-quality pages for about 50 bucks, and includes a dizzying array of flyers and other ephemera from Kennerley’s stash of 1,200 pieces. I own or used to own some, and vividly remember others.
With names like Bump! and Meat and Heaven, the special nights at the various clubs — most of them housed in buildings that no longer stand — are forever preserved via these bits of paper and hastily, yet creatively and evocatively designed ads.
They not only remind us of who was hottest then — Madonna, Grace Jones, Marky Mark … okay, our taste was not 100% — but of what was considered hottest then, namely, the hairless, impossibly buff Chelsea boys.
Some of the people connected to this scene spoke to Kennerley for his book, which is a coffee-table book of eye candy and yet also an oral history, including go-go legend Mark Allen, drag queens Lady Bunny and Linda Simpson, DJs like Susan Morabito and more.
Give the talk a listen, visit Maison 10 for your art and arty needs and check out the book here: