La Dolce Musto on a Tuesday night.

Only in New York can you ignite your banal Tuesday night via a coffee klatch with one of New York's (and thus the world's) most formidable gossipmongers- and get him to sign his new book for you. Barnes and Noble's in Chelsea served as the backdrop for a fab "literary set" this night- Michael Musto reading from his collection of pop culture ruminations, entitled La Dolce Musto: Writings by the World's Most Outrageous Columnist. Musto's musings on pop culture and celebrity actually make him part of pop culture himself, so it should be interesting to see what the "Hunter S. Thompson of snark" has to say in his book. As everyone knows, his column appears weekly in the Village Voice (required reading for us bloggers, who "make me have to work harder in my column" says Musto), and he also writes for Out magazine (being a proud "out" journalist his entire life) and a correspondent on MSNBC, E! and VH-1 ("an UNPAID correspondent!" he's quick to let us know!). Now he is poised to add the title of author to that list (a PAID author!).

Outfitted in a white silky pirate blouse hanging on his very slight shoulders ("my Seinfeld shirt" he mused), and a pair of black slacks cinched around his waist courtesy of a dark brown leather belt, Musto took the podium to much applause and adoration. While not exactly known for his fashion sensibility (I mean, who wears a pirate shirt these days without a sense of irony?), the fabulous Mr. Musto adjusted his trademark black horn-rimmed glasses, and responded in his fey Bensonhurst accent to questions from his rather fashionable friends who came out to support him. Barney's creative director Simon Doonan (who is RATHER impish in real life), took the mic to ask him about his worst experience with a celebrity, while Paper magazine's "shmashion maven" Mickey Boardman shouted his rather hilarious questions ("Who's the most fabulous magazine fashion editor you've met in your 23 years at 'The Village Voice'?") over my head during the question and answer period. Uber-ubiquitous photographer Patrick McMullan was there playing shutterbug and supporter, as were some downtown asian Harajuku girls, a rather regal black woman sitting two seats from me (thus bringing the number of African Americans in the audience to TWO!), progressive white couples and some members of the Pink Mafia joining the artistic fray giggling at Musto's witticisms ("Oh please! Clay Aiken IS gay!!! And a BOTTOM!!!").

Musto regaled the crowd with two readings from the book, one detailing his nightmarish run-in with film "goddess" Anita Eckberg during her press junket for The Red Dwarf and the other recounting his mental pseudo-"fourgy" with the four members of the comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall (I guess that would be a "Five-gy" with him included). With the book being dedicated to "...Anyone who can still manage to exude glamour with mud dripping down his or her face" and with chapter titles 'Confessions of a Sound Bite Whore', 'Pianist Envy: a visit with Liberace', and 'Teri Hatcher is sweet and other disturbing possibilities', any pop culture junkie worth his salt (present company included) should be chomping at the bit to read about his prose on Eartha Kitt, Michael Jackson, Mel Gibson, Jim McGreevey, Michael Alig, a then-closeted Rosie O'Donnell and the like. Surprisingly, while Madonna makes several appearances throughout the book, she is one of the celebrities that Musto has NOT met in person. Well, Madonna and the Olsen twins. I'm sure they will be mentioned in Musto's next book.

"Third Girl From the Left"

Third Girl From the Left- Martha Southgate


What of dreams deferred? Langston posed this question to us a couple of decades ago. What happens to a dream deferred? I’ll tell you what happens to it- it keeps on living, the chances of it being realized becoming less and less likely with every passing day. And in between those days, life continues. Coming from someone who “SHOULD HAVE BEEN” one of the dancers in the Michael Jackson ‘Remember the Time’ video (looong story!), I understand somewhat the tragedy of the deferment of dreams. As you become less attached to the idea of achieving your vision or fully realizing your talent, you become more distracted by the insidious 525,600 minutes that become a year which, if you’re not careful, becomes a decade. The only redeeming factor would be if that decade bought forth SOMETHING that made the deferment of that dream all worthwhile. While “Third Girl From The Left” starts out as just your requisite “black lit” love story, its theme speaks more to dreams and aspirations- the yearning, the energy it brings into your life, the internal pride and passion that continually fuels you, the internal sadness that comes when you realize that perhaps what you THOUGHT would be your destiny is really going to be something else, the re-definition of what becomes important to you after the ‘death’ of your dream, and a new paradigm of what your life-your dream- will be going forward.

Side plotlines of experimental lesbianism, conformity, mother-daughter relationships, racial strife, family heritage and love in all its forms become woven into the tapestry of this earthen tale of three generations of women in one family in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Southgate infuses camp, humor and self-referential parody while giving us a glimpse into the examination of each woman’s dreams and the realization/and or deferment of such. It makes a statement on the power of the movies to change a life (the title comes from daughter Angela’s “cameo” appearance in a Pam Grier blaxploitation movie as ‘Third Girl From the Left’), to renew familial pride (leading granddaughter Tamara to pursue a career in filmmaking and create a loving documentary), and to soothe psychological scars (patriarch Mildred escaped the painful remnants of the Tulsa race riots with weekly trips to the town’s movie house). Southgate offers one of the most interesting fusions of history and fiction I’ve read. She shows a reverence for the acting/moviemaking crafts and the passion that those who pursue them possess while simultaneously challenging the reader to further reach for his own dreams.