by Alex Dueben
“Most of today’s successful provocateurs draw from Gypsy’s playbook.”
– Karen Abbott
Karen Abbott’s first book was Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys and the Battle for America’s Soul, which needles to say, was not the kind of history book you read in school. Centered around the Everleigh Sisters who ran a prominent Chicago brothel for more than a decade, Abbott explored not just the sisters and their many famous clients, but the religious and political figures who collaborated with, fought against, and made their names, locally and nationally, around this issue. Abbott’s most recent book which has just been released in paperback is American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee.
You know Gypsy Rose Lee. The legendary striptease artist and burlesque performer, author of the novel The G-String Murders, which was turned into the Barbara Stanwyck film Lady of Burlesque, who authored a largely fictional memoir (before writing such a tome became popular) that was turned into one of the great musicals. What’s clear from reading her book, is how much we don’t know about Gypsy Rose Lee.
American Rose isn’t a biography, but uses Lee and her career as a way to look at the thirties when vaudeville died and burlesque took over, and when culture as a whole was in a state of flux. It’s fascinating portrait of the theater-owning Minsky Brothers, moralist New York City mayor Fiorella La Guardia, author Carson McCullers, and America in the midst of an economic Depression but a cultural revolution.
Read our exclusive interview with Karen Abbott on SuicideGirls.com.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
“Pretty much what every person wants to do that makes them feel good is fine with me.”
– Richard Gere
Boy Richard Gere is handsome and though he’s best known as an actor he is also a very intelligent humanitarian. His latest flick is Bee Season, a film which goes to the heart of what he is most passionate about, religion.
Eliza Naumann [Flora Cross] has no reason to believe she is anything but ordinary. Her father Saul [Richard Gere], a beloved university professor, dotes on her talented elder brother Aaron [Max Minghella]. Her scientist mother, Miriam [Juliette Binoche], seems consumed by her career. When a spelling bee threatens to reaffirm her mediocrity, Eliza amazes everyone: she wins.
Her newfound gift garners an invitation not only to the national competition, but an entrée into the world of words and Jewish mysticism that have so long captivated her father’s imagination. But Eliza’s unexpected success hurls the Naumann family dynamic into a tailspin, long-held secrets emerge and she is forced to depend upon her own divination to hold the family together.
Read our exclusive interview with Richard Gere on SuicideGirls.com.
by Alex Dueben
It’s not a political book exactly, more post-political, dealing with the aftermath of the degradation of the planet.”
– Brian Wood
Brian Wood’s first comic was Channel Zero, the story of a female freedom fighter in a repressive future America. Initially it didn’t make much of an impact, but it’s become a cult hit, and will be rereleased in a new edition along with its sequel this spring.
Wood has written a number of comics including Local, Demo, DV8, and the young adult comics The New York Four and The New York Five. His most significant work and arguably his best work has been the two series he wrote at Vertigo.
DMZ is one of the great political tales of the past decade and a great story of New York, which recently concluded after a long run. Northlanders, a series of unrelated stories about vikings that are based on historical fact and take place over centuries, is one of the most innovative and interesting comics of the decade.
His two major projects right now are at Dark Horse. With his longtime collaborator Becky Cloonan, Wood is taking over Conan the Barbarian for a 25 issue run. His other major project right now – and for years to come – is The Massive. The series just debuted in the anthology Dark Horse Presents illustrated by Kristian Donaldson and will launched as an ongoing series in June. It explores a group of environmentalists coming to terms with what to do after the world has come to an end.
Read our exclusive interview with Brian Wood on SuicideGirls.com.
by Alex Dueben
“I’ve been dying to get back to comics.” – Brian K. Vaughan
Brian K. Vaughan his made his name as one of the best comics writers of the twenty-first century. He created two long running series, the science fiction fable Y–The Last Man and the political superhero tale Ex Machina. Vaughan also created the series Runaways for Marvel and wrote the series’ best issues, wrote the graphic novel Pride of Baghdad based on the true story of lions who escaped from the Baghdad zoo. and wrote a story arc for the Season 9 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for Dark Horse Comics and Joss Whedon that featured Faith.
Outside of comics, he’s been known for joining the writing staff of Lost during the third season. He worked on the show through the fifth season and is currently adapting Stephen King’s novel Under the Dome for Showtime.
His new project is Saga, an ongoing series coming out from Image Comics. Illustrated by Fiona Staples, the book is about a Romeo and Juliet-esque couple from opposite sides of an interstellar war. A blend of fantasy and science fiction elements, there are creatures with wings, horned aliens, ray guns and swords, spaceships and childbirth, bounty hunters, rocketship forests, cats that can tell if you’re lying, and a healthy dose of sex and violence. We reached Vaughan by e-mail.
Read our exclusive interview with Brian K. Vaughan on SuicideGirls.com.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
“My goal of making the film was to shoot life as much and as thoroughly as I possibly could so I could take people on that trip with me.”
– Ondi Timoner
Ondi Timoner is the director of the documentary DiG! This amazing film is about the rock bands The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols, and the friendship/rivalry between their respective founders, Anton Newcombe and Courtney Taylor.
Read our exclusive interview with Ondi Timoner on SuicideGirls.com.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
“If people don’t want to let you do what you want to do, go make your own venue to do it.”
– Patton Oswalt
Patton Oswalt has expanded his world from comedian to writer to actor and now he’s producing the movie, The Comedians of Comedy and the Comedy Central show of the same name. This new reality series follows four of the funniest comedians working today, Maria Bamford, Zach Galifianakis, Brian Posehn and Patton Oswalt, on their US tour. Director Michael Blieden has also taped them backstage and preparing before each show.
Read our exclusive interview with Patton Oswalt on SuicideGirls.com.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
“I don’t think anybody’s progressing with malice in mind, but the business has a way of changing.”
– Bob Mould
Bob Mould is best known for his work with the seminal punk band Hüsker Dü and his own band Sugar. But in the past few years he’s been putting out solo albums via his own record label. Now he’s stepped back from being an executive and has allowed Yep Roc Records to release his latest, Body of Song.
Read our exclusive interview with Bob Mould on SuicideGirls.com.
