Bowie Ball

In 2011 I received an invitation to the Bowie Ball.

A homage to David Bowie's Glam Years on Columbus Day at Le Poisson Rouge or Red Fish.

I had nothing to wear.

My gold Elvis suit is history. My platform shoes were tossed in 1975. I was so out I can never be in for the In Crowd, unless I showed up with quaaludes.

And those I do have.

Three from a 1974 jar of Rorer 714s.

Those originals pleasure pills grant credence to everyone.

Even to old queens.

"Oh, I love 'ludes."

And I have three.

Two for me and one for Ziggy Stardust.

But let's not forget Slade.

RUN RUN AWAY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHoPYLQvnQM

More Last Qualludes On Earth

THE LAST QUALLUDES ON EARTH

Several years ago my doctor and I were cleaning out the medicine cabinets of his deceased father's office. It was in his parents' old house. where his old man had spent over 40 years caring for thousands of Staten Islanders. We were surprised to find three small boxes of Quaaludes. Their date 1979.

"You think they're any good?" My doctor asked examining one jar. Six pills were stuffed under a cotton ball. 'Ludes were the Eucharist of Disco. No girl could say no to them or after one or two. They were banned in 1979. To most people they were a myth. "Only one way to find." I cracked open the jar and jiggled out one pill. It tasted like the last one I took at Studio 54. Like I needed another half. An hour later my doctor asked where I thought I was. "In the bathroom?" Everything was so nice and fuzzy. "You're in the living room pissing into the fireplace." "So I guess they still work." My doctor and I decided to save the 'ludes for a special occasion. Ten years ago. every time I tell anyone about the 'ludes they tell me a story and beg for one. I have been a strict guardian. After these are gone they will never exist again and I feel like a hunter getting ready to kill the last do-do birds. Extinction. In 2003 my friend Randall Koral had decided to come out to Thailand to film THE LAST QUAALUDES ON EARTH. I asked about a storyline and here was his reply. "Don't worry about movie-scripting. I have a better idea. Really simple. It'll be a docu-drama-epic-adventure. It's called "Lude: Four Days of Sex and Extinct Pharmaceuticals in Thailand" and it goes like this: You told me you had found the last three ludes on Planet Earth and I thought that sounded like a good reason to meet you in Thailand with my film gear, bringing with me the last rolls of Kodachrome 40 Super 8 film on Planet Earth. We celebrate Fenway's first birthday then we head off into the unknown. My interviews with you, with you speaking on camera about why Quaaludes and life, in general, were so great in the 1970s, will be shot in video. I'll shoot everything else. Landscape et al. AndI have the ludes He still has the footage.

Hurrah Hot Foot

Back in the late 70s, I was working at Hurrah as security. A good number of the punk disco's male clientele came from the bridge and tunnel suburbs of New Jersey and Long Island. The gay owner thought that they were cute and these tough boys were easy pickings after they dropped a few 'ludes. The poor things collapsed in the stupor and I ordered the bouncers to arrange the 714 zombies on the banquettes holding hands and linking arms like live sculptures. At the end of the night, I'd wake the sleeping beauties with a hot foot ie sticking wooden matches into their sneakers and then light then. Damn, Nikes burned fast, as anything made out of plastic and the boys' feet stamped the floor, as the flames did their magic. None of them got hurt and we had a good laugh. Times were so simple back then.