WHEN I DRESSED IN DRAG
Years ago, before RuPaul, before Dame Edna on Ally McBeal, before Harvey Fierstein on Broadway, before Mrs. Doubtfire, To Wong Foo and Priscilla:Queen of the Desert, there was drag. I'm talking strictly about gay men dressing up like women, hence the phrase "drag queen". At one time drag was either something you did professionally or - and here may be the hard part to believe - a ritual of self-acceptance. Gay men became terrified of being perceived as "sissies" or "fairies" during the seventies, it all became about being macho and shedding decades of stereotypes. It was levi-wearing, deep-voiced posing and frankly, it wasn't always very fun.Dressing in drag - even at a celebrat

WHEN I MET A PRINCESS
When I lived in New York City one of the many jobs I had was managing a retail store in Soho for a successful designer during the early nineties. The store was in a popular spot, right next to Todd Oldham and Comme Des Garcons and we had our share of celebrities as customers.Urbane as we were (after all, this was Manhattan and fashion still meant something then), we never made a fuss over anyone well known. In fact, I was the worst at recognizing people. During this period I wasn't watching much TV, so that automatically eliminated anyone on a series. I would sooner know Joel Grey than Jerry Seinfeld even though I helped both.One day, two Young Park Avenue-looking wo

WHEN I TOUCHED A PORN STAR
A million years ago as dinosaurs roamed the Earth, I lived in New York City and worked for a time as a Clothes Stylist with a photographer named Christopher Makos. Actually it was 1986. I never thought CM was a very good photographer but he’d managed to turn ass-kissing Andy Warhol into a career and had his own page of photos at the end of Interview magazine every month. The pics were basically black and white “portraits” of It People and It People Wannabes shot in his “studio”/one bedroom apartment in Chelsea across from Barneys. I, of course, had read Interview for years because I was gay and thought it made me sophisticated. Whatever. CM made some deal w