The Legendary
JAMES St. JAMES
By Kim Acrylic
James St. James: Michael always says that with any movement, there is the person who starts it and the person who makes the money off it. I was around before him, but god knows he took the energy of the time and ran with it. so it's a draw, I guess.
Punk Globe: Most of the readers are aware of the murder that took place by Michael. How do you feel about what happened ?
James St. James: I refer you to the book. I can't really go there anymore. I write as a way to put my stories and emotions in a box and then put that box on a shelf, so I don't have to keep revisiting it. Otherwise I would be stuck in the past. Onward, ho.
Punk Globe: Was the semi true story "Party Monster" at all correct on reenacting the true vibe of it all?
James St. James: Well, was Cleopatra really like Elizabeth Taylor? Was Erin Brockovich anything like Julia Roberts? Movies are movies. They are meant to entertain. Was it a moment-by-moment depiction of our lives and our relationship. Oh my
god no. But it captured the spirit of the times and thats all you can hope for.
James St. James: LOVE LOVE LOVE Seth. Love that he and Mac threw themselves
into their roles with such gusto. They're such regular straight guys, so it was
a joy to watch them let out their inner flames.
Punk Globe: Would you have had a better choice?
James St. James: World of Wonder's first choices were Andy Dick and David Spade,
so I think I came out all right.
Punk Globe: What do you think of the current rave scene that's still going on?
James St. James: God bless the children. Carry on, soldiers. Whatevers.
Punk Globe: DO you still attend most "parties?"
James St. James: I will always be interested in the new clubs, the new kids, the new styles, the new songs, the new it-girls... but I don't think 42 year-old men should be tweaking out to the latest ambient dutch drum & bass at the newest af.ter-hours club
... so these days I try and just dip in and out of the scene as gracefully as I can.
Punk Globe: What do you think the biggest difference is with the new parties vs. the ones in the 90's?
James St. James: I really really really hated the 90's. They were silly and pretentious
and ugly and boring. I'm having more fun now.
Punk Globe: So you wrote two books Disco Bloodbath, and Freak Show. How did that come about?
James St. James: I was always writing for every nightlife 'zine and homo rag that would have me,
so that by the time I was offered to write DBB, I had a pretty established voice and style. Freak Show was similarly
offered to me by an editor at Doubleday who was a fan of the first book. He asked if I ever thought of
writing for teens -- and my first response was: "Usually they try and keep me AWAY from the teens."
I have a rather Satanic reputation among parents, after all.
Punk Globe: What was the main inspiration for telling your story?
James St. James: Eh, it's all me. That was my high school experience. Little drag queen in a cruel, cruel world.
I wanted to tell the freaks out there who are suffering that it DOES get better. It will always be a fight,
being different. But it's the GOOD FIGHT. It's where your art comes from, and your strength
and your character... never back down. Never give up.
James St. James: Joyce Carol Oates and Samual Beckett are my absolute GODS.
GODS! I am foam at their feet. After that there is a list of thousands.
I read EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING I can get my hands on. I juggle
six or seven books at a time-- biographies, essays, short stories,
classics, graphic novels, diaries, letters-- I don't care: the longer and
more obscure the subject, the happier I am. Give me a six-volume journal
of some boring 16th Century monk, and you won't see me for a month,
I will be in absolute heaven.
Punk Globe: Is there any other "scene" you would like to be a part of?
James St. James: I used to lament that I wasn't around at The Factory. Until I met the surviving superstars. Now I think if i took a time machine back, i would
be irritated as fuck by them. Really, they were just a bunch of tweaky
faggots. It was all the 'thrill of the new' that made them so exciting.
And of course, the farther we get from that period, the more they
are all mythologized. Time makes everyone a legend. Just stick around
long enough and you'll get your Kennedy Center honors. So,
the lesson is, everything before you seems really glamorous, and everything
you live through seems mundane, until the next generation decides it was cool.
Punk Globe: What's something totally bizarre about you, James?
James St. James: My mother doesn't have a belly-button. She kept it in a jar in the kitchen
when i was growing up. It looked like a dried piece of cookie dough.
Punk Globe: Any unusual fears?
James St. James: Grizzly Bears, my god. I think that's how I will die. Being mauled by Grizzly Bears.
You will NEVER NEVER catch me out in the woods, for that reason. Ever. And serial killers.
They're out there in the woods too.
Punk Globe: How is drug use with you now?
James St. James: Sometimes clean, sometimes not. I don't really beat myself up if I spend the weekend in Khole
once in a while. But no more coke. Blech.
Punk Globe: Was your O.D scene in Party Monster portrayed right?
James St. James: It was more accurate in the book, but who knows. I definitely had a skewed vision of what was going on.
Punk Globe: Which book of yours do you like the best and why?
James St. James: I have another book that I can't get published, called "KILLER GRAMPA," about my family, that is probably
my best writing. Someday I'll find a publisher not afraid to take it on. But for now, the publishing industry is
much more conservative than you think. Stay tuned for developments.
Punk Globe:Tell Punk Globe readers why they should read it.
James St. James: You can't tell a Punk to do ANYTHING. They have to discover it on their own.
Punk Globe: What was it like for you to have Macaulay Culkin play Michael Alig?
James St. James: I got to see his ass. And because I got to really know him for a time, I will always be his
biggest supporter and biggest fan. Nobody can talk shit about him around me. Ditto Seth.
Punk Globe: If I ask you to recommend a band or group for me to download who would it be?
James St. James: OMG, I have THE WORST taste in music. Trust me you don't want to know.
Its probably Jesse Mcartney or David Archuleta. Really.
Punk Globe: Does it ever bother you that things took off only mostly 'cos of the movie (like book sales etc..)?
James St. James: Honey, book sales never "TOOK OFF"... trust me on THAT ONE.
Punk Globe: Who is someone you'd LOVE to work with?
James St. James: Visconti.
Punk Globe: What makes you sad?
James St. James: My man-boobs.
Punk Globe: Would you like to see Michael get out of prison one day?
James St. James: I think any lesson that prison could teach him, has already
been accomplished. I think his real punishment or redemption will come
after his release, if he is accepted or rejected by the public. It is the court of
public opinion that means the most to Michael. By keeping him in prison,
you are only delaying his real fate.
Punk Globe: What's your most humbling moment?
James St. James: Admitting to you about my man-boobs.
Punk Globe: Do you plan to write anymore books?
James St. James: Gobs.
Punk Globe: Any other projects on the horizon?
James St. James: Piddling around with a graphic novel about gay werewolves on meth.
And a style manual. And a book of photographs.
Punk Globe: I'm drunk and wanna dance, what album do you put on for me?
James St. James: Leigh Bowery/Minty: "USELESS MAN."
Punk Globe: What is one of your earliest memories?
James St. James: We lived on a river, and one night during a thunderstorm, my brother told me
that a floating coconut was actually Laurie Morrison's head.
Punk Globe: Did you always want to do what you do,or did you have another dream?
James St. James: I was going to be a performance artist. shove yams up my ass, like Karen Finley.
Then I realized I could get just as much attention dressing up and going to clubs.
Now, I get my attention through my writing. I think your destiny finds YOU, not the other way around.
Punk Globe: Have anything you would like to say to Punk Globe readers, James?
othin
James St. James: Ng they couldn't say better themselves.
Punk Globe: Thanks so much for your time, I love you, see you in Seattle!
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