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The fabulously flamboyant and witty gay icon Quentin Crisp (who died in 1999 at age 90) gets a party fit for a queen. The lively literary salon includes readings, recollections and performances by some of Crisp’s most ardent admirers.

The event is produced by Joe Birdsong (owner of the dearly departed bohemian stronghold Rapture Café), in association with curator Phillip Ward and the Quentin Crisp Archives. Proceeds from the event go to funding the archive. (For more information about the archive, visit www.crisperanto.org).

Hosting the event is drag-queen performer Linda Simpson. The line-up includes celebrity journalist Frank DeCaro, post-modern cabaret singer Adam Dugas (WEIMAR NEW YORK, THE CITIZENS BAND), Anne Hanavan (VOLUPTUOUS HORROR OF KAREN BLACK), guitarist-songwriter Gordon Gano (of the pioneering folk-punk group VIOLENT FEMMES), Radical Fairie dance troupe Pixie Harlots (LUSTRE), performance artist Amber Martin (Rapture Cafe's WIG SHOP), LGBTQ blogger and activist Eric Leven (knucklecrack.blogspot.com), actor/dancer Jack Ferver (DANCE THEATRE WORKSHOP Studio Series, STRANGERS WITH CANDY), ground-breaking queer latino poet Emanuel Xavier, glam rock musician Paul Bernstein and his WIDE STANCE band ( www.myspace.com/paulbernsteinandhiswidestance), West Village crooner Chris Lowe, erotic poet and blogger Guy Kettelhack, and other performers to be announced. Providing music is DJ Baby K.

The evening also includes screenings of excerpts of film and video starring Mr. Crisp.

Quentin Crisp is the author of the classic—and flamboyantly eccentric—coming-of-age memoir THE NAKED CIVIL SERVANT. The award-winning 1975 film version, starring John Hurt, made him an instant international celebrity. Mr. Hurt reprises the Crisp role in the recently completed movie AN ENGLISHMAN IN NEW YORK (for which Mr. Hurt just won Best Actor at Berlin's International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival), written by Brian Fillis for Leopardrama and England's ITV. This BBC television biopic is to be released in Spring 2009, and will also star Denis O'Hare (Phillip Steele, an amalgam of two close friends and confidants of Mr. Crisp: Phillip Ward and Tom Steele), Swoosie Kurtz (Connie Clausen, QC agent), Cynthia Nixon (Penny Arcade, performance artist), and Jonathan Tucker (Patrick Angus, artist). To learn more about the movie, visit: http://www.crisperanto.org/new...ishmanInNYmovie.html

December 25, 2008 was the centenary of Quentin Crisp's birth and November 21, 2009 is the 10th anniversary of Mr. Crisp's death. Also December 21, 2008 marked the 30th anniversary of his first U.S. appearance at The Players Theatre here in New York City. And in 2009, Mr. Crisp's final book, THE DUSTY ANSWERS, will be published for the very first time. Plus his pink fedora will be on display in London's Victoria and Albert Museum in February through May 2009. These are the many reasons to join together and celebrate the life and legend of one of our cultural and literary icons, and hero and mentor to many at large. A party is necessary to celebrate such occasion.

As a fundraiser, the event will provide The Quentin Crisp Archives financial resources to continue maintaining the cataloguing, preservation and presentation of materials from Mr. Crisp's very own archives. The fundraiser will also assist in providing another and larger event of performances and exhibition during June's Gay Pride 2009 and a smaller event in November 2009 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Quentin's death. Allen Ginsberg's Committee on Poetry sponsors The Quentin Crisp Archives as a 501(c)(3) non-profit. The tax number is available. The mission of The Quentin Crisp Archives is to preserve, maintain and present in exhibitions and online the manuscripts, letters, recordings, artwork by and about, and various artifacts and ephemera related to the life and legend of Quentin Crisp, and to promote his philosophy of individuality, self-acceptance, and tolerance. The Quentin Crisp Archives (crisperanto.org), the official Quentin Crisp web site, which Phillip Ward created in 1999 as executor of his estate, will publicize the centennial celebration via its homepage and mass email alerts. The web site is an integral part of The Quentin Crisp Archives and provides news and information about "All Things Quentin Crisp!"



Saturday, March 7th, from 7 to 10pm. Show starts at 7:30pm.
Santo’s Party House
96 Lafayette St (between Walker and White Sts, 2 blocks below Canal St)
Admission: $20
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Personally, I have to mention that this will likely be the final (and I must say pinnacle) event under the Rapture Cafe umbrella, and I couldn't be more proud of the show we've put together for one whose life and times certainly inspired me since I was a wee one.

Just added to the bill - Our very own Bobby Miller and Lavinia Co-op!

This should be MAJOR! All costumes and Quentin "looks" are encouraged.

Door by Hattie Hathaway. Really.

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Last edited by mr.joe
Thanks Zazoo and Satori! Can't wait to see you there.

Spent the day poring through many hours of QC vid/film footage, going through a number of the items being auctioned/raffled. Whew! Got a screening of the film, An Englishman in New York. John Hurt in the new movie is, of course, FAB. But...Cynthia Nixon as Penny Arcade is pretty genius.
I had a great evening and it was terrific to see each of you. Everyone looks so young to me...and then I put on my glasses. Bah dum bup!

It was great that I got to see Daddy for a half sec at Vandam too.

And Zazzoo, that pile of hats you were wearing wore me out. Nice to see how you fit right in to NYC.
Last edited by bobby
Wow! What an absolutely fantastic night we had! Thank you to everyone who came out - all looking fab, I must say. Not a dud in the place! Special thanks to the Motherboards family. Bobby, you were in top form, I must say. We were able to raise some funds for the archives, and the reviews of the night are all around glowing. Quentin is beaming! Here are some pics from OUT:

Starting with the enchanting Empress...

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I had a great time.
Super to see that Z & S really have NY in their genes (jeans too we're sure).
Daddy, Hattie has let her hair grow out but threatened to shave it all off before summer, she must be in someone's photos from the evening.
Nancy, I personally saw Messy Bonnie Raitt chew up and swallow the piece of paper Viva wrote her number on, so you can probably get the number now if you take a minute to browse the curb outside Santos'.
Mr. Joe, how could I have missed you there, I walked around the room three times trying to locate you.
Rob Roth told me he's moving this week so if anyone of you lives way east on Stanton you're the one to envy for having that new neighbor.
I didn't remember Bobby Miller being that tall but then he confessed to being in heels.
Seeing all the great acts rush past on stage just gave me the feeling of seeing Quentin on the 8th St. cross town bus all the time. A flash of color and wit zooming by.
It was kind of magic. From what I can tell she was actually walking on her hands underneath the costume but it looked like of course that it was a person walking out normally, just in a full costume. But then she revealed the mask being held up by her feet as the drapery of the costume fell away. It was both startling and brilliant. And took maybe all of a minute and a half on stage.
I think that is what happened, it was so fast and surprising, I could be totally wrong.

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