MIKE JEKNAVORIAN National Interviews

PENNY ARCADE

Penny Arcade, one of New York’s preeminent nightlife queens, and a Warhol alumni, stops by Miami on her 40-city international tour to perform her New York-centric one-woman show, Longing Lasts Longer

PHOTOGRAPH BY STEVEN MENENDEZ

By Mike Jeknavorian

Where did you grow up?  In New Britain, Connecticut, in the 1950s, when it was known as the hardware capitol of the world.  When’s the last time you went back there?  On September 29th, 2018, for the 50th high school reunion, for high school years that I didn’t attend!  Do you miss anything about the town?  I miss what New Britain was before Paul Manafort Sr. destroyed the town with so-called “urban renewal.”  Of all the venues that are gone in NYC, which one do you miss the most?  The Bottom Line.  Who’s your favorite Warhol superstar?  It’s a tie between Taylor Mead and Ondine.  Since you’ve toured extensively in Europe, what’s your favorite place there?  The island of Formentera, Baleraric Islands, Spain.

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This is a faithful reprint of Taylor Mead On Amphetamine and In Europe: Excerpts from the Anonymous Diary of a New York Youth. Volume Three. Last printed in 1968. Taylor Mead Beat poet, Andy Warhol Superstar, artist and star of film and stage. This volume contains Taylor’s poetry, rantings and musings from the 1960’s.

What will you do with your down time when you’re in South Florida?  I intend to show my collaborator’s wife, Marina, all the sights.  It’s her first visit here.  Other than your own plays, what’s your favorite play?  Anything by Tennessee Williams.  Which one of your old jobs least prepared you for what you do now?  Being a social worker in back-woods Maine.  How did you come up with your name?  I named myself Penny Arcade coming down from LSD at age 17.  It stuck.  If God were to take you tomorrow, how would you like to be remembered?  For my kindness and action in compassion.  What do you want to live long enough to see?  For my 11 and 13-year-old friends, Gandan and Diesel, to grow up to be 21!

Will you ever retire?  Actresses like me never retire.  What’s the weirdest question that a fan’s asked you?  “What are you really like?”  What celebrity did you act like a “fan” around?  Liza Minnelli.  I was completely tongue-tied.  What’s the last thing that you looked at online?  An “enlarged heart portal.”  It came up on my chest x-ray.  What’s the best place that you’ve visited?  The best…?  Every place has something ‘best’ about it.  There is no best place.  What’s something that you learned in life only when you got older?  That the only approval that really matters is my own approval of myself.  What did you learn from your parents?  How to work hard.  What’s your current state-of-mind?  Enlightened.

What were you doing before we spoke?  Thinking of getting out of bed.  What’s your idea of perfect happiness?  Swimming in the clean, clear, beautiful ocean.  What’s your greatest fear?  Pain, sickness and immobility.  Living or dead, who’s the greatest political figure in America?  Vito Marcantonio, the first-born Italian-American representative from New York’s 18thdistrict, who put the word ‘service’ into public service.  Who’s your favorite performer?  Tammy Faye Starlight and Bina Sharif.  What’s your best characteristic?  Enthusiasm.  How do you enjoy spending your time?  Walking around.  I’m a flaneuse.  What celebrity do you have a crush on?  Hmm…?  I don’t have crushes on people that I do not personally know.

PHOTOGRAPH BY STEVEN MENENDEZ

Who do you admire?  Noam Chomski.  If you could bring one person back from the dead, who would it be?  James Baldwin.  Where would you go in a time machine?  To 1910.  I’d go to New York City and around the world.  What would your last meal be?  Sushi and an ice cream sundae with hot fudge.  What do you worry about?  Money, for old age, and for arthritis.  What are you afraid of?  Serial blood-lust murderers.  If you were a musical instrument, what would you be?  A viola.  Are you more like a sheep or a wolf?  A wolf.  Who depends on you?  People who no one else will help.  Who are you closest with?  Steve Zehentner, my best friend and collaborator of 26 years.  What would your autobiography be called?  The Broken Genius Girl Must Be Sacrificed.

What music do you listen to when you’re upset?  Old R&B, like Solomon Burke, old blues, and doo-wop.  What’s on your bucket list?  Singing a concert of my original songs and my favorite covers.  What’s your greatest regret in life?  That I didn’t honor my heart’s desires in my teens and 20s and 30s.  I thought that I needed ‘proof’ to follow them.  What’s something secretive about you that people don’t know?  Pretty much everything!  I only share what makes me the same as others, not what makes me different.  But, ok.  One thing is, I’m very timid.  Where can we see you?  My website has my schedule, and my Facebook page is totally open—I run it like a magazine or a diary.  You can also see me at the Live Arts Lab at Miami Dade College this Thursday to Saturday!

MIKE JEKNAVORIAN National Interviews

CHARLES BUSCH

Tony Award nominee, Drama Desk Lifetime Achievement honoree and two-time MAC Award winner, Charles Busch, discusses his legendary career—including a chance encounter with Greta Garbo—before returning to the stage in South Florida and Chicago

Where did you grow up?  In New York City.  If you had to live somewhere other than New York, where would it be?  I recently went out to dinner with a great group of people after a show in Birmingham, Alabama.  We had such a fun, campy time, and I realized that it doesn’t really matter where you live if you have a group of dear friends.  I think I may be learning to be less of a New York snob.  What’s your claim-to-fame?  To be considered truly famous, everyone’s mother needs to have heard of you.  But I feel that my forty years of work as an actor, playwright and performer has endeared me to several generations of wonderful people.  How would you like to be remembered?  That I added a little color to an increasingly grey world.  Will you ever retire?  As long as I have energy and a decent memory, I’ll be out there slingin’ the one-liners and tossin’ the hips.  I also still get great pleasure out of writing.  I hope that enthusiasm never wanes.  Who’s your favorite female performer from the 1930s and 1940s?  Judy Garland.  I continually learn about honesty and style from studying her performances.  Who’s your favorite male performer from the 1930s and 1940s?  James Cagney.  He was a dynamic actor and performer. He also reminds me a lot of my father.

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Who’s your favorite female contemporary performer?  Miley Cyrus.  I’m glad that she’s grown out of her youthful rebellious phase, and I think that she has the talent and charisma to be truly great.  Who’s your favorite male contemporary performer?  I find Bruno Mars very interesting.  What’s your favorite contemporary film?  I’ve seen The Disaster Artist twice this week, and I love it.  What playwright do you admire?  Charles Ludlam and Tennessee Williams.  I worship them both.  Specifically, when I was 17-years-old, I saw Ludlam onstage in Eunuch of the Forbidden City, and I saw at that moment that anything was possible in the theater. What story needs to be told that hasn’t been told yet?  How the lesbian community—particularly, in San Francisco—rallied and took care of gay men during the height of the AIDS crisis in the eighties.  What’s your dream role?  Peter Pan.  Did you ever run into Greta Garbo in New York?  Twice, as a teenager, I saw her striding up the street.  One time I followed her into an empty store, and just being in her presence made me so light-headed that I finally had to run out.  When she was in New York, It was like having a mythical unicorn in our midst…  What politician don’t you like?  They’re too many to list.

What’s your favorite drink?  Jack Daniels with ginger ale.  Or, a chocolate milkshake.  What’s your most treasured possession?  An original seven-foot nineteenth century poster of the great actress Sarah Bernhardt, by the artist Mucha.  I had the small $4.95 print of it in my bedroom as a kid, and now I have the real deal.  Still, if there was a fire, I wouldn’t risk my life trying to save it.  Do you believe in ghosts?  I would like to.  There are so many people I would love to see again.  Either living or dead, who would you like to have lunch with?  The late film director, George Cukor.  What’s the last thing that you looked at online?  A video of a dog befriending a baby deer.  I’m a real sucker for cute animal videos. What’s the best place that you’ve visited, and why?  Locarno, Switzerland.  I was showing a movie of mine at a film festival, and I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the city.  And I was also surrounded by a gorgeous group of gay men who found me fascinating.  Heaven.  What did you learn from your parents?  My mother died when I was seven, so I don’t remember her well.  My father introduced me to the magic of the theater.  And for that, I’ll always be grateful.  What’s your best characteristic?  That I can throw myself into someone else’s fantasy of who they would like to be.

How do you enjoy spending your time?  I’m so lucky that my work is also my great passion.  I just love sitting at the computer working on a script; particularly, the editing and fine tuning.  What celebrity do you have a crush on?  Harry Styles and Mark Ruffalo.  I have very eclectic tastes.  Who do you admire?  All of the people who are out in the cold demonstrating and resisting.  If you could bring one person back from the dead, who would it be, and why?  My Aunt Lillian, who raised me and saved me when I was at a terrible crossroads.  I’d want her to know that things worked out and that all of her hard work and devotion paid off.  Where would you go in a time machine, and why?  To see Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall in 1961.  What would your last meal be?  The ridiculously obscenely expensive caviar that I’ve only read about, and a huge steamed lobster.  What do you worry about?  Losing my mind.  If you were a musical instrument, what would you be?  A small and very stylish old spinet piano, like the one in the movie Casablanca.  It’s a bit old-fashioned, but you can play any tune on it.

PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL CHILDERS

Are you more like a sheep or a wolf?  A wolf.  I hate to say it, but a career of any success does leave some blood on the floor.  Who depends on you, and for what?  My sister, who’s currently living with me.  She had some recent health issues, and for the first time, I’m learning to anticipate someone else’s needs.  Who are you closest with?  My sister, my nephew and a very intense circle of four, maybe five, friends.  I’m very fortunate.  What music do you listen to when you’re upset?  Upbeat stuff, like The Andrews Sisters, The Supremes and Burt Bacharach.  What’s on your bucket list?  I want to make another movie! What’s your greatest regret in life?  I deeply regret a few selfish and insensitive blunders that I’ve made.  But I’d like to think that I’ve learned something from them.  What’s something that you never told anyone else?  That I live for the anecdote and to entertain.  In doing so, I’ve probably told every outrageous and intimate episode of my life to either an individual or an audience. Where can we see you?  I’ll be at Palm Beach Dramaworks on January 12 in West Palm Beach, and at Pride Films and Plays on January 21 and 22 in Chicago.