Alan Ilagan

It’s not easy to get naked in a cemetery and take a photograph of yourself.
Trust me.

STONELIGHT
The Project
Online Premiere
September 2011

Two summers ago I spent a single evening in New York’s infamous Hotel Chelsea – and documented the hours for a photographic project, ‘A Night at the Hotel Chelsea’ as currently archived in The Projects.

I was reminded of that night when I read this New York Times story on the current closing of the Hotel – a story I read with ambivalence and understanding.

While I respect the wonderfully wild and wacky history of the Hotel, and its long list of famous guests over the years, the fact remains that it was one of the dirtiest and grossest hotels I’ve ever stayed in. It was there that I saw the largest cockroach I’ve seen in my life, crawling under the door of one of the resident’s rooms and almost scaring me away for the night. It was there that I refused to stay in the first room they offered me – one in which the open and unscreened window opened out onto a back alley. And it was there where customer service came with a snooty attitude minus the service.

I stayed for the sake of being able to say I once stayed there – though I would never return. Like a tiny apartment or a pair of Skidz, some things are best left behind.

Still, there was definitely an atmosphere to the place – a feeling of ghosts past and present – and the gnawing tension of dark deeds hidden within its silent walls.

{All photos from ‘A Night at the Hotel Chelsea’; full collection may be found in The Projects.}

Because it’s Tuesday freaking morning and we need a little GD Christmas.

Every June I look forward to Matthew Rettenmund’s write-up and review of the Broadway Bares – Equity Fights AIDS show, and this year he certainly delivered. Here are a few of my favorites as seen backstage. There are also a number of videos on Matt’s site, Boy Culture.

The star of the show may have been Brandon Rubendall, who has yet to be injured while performing in Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark. Godspeed, Brandon, and good luck.

After yesterday’s long-winded Madonna posts, I thought I’d give you something simple before the New Project begins. Here we have Tom Ford betwixt two naked male models.