(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Cabaret star Joey Arias will headline “After Louie Takes Hudson,” an awareness and fund-raising event for “After Louie” – a feature to be filmed in Hudson in spring 2016 – at the Second Ward on Sunday, August 23, from 6pm to midnight. The event will also include a dance party featuring music by DJ Tedd Patterson.
“After Louie,” a film about a former AIDS activist coming to terms with his own aging and a changing gay world, is the feature film debut of the visual artist and former member of ACT UP and Gran Fury Vincent Wm. Gagliostro. The film is written by Gagliostro and Anthony Johnston and produced by Bryce J. Renninger and Lauren Belfer.
While the film takes place predominantly in New York City, the production will shoot crucial scenes taking advantage of Hudson’s vibrant culture and natural beauty. The film will feature performances by drag artist Arias.
Speaking about the film, Gagliostro says, “By confronting the end of a traumatic era and provoking a conversation between generations, ‘After Louie’ forces us to dream of a new and vibrant future, again.”
“After Louie Takes Hudson” is being hosted by Walter Sudol and Steven Johnson, the owners of Second Ward, as well as Victor Mendolia, Sherry Jo Williams, and Trixie Starr.
After Louie Takes Hudson will run from 6pm to midnight on Sunday, August 23. Tickets are $20 in advance, and $25 at the door, and are available online here. Second Ward is located at 71 North 3rd Street, Hudson, NY 12534.
Gagliostro began his professional career as an art director in the worlds of fashion and beauty, creating campaigns for a variety of major brands while working with renowned photographers, including Bill King, Steven Meisel and Bert Stern. In a special collaboration with Richard Avedon, they created the award winning campaign for Hush Puppies Shoes, which went on to win the coveted CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) Award for best accessories, as well as being cited by Malcolm Gladwell in his book “The Tipping Point,” crediting the campaign as a pivotal example of when a trend crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Gagliostro’s career has included among other things working with celebrities such as Raquel Welch, Lauren Hutton and the recording artist Prince for whom he art directed three award-winning music videos.
In 1987, Gagliostro became a founding member of ACT UP (The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), and chaired the Communication and Graphics Outreach group. New York Magazine (September 30,1996 issue) lauded him for his “in your face” graphic, “make no apologies” style, and cited him as one of the six most influential players in the gay community at that time.
In the early ‘90s. Gagliostro started a quarterly journal titled, XXXFRUIT, which was then commissioned by the Whitney Museum for an online version. At the same time he was the creative director of QW, a New York weekly gay news magazine.
For the past ten years, Gagliostro’s focus has been on multidisciplinary installations with an emphasis on film/video. He was a contributing cinematographer for the Oscar nominated documentary, “How to Survive a Plague.” His short films have shown in film festivals and art fairs internationally. He has recently lectured at Yale on the subject of Art and Activism.
A fixture of New York City’s vibrant downtown performance scene for 30-plus years, Joey Arias is a bona fide NYC icon. Arias lived and worked with legendary musician Klaus Nomi until Nomi’s death in 1983. However, he has long since stepped out of Nomi’s shadow to gain fame in his own right as a performance artist, cabaret singer and drag artist. From outrageous performances at seminal New York nightclubs Jackie 60 and Squeezebox to the now-legendary nights at Bar d’O where he held court with Raven-O and Sherry Vine, Arias has distinguished himself with scandalous wit, sleek style and an extraordinary voice… evocative of Billie Holiday yet uniquely his own.
Arias has performed worldwide at venues including Carnegie Hall, The Freedom Theatre in London and on a transatlantic world tour into the cabaret clubs of Paris, Tokyo, Moscow, Germany, Finland, Estonia, Canada and England. On film, he has appeared in Mondo New York, Big Top Pee Wee, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Wigstock – The Movie, Flawless and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. Television credits include the infamous Saturday Night Live episode with David Bowie and Klaus Nomi, Ann Magnuson’s Vandemonium (Cinemax), Elvira’s MTV Halloween Special, HBOs Dragtime, HBO’s Real Sex and Gayer Than Gay on VH1, along with numerous appearances on a wide variety of talk shows and programs. Additionally, Arias has produced several of his own recordings including Arias on Holiday, Strange Fruit, Jazzo Lozo, God Shave the Queen and live recordings of StarLust in Berlin, Arias with a Twist and Bar D’o in New York.
When Tedd Patterson steps to the decks, there’s a shift of energy in the room. In a club scene now flooded with McDJs, Patterson has a presence that sets him apart. Instead of staying under the umbrella of only a couple of dance music genres, Patterson creatively moves things along by introducing the unexpected to the mix. This is his art form of fusion which has solidified Patterson’s reputation as a master craftsman of adventurous, relentless, and wildly dynamic sets. With a honed eclectic sound and purposeful experimentation, Patterson’s preference for the genuine, varied side of music is truly a refreshing experience.
Second Ward Foundation is a nonprofit organization in Hudson that lends and exhibits contemporary art.