Joey Stefano and The Gaiety

[rapaz7]

I have just finished reading a very interesting book titled Wonder Bread and Ecstasy: The Life and Death of Joey Stefano. It is written by Charles Isherwood and describes the short life of gay porno star Joey Stefano. Some of you may have known Joey. He was a regular dancer at the Gaiety back in the 90's. I saw him there several times and recognized him from the many porno films that he made. When I would see him in the lounge I would say "Hi, how are you doing?". He was always polite and smiled, saying "Okay".

 

The 9th Chapter of the book has a very interesting description of the Gaiety and how things looked there and how things worked there. The author refers to the Gaiety as an "odd little institution" and then says it was "referred to by its clientele, with tongue in cheek, as the Academy of Dance".

 

He goes on to describe the Gaiety. "The atmosphere inside is quaintly seedy. The walls are painted a cheap-looking purple. The theater itself is kept in a state of sepulchral gloom".

 

Not a very flattering description of the Gaiety but it was very interesting to read about a place that many of us knew very well. He goes on for about three pages telling of the former back room and how later private meeting had to be off premises.

 

The book is available on http://www.amazon.com. It was very interesting to read about the life of Joey even though it is a sad story because as you probably know Joey died from a drug overdose at age 26.

[+ Lucky]

I have just finished reading a very interesting book titled Wonder Bread and Ecstasy: The Life and Death of Joey Stefano. It is written by Charles Isherwood and describes the short life of gay porno star Joey Stefano. Some of you may have known Joey. He was a regular dancer at the Gaiety back in the 90's. I saw him there several times and recognized him from the many porno films that he made. When I would see him in the lounge I would say "Hi, how are you doing?". He was always polite and smiled, saying "Okay".

 

The 9th Chapter of the book has a very interesting description of the Gaiety and how things looked there and how things worked there. The author refers to the Gaiety as an "odd little institution" and then says it was "referred to by its clientele, with tongue in cheek, as the Academy of Dance".

 

He goes on to describe the Gaiety. "The atmosphere inside is quaintly seedy. The walls are painted a cheap-looking purple. The theater itself is kept in a state of sepulchral gloom".

 

Not a very flattering description of the Gaiety but it was very interesting to read about a place that many of us knew very well. He goes on for about three pages telling of the former back room and how later private meeting had to be off premises.

 

The book is available on www.amazon.com. It was very interesting to read about the life of Joey even though it is a sad story because as you probably know Joey died from a drug overdose at age 26.

 

 

I started going to the Gaiety at least as early as 1983. I never heard it referred to as the Academy of Dance and remember no purple walls. It would never win any prizes for design though. How could a place full of hot men getting naked be a gloomy place? I never found it so.

It was, however, startling and depressing to see Joey Stefano there. I never thought I would say no to sex with him, but when he asked me, he was so clearly stoned that I knew I wouldn't be engaging a person.

[Guest EuropTravl]

I saw Stefano at the Gaiety. Followed him down the stairs out the exit one night, I was going back to my hotel - he got in a limo at the entrance and Melissa Ethridge (sp?) was inside. I read the biography too. The part about him at the height of his popularity and stuck in some European country at the airport (Greece?) looking for ticket stubs or pennies on the ground was something.

[Guest Bluedawg]

Joey's biographer

 

Interestingly enough, the author of WONDER BREAD AND ECSTASY is Charles Isherwood, now a theater critic for the New York Times.