La Dolce Musto: Writings by the World's Most Outrageous Columnist [Paperback]

Michael Musto (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2007

For over 20 years, Michael Musto ("the Hunter S. Thompson of snark") has written the popular entertainment column La Dolce Musto. The outrageous weekly column has pioneered gay issues in celebrity news and politics and has long been a mainstay of pop culture as well as a cutting edge chronicle of the hip and hopeful.
In this fabulous collection, Musto includes a sampling of his star romps, from a hilarious column describing his night out with the Kids in the Hall to a scathing catch-up session with onetime Fellini beauty Anita Ekberg. Along the way, celebs like Sandra Bernhard, Madonna, Lindsay Lohan, and Anderson Cooper provide much juice and dazzle. Also included are biggies, from Brad Pitt to the Hiltons.
The first openly gay gossip columnist, Musto encouraged closeted celebrities to come out for years before it became okay to address performers' sexuality in the daily columns. He was reviled, called a "gay Nazi" by Rosie O'Donnell, but ultimately vindicated. Included are his views against then-closeted Rosie, and Ellen DeGeneres.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Revealing as much about himself as he does his subjects, the out, proud and flamboyantly gay Musto mixes frivolity and furor in the gossip columns collected under the same title as his weekly Village Voice column dating back to 1984. The pieces range from firsthand observation of a 1985 Reagan presidential inaugural ball to scathing commentary on Mel Gibson's recent DUI arrest ("I had no idea that an open bar is all it takes to turn Mother Teresa into a hair-plugged Hitler"). Musto's strongest pieces include "The AIDS era: life during wartime" (1990), his urgent thoughts on the epidemic; "Rosie's b.s. isn't cutie patootie" (1997), in which he outs Rosie O'Donnell; and "Did I blow my chances with Anderson Cooper?" (2005), his persuasive argument for writing about celebrities' sexuality. His travelogues in Bangkok and Moscow, coupled with interviews with stars including Liberace ("pianist envy") epitomize his style: full of adulation, cattiness and sexual innuendo. Musto's snarky, dishy tales of New York nightlife will speak most to those who know the players, but when his topics are more accessible, (e.g., his blow-by-blow coverage of the 2006 Academy Awards in "Oscar flirts with the gays"), Musto's witty ridicule is pithy. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

For over twenty years, Michael Musto has written the popular entertainment column "La Dolce Musto." The column has pioneered gay issues in celebrity, politics, and AIDS and has long been a mainstay of pop culture as well as a cutting edge chronicle of the hip and hopeful. He's also a columnist for Out magazine and a regular face on networks like E!, VH1, MSNBC, and Logo.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf (January 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078671879X
• ISBN-13: 978-0786718795
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,427,347 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Musto a Must: the thinking person's gossip, January 4, 2007

By 

Helene Hertzlinger (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: La Dolce Musto: Writings by the World's Most Outrageous Columnist (Paperback)

The Village Voice's longtime chronicler of New York's demimonde appears here between two covers in a sort of Best of.... compilation. Musto's gift for verbal wordplay, over-the-top observations, and risque puns makes him fun and interesting to read, even for those with little interest in the nightlife "scene." My favorites, some of which appear here, have to do with Blind Items, brainteasers wherein he drops tidbits about the various doings of the rich and infamous, and you're supposed to guess who it is. The trouble is, he'll never tell you when you're right! I guarantee you will love reading and rereading this book!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun to Read, February 2, 2007

By 

lori a (ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: La Dolce Musto: Writings by the World's Most Outrageous Columnist (Paperback)

I love Musto's appearances on Keith Olberman's show, which is what lead me to purchase this book. Each "chapter" is one of his pieces written for the Village Voice over the years, which makes a chapter the perfect size for reading over your coffee in the morning to start your day off laughing. But, of course, he is not just funny, he is also very clever and a master of the pun.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mesmerizing book, January 28, 2007

By 

Baird Jones (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: La Dolce Musto: Writings by the World's Most Outrageous Columnist (Paperback)

La Dolce Musto is a book which obviously cries out for its successor yet it still stands on its own, which is a remarkable achievement. Each section has its own appeal but the parts which really blew me away were the ripe dishy columns which covered the celeb/club scene from the 80s and early 90s. Musto caught Brad Pitt just starting out, Madonna when she still bantered in her own voice to the audience from the stage, the mid-90s Paris Hilton who was Bijoux Phillips -does anyone even remember her now for all her antics so admirably described by Musto. And what a supporting cast! It was such a memory lane to read about Andy Anderson -whatever happened to him? or Marc Berkeley? and the magazines like Seven Days, and so many clubs like Tilt etc that I had forgotten about even though they had ripped me off. I had almost forgotten Rosie O'Donnell's infatuation with Tom Cruise too. Musto's prose fits it all perfectly too, quick and sharp, often about himself but not distracting from others somehow. It is hard to believe that those columns could stand the test of time but actually I think they have gained somehow which is extraordinary. It would be great if there were an internet site where selected additional columns could be read. Great job here!!!