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.
Product Description
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.