Show Notes
Jess is joined by Broadway composer / orchestrator / adult star JONAH WEELER! (@showoffjonah). Topics — blind items about this worst Broadway experiences, music directing Sweeney Todd Off Broadway and the final straw that pushed him toward a full-on career pivot to OnlyFans. Plus: beating Instagram censorship, creating a new cabaret about that pivot with partner John Coons, the origin story of his p*rn name "Jonah Weeler" (he is the artist formerly known as Matt Aument) and more!
⭐ IG: @jessxnyc
⭐ Jonah Weeler & John Coons in NYC - Mar 22
⭐ Jess' docu-series on the history, mystique & lore of Fire Island — Finding Fire Island
More from Hot Takes & Deep Dives
Jess is joined by longtime activist James Tavs for inside stories of building queer NYC -- from working with ACT UP founder Larry Kramer and helping open the LGBT Center in 1983 to putting queer news on cable-access TV with "Out in the 80s" and working gay phone line switchboards. Plus -- James talks Stonewall myth versus reality, Larry Kramer's novel F*ggots, why decades of organizing NYC Pride soured him on the parade, and how he built a career in tech and finance without ever finishing high school.
Jess is joined by Daily Mail writer Jacques Peterson for a culture catch-up! Topics include: Why are all the news and gossip sites suddenly subscription-based? Troye Sivan's "Party," which samples Madonna's "Music"; what is wrong with Miley Cyrus?; the RHONY reboot(s); and Howard Stern's HBO deal. Plus-- Jacques' move from Australia to LA, developing a reality show set in Montana that came close to getting picked up but never made it to air & more!
Jess is joined by downtown New York fixture Gene Fedorko, age 83, for a trip through more than six decades of queer history. Gene recalls escaping to New York City in 1960, discovering Fire Island in 1961, attending the March on Washington in 1963 and moving to Provincetown in 1970. Plus: surviving the AIDS crisis, addiction and alcoholism -- and the fabulous Chelsea loft he still calls home.
Jess is joined by fellow Long Islander ROSIE O'DONNELL! Topics: the inception of The Rosie O'Donnell Show, the infamous episode where Whitney Houston no-showed, her experiences with Britney Spears, being in the studio as Madonna recorded "This Used to Be My Playground" for A League of Their Own, why Barbara Walters disappointed her on The View, Kathy Griffin and Roseanne not taking her advice, The L Word, Queer as Folk and more!
Jess is joined by Scissor Sisters frontwoman Ana Matronic (@msanamatronic)! Topics— first meeting JAKE SHEARS at The Slipper Room, STUART PRICE producing their "Night Work" album, the highs (and frustrations) of scoring a massive hit with "Let's Have a Kiki" while still failing to satisfy their record label, and why Ana chose not to reunite with the band on its current tour. Plus— Ana discusses losing her father to AIDS in 1990 and her work today as a Fire Island DJ and historian.