We've expanded them over the years to include film screenings, talks, and art exhibitions, like the one we did at Exile Gallery in Berlin a few years ago.
I have continued both the chapbooks series and STH-themed events. Boyd asked me to take it over in '89 and I've been doing it since. Weaver and his friend, artist Trey Speegle, hosted several very popular STH-themed parties at venues like the infamous Pyramid Club in the East Village, with performers such as Joey Arias, John Sex, Fran Lebowitz and others too numerous to mention here.Īfter a few years and several issues of the chapbook, Weaver moved to London and lost interest in the project. In the early '90s, Boyd spent more and more time on his STH compilation book series with titles like, Cum, Meat, Skin, Wads, etc., and initially turned the original chapbook series over to another young fan named Victor Weaver. These folks and others were among his followers. Vidal became a personal friend of Boyd's and talked about him in many interviews. Burroughs (who was interviewed for the chapbook series), John Waters (who wrote about Boyd in his book, Influences) and, in particular, Gore Vidal, who called the series his favorite publication. The walls in his room were yellow from years of accumulated cigarette smoke and when they insisted on painting the place, the painters moved his stuff to the middle of the room-which is where it all stayed until the day he died, in 1992.įor those not-in-the-know, Boyd and Straight To Hell was also greatly admired by others like Robert Mapplethrope (a regular contributor), Fran Lebowitz, William S. He lived pretty much exclusively on instant black coffee, donuts and cigarettes. (single room occupancy) dive boarding house on the Upper West Side, with no kitchen and a bathroom in the hall that he shared with others on the same floor. I didn't actually mind his weirdness so much because I admired him so much and felt privileged to be his friend. He was an odd guy and, despite being a great writer and one of the smartest guys I've ever run across, he had a lot of phobias and that was a challenge.
We shared a common point of view on many things and I suppose our friendship was largely based on a shared sense of humor.īoyd was one of the funniest people I've ever met. We didn't end up doing the interview, but we did become friends and over the space of the next several years, we became close friends. When I moved to New York City in 1985, I contacted him and asked if I could interview him, and he agreed. But back then, it was much more transgressive.īilly, why, when and how did you acquire the magazine?ÂīM: I started writing McDonald, and to my surprise and delight, he wrote back. It's a lot more commercial now, not that that's a bad thing. The sex stories were very transgressive, and I think that that was the key to the magazine's success. He had a great, jaundiced eye on everything in politics and pop culture. When we began carrying it, our customers were crazy about it! Boyd did an excellent job of editing.
His work was featured very prominently in the magazine. David Hurles, the genius behind Old Reliable Studios. TD: I first heard about Boyd McDonald from Mr. When did you first see a copy, and what was your initial reaction? Â Â ÂīM: I first ran across Straight To Hell in a bookstore in Chicago around 1977 and almost instantly became a fan of the series and the editor-publisher, Boyd McDonald. STH magazine is also iconic in the gay world of print and penis. Trent Dunphy: We'd held an event or two like this before, and we did very well.
 I'm just one of a few performers, and I'll be reading a text piece I wrote entitled "The Towers of Cum & The Horndogs of Yore," which is about cruising at the former World Trade Center and the world of public sex before 9/11, from a book called Art and Queer Culture, published by Phaidon Press. Two titans â€" Billy Miller, owner and Editor of STH Magazine, and Trent Dunphy, co-owner of The Magazine bookstore, discussed their work and the world of gay sexuality in print.Ĭornelius Washington: Who had the genius idea to hold such an interesting, sex-drenched event here, at the most iconic place for sex, art and publishing in San Francisco, The Magazine bookstore? Âīilly Miller: The event was organized by artist, writer and zinemaker, Johnny Ray Huston.
Naturally, the two had to meet in advance of the June 3 event, InterLubes: An Evening of Words, Music, Film, Smut and Such, In Appreciation of The Magazine Bookstore. Straight To Hell magazine prints the truth about gay male sexuality and The Magazine bookstore sells the gay lifestyle, in vintage VHS, print and DVDs.