Lifestyle
Everything Here Is Tabboo!
A lot has modified and so radically about New York over the 40 years because the artist Stephen Tashjian — greatest recognized by his drag moniker, Tabboo! — first took occupancy on his light-filled walk-up in a stolid condo home known as the Mildred that it’s onerous to consider that, again in 1982, his was one among simply three buildings standing on his stretch of East Fifth Avenue.
Alphabet Metropolis was largely rubbled tons again then. Stumbling dwelling from the bars or from one of many many gigs — doorman, line prepare dinner, florist, dishwasher, go-go dancer — he took to patch collectively a livelihood, Mr. Tashjian routinely handed boarded-up buildings with holes hammered by the partitions to create taking pictures galleries. He tiptoed in his heels by vacant tons affected by glassine envelopes stamped with the names of no matter heroin hit the market that morning.
But nevertheless forlorn and grubby it was, Manhattan as seen by the eyes of a 23-year-old from a one-stoplight city in central Massachusetts and contemporary out of artwork college was extra resplendent than the Emerald Metropolis. “I used to be, like, ‘Take me to Oz!’” Mr. Tashjian mentioned one afternoon this week, referring not simply to a metropolis he has made dwelling for many years however to a spot that has proved to be his enduring topic.
“I’m supplying you with that ‘I Love New York Metropolis’ feeling, in Technicolor and with stunning lighting,” he mentioned of the luminous and dreamy cityscapes which have unexpectedly made him, as one among his sellers, Sam Gordon, mentioned this week, “a scorching new rising artist.”
The irony is not at all misplaced on Mr. Tashjian that, whereas simply seven years in the past he was gathering incapacity meals stamps, the artwork world has out of the blue found him hidden in plain sight at age 63. Two exhibitions of his works, on the galleries Karma and Gordon Robichaux, run concurrently, and a cadre of collectors has emerged keen to accumulate one among his work. “I’m pushing the work tougher than ever,” he mentioned.
“I’m residing,” he added, out of the blue tearful, “for all of the individuals who couldn’t.”
By that he meant numerous members of his technology misplaced to the AIDS epidemic. “All the things earlier than digital, there’s now a push to erase,” he mentioned. “And I’m insistent on not being erased.”
Erasure appears an unlikely destiny for a personality as vivid as Tabboo!, one who embodies a virtually extinct breed of artist whose each day existence appears to be an natural a part of his observe. New York when Mr. Tashjian was younger was hardly a spot the place artistic strivers arrived with five-year profession plans. For these like him and his artist pals Jack Pierson and Nan Goldin, the aim of being right here in any respect was to expertise existence as one thing “stunning, homosexual, intense, colourful and magic.”
Thought of in that mild, his various stints add as much as greater than an assortment of random day (and night time) jobs. And throughout the years his résumé was splendidly motley. He labored as a drag go-go dancer on the Pyramid Membership, sang a self-penned queer anthem within the 1995 documentary “Wigstock: The Film,” drew album covers, invented the kind font utilized by the dance band Deee-Lite, and appeared on Donald Trump’s “Movie star Apprentice” with Joan Rivers. He was in drag as Cher. (“Ivanka Trump was on, too,” Mr. Tashjian mentioned. “She requested me if I used to be Marilyn Manson.”)
Lately he has collaborated on designs for a Marc Jacobs assortment and begun posting lip sync movies to his irresistibly crazy Instagram account (@tabboonyc). “I like quirky,” he mentioned.
He was seated on a settee draped in a malachite-patterned cashmere throw in what had initially been the eating room of his fifth-floor condo. The room was reached down a hallway and thru a one-time parlor that additionally serves as his portray studio. The partitions had been painted canary yellow with scorching pink and turquoise sequined saris hung as portières. A tarnished tuba sat angled in a nook. Bessarabian rugs lay densely overlapping on the ground. The general aesthetic was one among artistic scavenging and profusion; in no sense can Tabboo! be thought-about a minimalist.
“All the things is a rescue,” he mentioned of potted vegetation obtained as presents, a tuxedo cat, Lili, that arrived as a stray, a wall of puppets and masks randomly amassed starting when Mr. Tashjian was a teenage puppetry prodigy hiring himself out for events.
“This one is Lamb Chop,” he mentioned, cradling a brittle rubber head that’s all that remained of a hand puppet that was the tv ventriloquist Shari Lewis’s sidekick. “These are Bil Baird’s,” he added of marionettes representing biblical figures carved by the puppeteer greatest recognized for “The Lonely Goatherd” sequence created for the movie model of “The Sound of Music.” There have been “bizarre” puppets and “fairly” puppets and “scary” puppets, and the meeting gave the three-room condo a way of being super-populated with inanimate beings awaiting a sorcerer.
For many years this condo and its forged of dummy characters largely described the arc of Mr. Tashjian’s compass, as he defined, as a result of till just lately he earned too little to stray removed from dwelling. Now that his work promote for the worth of an E-Class Mercedes, he has begun to see the world, making latest journeys to Paris and London, the seashores of Oaxaca, and to Los Angeles for an artwork honest. And he has unabashedly indulged an urge for food for vogue, he defined, as he displayed finery from a wardrobe that runs closely to Dries Van Noten, bespoke Martin Keehn fits and seemingly each floral extravagance Alessandro Michele ever got here up with at Gucci.
“My look is well-dressed gentleman,” mentioned Mr. Tashjian, who wore Gucci loafers, chalk-striped Comme des Garçons trousers and a Bottega Veneta sweater. It’s unquestionably true that he cuts a powerful, virtually courtly determine in public, as he did final week when receiving friends at his Gordon Robichaux gallery opening wearing a graphic swimsuit that remodeled him into an animated piece of Op Artwork.
“I’ve been into vogue ever since grade college, once I dressed up as a Pilgrim girl,” he mentioned. “Persons are all the time asking me, ‘Why are you so dressed up?’ Why? Why? As a result of it’s at present.”
Beyoncé performed live at halftime during the NFL game between the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans at NRG Stadium on Dec. 25, 2024.
Julian Dakdouk
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Julian Dakdouk
Sports fans who tuned into Netflix’s landmark streaming Wednesday of two NFL games may have felt a bit of troubling déjà vu – at first.
That’s because this crucial event – signaling the entry of the industry’s largest streaming service into the blockbuster business of professional football – kicked off with audio problems in the early moments of host Kay Adams’ opening presentation.
It was a worrying callback to problems Netflix had with its last big live event, the boxing match in November between YouTube star Jake Paul and former champ Mike Tyson when viewers struggled with blurry audio and got regularly kicked off the live stream.
Fortunately, Adams’ sound problems were quickly fixed, allowing Netflix to step up with a two-game programming event that felt like the streaming service’s version of the Super Bowl – complete with a lushly-produced halftime show for its second game featuring pop superstar Beyoncé that could stand up to any Big Game presentation.
In fact, the actual football games may have been the least impressive part of Netflix’s big day, as Super Bowl champions the Kansas City Chiefs ran over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first game, 29-10 and the Baltimore Ravens dominated the Houston Texans on their home turf for the second contest, 31-2.
Netflix’s broadcast on Wednesday got off to a rocky start with audio problems from host Kay Adams.
Netflix
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Netflix
Stacking its teams of hosts and commentators with experienced broadcasters, Netflix delivered a mostly smooth visual presentation with lots of glitzy graphics and all the information fans needed to follow the game. The connection issues that plagued the Tyson/Paul fight seemed largely absent, at least for this viewer, particularly while watching the games in slightly delayed playback.
According to Netflix, more than 200 countries tuned in at some point during the Chiefs vs. Steelers contest, making it the second most popular live title on the streaming service.
So, it makes sense the streamer would take advantage of the occasion to shoehorn in lots of references to other Netflix products, including a pregame interview with WWE wrestler Liv Morgan to prompt the debut of WWE Raw live events next month and realistic-looking football-shaped cakes tying into the streamer’s game show Is It Cake?
There were also loads of commercials, which seemed to play even for subscribers with ad-free plans, though if you watched the games via replay, you could skip past them.
But the full games expired from Netflix three hours after the event; two programs offering highlights from each game’s plays are available to watch on demand, and the streamer says Beyoncé’s halftime show will also be offered as a standalone program to rewatch.
Queen Bey, a Houston native, certainly brought the fire to her hometown for what the streamer dubbed the “Beyoncé Bowl” halftime show. Performing songs from her album Cowboy Carter for the first time – including her reboots of “Jolene” and “Blackbird” – she was a vision in white and sequins backed by a cavalcade of dancers decked out in white cowboy hats and ace collaborators like Post Malone and Shaboozey. Her daughter, Blue Ivy, even made an appearance.
Beyoncé’s epic live performance lasted more than 13 minutes – handily overshadowing Mariah Carey’s pre-taped appearances before each game – also proving that Netflix could muster the production value and imagery to match any Super Bowl-level performer.
YouTube
Which was, ultimately, the most important point of the entire day – proving that the streaming service is ready to compete with the big dogs of broadcasting by offering glitch-free NFL games live to a subscriber base of more than 282 million accounts.
Netflix isn’t the only streamer offering live NFL games. Amazon’s Prime Video has Thursday Night Football and Peacock also offers live coverage of some NFL games. But Netflix, as the largest and most profitable streaming service, has a symbolic and substantial impact when it comes to a certain kind of programming.
With its plans to stream WWE Raw live events starting next month and a new deal to present the FIFA Women’s World Cup, Netflix is turning toward one area of television streaming services haven’t yet dominated: live sports.
What that ultimately means for the future of television – and the future of sports media – we may just be starting to learn.
Justin Baldoni has suffered another blow amid his legal war with Blake Lively … a podcaster who recently interviewed him has removed his episode.
Elizabeth Day, who hosts the ‘How To Fail’ podcast, shared an IG statement Tuesday, explaining she had taken down the December 4 interview with Baldoni while all the “distressing allegations made against him in Blake Lively’s recent lawsuit are fully investigated.”
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Elizabeth spoke of Baldoni’s legal matter in general … saying she believes every individual has a right to a safe workplace, and every woman should have dignity in that workplace.
She wrapped up the post, saying that every form of abuse should be called out, and she salutes anyone with the the courage who does.
Baldoni’s podcast interview with Elizabeth was in-depth and personal — he spoke about his ADHD diagnosis at age 40 and also spoke of a “near breakdown” on the set of “It Ends With Us,” which he directed and starred in alongside Blake.
Looks like a lot went down BTS of the film, ’cause Blake’s filed a sexual harassment and smear campaign lawsuit against him, in what she claims is a coordinated effort to destroy her reputation. Baldoni has denied all the claims.
Shoppers walk along Fifth Avenue on Nov. 29 in New York City.
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Heather Khalifa/AP
If you’re feeling guilty for thinking about returning that unironically ugly sweater your least favorite aunt gave you this holiday season, maybe don’t. ‘Tis the season of giving — and returning, after all.
The National Retail Federation reports that returns will total $890 billion for all of 2024. Returns happen year-round, but are most prevalent during the holiday season, the organization said.
But etiquette experts caution there is a delicate art to returning, or even regifting, the presents you receive.
“When it comes to returning a gift, I think discretion is key so you never hurt the gift giver,” said Myka Meier, an etiquette expert who runs Beaumont Etiquette in New York City.
There are some things to consider before heading to the store to make a return, according to Jo Bryant, a British etiquette consultant.
“The best way to return an unwanted gift is to really examine the financial worth, and relationship with the giver. It always involves a tricky conversation, so it is best to prioritise this for more expensive gifts when it really would be [a] shame that you can’t use it, and a real waste,” Bryant wrote in an email to NPR. “You also need to know the person who gave you the gift very well to be so honest with them.”
People walk past shops on Dec. 11 in Philadelphia.
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Matt Slocum/AP
Keep quiet and return
For Meier, it’s all about discretion when it comes to returning a gift.
She and Bryant differ on whether plans for returns should be shared with the gift giver.
Meier said don’t say anything “unless they specifically ask,” she said. “For most situations, it’s better to simply thank them graciously for their thoughtfulness without mentioning the return. The focus should always be on appreciating the gesture of being given a gift, not the item itself.”
And maybe keep mum even after some time has passed, she recommends.
“I would still try to avoid ever bringing it up, but I also would not lie,” she said.
So, if that aunt who bought that ugly sweater asks how it fits two months after Christmas?
“In that case, you can kindly and tactfully explain, for instance: ‘It was such a thoughtful gift! Unfortunately, it didn’t fit quite right, so I exchanged it for something similar that I’ll use every day and always think of you!’ “
A shopper carries a Christmas-themed bag in London on Dec. 2, 2020.
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Alberto Pezzali/AP
But maybe direct honesty is more your style?
Bryant believes “honesty and tact is best.” Regardless, be sure to flatter the gift giver and heap praise on the present at the same time.
If something absolutely must be returned, instead of saying that you just didn’t like the present, give a reason for the return that is out of your control, Bryant said.
She suggested saying something like, ” ‘I loved the cashmere jumper — it is one of my favourite presents this year — but I think the size up would be more comfortable for me,’ or ‘Thank you for the crystal glass vase; we love it but my mother recently gave us one very similar. I really don’t want such a generous gift to be wasted, so I’d love it if we could look to choose something else together? You always get us the best presents and we are so lucky to get such amazing and thoughtful gift from you.’ “
To save on possible awkwardness with these kinds of exchanges, Bryant suggested that gift givers be proactive and include the gift receipt, when possible.
What are the rules on regifting?
Yes, regifting is allowable, under etiquette rules.
“But it should be done thoughtfully and carefully,” Meier said.
There are limits to what can be regifted. “If the gift was customized in any way or has sentimental meaning, it’s not something to regift,” she said.
She addresses this topic further in a post on Instagram.
Some things Meier recommends if you plan on sending that previously discussed hideous sweater to a new home:
- Make sure the gift is new, totally unused and in its original packaging
- Avoid giving this gift to someone in the same social circles. In other words: Don’t give the sweater your aunt gave you to your cousin.
- Rewrap the gift “to show effort and care, just as you would with a newly purchased gift!”
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