When You Call My Name is set in a time and place I once occupied: New York at the beginning of the 1990s. So for inspiration I opened up the shoeboxes under my bed for old photos, music, letters, trinkets, you know the stuff. Then I scrounged online for videos, news clippings, magazines, etc. Here is some of what I found. You can click on some of these to go deeper.
Mixtapes. Some are gifts from friends, some are purchases from streetside tables, some are clumsy recordings of KISS-FM Mastermix sessions. Some are love letters that still make my heart jump.
Me in 1989, the year I turned 21.
If you got to Sound Factory at 1 AM, you got there too early. If you left before 8, you left too soon. Click for more. (Strobe warning.)
Designer Jean-Paul Gaultier did the costumes for Madonna's Blonde Ambition tour in 1990. Recognize this look from "Truth or Dare?" Cone bras for days.
"That's The Way Love Is" is a classic house anthem by Ten City that seemed always to be in the air back then, especially down by the river. Click to hear it.
Beacon/refuge/diner/home. Restaurant Florent was a magnet for misfits and open all night.
Versace was the center of the supermodel universe. Click for the fall 1991 runway with Linda, Naomi, Christy, Cindy, Nadège, Carla, Stephanie, Germit, both Claudias ... a full spectacle.
New York Times, December 1990.
Smile, he said.
Pride, 1991. I lost my Kodak Funsaver somewhere on Fifth Avenue that day so this is a screen grab from a video on YouTube. Click to watch. I recognized some faces in the video (and you might, too).
The Silence=Death Project created the original poster in 1987. This graphic was everywhere, from T-shirts to wheat-paste posters to stickers to flags.
British Vogue, January 1990, kicking off the supermodel era with (from left) Naomi, Linda, Tatjana, Christy, and Cindy.
Patrick Kelly's runway shows in Paris were unlike anyone else's, full of exuberance and humor and life.
Zines were everywhere. My Comrade, published by drag artist Linda Simpson, was one of the best of the bunch.
Other models had more fame, but Yasmeen Ghauri was always my #1 favorite. Here she is at Oscar de la Renta.
Fourth floor, lots of light, perfect fire escape for hanging out. A few hundred bucks a month felt so expensive.
New York Times. March 1991.
Sometimes you have to make a mess to make people pay attention. Click for a report about a 1988 ACT-UP action on Wall Street.
Calvin Klein cropped out Markus Schenkenberg's head in this 1991 magazine ad for, uh, jeans?
"We're intelligent and we're businesswomen and we can take care of ourselves." Naomi Campbell responds to a question about whether or not models are airheads, October 1991.
We talked about "My Own Private Idaho" for months, but we could never agree on what to make of it. Except that River and Keanu sure looked great.
We spent most Sundays at the piers, sitting and smoking and talking about nothing and everything. Click for a 1988 walkabout with Nelson.
Outweek magazine lasted only a short time (1989-1991), but it made big waves.
Legendary DJ Frankie Knuckles helped define house music. Our hands went all the way up whenever "Workout" came on. Click.
July 1990. We didn't believe in fairy tales, but we cared about Diana because she, the most famous person in the world, cared about us.
Lady Bunny presided over the Wigstock drag festival, held every Labor Day in Tompkins Square Park.
A badge (of honor) for Madge. May 3, 1991.
Gran Fury was a group of artists who covered the city in essential, urgent, eye-catching protest art like this. You'd see their work everywhere, from mailboxes to scaffolding to neighborhood bulletin boards in bookshops.
Neneh Cherry sang "I've Got You Under My Skin," the first track on Red Hot + Blue, a 1990 fundraising album for the fight against AIDS. The Red Hot organization is still fighting.
In 1989 and 1991, NYC party queen Suzanne Bartsch hosted the Love Ball, a glitzy/cool fundraiser for HIV/AIDS.
Janet. Always Janet.
We're here, we're queer, get used to it. QN was founded in 1990 to bring attention to rising anti-LGBT violence and discrimination. Click.
To the bone, bone, bone. Absolute anthem. I bet you've heard it before. Click to verify.
Most celebrities shied away from even mentioning AIDS. Not Elizabeth Taylor, who demanded attention. Here she is testifying to congress.
Antonio Lopez was a groundbreaking fashion illustator. This book, with some of his best work, was hard to find then and is even harder to find now. We used to pass it around like contraband.
I saved your heartbeat.
We'd come home from the disco with pockets full of flyers for clubs, events, shows, places to be. This book, an extensive collection from DJ Stretch Armstrong, proves that art lived, and still lives, everywhere.
There was no internet, so the news grapevine wove through the city via flyers like this, stacked on giveaway tables at bookstores or taped onto streetlight posts, calling us to action.
One of my day jobs was editorially assisting at Out mag. I will always love you, Sarah Pettit, wherever you are.
Losing the battle, August 1992.
Don't worry Johnny. You can't catch it from sharing a straw. Click for a "very special" episode of 21 Jump Street from 1988.
Proud. (This pic is from later, maybe '96 or '97, but I love the sign.)
Connie Fleming, a.k.a. Connie Girl, walking for Thierry Mugler in 1992. Absolute icon. Click to learn more about her.
Over 100 ACT UP protesters were arrested at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan on December, 1989. A groundbreaking action.
"CNN Style with Elsa Klensch" was required Saturday morning viewing, if you knew someone who had cable.
I kept every note you wrote me.
Soul II Soul. Perfect morning-after soundtrack. Remember?
Protestors kept the cops busy. This 1989 City Hall demonstration demanded better housing for people with AIDS.
Jody Watley embraced NYC nightlife in her work. Her 1989 video for "Friends" is packed with voguers, drag queens, and all kinds of after-hours glam.
The phone rang nonstop all week when the September 1992 issue of Bazaar came out. "Have you seen it?" "I bought four copies." "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god."
Only love can break your heart. St. Etienne was a vibe.
Queen of spit-curls, Lisa Stansfield.
If you had a friend with money, you'd hope they'd take you to the Odeon for martinis and steaks and celebrity-spotting.
July 1, 1991. "What is it with these people?"
Keith Haring and Tseng Kwong Chi created thousands of incredible images in the NYC subway in the 1980s. Both men died in 1990, just weeks apart. Click to learn more about their creative partnership.