Do You Feel the Existential Dread of Fall?

me complaining about writing, scenester vs normie discourse, upcoming parties

Issac Ms Issac at the 2022 Mx Nobody Pageant.

It’s Mo AKA DJ Gay Panic and this(!) is The Deviant Dispatch.  I keep a faggoty ear to the ground, delivering you the latest news from my corner of the NYC underground: sloppy/artful drag shows, it-girl gossip, buzz bands, cultural speculation, and ravey dance parties. There will typos. There may even be some nepotism at play, but how could there not be with such cool friends? You’re not paying me to be impartial! Speaking of money, support by become a patron for just $5 a month for weekly event recommendations. For my fellow broke people: share this newsletter with someone, or hit the heart button at the top of the post!

I have to be honest: it’s not as much fun to post thoughts and opinions online for strangers who willfully ignore context in order to tear them apart. Writing this newsletter, or an article, or even a tweet has an essence of dread for me. Maybe it’s the cold dread of fall creeping in, but it feels like the last thing the world needs is more discourse, more analyzing, more rehashing of the same events that everyone is bleating about in their echo chambers. Why contribute to the noise?

Even profiling underground figures, notable creatives, or interesting scenes becomes less appetizing when these subjects are documenting themselves, pushing their profiles with remarkable finesse. These buzz bands still need someone to burst their bubble from time to time with insightful observation, but when you only get $150 to write a review in the paper of record, it doesn't seem worth the effort of rounds of editing and the public pushback. “Who is this Mo Wilson and what’s his @? We have words” the tiktok comments go. 

p.e. moskowitz @_pem_pem

i imagine journalism was much more fun when you got paid $5 a word to profile a celeb and be like “they are the dumbest person i’ve ever met” instead of now —getting paid 30 cents a word to be like “this icon slayed and made us think about trans rights!” why even bother lol

p.e. moskowitz @_pem_pem

celebrities needed journalism before social media, so you were allowed to say whatever you wanted because you controlled their megaphone. now the guy who eats chicken wings on youtube does. sad!

Thankfully some people are still doing the often thankless work of culture reporting (but not the people at Input mag, they all just got laid off). Resident Advisor published a piece this week under the headline “ Do New York clubs need stricter door policies?” The piece talks to several key figures in New York nightlife, discussing how to enact a tenderqueer idea of “safe spaces” and doing so with practicality (something the tenderqueers tend to lack. They’re not known as a high-functioning group). The whole thing is worth a read, but I particularly enjoyed this section:

I thought this quote was dead on the money, albeit with the necessary explanation that of course not everyone fits into these two categories, and what a “normie” looks like depends on the city/neighborhood, economic standing, and so-forth. I enjoyed accurate characterization of scenesters as people who are involved yet squirm at the idea of putting money down, thinking that their ideas, outfits, and ability to do drugs in the bathroom contributes enough to the vibe. You may also be a performer, but if everyone is on the list with drink tickets then the peeps performing that night won’t get paid and the venue goes out of business.

Anti-capitalists we may be, but that doesn’t mean we just want to party in our apartments.

XOXO

Mo

𝓣𝓗𝓘𝓢 ~ 𝓦𝓔𝓔𝓚'𝓢 ~ 𝓔𝓥𝓔𝓝𝓣𝓢