Michael Alig and James St. James St. James needs no introduction. James that has gone mostly untold, a period when he stepped away from New York nightlife and ventured south to Miami, a city on the precipice of its own world-class transformation.
It was a move that would provide him the time and space to invent himself anewβand, as he tells it, a temporary detour that might have saved his life. I love all the books. Those are my friends. Also, it coincides with Miami becoming this world-class city.
It was a big change for me, and it was a big important step in my life to be able to pull myself out of the bubble and reinvent myself. I grew up in Fort Lauderdale. My father was in Fort Lauderdale, my mother was in Michigan, so there was a lot of back and forth. Fort Lauderdale was always sort of my safe space, so I know South Florida. It was sort of a dying city in many ways. The Club Kids invade South Beach.
There were about 20 of us, and we all went down to South Beach. We had a party in an abandoned theater and it was just fabulous. Afterwards, I remember there was an after-hours club. This was at the time when all the hotels on Ocean Drive were just crumbling. It was all these fabulous old Art Deco places. We broke in, and we had an after-hours party. I remember the sun was coming up and Leigh Bowery was running naked down the beach with that big pumpkin head that he had, that big ruffled pumpkin head.
This is just amazing. I was on the back of his motorcycle. I had long, clown-red hair and jewels on my face and I was in a little tap suit and platforms and no helmet. I remember people were coming out on the streets and applauding like it was a parade. This is really fabulous. I was working at this magazine called OutWeek.
