Brad Walsh

Like Royalty

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

On Saturday Christian and Lisa and Tara and I went shopping in Soho and ate lunch at 24 Prince, Nikki Cascone’s restaurant. Nikki’s always so great to us, I love her. She was on Top Chef this year. We kind of… ate… everything. So good. And then we stumbled out of there and Christian asked me if I would come have dinner with a couple of his friends from home (Maryland) who were in town. Morgan is here for a few months working at a prominent magazine this summer, and her mother Paula was in town visiting. We went to Lupa, Mario Batali’s restaurant that Nancy took us to a couple months ago. I had a great time and ended up loving the two of them, so I asked if they had time to pose for some photos before Paula left New York at the end of the weekend. They were excited, too, since they don’t have many nice pictures of the two of them together, so we set it up for the next day.

On Sunday afternoon Christian and I met them and some friends at their hotel room at the Waldorf-Astoria, and Paula said she had pulled a few strings to get us access to the Royal Suite on the penthouse floor for shooting. Elena, one of the hotel managers, very kindly took us up there and showed us around. Totally exciting. It was a huge, beautiful suite where many really impressive people stay. Not sure if I should name the ones we were told about, so I won’t. But we had a great time, lots of champagne and just a lot of fun.

Does the Yuengling Beer Company Condone Hate Speech and Public Beatings?

Monday, July 21st, 2008

Note: there is an additional paragraph at the end that did not appear here originally. It was added later to make some clarifications.

As I wrote last week, on Wednesday I was attacked by a truck driver in public, punched in the face, and called a “faggot” several times. Five days later, I still have a sore neck and jaw, and I have difficulty chewing. I did not disclose the name of the company for whom the driver was delivering. It was a large truck, with a giant Yuengling logo on the side.

On Wednesday I called a Yuengling representative at (570) 622-4141, a phone number I retrieved from their website. The woman I spoke to was very kind and helpful, and she gave me the contact information for Nonie Zukas, the Vice President of Administration and Human Resources for D.G.Yuengling & Son, Inc. I forwarded my detailed report of the attack to Ms. Zukas along with an explanatory note including the sentence: “I thought your company should know so that you can prevent this man from doing it again to someone else and possibly incur litigation against Yuengling.”

Her e-mail communication with me did not contain a statement of or request for confidentiality, so I can reproduce it here. Ms. Zukas responded kindly, offering an apology and letting me know that her thoughts and prayers were with me. She also stated that “D.G.Yuengling & Son, Inc does not have any company drivers that go into Manhattan. The truck you saw that had the Yuengling logo on it does not belong to the company and again the person driving this truck is not an employee of the company.”

That was, of course, understandable. I replied with “I understand that Yuengling cannot take disciplinary action against an employee of another company, but are you able to investigate and figure out which distribution company is in charge of the man who hit me today? Can you give me any additional information on the name and contact info for the distribution company? I want to do everything in my power to make sure this man receives disciplinary action from his employer, whoever that is, for 1) talking on his cell phone while driving through busy daytime Manhattan, 2) driving recklessly and almost hitting pedestrians, and 3) exiting his vehicle mid-intersection to follow, physically assault, and call a stranger names based on his sexuality. The simplicity of the situation is that dozens of people saw an angry man hop out of a truck with a giant ‘Yuengling’ written on the side, punch a pedestrian, and then get back in the truck and drive away. I’m sure I’m not the only person who assumed he was a direct employee of Yuengling.”

Five days passed with no response, and this morning I e-mailed Ms. Zukas again to ask simply “Any chance you can provide me with the distribution/trucking company’s information so that I can contact them?” She responded quickly with “After investigating the matter we are not able to provide any further information.”

It appears that her prayers are the only help I’m going to get from Yuengling. I just replied to her: “This is incredibly disappointing. All I want to do is contact his employer to tell them exactly what happened, in hopes that he will receive appropriate disciplinary action. In keeping this information from me, you are directly aiding a violent bigot and condoning the fact that he got out of a truck with your logo on the side specifically to beat me in front of a crowd of people. I will not extend the courtesy of keeping the Yuengling name out of my public statements from this point further.”

Edited to add: There’s some question about whether or not I filed an official police report. Yes, I did. The NYPD has my whole detailed report, including the license plate number. Some people say I shouldn’t be going after Yuengling; I should be going after the distributor instead. I agree completely. The problem is that Yuengling is refusing to give me information for their distributor. They are purposely withholding that information from me, so I don’t know for sure who to contact. There are also some people who think I must be exaggerating or leaving something out, because the story doesn’t make sense. Well, no… the story doesn’t make sense. That’s the entire point. The guy was totally irrational, violent, crazy, and scary. Everything I have written about this incident across both blog posts is true as presented, and I have included everything I remember.

Edited again to add: Thank you infinitely to everyone who’s reached out to me in the last 24 hours since my last blog post went up. I’ve gotten so many offers of help from lawyers, writers, and news people… even a few requests to discuss the story for national magazine and evening news coverage. At this point I don’t want to go the television route, so I declined. I’m really not trying to cause a riot or make unwarranted millions or start a frivolous lawsuit. I just want Yuengling to do what is necessary and right – provide me with the name and contact information of their distributor, the employer of the man who hit me – instead of curtly withhold that information and complicate my efforts to alert his employer of his actions. As I’ve said from the beginning, all I am interested in doing is making sure the guy receives appropriate disciplinary action. My opinion is that he should lose his job. No, Yuengling is not his direct supervisor. But their name is on the truck and the beer being delivered, they contracted their distributor to deliver their product, and they are withholding vital information from me to impede my own efforts. Yes, I filed a police report, and the license plate number of the truck is documented within that report. But a family member of mine is a retired Chief of Police, and he explained to me that without any witnesses coming forward, it’s not likely that the police can really do much other than keep the information on file. It’s basically in my hands, and I want to be sure that I did everything in my power to bring justice to the situation. I am acting within the law, with honesty, and with formality. Other blogs and news outlets can write (and have written) more informal and judgmental articles about Yuengling. All I have done is state the facts.

Edited again to add: There has been action taken. Please read.

Dior, Lacroix, Louboutin, et cetera

Sunday, July 20th, 2008

Christian is working on things for September. He’s going a little crazy. We took some collective time off this weekend to just hang around and do nothing, but he ended up working on clothes and I ended up taking photos. Though, we had to move everything new out of the frame so that nothing is revealed before fashion week…

Surprisingly he had no problem with me using that middle photo of him on the internet. I mean, it’s nothing more than people at the beach see, but you know. People are strange. As for the one on the right, I love the light his window wall leaves near sunset. All five windows make a sort of Tron geometric pattern on the wall. There are great lines in his place.

I’m LC, You’re Heidi To Me

Friday, July 18th, 2008

Jonny has a new song produced by Cory Nitta and featuring JD from Le Tigre. It’s called “Blacklisted,” and I love it!

Jonny Makeup feat. JD Samson – Blacklisted

Saint Nick

Friday, July 18th, 2008

This picture of Nick is one of my favorite pictures I’ve ever taken. It was late at night after I was hosting a party or at a show or something, and I loved his place as a background. We were both drunk, and I was lugging around a bunch of lights and equipment. Lots of the pictures from this shoot came out really great, but I stop and stare at this one a lot. Looks like a painting, to me.

Geneva

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

Geneva came over yesterday. We had dinner and watched The Simpsons and then took some pictures. I made her get her hair wet and show her forehead a bit because nobody ever sees her without the big bangs. I think she should dye her hair dark for good and maybe even get her hair cut like the third photo. Asymmetrical. It looks good on her, doesn’t it?!

And Then I Blocked Him

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

From: Dan Martino, dan@brooklynradio.net
To: Brad Walsh, bwalsh@junk-mag.com
Subject: Press Release: Outdoor Movies at Brooklyn Bridge w/Brooklynradio.net

From: Dan Martino, dan.brooklynradio@gmail.com
To: Brad Walsh, bwalsh@junk-mag.com

From: Dan Martino, dan.brooklynradio@gmail.com
To: Brad Walsh, bwalsh@junk-mag.com

From: Dan Martino, dan.brooklynradio@gmail.com
To: Brad Walsh, bwalsh@junk-mag.com

From: Dan Martino, dan.brooklynradio@gmail.com
To: Brad Walsh, bwalsh@junk-mag.com

From: Brad Walsh, bwalsh@junk-mag.com
To: Dan Martino, dan.brooklynradio@gmail.com

I Can’t Rest ’til Then

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

The Mae Shi – See You Again (Miley Cyrus cover)

Just When I Was Okay

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

I’m reading The Plot Against America by Philip Roth on Kathy’s recommendation, and I’m liking it. It’s enraging, but then I tell myself that the American-specific Anti-Semitism in it is (kinda) fictional.

I wrote that paragraph above and then went out to get lunch and finish the thought later…. but then I got called a faggot and punched in the street by a stranger, so the book is now meaning more to me than before.

A summary of my police report: I was crossing Spring Street completely legally at the intersection of 6th Avenue. A delivery truck driven by a guy on a cell phone was turning and almost hit me and another guy. Me and the other guy put our hands up like “what are you doing,” but we didn’t say or mouth anything to the driver. The driver (jacked) got out, followed me down the street (not the other guy), called me a “faggot” several times, punched me really hard in the jaw, knocked my stuff onto the sidewalk, and went back to his truck. Then when I looked at his license plate to memorize the number he came back, called me a “faggot” again, and asked me if I was going to “be a bitch” and “tell” on him. I got the plate number, though, and the name of his company from the side of the truck.

Can’t turn my neck, my jaw is really sore, and I can’t close my mouth without it hurting. Now sitting at home alone because Christian’s in Montreal, Kathy’s in Santa Fe, mom is in Cleveland, and I don’t even want to go outside to get food. I’m gonna order something and watch TV.

Dozens of people saw this happen to me, in the broad daylight in Soho, and everyone ignored it and moved along. I understand nobody getting physical with the guy on my behalf; I probably wouldn’t do that for a stranger. But everyone looked away and walked away, nobody would be a witness even after the guy left. This is why I hate when people tell me I’m not on the shit side of a new Civil Rights Movement and/or that gays have basically achieved equality in 2008.

Alicia Gatto EP out now, and Ahh Haelped!

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

Alicia Gatto just released a remix EP called Remix 4 Change, and the first four tracks are remixes of four of her songs done by yours truly. There’s also a new song called “Jaded Girl” produced by Nynex that I LOVE… you have to buy the CD and listen. Meanwhile, you can hear my four tracks below:

Alicia Gatto – Hourglass (Brad Walsh Remix)

Alicia Gatto – Can’t Take the Good (Brad Walsh Remix)

Alicia Gatto – Unconditional (Brad Walsh Remix)

Alicia Gatto – The Search (Brad Walsh Remix)