Jim Silvestri has been writing interviews and broadcasting every New York community event on his Blog, “Thotyssey NYC, on social media and whatever else he can get his hands on to spread the word. His blog has Glam and BNA awards, and can be read at: https://Thotyssey.tumblr.com
On July 15 he will be having a huge extravaganza to celebrate his Birthday/Blogiversary at Stone Wall Inn, 63 Christopher St., New York City. It will be filled with Queens, artists and entertainment. Get Out spoke with Jim regarding the event which all are welcomed to attend. For more information: ttps://www.facebook.com/events/1719322765032782/
A birthday/ blogiversary….ok explain yourself…I don’t know whether I should ask you how old you’re going to be, or how long you’ve been blogging, therefore you can answer either question or both!
Hi Eileen! You can ask both, because they both apply! Actually, the truth is my blog Thotyssey turned one back in March, but too much was going on at the time for me to give it it’s due back then, so better late than never! And July 15th, the date of NIGHT OF 1000 THOTS, happens to be my actual birthday, so it seemed like a perfect time to combine both celebrations into one explosive blowout. And yeah, it happens to be one of those milestone Round Number birthdays that I dare not put in print!
Who is going to be at your event?
Everyone, basically. Queens, performers…? Holy Crap, Get Out, there is going to be a lot of people performing in these two-and-half hours. Amazing Manhattan drag queens like Brita Filter and Ari Kiki, Brooklyn performers such as Chris of Hur and Crimson Kitty, a dapper drag king (Gary Carmichael), my favorite singing bartender (Johnny Di Sciasio formerly of Pieces), New Jersey’s fierce Kristy Blaze, rising singing star Jayse Vegas, my gurl Victoria Chase making her West Village return, and pretty much all of my favorite performers from all over NYC nightlife spectrum. And hell, you’re event ain’t anything if Tym Moss doesn’t show up to turn a number!
Who will be hosting your event?
Brian Racioppi and Virgil Crew, who host the hit podcast Why Aren’t We Being Filmed? on iTunes. It’s a great place to hear gay gossip and hard news (with a soft touch). They’re just coming into a year of production themselves, so they have reason to celebrate, too—and this’ll be their live hosting debut. DJ Accident Report is gonna DJ the whole show—he’s one third of a nightlife league of supervillains called The Nobodies, who are having quite a moment now with “Nobodies Watching Westling” on YouTube (the other two Nobodies, Ariel Italic and Lady Bearica Andrews, will be performing as well).
When and where will the event take place?
So honored to say that the event will go down in the place where queer nightlife was basically invented: The Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street! Saturday, July 15th, starting at 7pm, doors at 6! I wanted an early start so I can get all these folks to perform before they head off to their regular gigs, and because I wanted the rest of the night to devolve into a drunken mess afterwards.
I noticed that you are always mentioning everything that goes on in the community in such a kind and exciting way, what made you start doing what it is that you do?
I’m actually a late bloomer when it comes to nightlife, and I got caught in a rut of constantly revisiting the same places I started going to in the first place because I was too cautious to try anything new. And there really wasn’t any media where you could go online and find out exactly what’s happening in the city as far as queer nightlife goes: what the parties and drag shows were in every gayborhood. That info was scattered in bits and pieces all over the place, but not condensed anywhere. So I decided to take a shot at making a cohesive list. I took a few months to research what was going on via social media, and I built a huge calendar that I continue to update every day. My interviews with people in the biz came out of my need for clarity on what some of these events were, and then they evolved into a very popular and in-depth site feature that I absolutely love doing.
As far as Thotyssey being kind and exciting, there is a time and a place to be catty and bitchy and I’m certainly not above that. There’s no shortage of places in social media where you can talk shit about a drag queen who is extra, or a bar that does ridiculous things. Some of that does come out in my interviews with certain unfiltered queens, DJs, etc. But for the most part, Thotyssey is about informing people objectively what’s out there, and celebrating performers and venues for what they give us every damn night. Queer nightlife is a gift, New York queer nightlife is vital, and everyone should really go out and experience it for themselves before they jump on some bandwagon.
In case anyone isn’t already familiar with you, where can they find you and your blog?
Thotyssey is on Tumblr right now. I know that’s ghetto, but I kinda like it—it’s scrappy. It’s punk rock! And as Terra Hyman likes to say, it’s the only thing on Tumblr that isn’t porn (although sometimes I also post porn, when it applies).
What or whom will you be doing next? I mean interviewing of course.
Lol! I have several lined up… I like to keep them a surprise. At least one “Drag Race” star is on the list… one of my personal favorites! (Hint: *Ribbitt*) I hope to tie down Monet X Change and merrie Cherry for a chat soon (!), cuz those gals are about four minutes away from being so big and busy that I will be too Small Taters for them. And there are one or two people I haven’t worked up the nerve to interview yet because I idolize them, or they just terrify me in some way. But here’s to being a brave bitch journalist in Summer 2017!
Any new projects in the future, or a thing else that you would like to promote for yourself?
After Night of 1000 Thots goes down as one of the greatest kikis in the history of NYC nightlife, I’d like to branch out into occasionally hosting Thotyssey-branded events. And after winning two nightlife awards myself (I’m such a shameless self-congratulator), I’m seriously thinking of creating a new nightlife awards show, because they’re so fun—do you think a bitch would want something called a Thottie on her mantle, and what would that look like exactly? I’m also in talks to do some promotion for New York DragCon. And I’m quite available for any level of collaboration–so keep hitting me up, everybody. The future is wide open for This Old Thot!
