Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Party Monster

     There are three versions of this story, all of which are amazing. The book, the documentary, and the movie.  In the early '90s when the club kid craze was at its peak, a complete freakazoid named Michael Alig (the crowned prince of all club kids) committed murder, and even though he bragged about the killing, everyone thought that was just Michael being Michael, a well-known drug user who would lie and swindle Jesus Christ if he thought it could get some drugs from him. 

      James St. James (self-proclaimed original club kid) was a close friend and sometimes roommate with Michael Alig and was therefore present for most of the inside story. In fact, it was James St. James that started this ball rolling. He wrote a wonderful book called "Disco Bloodbath, a Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland". It's a must-read. 

      Anyway, they made a documentary on the whole affair, including footage from all the key players in this bizarre story. Before his downfall, Michael Alig was a huge success as a party promoter, mostly for a club in New York called "The Limelight" run by infamous club owner Peter Gatien, who ended up going down with Michael Alig due to the obvious and abundant drug use at the club. Drugs truly did flow freely and the weirder you were, the cooler you were considered to be. It was a nonstop psychedelic world of color that was very intriguing and fun and even spawned a celebrity or two (RuPaul was a club kid). They also made the talk show circuit for a while, appearing on shows like "Geraldo" and "Sally Jesse Raphael". Alig's favorite tactic was throwing impromptu surprise parties held in any place from small McDonald's restaurants to subway stations. He made the news all the time and was a strong personality in the hippest of scenes. Eventually, the more drugs that Michael took, the grimmer his party themes became though. My favorite is the "Blood Feast Party" featuring every gruesome sight imaginable. 

      Alig and his friend Freeze were all strung out one day when Mr. Pissed Off Drug Dealer Angel Melendez shows up and demands money which of course they don't have. A fight erupts, and Angel is hit on the noggin with a hammer, dragged to the bathtub by Alig and Freeze, injected with Drano, and smothered with a pillow. Michael dismembers Angels' body and stuffs it in a large TV box and uses it for a coffee table. They also feel the need to hastily paint most of the walls red to hide the blood spatter and blame a mysterious stench on screwed-up plumbing. Eventually, the smell becomes overwhelming so Michael and Freeze dump the box with the body into the river. The body is found and put into a freezer with a misidentification of the race (he was listed as Asian, and Angel was Hispanic) making Angel's disappearance just a mere rumor for quite some time.  Most people just suspected that since he was a drug dealer he had just been arrested, solving the mystery of his absence at the club. It was only when Angels' brother decided to do his best to find him that the murder was actually solved. If it weren't for Michael Alig bragging about it, he probably would have gotten away with it. When Michael Alig told his stories of killing Angel, everyone thought it was a joke because Michael joked incessantly and was a notorious liar. 

      Rumors started to circulate that Michael was not kidding when he bragged about killing Angel and certain people close to the situation started to come forward with their stories to save their own asses. Eventually, it all caught up with him, and he and Freeze were convicted of first-degree murder. A big-budget movie has just been made that is basically the documentary verbatim minus the documentary narration, feel, and interviews with the real people involved. Macauley Culkin plays Michael Alig with stark precision. Seth Green plays James St. James. Marilyn Manson and Chloe Sevigny also have notable parts in the movie. It's a colorful flick with a fantastic soundtrack which is somewhat nostalgic for those of us who watched the club kids on TV and wanted more than anything to be like them. It really is a fabulous but true tale about murder in Clubland.

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