Welcome back to Hot Takes and Deep Dives, and Michael Musto is best known for his outspoken

village voice column, which began in 1984, also same year that Madonna Crogland staged

at the VMAs in the wedding dress. We're going to get into that later. He is a first person

observer of many scenes, Michael Musto immerses himself into his pieces, gaining extraordinary

access, and also making remarkable admissions about his own experiences and foibles. He

has written four books and is truly one of the most influential gay people in Hollywood

period. Hi, Michael Musto. Thank you, but I'm not really in Hollywood, but I'm not influential

there. You're in Hollywood enough. How are you? What's been going on? I'm in Margel. I'm

in Margel. Good, you know, the village voice is back. It's a monthly print publication

as well as a website. And I've been writing for all the issues and writing think pieces,

writing whatever the hell comes into my little mind. So this is one of those, I just can't

seem to quit you kind of situations with the voices in my DNA. And it's a great partnership.

Because the voice has always given me complete freedom to say, come up with how you want

to fill your space and just go there. I don't even know where to start, but the first question

I have is, how did you find your voice like this kind of bitchy vibe that you write with?

When did you start to hone that tone in your writing? When I was like three years old,

because I found early on that maybe bitchery or just kind of sarcasm or humor in general

is a great defense against dark feelings. And I was an only child, which is very rare in Italian,

American family, and Bensoners Brooklyn. And I came from a relatively nonverbal family,

which was also rare. So there wasn't a lot of talking. And I learned early on to either emit

wisecracks or to write little reviews for myself of movies I saw. I wrote them on little

index cards. And when I got the job in the Village Voice in 1984, they gave me the liberating

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