mondojohnson

James St. James, you are a talented writer.  Exploiting a brutal murder is SO beneath you.  Raise your game and find some morality!  You and the geniuses at World of Wonder should issue a press release stating that you will no longer glamorize that psychopath and his pathetic crime.

(This post was written in angry response to James’s excitement about a new Belgian musical about the Drano killer, whose name I will not mention again. The sadistic murderer is due to be released soon, to the fame-seeking delight of the post-Warhol crowd.  Please shun him, and boycott his planned autobiography.)

Some hip asshole writer played into the hands of unimportant psychopath Michael Alig, who is inexplicably being released from prison sometime soon.  The author, an aging nobody who fancies himself some kind of edgy culture critic, has bought Alig’s sudden discovery of remorse (timed to coincide with his release…  I feel a reality show pitch coming).

But Alig’s remorse is definitely calculated.  You can be certain that he has spent the previous years of his laughable sentence doing extensive market analysis of current trends in nightlife and the fame industry generally. He has been plotting his post-prison return to celebrity from the minute he was locked up.

And his plotted return will be, I fear, tremendously successful. He has, I’m sure, thought out all the angles to win over the post-punk, outrage-seeking “intelligensia”… Aspiring musicians will no doubt clamor to be photographed with him.

I don’t think he’ll wear his trademark outfits again. I suspect he will embrace the bloated, creepy ex-con look — it’s more disturbing. He’ll drink a lot, but in a calculated way, to cultivate social contacts and to encourage speculation that he is violating parole, maybe even lapsing into his old murderous ways.  He will revel in it all, the good and the bad.  For a psychopath, the only bad press is no press.  They must be forever noticed.

I believe that Alig should be shunned as completely as O.J. was. Everyone should boycott any event, promoter or artist that is even remotely attached to him.  Press items about him should be rare and unglamorous… writers and reporters should avoid using his name if possible.  In a perfect world, the next published reference to Alig will be in his obituary.  Let’s hope it’s soon, and by his own hand.  He is a brutal, soulless, psychotic killer who has never felt the slightest tinge of remorse for the murder.

We’ve gotta draw the line somewhere. A Michael Alig “welcome back!” party must never find a venue, and those kids who dress up like characters from “Party Monster” must never be photographed or talked about.

I know both James St. James, the author of “Party Monster”, and Fenton and Randy, the directors of both the original documentary and the subsequent all-star version of “Party Monster…” — I actually think that “Party Monster” was genius, a terrifying and campy story but ultimately a moral one. I do worry, however, that they will see the release of Alig as an opportunity for press buzz, parties, interviews, et. al. My dead friend Dean Johnson used to correspond with Alig in prison, the letters mostly talked about how they could return to dominance in club culture. Dean was happy to explore future options with Alig, it might get him some ink!  They were desperate fame whores plotting their return to semi-stardom.  But least Dean was talented, and deeply conflicted about his obsessive need to be famous (as he brilliantly expressed in the Velvet Mafia song “Dharmageddon”…).

We have done a good job shunning OJ. It is no longer possible to think of him as a great athlete or a good-natured comic actor. He’s the guy who cut his wife’s head off.

Alig is that kind of guy.  A pathetic, power-seeking psychotic loser. He is not Francine Fishpaw; he is not some kind of hip anti-hero.

Commit to the shunning! Remember the insane, torturous murder of Angel Melendez.

Andrew Koenig, funny actor and son of Walter “Chekov” Koenig, has gone missing in Vancouver. He didn’t make his flight home and has friends, family and BC police worried.

He was last seen on Valentine’s Day. His family says he’s been in a funk lately, but let’s try not to think of the worst.

Koenig’s friends are asking you to reblog this, and have given the following contact info:

If you’ve seen Andrew since February 14th, or have any helpful information, PLEASE call Vancouver authorities @ 604-717-2967 or 604-717-2534. Refer to case #202029519.

UPDATE, 2/26/2010: As you have no doubt heard, this story has ended in the worst way possible. Life is often unfathomably painful; I’m so sad Andrew opted for the most effective, yet tragically irreversible treatment.

This evening Brittany Murphy is being laid to rest after her untimely death due to cardiac arrest.

I have always found her affable and talented in her screen roles, but her best and most lasting gig, in my opinion, was voicing the lovably ditzy Luanne Platter in King of the Hill. [Fun fact: according to my friend from Lubbock, Texas, Luanne got her name from a dish served in a Texas diner: the "Lu Ann Platter".]

This is all terribly sad, but let’s just think of Luanne jumping on a trampoline with Buckley’s Angel for eternity.

Depressing and deep memories on this horrible anniversary. As I watch this date slip into banal Americana, I can’t help but express my own shopworn platitude: never forget.