David Magazine v8_i33 | Down to Earth

V8-33 08.14.24

Fall Fashion Preview

Get Ready for Shamilton

Hello Mr.’s Great Gay Book

+ Photos & More

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How Hello Mr. Revolution

By Chris Azzopardi Photo: Melissa Lukenbaugh

Before the current media landscape couldn’t believe I was seeing Hello Mr. offered more explicit depictions of just below copies of GQ and Men’s Health queer life outside of physical spaces on the magazine racks at Barnes & Noble like LGBTQ+ bars, you had Borders and in the Michigan suburbs, especially with you had zines, DIY publications offering this descriptor right on the cover: “about non-conventional formats and more men who date men.” It was my first copy, indie spirit than traditional magazines. but, after 10 issues published between Inside, pages of people like you were 2013 and 2018 and nearly 65,000 Hello interspersed among artfully designed Mr. magazines that traveled around the spreads, sometimes on luxurious-feeling world, it was almost founder and editorstock. Zines often provided a unique in-chief Ryan Fitzgibbon’s last. At the sense of community and belonging not time, I didn’t know then that Fitzgibbon easily found in everyday life, especially was also connected to Michigan — and in to marginalized communities. Through ways that, it turns out, were very specific words, photos and illustrations, zines to his role at the magazine and also, now, shared counter-cultural ideas and his new book, “A Great Gay Book: Stories thoughts, while also centering stories of Growth, Belonging & Other Queer that affirmed our existence. Published Possibilities.” from 1988 to 1991, Homocore was geared toward the punk youth of the Seeing this gorgeous anthology now, gay underground in America. Later in the which Fitzgibbon describes in his “Hello ’90s, Gutterfag reached a similar queer Again” prologue as a “mirror to conceive audience. new possibilities,” holds an added layer of significance when considering Fitzgibbon Many years later, the part of me that was grew up in the desert of queer life still coming to terms with my sexuality in Midland. His first job was as a

paperboy for the Midland Daily News. While attending H.H. Dow High School, his art teacher nurtured his interests in communication and graphic design and encouraged him to join the school newspaper. “I entered in that way — as a page designer — for the Dow High Update and that opened my eyes to the world of journalism and visual storytelling.”

Hooked on graphic design, Fitzgibbon enrolled at Grand Valley State University, earning his degree in fine arts. During his senior year, while coming out to a few select close people in his life in 2008, he also dedicated himself to a project that was personal to him: designing a book on the state of marriage equality. He says it was his “very dramatic coming out to my class and peers: ‘Look what I can do, but also here’s who I am.’”

It was a brave step for someone who remembers the feeling of

nized Queer Storytelling

browsing the magazine rack’s LGBTQ+ moment arrived when Fitzgibbon’s section, shelved underneath the “Men’s parents walked into that Barnes & Noble Interest” section, at the Barnes & Noble in Midland and sent a photo to him of in the Midland Mall. “[The magazines] them at the store grabbing their very own were censored and shielded from issue. For Fitzgibbon, it was all “pretty visibility, and I just remember being so surreal.” terrified of that section, and obviously there were warning labels all over it,” When Hello Mr. launched, many of the he recalls. Years later, when Fitzgibbon authors featured in the book hadn’t published his first issue of Hello Mr. in even been published yet. Poet Ocean 2013, the evolution of queer visibility was Voung, for instance, was still years away apparent right there on those shelves. from releasing his 2022 book “On Earth And now, through his own publication, We’re Briefly Gorgeous.” “It was really a Fitzgibbon was able to experience the place for a lot of queer creatives to kind shift firsthand. “Flash forward to Hello of sharpen their teeth and get some of Mr. being distributed and available in their early work published,” Fitzgibbon Barnes & Nobles, a full-circle moment to says. “Yes, print was dying, but there was have that on shelves, and ‘LGBT Interests’ still this resurgence of indie magazines had moved up the ranks and we were happening in 2012 to 2015 and beyond. sitting very proudly next to the magazines I think there’s still niche beautiful that I mentioned.” publications coming out every year, but [I was at the] beginning of that wave of Emails and DMs poured in from queer change of guards in the big publishing readers like me excited to grab a copy of media companies and realizing, ‘Oh, we Hello Mr., none of which he took for need to change how we’re doing things granted. But a particularly special and maybe stop putting straight people

on our covers promoting abdominals and expensive resort vacations.’ I intentionally tried to subvert that with just matte paper, for example. A tactile, more journal aesthetic that sits on a coffee table but that isn’t disposable and doesn’t only have this kind of glossy, glitzy West Coast and East Coast focus.”

You might say his subversion of queer norms feels rooted in something a little more Midwestern — after all, Michigan is definitely less glossy, more matte. Perhaps H. H. Dow and Grand Valley had more to do with Hello Mr. than anyone ever thought, though Fitzgibbon himself has considered how “living in different places, but also knowing what it feels like to not have community growing up nearby” shaped the stories that ended up shaping our community.

In 2020, he returned to the one that he was initially a part

“A Great Gay Book” represents a lot of change and growth beyond Fitzgibbon’s own. When it comes to the artists who initially contributed to Hello Mr. years ago, “there were people who had gotten divorced and we’d published them as a married couple. Unfortunately, a couple of people are now deceased. Personal growth.

Career changes. [I was] honoring and trying to be really respectful of where people are at now and wanting to celebrate the legacy and move it into a conversation that can still inspire in the future.”

of, that couldn’t give him quite what he needed as a queer person. During the beginning of the pandemic, when he moved back to Michigan to live with his parents, who are now just outside of Midland, he had already began moving on from Hello Mr. to, as he writes in the book, “focus on my own growth,” “I was proud of the role Hello Mr. played, and trusted that the impact of the 10 issues published would continue to be felt,” he adds, estimating that he had published about 600 pieces of content. (During our conversation, I These aren’t the only changes that Fitzgibbon, tell him that I’ve held onto my one issue of Hello who has spent the last four years living in Tulsa, Mr., proudly among some of my favorite works faced — there is, of course, our often-frightening in my office, whereas I’ve long retired all of my dilemma of being LGBTQ+ in 2024. “Censorship and legislation are threatening our livelihood past issues of GQ.) and the livelihood of the most vulnerable Black, After living in places like San Francisco (his first Brown and trans folks in our community,” he place in South of Market was near where Up Your says. “Things that have this much volume and Alley, a leather and kink fest, is held), Chicago presence and have the distribution power of (his first Pride), Singapore (a “real accelerator” a publisher — it really was truly such a gift to for him in witnessing a global community of be able to take a lot of a decade of my life and queerness) and New York (where he struggled these stories that are all part of that journey of to keep Hello Mr. going), being back in Michigan creating a queer magazine and packaging it in for a little over a year, far from any leather or such a way that’s kind of hard to deny. I mean, kink, felt “more disconnected and rural.” It hit it has such a weight to it that it really leaves no him how away from home in many ways he truly questions.” felt. “Having that physical community in spaces,” Chris Azzopardi is the Editorial Director of Pride Source he says, “was lacking.”

Media Group and Q Syndicate, the national LGBTQ+ “There are a lot of reasons why Hello Mr. was wire service. He has interviewed a multitude of made the way that it was and was in print, so it superstars, including Cher, Meryl Streep, Mariah Carey could be tangible, so it could be visible so that and Beyoncé. His work has also appeared in The New we could have intimate reading experiences,” he York Times, Vanity Fair, GQ and Billboard. Reach him via Twitter @chrisazzopardi. says.

The Original

By Mikkel Hyldebrandt

Shamilton

Atlanta is about to experience a herstoric framing device, we’re able to quickly go over venture into the art of parody musicals as plot points, skip songs, and sneak in more the cast of Shamilton will take the stage of jokes. This device also helps keep the actors City Winery on August 24-28. David spoke to on stage on their toes because we always writer, producer, director, and cast member have a drag queen on the mic, and whenever Tyrannosaurus Rex about the show and you give a drag queen a microphone, a little how it reshapes one of the most significant bit of chaos will always ensue. musicals of our time with a little bit of referencing and a lot of drag.

You have written Shamilton but also produce, direct, and act in it. How does it work to wear all those hats at the same Atlanta is about to get an unusual and time? amazing she-quel to one of the most wellknown recent musicals. Tell us a little about I am a project manager on weekdays, how Shamilton came to fruition. so wearing different hats, sometimes simultaneously, is how I make a living. I Shamilton is actually the 5thParody Musical am one of those people who will bring a that Drunk Drag Broadway has produced; I color-coded itinerary on a vacation, so this was first introduced to Joey Ellington, AKA is almost like an obstacle course for me. I Stella-Pearl Fontaine, who is the Artistic have the privilege of seeing Shamilton from Director for Drunk Drag Broadway, during the initial idea to closing night, so I feel very their production of Little Shop of Whores. lucky to be given the chance to attempt to I participated as a director and an actress do this and have the support of Joey and Jon for separate productions, but this is the first Dean from WussyMag. time I am putting on all four hats (director, producer, writer, actor) for one singular For those who know the original’s story, production. Joey and I joked about the idea characters, and music, what can they of me writing Shamilton in the fall of 2023, expect of this production? and I thought about it sporadically and made it my resolution for 2024, and by February, I This show is made with those original fans had a script to present to Joey for his review. in mind because I am one of those fans, so there are references to the show itself, Many people are familiar with the original direct references to the things that inspired story, characters, and songs of Hamilton. the show, and also, there is a lot of drag How did you adapt them all to Shamilton? infused into the show! There will be live singing and dancing, of course, but there are For Shamilton, I followed the template of also lip-syncs, drag mixes, and even a death previous Drunk Drag Broadway productions, drop or two! which uses the trope of a live narrator who tells the story via a storybook. With that

And for those who don’t know the original? or take it on the road, but right now, we’re Do you suggest they check the original focused on ensuring that this premier first? production goes well and provides a little escapism for our audience.

The show was filmed live and is on streaming, but if you are a fan of herstory, or know a little bit about American history, or just want to be entertained, you will enjoy the show, so it is completely up to the reader.

Tell us a little more about the cast for this production. Are there any familiar faces (or voices)?

So, a very familiar voice people would recognize is Nicole Paige Brooks from RuPaul Drag Race; she has been “The Narrator” for almost every production with Drunk Drag Broadway! We also have StellaPearl Fontaine, Glitz Winner Jesus-N-Drag, and Drag performers Princess Charles & Boudreaux! The rest of our cast consists of local Atlanta actors and performers: Jason Gonsalves, Perren Leatherwood, Bree Nichole, and Mariah Cardoza. Our crew comprises Lina Lane, Ash Brooks, Doug Chiki, and Davan Glynn.

Let us know how to get tickets and where What was the biggest challenge of this to follow Drunk Drag Broadway. production?

We will be offering a meet-and-greet after The biggest challenge of this production the show as an add-on. This includes a depends on what hat I am currently wearing, Shamilton keepsake per meet-and-greet but I think something that affected us all ticket, which will be sold separately. All of was time. Our cast was only able to be fully that can be purchased at Citywinery.com or together one day a week due to schedules through the link in the bios on Instagram and previous conflicts, and we only @ddbatl, @wussymag, and @wussyevents. rehearsed for six weeks, so not a lot of time.

Luckily, we have an incredibly hardworking cast and crew that show up and also show out. I have truly enjoyed watching the show come together before my eyes.

You will be playing August 22, 24, 25, and 28 at City Winery – are there plans to take the show on the road?

We would love to present this show again

The Biggest Fall Fashion Trends for Men Edited by Mikkel Hyldebrandt

As the leaves change and temperatures drop, it’s time to update your wardrobe with the latest fall fashion trends. This season is all about blending comfort with style, incorporating classic pieces with contemporary twists. Here are the top fall fashion trends for men, complete with specific clothing items to keep you looking sharp and on-trend.

Earthy Tones and Warm Neutrals

Fall 2024 is all about embracing the colors of the season. Earthy tones and warm neutrals such as browns, beiges, and olive greens are dominating men’s fashion. These colors are versatile, timeless, and perfect for creating a cohesive look.

Key Pieces Wool Overcoat: Opt for a camel or olive-green wool overcoat. It’s a classic piece that adds sophistication to any outfit.

Chinos: Brown or beige chinos can be paired with almost anything, making them a fall staple.

Chunky Knit Sweaters: Go for sweaters in rust, mustard, or forest green to add warmth and texture to your look.

Statement Outerwear Outerwear is not just about function but also about making a statement this fall. Bold patterns, unique fabrics, and oversized fits are all in vogue.

Key Pieces Plaid Jackets: A plaid wool jacket can be the centerpiece of your outfit. It’s eye-catching and adds a touch of ruggedness.

Shearling Coats: These provide both warmth and style. Look for ones with shearling lining or collars.

Leather Jackets: Always in style, but this fall, look for unique cuts and details such as quilted patterns or mixed fabrics.

Workwear-Inspired Pieces Workwear continues to influence mainstream fashion, combining durability with style. Think heavy-duty fabrics and practical designs.

Key Pieces Denim Jackets: A classic denim jacket is a must-have. Go for one with a sherpa lining for extra warmth.

Cargo Pants: These have evolved from their military roots to become a stylish and functional choice. Look for tapered fits and minimalistic designs.

Flannel Shirts: A rugged, versatile piece that can be worn alone or layered over a tee.

Sophisticated Casual This trend is about blending casual comfort with a refined aesthetic. It’s perfect for those who want to look polished without feeling overdressed.

Key Pieces Tailored Joggers: These provide the comfort of sweatpants but with a more sophisticated look. Pair with a crisp white shirt or a fitted sweater.

Polo Shirts: Opt for long-sleeve polos in premium fabrics like merino wool or cashmere.

Chelsea Boots: Versatile and stylish, Chelsea boots can be dressed up or down and work well with both jeans and dress pants.

Statement Accessories

Accessories are the finishing touch that can elevate any outfit. This fall, bold and functional accessories are in focus. From oversized scarves to sleek leather bags, these pieces add personality and practicality to your look.

Key Pieces Oversized Scarves: Go for chunky knit scarves in bold colors or patterns to make a statement while keeping warm.

Leather Bags: A high-quality leather bag, whether it’s a messenger, briefcase, or backpack, adds a touch of sophistication.

Beanies and Hats: Keep your head warm and stylish with beanies in neutral colors or fedoras for a more polished look.

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fitness

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PAPI’S ORIGINATED WITH A FAMILY RECIPE, A DREAM, AND THE WILLINGNESS TO RISK EVERYTHING.

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39 Boy Next Door 40 Barking Leather

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41 Equilibrium Fitness 1529 Piedmont Ave, Suite L

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