Illustrator Glen Hanson: "You Can't Turn That Flow Off"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Release Date: 10/30/2021
Filmmaker Elliot Tuttle (Blue Film): "I Wanted The Film To Feel Like An Echo Chamber of Perversion"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by writer-director Elliot Tuttle to talk about his debut feature Blue Film, which is about a 20-something camboy who takes a lot of money to spend the night with an anonymous client, who ends up being a former school teacher and convicted sex offender from his small hometown. Elliot talks about why he wanted to tell this story, the knockout performances he got from his two actors, Reed Birney and Keiron Moore, keeping the budget low so he could total creative freedom and why he chose to use old camcorder footage as a visual motif in the film. Other topics...
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Filmmaker Linus O'Brien (Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror): "It's Been The Great Joy Of My Life"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is join via Zoom by Linus O'Brien to discuss his new documentary Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror, a joyful and inspiring recounting of the journey of the cultural juggernaut that is The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Linus's father Richard O'Brien created the original show and played Riff Raff both on stage and in the movie and watching father and son interact in the film and try to make sense of what Rocky means to the world is fascinating, funny and quite moving. Linus talks about getting the whole gang back together to talk about the movie (pretty much...
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Chico's Angels stars Oscar Quintero, Danny Casillas & Kurt Koehler: "Oh, That Chita, She Never Learns."
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis connects via Zoom with his friends Oscar Quintero, Danny Casillas & Kurt Koehler to talk about the return of their long-running drag comedy-musical Chico's Angels 2: Love Boat Chicas, which returns to the Cavern Club Theater this June. The trio talk about what audiences can expect from this installment--Disco music! Forbidden love! Charo!--how drag has changed since they started doing the show over 20 years ago, why the Angels never curse and their favorite moments in the show. They also talk about what doing the show means to them now, the fans who come back again and again and...
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Author Peter J. Cervantes (The Road Back to Me): "Part Of Me Wanted To Just Not Die, Right?"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
In this episode, Dennis connects via Zoom with Peter Cervantes to talk about his book The Road Back to Me: Six Sacred Tools for Queer Healing Through Shadow, Breath, and Truth, in which he shares his journey from severe physical and mental health crises to healing through therapy, meditation, breath work, EMDR, shadow work and more. He also talks about having severe heart palpitations and anxiety attacks and going into intense therapy because he felt that the only other option was death. Other topics include: dealing with intergenerational trauma, feeling the need to hide his artistic side...
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Photographer Brian Aris (Celebrating George): "This Is The Guy Who Taught Us How To Pose"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined by renowned British photographer Brian Aris to discuss his new book Celebrating George: Three Decades which showcases the many photographs Brian took of George Michael throughout his career. Brian talks about the first time he shot George, as part of Wham, at the end of a day that included earlier shoots with Billy Joel and Mick Jagger. He also talks about why George was one of his favorite subjects to shoot, the love he feels from the "George Michael Lovelies" who attend his book events and the intentionality that George brought to all his photo sessions. Other topics...
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Olivia DuFault, Elena Luo and Griffin Kelly (For Want of a Horse): "This Has Ruined Me For Other Plays"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by three of the artists behind the Echo Theater Company's new play For Want of a Horse; playwright Olivia DuFault, director Elena Luo and actor Griffin Kelly. The play is about a romantic and sexual triangle between a married couple and Q-Tip (played by Kelly) who happens to be a horse. Olivia talks about the New York Magazine article that first inspired her to write the play, the range of emotions she felt reading it and what it's like to receive emails after the show from people who identify as zoophiles. Elena talks about what drew her to the project as a director,...
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Actor-Writer Michael McHale (Searching For Robert Hennessey): "I Would Just Look For Magical Things All The Time"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by actor-writer Michael McHale to talk about his one-person show Searching For Robert Hennessey, which recounts the decades-long search Michael went on for his biological father after his single mother told him the man's name on his 18th birthday. It's an odyssey that involves making out with a guy he met at the Eagle and discovering they may be related, spending years in--and then escaping from--a Christian cult, being diagnosed with HIV/AID and never giving up the hunt, although he wanted to many times. Michael also talks about what it was like to grow up in...
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Singer-Author Mike Maimone (Guess What? I Love You): "When I Have To Sing Sweet Caroline, A Part Of My Soul Escapes Through My Nose"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
In this episode, Dennis is joined via Zoom by singer-songwriter and author Mike Maimone to talk about his new memoir--as well as its companion album--both called Guess What? I Love You, which documents the most extraordinary year of his life. A few years back, Mike met the well-known Hollywood publicist Howard Bragman on Scruff and within a few messages, they both knew it was something real. A whirlwind long-distance romance ensued and soon they were getting a place together in Nashville, where Mike then lived, and talking about their dream wedding. But within a year of that first Scruff...
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Playwright Gabe Rivas Gomez (Level Up!): "I Should Not Let My Words Get In The Way Of The Play"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by Gabe Rivas Gomez, the writer of the visually stunning and very moving new play Level Up! which is about a trans tween named Desi whose quest to be who she really is takes her into a spectacular and dangerous video game world. Gabe talks about where the original inspiration came from, finding the trans actress to play Desi, Mathias Brinda, several workshop productions ago and watching her grow up before his eyes and the technical challenges of trying to depict a video game on stage. He also talks about producing this show at a time when trans youth are under attack...
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Bookends filmmakers Noam Ash & Mike Doyle ("It Was Like Adult Summer Camp")
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by the duo behind the new gay comedy Bookends, writer-star Noam Ash and director Mike Doyle. Bookends tells the story of an aspiring writer named Nate whose life in Manhattan falls apart and he ends up moving in with his grandparents--played by Oscar-winner F. Murray Abraham and Caroline Aaron--in their retirement community. Noam talks about how the story was inspired by his own experience living with his grandparents, what he learned from the experience and what his grandparents--who both passed away in their 90's before the film was shot--would think of the finished...
info_outlineDennis connects via Zoom with illustrator Glen Hanson whose work as been seen on everything from animated TV shows like Beetlejuice and Daria to magazines like GQ, Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide, for whom he did four different covers when Seinfeld went off the air. His ubiquitous illustration of the Golden Girls is on everything from book covers, to T-shirts to phone cases. Glen talks about when he knew he was gifted as an artist, his creative process, dealing with procrastination, getting turned on while drawing hot guys (or not) and the extensive research he does before he sits down to draw a celebrity. Other topics include: his Ladies at the Biden Inauguration image that went viral, resisting the temptation to lampoon the Trumps, discovering long lost relatives on Ancestry.com, "soft homophobia" in the workplace and that time Sharon Stone posted a photo of herself wearing a Glen Hanson Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct T-shirt. www.glenhanson.com