Author Don Cummings (Bent But Not Broken): "That Tile Knows How to Live"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Release Date: 03/26/2019
“Naked Boys Singing” Creator Robert Schrock: “You Gotta Make Friends With The Pole”
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom from Puerta Vallarta, Mexico by writer-director-producer Robert Schrock to talk about Naked Boys Singing, the hit musical review he conceived, directed and co-wrote that is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary this year. Robert talks about how he got the original idea, what it was like to cast the show, how soon it would get the cast naked during the rehearsal process and why it was important to feature songs that dealt with serious topics like AIDS and romantic longing in addition to the light-hearted ditties. He also talks about how the show nearly got shut...
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The Bottoming Process playwright Nicholas Pilapil & Stars George Salazar & Rick Cosnett: “I Wanted To Write Me As Katherine Heigl”
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by three of the talents behind the new play The Bottoming Process: playwright Nicholas Pilapil and actors George Salazar and Rick Cosnett. The play, which runs through June 12th at the Renberg Theater in Hollywood is a romantic comedy about two writers in different stages of their careers who fall in love and grapple with issues of race, sex and power. Nicholas talks about what inspired him to write the play, where the title comes from, how living all your life in LA effects how you feel about your dreams and how his mother dragging him to see Rent at the Pantages...
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Director-Choreographer-Actor Vincent Paterson (co-author of Icons & Instincts): Part 2 “Getting a Bad Review From the Pope Made My Day”
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by Vincent Paterson, director, choreographer, dancer, actor and now co-author of a book about his life and career entitled Icons & Instincts: Choreographing and Directing Entertainment's Biggest Stars. Part One of their conversation, featuring lots of stories about his work with Michael Jackson, was the last episode. This is Part 2 where Vince talks a lot about his yours working with Madonna; first on the Pepsi commercial that got banned, then on the “Express Yourself” video, the Blonde Ambition tour, the iconic Marie Antionette “Vogue” performance at the...
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Director-Choreographer-Actor Vincent Paterson (co-author of Icons & Instincts): “I Was Always The White Boy That The Black Girls Wanted to Dance With”
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by Vincent Paterson, director, choreographer, dancer, actor and now co-author of a book about his life and career entitled Icons & Instincts: Choreographing and Directing Entertainment's Biggest Stars. Dennis had so many questions for Vincent about working with icons like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Shirley MacLaine and the Mandrell SIsters that the interview lasted for over two hours. So ithis one's going to be a two-parter. In this episode, Part 1, Vincent talks about what inspired him to write the book, growing up with an alcoholic father in a small town...
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Singer Matt Zarley (creator & star of 11 O’Clock Number): “Sometimes You Just Need a Yes”
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis visits the L.A. home of his friend Matt Zarley for Listening Party of the songs from Matt’s newest project 11 O’Clock Number, a musical video project about a man who harnesses the power of musical theater songs to help him cope with lost love, losing his mother and the stresses of the pandemic. Matt talks about where the idea originated from, how working on the project helped keep him sane during the COVID lockdown and how he approached the vocals as if he was, in his words, “never going to sing again.” Matt also discusses why he chose each of the 12 tracks: “Never Enough”...
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Filmmaker-Actor Todd Flaherty (“Chrissy Judy”): “You Have To Feed The Hungry Ghost”
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom from Provincetown, Massachusetts by Todd Flaherty, the writer-director-producer-editor and star of the new film Chrissy Judy. The film is about two struggling drag performers in New York City whose ride-or-die friendship is tested when one of them moves to Philadelphia to be with his boyfriend. Todd talks about why he wanted to explore the theme of gay friendships, having virtually no experience in drag before making the movie, what it’s like to direct yourself in sex scenes and how his making the film grew out of the frustration he was feeling as an...
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Author Sam Staggs (Did You Sleep With The Models?): “I Looked Up And There Was Al Parker…”
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined by author Sam Staggs whose Substack newsletter “Did You Sleep With The Models?” documents the five years he spent as Editor-In-Chief of the gay magazines Mandate, Playguy and Honcho in the early 1980’s. Sam talks about how the project began as a book that he wrote during the pandemic and then evolved into a Substack newsletter with photographs and illustrations pulled straight from the magazines. He also discusses what it was like to oversee three gay porn magazines just as AIDS was starting to ravage the community. Sam also discusses two of his Hollywood-related books;...
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Filmmaker Gregg Araki (“The Doom Generation”): “It’s The Brattiest Kid That Conquered The World”
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by filmmaker Gregg Araki (The Living End, Nowhere, Mysterious Skin) to discuss the re-release and restoration of his mid-1990s cult classic The Doom Generation, which stars Rose McGowan, James Duval and Johnathan Schaech. Gregg talks about what it’s been like to revisit the film, what makes each of his three leads perfect for their roles, how the film got the subtitle “A Heterosexual Movie,” and how and why he cast people like Christopher Knight from The Brady Bunch, Lauren Tewes from The Love Boat and Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss in cameo roles. Gregg also...
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Singer-Songwriter Brandon Stansell: “There’s No Feeling Like Finishing a Song”
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by singer-songwriter Brandon Stansell to talk about his latest album This Must Be the Place, his upcoming show at Hotel Café in Los Angeles on April 6 and shares the stories behind his songs “Pick Up Where We Left Off,” “Good At the Time” and “Did You Settle Down Too Soon.” He also talks about the reaction to his 2020 documentary Three Cords and a Lie, about the strained relationship he’s had with his family and hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee since he came out in his early 20’s. He also recalls being a dancer on Taylor Swift’s Fearless...
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Entrepreneur Wendy Miller (Ask Your Gay BFF Oracle Cards): "I Peed Next To Della Reese!"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by Wendy Miller, the entrepreneur behind the new Ask Your Gay BFF Oracle Cards, a deck of cards that, in Wendy’s words, “force people to get real about what they want out of life.” Wendy talks about where the idea to create the cards came from, starting her company Card To Believe, plying her gay male friends with alcohol to get their sassy retorts and finding the perfect black velvet bags to package them in. She also talks about the “woo-woo” aspects of the cards and how she’s always been an extremely intuitive person. She even recalls that one time she...
info_outlineDennis visits the Hollywood home of author Don Cummings to talk about his new memoir Bent But Not Broken. It's about his experience with Peyronie's disease, which is a painful and sexually limiting condition that affects over 7% of men. He writes and talks humorously and honestly about the emotional fallout brought on by having a suddenly curved penis, how it affected his relationship with his husband Adam and how it made him feel about himself. Other topics include: that time Meryl Streep did a reading of his play A Good Smoke at the Public Theater in New York, finding a sex partner by picking up a ringing pay phone on the street in Manhattan, having recurring dreams about Diane Keaton and the Oscar-winning movie he walked out of.