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Slowness for a Fast World: A Conversation With John Cameron Mitchell

Posted by on Aug 2, 2012 in Art + Culture | 1 comment

Actor, director, writer, singer, DJ – Is there anything John Cameron Mitchell can’t do? As the brilliant mastermind behind such favorites as, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shortbus, and Rabbit Hole, Mitchell has delighted audiences with diverse perspectives on sexuality and culture for years.

Recently, Mitchell reunited with Hedwig and the Angry Inch co-writer and composer Stephen Trask, to create the sequel to the hit Broadway production and subsequent motion picture.

As if writing and starring in brilliant cinema wasn’t enough, Mitchell can ad DJ and impresario to his list of accomplishments. Over the past four years, Mitchell, alongside Shortbus actors Paul Dawson and PJ DeBoy, has helped throw the smash New York dance party, Mattachine.

For over four years, Mattachine’s been packing the dance floor and overflowing onto the sidewalk at the West Village bar Julius’—the very bar where members of the Mattachine Society, the country’s first gay-rights, pinko-commie organization, demanded a drink in 1964 to fight against the city’s “no service for known homosexuals” law. If not for their “Sip-In,” there wouldn’t have been a Stonewall. Now, 48 years later, those men are honored once a month in Julius’ by scores of fancy-dressed folks careening into each other’s arm to the songs of queer yesteryear and beyond. Like John says, “ALL music is dance music!!”

After great success in New York, Mitchell decided to take his popular dance night on the road. As part of the 2012 “We Love You So Much We Don’t Know Who We Are Anymore” tour, I was lucky enough to have a conversation with Mitchell before his arrival in Seattle.

If you visit Seattle with any type of traveling queer nightlife, chances are you will meet Kevin Kauer, AKA DJ Nark. As a popular promoter, photographer, and creative director of the amazing Nark Magazine (which I highly recommend), Kauer helped bring Mattachine to the emerald city. I immediately jumped at the chance when he asked me to interview Mitchell. Who would turn that down?

Speaking with John Cameron Mitchell is like a speaking with a good friend you often look to for advice. He is frank, funny, and extremely smart. Curled up over Nark’s iPad in a popular Seattle restaurant, I chatted with Mitchell about Mattachine, music, media, and the future of the LGBTQ community, as we know it.

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