Hey you! Are you a boring person? Do you generally know boring
people? Is that all getting a little too boring for you and you’re thinking
maybe it’s time for a little drama in your life? Is it time to make some new friends,
and go around meeting some not-so-boring people? Well, here’s a
cautionary tale that might put you off and remind you that ‘exciting’ people
are best avoided. Glory Daze tells the story of Michael Alig, the leader
of the ‘club kids’ of the late 80s and 90s New York nightclub scene. Back
in the mid-80s Andy Warhol was still the king of New York nightlife and the one
others tried to emulate and follow. When he died from complications
during minor surgery, a personality vacuum was created and it was one Alig
would go on to fill. Escaping from his stifling hometown, Alig came to
New York looking for people like him, for excitement and for the chance to be
someone. He did this by creating his own movement with him (as one
interviewee describes him) as the pied piper at the head of a band of misfits.
Glory Daze brings together many of
the survivors of that movement, including Alig himself, to candidly describe
how a group of outcast youngsters took over New York for a few years and what
brought it to an end. This is arguably the start of modern celebrity
culture, people with no particular skill becoming famous, first locally and
then nationally and even internationally, for nothing. Just for going
out, putting on some clashing ‘outfits’, and having their photograph taken and
articles written about them. As with many of these kinds of stories, the
good times give way to the bad and as drugs and addiction fill the scene and
the authorities decide it’s time New York cleans up its act, it all goes
wrong. In this case badly, murderously wrong.
It’s fascinating stuff and a reminder
that not even that long ago, New York was not the homogenised place it is
today. The contributions are from seemingly everyone there at the time as
the truth came out and although it all turned so sour it’s clearly a New York
they miss. Still, it’s the sort of story you could show people as an
advert for why you should Just Say No to drugs, even though, as in Alig’s sad
story, things are rarely as simple as they first seem. As interesting as
it all undeniably is, Glory Daze is a long haul at well over two hours that
seeks to cover every aspect of events and occasionally you wish, like
Tim Bisley, that they would skip to the end. But overall it keeps your
attention and is certainly worth your time.
GLORY DAZE: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MICHAEL ALIG / DIRECTOR AND SCREENPLAY: RAMON FERNANDEZ / STARRING: MICHAEL ALIG / NOEL ASHMAN / FENTON BAILEY / VICTOR CORONA / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
