Description
In the 50s, gays took on stereotypical roles David Vass did not embrace. “I wasn’t a top, bottom, butch or fem – I scared the shit out of all the homos I met!” Entertaining, humorous, and shocking, he reveals secrets of the record labels (how he became a mafia money runner), juicy, never-before-told anecdotes about legendary celebrities – Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, Golden Globe and Tony award winners that he technical directed. Over 100 World Class difficult personalities were kept in line by Vass. Many shared their secrets with him.
“At seven, I stopped talking for two years because of a speech impediment and started writing. Diaries were the first of my addictions. I wrote down everything that happened to me for seven decades. These outrageous experiences are the bones of my book; I hope none of the mobsters I knew will leave a horse’s head in my bed!”
David’s story is still relevant, given today’s political backpedaling of our civil liberties. His life is raunchy, hilarious, twisted, and brutally honest. A laugh-out-loud page-turner: gay little boy of the 50s, stumbles into the dangerous world of strip clubs in the 60s where he learned his talent as a technical director. Working the hottest clubs and iconic theatres, record labels lined up to contract him for his ‘celebrity-whisperer’ talents and his connections to the mob in the 70s.
The fun he had in prison; “best sex of my life”, thrills with pills, robbing his mother in drag thinking she wouldn’t recognize him. She did. His salacious adventures in a pre-AIDs world. A homo-hobo, Vass’s mash-up is brutally honest and a cautionary tale laced with inspiration.
A Kirkus Starred Book –
An engrossing show-biz account, deftly mixing sexual energy with poignant character sketches …Vass’ writing is full of brilliantly revealing, nuanced profiles of celebrities, informed by his years of raptly studying their flaws so as to soften them with artifice … a perceptive examination of the truth lying beneath the entertainment industry’s surface fakery … an absorbing account of the art of lighting and sound mixing in stage acts, with many vivid details and acerbic commentary … raucous memoir
Review by Chanticleer Book Reviews –
Author Vass exemplifies his background in a forthright and emotional manner that will bring readers to laughter and tears alike. The narrative is intense and unapologetically honest, leaving a lasting impact, with unfiltered, vulnerable storytelling. Vass refuses to hold back, offering readers a front-row seat to all the dark, raw, and unflattering drama. This memoir is conclusively enticing and well-crafted, and a worthy recommendation to those seeking a blunt and well-told raw and mature memoir, the account of a resilient individual … who had felt ‘instinctively’ different and shunned since he was a child. Highly Recommended!