Jonathan Larson and the History of Rent

A short biography of Jonathan Larson.

Short video biography of Larson.

Review of Larson's autobiographical show, Tick, Tick...Boom!

Larson's obituary from 1996.

Articles on the 2008 closing of the Broadway production and the show's cultural impact

A writer who's been involved with the show since its beginning talks about the dangers of ignoring the script's subtlety in favor of its rock-concert bombast. Also very interesting comments from Jonathan Larson regarding the characters: Collins is a ''a sort of jazzy, Tom Waitsy kind of guy.''

Sarah Schulman claims that Larson plagiarized the plot of her 1990 novel People in Trouble. I don't know if it's true, but she raises some interesting ideas regarding representation in Rent.

Not everyone was crazy about Rent when it opened. Robert Brustein (founder of Yale Rep and American Repertory Theatre at Harvard) called it "sloppy," "poorly constructed," and "mawkish." 

• Brustein, Robert. "The New Bohemians." The New Republic, 22 April 1996, 29-30. Print.

La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini

Jonathan Larson based Rent very loosely on Puccini's La Boheme. Here's a short synopsis of the opera.

A plot summary of La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini

Another plot summary of La Boheme

Some basic parallels between the characters of Rent & La Boheme.

Comparisons between characters from Rent and La Boheme.

"Bohemians of the Moment," discussing the parallels between Rent & La Boheme: 

• Sullivan, John.  “Bohemians of the Moment.”  American Theatre, July/August 1996, 3.  Print. 

"Analysis of the Bohemian Motif in La Boheme and Rent" focusing on elements of bohemian lifestyle.

Information on the Bohemian culture of La Boheme:  "Theorizing the Cultural Roots of the Bohemian Artist."

• Gluck, Mary.  “Theorizing the Cultural Roots of the Bohemian Artist.”  Modernism/Modernity, Sept 2000, 351-78.  Print.

Baldwin-Wallace College ran Rent & La Boheme in rep in January 2011. Good article that compares the two texts. A fun video of their set change at BW.

Youtube playlist of John Copley's 1982 staging of La Boheme at the Royal Opera House in London. The production is broken up over a number of shorter videos - all the links are at the bottom of the page.

Follow along with this copy of the libretto - in both English & Italian.

The Neighborhood - Alphabet City

Roger & Mark live at the corner of East 11th St and Avenue B. The neighborhood has been gentrified since the era of Rent. Make sure to click on "Photos" in the upper right corner for some interesting images of what the neighborhood looks like now.

A short history and description of the neighborhood.

A site, appropriately titled Filthymess.com. Most of the pictures from the "Street Filth" section are from Alphabet City

The "Alphabet City" Flickr Stream. Some very interesting images of people and architecture.

"Art and Urban Space: Rent, The East Village, and the Construction of Meaning" is about how Rent is very much a product of its geography. Make sure to read this one - it's very useful.

Ephemeral New York: This deals with the history of NYC, but with a little hunting, there's a lot on the Lower East Side of the late 80s - early 90s.

Pictures of weird signs in Lower Manhattan. Just a little more neighborhood color.

Here are a couple of good entries - fliers from Save The Robots (an after hour club in Alphabet City) and 8BC, a club mentioned in "La Vie Boheme." "Avenue B - The Place to Be" was an annual music event.

Interview with Michael Stipe of R.E.M. where he talks about sex, drugs and coming to New York City in the 1980s. It's a few years before Rent, but he paints a very vivid picture of the art/rock and roll scene happening at the time.

A study of homelessness in NYC in the late 1980s: A bit dry, but very thorough...

The Tompkins Park Riots

Much of Rent is based on the factors that led up to the 1988 riots in Tompkins Square Park.

Here's a quick overview and accompanying images of the Lower East Side by photographer Q. Sakamaki: Tompkins Square Park

More of Sakamaki's photos. Click on the box in the middle of the screen and be sure to read the captions below the images: Tompkins Sq. Park Legacy

More articles on the Tompkins Park riots:

• "Tompkins Square Riot Memories"
• NY Times Article about the riot
• Another NY Times Article
• This took place a couple years after the first riots, but it's a good description of the culture of the neighborhood
• Look back 20 years after the riot - talks about gentrification in the neighborhood
• Selling the Lower East Side: More about gentrification and housing issues

Videos about the Tompkins Square Riots

• Activist Paul DeRienzo talks about the Tompkins Park riots
• News broadcast about the Tompkins Square riot
• Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch on the riots

More picture of the Tompkins Park riots. Click on "photographs," then "squatters."

This page has links to other articles and audio interviews with people who participated in the riots. The Mp3s are all downloadable: The "Police Riot" Tape Timeline

A current article about housing in Alphabet City - it's very similar to what was going on back in the day...

ACT UP and the Culture Surrounding the AIDS Crisis

Obviously, the AIDS crisis underpins the lives of the characters in Rent. While luckily, AIDS related deaths have slowed down considerably, the disease had an enormous impact on the creative community in the era that the show is set.

Here's the first national news report on AIDS - the NBC Nightly News in 1982

"The Kaposi's Sarcoma Clinic at the University of California, San Francisco: An Early Response to the AIDS Epidemic" details some of the earliest efforts to treat people with AIDS.

• Smith Hughes, Sally.  “The Karposi’s Sarcoma Clinic at the University of California, San Francisco: An Early Response to the AIDS Epidemic.”  Bulletin of the History of Medicine 71.4 (1997): 651-88. Print.

ACT UP - The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power - was one of the first organizations to actively criticize the government and Catholic Church for their policies about People with AIDS.

This is an oral history of ACT UP. Click on the links on the right side of the page.

Jon Greenberg - one of ACT UP's founders - explains the organization's history

ACT UP's "Capsule History" detailing the history of their direct action protests

Video of ACT UP Activist Vito Russo in 1989

Video of playwright Larry Kramer - author of The Normal Heart - talks about the early days of ACT UP

The AIDS Time Line: Not about ACT UP specifically, but this describes the history of the AIDS pandemic and cultural reaction to it. This is what ACT UP was reacting to.

Avert.org, an English AIDS prevention organization has a detailed timeline of the history of HIV & AIDS

"In Their Own Words:" an oral history project by the National Institutes on Health documenting how early researchers dealt with the AIDS pandemic. Interesting material on the crisis during the mid-to-late 1980s.

In May 1991, Queer Nation - another Gay Rights group - disrupted a taping of The Arsenio Hall Show. Aresnio, and the crowd's reaction to the protesters really illustrates the prevailing attitude in the culture toward gay folks.

"Save Our Kids, Keep AIDS Out" Anti-AIDS Activism and the Legacy of Community Control in Queens, New York" details the 1985 community response allowing students with AIDS in public schools in Queens, NY.

• Brier, Jennifer.  “Save Our Kids, Keep Aids Out:” Anti-Aids Activism and the Legacy of Community Control in Queens, New York.”  Journal of Social History 39.4 (2006): 965-87.  Print.  

AZT was first approved for use in 1987. It stops the reproduction of DNA and reduces the viral load

Video explaining how AZT - a reverse transcriptase inhibitor - effects HIV. It's pretty dense at the beginning, but it's fairly accessible by the end.

Very in depth article about the impact of group therapy on people with AIDS in the late 1980s:  

• DiPasquale, Joan A.  “The Psychological Effects of Support Groups on Individuals Infected by the AIDS Virus.”  Career Nursing 13.5 (1990): 278-85.  Print. 
  

Article analyzing how the characters in //Rent// are impacted by their AIDS diagnoses. Very interesting piece using examples from the text to make arguments.

Larson based the support group in Rent on Friends in Deed, a group that he and his friends attended in New York. Here are instructions for first time attendees at Friends in Deed meetings.

More on the history of AIDS and its cultural impact in the 1980s.

Performance Art

Maureen is a practitioner of one the most maligned art forms around - performance art....

Here's the Tate Gallery's stuffy definition of what performance art is.

Guillermo Gomez-Pena is one of the best known modern performance artists. Here's what he has to say about it.

Marina Abramović was one of the first feminist performance artists in the US. Here she is explaining what she does.

Heroin Addiction

General symptoms of drug addiction from the Mayo Clinic.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse site on heroin addiction and recovery. Detailed information about the effects of heroin.

Information from a treatment center on the physical and psychological impact of heroin addiction

Information on heroin use and treatment from Erowid.com, a drug legalization group

Wired in Recovery's Youtube channel featuring an English documentary about heroin addiction.

A Canadian junkie shoots up and tells his story. Hearing him ratioanlize and explain his addiction is fascinating: Part 1, Part 2

How to use heroin. Don't try this at home.

Miscellaneous Information

The popular culture of 1989: the Spin Magazine archive on Google Books

Time Magazine Archive - 1989 - 1990

The Village Voice archive on Google Books. Not the most user friendly interface - you'll have to scroll over to find the copies from 1989-1990 - but there's some interesting material on the art & music scene in NYC at the time.

This is a little dry, but it gives an excellent overview of the economic realities of working as a freelance artist in the mid- to late-1980s.  

• Filer, Randall K.  “The ‘Starving Artist’ – Myth or Reality?  Earnings of Artists in the United States.”  The Journal of Political Economy, Feb 1986, 56-75.  Print. 

Rent is simultaneously a period piece and culturally relevant. This article tries to articulate that phenomenon.

The Atlanta version of the Alphabet City Community: the Cabbagetown Music Scene circa 1990

The Script

Act 1

• Page 2: "TUNING THE FENDER GUITAR" It's probably a Stratocaster.Fender's most popular model that's been around since the 1950s. Named after Leo Fender, inventor of the solid body electric guitar.
• Page 2: The answering machine: Before we all had voice mail, the answering machine was an electronic device that physically answered landline phones and recorded message on a cassette tape.
• Page 3: "C'est la vie." Roughly translated, French for "well, that's life."
• Page 4: "CHESTNUTS ROASTING" Reference to "The Christmas Song" made popular by Nat King Cole.
• Page 5: "Still her production manager?' In traditional theatre, the production manager oversees technical and management elements of a production.
• Page 6: Musetta's Theme. Musetta is the La Boheme version of Maureen. The theme, also known as "Quando men vo," is one of the best known arias from La Boheme.
• Page 6: "BREAD-LINES". During the depression, residents of New York City waited in bread lines for food
• Page 7: "AND IT FEELS LIKE SOMETHING'S STUCK IN YOUR FLUE" A flue is the chamber that vents smoke and debris away from a fireplace.
• Page 8: "THE DIGITAL DELAY..." A digital delay is an audio effect synthesizer that reproduces an original signal and replays it a set amount of time later.
• Page 10: "YOUR OWN BLOOD CELLS BETRAY" HIV is a result of an infection of the white blood cells.
• Page 13: "Take your AZT." See section on AIDS & ACTUP above
• Page 15: "Light My Candle." This scene is one of the closest in the script to La Boheme. Here are Francisco Araiza and Mirella Freni performing Mimi and Rodolfo's duet "Che Gelida Manina."
• Page 17: THEY SAY I HAVE THE BEST ASS BELOW 14TH STREET." 14th Street is generally considered the northern border of Lower Manhattan. Lower Manhattan includes the Lower East Side & Alphabet City, SOHO, Greenwich Village, and the East Village among other neighborhoods.
• Page 17: "THE CAT SCRATCH CLUB." The Cat Scratch club isn't real. But The Cat Club was. Here's what it looks like now.
• Page 17: "THEY USED TO TIE YOU UP [...] I DIDN'T RECOGNIZE YOU WITHOUT THE HANDCUFFS." Mimi may be working at a BDSM club, the most famous of which is the Hellfire Club. This article describe a typical night at Hellfire. Cell Block 28 was the best know BDSM club in the era of Rent. Be warned - both articles are very descriptive...
• Page 18: "I USED TO SHIVER LIKE THAT [...] I USED TO SWEAT." Shivering and sweating are both symptoms of heroin withdrawal.
• Page 20: "Over the moon." An allusion to the "Hey Diddle Diddle" nursery rhyme referenced in the song, "over the moon" means that the speaker is extraordinarily happy.
• Page 20: "My performance, protesting the eviction of the Homeless (and artists) from the Eleventh Street Lot. Tonight at midnight between A and B." The Eleventh Street Lot - it's overgrown now.
• Page 20: "Party at Life Cafe to follow." Literally right around the corner from the Eleventh Street Lot. Here's their website. They're cashing in on their connection with Rent. Good for them.
• Page 20; "CALL DAISY FOR OUR ITINERARY OR ALFRED AT POUND RIDGE." Pound Ridge is a high-end suburb of New York City.
• "OR EILEEN AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT IN A PINCH." Mr. Jefferson may be an official at the State Department. Late 1989 was an interesting time for the State Department as the Berlin Wall came down in November.
• Page 20: "MUMMY'S CONFIRMATION HEARING BEGINS ON THE TENTH." Mrs. Jefferson is probably being confirmed as a Federal Judge. Presidents Reagan and Bush 1 famously only nominated judges who were ideologically similar based on their "Guidelines of Constitutional Litigation. Since Mr. Johnson works for James Baker's State Department, and Mrs. Johnson has been nominated by President Bush, there's a possibility that Joanne is rebelling against here Republican parents.
• Page 20: "NO DOC MARTENS." Doc Marten shoes are generally identified with the punk rock and the counterculture. Here's what they look like.
• Page 21: "...who ran naked through the Parthenon." A reference to the nude statue of Dionysus (which is currently in London) from the Parthenon in Athens Greece. Dionysus was the Greek god of liminality, katharsis, fertility, the effects of wine, and theatre.
• Page 21: "BUSTELO" A Cuban style espresso popular with hipsters.
• Page 21: "THIS BOY COULD USE SOME STOLI!" Stolichnaya vodka.
• Page 21-2: "YOU STRUCK GOLD AT M.I.T? [...] THEY EXPELLED ME FOR MY THEORY OF ACTUAL REALITY." MIT was one of the first universities to work with virtual reality systems. This is what VR looked like in 1989. The term was coined in 1989 by Jaron Lanier.
• Page 22: "A NEW MEMBER OF THE ALPHABET CITY AVANT-GARDE." Based on the French term "advanced guard," avant-garde artists separate themselves from and critique mainstream culture.
• Page 22: "THE AKITA - EVITA." Akitas are big, purebred dogs.
• Page 23: "LIKE THELMA AND LOUISE WHEN THEY GOT THE BLUES." //Thelma and Louise// - a 1991 film starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis who drive cross-country after shooting a rapist. At the end of the film they drive off the edge of the Grand Canyon.
• Page 23: "SWAN DOVE INTO THE COURTYARD OF GRACIE MEWS." A high-end apartment building on the Upper East Side. It looks like this.
• Page 23: "THE NURSE TOOK HIM HOME FOR SOME MERCURICHROME." Mercurichrome is a topical antiseptic. In 1989, the FDA declared mercurichrome "unsafe and ineffective."
• Page 23: "GET YOUR ASS OFF THAT RANGE ROVER." Range Rover - a high-end, luxury SUV.
• Page 24: "Allison Grey of the Westport Greys." Westport CT, is a very affluent suburb of New York City.
• Page 25: "Then watch It's A Wonderful Life on TV!" //It's A Wonderful Life// is the archetypal Christmas movie. Made in 1946, it stars Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, and Lionel Barrymore. Ironically, the antagonist, Mr. Potter (Barrymore) plays a banker who takes delight in evicting poor people from their homes.
• Pgae 26: "That boy could use some Prozac." An antidepressive drug.
• Page 26: "Life Support's a group for people coping with life." Life Support is based on Friends In Deed. See the section on ACT UP and AIDS above for more information. This article discusses how group therapy works.
• Page 30: "With the French Ambassador's daughter in her dorm room at Miss Porter's." Miss Porter's is a very expensive, all women's boarding school for students in grades 9 - 12. Jackie Kennedy, Gloria Vanderbilt, and a variety of Bush family women attended Miss Porter's
• Page 30:"At the Scarsdale Jewish Community Center." It's actually called the The Jewish Community Center of Mid-Westchester. This article about Scarsdale is from 1983 - when Marc would have been tangoing around the JCC>
• Page 31:"AT LEAST I"LL HAVE TANGOED AT ALL." A reference to the Lord Tenyson quote "'Tis better to have loved and lost
  Than never to have loved at all."
• Page 33: "MY T-CELLS ARE LOW." T-Cells fight viral infections. A low t-cell count weakens the body's immune system.
• Page 40: "Feliz Navidad." Merry Christmas in Spanish.
• Page 40: "Smile for Ted Koppel, Officer Martin." Ted Koppel hosted Nightline - a news show on ABC - from 1980-2005. Here's Ted in action.
• Page 41: "WELL, I'M THWARTED BY A METAPHYSIC PUZZLE." Metaphysics - a branch of philosophy dedicated to investigating the nature of reality.
• Page 42: "LET'S OPEN UP A RESTAURANT IN SANTA FE." Santa Fe is the capitol of New Mexico. It's famous for its climate, south western architecture, and arts community.
• Page 42: "YOU'RE A SENSITIVE AESTHETE." Refers to the 19th century Aesthetic Movement, which valued art and creativity over political and cultural ideologies.
• Page 42: "CHATTING NOT ABOUT HEIDEGGER BUT WINE." Martin Heidegger was a 20th Century German existentialist philosopher. Much of his writing about technology predicted the development of Virtual Reality.
• Page 45: "THE MURGET CASE? A DISMISSAL! GREAT WORK COUNSELOR." A dismissal occurs when a judge rules that there is not enough evidence to bring a legal case.
• Page 45: "YES I HAVE THE COWBELL." Everything needs more cowbell.
• Page 46: 'NEWT'S LESBIAN SISTER." Newt Gingrich was a reactionary Republican congressman from Georgia's 6th district who opposed, among other things, gay marriage. Newt's half-sister Candace came out as a lesbian in 1994 and immediately became an activist in the lgbt community. Here's what she's been up to recently.
• Page 47: "CHRISTMAS BELLS ARE RINGING ON TV - AT SAKS." Saks Fifth Avenue - Pricey department store.
• Page 47: "The blank stage explodes into life! St. Marks Place on Christmas Eve." St Mark's Place is the area due east of Tompkins Square Park on the Lower East Side.
• Page 50: "FOLLOW THE MAN - FOLLOW THE MAN." The Man is the drug dealer - a reference to "I'm Waiting for the Man" by The Velvet Underground which is about waiting for the drug dealer to show up. Andy Warhol shot the video of the Velvets performing the song.
• Page 50: "GOT ANY D, MAN?" D - LSD
• Page 50: "GOT ANY C, MAN?' C - Cocaine
• Page 50: "GOT ANY X [...] SMACK [...] HORSE [...] JUGIE BOOGIE [...]BLOW?" X - Ecstasy (MDMA), Smack - Heroin, Jugie Boogie - Crack cocaine, Blow - Cocaine.
• Page 51; "GOT ANY B MAN?' B - Enough marijuana to "fit in a matchbox."
• Page 51: "L.L. BEAN, GEOFFREY BEENE, BURBURRY (sic) ZIP OUT LINING." L.L. Bean - makers of expensive, preppy clothing. Geoffrey Beene - expensive businesswear. Burberry - expensive English coats.
• Page 52: SQUEEGIEMAN. Squeegee men approach cars stopped at intersections, wash their windshields, and ask for payment.
• Page 52: "HATS, DATS, BATS." DAT was digital audio tape, a recording medium that was introduced in 1987. I'm not sure about this one...
• Page 53: "CELEBRATE IN TUCKAHOE." Tuckahoe is a non-descript suburb of NYC located in Westchester County.
• Page 53: "NO STEUBEN GLASS." Steuben is a very high-end glass maker and retailer located on Madison Ave. in NYC.
• Page 54: "ANY CRACK AN K." K - Ketamine.
• Page 57: "Out of the abyss walked a cow - Elsie." Elsie is the mascot of Borden Dairy Products.
• Page 57: "IT'S LIKE I'M BEING TIED TO THE HOOD OF A YELLOW RENTAL TRUCK PACKED WITH FERTILIZER AND FUEL OIL." A reference to the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, OK. Tim McVeigh, the bomber, used a yellow Ryder rental truck with fertilizer and fuel oil to blow up the building.
• Page 58: "Ever since the cat took up the fiddle [...] and the dish and spoon were evicted from the table." Refers to the "Hey Diddle Diddle" nursery rhyme.
• "Not in my backyard, utensils." A reference to the NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) Principal. It opposes creating anything deemed undesirable in one's neighborhood.
• Page 60: "OY VEY": Yiddish interjection expressing negative emotion. The English equivalent of "oh crap."
• Page 60: "WAS THE YUPPIE SCUM STOMPED?' Protestors chanted "Die Yuppie Scum" during the Tompkins Square Park (see above..) police riots. The Yuppie Scum they were referring to were new, upscale residents of the Lower East Side This is still happening today as a reaction to aggressive gentrification..
• Page 61: "THIS IS CALCUTTA." Calcutta, India - know for its extreme poverty.
• Page 61: "DIES IRAE - DIES ILLA." From the Catholic hymn/Gregorian chant "Day of Wrath".
• Page 61: "KYRIE ELEISON." Kyrie Eleison literally translated - "Christ have mercy." The subject of numerous Latin hymns in the Catholic church.
• Page 61: "YITGADAL V' YITKADASH." Refers to a Jewish hymn (called a Kaddish)of mourning. Here's a video of the Kaddish being performed.
• Page 61: "LA VIE BOHEME" Loosely translated: "Live the Bohemian life!" A celebration of the Bohemian lifestyle (see above for references.) also, obviously, a reference to La Boheme, Rent's source material (also - more above).
• Page 62: "TO ABSOLUT." Absolut vodka. In 1989, Absolut was well-known for its visually striking print ads.
• Page 62: "TO THE VILLAGE VOICE." The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper that focuses on art, music, theatre and progressive politics in New York City. It's been around since the mid-1950s and continues to cover NY culture.
• Page 63: "THE MIXER DOESN'T HAVE A CASE." An audio mixing board controls the level of signals from different sources.
• Page 63: "FIVE MISO SOUP." Traditional Japanese soup made from fermented soybeans. Yum.
• Page 63: "TO CURRY VINDALOO" Traditional Indian dish.
• Page 63: HUEVOS RANCHEROS." A traditional Mexican dish - eggs served with tomatoes, peppers and beans.
• Page 63: "MAYA ANGELOU." Premiere African-American poet of the 20th Century. Wrote Alone, and Still I Rise among others.
• Page 64: "TO SONTAG." Susan Sontag - Author, theatre director, and cultural critic. Her 1964 essay "Notes on Camp" had a tremendous impact on artists like Andy Warhol and informed the development of postmodernism.
• Page 64: "TO SONDHEIM." Stephen Sondheim - 20th Century musical theatre composer. Wrote West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, Assassins, etc...
• Page 64: "GINSBERG" Allen Ginsberg - "Beat" poet best known for his work in the late 1950s - 1960s. Best known for "Howl," also wrote "A Desolation" among others. Ginsberg, who was an out gay man, was an early, outspoken advocate of gay rights.
• Page 64: "DYLAN." Probably Bob Dylan, an American musician known for combining folk music with rock and roll in the early 1960s. Bob was a fixture in the Greenwich Village music scene at the time. Best know for "Like a Rolling Stone," "Tangled Up in Blue," and "Subterranean Homesick Blues."
• Page 64: "DYLAN." Or Possibly Dylan Thomas, the Welsh poet who wrote all these poems. Bob Zimmerman adopted the stage name Dylan when he started out as a folk musician in the 1960s.
• Page 64: "CUNNINGHAM AND CAGE." Merce Cunningham was an influential American choreographer. John Cage was a famous avant garde composer. Cunningham and Cage were a couple who collaborated on numerous works. Here's a video interview with the guys where they talk about their collaborative process.
• Page 64: "LENNY BRUCE." Comedian and first amendment advocate who broke ground with his "controversial" material and performance style. Here he is in action.
• Page 64: "LANGSTON HUGHES." Hughes was an American poet who came to prominence during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Best known works include "I, too, sing America," and "A Dream Deferred," where the play Raisin in the Sun gets its name.
• Page 64: "TO UTA." Uta Hagen - American acting teacher who wrote Respect for Acting and Challenge for the Actor. She was blackballed from a lot of work because of her affair with Paul Robeson.
• Page 64: "BUDDHA." Founder of the Buddhism. Here's how Buddha rolls.
• Page 64: "PABLO NERUDA, TOO." A Chilean communist politician and poet. Best known for his romantic poetry.
• Page 65: "CARCINOGENS." Any substance that is thought to cause cancer.
• Page 65: "GERTRUDE STEIN." Feminist writer and poet who came to prominence in the early 20th century. Gertrude and her partner, Alice B. Tolkas were out lesbians who lived in Paris and drove ambulances during WWII.
• Page 65: "ANTONIONI." Michelangelo Antonioni was an Italian filmmaker whose work dealt with existential problems and redefined film aesthetics in the 1960s. His best known films are Blow-Up and //L'Avventura//.
• Page 65:"BERTOLUCCI." Bernardo Bertolucci was an Italian film director. His best known work was the 1972 film Last Tango in Paris with Marlon Brando
• Page 65: "KUROSAWA." Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who adapted Western. His best known films are Ran and Throne of Blood.
• Page 65: "CARMINA BURANA." "Carmina Burana" was composed in 1937 by Carl Orff. It's based on the //Codex Burana// - a collection of medieval poetry from around the 13th Century. Here are some of the best known sections.
• Page 65: "TO ENTROPY." Science! Entropy is the Second Law of Thermodynamics - the theory that energy spontaneously disperses from being localized to becoming spread out if it is not hindered from doing so. It's why your toaster cools down after you unplug it.
• Page 65: "VACLAV HAVEL." Vaclav Havel - a Czech playwright and human rights activist who was jailed as a political dissident in 1977. In 1989, as the Soviet Union began to crumble, Havel was released, and led the Velvet Revolution - a peaceful movement to install a new, democratic government. Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia. He served until Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. Havel served as president of the Czech republic until 2003.
• Page 65: "THE SEX PISTOLS." English band that brought Punk rock to the mainstream in the mid-1970s. Watch this. And this. This, too.
• Page 65: "8BC." 8BC was a club/performance space in Alphabet City. It opened on Halloween 1983, and closed sometime in 1985. Called 8BC as it was on 8th St. between avenues B and C. 8BC was well known for it's "Pig Phest" barbecues and converting empty lots into miniature golf courses. John Linnell of They Might Be Giants describes 8BC as being "really homemade." These images are from the Smithsonian's collection of material from 8BC.
• Page 65: "an impromptu salon..." A salon was an informal meeting of a group of intellectuals and artists.
• Page 66: "the high holy days." The 10 day period between Rosh Hashana (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement.
• Page 66: "through her vocoder..." Sound effect device that process the user's voice and makes it sound robotic. T-Pain loves his vocoder.
• Page 67: "ACT UP - FIGHT AIDS." See the section on AIDS & ACT UP above.
• Page 70: "AND THEY'RE RIOTING ON AVENUE A." Refers to the Tompkins Square Park riots - see above..

Act 2

• Page 77: "TECHNICALLY YOU'RE SQUATTERS." Squatters take up residence in buildings they have no legal right to occupy.
• Page 78: "AND PUSSY GALORE - IN PERSON." The title character's side kick in the James Bond film Goldfinger. Here she is with Sean Connery.
• Page 78: "AHA! MONEYPENNY - MY MARTINI!" Miss Moneypenny is the secretary of the director of Her Majesty's Secret Service who has an unrequited crush on James Bond.
• Page 78: "THAT'S SHAKEN - NOT STIRRED." Another James Bond reference. Bond's signature drink is a martini - shaken, not stirred.
• Page 79: "EVEN YOUR FATHER SAYS MAZEL TOV." Yiddish term that colloquially means "congratulations."
• Page 80: "MY CELLPHONE AT 919-763-0090." Alexi's cell phone number is from North Central North Carolina.
• Page 82: "GOLF CLAPS." Sarcastic clapping - like this.
• Page 87: "I didn't stay and dance at Clit Club last night..." Clit Club was a lesbian night at a club called Mothers. It's still around - at Flamingo now.
• Page 94: "IN EAST HAMPTON." Expensive resort town on the eastern tip of Long Island.
• Page 97: "she'd help 'em find the Circle Line." Circle Line is a sightseeing cruise that takes tourist around Manhattan island.
• Page 108: "WHERE IT'S LIKE THE TWILIGHT ZONE." //The Twilight Zone// was a tv series from the early 1960s that told bizarre, often ironic, stories.
• Page 110: "MIMI, CHICA, DONDE ESTAS? TU MAMA ESTA LLAMANDO." According to Google Translate, "Mimi, girl, where are you? Your mama is calling."
• Page 113: "AT THE FOOD EMPORIUM." Food Emporium is an East Coast grocery chain. Currently, the closest one to Alphabet City is here.