I have been wanting to read this book for a long time. I loved both the film and the documentary (or as they titled it, the 'shockumentary'). The story is wild and fascinating... I remember seeing Alig and his gang on Donahue way back when it originally aired and thinking they were so "out there" and cool! This was originally published under the title Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous But True Tale Of Murder In Clubland, but was changed to tie it into the movie.

Outrageous! I couldn't put this book down. Witty, funny, at times touching, disturbing. I have been fascinated with Alig and his lot for years, since seeing them on Donahue or Geraldo in the early 80's. I love Jame's style, will have to try his fiction novel now! I'm going to set this aside to release at Pridefest this year.

Reserved for a Bookcrossing table at Albuquerque Pridefest on June 14, 2008!

This was leftover after the festival... will find a new home for the book soon....

Sending on a mini-bookray. Will send off to mellion108 soon, and when she's done, it's headed to MaryZee for her daughter to read!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Headed to mellion108 via media mail.

Thanks, Jare! The book is here in my grubby (well, not too grubby, I promise) hands.

I have 2 books to finish and then will start this one and have it moving along to MaryZee as soon as possible. Thanks so much for sharing!

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Trade paperback, 286 pages

From the back cover:
When Disco Bloodbath was first published, it created a storm of controversy for its startlingly vivid, strikingly fresh, and outrageously funny depiction of the hedonistic world of the New York City club kids, for whom nothing was too outré—including murder. Nominated for the Edgar Award for best true-crime book of the year, it also marked the debut of an audaciously talented writer, James St. James, who himself had been a club kid and close friend and confidant of Michael Alig, the young man convicted of killing the drug dealer known as Angel.

Now the book has been brought to the screen as Party Monster, with Macaulay Culkin playing killer Michael Alig and Seth Green as author/celubtante James St. James.

I will now forever judge Caligula a little less harshly. ;-)

How any of the people in this novel managed to live long enough to see their 40s is beyond me! The vast quantities of drugs alone should have killed off these people long ago (not that I'm wishing death on them, mind you). I spent a lot of years as a social worker working with drug addicts, and reading this book just brought back all the olfactory memories (crack is one of the worst smelling things on this planet...and I suppose you can take that in more ways than one, but I do mean the drug).

Anyway...

St. James does not sugarcoat or paint a pretty picture of his time as one of the Club Kids. Sure, there was a lot of fun to be had, but a lot of these young men ended up in less-than-desirable positions as serious, homeless drug addicts. It's a sad tale.

Surprisingly, little is written here about Angel, the murder victim.

I actually came away from this reading with a few mixed emotions. One is, wow, this is bizarre and wild and freaky. Another is, damn, these guys were messed up beyond belief—and how did they all always have money, anyway?

Overall, this is a fascinating read. Take it as a cautionary tale (don't do drugs or at least don't kill your drug dealer), or as a peek into a life that most of America doesn't know exists. Either way, this is good reading. I feel for Angel's family—losing a family member to violence is a horrible thing. Although I don't muster up a great deal of sympathy for Alig, I do think that he was probably someone struggling with mental illness issues since childhood. I'm sure that the drugs helped to spur on his mental state. I'm glad he was caught, and I'm glad he went to prison for the murder, but it would have been nice if somewhere along the way he got some badly needed help. Just my most humble opinion, of course.

Ok, I have MaryZee's address and hope to get this in the mail sometime this week. Thanks again for sharing, Jare!

Oh, just another interesting tidbit...author Paul Auster's son, Daniel, was apparently one of the club kids—allegedly the kid who was asleep in the apartment during the murder of Angel Melendez. Daniel went on to testify in the Peter Gatien trial.

Here are a few sites I visited out of curiosity about the people involved in this scene and this crime:

A 2006 jail interview with Michael Alig.

Alig's website (not updated in a few years). There are some great pictures here of some of the people appearing in Party Monster. One of the things I hated while reading the book was not being able to put a face with the name.

Michael Alig Thinks He's God magnet...Alig is either loved or hated, it seems.

It looks like Alig was denied parole a second time in July 2008 and won't be eligible for release again until 2010. He's in his 40s and reportedly in poor health (mental and physical). He's at work on an autobiography entitled, appropriately enough, Alig-ula.

Interesting blog entry focusing more on Angel Melendez than on Alig.

I actually wasted a great deal of time going from site to site reading about James St. James, Michael Alig, Angel Melendez, and other Club Kids. There is a lot of info out there (not sure what is true and what isn't), and I'm having to tear myself away from the computer to stop reading!

UPDATE: Mailed to MaryZee on August 14, 2008. Enjoy!

Book arrived safely today. This will be here for a while, since daughter is moving to university next weekend (starting out as a junior after doing community college, so she'll be very busy, and living on her own for the first time). I will keep track of this book, and remind her about it either during winter break, or in the summer.

Thanks to Mellion108 for sending it, and Jare for sharing.