(Originally Published on The Huffington Post on 1/28/2013)

New York City cabaret/performance-art/drag icon Joey Arias hits the road next month with fellow East Village art scene veteran Kristian Hoffman for a West Coast tour called Lightning Strikes, so… get ready, America! Borrowed from the title of German countertenor Klaus Nomi‘s song by the same name, Lightning Strikes marks the first collaboration between Arias and Hoffman, both having been dear friends and collaborators with Nomi until the time of his death in 1983.

I had the chance to catch up with Joey last week to chat about music, love, Lady Gaga vs. Madonna, how the gay rights movement has changed and what magic is in store for us as Lightning Strikes rolls into cities across the western United States.

Logan Lynn: As you already know, I adore you. To me, you are everything that matters about New York.

Joey Arias: Thank you, Logan, for that lovely compliment. New York is a state of mind. The Empire State: that’s me! [Laughs.]

Lynn: The last time we saw you in Portland was a couple years back, for the premiere of Arias With a Twist at QDoc: Queer Documentary Film Festival, where you famously performed with Pink Martini frontman Thomas Lauderdale on piano at Mother’s Bistro. How was that friendship formed? Are there more Joey Arias/Pink Martini collaborations in store?

Arias: I guess I love meeting beautiful people. You have been super-sweet to me, as have Thomas and Hugh and many others in Portland. As far as Pink Martini goes, I’d been a huge fan, and it was Kim Hastrieter of Paper mag that introduced us. Thomas came to my apartment and dropped off his CD and hugged me and said how much he loved me, and then he ran away. We caught up that evening at Kim’s for dinner and got into a great conversation. I’ve been invited many times to perform with them. It’s been an honor to grace the stage with them! We’re all so busy, and I don’t know when the next time will be, but I’m sure in the future there will be more collaborations.

Lynn: That is very exciting! Speaking of collaborations, many folks remember your famous performance with David Bowie and Klaus Nomi on Saturday Night Live in the ’80s. Your new tour is named after one of Klaus Nomi’s songs. Is the tour a tribute to your old friend, in part?

Arias: The tour is a celebration of friendship. Kristian Hoffman was part of the original East Village scene. He Read the rest of this entry »

(Originally Published on Moviefone and The Huffington Post on 11/19/2012)

With Laika Studios releasing ParaNorman on 3D Blu-ray combo pack, Blu-ray combo pack, DVD, On Demand and digital download on Nov. 27, I decided to catch up with my old friend (and ParaNorman creator/director) Chris Butler. We chatted about his dream project coming to life, how this movie of his is changing the world, and why everyone needs to watch it at least twice.

Logan: Hey, Chris. Thanks so much for chatting with me today. For you, what is ParaNorman about?

Chris: I think mainly it’s about tolerance. It’s about how judging people is often misjudging people. The original seed of the idea was something as simple as “how cool would it be to make a stop-mo-animated zombie movie for kids?” and I think that had more to do with growing up on a gleeful diet of Ray Harryhausen creature features and cheesy horror movies. But then beyond that I started thinking that all the best zombie movies are really social commentary — zombies as metaphors. I had the lofty ambition of trying to do that on my movie, only making it a social commentary for kids. I think by far the hardest issue I faced as a child was “fitting in.” I was different, and when you’re a kid, “different” is considered “bad.” The world isn’t a tolerant place for people who don’t conform to the accepted norm. When I embraced that as the heart of the movie, the story really clicked. I wanted to juxtapose the fictional horror of the walking dead with the very real horror of what it is to be 11 years old and different.

Logan: Oh, God. Seriously. How long had this project been in the works?

Chris: I started writing it about 15 or 16 years ago. I kept returning to it over the years. There was something about it that just wouldn’t die, which I guess for a zombie movie is pretty appropriate.

Logan: Aww, it’s your baby!

Chris: This truly is my baby, from initial idea through first draft of the script to the finished movie. It’s a very personal project to me.

Logan: Clearly. I was also struck by the craft of it all. In a world of mass production and CGI, to see something so labor-intensive come to life is a real treat. Was it hard to convince people to come on board with your way of doing things instead of taking an easier animation route?

Chris: We’re an odd bunch in the stop-motion world. We live, breathe and fight for our medium. We love what we do, and for that reason this type of animation will always be around and will always attract amazingly talented people. I think there was a degree of passion among the crew for this project in particular that I don’t think I’ve seen before. Obviously, I’m biased, but I genuinely think people wanted to give this their all.

It was always conceived as stop-motion, right from day one. As soon as I saw the skeleton fight in Jason and the Argonauts as a kid, I knew that stop-motion was the best way to bring the dead back to life!

Logan: It’s really special, Chris. And clearly, Casey Affleck’s ginger character is based on me. If one of the characters in the film were based on you and your experience in the world, who would it be? Read the rest of this entry »