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James Wolcott


James Wolcott is a columnist for AIR MAIL. He first gained national prominence as a columnist for The Village Voice in the the 1970s and later became Vanity Fair’s cultural critic, while also contributing to The New Yorker. He is the author of several books, including the memoir Lucking Out and Critical Mass, a collection of essays and reviews. Wolcott lives in New York with his wife, the dance and art critic Laura Jacobs.

24 results

Death Became Her

Wham, Bam, Thank You Yam

Suzanne Bocanegra + Ruth Negga: Bodycast

Glamour Is Forever

Lights at the End of the Tunnel

An exhibition of charming tube posters from the Golden Age of Travel goes on show at the London Transport Museum

John Waters: Pope of Trash

The View from Here

A kaleidoscopic cultural history of drag in New York City revisits the “Pansy Craze” of the 1920s, the Harlem ball scene, Stonewall, and the Broadway stage

Sapphire and Steel

Summer Time

Eleven years after Donna Summer’s death, the Queen of Disco’s collection of lavish costumes, gold records, and handwritten lyrics will go up for auction at Christie’s

Love & Death

And the Oscar Goes
to …

In Good Night, Oscar, pianist and actor Oscar Levant’s startling appearance on Jack Paar’s Tonight show plays out onstage

Basquiat x Warhol: Painting 4 Hands

Rudy Then and Rudy Now

Rudy Giuliani’s fall from respected New York mayor to Trump consigliere is well documented. But the cracks in his moral makeup were there from the outset

Make Me Famous

The Way They Were

The Funniest Show You Probably Haven’t Been Watching

A Different Kind of Holiday

How to enjoy Christmas alone in the big city

The Collaboration

Coming Attractions: The John Waters Collection

Sunglasses After Dark

A guided tour of CBGB, the Mudd Club, Tunnel, and downtown’s other lost nightlife haunts

Mary Astor’s Purple Diary: The Musical

Cataclysm: The 1972 Diane Arbus Retrospective Revisited

Holding Still

Blondie: Against the Odds 1974–1982