Everybody had a toast and then [Hurricane] Henri came rolling in. We said our prayers to say goodbye. He was a founding member of the notorious Club Kids, a group of young club goers led by Alig and James St. James in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But he continued to battle his seemingly ever-present demons, getting busted for possession of crystal meth near Yankee Stadium in 2017. The Club Kids wore outrageous costumes that former Club Kid and celebutante James St. James later described as "part drag, part clown, part infantilism". Alig and Robert Freeze Riggs served time in prison for killing Club Kid member Andre Angel Melendez, dismembering his body and tossing it in the Hudson River in 1996. After The Limelight was closed by federal agents and an investigation found that Gatien was allowing drugs to be sold there, Melendez was fired. He was a founding member of the notorious Club Kids, a group of young club goers led by Alig and James St. James in the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, its reputation would be forever tarnished byParty Monsterand its subject, Club Kid extraordinaireMichael Alig. In Riggs' original statement to the police, Alig and Melendez had indeed been fighting, at which point he grabbed the hammer and hit the drug dealer. Sitemap, Your California Privacy Rights [12] Alig's notorious "Outlaw Parties", which were thrown in various unconventional places including a McDonalds,[13] a Dunkin' Donuts, abandoned houses, and a subway, helped to revitalize the downtown New York City club scene which Village Voice columnist Michael Musto declared had atrophied after artist Andy Warhol died in 1987. However, Robert Riggs ultimately confessed and revealed Alig's role in the crime. Then again, the club scene had its dark sides. Then he killed a friend. He was still trying, his little bug legs kicking aimlessly. I learned of his death and received confirmation that Francesco Bellafante had died within 24 hours of one another. Alig was the last of these self-created downtown freaks. After ten years in prison, club kid turned murderer Michael Alig was clean (finally) and obsessed with his reentry into New York nightlife, writes Jonathan Van Meter in this 2006 New York Magazine profile. Michael Alig, the notorious 'Club Kid Killer' and the flamboyant party promoter, who ended up serving 17 years in jail for the sordid murder and dismemberment of his drug dealer, looked disturbed and anxious in the last months of his life. 82,056, This story has been shared 73,275 times. Michael Alig, the infamous leader of the 1990s "Club Kids" who was later convicted of murdering his roommate and drug dealer, has died at the age of 54. 45,190, 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved And even with the particulars, even keeping the despicable act that defined his legacy in mind, thats a shame because all waste is a shame. Privacy Notice This story has been shared 100,855 times. I didnt bring up anything about the ashes I am glad we are talking again, he said. According to The Guardian, there are many versions of the exact circumstances surrounding Andre"Angel" Melendez's death, thanks to the inaccurate depictions in various pop culture works and exaggerations by both the media and the Club Kids. [28] James St. James recounted how Melendez's brother was baffled by what he regarded as callous indifference by the police and by the scenesters Melendez had considered friends.[25]. "He was putting on the 'Michael Alig' act for me, the wild and crazy guy. However, Melendez didn't have the same intense desire to lead that his friend had. Due to the popularity of these events during the lockdown, NYC police investigated believing there was a real in person event when it was actually a virtual party. 73,275, This story has been shared 51,653 times. [21] Alig disputed these claims, however, and cited the "Drano in the hypodermic needle" as one of the key false dramatizations in Disco Bloodbath and Party Monster. Aligs life was literally made for Hollywood, with his saga turned into a movie in 2003. On December 25, 2020, notorious New York City "Club Kid" Michael Alig died of an accidental heroin overdose. In the New York Post article "Party Monster: Painting in Prison Kept Me from Killing Myself", it featured the upcoming June 25, 2015 art event, an interview of Michael Alig as a painter and photos his paintings such as Zombie Babies, Club Kids and the Pfizer series - Orange Butterflies Pfizer painting. In 2003, the movie Party Monster took a no-holds-barred look at New York City's club culture and its seedy, drug-fueled underbelly. The final chapter of a story full of tragic twists and turns came on December 25, 2020, when Alig was found lifeless in his apartment in Manhattan. The Club Kids went to war with Aligs mother, Elke Blair, over his ashes after his death. And everyone was kind of morphing into each other and melding into each other like goop. Aligs death was the final chapter in a sordid, sensational and decidedly cautionary tale about striving to become famous in the Big Apple and ultimately succumbing to its excesses. Setting aside her point about academia, I've always understood her to be defending, even celebrating, the roles in a vital arts community of insistent non-conformism; a lack of judgment around . [30], Alig claimed he killed Melendez in self-defense and helped to dispose of the body in a panic. Detectives recovered several zip-lock plastic bags, apparently containing heroin, from the home, as well as drug paraphernalia, officials said. Several bags of a variety of drugs were recovered by detectives from the scene, which once again reflects his troubled life post his release from jail six years back. Alig's Club Kids included (among others): "Astro Erle", "Ernie Glam", "Gitsie", "Jennytalia", "Superstar DJ Keoki", Amanda Lepore, Charlie "Dash" Prestano, Joshua Davis, "Richie Rich", Robert "Freeze" Riggs, RuPaul, and "Walt Paper". His ability to stage memorable parties helped him rise in New York's party scene. He became part of the scenes exclusive, trend-setting group known as the Club Kids who were paid merely to show up and bring a bit of fabulousness to the mix, Alig recalled. The movie tells the story of a disenfranchised small-town kid called Michael Alig (Macaulay Culkin), who relocates to the Big Apple to look for better things. We were the antithesis of sex. Actor: Vamp Bikers Tres. A week before the June 25, 2015 art event, someone stole the box with the second middle pieces of the puzzle art invitation. [39] From September 7, 2014, on, Alig and Glam hosted a YouTube comedy talk show titled "The Pee-ew". He was 54 years old. [52] The following day, Christmas, Alig's mother confirmed his cause of death as an accidental heroin overdose. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The Club Kids went to war with Alig's mother, Elke Blair, over his ashes after his death. Blair told us in January, she felt they were trying to bully her over where he would eventually be laid to rest. Looking at it today, PartyMonster managed to get quite a star-studded cast, with a combination of established names and up-and-comers ranging from Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin (who played Alig), Seth Green, and That '70s Show mainstay Wilmer Walderrama to Chlo Sevigny, Dylan McDermott, and even shock rocker Marilyn Manson. As a gay teen coming to terms with my sexuality, I was overwhelmed and exhilarated. [35], In August 2004, James St. James began a blog entitled "Phone Calls From a Felon". The overlap made me wary and a little queasy. He maintained he did it in self-defense, something he said he remained sure of even though many of the details were hazy because of all the drugs that were involved. As such, Party Monster's 2003 single-theater opening weekend raked in a measly $15,163, per Box Office Mojo. Later, when they realized he was dead, they put him in a bathtub with baking soda, ice, and Drano to cover the smell. Its hard to say what percentage the drugs are responsible. "[23], On April 26, 1996, Musto reported rumors of Alig's involvement in Melendez's death in a blind item, in his Village Voice column. Michael Alig (April 29, 1966 December 24, 2020) was an American club promoter, artist, and individual who was convicted of felony manslaughter. . ", The Messed Up True Story Behind Party Monster. [40] Michael Alig had numerous Club Kids and mentors helping him get established to function in the modern real world life such as Ernie Glam and his husband David Maurici, Screamin' Rachael, Steve Lewis, Esther Hayes, Christopher Comp, Sushi, Michael Tronn, nightlife personality Professor Victor P. Corona, and nightlife personality/musician Ingrid LaLa. My heart broke a little when I asked him if he missed anything about prison and he said without even pausing to think about it, I miss not worrying about having a place to live or eat. He told me he wished could be a baby again and do it all over, which I also found depressing. That said, he did discuss his accountability and the role drugs played with insightful ambivalence: To say [killing Melendez] was an overreaction is beyond the pale. Alig meets James St. James (Seth Green), who introduces . As a look at the film's Rotten Tomatoes page readily tells us, the critics utterly lambasted Party Monster. After working the Outrage! Their ranks included future influencers such as RuPaul, and their scene became a huge deal that inspired artists and designers from Jean Paul Gaultier to Elton John. Michael told me, Ill never see money from it because they said theyll only release it after [longtime collaborator and DJ] Keoki or I died.. 82,056, This story has been shared 73,275 times. Previous Next. 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True Hollywood Story", "PHOTO CALL: Meet the Club Kids of the New Immersive Musical Adaptation of "Party Monster" at A.R.T. We didnt want to have to think about AIDS, so we just got all dressed up and partied like it was the end of the world. Alig himself has noted that because the name of the game was disaffection, the verbal abuse could be rather extreme. Per Variety, the pair killed Melendez with a hammer and later dismembered his body and threw it in the Hudson river in a cardboard box. Striking a man with a hammer, suffocating him, and dumping the body in a bathtub with Drano before dismembering and dumping it is an extreme crime at the best of times but in a 2014 interview withThe Guardian, Michael Alig insisted that the way he and Robert Riggs killed Angel Melendez was actually rather more muted than its pop culture depiction. 3 min read. Shortly thereafter, he moved into Alig's Riverbank West apartment. The $500 Prada glasses that his friends, two former club kids named Jenny and Karliin, bought for him last year are precariously perched on his nose, held together with fishing line, one lens . Do Not Sell My Personal Information, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window). document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Infamous Club Kid Killer Michael Alig expected he would be dead by the end of 2020, according to a source. Michael Alig . Keoki, Cynthia 'Social Lies' and Michael Alig pose for a photo at Tunnel nightclub on January 13th, 1988 in New York City, New York. [10] The Club Kids' outrageousness became a source of interest for the media, and articles about them appeared in such media outlets as Newsweek, People, and TIME. That made me feel good, that I was providing jobs, we would get places to liveRichie Rich and Sophia [Lamar] and Astro. Alig also was homeless off and on admitting in 2018 that he turned to the gay-hook-up site Grindr at one point when he ran out of money just to have some place to sleep and at least once found himself camping out under a bridge. An overly friendly cat weaved between my legs and then Alig pointed out that she was in heat. [22], In the weeks following Melendez's disappearance, Alig allegedly told "anyone who would listen" that he and Riggs had killed him. The crime happened on March 17, 1996, and the perpetrators were Michael Alig and his roommate, Robert "Freeze" Riggs. Michael Alig. He would not shave regularly and looked like a haggard. Both were gay men who arrived in New York City around the same time and became heavily involved in the flamboyant Club Kid scene. . to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc. "You could say just the worst things about people, nobody was ever offended," he recalled. Michael Alig, Keda Albano, Swedish dance band Army of Lovers , Kabuki Starshine and unidentified pose for a photo in Alig's apartment in May 1992 in. [7], While working at Danceteria, Alig studied the nightclub business and soon became a party promoter. the actor said. In May 2014, reports emerged that Alig was attempting to sell his memoirs and was pursuing a career as a magazine writer. In March 1996, Alig and another friend, Robert Freeze Riggs, got into a beef with a small-time drug-peddling pal, Angel Melendez, while they were all on ketamine. Alig would often look disturbed and anxious looking for something and would stumble in the last months of his life. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. This kit packs $431 worth of premium skincare and haircare into a small packageand it's only $80 with the promo code. The young man, the boyfriend of famed pop artist Keith Haring, took Alig to a party that his beau was throwing at the now-defunct Area club on Hudson Street. As The Guardian tells us, the 17-year-old Alig moved to New York from Indiana in the early 1980s in order to get a reprieve from his difficult family conditions and the constant bullying because of his homosexuality. In 2016,I was assigned to profile Alig for Maer Roshans short-lived reboot of the queer lifestyle magazine 429, which is now defunct. 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