Season 2 · Episode 6
Designer · the chain-mail man · Squeezebox host
Released 12 Sep 2022 · 1:07:09 as a podcast
Every name, club, book, song, night and look from the interview - 145 references and 376 mentions in this episode. James remembers meeting Michael at the Gaiety, the Times Square strip theatre, before they all swept into Area together. Michael tells of arriving in 1983 to see Diana Ross in Central Park, Annie Flanders walking him into Area, and discovering chain mail at Erickson Beamon - then the dress in a SoHo window that brought Cher calling, Tina Turner's crystal dress for Herb Ritts, Eartha Kitt's gown, Rihanna's mesh Daisy Dukes, Lady Gaga's bubbles and Debbie Harry's razor-blade gown, now at the Met. Then his Palladium room with Iggy Pop's Nightclubbing in Braille, Squeezebox at Don Hill's - where Hedwig and the Angry Inch was workshopped - and Dita Von Teese's 3D-printed gown. Wow!
Black baseball cap, black T-shirt, chunky silver chain, shoulder-length hair and a goatee
A room lit hot pink and violet: club posters (a Tunnel flyer), framed photos, a star-shaped paper lamp
Razor blades
Around 3,000 hand-dulled razor blades: a metal column
Where Michael arrived in 1983 with about $40 and stayed
The guest: designer of clothing, jewellery and interiors - the chain-mail man behind looks for Cher, Tina Turner, Debbie Harry, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Dita Von Teese and Lil Nas X - and the host of Squeezebox. Links to his Night Fever episode
FashionChain mail, mesh and armour (see Mood)
Heard as “Michael / Michael Schmidt / Michael Smith”
Saw Michael's chain-mail dress in the Diane B window and, thanks to his friend Jessica running after her, beeped him; she invited him over and they became friends. Michael says she taught everyone how glamorous a woman could be
FashionMichael's chain mail for Cher
Heard as “Cher / chair”
Met Michael through Cher; Herb Ritts paid for the crystal dress she first refused and then loved. Michael remembers fittings alone in a hotel room with her doing her moves. As a 16-year-old in Kansas City he made posters for her Topeka show in exchange for tickets
FashionLinked-crystal dress (see Mood)
Heard as “Tina”
With James the night they met Michael at the Gaiety - in her 'little booby outfit' and big hair, as James remembers
Heard as “Lisa”
Times Square male strip theatre above the Howard Johnson's - Michael's favourite place pre-Giuliani; where James and Lisa met him, as James tells it
Heard as “Gaiety / gaddy / gaiety / gaty”
Stepped out of a cab at Area, took young Michael by the hand and walked him in, as he tells it; they became lifelong friends. She ran Details and lived in the same building as Cher
Heard as “Annie / Annie Flanders”
The artist of the Soundsuits, Michael's teenage friend 'Nikki' in Kansas City. Michael says he first showed him that art is a way of life
FashionSoundsuits - 'Bigfoot meets Leigh Bowery', as James puts it (see Mood)
Heard as “Nick Cave / Nikki”
Michael moved there for the Bon Jovi line and dressed the rockers; he built an aluminium-anodising set-up there
Heard as “LA / Los Angeles”
Host; remembers meeting Michael at the Gaiety with Lisa Edelstein, and says his diaries have Michael out every single night
Heard as “James”
Where Michael grew up and met Nick Cave
Around 3,000 hand-dulled razor blades: a metal column
FashionRazor blades
Heard as “Razorblade / razor blade”
Michael's Friday night at Don Hill's: drag queens singing with a live punk band, local rock bands opening for them, go-go dancers of every kind and no press allowed - from 1993 as Michael remembers it
FashionRock-and-roll drag (see Mood)
Heard as “Speezbach / Squeeze Box / Squeezebox / squeeze box”
A nod to 30s glamour - big shoulders, tiny waist - made with futuristic technology
Fashion3D-printed lattice
Heard as “3D / three D”
Michael spelled out his song Nightclubbing in Braille on the Palladium floor. He tells of first seeing Iggy in a gym locker room in 1983 - and that Iggy later said it sounded like him
Heard as “Iggy / iggy”
Sitting with Michael at the Gaiety in a bustier and big wig, James recalls; they all went on to Area together
Heard as “Barsh / Suzanne”
Annie Flanders walked Michael in on his first night; he remembers the window vitrines changing every six to eight weeks
Heard as “Airbnb / Area / Aria”
The most chic store downtown, where Michael's chain-mail dress went in the window and Cher saw it; later Comme des Garçons, he says
Heard as “Agnes B / Diane B”
Cher passed on Michael's pieces to him; Michael says Jon agreed to a Bon Jovi clothing line only if Michael designed it, and moved him to LA
FashionAcid-wash denim with chain mail (see Mood)
Heard as “Bon Jovi / John”
Covers with Rihanna's mesh Daisy Dukes and Gaga's bubbles; teenage Michael drew Tina from it
Michael went to its technology-transfer seminars every year and saw his first 3D printer there
Michael's tearaway golden suit of armour for him was a collaboration with Versace; James saw it at an iHeartRadio show
FashionTearaway golden armour (see Mood)
Heard as “NAS X / Nas X”
Joined them from the Gaiety to Area; Michael says Haoui introduced him to Vicki Sarge and the Erickson Beamon crowd
Heard as “Howie / Howie Montague / Howie. Montaug”
In the group that swept into Area from the Gaiety, as James tells it
Heard as “Anita”
Annie Flanders's magazine; Michael's chain-mail dress made its cover, James recalls
Heard as “Details / details”
Asked Michael to make her a gown when they met at a party; he made her a floor-length chain-mail gown with dolman sleeves. She walked from the Carlyle to his studio for fittings - she liked to people-watch
FashionFloor-length chain-mail gown with dolman sleeves (see Mood)
Heard as “Earth Kitt / Eartha / Miss Kidd / Urtha”
Michael's razor-blade gown for her - 3,000 hand-dulled blades - ended up in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He says she always let him do what he wanted; she played Squeezebox too
FashionRazor-blade column gown (see Mood)
Heard as “Debbie / Debbie Harry”
Michael's drag name - he did Ace of Spades as her
FashionDrag
Michael saw her for $2 at the Ritz on his first night in New York, doing Borderline and Lucky Star
Michael made her mesh Daisy Dukes for a Rolling Stone cover, printing photographed denim onto metal mesh
FashionPrinted-mesh Daisy Dukes (see Mood)
Area's doorman. James says he never gave them trouble about comps again after they arrived with this crowd
Heard as “Michael Clancy / catching Michael's eye”
Michael saw Madonna there for $2 his first night in New York; Tina Turner's legendary show was there too
Heard as “Ritz / the Ritz”
The jewellery company where Michael developed new techniques - and found chain mail
Heard as “Eric Beaman / Erickson Beaman”
The dress that caught Cher's eye
FashionChain mail
Heard as “chain male dress / dress in the window”
Michael's friend at Diane B who put his dress in the window and ran after Cher with his number
Heard as “Jessica”
When it came out, Michael says, the glamour died and grunge took over
Heard as “Never mind / Nirvana”
Michael's studio in the triangle building, above the Hellfire
Heard as “9th and 14th / Ninth Avenue and 14th”
Thrift-shop denim photographed, printed onto metal mesh and re-linked - tatters and all
FashionPrinted metal mesh
Heard as “Daisy Duke / Daisy Dukes”
His set for Michael's film-strip gown wasn't ready, so Michael made Gaga a bubble look for the pink bubble set instead
Heard as “David / La Chappell”
Debbie Harry's razor-blade gown ended up there
Heard as “Metropolitan / the Met”
Michael designed a room there in an old generator room: black leather dance floor, and Iggy Pop's Nightclubbing spelled out in Braille in silver tacks
FashionBraille studs on black carpet (see Mood)
Heard as “Palladium / palladium”
Squeezebox's first DJ - 'legendary', as James and Michael agree
Heard as “Howie Pyro / Howie was there”
Wore Michael's 3D-printed gown in 2012 - no fittings, just trust
Fashion3D-printed gown (see Mood)
Heard as “Dita”
Co-host, introduced at the top of the show
Heard as “Barbado / Randy”
Michael's plastic-bubble look, made in 15 minutes on David LaChapelle's set, became a Rolling Stone cover
FashionPlastic bubbles taped on (see Mood)
Home of the Gaiety
Michael came to New York in July 1983 to see her Central Park concert in the rain - 'the greatest thing I've ever seen' and the reason he does what he does
The most chic store in downtown Manhattan - and, James says, Michael was the most beautiful boy in all of it
James compares Nick Cave's Soundsuits to him; Michael mentions a chain-mail piece for Leigh that took a month
Heard as “Lee Bowery”
How Michael arrived at Cher's: white face, black coal eyes, white lips
FashionWhite face, black eyes, white lips
Heard as “OG / old school goth”
Asked Michael for a dress for a Tina Turner shoot and paid for it himself; the signed photo hangs at Michael's
Heard as “Herb / Herb Ritz”
Tina had just left him when Michael saw her play Topeka
Heard as “ICE / IKEAT”
Floor-length, with big dolman sleeves
FashionChain mail, dolman sleeves
Heard as “dolmen sleeves / floor-length gown”
A gown of woven old 8mm film with a huge train - and the plastic bubbles taped on for the cover instead
FashionWoven film, plastic bubbles
Heard as “bubbles”
Debbie's 70s black dress with razor-blade trim may have been Sprouse, Michael thinks - or one she made herself
Heard as “Sprouse”
Refurbished machinery, a black leather dance floor, black carpet with silver tacks in Braille
FashionBlack leather, silver studs
Heard as “generator”
The rock-and-roll club on Greenwich and Spring where Squeezebox ran on Fridays
Heard as “Don Hills”
Michael's Squeezebox partner (named as Guy); he says it began in '94, Michael says '93
Heard as “Guy”
Workshopped Hedwig and the Angry Inch at Squeezebox after Michael finally said yes - once
Michael has made several Met Gala pieces, including Katy Perry's chandelier dress
A wearable chandelier with no battery pack on her back
FashionCrystal chandelier
Heard as “Chandelier. Dress / make a chandelier wearable”
Co-host; asks how young Michael handled the business side and whether he was out clubbing too
Heard as “Fenton”
The hosts' company
James's look the night they met: sequins, heels, bleach-blond hair and a lunchbox
FashionSequins, high heels, bleach-blond hair
Heard as “lunchbox”
James remembers him in the corner in full make-up and jewels
FashionFull-length mink, make-up, jewels
Heard as “full-length mink”
Diana Ross's concert in the rain
Where his model friend lived - he slept in her bathtub
Heard as “Fourth and B”
Madonna sang it at the Ritz the night Michael arrived
Heard as “Borderline”
Stood in one of Area's window vitrines the night Michael first went
Enormous - fur and everything but the kitchen sink
FashionFur and found objects
Heard as “Sound Suits”
At Erickson Beamon when James first met Michael, James recalls
Wore Erickson Beamon-style pieces in her I Wanna Dance with Somebody video, Michael says
Michael's example of beaded Erickson Beamon-style jewellery on screen
Heard as “I Wanna Dance”
Co-founder of Erickson Beamon, who hired Michael through Haoui Montaug
Michael made his first jewellery from things he found there
Cher, Annie Flanders and Steve Rubell all lived in the building above it on Broadway, Michael says
Lived in the same building above Tower Records, Michael says (heard as 'Steve Richards')
Heard as “Steve Richards”
James asks about Tina's chain-mail look in it; Michael says that was done by the studio, not him
Heard as “Thunderdome”
The record Tina was making when she and Michael started working together
Heard as “foreign affairs”
Made for Herb Ritts's shoot; signed 'a great body deserves a great dress'
FashionLinked crystals
Heard as “crystal dress”
Tina did the Proud Mary moves in Michael's fittings
Heard as “proud Mary”
Where teenage Michael saw Tina Turner
At Tina Turner's legendary Ritz show, as Michael recalls
Heard as “Bowie”
The legendary show with Bowie and Jagger in the crowd
Heard as “show at the Ritz”
Michael's first concert, at 16
Below Michael's studio in the triangle building at Ninth Avenue and 14th Street
Heard as “Hellfire”
Also in Michael's studio building, as heard
Heard as “Jade's”
Eartha's walk started there
Michael calls Eartha 'very Garbo-esque' in her love of walking the city
Heard as “garbo”
Rihanna's stylist who asked for the shorts, as heard ('Jacqueline'); name unclear
Heard as “Jacqueline”
Debbie wore the razor-blade dress there on New Year's Eve when the power went out, as Michael tells her story
Already had his room at the Palladium when Michael built his
Heard as “Kenny Sharf”
Spelled out in Braille on Michael's Palladium room floor
Heard as “Nightclubbing”
Michael's ex, a singer, who was managing Don Hill's and asked him to start a gay night
A friend in the Squeezebox brainstorm (name as heard)
Heard as “Paul Likens”
Owner of Don Hill's - 'so wonderful', he let Michael do whatever he wanted
Squeezebox's music director, who brought in his friend John Cameron Mitchell
John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask workshopped it at Squeezebox
Heard as “Headbig and the Angry Inch”
The night Hedwig was tried out on the Squeezebox stage - 'a huge success'
Heard as “workshopped”
A Squeezebox go-go dancer who went on to do Hedwig's hair
Named among Boob's performers (heard as 'Theron'); identity uncertain
Heard as “Theron”
Named among the performers who started at Squeezebox
Still says in his act that Squeezebox was the greatest club in New York history, Michael says
Someone told Michael she came through Squeezebox - he doesn't believe it
Squeezebox hostess; on her birthday Michael did his drag number
Heard as “Mistress”
Sang backup when Michael did Ace of Spades in drag as Heidi Hole, Michael says
Michael's drag number as Heidi Hole, with Marilyn Manson on backing vocals
Heard as “Ace of Spades”
Lene Lovich came over from there
Where Michael first saw a 3D printer the size of a car
Heard as “technology transfer”
Its 2012 Fashion Week 3D-printing event asked Michael for a finale dress
Heard as “Ace Hotel”
Its finale was the Dita dress
Heard as “Fashion Week”
Photographed Dita in the 3D-printed gown
Michael made her chandelier dress for the Met Gala
FashionChandelier dress (see Mood)
Michael's frequent collaborator on Met Gala pieces
A room lit hot pink and violet: club posters (a Tunnel flyer), framed photos, a star-shaped paper lamp
FashionBlack baseball cap, black T-shirt, chunky silver chain, shoulder-length hair and a goatee
His home library of packed bookshelves
FashionA turquoise-and-white tie-dyed silk scarf with blue and gold jewelled brooches, grey-blue glasses
His room with 70s sunflower wallpaper, striped curtains and a Brillo box on the shelf
FashionA salmon-pink sweater and rimless glasses; a microphone in front
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