Welcome back to Hot Tapes and Deep Dives and Michael Musto is best known for his

outspoken Village Voice column which began in 1984. He is a first-person observer of many scenes.

Michael Musto immers himself into his pieces. He has written four books and is truly one of the most influential gay people in Hollywood period.

Hi Michael Musta.

Thank you but I'm not really in Hollywood but I'm glad I'm influential there.

You're in Hollywood enough. How are you?

Good, you know, the Village Voice is back. It's a monthly print publication as well as the

website and I've been writing for all the issues and writing think pieces,

writing, whatever the hell comes into my little mind.

So this is one of those, I just can't seem to quit you kind of situations

with them with voices in my DNA, and it's a great partnership because the voice

has always given me complete freedom to say come up with how you want to fill your

space and just go there. I don't even know where to start but how did you find your voice like this

kind of bitchy vibe that you write with when did you

that tone in your writing?

When I was like three years old, because I found early on that maybe

bitchery or just kind of sarcasm or humor in general is a great defense against dark feelings and I was an only child

which is very rare in an Italian American family in Betsoners Brooklyn and I came from a

relatively nonverbal family which was also rare. So there wasn't a lot of talking. And I learned early on to either emit

wiscrags or to write little reviews for myself of movies I saw I wrote them on little

index cards and when I got the job in the village voice in 1984 they gave me the

liberating sense of freedom as I mentioned it was just this is your

...