Howl! Arts

SPIRITUS: No Business like Dough Business
2025-09-18 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Howl! Happening, 6 East 1st Street, New York City, NY, 10003, United States
Directed by: Michael S. Koehler
Produced by: John Yingling and Michael S. Koehler
63 minutes
Watch the Discussion

This film explores the rich history of one of the oldest family-run business in Provincetown, Massachusetts, SPIRITUS Pizza and Ice Cream. It highlights the challenges faced by the business, the queer community, and the AIDS crisis, all against the backdrop of the conservative Puritanical attitudes in the town during the 1970s and 1980s.
SPIRITUS Trailer
https://spirituspizza-movie.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Spiritus_NoBusinessLikeDoughBusiness_Trailer.mp4

Credits
Director, Writer, Cinematographer: Michael S. Koehler
Editor: Jason Shevchuk
Post Production Associate: Elliott Eustis
Producers: John Yingling, Michael S. Koehler
Sound Design: Ken Meyer
Camera Operator: Steve Bauza
Archival Film Footage: Frank Crivelli, Gus Curran, Seth Rolbein
Still Photographer: Rob Van Fleet
Director’s Statement
Having lived in Provincetown, Massachusetts for thirteen summers, Michael developed an appreciation for Spiritus Pizza and the diverse group of individuals who work there. Situated in the heart of a predominantly queer community, both Spiritus Pizza and the local queer community have faced challenges from town officials and residents. In spite of that, Spiritus has remained a vibrant epicenter of activity, resilience, and deep-rooted history in Provincetown.
When it was time for Michael to embark on his debut documentary film, he recognized that Spiritus Pizza and its rich deep-rooted history was the ideal subject for his research and storytelling. This film took seven years to complete, which I mostly shot during the pandemic. It’s a piece of Provincetown, MA history and I want nothing more than to have this film shown around the world.

Reviews
Junction North International Documentary Film Festival
WINNER of “Best International Feature”
April 2025
“Spiritus: No Business like Dough Business” is a joy to watch — a vibrant, fast-paced celebration of Provincetown’s history through the lens of a legendary pizza place. The creative use of archival footage, photos, and music immerses the viewer, perfectly capturing the town’s evolution into an oasis of self-expression and rebellion. A love letter filled with flamboyant outsiders, fierce counter girls and artists, who built a home in this coastal haven while creating their own world. Beneath the pizza-making is a deeper story about community and identity. Nostalgic, inspiring, and endlessly entertaining, this film is, in every sense of the word, a true slice of life.
The Provincetown Independent
INDIE SCREEN
A Bounty Comes to the Big Screen in Provincetown
Life, art, legends, and dough are the stars at this year’s film festival
By Howard Karren Jun 4, 2025
Halcyone Studio
August 2025
“In his filmmaking debut, Michael S. Koehler reminds us that we crave the same raw, honest style that has defined his photography for decades now, to the screen. SPIRITUS: There’s No Business Like Dough Business is a surprisingly beautiful and moving documentary about a story we didn’t know we wanted to hear. Koehler captures the essence of an old-school Provincetown, weaving a classic tale around the legendary figure of John Yingling, and his daring gamble. But BEYOND The Legend, the film is a powerful testament to the value of showing up for your community through the best and worst of times. Watching it made me reflect on my own life while simultaneously CELEBRATING my own home and the complex idea of just that. HOME – a home that holds a different meaning for everyone.” ~ Halcyone Studio | Halcyone Hurst
A Slice of Life

The Drag Queens of New Yorkby Julian Fleisher30th Anniversary Exhibition
2025-10-16 - 2025-11-30 | HA/HA, 250 Bowery, 2nd Floor, New York, NY, 10012, United States
DQNY30!

Videos from the Era Screening Event

Then & Now Presentation and Screening Event

Order your own DQNY30 Prints Here!

This fall marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of the landmark The Drag Queens of New York: An Illustrated Field Guide (Riverhead), by Julian Fleisher.
Curated by Howl!’s Aldo Hernández, author Julian Fleisher and TWEED Theater’s Kevin Malony, DQNY30 draws from Fleisher’s original archive, bringing together never-before-seen photographs, taped audio interviews, handwritten notes, correspondence, surveys and more. Many of these materials — including recorded talks not only with dozens of legendary drag queens, but also, among others, bell hooks, Sandra Bernhard, Fran Lebowitz, and Quentin Crisp — have been newly digitized and restored. It offers a glimpse into the complicated process of chronicling New York’s legendary drag scene and the artists who shaped it — all during a time which, in spite of its provocative spirit, now seems almost quaint.
Published in 1996, “DQNY” was years, if not decades, ahead of its time: the first trade paperback from a major publisher to celebrate the history, culture, lives and careers of the golden age of New York’s riotous drag scene. Framed (somewhat cheekily) as a field guide, it devotes much of its time to the long, hidden history of drag in New York and its persistent interrogation of the prevailing culture, mores and norms. The book then concludes with nearly thirty iconic profiles, telling the creation stories of such drag legends as Lady Bunny, Lypsinka, Charles Busch, Sherry Vine, Candis Cayne, Mona Foot, Hattie Hathaway, Mistress Formika, Tabboo!, Miss Understood, Afrodite, Dolores, Sweetie and many more. Almost every story is accompanied by a unique studio portrait by photographer Brooke Williams.
“The Drag Queens of New York was meant to be more than just a snapshot. It was a genuine effort to capture the magic and creativity of the artists who made the scene an unforgettable explosion of color, wit, lunacy and defiance.” says Fleisher. “Like the original book, DQNY30 is a fresh celebration of that unique moment as well as of the performers, audiences, connoisseurs, historians, fans and all those who contributed their wisdom, grit and spirit – both on stage and off. It was a side-hustle that took on a life of its own.”
The exhibition promises a journey through years of drag culture, using images, audio, and ephemera from Fleisher’s original sessions, as well as a peek at the sometimes chaotic process of making the book itself. During its run, the exhibit will also include panels, discussions and more, inviting fresh, contemporary perspectives on the legacy and continued relevance of New York’s ever-fierce drag community. Copies of the original book — long out of print, but widely cherished — will be available for reference during the show.
All photos by Brooke Williams, unless noted otherwise.

Author’s Statement
The Drag Queens of New York: An Illustrated Field Guide was published in 1996. In 1994, when I signed with Riverhead Books (“The same imprint as Harold Bloom!” I crowed, pretentiously), I was just a measly couple of years into my dream of becoming a nightclub singer — a career that, at that stage, was yielding no meaningful “scratch”. So, like most young hopefuls in NYC, doing their best impressions of Joseph Campbell’s hero, I worked a bunch of side-hustles in order to fund my journey. I was a waiter, writer, retoucher, actor, SAT tutor and personal assistant to the truly psychotic wife of an aging writer whom I revered. And yet: Not enough scratch. Not enough flexibility. So — after a boozy night recounting my adventures exploring the bonkers drag scene in my new “edgy” East Village neighborhood — when an editor I knew offered me a $20,000 advance to write a book about it, I truly believed I had hit some kind of cosmic jackpot. That number seemed impossibly large and my eyes bulged with visions of all the studio time I could buy with it. Ha! How paltry it would turn out to be, though, when stretched out over two years, in three, small (taxable!) installments. To say nothing of how much I’d spend just chasing the book: research, travel, tickets, covers, minimums, meals, interns, Lou Reed charging $500 to quote four lines from Walk on the Wild Side. (In context!) My side-hustle needed a side-hustle.

The game changed, though, when I found myself starting to care — deeply — about this strange, new gig and the people I was writing about; folks with whom, it seemed, I was starting to fall in love. As the challenge of doing justice to the uncanny beauty of their demimonde truly set in, however, I buckled. The history, culture, legend, scenes, stories and struggles of this enchanted world revealed themselves to me like the curtain rising on Tosca at the Met: overwhelming. To capture it all? Impossible. To punt? Shameful. And this during a time which, for all of its high-octane, rapid-fire changes, now seems rather quaint. The internet was barely a thing: no smart phones, text chains or social networks. Research happened in libraries, correspondence in the mail; messages were left on machines and interviews were recorded on cassettes. Cassettes! Even with the help of friends and interns, I was flailing in a stew of missed deadlines, untested writing skills, reams of transcripts and a growing pile of unfulfilled ambitions for what I had hoped to achieve — and what I could offer these beautiful people who were sharing their stories with me.

I turned to (among other things) self-help: those “how to write a book” books, a couple of which I myself had written during my time side-hustling test-prep and other “educational subjects”. While browsing The Strand (Google it), I came upon a newcomer to the category: Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott — now a beloved staple of the “how to” genre. Her solution to the problem of how to write? To write! Oh great. But how? Well, famously, she recalls her brother’s meltdown at having to finish a report on birds which he had months to complete. Dad saves the day by offering him the bromide that gives the book its title: “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.” So elegant. So avuncular. And at $13.99, a bargain. So, I would do the same thing; I would take it…queen by queen. And just like that, I saw “DQNY” for what it really wanted to be: a bird guide in its own right. And why not? After all, just like Lamott’s, my subjects sported plumage and camouflage, observed peculiar social hierarchies and partook in unique rituals and strategies for survival. Their habitat — downtown New York during the AIDS crisis — was surely no less wild and unforgiving than that of any of Lamott’s feathered friends. Approaching the scene as a kind of docent, introducing newbies (myself included) to a mysterious ecosystem inhabited by exotic fauna cracked open the whole enterprise for me and, now, here we are.

Would I take that approach today? Could I? Is this a side anyone should hustle? Drag is simply not what it used to be, and neither is the world. Given current sensitivities, it’s probably best for anyone who writes about drag to, um, do drag — as have the likes of Charles Busch, RuPaul and Linda Simpson. Linda’s fabulous Drag Explosion is a towering tribute to the same scene as my book, arguably better. After all, she’s been making the scene herself the whole time. As playfully affectionate as my “field guide” trope was meant to be (and it was!) its cheeky hint of objectification would likely be unacceptable now, at least coming from a civilian, even a devoutly queer one. Furthermore, what drag means has changed fundamentally. The scene that fascinated me was untamed, chaotic, debauched, defiant and not for general consumption. There was no panel of judges. A show at Pyramid or Boy Bar or Tunnel or Jackie 60 was just for us. In that room. On that night. The lunacy was bespoke: it wasn’t for the internet, posterity or the star-maker machinery. Sure, it was about the star-maker machinery. But it reminded us that life could be sexy, smart, sleazy and hilarious in spite of the outside world. Not because of it. Or (worse yet) for it. It felt like resistance.

Drag understands, celebrates and leverages pop culture as pungently as any creative movement ever has. And, at its best, it’s also an antidote to it. Writing DQNY taught me that drag is at least as much about class as it is about gender. Gender (such as it is) may be the grammar, but the meaning has always been that the “have-nots” have way more fun than the “haves”; the essence of most underground scenes. Now, thanks to the ride of the Drag-Industrial Complex, queens are routinely counted among the “haves”. It’s no longer quite the same brand of fun — at least not as we see it on TV, where drag has been adjusted to fit a much wider audience with much less…to lose. Thankfully, here in NYC, there remains an uncooperative drag scene in bars and clubs from the Village to Bushwick, where dominant/corporate culture is still the prime target, even as that culture scoops up and machine-tools the occasional queen for global distribution. The promise of fame and fortune — once the butt of the joke — hangs in the air differently at drag shows now, to be sure.

But in some of those rooms, on some of those nights, if we put down our phones, the show can still be…just for us.

— Julian Fleisher | October, 2025

HOWL!IDAY POP-UP SHOP 2025
2025-12-18 - 2025-12-19 | Howl! Happening, 6 East 1st Street, New York City, NY, 10003, United States
Our HOWLiDAY POP UP is BACK!
Open 12 – 6PM
Deep Discounts on Our Catalogs, Books & Other Stuff
Painted Apparel by Scooter LaForge
Limited Photographic Tee’s by Lola Flash
Hand Crafted Catnip Fish by Iris Rose
Tees & Books by Linda Simpson of My Comrade, Drag Explosion
Embroidered Caps by Alex Wolkowicz
Unique Fabric Bags by Our Friends
ABC No Rio & Female Genius Merch via Julie Hair
Ltd Vinyl Music Produced by Julian Fleisher
DQNY30 Drag Queen Custom Photo Prints by Brooke Williams
Complimentary Dark Matter Coffee!

Bushwick Book Club: Return of the Light
2025-12-20 17:00 - 19:00 | Howl! Happening, 6 East 1st Street, New York City, NY, 10003, United States
Join us for a magical evening of music and performance as Bushwick Book Club and Howl! present The Return of The Light!

Our Winter Solstice celebration is a sharing of new art and music in response to The Return of The Light: Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice by Carolyn McVickar Edwards.
Artists:
Charlie Nieland
Jessie Kilguss with Kirk Schoener
Fool’s Weather / Patrick Redmond
Heather Litteer
Lianne Smith
Chris Rael
Watoku Ueno
Stephanie Larriere
isaac gerard
Ray Brown
Ellia Bisker with Heather Cole
Susan Hwang & Ed Pastorini
Kanami Kusajima
Timothy Dark
The winter solstice, the day the “sun stands still,” marks the longest night and the shortest day of the year, and it comes either on December 20th or 21st. Celebrations honoring the winter solstice as a moment of transition and renewal date back thousands of years and occur among many peoples on every continent. Storyteller Carolyn McVickar Edwards retells twelve traditional tales–from North America, China, Scandinavia, India, Africa, South America, Europe, and Polynesia–that honor this magical moment. These are stories that will renew our wonder of the miracle of rebirth and the power of transition from darkness into light.

Bushwick Book Club: Guilt Sport
2026-02-05 19:00 - 21:00 | Howl! Happening, 6 East 1st Street, New York City, NY, 10003, United States
A celebration of songwriter, composer, bandleader, record label founder, Chris Rael’s first book of short stories Guilt Sport.

Come see what these artists and musicians have to say about it in new art, song and snacks!
With:
Penny Arcade
Lisa Barnstone
Patrick Brennan
Rima Fand
NO DISCIPLINE (Ed and Susan)
Charlie Nieland
Chris Rael
Don Rauf
Anni Rossi
Patricia Santos
Henry Tenney
Alejandro Vargas (Billy Plastered)
and others!
Guilt Sport is the first collection of short stories by writer/musician Chris Rael, visionary of New York City world pop orchestra Church of Betty. The consummate lyricist/poet tackles the short-story format with anecdotal tales grounded in his long, strange voyages around the sun. Settings and premises emerging from the author’s life are embellished into fictional litanies of whimsy, insight and regret.
Nine stories tackle the commitment of parenthood, bullying and racism in the ’60s, cultural identity and adoption, discomfiting nuances of urban gentrification, a regrettable walkabout ending in darkness, corporate intrusion into employees’ lives, America’s private prison industry, Latino drug culture in the American West, and a self-proclamation of spiritual chaos.
Composer Chris Rael loves to turn short story collections into song cycles. In 2011 he won the New York International Fringe Festival’s composition award for Araby, which retold the stories of James Joyce’s Dubliners in one song per story. His group Church of Betty is currently recording his latest song cycle: Eleven Kinds of Loneliness, the short stories of Richard Yates, to be released in spring 2026. This penchant for transforming literature into songs makes him a natural devotee of the Bushwick Book Club.

Richard Hambleton: Blood & Glitter
2026-02-26 - 2026-05-03 | HA/HA, 250 Bowery, 2nd Floor, New York, NY, 10012, United States
Exhibition of works by Richard Hambleton (1952-2017) from our collection.

A Hambleton Discussion with Eileen Doster, Anne Hanavan, and Curt Hoppe
2026-03-13 19:00 - 21:00 | HA/HA, 250 Bowery, 2nd Floor, New York, NY, 10012, United States
A conversation with 3 who knew him.

Wasteland by Jason Haaf and Scooter LaForge Book Launch
2026-03-28 18:00 - 20:00 | HA/HA, 250 Bowery, 2nd Floor, New York, NY, 10012, United States
Wasteland, an art novel and collaboration by Jason Haaf and Scooter LaForge invites you to a place where Queer angst grows. Limited amount of signed copies and original art available to purchase.
Watch on YouTube

Welcome to the ‘Wasteland’: A queer ‘sex memoir’ that throws out all the rules in written word and art

Arturo Vegathe merch master
2026-04-10 - 2026-06-14 | Howl! Happening, 6 East 1st Street, New York City, NY, 10003, United States
Strength to endure: East Village gallery honors Arturo Vega, the man who made The Ramones punk rock’s most fashionable band

Arturo Vega Talk with Sandra Schulman
2026-04-11 17:00 - 18:00 | Howl! Happening, 6 East 1st Street, New York City, NY, 10003, United States
Read the essay here
RAMONES: Arturo Vega and the Making of the Logo Heard Round the World

A CERTAIN RATIO Live at Hurrah by Merrill Aldighieri
2026-05-21 18:00 - 21:00 | Howl! Happening, 6 East 1st Street, New York City, NY, 10003, United States
Filmmaker Merrill Aldighieri returns to Howl! with her latest work, A Certain Ratio – Live at Hurrah, a 45-minute document of the legendary Manchester post-punk ensemble captured in their element at New York City’s iconic Hurrah nightclub. A Certain Ratio were among the most viscerally alive acts to emerge from the Factory Records orbit; a band that fused funk basslines, percussion, and an almost feverish minimalism into something that defied easy categorization. Long revered by cult followers on both sides of the Atlantic, their American club appearances remain the stuff of downtown legend, and Aldighieri – with her singular eye for the charged space between performer and audience – was there to catch it. The result is not merely an archival record but a work of atmosphere: a film that puts you in the room, in the dark, in the heat of a scene that would ripple through underground music for decades to come.
The evening will also feature Wallflowers; a silent wall projection and looped animation created by Aldighieri as a companion piece. Designed to inhabit the edges of the space, the piece transforms the venue itself into an extension of the screen. It is a fitting gesture from a filmmaker whose work has always refused to stay contained within the frame. Aldighieri’s body of work – which includes her celebrated documents of New Order’s New York debut and the shape-shifting new wave spectacle of Shöx Lumania – has established her as one of the great visual archivists of a moment when music, fashion, and avant-garde film collapsed into one another on the floors of Lower Manhattan clubs. With A Certain Ratio – Live at Hurrah and Wallflowers, she once again invites us not just to watch history, but to feel its presence on all sides.

Allen Ginsberg at 100
2026-06-04 17:00 - 20:30 | HA/HA, 250 Bowery, 2nd Floor, New York, NY, 10012, United States
Allen Ginsberg at 100: A Brief Walk Through Ginsberg’s Life

Deborah Baker & Bob Holman: “Ginsberg in India”
Baker, author of A Blue Hand: The Beats in India, and Poet Holman, co-director of Ginsberg’s Karma and Bob Holman’s India Journals, discuss Allen’s near mythical 18 months in India.
Gordon Ball: “Allen As I Knew Him”
Allen’s friend and early journals editor will share a slideshow of his own photos of Allen.
Bill Morgan: Allen Ginsberg: “The Unknown Photos” slideshow
Allen’s biographer and bibliographer takes us through a slide show of new unseen photography.
Bob Rosenthal: Allen Ginsberg’s Theory of Idiots
Bob Rosenthal, Allen’s long time personal secretary, reads his new work, which breaks down Allen’s humourous Theory of Idiots.
Illustration by Harsho Mohan Chattoraj

Arturo Vega Exhibition Closing Celebration
2026-06-13 17:00 - 20:00 | Howl! Happening, 6 East 1st Street, New York City, NY, 10003, United States
Pat Byrne presents a 2006 video interview with Arturo.

Ethan Minsker presents videos of his friendship and work with Arturo.

Music by Screamin’ Rebel Angels!
Photo by Nico Malvaldi

5 at 250 Group Show
2026-06-20 - 2026-07-26 | HA/HA, 250 Bowery, 2nd Floor, New York, NY, 10012, United States
5 at 250
JOEL HANDORFF
HUCKLEFAERY/KEN
BOBBY WATLINGTON
ANDE WHYLAND
ALEX WOLKOWICZ

5 at 250 Exhibition Closed 7/3 and 7/4
2026-07-03 - 2026-07-04 | HA/HA, 250 Bowery, 2nd Floor, New York, NY, 10012, United States
We’re back on Sunday July 5th, as our group show continues at 250 Bowery.

5 at 250 Group Show

Plants That HealBook Signing
2026-07-09 18:00 - 20:00 | HA/HA, 250 Bowery, 2nd Floor, New York, NY, 10012, United States
Please join us for a book signing event with author/illustrator Susan Ottaviano
With special guests John Bartlett, Nora Burns, Blair Fell, Scooter LaForge, and DJ Angela Di Carlo.
Plants That Heal is a vibrant, beautifully illustrated guide to harnessing the natural power of herbs and plants for wellness, mindfulness, and everyday nourishment. Created by Chris Young and Susan Ottaviano, this book offers a treasure trove of recipes and remedies designed to support physical, emotional, and mental health. Readers will discover how to craft teas, tonics, bath sachets, and plant-based foods using ingredients like lavender, ginger, basil, and rosehips.
About the Authors
Chris Young is a passionate self-taught gardener who believes in the power of the flower. His written work has appeared in Country Living, L.A. Parent, and Martha Stewart Living. In 2023, Chris and his creative partner Susan Ottaviano came together to produce the book The Green Witch’s Guide to Magical Plants and Flowers.
Susan Ottaviano is an artist, performer, and author. When not making music with her band Book of Love, Susan works as a recipe developer and food stylist for magazines, cookbooks, and international brands.

GonzoFest 2026 NYC
2026-07-17 - 2026-07-19 | Howl! Happening, 6 East 1st Street, New York City, NY, 10003, United States
GonzoFest honors Hunter S. Thompson’s literary legacy and the lasting mark he has made on American journalism, culture, politics.
Through lectures, live music, art, panel discussions and spoken word, GonzoFest celebrates the life and times of Hunter S. Thompson. GonzoFest 2026 NYC will focus on Hunter’s political writing and political activism, his connections with the Beat Generation, and will feature Gonzo artist Ralph Steadman and Ralph’s daughter Sadie Williams. It will also feature Hunter S. Thompson’s son Juan Thompson, grandson Will Thompson, Joe Iconis and musical numbers from the musical based on Hunter’s life, also Phoebe Legere, Puma Perl, Penny Arcade, women poets of New York, and many other scholars, artists, and poets.

GonzoFest poster by Grant Goodwine
Flyers by Chris Dean

Friday Schedule
Saturday Schedule
Sunday Schedule

Words at 250 Reading
2026-07-23 18:00 - 20:00 | HA/HA, 250 Bowery, 2nd Floor, New York, NY, 10012, United States
Jimmy Cajoleas
Izzy Casey
Janie Heath
Bud Smith

Jimmy Cajoleas is from Jackson, Mississippi. He has published five novels and is an associate editor for Southwest Review. He lives in New York.

Izzy Casey has been published in The Baffler, The Yale Review, and The Columbia Review. Her debut poetry book, Queen of the Little Stinkers, received the 2025 Nightboat Poetry Prize. She lives in New York City, where she works for The Paris Review.

Janie Heath has lived most of her life in the East Village. She was born on the banks of the Brazos River and she writes fiction.

Bud Smith is the author of the novels Mighty (Knopf), Teenager (Vintage), among others. His memoir Work will be released this summer from Perfect Day. He works construction in the boilermakers union and lives in Jersey City.

Bushwick Book Club PresentsMARILYN and Her BOOKS
2026-07-25 19:00 - 21:00 | Howl! Happening, 6 East 1st Street, New York City, NY, 10003, United States
Celebrating Marilyn Monroe’s 100th b-day by looking at her personal library and responding with new song, performance, film, puppetry and perfume.

Presenting new creative work for MARILYN and Her BOOKS by Gail Crowther.
FEATURING
Irina Adam
Penny Arcade (video)
Parody of Art
Ellia Bisker
Jennifer Blowdryer
Ray Brown
Rolf Carle
Cary Curran
Dora Graham
John S. Hall
Chase Horseman
Pinc Louds
Josiah Parks
Teresa Toro
Lynnea Villanova
Karen Zasloff
