Brad Gooch--Discuss!

Was he that poor Agnes's illegitimate child?

Very nice and bright man--met him two summers ago t an academic conference.

I once went to some lecture in college about some poet only because I liked the way his picture looked on the flyer.

He married a preacher and their kid's name sort of rhymes!

I liked but didn't love "The Golden Age of Promiscuity"

I used to be obsessed with him. He was always so gorgeous, I used to see him at The Spike. I heard he had a maid/house-cleaning fetish. Come on over! Scrub that tub!

It's good her mother, the Countess de Gooch, can't hear you. Fabulous wealth, the De Gooches.

Okay smart.... for a former MODEL.

He was a total fame wore a decade or so ago.

Not a great writer.

I read his latest, Smash Cut, and it was ok.

He must've been ultra good-looking because for a model he's not that tall. He discusses as much in the book.

I always thought his book Finding the Boyfriend Within was well intentioned but silly.

A former model? Please book him on my show ASAP!

Whore.

Huge old thread on him somewhere. He wasn't liked.

What was "The Spike" mentioned above?

The Spike was a sleazy-in-a-fun-way gay bar on the West Side Highway in far west Chelsea. I think it's an art gallery now.

For quite some time there was an abandoned 70s station wagon in front with no windows, since they'd all been broken. At last call you could stagger out with your beer bottle, drain it, and throw the bottle into the car through the window. There were hundreds of empty beer bottles in it. Good times!

He's a typist, not a writer. He got all of his opportunities based on his looks, his boyfriend who died, and his good fortune not to die of AIDS when gay writers were dropping left and right.

I am friends with Brad. Good guy, and glad he's happy. He is smarter than he writes. His books are a little boring however.

He has a delightful anus

Whoever said that he is a huge publicity whore is 100% spot-on....I wonder if his he is depressed that the sloppy wet kiss of a New York Times profile a few months ago did not restore him to be culturally relevant, despite his best efforts (baby, gay marriage, etc.) to be trendy.

Below-average writer. Everything was always about his looks. And a rabid, aggressive social climber. But, my friends who know him say that he has settled down, become more comfortable with himself, much kinder to others. Forgive the transgressions of the past.

[quote]Whoever said that he is a huge publicity whore is 100% spot-on

I hate people like that.

He used to beat me up and take my lunch money

A friend of mine had him as a professor at William Paterson years ago.

She was underwhelmed.

He was cute though.

Who is the "Sean" he talks about in his new book?

Sean is Matt Dillon.

Dear 5. That is true. He once spent the weekend in a cage in New Jersey. When he was let out, it was on a leash. When I heard the story I said "You spent the weekend in New Jersey?"

His book on Frank O'Hara was great.

Dillon fits the age exactly but not the other Sean descriptions. He's not from Boston and he was already a star by 1980. Maybe Gooch altered the facts to hide is identity. There is a picture of Dillon and a surprisingly hot looking Fisher Stevens in the book. Fisher never married either stories?

His books are certainly better than Bret Easton Ellis'. I say that knowing these are fighting words around here.

Does he have to go to church every Sunday to hear his husband preach? That would be hell on earth.

"The Golden Age of Promiscuity" was a little depressing.

I think he has gotten better with age.

He was the guest bartender on WWHL once.. (the humiliation of it all!)

I don't find him attractive now:

R23--can you tell us anything more about Matt Dillion? You seem 100% sure, so you MUST know more.

Dear Spill, He was fucked by Matt Dillon. What do you want, a diagram?

No, R34. But pics would be nice.

Matt Dillon is in the documentary about Howard Brookner Uncle Howard

@R32. That photo aside. When we were all cater waiters together in the 80's and he was not yet a writer, just a model, EVERYONE had a crush on him.. Incredibly gorgeous and a quiet, nice guy. Look around young queens. If you're lucky enough to age, time wins.

Is he HIV+ since he's a bottom and was fucked by Dillon? He was apparently a model at one time so I guess he was also a male prostitute. Details on him being a slave in a cage or being "forced" to clean someone's flat or home?

Still hot:

[quote]While he was finishing his work as director of the feature film Bloodhounds of Broadway, a send-up of 1920s New York with a cast of Hollywood actors, including a young Madonna, Howard Brookner’s rapidly declining health landed him in St. Vincent’s hospital. During those years, even some medical professionals were still afraid to have physical contact with AIDS patients. Providing one reason why she’s historically been such an icon for the gay community, Madonna visits Howard at the hospital, climbs right onto the hospital bed with him, and kisses him on the lips. When Howard asks Brad why so many visitors are stopping by, Brad replies, “Because something about you makes people feel good when they come to see you ... because you give something to people.”

Hmm, I prefer Brad Gunt.

Are his books worth reading, or not? How kinky is or was he?

I just ordered Smash Cut, r42. If I remember, I'll let you know what I think.

Smash Cuts is a good historical picture. The writing is awkward in places.

Middle 1980s I lived in the Village on E. 12th Street and we went to the same gym on 4th Ave (owner was female legend Nicole Bass). From time to time we would hook up at my place because he was dating someone at the time. Had sex 3 or 4 times but I got bored with him and didn't like the boyfriend angle once I gave it some thought. I remember he had a great body and he loved getting fucked.

R45 was he cut or uncut? Was he a total bottom then?

His biography of Frank O'Hara was a huge disappointment.

Hard to be gay bitchy about this guy. Seems decent, suffered a lot with the death of a LT boyfriend at a young age. Despite being part of the glitterati, doesn’t seem obnoxious. A survivor like many of us.

My role model.

I read SmashCut...I can't recall a thing about it

Met him a long time ago at a party in Waverly Place. He was stunning and very nice. He flirted with me and I was too naive to figure it out. Oh well...

R22 is this the "Sean" character in the book the golden age of promiscuity?

He seems like the kind of once-relevant New Yorker now getting a New York Times obituary due to the coronavirus disease.

and yet another 2015 post gets bumped.

Thanks for bumping a thread full of dead links and nary a photo of the subject, Bump Bitch R52. You probably bumped this thread back in January too.

I dated his best friend, another former model turned writer. He gave me Gooch’s book Scary Kisses as a gift. Dear God, It was absolutely one of the worst things I ever read. Like, astonishingly bad. That was the moment I realized talent didn’t matter in the world. You could absolutely suck at whatever you were trying to accomplish, but if you were hot enough and had the right connections, you could still be successful.

I know, duh, right? But I was 20 and idealistic.

That little dark light bulb over my head changed my whole perspective on things right quick.

R56 who was the model/ex? I wonder who Brad had sex with or paid off in order to get published? Are his biographies on Frank O'Hara and Flannery O'Connor any good, or not?

I can’t say the model’s name...he was pretty successful for a few years. One of the Armani guys from the late 80s to early 90s.

And Scary Kisses kept me from ever reading another thing from him. But i certainly read his reviews. They were fair to middling at best.

"Smash Cut" is as good as Patti Smith's "Just Kids." Brad is consistently nice. Even generous.

Thanks R58 what did the model write?

I liked Scary Kisses...it was very much a "first" book but it was a fun and interesting look at a very specific time and place. And, The Golden Age of Promiscuity is also a very solid novel of the post Stonewall gay lit genre.

He's a decent/good but not great writer who I think gets a lot of smack thrown at him because he's annoyingly good looking and he, like many good looking people, was able to use that to climb the ladder.

Which tends to make the less fortunately blessed, bitter Bettys.

I am reading the golden age of promiscuity right now and I like it so far; but I am at the part where the main character meets a woman who is a cross between Patti Smith and Annie Sprinkle. I am not sure why the main character seems very sexually reserved in some ways, or why he lets the student activist character and others treat him like a doormat?

Did Brad die?

Brad is alive and well. Agree with him being an ok writer - not great - who had great connections to get published. But seems decent so have no issue with him making a living on his writing.

[quote]He married a preacher

I'M A BRIIIIIIIIIDE!

True R64 he's alright at writing, not super great. On this thread someone claims Brad was kept by Howard Brookner and that's how he became so successful at being published.

Brad was not "kept" at all by Howard. They lived a very modest life. II believe they were the same age. "Smash Cut" is wonderful.