THE WOW MANIFESTO Bring us your weird, your extreme, your niche, your marginal, your utterly twisted... and we will show you a world of wonder. Here, from A to-Z, is our manifesto... A * DUH. It’s all connected. where you are not * We believe that we All we have to do * We believe in are living in the is join the DOTS no fixed GENDER AGE OF THE THING * We believe that there is an E H ARTIST inside all of us. * We believe that things * We believe that But usually a bad one. on the EDGES inevitably HISTORY belongs And that’s OK drift toward the center to those who write it * We believe that * We believe HYPOCRISY B EVERYONE should have makes things less fun *We believe that we their own network * We believe we live should judge BOOKS by their * We believe in calm inside our HEADS.... covers. And that they assertive ENERGY. Even if but that if you have are fun to read we don’t practice it a HUMP on your back you * BEAUTY is on the outside should throw a little if you don’t believe us just F glitter on it (Tank you, peel off your skin * We believe in FAUXVISM, James St. James) * We believe that the the end of authenticity difference between BETTER as we knew it – I and Bitter is just one letter Or thought we did. * We believe that I is the new *We believe that * We believe that prefix… iPOD, therefore iAM if we BLINK we might miss it FOCUS is overrated * We believe that the * BLAH BLAH BRA * We believe that in a IDIOT BOX is really world of FIVE HUNDRED no such thing. IDIOT! C CHANNELS, why * We believe that * We believe that not FIVE BILLION? IMAGINATION is second CONTENT is not king. * We believe that to FAIL only to good looks Content is the pimp’s bitch is to truly succeed * CELEBRITY is the disease of J the 21st century and that G * We believe that there is no known cure * We believe you can see the a JACK!OF!ALL!TRADES * Your CAR is your suit world in a GRAIN OF SAND trumps a King * When it comes to CAMP and hold eternity in the we should pitch a tent palm of your hand (Tank- K you, William Blake) * We believe that D * We believe the GLASS is we all KNOW more than * We believe in the neither half empty nor half we think we do DESIDERATA. Be gentle full, but simply confused * We believe that most KINGS with yourself * We believe GLAMOUR is are Queens anyway 1 L P * We believe that highbrow * We believe that attention range and LOWBROW PORNOGRAPHY is a (Tank you, Doug Rushkoff) have given way to no brow vital civilizing force * We believe the * Te LESS you know * We believe PLAY SIXTEENTH MINUTE the smarter you are, since is the new Work can be better than the fifteen everything we were brought * We believe in PRONOIA, minutes before it up to believe is wrong that the universe is working for you rather T M than against you * We believe in * We believe that * We believe that TOTAL MAXIMALISM has more to POLITICS is Passe TELETRANSFORMATION. offer than minimalism * We believe that some words Beam us up! * We believe that we are sound better than others. * We believe that we turn on all a MINORITY OF 1 Like PAMPLEMOUSSE TELEVISION to be turned on * We believe that * We believe that there is MODERN LIFE is rubbish Q nothing more natural than * We believe the * We believe in TECHNOLOGY MISSIONARY POSITION is QUEENS. Hello best left to missionaries U R * We believe that today’s N * We believe REALITY UNDERGROUND is * We believe it’s easy to is overrated. tomorrow’s mainstream say NO. But better to say Yes We don’t need to see that. \ * We believe that every one * We do not believe But we love to watch of us is a UNIQUE BRAND in the NEW YORK TIMES * We believe that * We believe that we are S UGLY is the new beautiful all born NAKED and the rest * We believe the is drag (Tank you, Ru.) SUPERFICIAL is often V * We believe in NEW SENSE the most profound * We believe VEGAS from Nonsense, and * We believe SOUP is the pinnacle of that old sense is a Nuisance cans can be art modern architecture * We believe you can * We believe VIDEO did O talk to STRANGERS. not kill the radio star, * We believe OPRAH But not get in their cars. it merely hurt her feelings will inherit the Earth Necessarily * We believe that * We believe everyone is the W no ONE THING is too STAR of their own musical. * We believe the out there to be in here But no one may be watching WRAPPING’S the thing. * And when it comes * We believe this * We believe it really is a to being OUT, is the SCREEN AGE. WORLD OF WONDER we are all Outcasts Watch what happens * We believe that the most * We believe a SHORT XYZ OVEREXPOSED people are ATTENTION SPAN is more * We believe that the answer also the least revealed than made up for by a broad to ‘Y brand X?’ is ZZZ! 2 The World According to Wonder PHOTOGRAPHY by Idris Rheubottom & Tony Craig TEXT by Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY by Mathu Andersen and Alex Grace ART DIRECTION by Trey Speegle &DragTings of Tat Nature NE AFTERNOON IN 1991 while we were sitting at our desks making busy, Sashay, shanté. eyes on Ru about six years earlier, in Atlanta. He wore football shoulder pads with streamers, a jock strap, waders, and a frightwig. The kind of But Ru wasn’t in a club waiting around for anyone to snap his picture. He had a bucket and brush and was wheatpasting “Supermodel” that he’d written with Jimmy Harry and Oposters of himself all over the city. The xeroxed Larry Tee. We had never managed anyone but, based posters said, simply, “RuPaul is EVERYTHING.” thought we might be helpful. We have always loved drag and seen it as the most fabulous of all the plastic arts. To us, Ru was its Andy Warhol. It wasn’t just the towering inferno of his frame; turned us down. No. No. No. But that didn’t stop us. behind the mascara was a soul as gentle and wise as ET. We sent the demo to Tommy Boy, a hardcore indie hiphop label the least likely to sign a big old drag “You’re born naked and the rest is drag!” Ru has said queen. We’d just met the label’s coowner Monica more than once. So true. Drag is a fabulous act of Lynch because we had interviewed her about some In 1989 Fenton and Randy dressed in drag to go to Lady selfinvention. Taking the canvas of oneself and controversy over rap lyrics for the pilot of Manhattan Bunny’s Wigstock in Tomp- conjuring up often with nothing more than a wig Cable. We could not have been more surprised when kins Square Park, around the corner from their East Village and a pair of heels a completely new persona. apartment. Randy has made sure that all visual evidence Ru came to see us that day because he wanted us to From then on it didn’t take that long. has been destroyed. Fenton was not so careful manage him. He had a demo and a catchy song called designed the cover art. Mathu and Zaldy did Ru’s hair, 43 Here was wardrobe, and makeup. We pitched in and directed Koolhaaus were the show’s usual subjects. Not drag a big black the video for basically 99 cents. And “Supermodel” queens. Roly Keating, then the show’s editor, pulled us man in a walked the runway up the charts. You better work, aside and whispered in our ears that we would have to bitch. And he did. And we did too. But it didn’t feel like make “a cultural adjustment up.” A daunting prospect. blonde wig work because it was so exhilarating and exciting. So we packed the show with famous intellectuals, from and high John Waters, plus whitehot stars like heels right in We also produced and directed Ru’s other music Madonna’s stunning voguers Jose and Luis, who just the heart of giggled a lot and looked hot. pop culture. Channel 4 that starred Elton John, Boy George, But our favorite interview had to be with Camille Paglia And the La Toya Jackson, En Vogue, Little Richard, and, whose book Sexual Personae best part is natch, a bevy of downtown drag queens like Linda and feared. Yet that day in Philadelphia she could not America Simpson, Billy Beyond, Sherry Vine, Taboo, have been friendlier as she scampered down the steps didn’t blink etc etc. of the University of the Arts talking a mile a minute. A few people can speak in entire sentences and fewer still If it looked like an overnight success, it certainly wasn’t. in complete paragraphs. Professor Paglia was the only Ru had worked tirelessly for years, hustling, performing, person we’ve ever met who spoke in entire chapters… and wheatpasting. He always knew he was a star. He just had to be patient while the rest of the world caught up. “For me, the drag queen is a Holy Man, someone who enacts Eventually, inevitably, the time was right. all the mysteries of woman’s power in the universe.