While still being one of the most artistically progressive cities in the world, New York is filled with creative nostalgia. As New Yorkers (most of us faux), we’re often looking back to any decade but our own, wishing that things were just as cool now as they were then. A part of this “looking-back” for me is reading Interview magazines from the 80s and 90s and watching old footage of TV Party (1978-1982). What do both these things have in common? Glenn O’Brien.

Last night, DIS HQ housed 'Complete the Circuit!: A Conversation with Glenn O’Brien' hosted by Dan Quiles, where the man himself spoke of old New York, new New York and everything that happened in between. TV Party was where O’Brien addressed a mostly high audience, discussing current affairs and interviewing folks like Iggy Pop, Basquiat, Blondie, David Bowie and Chris Burden. Plenty of seminal bands made an appearance too. After TV Party came the film Downtown ’81, editor positions at Interview, High Times, Harper's Bazaar, GQ, and Madonna's Sex book. Not to mention a two-year running stand-up comedy act.

O’Brien described old New York as a very idealistic city, but at the same time not the best place to live: “My friends and I were always getting stabbed or chased and shit." When asked if he would live here today as a young creative he responded that due to rent, he probably wouldn't, opting instead for Berlin or Detroit. " Nowadays he finds the city “congenial," and feels that there is a great creative energy flying around: “For some reason, people who are 28 now are cooler than the people who were 28 ten years ago." Still writing, and working on film commercials, O’Brien is still very much a part of the New York creative scene.

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FILED UNDER: gillian tozer , glenn o'brien , dis magazine , dis , new york