Stephen Vowles has a natter with the Very Miss Dusty O aka the delectable David Hodge prior to the publication of his memoir The Boy Who Sat By the Window: The Story of the Queen of Soho after its launch event at Gay’s The Word bookshop on Thursday.
So did you have a genuine lightbulb moment when you thought: “Time to put pen to paper before anyone else does”?
When I held my art exhibition “Limp Wrist Iron Fist” at Parliament I thought this might be an interesting “ending” to Volume One. I was the first non binary/queer artist to have ever been invited to show there and it was a massive personal achievement.
I had only been practicing for four years and the whole art journey had taken me on an incredible journey. To be showing at the epicentre of the governing hierarchy when I had always been such an outsider was kind of weird. It did provide me with a final chapter but saying that there has been more since, so who knows what way life will take me.
Did you fine the writing experience to be a cathartic one?
I didn’t particularly enjoy writing this book. It took two years and a hell of a lot of work. I was lucky in that I was helped by my agent David Parrish who guided me through the whole process, but I was out of my comfort zone and found the editing process a challenge. Reliving so many memories has good and bad points but the main thing it did was allowed me closure on certain things which I am grateful for.
What’s been the highlight of your career?
My highlight has to be exhibiting my art at Parliament. I could easily list one of the glitzy drag experiences but they were mainly narcissistic and not mentally challenging or stimulating. Showing my work at Parliament was a bit like me saying to the world that there was always more to me than what you thought you knew.
Meeting your idols can be strange, who has inspired you?
Obviously Boy George who was my teenage idol and who became my friend later on in life. He has never let me down and I still admire so many things about him. Pete Burns who I adored and to this day still think was the most fascinating person I ever met.
Do you have any regrets?
Loads of regrets! I talk about them a lot in the book. I regret the amount of money I spent in maintaining a lifestyle I had grown tired of. I regret investing my time in vacuous and ultimately dull people who in my heart I knew were a waste of energy. I regret not starting painting earlier and using my brain more. I regret my narcissism and the time spent providing other people with entertainment but not giving myself any. However it all provided me with amazing material for my book, so maybe it was the way the universe had planned it for me and I can’t argue with that.
Have you left any bits out so Volume Two could be on the cards?
There is definitely another book inside my mind. I’ve started work on it already.
Tell us some more about your current projects and your works of art – which are fascinating to look at?
I’ve taken a six month break from painting. I had painted over 500 pieces in five years and knew my enthusiasm was waning. A break has helped me plan and I am starting work on a coffee table art book which I am writing and illustrating myself. It combines my two passions – writing and painting.
What is your opinion of the current world of celebrity?
I don’t know anything about it. I don’t watch any of that Love Island shite. I prefer to feed my mind and not numb it.
Finally what was lockdown like for you, did that enable you to get those creative juices flowing?
During the first lockdown I painted 47 pictures and sold them ALL online. Who needs galleries bumping up the price of your work and stealing half? In the second lockdown I wrote the manuscript for my book. It was an incredibly creative time. I loved it in fact. The only drawback was having to watch some of the really bad online drag shows everyone seemed to be doing!
The Boy Who Sat By the Window: The Story of the Queen of Soho is published by Mardle books on 22nd September and is available in store and online at Gay’s The Word www.gaystheword.co.uk
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