Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York

by Elon Green

Hello, everyone! I'm Elon Green, the author of this book. I’ve been very lucky, as Last Call won an Edgar Award and was adapted into an HBO documentary. More of you read it than I could’ve reasonably imagined. For a few years, I’ve been at work on a new book, which I’m excited to say comes out on Tuesday. The Man Nobody Killed: Life, Death, and Art in Michael Stewart's New York is the story of a young Black artist and model who was the victim of a fatal assault by police in 1983. Michael was a part of the East Village community, and crossed paths with such giants as Madonna, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. My book is about his life, his community, and the uprising sparked by his death. Anyway, I’m grateful that you’ve read Last Call, and I hope you give The Man Nobody Killed a read as well.

I think everyone who publishes a non-fiction book has a mental list of people they really wanted to interview but, for whatever, couldn’t do it. Tony Brooks is at, or near, the top of my list. He was such a key part of Peter’s story, and knew him quite well, and it was frustrating not to have his side of things. I tried, but never got a response. (I totally get his reluctance to talk.)

When I first flipped through the BC High yearbook, I was shocked to discover that one of Tom Mulcahy’s classmates was William Bulger—one of the most famous/notorious politicians in Massachusetts history. I called his home and left a voicemail. Shortly thereafter, while I was already halfway through another interview, Bulger returned my call. I’m still pretty shocked he was willing to talk to me. He was lovely and generous with his time, and it was easy to forget what a cutthroat person I was dealing with. Completely surreal to interview a guy who’d been played in a movie by Benedict Cumberbatch.

To my mind, my inability to flesh out the story of Anthony remains the book’s biggest failure. (I went so far as to engage the services of a private detective.) I just couldn’t find his family. I’m blessed, however, that the filmmakers who made the subsequent documentary managed to do so, and convince them to appear on camera. That perspective, from people who knew and loved him, was the very least that Anthony deserved.

David Wojnarowicz turns up in more detail in The Man Nobody Killed.

I first heard about Rebecca from her successor, David Wertheimer. She’d been essentially written out of the Anti-Violence’s history, and he was not happy about it. However, that will lucky for me because Rebecca was an incredible person with an amazing story, which she was only too happy to tell me. If this chapter accomplished anything, I hope it properly situated Rebecca Porper in the annals of a great organization’s story.