53-year-old Village Voice gossip columnist, Michael Musto, is a faintly ridiculous figure: his trademark oversized glasses lending a frog-like air to his face, awkwardly schmoozing the flighty fashion fags at Beige on Tuesdays, all in the service of a gossip column for a newspaper that few read, about downtown figures even they haven't heard of. Whatever. La Dolce Musto, his column for the New York altweekly, is at least more lively than pretty much any other feature in that storied but now moribund publication. Musto has transcended any mockery to become something of a downtown icon. There's no point in saying he's ridiculous. That's an integral element of the persona, as Musto shows in this terrible gay pop video, in which he attempts to portray a razor-wielding lunatic, quickly charmed by a naked boy in a shower. (Click here for the screenshots.) Musto may be a relic of an era when the downtown gay scene had wider cultural significance. But he understands the first rule of modern fame: a willingness to make a fool of one's self, before that vast internet public. Which means that we have high hopes for his new blog, La Daily Musto. (Sample post: a roundup of trashy gay reactions to the death of Heath Ledger.) SCREENGRABS >>