Anonymous Boy
Encyclopedia
Anonymous Boy is the pen name of Tony Arena, an artist, writer and filmmaker who resides in New York City
. Anonymous Boy is also the title of his self-published comics zine.
, when his first contribution appeared in this zine
in the late 1980s. His erotic and romantic drawings of punks garnered much attention and after the demise of J.D.s, his work appeared in many other publications such as Outpunk
, Speed Demon, RFD, The Burning Times, Aunt Franne, Teen Fag, NYQ, YELL Zine, Androzine and many more. He also provided some record cover and insert art for the bands Pansy Division
, The Lone Wolves, Limp Wrist
and for the cover of the queer punk compilation record, Stop Homophobia, #2, released by Turkey Baster Records.
movie, which played at film festivals around the world. Created on a limited budget, Anonymous Boy's DIY animation effect worked to the film's benefit.
After this, he and boyfriend Ron began producing a regular public access television show called The Wild Record Collection which appears on Manhattan Neighbourhood Public Access Television on Friday nights. He and Ron have been guests to promote their television program on the WFMU
radio show Music To Spazz by with Dave The Spazz. The New York Press awarded the show with The Best of New York Award for Best Public Access Music Program of 1997. From September 8, 2006 through October 22, 2006 The Wild Record Collection was featured as part of a video-art exhibit called Everybody Dance Now, curated by Kathleen Goncharov for the EFA Gallery in New York City, and in 2011 it was included as part of the "Shindig!" segment of "TV Party" at The Museum of The Moving Image in a screening honoring the eccentric aspects of Public Access Television. Public Access pioneer George C. Stoney
, widely regarded as "the Father of Public Access" was in attendence to vehemently criticize the featured programs as the "worst" of what Public Access had to offer.
Tony enlisted the services of his friend Sarah Jacobson
to help edit his contribution, METAL OR MUSCLE? for a Presto Project DVD produced by Nike
. The animated short featured robots attempting to emulate the movements of street athletes. It was scored by his friend Sam Elwitt, a musician best known for The Nutley Brass and his musical scores in the Queer Duck
series. The METAL OR MUSCLE? cartoon short saw the return of the primitive Anonymous Boy animation technique first seen in GREEN PUBES but refined. The unique DIY animation technique uses cut out figures in real-time movement. The figures wiggle and glide on a transparency across backgrounds. The overall effect is humorous, low-tech, and humanistic- a contrast to both traditional cell animation
and to computer generated style.
zine Maximum Rocknroll
. His column lasted until 2004. He continues to draw comics, contributes to books and publications, and produces his own fanzines Homopunk World,Punk Rock Freakazoid, The Zine Sin?, Straight and Narrow, Filth, and Anonymous Boy among others. He is a regular contributor to the anthology Boy Trouble, edited by Robert Kirby
and David Kelly. The last issue to be released as a zine
, the 10th Anniversary issue of Boy Trouble appeared in 2005. Since then, two volumes of the anthology have been published, the first, The Book of Boy Trouble, in 2006, followed by The Book of Boy Trouble Volume 2 in 2008.
to which he also contributed a song by the same name for the film's soundtrack. The soundtrack included music by Jane Danger
, Mariae Nascenti
, Bunny & The Lakers and The Hidden Cameras
among others. At the film's premiere for the Toronto "Images" film festival, he made a personal appearance along with fellow Lollipop Generation cast members Jena von Brucker, Jane Danger, Andrew Cecil, and Becky Palov.
He also formed a punk rock band called The Spines in which he sings and plays the Electric Autoharp
, an unusual instrument for punk. He is joined in The Spines by bass player Bunny Hirsch and drummer Rich Kabot. He had previously been in the bands Horror Planet and Bozo Shmo.
As Actor
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Anonymous Boy is also the title of his self-published comics zine.
Comics and Artistic Work
The name 'Anonymous Boy' was given to him by G.B. Jones, the editor of J.D.sJ.D.s
J.D.s is a queer punk zine founded in Toronto by G.B. Jones and co-published with Bruce LaBruce, that ran for eight issues from 1985 to 1991....
, when his first contribution appeared in this zine
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
in the late 1980s. His erotic and romantic drawings of punks garnered much attention and after the demise of J.D.s, his work appeared in many other publications such as Outpunk
Outpunk
Outpunk enjoys the distinction of being the first record label entirely devoted to queer punk bands.The label was run out of San Francisco and began as an extension of Matt Wobensmith's fanzine, Outpunk. Outpunk ran for seven issues, from 1992 till 1997, with contributions from queer punks such as...
, Speed Demon, RFD, The Burning Times, Aunt Franne, Teen Fag, NYQ, YELL Zine, Androzine and many more. He also provided some record cover and insert art for the bands Pansy Division
Pansy Division
Pansy Division is an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California in 1991. Featuring primarily gay musicians and focusing mostly on gay-related themes, Pansy Division is one of the more melodic-oriented bands to emerge from the "queercore" movement that began in the 1980s.-Early...
, The Lone Wolves, Limp Wrist
Limp Wrist
Limp Wrist is an American hardcore punk band featuring members of Los Crudos, Hail Mary, Devoid of Faith, and Kill the Man Who Questions. Playing short, fast hardcore punk-styled music, the band touches upon themes concerning the LGBT community in their live performances and lyrics. They identify...
and for the cover of the queer punk compilation record, Stop Homophobia, #2, released by Turkey Baster Records.
Film and Animation
In 1995, Anonymous Boy premiered his film GREEN PUBES, the first animated queercoreQueercore
Queercore is a cultural and social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of punk. It is distinguished by being discontent with society in general and its rejection of the disapproval of the gay, bisexual, and lesbian communities and their "oppressive agenda"...
movie, which played at film festivals around the world. Created on a limited budget, Anonymous Boy's DIY animation effect worked to the film's benefit.
After this, he and boyfriend Ron began producing a regular public access television show called The Wild Record Collection which appears on Manhattan Neighbourhood Public Access Television on Friday nights. He and Ron have been guests to promote their television program on the WFMU
WFMU
WFMU is a listener-supported, independent community radio station headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States, broadcasting at 91.1 MHz FM, presenting a freeform radio format...
radio show Music To Spazz by with Dave The Spazz. The New York Press awarded the show with The Best of New York Award for Best Public Access Music Program of 1997. From September 8, 2006 through October 22, 2006 The Wild Record Collection was featured as part of a video-art exhibit called Everybody Dance Now, curated by Kathleen Goncharov for the EFA Gallery in New York City, and in 2011 it was included as part of the "Shindig!" segment of "TV Party" at The Museum of The Moving Image in a screening honoring the eccentric aspects of Public Access Television. Public Access pioneer George C. Stoney
George C. Stoney
George C. Stoney is a professor of film and cinema studies at New York University , and a pioneer in the field of documentary film. Stoney directed several influential films including All My Babies and How the Myth Was Made...
, widely regarded as "the Father of Public Access" was in attendence to vehemently criticize the featured programs as the "worst" of what Public Access had to offer.
Tony enlisted the services of his friend Sarah Jacobson
Sarah Jacobson
Sarah Jacobson was an independent filmmaker who wrote, produced, and filmed her own movies.-Career:...
to help edit his contribution, METAL OR MUSCLE? for a Presto Project DVD produced by Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
. The animated short featured robots attempting to emulate the movements of street athletes. It was scored by his friend Sam Elwitt, a musician best known for The Nutley Brass and his musical scores in the Queer Duck
Queer Duck
Queer Duck is an animated series produced by Mondo that originally appeared on Icebox.com and later moved to the American cable television channel Showtime in 2002, where it aired as a followup feature of the American version of Queer as Folk...
series. The METAL OR MUSCLE? cartoon short saw the return of the primitive Anonymous Boy animation technique first seen in GREEN PUBES but refined. The unique DIY animation technique uses cut out figures in real-time movement. The figures wiggle and glide on a transparency across backgrounds. The overall effect is humorous, low-tech, and humanistic- a contrast to both traditional cell animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
and to computer generated style.
Writings
In 2001 Anonymous Boy began writing a regular column for the long running punk rockPunk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
zine Maximum Rocknroll
Maximum RocknRoll
Maximum rocknroll is a widely distributed, monthly not-for-profit fanzine based in San Francisco, USA. It features interviews, columns, and reviews from international contributors...
. His column lasted until 2004. He continues to draw comics, contributes to books and publications, and produces his own fanzines Homopunk World,Punk Rock Freakazoid, The Zine Sin?, Straight and Narrow, Filth, and Anonymous Boy among others. He is a regular contributor to the anthology Boy Trouble, edited by Robert Kirby
Robert Kirby (comics artist)
Robert Kirby is the creator of the syndicated comic Curbside.Curbside is the story of two young men, Drew, an aspiring writer, and Nathan, an aspiring musician, who meet and eventually form a tumultuous relationship...
and David Kelly. The last issue to be released as a zine
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
, the 10th Anniversary issue of Boy Trouble appeared in 2005. Since then, two volumes of the anthology have been published, the first, The Book of Boy Trouble, in 2006, followed by The Book of Boy Trouble Volume 2 in 2008.
Recent Work
In 2008, he appeared in the G.B. Jones film The Lollipop GenerationThe Lollipop Generation
The Lollipop Generation is the first feature film by G.B. Jones.The Lollipop Generation premiered as the Gala Feature presentation of the Images Festival in Toronto on April 3, 2008....
to which he also contributed a song by the same name for the film's soundtrack. The soundtrack included music by Jane Danger
Three Dollar Bill
Three Dollar Bill is a band founded by Jane Danger and Chris Piss, in Chicago, Illinois in 1998. The name comes from the expression "Queer as a three dollar bill". The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has never been authorized to print a $3 note. However, before the Civil War, banks operating...
, Mariae Nascenti
Mariae Nascenti
Mariae Nascenti is a one-man industrial music project from Milan, Italy.The creation of Ango Visone, Maria Nascenti has been described as 'dark ambient', 'harsh electronics' and 'ambient industrial'. Songs consist of soundscapes, sometimes employing "found sound", and are frequently accompanied by...
, Bunny & The Lakers and The Hidden Cameras
The Hidden Cameras
The Hidden Cameras are a Canadian indie pop band. Fronted by singer-songwriter Joel Gibb, the band consists of a varying roster of musicians who play what Gibb once described as "gay church folk music"...
among others. At the film's premiere for the Toronto "Images" film festival, he made a personal appearance along with fellow Lollipop Generation cast members Jena von Brucker, Jane Danger, Andrew Cecil, and Becky Palov.
He also formed a punk rock band called The Spines in which he sings and plays the Electric Autoharp
Autoharp
The autoharp is a musical string instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers, which, when depressed, mute all of the strings other than those that form the desired chord. Despite its name, the autoharp is not a harp at all, but a chorded zither. -History:There is debate over the...
, an unusual instrument for punk. He is joined in The Spines by bass player Bunny Hirsch and drummer Rich Kabot. He had previously been in the bands Horror Planet and Bozo Shmo.
Books
- The Book of Boy Trouble 2: Born to Trouble, edited by Robert KirbyRobert Kirby (comics artist)Robert Kirby is the creator of the syndicated comic Curbside.Curbside is the story of two young men, Drew, an aspiring writer, and Nathan, an aspiring musician, who meet and eventually form a tumultuous relationship...
and David Kelly, Green Candy Press, October 2008 ISBN 978-1931160650 - The Book of Boy Trouble, edited by Robert Kirby and David Kelly,Green Candy Press; 1st edition (September 28, 2006) ISBN 1-931160-45-7
- Boy Trouble, edited by Robert Kirby and David Kelly, Boy Trouble Books, 2005, ISBN 0-9748855-0-9
- What's Right?: Graphic Interpretations Against Censorship, Arsenal Pulp PressArsenal Pulp PressArsenal Pulp Press is a Canadian independent book publishing company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company publishes a broad range of titles in both fiction and non-fiction, and is noted for founding the annual Three-Day Novel Contest .Authors who have been published by Arsenal Pulp ...
, 2003, ISBN 1-55152-137-7 - What's Wrong?, edited by Robin Fisher, Arsenal Pulp PressArsenal Pulp PressArsenal Pulp Press is a Canadian independent book publishing company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company publishes a broad range of titles in both fiction and non-fiction, and is noted for founding the annual Three-Day Novel Contest .Authors who have been published by Arsenal Pulp ...
, 2002, ISBN 1-55152-136-9
Film
As Director- Green Pubes, 1995
As Actor
- The Lollipop GenerationThe Lollipop GenerationThe Lollipop Generation is the first feature film by G.B. Jones.The Lollipop Generation premiered as the Gala Feature presentation of the Images Festival in Toronto on April 3, 2008....
directed by G.B. Jones, 2008
External links
- Anonymous Boy on My Space
- Review of Green Pubes (Archived 2009-10-25)
- Green Pubes at Video Lounge
- Chroma review by Paul Kane of Anonymous Boy in The Book of Boy Trouble
- The List review by Robin Lee of Anonymous Boy in The Book of Boy Trouble
- nutleybrass.com
- Anonymous Boy's zine Homopunk World at ZineWikiZineWikiZineWiki is an open-source online wiki devoted to zines, fanzines, small press publications, chapbooks, and independent media. It covers the history, production, distribution and culture of the small press.-History:...
- Anonymous Boy in The Lollipop Generation