Hundreds Turn Out To Remember & Celebrate the Life of Nightlife Impresario Nashom Benjamin Wooden
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Last night hundreds turned out for a star studded memorial service for Nightlife Impresario Nashom Benjamin Wooden. Wooden, also known by his drag name Mona Fit, was a well loved NYC nightlife feature.
D.J. Gant Johnson who was one of hosts of the event wrote on Instagram: “Last night’s celebration of life for Nashom’s birthday today was such an honor and privilege to be a part of! I am absolutely OVERJOYED reflecting on it and enjoying all the photos & videos that are flowing in today! THANK YOU ALL for a lovely evening!!”
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Wooden’s larger-than-life time on this planet was celebrated over two events, first at the Le Bain Dance & Night Club at the Standard Hotel and later at The Cock.
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He was one of the first people many knew in NYC nightlife to die from COVID. For many he was wake up call from complacency and a call-to-action. Nashom Benjamin Wooden was 50 years old when he died on March 23 last year due to COVID.
I remember first learning of Wooden’s death from a. mourning post by DJ Gant Johnson.
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Popular Publicity: If one were to take a snapshot of all that was fierce about Downtown NYC nightlife over the last three decades, caught in the flash, giving face and body, would be Nashom Wooden. Like many who have since ascended to the East Village pantheon, Nashom was unique, talented, a sweetheart and a presence.
Tall, muscular, and handsome, Nashom was a former high school athlete with a love of superheroes, strong women, pop culture and camp. From Grace Jones to Sylvester, Thierry Mugler to Rick Owens, “Sunset Boulevard” to “Paris is Burning,” Quentin Crisp to Katherine Helmond, Nashom mixed and served his own brand of attitude and humor.
Though born in Brooklyn and hanging out at Manhattan’s Tunnel nightclub at 15, it wasn’t until Nashom turned 18 that he moved into the City. He found work at Zoot on Waverly and later at cult boutique Charivari, before eventually landing at the Eighth Street “fashion bazaar” owned by future “Sex in the City” and “Devil Wears Prada” designer, Patricia Field.
Co-workers at Pat Field included best friends and future collaborators, designer JoJo Americo and writer and director Paul E Alexander, also known as the former master of ceremonies at Johnny Dynell and Chi Chi Valenti’s legendary Tuesday night Meatpacking District party, Jackie 60 (1991-1999).
It was at Zoot in 1989 that Nashom met Nikki Nicole (Nicholas Carter), the first black Miss Boy Bar, who dared him to do a lip-sync number on the Boy Bar stage. A lover of lip-synch, craving attention, and in need of a few coins, Nashom took the dare. The audience loved him, and, though “the girls weren’t all that welcoming at first,” he was eventually embraced by the Boy Bar Beauties, which included Miss Guy, Connie Girl, Princess Diandra and Raven—people he considered the cream of the crop of East Village performance artists.
Nashom, named his newfound stage persona, “Mona,” after Katherine Helmond’s hilarious man crazed character on the 80’s sitcom, “Who’s the Boss.” “Foot” was tacked one night by Boy Bar talent booker Matthew Kasten, as he introduced Mona to the stage, and “Mona Foot” was born.
A strapping six and a half feet tall, in a painfully tight corset, wig and heels, Mona’s Tina Turner-Wonder Woman-on-steroids drag, in costumes designed by David Dalrymple for House of Field, was at once intimidating and exhilarating. Her arch banter, sassy repartee and instantly legendary take on Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman,” quickly made her a superstar on the Downtown scene. Fame brought nonstop gigs at Boy Bar, The Pyramid Club, Crowbar, The Cock, the annual drag festival, Wigstock and Barracuda, where she hosted the popular “Mona Foot’s Star Search” talent show.
In 1999, it also brought Nashom roles in an Off-Broadway play with RuPaul (“My Pet Homo”), on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (S1, E4 “Hysteria”), and as the in and out of drag character “Amazing Grace” in the Joel Schumacher’s film, “Flawless,” starring Robert De Niro and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Though by this time he had tired of being known as Mona Foot (“That’s not my name. My name is Nashom.”*), when Schumacher said he could submit songs for the soundtrack, he saw an opportunity to do something new. Together with friend Paul E Alexander, he wrote a song for the film called, “Flawless,” the music for which was written and produced by A Touch of Class (Scissor Sisters) and remixed to perfection for the charts and clubs by Italo-duo Phunk Investigation.
To perform the song, Nashom, Paul E Alexander and JoJo Americo became The Ones. The three had met working at Patricia Field and had previously performed as a trio at the underground punk/drag party Squeezebox.
Though the original slinky, catwalk version of “Flawless” didn’t make it into the movie, the 2001 remix by Phunk Investigation made the song the hit of the season in Ibiza, which propelled the single to #7 on the UK Top 10 and number 1 on International Dance Charts. “Flawless” was featured in a 2002 Revlon commercial and cemented The Ones international pop stardom. In an instant, the trio was jetting to London to perform the song on “Top of the Pops”, “Pepsi Chart Show” and major clubs like Ministry of Sound, G.A.Y. as well as many gigs across Europe.
In 2004, George Michael faithfully reworked the song as his own hit, “Flawless (Go to the City),” which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Songs chart.
Three albums—”The Ones” (2007), “NYC Jungle” (2008) and “Blast From the Past” (2010)—and nearly a dozen singles followed of flawlessly produced dance music, reflecting the trio’s various musical influences—a mix of electro, house, new wave, rock and pop. Album covers featured JoJo, Paul and Nashom, all Mona Lisa smiles and gazing eyes in runway ready superhero couture by David Dalrymple (House of Field). The final single, “Let’s Celebrate” by The Ones featuring Nomi Ruiz, was a Top 10 Billboard Dance Club Chart hit.
The accompanying videos, particularly “When We Get Together,” “Face and Body,” and “Let’s Celebrate” were nothing less than roll calls for a who’s who of the Downtown glitterati, featuring fellow club, music, and fashion stars, from Amanda Lepore, Cazwell, Susanne Bartsch and Jody Watley, to Debbie Harry, Jake Shears, Connie Girl and Miss Guy, to supermodels Pat Cleveland and daughter, Anna to Frankie Sharp and the legendary group godmother, Codie Leone.
Fourteen years later, after crisscrossing the globe for gigs from San Francisco Pride, Sydney Mardi Gras, to Russia (where they were surprisingly popular), and opening for Lady Gaga, the trio remained friends, but decided to stop performing together as THE ONES.
Nashom continued to work at The Cock where he’d been a bartender (his favorite position), promoter (‘Cock &Soul’), doorman, manager and DJ since 1997. And though no longer performing as The Ones, Nashom remained a glamorous regular on the Downtown art and fashion scene, often seen at movie premieres, fashion shows, or running around the East Village looking fierce in Rick Owens, Maison Margiela, Dirk Bikkembergs and David Dalrymple for House of Field.
From all accounts, Nashom left us in his prime: Fit, fly and fabulous. He’d just finished writing a television show treatment, was a regular at numerous gyms (and it showed) and if you bumped into him on the street, he was just as sly, witty and funny as ever.
