September 5, 1992

The city narrowly avoided a really bad hair day yesterday when it made an exception to a last-minute ruling that would have left Monday’s annual Wigstock festival about as full as Sigourney Weaver’s “Alien 3” buzzcut. Late Thursday, the drag extravaganza’s organizing committee, led by top transvestite Lady Bunny, was informed that a new regulation that purportedly went into effect with the reopening of Tompkins Square Park limited all “amplified” events at the controversy-plagued site to four hours. Problem is, the Wigstock head hairpieces had earlier gotten a Police Dept. permit for eight hours of amplified follicular fun – and had thus scheduled acts, including Deee-Lite and Deborah Harry, for that amount of time. “This is the time that I should be running around getting my wigs,” sighed Bunny, who was busy getting City Councilman Tome Duane and Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger to argue on Wigstock’s behalf. “The (performers) we’ve got coming in from out of town are going to be greeted with the news, ‘You’re canceled.’ I think it’s insane we’re being treated this way.” Meanwhile, Parks Dept. spokesman Skip Garrett seemed at split, er, loose ends. “My God, eight hours of drag? 'Gone with the Wind' only lasted four hours!” he exclaimed, adding: “When the neighborhood found out that they were going to get blasted for eight hours they raised cain. Last year they had it at Union Square Park. It’s not surrounded by residences.” But shortly after one caller indicated that at least one attorney was threatening the city with a lawsuit, Michael Carson from the mayor’s office told us the event had received an extension to it original full-length.