He takes a mile

All hail John Cameron Mitchell. He’s “not your average gay star,” according to AfterEllen.com, which is pretty, well, medium praise, when you consider the guy’s credentials. Having steadfastly come up through the trenches of TV bit parts (including, of course, the character-actor proving ground that is Law & Order), he finally whipped out a breakthrough, a few years back, with the musical-cum-movie phenomenon Hedwig and the Angry Inch—which the writer-director-star once described as a rock ‘n’ roll fairytale homage to such favorite films of his youth as Harold and Maude, All That Jazz and Nashville. Well, that at least begins to explain its multifaceted hero: a tranny glam-punk with mutilated junk (the operation got botched). Anyway, then Mitchell co-produced Jonathan Caouette’s 2003 DIY doc Tarnation, and, last year, delivered the Cannes-darling indie riot Shortbus, known to its friends as a “mad nexus of art, music, politics and polysexual carnality.” Now he comes to UC Davis to discuss everything. Go see all three of the aforementioned movies—Tarnation on Friday, January 11, Hedwig on the 12th and Shortbus on the 13th—then meet the man himself, on Monday the 14th. Each event is free, begins at 8 p.m., and takes place in UC Davis’ Technocultural Studies building. Visit the department’s Web site for more information.