Wrists flap excitedly around his ears, cries of "No!" and "Fabulous!" fog the air Drag heaven. Then there's a swirl of taffeta, a shimmer of paste gems under neon as Musto recognises a face. He still wants Guiliani, the city's Republican mayor, to "drink the black sperm of vengeance" following the recent spate of closures on the New York club scene.Standing by the dancefloor, clutching his corduroy jacket to his chest, feet locked tightly at the heel, for a fleeting second, Musto resembles Linus from Peanuts. The one-liners are punctuated by a girlish giggle (that comes from goodness knows where within the six-foot Italian-American) Still, this shouldn't beguile the unwary. "I used to be the most outrageously dressed, but once the club kids come around, you just feel silly next to them They go to such lengths because they have all day I have a life - well, I have moreof a life than some It's all relative. I think drag looks really foolish as you get older."Older? Well, yes.

At 37, Musto verges on geriatric for the club scene.And with the advancing years Musto's column has partially abandoned glitz and become more serious, interspersing party poop with HIV issues and gay rights Don't be fooled by all the catty columns He is genialtoo. It wasn't just club people; it was everyone from writers to art dealers to designers. It was very adult, cool and well, pretentious." He guffaws.Tonight, Musto has eschewed drag There's no Martini olive hat No grass skirt. No Black Exploitation-Carnaby Street-DKNY-Gaultier-Romeo Gigli knock-off (with matching shoes).The vamp who once sat on a bar stool dripping diamonds, sucking on a screwdriver, occasionally peering over Dr Strangelove sunglasses, sits sipping cranberry juice in beige slacks and a pink and blue striped shirt. With thick glasses and a brown corduroy jacket, he looks like a librarian.Beige slacks? A shirt? Corduroy? Did Musto take it to heart last year when he turned up for an appearance in Cyndi Lauper's video of Girls Just Want To Have Fun, in a $5 dress only to be handed a sequinned replacement by the wardrobe consultant?"Oh please I can't compete any more," he groans. But it wasn't just the size of these clubs that marked them out, it was the mix of Manhattanites they attracted: "That was the creative peak of the downtown scene Everyone came together.

You're not going to run around Barnes & Noble bookstore in a tutu screaming 'Hi! My name's Goldilocks!' "According to Musto, New York nightlife reached its zenith in the mid- Eighties, with clubs such as Palladium, Limelight (then just opened) and Danceteria. It's amazing the rules that can be broken, and you're celebrated for being different, for being daring, for being outrageous. Bookstores like Barnes & Noble have these cafes where people sit around pretending to read while they cruise for a husband." The only big gay party left (apart from the Limelight) is at the Roxy: the guilty party responsible for spawning drag queen RuPaul.Musto is laid back about the demise of the nightclub scene "It just is, I suppose .. but nightclubs are more exciting They lend themselves to more extravagant behaviour. Boybar, Studio 54, Club USA, all shut, shut, shut.Party people in New York, according to Musto, are following the fashion set. He's disgusted: "The Bowery Bar is sucking up the fashion power crowd - wannabes and Warhol survivors sitting by the bar getting drunk."Big venues are over, the club kid crowd too insular Musto says: "Gyms are the new night clubs That's where people go to meet people now Coffee bars have got a lot to answer for too.