Okay, there's a very troubling article in today's New York Times about a road trip with Laura Albert (reg. req'd.).

Laura Albert is, of course, the 41-year-old mother and local literary scenester who made up the character of JT LeRoy, and then got her sister in law to dress up (in shades and a blond wig) as the gay, male, former teen hustler when his purported "memoir" hit the big time. Albert was later sued in a spectacular car wreck of a litigation by a production company for fraud, where she claimed that JT LeRoy was some type of alter ego multiple personality but didn't deny pretending to be him to make money.

Anyways, so for some reason, she agreed to let a New York Times reporter meet her in SF and then road-trip down 101 to LA to meet a friend of hers. You have to read this whole thing to get the full flavor of the disaster this turned into, but: 1) it took her seven hours to pack (author notes that the drive itself took about the same amount of time), 2) talks about JT Leroy like he exists, and 3) gets busted numerous times lying to people (i.e., telling people that her house was destroyed by the twister in Brooklyn. She lives in SF!)

Also, her cell phone is set to a Star Trek ringtone and we think (but are not sure) they're referring to that local literary scene S&M rape trial when they say she's talking to people about a friend getting acquitted in a criminal case, This is really one of the saddest articles we've read in awhile.

JT Leroy accourtrements-inspired picture by unstablelandscape, off flickr.