April 5, 2012 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

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Palm Springs is going strong

The 'Best' are unveiled

41

Jean Paul Gaultier

The

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Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971

Layoffs, food changes hit Open Hand

by Seth Hemmelgarn

F

acing a second year with a deficit, Project Open Hand’s executive director told the Bay Area Reporter this week that he has eliminated four staff positions and most clients with HIV will Jane Philomen Cleland soon have to choose Kevin Winge between delivered meals or picking up groceries.

The agency, which provides meals and groceries to people living with HIV/AIDS, the critically ill homebound, and seniors, will implement the food changes July 1. The staff were let go this week, said Kevin Winge, executive director.

The agency is facing a deficit of as much as $728,000 of a $9.8 million budget.

“We’re not hemorrhaging,” Winge, who began work at the agency in January, said in an See page 16 >>

Vol. 42 • No. 14 • April 5-11, 2012

At 30, SFAF works on financial fixes

by Seth Hemmelgarn

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hirty years after its founding, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation – which is marking the anniversary this year – is the largest HIV/AIDS-based nonprofit in San Francisco.

With a budget forecast to be just over $24 million this year, the agency, which provides services ranging from HIV testing to syringe exchange, has a lot of money to work with as it strives to drastically reduce new HIV infections in the city.

As of late 2011, about half of the funding the city’s HIV Prevention Section was providing through contracts was going to the AIDS foundation and smaller agencies with which the AIDS foundation is working. The foundation serves approximately 14,000 clients. (An unduplicated count isn’t available.)

But the nonprofit, where several staff earn $100,000 and up, receives less-than-stellar rankings on how much it spends on programs versus fundraising and other areas, and officials there are working to change that.

“We are investing like never before in San Francisco in regards to reducing HIV infections, getting people tested, and getting people into care,” said AIDS foundation CEO Neil Giuliano, a gay man who joined the agency just over a year ago after a stint leading the national

Rick Gerharter

San Francisco AIDS Foundation CEO Neil Giuliano said the nonprofit is working to lower the costs of fundraising amid a tough economy.

Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

Giuliano said that when he evaluated the AIDS foundation after his arrival, what struck him was that to invest more in the community, “we were going to have to adjust things internally.”

That’s included what SFAF spends on fundraising. According to its most recent tax documents, 21 percent of the foundation’s total expenses during fiscal year 2010-11 See page 16 >>

Medical pot rally draws noisy crowd Chung named to health panel O

by David Duran

by Seth Hemmelgarn

S

an Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has appointed Cecilia Chung to be the first out transgender person to serve on the city’s Health Commission.

Chung, who’s 46 and HIV-positive, works as a consultant and served Cecilia Chung on the city’s Human Rights Commission for seven years. She submitted her resignation from that commission Monday, April 2.

In a Tuesday, April 3 statement, Lee said, “The Health Commission will greatly benefit from Cecilia’s experience in community health policy and human rights and her understanding as a person living with HIV.” Chung’s appointment restores an out LGBT presence to the seven-member panel, which oversees a health department budget of about $1.6 billion. Lee had recently opted not to re-appoint the commission’s two out gay members, Jim Illig and Steven Tierney. Belle Taylor-McGhee was recently sworn into her position on the oversight body.▼

n the heels of a raid by federal authorities of a marijuana teaching facility and dispensary in Oakland, about 500 people attended a noisy rally in front of San Francisco City Hall Tuesday imploring the feds to back off medical cannabis.

Elected officials were in attendance to lend their support; out Supervisor David Campos said he and the other LGBT supervisors were working to protect the rights of medical marijuana patients.

“I am so proud that the three members of the LGBT community who serve on this board sent a letter to the Department of Public Health to say that we in San Francisco need to protect the rights of patients and we in the LGBT community, especially, need to make sure that the rights of patients are protected in this city,” Campos said.

The Monday raid in Oakland included Oaksterdam University, established by marijuana legalization advocate Richard Lee; a related dispensary; and Lee’s apartment. No arrests were made, although Lee and others were briefly detained.

“Yesterday’s events were a chilling reminder of what our activists have been up against for over the past 10 years,” said Steph Sherer, executive director of Americans for Safe Access. Sherer, who led the rally on Tuesday, told the crowd that this was a movement about compassion and truth.

The rally also drew support for a legislative hearing in Sacramento next week. On Tuesday, the first hearing of AB 2312, the Medical Mari-

David Duran

Medical cannabis patient David Goldman spoke to protesters at Tuesday’s rally.

juana Regulation and Control Act, will take place.

The bill, introduced by gay Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), not only allows for medical marijuana sales it also makes it clear that dispensaries are allowed under state law. California voters passed Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, in 1996.

If passed, Ammiano’s bill would allow “collectives, cooperatives, and other business entities to

{ FIRST OF TWO SECTIONS }

cultivate, acquire, process, possess, transport, test, sell, and distribute marijuana for medical purposes.” The bill also makes it a misdemeanor for a doctor to give a bad recommendation, and would limit dispensaries to one per 50,000 residents in a city. It also creates a medical marijuana bureaucracy.

Under the proposed legislation the governor, the Assembly speaker, and the Senate Committee on Rules would appoint nine people to the Board of Medical Marijuana Enforcement, a new body within the Department of Consumer Affairs.

This body would be in charge of the Medical Marijuana Fund, which would be funded with state fees and fines.

Ammiano, who met with Melinda Haag, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California last December to discuss what was happening with the federal crackdown, was critical of her in a statement read at the rally.

“It was clear at that time that she did not appreciate the history, she didn’t understand the issue, and she did not know what she was getting into,” read Ammiano’s statement.

Campos is asking the health department to expedite the permitting process for dispensaries that were shut down so that they can re-open as quickly as possible.

“There is not time to waste, patients are waiting,” said Campos.

Board President David Chiu also spoke at the rally.

See page 17 >>

<< Community News

2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 5-11, 2012

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Binational couples file DOMA suit

by Michael K. Lavers

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ive binational same-sex couples filed suit against the Defense of Marriage Act this week on the grounds that it unfairly prevents them from sponsoring their partners for immigration purposes.

Edwin Blesch and Tim Smulian of Orient, New York; Frances Herbert and Takako Ueda of Dummerston, Vermont; Heather Morgan and Mar Verdugo Yanez and Santiago Ortiz and Pablo Garcia of New York City; and Kelli Ryan and Lucy Truman of Sandy Hook, Connecticut filed their lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on April 2.

The couples are legally married in the states in which they live, but DOMA bans the federal government from extending the same benefits that heterosexuals automatically receive through marriage.

“They cannot keep their families together – the American cannot sponsor their partner for immigration benefits because of the Defense of Marriage Act,” Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, told reporters April 3.

“That is why we have gone to court.”

The plaintiffs’ lawyers maintain that Section 3 of DOMA, which specifically bars them from sponsoring their partners for immigration purposes, violates the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection clause. Eric Stone, an attorney who represents the couples, stressed the case is not specifically about nuptials for gays and lesbians.

“It is a constitutional claim, it is not a claim on the fundamental

Courtesy Immigration Equality

Frances Herbert, left, and her wife, Takako Ueda, are one of the plaintiff couples in a new lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act.

right to marry,” he said.

Ueda met Herbert shortly after she and her future wife began their freshman year at Aquinas College in Michigan in 1979. She married a man after she graduated and returned to Japan. Ueda divorced her husband in 2000, and moved to Vermont. She received an F1 student visa the following year and subsequently earned an associate’s and bachelor’s degrees.

Ueda applied for her green card last September, and Herbert petitioned the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service to sponsor her.

The couple married at their Vermont home in April 2011, but the U.S. Department of Homeland Security denied Ueda’s application in December because the federal government cannot legally recognize their marriage under DOMA. “I am very proud to be part of this litigation,” said Ueda. “I believe and I trust that things will work out.”

Tiven stressed Ueda and Herbert’s story and those of the other four plaintiff couples demonstrate the ongoing plight of binational samesex couples in this country.

“The denial of immigration benefits can force a couple apart forever or force them into impossible choices where they have to leave the country that the American has grown up in and the country in which they have built their lives together simply to stay together,” she said.

The Immigration Equality case is the latest in a series of lawsuits that have challenged DOMA over the last two years.

Disabled Army veteran Tracey Cooper-Harris sued the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs in federal court in Los Angeles in February after the agency denied her application for spousal benefits for her wife. Eight gay and lesbian service members and veterans filed a lawsuit last October that challenges DOMA’s constitutionality. A federal appeals court in Boston on Wednesday heard oral arguments in a case filed on behalf of six married same-sex couples and a widow from Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire who claim the law is unconstitutional.

The Obama administration announced in February 2011 that it would no longer defend DOMA in federal court. The White House supports a bill that would repeal the statute that then-President Bill Clinton signed in 1996, but the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group in the House of Representatives continues to defend it.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) criticized the group’s decision to intervene in CooperHarris’s case in a letter they sent to House Speaker John Boehner (ROhio) on March 30.

“This latest decision not only ignores the civil rights of LGBT Americans but opens a new, direct assault on veterans,” wrote Pelosi and Hoyer. “The men and women of our armed forces serve with courage and dignity on behalf of our safety and security. They risk their lives for the country they love – and they should not face prejudice at home because of whom they love. These brave soldiers deserve nothing less than our gratitude, our respect, and the benefits they have earned in battle.”

The Uniting American Families Act would allow American citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their same-sex partners for immigration purposes. The measure has 134 co-sponsors in the House and another 24 in the Senate, but it is highly unlikely to pass during this Congress.

“We are tremendously optimistic that it will move forward as soon as Congress is ready to move forward on immigration reform,” said Tiven.▼

Grand marshals named

by Cynthia Laird

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ister Roma of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence was named community grand marshal for this year’s LGBT Pride Parade.

The San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee made the announcement Tuesday, April 3.

Roma, whose legal name is Michael Williams, is in her 25th year as a Sister.

Roma has been on the front lines of HIV/AIDS, homophobia, and hate crimes as the creator of the Stop the Violence campaign.

The Pride Committee also announced that the American Civil Liberties Union Northern California will be the community organizational grand marshal.

Sister Roma

Michael Smith Photography

Peter LaBarbera of the Americans for Truth About Homosexuality won the pink brick award for his anti-gay work.

More grand marshals are expected to be announced in coming weeks.▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

April 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 3

<< Open Forum

4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 5-11, 2012

Volume 42, Number 14 April 5-11, 2012 www.ebar.com PUBLISHER Thomas E. Horn Bob Ross (Founder, 1971 – 2003) NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird ARTS EDITOR Roberto Friedman ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko Seth Hemmelgarn Jim Provenzano CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dan Aiello • Tavo Amador • Erin Blackwell Roger Brigham • Scott Brogan Victoria A. Brownworth • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Chuck Colbert Richard Dodds • David Duran Raymond Flournoy • David Guarino Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell John F. Karr • Lisa Keen • Matthew Kennedy David Lamble • Michael K. Lavers Michael McDonagh • David-Elijah Nahmod Paul Parish • Lois Pearlman • Tim Pfaff Jim Piechota • Bob Roehr • Donna Sachet Adam Sandel • Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith • Ed Walsh • Sura Wood

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Obama must end medical pot raids O

n Monday morning federal agents raided Oaksterdam University, the internationally famous school that Richard Lee established to train entrepreneurs in the marijuana industry. Lee is probably the state’s most wellknown proponent of legalization and regulation of marijuana, and supporter of medical cannabis.

On Tuesday, medical marijuana advocates held a noisy rally in San Francisco to demand that the Obama administration end its crackdown on the medicine.

Since last fall, five San Francisco dispensaries have closed due to the aggressive stance of four U.S. attorneys in California, including Melinda Haag, U.S. attorney for the northern district of California. She and her counterparts expressed concern about the clubs and vowed to aggressively prosecute medical marijuana dispensaries as profit-making criminal enterprises.

This included sending letters to the clubs’ landlords, threatening them with legal action if they didn’t evict their tenants. The attorneys also suggested that newspapers publishing medical cannabis ads could also be targets.

President Barack Obama must rein in his Justice Department. When he was a presidential candidate in 2007, he said, “I would not have the Justice Department prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana users. It’s just not a good use of our resources.” After he became president, his attorney general, Eric Holder, said at a news conference that the administration would not be raiding medical cannabis dispensaries. “What he said during the campaign is now policy,” Holder said, referring to the president.

Unfortunately, that turned out to be true for only a couple of years, as Haag and the other U.S. attorneys began their intimidation campaign, ostensibly because some of the dispensaries are too close to schools.

Since the passage of the Compassionate Use Act in 1996, San Francisco has developed a comprehensive system for issuing medical

cannabis ID cards and regulating dispensaries.

Oakland also followed suit, after voters there approved a measure a few years ago to tax the dispensaries in an effort to bolster city coffers.

The dispensaries themselves supported the tax.

Obama was right in 2007: the resources spent by the Justice Department raiding medical cannabis clubs could be better used elsewhere. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Chip Johnson made the same argument Tuesday, writing that while Oakland could certainly use federal assistance to reduce violent crime, it “doesn’t need the kind of help federal authorities are giving us now.” He went on to recount Monday’s raid, noting that the feds searched Lee’s apartment in addition to Oaksterdam University. Lee, who uses a wheelchair, “certainly qualifies as Public Enemy No. 1 in our town,” Johnson wrote sarcastically.

Americans for Safe Access has also been fighting the medical cannabis raids, noting that closing the clubs will push patients into the illicit market without consequence. ASA has the support of legislators Assemblyman Tom Ammiano and state Senator Mark Leno.

Ammiano met with Haag late last year.

While the federal government does not recognize cannabis as a medicine, state voters felt differently when they passed Prop 215. Certainly, the federal government has more important things to do.

The Justice Department’s expenditures of funds for the medical cannabis raids are a misuse of tax dollars. Given that the future of health care reform is hanging in the balance at the U.S. Supreme Court, one would think that allowing people access to their medicine – even cannabis, which some consider alternative – is more important than raiding dispensaries, harassing patients, and dragging a wheelchairbound advocate out of his home.▼

Resurrection now!

Were you there when they crucified my Lord Were you there when they crucified my Lord, Oh – Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble ...

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

– African American Spiritual, often sung during Holy Week

by Jim Mitulski

I

recently heard veteran activists Elaine Brown and Angela Davis speak at the Grand Lake Theater at an Occupy Oakland/Occupy San Quentin event focused on the rights of the incarcerated in which I was reminded that the word “Resurrection” has a secular resonance.

They both described the various Occupy movements as a literal “Resurrection of a New Social Movement.” I am also aware that resurrection has a more conventional religious application.

I work at a progressive seminary in Berkeley, where we teach future religious leaders not only about Christian tradition, but how to make these stories meaningful in the present. Because it is a liberal school committed primarily to liberation in church and society, we especially are aware that the misuse of these stories can contribute to sexism, racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, religious intolerance, and the uncritical acquiescence of religious institutions to systems of power from which they benefit.

We teach them to question and not simply receive the tradition, to use the tradition to critique the status quo and even to subvert it.

We teach them that Christianity can be a religion of revolution, not of social conformity. We challenge them to find Jesus the revolutionary comrade whose death was a political execution engineered by an occupying foreign government and to examine ways in which his death was a form of capital punishment, and how the Roman Empire can resemble our own government’s presence in other countries. We teach these future clergy that if religion is only about then, and not about now, then it isn’t worth embracing.

It is easy to see the suffering of the past reflected in the present. As we go through the

services of Holy Week, we are acutely aware not only of the suffering caused by racism in the case of Trayvon Martin in Florida, but of Oscar Grant here where we live. The wailing and lament heard at the foot of the cross is recognizable in the terror-filled cries of students who perished at Oikos University in Oakland at the hands of a gunman who took the lives of seven of them. The similarity of the setting – a Christian school just a few miles from us exactly parallels our own setting. We are able to connect the events that took place on a hill 2,000 years ago with the world around us as we gather here on what we call “Holy Hill” in Berkeley, serene, verdant, pastoral, and undisturbed. We cannot allow ourselves to ignore suffering – the suffering of immigrants in our midst, the ongoing suffering of LGBT youth who experience the pain of bullying, the suffering of the incarcerated, and the suffering of those whose future health care is now being debated by the courts.

This semester I have been teaching a class on HIV and theology. Many of these students are curious about who Ronald Reagan was, who Roy Cohn was, and are genuinely unaware that nearly 20,000 San Franciscans died of HIV/ AIDS mostly in a 15-year period from 1982 to 1996, and that Alameda County continues to be one of the largest concentrations of people with HIV in California. They recognize the crucifixions of African American and Latina men and women who now form the largest percentage of people with HIV, and are even puzzled that it was once characterized as a gay disease. I am grateful for their desire to learn, and for their determination to transform this situation of people with HIV/AIDS from one of crucifixion to one of resurrection, especially since the disease, though still strongly stigmatized in many religious circles, can be managed as a chronic illness and is not necessarily the terminal illness it was in the early years of the epidemic.

The world is a different place than it was when I was younger, and even religion is

changing. Once the enemy of LGBT people and people with HIV/AIDS, it is now as often likely to be in solidarity with our liberation struggle.

Working with young people has reignited in me hope that resurrection is possible. Crucifixion is not just something that happened to Jesus.

It has a personal, political, spiritual, and social resonance as we look at the world today. Crucifixion is easier to spot than resurrection.

But I also believe that resurrection was not something that we need associate with the Jesus two millennia ago.

If it means anything, and I have focused my life on the fact that it means something, it is because resurrection is meaningful today, and available to the world in which we live. My Easter faith is not about then, it is about now.

My conviction that resurrection is about life before death is based on my personal experience as a person living with HIV/AIDS. As challenging as life becomes I try to remember daily that I have been kept alive for a reason, and that if nothing else I am here to inspire others to believe that life before death is even more important than life after death.

Resurrection is political as well as spiritual, and every time we see the emergence of a spontaneous expression of social change or protest, we are seeing resurrection tangibly. Resurrection is communal. I am proud to be a part of a community that did not expect to have a future in 1995. If you are alive, then resurrection is possible. Don’t give up, don’t settle for too little too soon, don’t resign yourself to what may seem inevitable. Engage the world around you, love recklessly, take risks, and engage in a life of solidarity with others who refuse to give into the finality of crucifixion.

“Love is stronger than death” is the biblical mantra that got me through the most difficult of life’s challenges, and I urge you to try it until resurrection seems inevitable to you. The late Adrienne Rich’s words from her essay “When We Dead Awaken: Writing As Re-Vision” have given shape to my Easter longings this year, See page 15 >>

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Letters >>

April 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 5

Progressive annoyances

Rich want to get richer

Your article on Ross Mirkarimi reminded me of what annoys me about some of the so-called progressive leaders in our community [“LGBTs weigh in on Mirkarimi,” March 29]. They are so invested in defending individuals who they think are key to their movement that they lose sight of the actual issues.

First, David Waggoner is incorrect when he states that having Mirkarimi leave his position as sheriff would be a loss to the “entire” LGBT community. Waggoner does not speak for me and losing a sheriff who committed false imprisonment against his wife does not impact our community in any way.

Also, I am not interested in Debra Walker’s patronizing and ridiculous lecture about the history of targeting LGBTs for inappropriate behavior. This is of absolutely no relevance to Mirkarimi’s case. She may not think false imprisonment and bruising a wife’s arm is a big deal but a lot of us do. She might also want to rethink using the word “lynching” to describe supposed poor treatment of Mirkarimi. If she doesn’t understand why it was extremely inappropriate for her to use that word, then she is the one who needs a history lesson.

More importantly, the Mirkarimi case is not an LGBT or a progressive issue. It is a domestic violence case in which our elected sheriff pleaded guilty to false imprisonment.

Most San Franciscans, including people like me who voted for him, don’t want a sheriff who is guilty of this crime. Mayor Ed Lee is not abusing any authority; he is using the law to have Mirkarimi removed. If he is unsuccessful, we will use the recall process. It is time for Mirkarimi and his supporters to stop whining about his being “lynched,” piled on, railroaded, etc. Reasonable people can disagree about whether or not Mirkarimi should be removed from office, but he has only himself to blame for what has happened.

In response to the Guest Opinion piece by Tommi Avicolli-Mecca “Ending poverty in the LGBT community,” [March 15] and Bill Hemenger’s letter last week: Hemenger’s belief that “successful people and businesses” will solve the problem of poverty in our LGBT community sounds remarkably like the trickle down economics of former homophobic president Ronald Reagan.

If the dot-com boom “helped our economy,” then why did displacement, evictions, and homelessness increase so much during those years when so much money was pouring into the city?

Why did segments of the LGBT community become poorer while others became richer? Why didn’t the “successful people and the businesses” come to the rescue of the people who were losing their homes and ending up on the streets?

Hemenger’s idea that “together we can solve this (the poverty in our community)” is laudable, but when push comes to shove, those with money invest it in making more money, not helping the poor and disenfranchised, even in their own community.

Terrrie Frye San Francisco

More poverty In response to Bill Hemenger’s March 29 letter: The hardest workers in our society are farmworkers. So how come they are mired in poverty? And for how many years must we hear that the rich will make us rich if only we will embrace the trickle down theory. Hey, they had their chance and muffed it and now we are all mired in poverty. Or can I say reaping the whirlwind?

Denise D’Anne San Francisco

Ryan Clary San Francisco

Friends to mark Harry Hay’s 100th birthday compiled by Cynthia Laird

F

riends will gather in the Haight Saturday, April 7 from 7:30 p.m. to midnight to mark the anniversary of gay rights pioneer Harry Hay’s 100th birthday. Hay, founder of the Mattachine Society, the first gay activist group in the U.S., was born April 7, 1912. He died October 24, 2002 at the age of 90.

Joey Cain, one of the organizers for the party, said that it will serve as a kickoff to a year of events all over the country celebrating Hay’s life and legacy.

On the same day as the party, a flight of steps in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles will be named after Hay. The steps are near the house he lived in in the 1950s and where the first tentative meetings of the Mattachine Society were held. A plaque commemorating Hay and the society will be installed.

At the end of April the San Francisco Public Library’s exhibition, Radically Gay: The Life of Harry Hay, opens, which Cain curated. An opening program is planned for May 8 with Will Roscoe, Phyllis Lyon, Malcolm Boyd, Sally Hay, Mark Thompson, and Jewelle Gomez.

A conference on Hay is also planned for the fall at the City University of New York’s Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies.

Cain noted that additionally, a beautiful new centennial edition of Stuart Timmons’s book, The Trouble with Harry Hay, Founder of the Modern Gay Movement, is about to be released by White Crane Books.

But back to this weekend’s birthday party. Cain said it’s a dessert party, and guests are asked to bring fabulous desserts and beverages. The party will be held at 501 Ashbury Street. RSVP to Cain by phone (415) 861-7609 or email joeycain1@yahoo.com.

Church services, party, dinner to mark Easter Easter is Sunday, April 8 and a number of LGBT-friendly churches will have worship services. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence will

Cynthia Laird

Gay rights pioneer Harry Hay in 1999

have their annual afternoon party in Dolores Park, and Tenderloin Tessie will host its holiday dinner for those in need.

Temenos Catholic Worker, San Francisco Network Ministries, and the Society of Franciscan Workers will hold their Tenderloin Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, April 6 from noon to 2 p.m. The ecumenical gathering will remember the crucifixion of Jesus in today’s contemporary society. Meet in front of City Hall (Polk Street side).

At Metropolitan Community Church-San Francisco, Easter services will be held at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. at the church, 150 Eureka Street. MCC-SF will also have a Good Friday service at noon. For more information, visit www.mccsf. org.

In Berkeley, New Spirit Community Church has a full schedule of Holy Week Services, including Maundy Thursday (April 5) at 7 p.m., Good Friday, noon and 7 p.m., Holy Saturday at 7 p.m., and Easter Sunday, 11 a.m. The church is located on the campus of Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Avenue in

Berkeley. For the full schedule, visit www.newspiritchurch.org.

On the Peninsula, the Congregational Church of San Mateo will have Holy Thursday and Good Friday services, both at 7 p.m. On Easter there will be an early service on the lawn at 7:30 a.m., breakfast at 8:30, and Easter egg hunt at 10 and worship at 10:30. The Reverend Dr. Penny Nixon is the pastor and the church is located at 225 Tilton Avenue in San Mateo.

“Pump and Circumstance” is the theme of this year’s Sisters party in Dolores Park. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 4 pm. The Kiddie Easter Egg Hunt starts the day off, followed by musical entertainment at noon with Planet Booty, Whoa Nellies, Ethel Merman Experience, and many more. An Easter bonnet contest will be held around 1 p.m. and the Sisters will distribute their grants to local groups at 1:30. The always-fun Hunky Jesus contest closes out the afternoon at 3:15 p.m.

In case of rain, go to www.thesisters.org for the celebration’s alternate location.

Finally, Tenderloin Tessie will hold its annual Easter dinner on Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. at First Unitarian Church, 1187 Franklin Street (at Geary). Board President Michael Gagne said that volunteers are still needed for a variety of duties. For more information, leave a message for him at (415) 584-3252.

Civil grand jury seeks greater diversity San Francisco judges held a news conference Tuesday to urge city residents to volunteer for civil grand jury service and this year they are highlighting the need for greater diversity on the panel.

Out Superior Court Judge Angela Bradstreet joined Charlotte Walter Woolard, chair of the civil See page 17 >>

<< Politics

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 5-11, 2012

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House candidate visits CA

by Matthew S. Bajko

A

gay man seeking a Michigan congressional seat is looking to Californians to help give him a fiscal boost in his race.

Trevor Thomas, 29, is running in his home state’s 3rd District in Grand Rapids. The former television journalist went on to be a spokesman for a number of national LGBT groups, including the Human Rights Campaign and the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

He is running against Steve Pestka, 60, a former county judge and state lawmaker, in the Democratic primary August 7. Already Thomas has attacked Pestka, who can rely on his wealth to self-fund his campaign, for holding anti-choice positions.

“He does not come close to the values of our city,” said Thomas, noting that polls show the primary contest too close to call. “When I did polling on people’s beliefs on sexual orientation and choice, folks are there. Grand Rapids is there and most of Michigan is ready for someone like me.”

The winner will take on the incumbent, 31-year-old Representative Justin Amash (R-Cascade Township).

Should Thomas win the seat, he would be the youngest out person elected to serve in Congress and Michigan’s first out federal or state officeholder.

One of a handful of LGBT people seeking federal office this year, Thomas has been reaching beyond the Great Lakes State to raise money for what is already shaping up as a hard fought battle.

In late March he swung through California, holding back-to-back campaign fundraisers in San Francisco and Los Angeles. He also sat down for a televised interview at Current TV’s San Francisco studio with host Jennifer Granholm, who has endorsed Thomas, one of her former executive office aides when she was Michigan’s governor.

Last weekend Thomas was dialing for dollars ahead of the March 31 financial reporting deadline in order to prove he could raise a large haul for his campaign coffers. While the official totals won’t be reported until April 15, Thomas disclosed this week that he had raised more than $100,000 since entering the race seven weeks ago.

Pestka announced April 4 raising at least $130,000 in the last four weeks, with $200,000 in the bank, $90,000 of which was his own money. He didn’t mention Thomas by name, but he did attack him for raising money outside the state by noting 96 percent of his money came from Michigan donors, almost all from the 3rd District.

“Steve Pestka is getting his money

Congressional candidate Trevor Thomas speaks with former Michigan Governor Granholm on her Current TV program.

from the same place he’ll get his votes,” stated Dana Houle, Pestka’s campaign manager. In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter at his local fundraiser March 23, Thomas made no apologies for tapping the wallets of Golden State LGBT donors.

“I am up against two self-funders,” noted Thomas. “I am open to all options. If folks attack my raising money around the country, I am proud to explain why this race is important to me and to the rest of the country.”

He added that he is “proud to tell Michigan stories” outside of his home state. He hopes LGBT people, no matter where they reside, will get behind his campaign.

“I am an openly gay man in a red area. What we are trying to do is completely different than what has happened before,” he said.

“This is an area of America where it is not easy to be gay everyday.”

He has yet to be endorsed by the national Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund but likely will receive the group’s backing. Lesbian San Francisco Port Commissioner Leslie Katz, a member of the fund’s Victory Campaign board, touted Thomas’s candidacy as a chance to build up the ranks of out members of Congress.

“We need to elect new members.

We really need to build the caucus, and Trevor is one of our best and brightest rising stars,” Katz said at the San Francisco fundraiser.

Retired Naval Reserve Captain Bob Dockendorff, a gay man who co-hosted the event at his Diamond Heights home, met Thomas through his work with SLDN, on whose board he currently serves.

“Trevor was spectacular while working for SLDN. Anything I can do for him after what he did for us,” said Dockendorff, who credited Thomas’s behind-the-scenes role in 2010 pushing for the repeal of the military’s antigay “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy as “a big factor in getting that through.”

Local gay political consultant Julian Chang, a co-host of the fund-

raiser, pointed out that Thomas was a major reason for getting both singer Lady Gaga and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow to focus on DADT repeal.

Now he wants to return the favor in helping elect Thomas to the congressional seat.

“We are going to be able to flip the seat from red to blue,” said Chang.

For more on Thomas, visit his campaign site at www.trevorforcongress. com/.

AP honors out newsman The career of one of the country’s first openly gay television reporters will be celebrated this June. The Associated Press Television and Radio Association’s chapter covering the country’s western states has named Hank Plante the winner of its 2012 Stan Chambers Award for Extraordinary Achievement and will present him the honor at its convention in Pasadena.

The longtime political editor for CBS5-KPIX in San Francisco retired two years ago and relocated to Palm Springs with his husband, Roger Groth. But it has been a working retirement, with Plante, 65, freelancing from time to time for newspapers and his old television station.

Just this month it was announced that Plante would be among the contributors for the new monthly LGBT magazine Desert Outlook covering the Coachella Valley and southern California. It is believed to be the first gay publication to be produced by a mainstream media outlet, as the parent company of the Desert Sun newspaper is launching it.

For his debut article Plante landed an exclusive interview with Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on her push to repeal the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act. He has always had a knack for landing scoops. Last May Plante landed the first television interview with Timothy Brown, the only person in the world to be functionally cured of HIV. As part of the selection process, Plant submitted a clip reel of his TV work that can be viewed at the end of the online version of this column at www.ebar.com.▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

April 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

<< Travel

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 5-11, 2012

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Gay Palm Springs is not slowing down

by Ed Walsh

T

he delightfully politically incorrect emcee and co-founder of the Fabulous Palm Springs Follies, Riff Markowitz, likes to remind people of the high gay population of the city, which, he said, was around 56 percent.

“Look to your left,” he told his audience recently, “now look to your right. If they’re not gay, your ass is gay.”

While Markowitz’s figure may be overstated, no one would dispute that the desert city, with a population of nearly 45,000, has one of the largest per-capita gay populations in the world. And its popularity among both retiring and vacationing LGBTs is showing no signs of slowing down.

After a few slow recession years, Palm Springs is quickly on the comeback trail. Occupancy rates in the Bay Area’s favorite gay getaway are rising. The city’s tourism board says that revenue generated from the occupancy tax was 20 percent higher last year than in 2010. And despite the increase in demand, most hotel rates have not gone up.

Now is the busiest time of year for LGBT tourism in Palm Springs.

Last weekend was the famed Dinah Shore weekend. The Dinah is billed as the largest lesbian event in the world. It’s the guys’ turn this weekend for the White Party. Now in its 22nd year, the circuit party is expected to draw more than 20,000 people April 6-9.

A weekend focused on gay/bi men of color is coming up May 4-6.

Blatino Oasis is billed as California’s largest men of color getaway. More information on the parties can be found on the event’s website: www. clubrimshot.com/Blatinooasis. html.

This month marks the debut of Desert Outlook, a new LGBT monthly magazine that will be a free publication. Editor Will Dean has, among his contributors, Hank Plante, the Emmy-Award winning journalist who retired from CBS5 in San Francisco and relocated to the desert.

Carter Poust, left, and John Kendrick, both 58, are performers at the Palm Springs Follies, which requires all cast members to be over 55.

The men are also the owners of Inn Exile, one of the many gay resorts in Warm Sands.

Nightlife The biggest cluster of gay nightlife is in downtown Palm Springs, on the block of Arenas Road just east of Indian Canyon Drive. Arenas Road is home to Hunters, Streetbar, Score, Spurline, and the Rainbow Bar and Grill.

Ed Walsh

Azul’s Tapas Lounge, in downtown on Palm Canyon Drive, is famous for its Tuesday night drag dinner show starring local drag icon, Bella Da Ball.

On the north end of Palm Springs, Toucan’s Tiki Lounge packs ‘em in on the weekends and on Tuesdays for its famous two-drinksfor-one night.

Neighboring Cathedral City is home to the leather/bear bar Barracks, the piano bar, Studio One 11, and Digs, where darts, pool, and pinball are always free to play.

Sadly, Elevation (formerly Sidewinder) closed last year and became a straight bar.

Palm Springs’ leather/bear bar is the Tool Shed in Warm Sands on Sunny Dunes Road.

Since Delilah’s closed a few years back, there are no full-time lesbian bars in Palm Springs but both Toucan’s and Hunters are very lesbian friendly. Hunters hosts a lesbian night on the last Thursday of the month. For a list of women’s events, including a monthly mixer, visit www.lspotpalmsprings.com.

While you are in town, be sure to check out the aforementioned Fabulous Palm Springs Follies. The live variety show features performers who are all over 55. The show is always changing. But hurry. The show ends for the season on May 20 and won’t start up again until mid-fall.

Daylife The big new attraction in the Palm Springs area is the 200-acre Sunnylands estate in the city of Rancho Mirage. Sunnylands was the home of the media magnate Walter Annenberg, who died in 2002.

After his wife Leonore passed away in 2009, the estate was turned over to the Annenberg Foundation. Sunnylands now bills itself as a “West Coast Camp David,” a space where international leaders can forge better relationships. As of last month, the estate is open for tours but you will need to make a reservation online first. You don’t need a reservation to check out the Sunnylands Center with its interactive displays, videos, and art. The public center is free and has a garden with 1.2 miles of walking paths and includes 50 species of plants.

The Indian Canyons feature over 100 miles of hiking trails, streams, waterfalls, and stunning landscaping. As you walk through the canyons, it can be astonishing to realize that downtown Palm Springs is just a 10-minute drive away. It is best to take the one-mile walking loop with a guide who can point out the unique desert plants and can fill you in on the rich history of the Native American tribes who first settled the area. The very gay-friendly Desert Adventures offers tours of the canyons as well as the surrounding desert region, including the San Andreas Fault.

You can experience Palm Springs’ famed therapeutic hot mineral waters at the Spa Resort Casino’s signature Taking of the Waters treatment that includes a soak in a private sunken tub as well as use of all the spa facilities including the fitness center and hot and dry saunas.

The Palm Springs Art Museum is another must-see in the city. The museum exhibits are constantly changing. The newest exhibit is by openly gay artist Michael Petry. It is called “The Touch of the Oracle” and includes three separate displays of glass art. One of the three, Golden Rain, is an installation of 100 droplet-shaped glass sculptures inspired by the Greek myth of Danae.

The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway transports visitors through four seasons in 10 minutes. The rotating See page 13 >>

Read more online at www.ebar.com

April 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 9

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 5-11, 2012

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

Read more online at www.ebar.com

April 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 5-11, 2012

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

▼

Travel>>

April 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 13

Ed Walsh

The new Sunnylands estate bills itself as the “West Coast Camp David,” and also allows tours of the property.

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Palm Springs

From page 8

tram car whisks riders to the summit of Mount San Jacinto. This time of year, you can be sunning yourself in 80-degree weather by the pool and walk in the snow at the peak of Mt. San Jacinto all in the same hour. In the summer, the summit offers a cool break from the heat.

Every Thursday night, the main drag in Palm Springs, Palm Canyon Drive, turns into a giant street fair and pedestrian shopping mall called Villagefest. It’s a good place to eat and to shop for locally grown food and locally produced art.

The Uptown Design district is along the north end of Palm Canyon Drive. It is where you will find the one-of-a-kind mid-century modern furnishings and design that Palm Springs celebrates every day.

Accommodations One of the biggest LGBT attractions to the Palm Springs area is the wonderful variety of hotel options.

Palm Springs has a couple of dozen gay resorts. Despite the elongated recession, the gay hotels in Palm Springs are showing no signs of losing their glitter. Most of the gay resorts are for gay men. Two are for lesbians and one is gay, lesbian, and family mixed.

The newest gay resort, 13 Palms, is the most unique. The five-unit property is in the gay Warm Sands neighborhood. It is unique because it is welcoming of gays, lesbians, families and children. The hotel is small enough that it can easily be rented out by groups.

The second-newest gay resort, Pura Vida, opened less than a year ago in the space in Warm Sands once occupied by Bacchanal. The only thing left from the old resort is the footprint of the pool. The new owner transformed the seven-unit property into one of the most upscale and modern gay resorts in the world. Unlike most of the other gay resorts, nudity is not allowed. The only other men’s resort that requires you to wear a bathing suit is the East Canyon Hotel and Spa, which is another very upscale resort in the city.

The two women’s resorts are Queen of Hearts and Casitas Laquita.

Both properties are first-rate. The 15room Casitas Laquita boasts a wine cellar, which is quite literally one of the coolest places to entertain even on the hottest summer days. Breakfast coffee and the resort’s famous coffee cake is included. The nearby nineunit Queen of Hearts has a deservedly loyal following. It was the city’s

first lesbian-friendly resort when a lesbian couple took it over in 1969.

Both Queen of Hearts and Casitas Laquita are owned by lesbian couples who are very much hands-on, insuring that the properties are kept in perfect condition.

The 27-room Warm Sands Villas, as its name implies, is in the heart of Warm Sands, the gay neighborhood home to a dozen gay resorts. This historic property dates back to 1933 and once hosted Hollywood elite, including Clark Gable and Shirley Temple. The resort includes a penthouse sundeck and an expanded continental breakfast.

The expansive 31-room Inn Exile includes four pools, two Jacuzzis, a steam room, and a gym. The hotel’s modern rock garden facade is a Warm Sands landmark. The owners, John Kendrick and Carter Poust, live on property and do double duty as performers at the Fabulous Palm Springs Follies show. Every fourth night is free and if you can hold out until the slower months after June, every third night is free. This resort can be very cruisy and is popular for both couples and singles. The staff is very friendly and the guests tend to be as well, so it’s a good place to meet new friends.

The Canyon Club Hotel, with 32 rooms, is the only gay resort in downtown Palm Springs. On North Palm Canyon Drive, it’s an easy walk to Arenas Road, home to the city’s largest cluster of gay bars, restaurants, and shops. Canyon Club rooms are newly renovated and sport a colorfully painted 1950s retro look.

The Canyon Club includes a private park next to the property with a Koi pond, hedge maze and meadow for sunbathing. Amenities include a newly renovated steam room, dry sauna and adult video room.

Eating out Lulu California Bistro is the hot new kid in town. The restaurant took over the prime spot downtown on Palm Canyon Drive at Arenas Road that had once been occupied by the Copy Katz show. The new owners transformed the property into a beautiful airy eatery, making it the perfect spot for people watching.

The food and service are excellent and the prices are very reasonable.

Mango Restaurant and Ultra Lounge is the perfect place to stop for dinner. But be sure to time your dinner to match the sunset. The restaurant on North Palm Canyon Drive, across from Toucan’s, offers spectacular views of the sunset behind the mountains. By the way, Mango’s used to be Dink’s. The new owners are already building a loyal following. One of their specialties is sushi.

The Saguro Hotel (formerly the Holiday Inn) is home to two new restaurants that are drawing good reviews: El Jefe, featuring cuisine and culture of Mexico City, and Tinto, a wine bar and restaurant specializing in Spanish food.

The gay-owned Trio Restaurant on North Palm Canyon Drive continues to be a Palm Springs favorite. It recently began lunch service.

Trio features gourmet food at very reasonable prices. The bar is always packed for happy hour. Trio is known for its LGBT community spirit and often hosts benefits.

Pinocchio’s is one of the gayest restaurants in the city, with a patio adorned in rainbow flags and a life-size Marilyn Monroe statue out front that is draped in a rainbow flag. Gay disco music is often played inside. Pinocchio’s is casual dining at its best and is open for breakfast and lunch only.▼

<< Obituaries

14 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 5-11, 2012

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Poet Adrienne Rich dies

by Heather Cassell

cation of Twenty-One Love Poems, that formed the heart of The Dream of a Common Language, which centered on the most intimate and quotidian aspects of being a woman.

That same year Ms. Rich formed her lifelong romantic partnership with Cliff, a Jamaican-born writer with whom she co-edited the lesbian journal, Sinister Wisdom from 1981-1983.

T

he world has been mourning the loss of Adrienne Cecile Rich, an acclaimed poet and feminist who died March 27 in Santa Cruz. She was 82.

An out lesbian, Ms. Rich illuminated and inspired the world for activists, intellectuals, and other writers for six decades until a lifetime of complications from rheumatoid arthritis took its toll, said her literary agent Frances Goldin.

Ms. Rich was a prolific, awardwinning writer who authored 24 volumes of poetry that sold nearly 800,000 copies, and more than a half-dozen books of prose that broke the silence about womanhood, feminism, lesbianism, Jewishness, and the social injustices during her lifetime.

Her latest work, Tonight No Poetry Will Serve: Poems 2007-2010, was published in 2011.

Last year’s book won’t be the last from Ms. Rich, however. She penned her final words in a collection of poems that will be released in the future, said Ellen Geiger, partner at the Frances Goldin Literary Agency.

Ms. Rich inspired people with her words across gender, sexuality, nationality, social, and economic backgrounds, and business.

“She has continued to guide how I think about feminism and liberation, shaped my anti-war conscience and given me inspiration in my own lifelong battle with HIV/AIDS,” said the Reverend Jim Mitulski, pastor at New Spirit Community Church in Berkeley, who has been inspired by her work since his youth.

San Jose State University lecturer Kate Evans praised Ms. Rich.

“Adrienne Rich was a force,” Evans said in a message via Facebook.

“She taught at San Jose State before I joined the faculty, but I was in the audience when she returned in February 1991 to give a public reading on the night the first George Bush launched the invasion of Iraq. Like many who were there, I will never forget her impassioned performance of her not-yet-published poem ‘An Atlas of a Difficult World.’”

Added Evans, an author who teaches English and creative writing, “Rich was a master at blending art and politics. She was a seminal voice who critiqued the patriarchy, who celebrated lesbian love, and who spoke out against all forms of oppression.”

Others weren’t ready to see Ms. Rich’s spirit move on.

“I felt, as I’m sure many, many do, that we were in the middle of several conversations – both personal and public/political, and my engagement with her fierce intelligence was nowhere near over,” said East Bay lesbian activist and writer Elana Dykewomon, a longtime friend of Ms. Rich’s. “Now I’ll have to have those conversations with the artifacts of her life, as we do with the dead who travel on with us.”

“She left a very large hole in the world,” said Goldin, who represented Ms. Rich for 25 years, crying. “I will miss her.”

Born five months before the stock market crash on May 16, 1929 in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised

Poetry is not a luxury

Poet Adrienne Rich

during the Great Depression, Ms. Rich’s life was shaped by the historical moments of the early 20th century.

The eldest daughter of Arnold Rice Rich, an authority on tuberculosis who taught at Johns Hopkins University, and Helen Gravely Jones Rich, a concert pianist and composer, she was baptized and confirmed in the Episcopal Church following her Southern Protestant mother’s faith. She embraced her father’s Jewish faith in her adult years.

“I loved the sound, the music of poetry from the very beginning,” Ms. Rich told the Washington Post in 1987. “Things could be said in poems that could be said in no other way.”

Her work caught the attention of poet W.H. Auden and garnered her first award, the Yale Younger Poets Award, which has recognized emerging American poets since 1919, for her first book of poetry, A Change of World, in 1951. The same year she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from Radcliffe College, according to poets.org.

It was the first of many accolades she would be honored with for her work throughout her life.

Ms. Rich’s earlier works hinted at her core that would explode two decades later with her feminist and sociopolitical consciousness and sexuality fully in bloom. Her nearly 20-year marriage to Alfred Haskell Conrad, an economics professor and Orthodox Jew, crumbled in her awakening after the family, which included the couple’s three sons, David, Pablo, and Jacob, moved from Cambridge, Massachusetts to New York City in the mid-1960s.

In New York, Ms. Rich was swept up with the civil rights and anti-war movements and later the feminist and early lesbian-feminist movements that influenced her most groundbreaking works such as, Snapshots of a Daughter-inLaw (1970), Diving Into the Wreck (1973), Of Women Born (1976), Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence (1981), and many more collections of essays and poems.

Her husband committed suicide soon after Ms. Rich left him in 1970.

She rarely spoke about the personal tragedy, according to the New York Times.

In 1976, Ms. Rich came out through her poetry with the publi-

Poetry wasn’t a luxury for Ms. Rich, who lyrically brought her own – and the collective – anger from the depths of her being to claim a political authority and be a beacon for other women. The personal was political.

“I’m affirming anger. It has been a tremendous vein of creativity for women,” Ms. Rich told the Los Angeles Times in 1983, responding to critics who “considered her an angry poet.”

Her anger was an antidote, a necessity to the “gentile” suppression of women that created an internal turmoil that percolated beneath the surface. Ms. Rich gave voice to what she was simply witnessing.

“Here was a tiny little woman who used her art as a weapon against injustice,” said Goldin.

Goldin described Ms. Rich as passionate and principled. Both qualities were perhaps best demonstrated in 1974 and 1997 when Ms. Rich was honored with two of the largest literary prizes in the U.S., the National Book Award and the National Medal for the Arts, respectively.

Ms. Rich refused to receive the National Book Award without fellow poets Alice Walker and the late Audre Lorde, two of that year’s finalists, at her side on the stage to accept the honor on behalf of all women.

Openly gay poet Allen Ginsberg was the other recipient of that award that year.

“She lived exactly what she said and this was so rare and so beautiful,” Walker told Democracy Now late last week.

More than two decades later, Ms. Rich famously refused the U.S.’s highest distinction bestowed upon an artist, the National Medal for the Arts.

In a letter declining the honor she wrote that art, “means nothing if it simply decorates the dinner table of power, which holds it hostage” and that “A president cannot meaningfully honor certain token artists while the people at large are so dishonored.”

For the past decade Ms. Rich communicated with poets all over the world and helped them to “advance their poetry” having their works translated into English, especially Middle Eastern poets, said Goldin.

In addition to her partner and sons, Ms. Rich is survived by her sister, Cynthia Rich; and two grandchildren.

Formal celebrations of Ms. Rich’s life are currently being planned in New York City, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz by her family and people she worked with in the publishing industry, said Goldin.▼

On the web Online content this week includes the Jock Talk, Out in the World, and Transmissions columns; the Bay Area Reporter’s online column, Wedding Bell Blues; a photo of the Dolores Park playground opening; and articles on an animal rights protest in SF and the DOMA hearing in Boston. www.ebar.com.

▼

Obituaries >>

April 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 15

Transgender advocate Alexis Rivera dies in LA

by Cynthia Laird

T

ransgender advocate and community leader Alexis Rivera died March 28 at home hospice in Los Angeles. She was 34.

The family did not release a cause of death.

Ms. Rivera began her activism in California’s transgender community almost 15 years ago as an outreach worker for LGBT youth in Hollywood. She was hired at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ Division of Adolescent Medicine, where she became a case manager. She eventually became the first program director of the hospital’s Tranny Rockstar program and helped hundreds of transgender youth in LA. A natural leader, Ms. Rivera served as a commissioner on the Los Angeles County Commission on HIV/AIDS; was a founding board member of FTM Alliance of Los Angeles; and served as chair of the Transgender Service Provider Network. She was also a founding member of the League of Trans United Sisters, a sisterhood for transgender women.

Locally, Ms. Rivera joined the staff of the San Francisco-based Transgender Law Center in 2007 as a policy advocate. She advocated for statewide policy change and trained hundreds of trans community members to build relationships with their elected officials. During this time, Ms. Rivera was also a leader of TLC’s Health Care

<<

Guest Opinion

From page 4

and I commend them to you in her memory: “It’s exhilarating to be alive in a time of awakening consciousness it can also be confusing, disorient-

Courtesy Transgender Law Center

Alexis Rivera

Access Project and helped secure affordable transgender health care services in several counties across California.

“Words can barely express the grief experienced by California’s trans communities this week,” Masen Davis, TLC’s executive director, said in a March 30 statement. “A proud trans Latina and natural leader, Alexis Rivera was a role model and inspiration for countless youth – and many ‘elders’ too. She understood that we are stronger together, and she kept organizing until the very end. Alexis’s death is a reminder that the fight for equality – and against AIDS – is far from over.”

Tiffany Woods, program coordinator for TransVision at the Tri-City

ing and painful ... The sleepwalkers are coming awake and for the first time this awakening has a collective reality; It is no longer such a lonely thing to open one’s eyes.” (pps 3435 from On Lies, Secrets and Silence (Selected Prose 1966-1978).

Resurrection is real, and Resur-

Health Center in Fremont, served with Ms. Rivera on the community advisory board of UCSF’s Transgender Center of Excellence, which is now the Center of Excellence for Transgender Health.

“One of the qualities that made her so special was her passion for trans youth, this was the community she came from and she knew their issues well,” Woods told the Bay Area Reporter. “This made her such a passionate advocate for them and in turn inspired them to get involved in creating change.”

Woods called the loss of Ms. Rivera “immense.”

“In this current climate of budget cuts and programs closing in the HIV field, finding someone like Alexis who can reach young people with her knowledge and passionate advocacy is difficult; if not rare,” Woods said. “Her loss is immense, yet her work and legacy will live on to inspire others for many years to come.”

A memorial gathering was held in southern California last weekend.

In San Francisco, a memorial will be held Saturday, April 7 from 3 to 5:30 p.m. at the LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street.

TLC will continue to post reflections, videos, and links to information about ways to celebrate Ms. Rivera at its website, www.transgenderlawcenter.org. To submit a reflection, email mark@transgenderlawcenter.org.▼ rection is now.▼ Jim Mitulski is the co-director of worship and campus pastor at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley (www.psr.edu) and pastor of the New Spirit Community Church (www.newspiritchurch. org) located on campus.

ebar.com

<< Community News

16 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 5-11, 2012

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SFAF

From page 1

went toward fundraising.

At least two national charity rating organizations indicate that cutting costs in this area is where the AIDS foundation should focus.

At the Bay Area Reporter’s request, Charity Navigator staff examined financial data from the nonprofit for last fiscal year.

They gave the AIDS foundation a preliminary financial score of two out of four stars.

Sandra Miniutti, Charity Navigator’s vice president of marketing and CFO, said that despite improvements, SFAF’s fundraising costs are “still a little bit high.”

The nonprofit’s expenses for the fiscal year ending June 2011 were $20,999,560. Of that, it spent $4,410,012 – or 21 percent – on raising money. Miniutti said most charities spend 10 percent or less in this area.

She said, though, that the AIDS foundation is “on the right tack,” and if SFAF were “a little bit more efficient in terms of how they fundraise,” the score would improve.

In the fiscal year ending June 2010, the agency’s total expenses were $18,672,130. It spent $4,756,384, or approximately 25 percent, on fundraising.

Another area of improvement has been the portion of money the AIDS foundation spends on programs.

Of the expenses for the 2010-11 fiscal year, $15,840,803, or about 75 cents of every dollar spent, went to programs, according to their tax documents.

In the 2009-10 fiscal year, the foundation spent $12,223,217, or approximately 65 cents of every dol-

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Open Hand

From page 1

interview Tuesday, April 3. “It’s not a crisis.”

The nonprofit is considering some big changes, however.

$13.1 million.

Smith said he doesn’t think about the AIDS foundation’s finances, and he said he was unaware of salary figures for Giuliano and other agency staff.

Giuliano said the AIDS foundation wants to provide competitive salaries and “retain high-caliber talent. That’s what our clients deserve, and that’s the level of service we have to provide.”

Giuliano’s salary is $249,000. The total for the AIDS foundation’s leadership team, which consists of Giuliano and five other people, was more than $1.1 million.

James Loduca, the AIDS foundation’s vice president of public affairs, provided a list of his and other leadership team members’ salaries – all make six figures – but he wouldn’t say how many of the agency’s other staff earn $100,000 or more.

While Giuliano said the Charity Navigator information is important, it’s not the only benchmark.

“I certainly hold some value” in tools like Charity Navigator, he said, but “What’s more important to me is that we’re meeting the needs of the community.”

With a boost in funds from acquiring many of the city’s HIV prevention contracts, the AIDS foundation is getting some more

opportunities to do that.

Newer programs include the Stop AIDS Project, a smaller organization that was experiencing financial difficulties and merged with SFAF last November.

In 2007 SFAF assumed oversight of Magnet, the gay men’s health center in the Castro, and the Stonewall Project, which offers substance abuse treatment to gay and bisexual men.

The AIDS foundation has 130 employees. There were 95 when Giuliano started.

In interviews, two clients of Magnet expressed appreciation for the AIDS foundation’s services. They didn’t seem concerned about the agency’s financial details.

Dean Rodgers, 28, goes to Magnet about once every six months for testing, and he’s also a volunteer there.

Rodgers said he likes the “community feel” at Magnet. SFAF’s financial details aren’t something he thinks about, he said, and the Charity Navigator rating doesn’t mean anything to him. He said he’s always felt like he’s gotten “100 percent” of what he needs.

Another one of the people benefiting from the AIDS foundation’s services is Scott Smith, 38. In a January interview, Smith said he goes to Magnet every six months to get tested for HIV and other STDs. He always practices safe sex, he said, “but you never know. I’ve heard of condoms breaking.”

Magnet has “made it much easier for me to get tested and know my status, and there’s peace of mind in that,” Smith said.

Smith has also raised money for SFAF through participating in the AIDS/LifeCycle, the annual bike ride that benefits the foundation and the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center. The 2011 ride raised a record

“We’re not going to stop serving anyone,” Winge said, and POH will still accept new clients, but as of July 1, the start of POH’s next fiscal year, services will be “tiered.”

In the months leading up to July, POH will work with medical provid-

ers to identify clients who are living with HIV and have the greatest health issues.

Clients whom medical providers determine to be most critically ill won’t see changes in service.

However, HIV clients in better

health will be asked to choose between either receiving their daily prepared meals or a weekly visit to their grocery center, where they will receive foods to cook themselves.

People who are in the senior lunch and breast cancer programs, along with clients who are critically ill and homebound, currently receive one service and will not see changes, Winge said.

Winge said that the anticipated deficit is the result of several factors, including a 10 percent increase in clients. The agency had expected 8,650 clients, but is serving about 800 more.

Food and fuel costs have also risen, he said, and salaries are about $195,000 over budget.

POH has $2.4 million in reserve,

lar, on programs.

“We’re looking at these issues,” Giuliano said. “We obviously take them seriously.”

One of the steps the AIDS foundation has taken to save on fundraising costs is eliminating its participation in the Seismic Challenge bike ride and the Wildflower Triathlon. Those two changes, which save about $200,000, “will be reflected in next year’s tax filing,” he said.

Asked what figure the agency is working toward, Giuliano said, “I can’t tell you today there’s an actual percentage. We’re evaluating all of our different fundraising platforms” with regard to the costs.

On accountability and transparency, Charity Navigator has given the AIDS foundation four stars. The agency outpaces most other San Francisco nonprofits in the amount of financial data it posts online.

To add to the other gauges it already uses, Charity Navigator has been trying to develop a way to measure outcomes. Miniutti said they “hope to have something to test” in at least one area by the end of the year. She said different types of charities would have different criteria. She indicated, however, that they wouldn’t get to healthrelated groups soon.

Meeting needs

Another score At the B.A.R.’s request, staff at CharityWatch, another national ratings organization, examined SFAF’s financial information for fiscal year 2010-11. It gave the nonprofit a C, or “Satisfactory,” grade.

According to its calculations, the portion of total expenses that are spent on programs is 68 percent, rather than the 75 percent that appears most obvious in the AIDS foundation’s tax filing.

CharityWatch President Daniel Borochoff said that’s because the AIDS foundation counts the educational message in its solicitations as a program expense, and CharityWatch doesn’t.

The charity-rating group also looks at how much it costs an organization to raise $100.

CharityWatch calculated it takes the AIDS Foundation as much as

▼

$47 to do that. He said if it weren’t for the high fundraising costs, the AIDS foundation would be in the B, or “Good,” grade range. To get there, SFAF’s cost to raise $100 would have to be in the range of $16 to $30.

Giuliano wasn’t available to address questions related to CharityWatch Tuesday, April 3.

However, in an email Tuesday, Loduca said, “We have invested heavily this year in expanding our free local programs and services for the community. While the ratings agencies are not our only guide, we take our responsibility to the community seriously and have been taking a very close look at all our fundraising platforms and have eliminated some and modified others.”

Roger Doughty, executive director of the San Francisco-based Horizons Foundation, which has distributed millions of dollars over the years, urged some caution when considering the charity ratings.

“They can be extremely useful,” he said, but they “can also lend themselves to overly simplistic analysis.”

Doughty said it’s important to look at trends over time, among other things.

Dan Dodd, 46, is a donor to the AIDS Foundation. His contributions include underwriting the AIDS/LifeCycle kickoff party for the last two years, at a cost of $5,000 each time.

He’s participated in the bike ride for the past six years. He estimated that altogether, he’s raised more than $50,000 for the AIDS foundation, in addition to backing the kickoff parties.

Dodd said the low Charity Navigator figures wouldn’t impact his support of the organization.

“The passion and drive of everyone there that I’ve come into contact with is second to none,” he said.▼ Winge said, and the board of directors has voted to authorize the release of up to $728,000 if it’s needed on June 30 to balance the budget for the next fiscal year.

“However, that’s a short term solution,” Winge said. He said he could “pretty much guarantee” that “barring a miracle, we will absolutely have to use some of that reserve.”

The agency strives to have an operating reserve of three months. He said that the board was “comfortable” allowing up to seven years to repay the reserve funds if all $728,000 is used, but he wants to avoid depending on the reserve because dipping into it could become “a slippery slope.”

See page 17 >>

Kenneth Neal, sex club co-owner, dies

by Cynthia Laird

K

enneth Neal, the co-owner of Mack Folsom Prison, a gay sex club in San Francisco’s South of Market district, died March 10 at his childhood home in Hagerstown, Maryland. He was 58.

Mr. Neal apparently suffered a heart attack, his partner Don Wiechert said. Mr. Neal had returned to Maryland to help care for his ailing mother, brother, and aunt.

Wiechert met Mr. Neal when he moved into the same apartment building in 1987. Mr. Neal later became a co-owner of Mack.

“The building was formerly Pioneer Safe,” Wiechert recalled. “Ken went to Home Depot and bought lumber to build the lofts” at the private men’s club.

Mr. Neal, who dabbled in real estate, was reluctant to go into the men’s club business, but Wiechert said that he helped talk him into it.

“He was well liked by a lot of people,” Wiechert said.

Mr. Neal was also an established printer and pressman. He founded Mission Creek Printing several years ago. Unfortunately, said Wiechert,

Kenneth Neal

digital technology took over and Mr. Neal closed Mission Creek last year.

Mr. Neal was born June 9, 1953 and grew up in Hagerstown, Maryland.

Wiechert said that Mr. Neal enjoyed hosting students learning English as a second language from other countries. He did that for about 15 years. Most of the students were from Switzerland and many remained in touch with Mr. Neal after their visits.

Mr. Neal also enjoyed cooking, Wiechert said.

Plans for a memorial had not been finalized by press time.▼

â&#x2013;ź <<

Community News >>

Open Hand

From page 16

Project Open Hand delivers 2,600 meals a day. It also distributes groceries weekly to about 1,500 people, mostly in San Francisco, but also about 300 in Alameda County. Until this week, the organization had 115 staff. Additionally, there are more than 100 volunteers every day.

About 2,550 people with HIV could be part of the tiered system, Winge said. Most of those arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t currently getting home-delivered meals, and he predicted most would opt for groceries over meals. Similar changes to service will be made for clients in the East Bay. Winge said that the agency is sending letters to clients this week, and it is also planning town hall meetings with clients, donors, and volunteers.

Over the 2012-13 fiscal year, he said, the agency could see a savings of $300,000 from the change to cli-

<<

Pot rally

From page 1

â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are these confused attorneys in D.C. and the White House who need to hear the message that we are standing together for health care, we are standing together for our sick, disabled, and seniors, and we are standing on the right side of history on this issue,â&#x20AC;? Chiu said.

He was joined by out Supervisor Scott Wiener of District 8, which includes the Castro and has the largest group of people living with HIV in the city. He warned supporters of the upcoming $7 million in federal cuts to HIV funding. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They are forcing us to try and scramble to find a way to keep our safety net for people living with the disease and they are now telling us that people in the county of San Francisco canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even have access to their medicine,â&#x20AC;? said Wiener.

Matt Dorsey, who is openly gay and HIV-positive as well as a spokesman for City Attorney Dennis Herrera, took time to deliver a message from his office. â&#x20AC;&#x153;One, our entire office support for the compassionate use of medi-

<<

News Briefs

From page 5

grand jury committee, and Judges Gail Dekreon, Teri L. Jackson and Lillian K. Sing to urge San Franciscans from ethnic, racial, and LGBT communities to apply for a one-year term.

For the first time the civil grand jury application includes a question about sexual orientation. The Civil Grand Jury Committee in San Francisco believes it is the only one in the state to do so.

It is unknown if any LGBT people are currently serving on the jury, nor has a jury in recent memory reported on LGBT-specific topics. It is hoped that by having more LGBT people serve they will push the jury to investigate concerns of interest to the LGBT community. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Gays and lesbians are such a huge part of our great city,â&#x20AC;? said Bradstreet, who serves on the committee. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This year we are making a real push to ask gays and lesbians to apply.â&#x20AC;?

The civil grand jury, a citizenwatchdog group, scrutinizes the conduct of public business of San Francisco government. Its function is to investigate the operations of the various officers, departments, and agencies of the government of the City and County of San Francisco. Each civil grand jury determines which officers, departments and agencies it will investigate during its term of office.

To learn more about serving on the civil grand jury, visit www.sfsuperiorcourt.org and click on the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Civil Grand Juryâ&#x20AC;? link. The application deadline is April 15.

April 5-11, 2012 â&#x20AC;˘ BAY AREA REPORTER â&#x20AC;˘ 17

In terms of the layoffs, Winge said they were made Monday. Two directors, one manager, and a coordinator were cut.

Jim Illig, POHâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s longtime government relations director, is one of the people who is being let go. In an interview, he said that his last day would be Friday, April 6.

Illig said he was â&#x20AC;&#x153;completelyâ&#x20AC;? surprised by the announcement, but he appeared to be taking the news well.

He said Winge is â&#x20AC;&#x153;a bold new leader, and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a good thing.â&#x20AC;? He added, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have no fears about Project Open Hand. I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a won-

derful organization.â&#x20AC;?

Winge, whose salary is $200,000, said that he is not taking a pay cut. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I looked at that but I needed to do something bigger and deeper,â&#x20AC;? he said.

He also said that other staff would absorb the duties from those whose positions have been eliminated, and â&#x20AC;&#x153;the bulk of the additional work will fall to me.â&#x20AC;?

POH board President Ed Lamberger said in a statement, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We would never look to balance our budget by programmatic changes alone.â&#x20AC;?

Winge said that he didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t lay off any line staff. He said the savings of the salaries and benefits for the cut positions totaled about $350,000.

That brings the total savings Winge has identified to roughly $700,000.

He said they hope to find additional reductions in the operations budget. POH will start budgeting for the 2012-13 fiscal year next week.

For more information, visit www. openhand.org.â&#x2013;ź

cal cannabis and two, our opposition to the heavy handedness of which federal authorities are trying to roll back decades of progress on this issue,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Dorsey also warned of possible threats to dispensaries due to a case that is currently before the state Supreme Court, Pack v. Long Beach.

The decisions by a lower appellate court in this case, as well as one other, have been harmful for patient access to medicine, but the Pack fallout has been particularly damaging.

The Pack ruling in October set off a firestorm of cities and counties moving to ban dispensaries throughout the state, even beyond the Second District of the California Court of Appeals where the case was decided.

Medical cannabis patients also spoke out at Tuesdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rally. David Goldman, a member of the core leadership group of the SF chapter for ASA said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I want to make it clear that it is completely disingenuous for the federal government to target licensed medical cannabis dispensaries while claiming that this so-called crackdown will not target individual patients.â&#x20AC;?

Patients like Goldman depend on dispensaries to provide a safe place to access quality, laboratory tested medical cannabis products.

Charlie Papas, co-founder of two dispensaries in the Tenderloin that are currently closed, said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are not a profit-making criminal organization, we are supplying medicine for people who need it.â&#x20AC;?

Haag has said that no one is immune from action by the federal government. San Francisco, which has shown staunch support for medical cannabis over the years, continues to move ahead with its medical cannabis program of permitting dispensaries, despite extensive federal intimidation.

ASA filed a lawsuit late last year against Haag and the Department of Justice, challenging the crackdown as a violation of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution.

In its lawsuit, ASA argues that by coercing public officials, the DOJ is obstructing the law-making function of the state, which goes well beyond its prosecutorial discretion to enforce the federal Controlled Substances Act.â&#x2013;ź

SF DPH moves medical pot ID card program

Cleland and Gerharter are regular freelance photographers for the Bay Area Reporter; Nicoletta also supplies photos to the paper. Geller used to photograph for the paper and some of his file shots are used.

Admission to the panel is $5 (general), $3 (CA students with ID); free for museum members. The exhibition is on display through July 1 in the front gallery. For more information call (415) 621-1107 or visit www.glbthistorymuseum.org.

ent services.

He said Project Open Hand will cut the peanut butter project by the end of June, which should save approximately $40,000. The agency has been making its own peanut butter and selling it in several retail outlets, but the program never paid for itself.

Staff cuts

The San Francisco Department of Public Healthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Medical Marijuana program that issues cards to patients and caregivers has moved from San Francisco General Hospital to the health departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s headquarters at 101 Grove Street in Civic Center. According to Health Director Barbara Garciaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recent report, the move took place March 26.

Garciaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s report indicated that two windows in room 105 are dedicated to the medical marijuana program, while two windows service the public seeking birth and death certificates. The hours of operation for the medical marijuana program are 1 to 4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Garciaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s report said that the health departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website has been updated to reflect the change, which is at www.sfdph.org/dph/ comupg/oservices/medSvs/MCID/ default.asp.

AIDS activism program to feature photographers The GLBT History Museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new photography exhibition, Life and Death in Black and White: AIDS Direct Action in San Francisco, 1985-1990 focuses on the work of five photographers: Jane Philomen Cleland, Patrick Clifton, Marc Geller, Rick Gerharter, and Dan Nicoletta. On Monday, April 9, the photographers will discuss their experiences documenting the emergence of militant AIDS activism in San Francisco through the medium of black and white film. The event will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. at the museum, 4127 18th Street in the Castro.

Dean receives Sonoma County Jefferson Award Rick Dean, the executive director of Face to Face, was honored by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors with a Jefferson Award, demonstrating excellence in community leadership and civic engagement.

The award was presented March 27 at the board meeting.

Dean has served as executive director for the last 25 years and has brought together and nurtured local, state, and national resources to fight the HIV epidemic and support those living with HIV/AIDS. Others who received Jefferson Awards that day included Oscar Chavez, one of the countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strongest leaders on poverty; the Ceres Community Project, which provides meals to people struggling with cancer; Chopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Teen Club, which provides a safe and fun environment where teens can be themselves; and Healthy Kids of Sonoma County, which works to improve the health of children in the community.â&#x2013;ź Matthew S. Bajko contributed to this report.

Legal Notices>> SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT NOTICE TO PROPOSERS GENERAL INFORMATION The SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Districtâ&#x20AC;?), 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, California, is advertising for proposals for Regular Temporary HelpServices, Request for Proposals (RFP) No. 6M4191, on or about March 30, 2012, with proposals due by 2:00 PM local time, Tuesday, May 1, 2012.

DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES TO BE PROVIDED The District is soliciting the services of a temporary personnel services agency to recruit, screen, test, orient, and provide WKH 'LVWULFW ZLWK TXDOLĂ&#x20AC;HG WHPSRUDU\ KHOS personnel to include clerical, technical, and professional positions involving all HVWDEOLVKHG 'LVWULFW MRE FODVVLĂ&#x20AC;FDWLRQV 7KH services will be required on an as-needed, RQ FDOO EDVLV DQG DV VSHFLĂ&#x20AC;HG LQ WKH 5)3 The Agreement will be for a term of four years.

Outreach/Networking Session: The 'LVWULFW¡V 2IĂ&#x20AC;FH RI &LYLO 5LJKWV ZLOO FRQduct an outreach/networking session for subcontractors to meet the prime agencies for subcontracting opportunities. The Outreach Meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 10, 2012. The Outreach Meeting will convene at 10:00 AM in the Districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Board Room located at 344-20th Street, in the Kaiser Center 20th Street Mall â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 3rd Floor, Oakland, California 94612.

A Pre-Proposal Meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 17, 2012. The Pre-Proposal Meeting will convene at 10:00 AM in BART 2IĂ&#x20AC;FHV ORFDWHG DW /DNHVLGH 'ULYH 17th Floor, Main Conference Room No. 1700, Oakland, California 94612. At the Pre-Proposal Meeting the Districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s NonDiscrimination in Subcontracting Program will be explained. All questions regarding MBE/WBE participation should be GLUHFWHG WR 0V 5XE\ 6PLWK 2IĂ&#x20AC;FH RI &LYLO Rights at (510) 464-6324 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; FAX (510) 4647587. Prospective Proposers are requested to make every effort to attend this only scheduled Pre-Proposal Meeting, and to FRQĂ&#x20AC;UP WKHLU DWWHQGDQFH E\ FRQWDFWLQJ WKH Districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Senior Contract Administrator, telephone (510) 464-6390, prior to the date of the Pre-Proposal Meeting.

WHERE TO OBTAIN OR SEE RFP DOCUMENTS (Available on or after March 30, 2012) Copies of the RFP may be obtained: (1) By written request to the Districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Senior Contract Administrator, 300 Lakeside Drive, 17th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612.

Reference RFP No. 6M4191, Regular Temporary Help Services, and send requests to Fax No. (510) 464-7650.

(2) By arranging pickup at the above address. Call the Districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Senior Contract Administrator, (510) 464-6390 prior to pickup of the RFP. (3) By E-mail request to the Districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Senior Contract Administrator, Ms. Irene G. Gray, igray@bart.gov.

(4) By attending the Pre-Proposal Meeting and obtaining the RFP at the meeting.

Dated at Oakland, California this 27th day of March, 2012. /s/ Kenneth A. Duron Kenneth A. Duron, District Secretary San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District Â&#x2021; &16 BAY AREA REPORTER

STATEMENT FILE# A-034128500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EL METATE, 2406 Bryant St., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited partnership, and is signed Francisco Hernandez. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 09/02/02. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/14/12.

MAR 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012 STATEMENT FILE# A-034160500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WINE TASTING ON THE BAY, Pier 39 The Embarcadero Dock 1, SF, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Melissa McDowell. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/27/12.

MAR 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A- 034176500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NEWCALI CONSTRUCTION, 465 6th St., SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Xiao Xuan Du. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 03/05/12. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/05/12.

MAR 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A- 034181000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SLR TRANSPORTATION, 6222 3rd St., SF, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Mohammed Chadhery.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/06/12.

MAR 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A- 034132600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: RIDVAN KAYA, 1405 21st Ave., SF, CA 94122.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Ugur Y. Kaya. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 02/1512. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/15/12.

MAR 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012 STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE# CNC12-548490 In the matter of the application of: JASON CHAZ DRAVEN for change of name. The application of JASON CHAZ DRAVEN for change of name having been ďŹ led in Court, and it appearing from said application that JASON CHAZ DRAVEN ďŹ led an application proposing that his/her name be changed to CHAYNE LOWELL LYNSKEY. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept 514 on the 17th of May, 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted

MAR 15, 22, 29, APR 5, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A- 034184800 STATEMENT FILE A- 034172900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: KARAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S K9-LIVES, 669 Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Farrell St., SF, CA 94109.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Kara Williams. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 03/02 /12.

The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/02/12.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MR. GOODMANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S LIMOUSINE, 309 Holloway Ave., SF, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Boris Zeltser. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 03/07/12. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/07/12.

MAR 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A- 034173600

MAR 15, 22, 29, APR 5, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A- 034188900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WHIPPED & BEATEN, 701 Taylor St. #502, SF, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Michelle Kelly. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 03/02/12. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/02/12.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BARBARY COAST BEVERAGE CATERING, 3139 16th St., SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Tom Basso. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 03/08/12. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/08/12.

MAR 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A- 034175300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MISSION OASIS PROPERTIES, 3118 22nd St., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed James Boyd Lappin. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/02/12.

MAR 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A-034173300

MAR 15, 22, 29, APR 5, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A- 034186500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WEBWORKS, 743 Polk St. #320, SF, CA 94109.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Vernon S. Wharff Jr.. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 03/08/12. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/08/12.

MAR 15, 22, 29, APR 5, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A- 034185800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE COOKIE BAKERY, 1035 PaciďŹ c Ave., SF, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Patricia Prislin. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 03/02/12. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/02/12.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: RENKON STUDIOS, 527 9th Ave., SF, CA 94118.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Matthew G. Chang. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 03/07/12. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/07/12.

MAR 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012 STATEMENT FILE# A-034174100

MAR 15, 22, 29, APR 5, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A- 034187100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BAYOU BY THE BAY, 1599 Howard St., SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed Marisa Palen. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 03/0212. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/02/12.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SIMPLY BEAUTY SKIN CARE, 2701 Judah St., SF, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Kim Hung Lee. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/08/12.

MAR 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012

MAR 15, 22, 29, APR 5, 2012

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

18 â&#x20AC;˘ Bay Area Reporter â&#x20AC;˘ April 5-11, 2012

Classifieds

t

Legal Notices>>

The

Legal Notices>> statement file A- 034185500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MOE HARB LIMOSINE SERVICES, 2048 Polk St. #331, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Moe Harb. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/07/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/07/12.

MAR 15, 22, 29, APR 5, 2012 statement file A- 034191000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BODYWORKS WITH JAMES GIRARD, 32 Sanchez St., SF, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed James Girard. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/09/12.

MAR 15, 22, 29, APR 5, 2012 statement file A- 034180700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PEDIATRIC NEUROPSYCHOLOGY CLINIC, 3641 Sacramento St. #B, SF, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Lisa Sporri. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/06/12.

MAR 15, 22, 29, APR 5, 2012 statement file A- 034197500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CONCART FURNITURE, 1120 Illinois St., SF, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Carlos I. Concuan. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/13/12.

MAR 15, 22, 29, APR 5, 2012 statement file A- 034197000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MINI SMOKE SHOP, 581 Ellis St., SF, CA 94109.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Nghia Tran. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/08/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/13/12.

MAR 15, 22, 29, APR 5, 2012 statement file A- 034182800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LUPITA SHOES & GIFT, 4489 Mission St., SF, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Guadalupe Garibay Leon. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/07/12.

MAR 15, 22, 29, APR 5, 2012 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE# A- 032047700 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: LUPITA SHOES & GIFT, 4489 Mission St., SF, CA 94112. This business was conducted by a general partnership, signed Xian Xiao Ng. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/10/2009.

MAR 15, 22, 29, APR 5, 2012 state of california in and for the county of san francisco file# CNC12-548511 In the matter of the application of: JI YUNG YANG for change of name. The application of JI YUNG YANG for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that JI YUNG YANG filed an application proposing that ELLIYH YEOM be changed to ELLIYH YANG and ELLIANAH YEOM be changed to ELLIANAH YANG. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 514 on the 22nd of May, 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MaR 22, 29, APR 5, 12, 2012 state of california in and for the county of san francisco file# CNC12-548474 In the matter of the application of: JOSEPH PAUL BAQUERA for change of name. The application of JOSEPH PAUL BAQUERA for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that JOSEPH PAUL BAQUERA filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to JOSEPH MICHAEL PAUL. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 514 on the 3rd of May 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MaR 22, 29, APR 5, 12, 2012

state of california in and for the county of san francisco file# CNC12-548496 In the matter of the application of: DAREL OCTAVIUS AYAP for change of name and gender.

The application of DAREL OCTAVIUS AYAP for change of name and gender having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that DAREL OCTAVIUS AYAP filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to DEE AYAP. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 514 on the 15th of May 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MaR 22, 29, APR 5, 12, 2012 statement file A-034211100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: UB TRANSPORT, 5035 Geary Blvd. #B, SF, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Baatar Sandag. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/19/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/19/12.

MAR 22, 29, APR 5, 12, 2012 statement file A- 034209200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE FAIRY DOGFATHER, 64 Caselli Ave., SF, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Eric Burford. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/06/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/16/12.

MAR 22, 29, APR 5, 12, 2012 statement file A- 034192500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NIFNAKS, 1420 Alabama St., SF, CA 94110.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Nifer Kilakila. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/09/12.

MAR 22, 29, APR 5, 12, 2012 statement file A- 034199000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HOPE ARCHITECTS, 328 Rutledge St., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Ari Hope. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/31/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/13/12.

MAR 22, 29, APR 5, 12, 2012 statement file A- 034194300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: VALUEAPP DEVELOPMENT, 472 Euclid Ave., SF, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Anthony C. Stagliano. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/12/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/12/12.

MAR 22, 29, APR 5, 12, 2012 statement file A- 034203400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JJMS GROUP, 201 Spear St. #1100, SF, CA 94105.

This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed James M. Fazackerley. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/15/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/14/12.

MAR 22, 29, APR 5, 12, 2012 statement file A- 034158700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: OZIMO, 1116 Shotwell St., SF, CA 94110.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Richard Freitas. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/16/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/27/12.

MAR 22, 29, APR 5, 12, 2012 statement file A- 034176100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NEW MONTGOMERY ASSOCIATES, 5 Freelon St., SF, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a husband and wife, and is signed Chi Pin Wong.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/03/96. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/05/12.

MAR 22, 29, APR 5, 12, 2012 statement file A- 034195000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ANDOVER STREET ARCHIVES, 508 Andover St., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed Elizabeth Benford. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/12/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/12/12.

MAR 22, 29, APR 5, 12, 2012

statement file A- 034157200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MEGAPIX IMAGING, 190 8th St., SF, CA 94103.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Leonard Githere. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/24/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/24/12.

MAR 22, 29, APR 5, 12, 2012 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE# A-033937200 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: GOLDEN GATE SPEED DATE, 2206 Bryant St., SF, CA 94110. This business was conducted by a general partnership, signed Joanne Gunderson.

The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/08/11.

MAR 22, 29, APR 5, 12, 2012 notice of application FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF alcoholic beverage LICENSE Dated 02/21/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: PAPAZOTE COLE LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 101 Carl St., SF, CA 94117-3905. Type of license applied for

42 - On-sale beer and wine PUBLIC PREMISES MAR 29, 2012 notice of application FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF alcoholic beverage LICENSE Dated 02/21/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: PAPAZOTE COLE LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 901 Cole St., SF, CA 94117-4315. Type of license applied for

41 - On-sale beer and wine eating place MAR 29, 2012 notice of application FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF alcoholic beverage LICENSE Dated 03/08/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: CAPITAL STONE GROUP LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 680 8th St. Ste. 170, SF, CA 94103-4942. Type of license applied for

41 - On-sale beer and wine eating place MAR 29, 2012 state of california in and for the county of san francisco file# CNC12-548520 In the matter of the application of: SARAH QUEEN BROWNING for change of name, having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that SARAH QUEEN BROWNING filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to SARAH COOK QUEEN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept 514 on the 22nd of May 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MaR 29, APR 5, 12, 19, 2012 statement file A- 034209400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GRAMLY SYSTEMS, 1499 Sutter St. #303, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Lawrence Berkowitz. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/16/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/16/12.

MAR 29, APR 5, 12, 19, 2012 statement file A- 034221700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EDEN CAFE, 47 Franklin St., SF, CA 94102.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Angela Chang. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/23/12.

MAR 29, APR 5, 12, 19, 2012 statement file A- 034199200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: R.J.P. ASSOCIATES, 1288 Columbus Ave. #254, SF, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed Peter Maguire.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/14/12.

MAR 29, APR 5, 12, 19, 2012

statement file A- 034197400

statement file A- 034189900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FLORIST BY GRACE, 298 Market St., SF, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Jie Su. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/12/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/13/12.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ROYALTY PIZZA CAFE, 829 Geary St., SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Mousa JM Abdel Jabbar. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/08/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/08/12.

MAR 29, APR 5, 12, 19, 2012 statement file A- 034217300

APR 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 statement file A- 034190400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CHROMIUM, 440 Brannan St., SF, CA 94107.

This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Anthony D. Wessling. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/15/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/21/12.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WAI KUEN WONG HERBALIST CONSULTING CENTER, 2822 San Bruno Ave., SF, CA 94134.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Stanley Wai Kuen Yang. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/07/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/09/12.

MAR 29, APR 5, 12, 19, 2012 statement file A- 034210800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EAT IT UP, BUTTERCUP!, 245 Marietta, SF, CA 94127. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Autumn Long. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/19/12.

MAR 29, APR 5, 12, 19, 2012 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE# A-33162600 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: SHINY STONE, 1501 Broderick St. #143, SF, CA 94115. This business was conducted by an individual, signed Jose R. Cruz. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/22/10.

MAR 29, APR 5, 12, 19, 2012 notice of application FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF alcoholic beverage LICENSE Dated 02/27/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: MAZE CAFE. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 4134 Geary Blvd., SF, CA 941183102. Type of license applied for

47 - On-sale GENERAL - eating place APR 5, 2012 notice of application FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF alcoholic beverage LICENSE Dated 03/21/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: CREPE ESCAPE INC, DONATELLO BEVERAGE CORPORATION. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 333 Fulton St., SF, CA 94102-4423. Type of license applied for

47 - On-sale GENERAL Eating place APR 5, 2012 notice of application FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF alcoholic beverage LICENSE Dated 03/21/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: DONATELLO BEVERAGE CORPORATION, REAL HOSPITALITY GROUP INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 501 Post St., SF, CA 94102. Type of license applied for

47 - On-sale GENERAL Eating place APR 5, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 03/26/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: IZA ROVNER. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 418 Beach St., SF, CA 94133-1102.

Type of license applied for

47 - On-sale GENERAL Eating place APR 5, 12, 19, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 04/02/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: SF HENRY VIII, LCC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 422 Geary St., SF, CA 94102-1223. Type of license applied for

41 - On-sale beer & WINE - EATing place APR 5, 12, 19, 2012 statement file A- 034240900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DOROTHY AND RUTH, 1885 Golden Gate Ave. #5, SF, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Miranda Jones. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/02/12.

APR 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012

APR 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 statement file A- 034217400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WOODLEAF EATING DISORDER CENTER, 45 Franklin St. #205, SF, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed April A. Vancelette. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/21/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/21/12.

APR 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 statement file A- 034233500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ROSAMUNDE SAUSAGE GRILL, 545 Haight St., SF, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Jennifer Tucci. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/07/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/28/12.

APR 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 statement file A- 034201500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DE FRISCO REGALIA, 491-A Guerrero St., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a husband and wife, and is signed Greene. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/14/12.

APR 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 statement file A- 034223200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CRUNCH; CRUNCH FITNESS, 2330 Polk St., SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Keith Worts. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/15/09. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/23/12.

APR 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 statement file A- 034223800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CRUNCH; CRUNCH FITNESS, 1725 Union St., SF, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Keith Worts. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/15/09. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/23/12.

APR 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 statement file A- 034223600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CRUNCH; CRUNCH FITNESS, 61 New Montgomery, SF, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Keith Worts. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/15/09.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/23/12.

APR 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 statement file A- A-034223500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CRUNCH; CRUNCH FITNESS, 345 Spear St., SF, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Keith Worts. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/15/09. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/23/12.

APR 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 statement file A- 034223400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CRUNCH; CRUNCH FITNESS, 2324 Chestnut St., SF, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Keith Worts. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/15/09. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/23/12.

APR 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE# A-030632700 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: WOODLEAF EATING DISORDER CENTER, 45 Franklin St., SF, CA 94102. This business was conducted by an individual, signed Neil Miller.

The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/28/2007.

MAR 15, 22, 29, APR 5, 2012

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3/14/12 11:43 AM

The

’s 2nd Annual Reader’s Choice Awards

{ SECOND OF THREE SECTIONS }

Photo: Rick Gerharter

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 5-11, 2012

The BEST OF THE GAYS • 2012

▼

Here are the Best! compiled by Matthew S. Bajko and Cynthia Laird

I

t’s time to unveil the winners in of the Bay Area Reporter’s second annual Best of the Gays readers’ poll. And judging by the results, there are some people, places, and things that our readers really enjoy – to the point that some of the winners are taking home the honor for the second consecutive year. But there are also new entries, proving that there are a lot of great things to enjoy in San Francisco when it comes to food and drink, sex and romance, arts

and nightlife, shopping, city life, and outdoors and sports.

We’d also like to acknowledge our appreciation for this year’s survey sponsors Maui Sunseeker, Academy of Friends, Body, Citizen, Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, Hard Rock Café, Gallery of Jewels, and Good Vibrations for providing our readers a chance to win some fabulous prizes. (A couple even won the survey as well.)

Enjoy perusing this year’s Best of the Gays.

www.ebar.com

FOOD AND DRINK Best Wine Bar

Blush Wine Bar Best Bartenders, Best Overall Bar

440 Once again the staff at 440 Castro has proven it knows how to keep customers happy and ensure they are repeat visitors. The bar, whose name doubles as its address, was named two years in a row as the city’s gay watering hole with the best bartenders in the Best of the Gays poll.

With its infamous Monday underwear nights and Wooden Nickel Wednesdays, featuring two-for-one drink specials, as well as a bevy of hot go-go boys arousing patrons, the bar also edged out its competitors to be named best overall bar this year.

440 Castro Street, San Francisco, (415) 621-8732. www.the440.com

Best Happy Hour

Best Dive Bar

Hole in the Wall Those wanting a grittier atmosphere to get their drink on feel most at home at a hole in the wall, literally. Celebrating 18 years this month of serving clientele South of Market, the Hole in the Wall Saloon continues to maintain a working stiff attitude. Voted the city’s best dive bar two years running by B.A.R. readers, the saloon promotes itself as “a nice little queer bar for filthy bikers and loudmouth punks.”

Hole in the Wall Saloon, 1369 Folsom Street, San Francisco, (415) 431-4695. www.holeinthewallsaloon.com

Best Swanky Bar

Martuni’s

When it comes to cheap drinks after a hard day at the office, however, gays flock to the Castro’s video bar the Midnight Sun. It isn’t unusual to find a line of thirsty patrons outside the 18th Street hangout Friday nights. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the cheap drinks flow until 9 p.m. most nights and never end Monday nights when every hour through 2 a.m. is “happy.”

The ascot-wearing set will feel most at home at Martuni’s, advise B.A.R. readers. This piano bar near the nexus of Hayes Valley and the Valencia Street Corridor serves up pool-sized martinis and other elixir concoctions at the semi-circular bar. Chanteuses and ivory ticklers – some famous, others less well known – hold court in the back room. Pull up a seat at one of the tables or slide into a banquette for a boozy evening of cocktailing à la Mad Men’s Don Draper.

Midnight Sun, 4067 18th Street, San Francisco, (415) 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

Martuni’s, 4 Valencia Street, San Francisco, (415) 241-0205. www.martunis.ypguides.net

Midnight Sun

The enoteca craze is alive and well in San Francisco but B.A.R. readers are still enraptured with the Castro’s Blush Wine Bar. Bringing a taste of European flare to the heart of the gayborhood, Blush serves up 50 different wines by the glass and a tasting menu along with live music Tuesday and Thursday nights.

On weekends patrons can enjoy brunch starting at noon on Saturdays and Sundays.

Blush Wine Bar, 476 Castro Street, San Francisco, (415) 5580893. www.blushwinebar.com

Best Farmers’ Market

Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market It seems as though every neighborhood plays host to a farmers’ market, but B.A.R. readers continue to head down to the Ferry Plaza to forage for organic greens and vegetables from an array of local harvesters. Nearby office workers mingle with tourists at the Tuesday and Thursday markets, held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., while weekend shoppers make a beeline for the outdoor bazaar Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Operated by the Center for Urban Education About Sustainable Agriculture, the bayside stands attract up to 25,000 shoppers weekly, so those in the know set their alarm clocks early in order to purchase the cream of the crop.

Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market, One Ferry Building, San Francisco, (415) 291-3276. www.cuesa.org/markets

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Food and Drink

From page 22

Best Grocery Store

Trader Joe’s No wonder Trader Joe’s has been a serial courter of the Castro as it expands its presence in San Francisco.

The national grocer once again is where B.A.R. readers love to shop.

Twice now plans for a TJ’s in the gayborhood have fallen through, as nearby residents fully aware of the store’s popularity raised concerns about increased traffic. One day the company’s Castro courtship may check out, but until then area denizens will have to make their way to its other San Francisco locations.

Trader Joe’s. www.traderjoes.com

Edge bartender Gavin Thompson joins a toast with a group of customers.

Rick Gerharter

Bartender has an Edge with customers

by Matthew S. Bajko

P Hostess Birdie Courtesy Cafe Flore

Best Cafe

Cafe Flore

ebar.com

One could say that Cafe Flore owner J.D. Petras was the inspiration for the city’s recent parklet boomlet. Years ago he caused a minor stir when he expanded the sidewalk tables at the eatery located on the corner of Market and Noe streets. One of the few Castro places to offer al fresco dining, the cafe’s patio is packed on sunny days and extra space was sorely needed. Since then parklets offering outdoor seating in the city’s merchant corridors have popped up all over. Yet Cafe Flore See page 26 >>

erhaps it is his Irish brogue, having grown up in the midlands of Ireland in Athlone.

Maybe it has something to do with his unattainability as a straight man working in a gay bar.

Or it could just be that he pours a mean drink.

For whatever reason, Gavin Thompson had a clear edge with Bay Area Reporter readers who named him the best bartender for 2012.

“He is hot as hell and we just love him,” one patron cooed when the B.A.R. popped into the Edge, where Thompson has worked since 2010, on a recent Saturday afternoon to talk with the barman.

As for why he has become a customer favorite, Thompson, 23, thinks he knows.

“I do flirt. I am not going to lie,” said the single Thompson with a sheepish grin.

He is upfront about his sexual orientation when asked. The inquiries happen “constantly,” admitted Thompson. “People are always coming up to the bar and saying ‘My friend thinks you’re cute.’”

Asked how many hearts he has broken since joining the staff of the 21-year-old neighborhood pub at the corner of Collingwood and 18th streets, Thompson smiled and said “a couple.”

He doesn’t mind the attention, however, nor would he want to work in a straight bar.

“I love it,” he said. “I wouldn’t work at an Irish pub.”

Born in Boston, his family moved back to Ireland when Thompson was a young age.

Across the pond, Thompson’s formative years were spent inside bars.

His family not only owned various pubs back in Ireland but also called the taverns home.

“I grew up in a bar,” said Thompson. “My family owned four bars and we always lived upstairs.”

Since he has dual AmericanIrish citizenship, Thompson decided to move back to the United States several years ago after he landed a job in Santa Cruz working with people with special needs. He then moved to the city to study to become an EMT. “I want to be a paramedic,” said Thompson.

In tending bar, he keeps to a simple rule on how to treat his customers.

“I know how I like to be treated,” said Thompson.

He also credits his bar skills to the tutelage of Mike McHale, an Edge bartender who passed away earlier this year.

“Mike took me under his wing.

He taught me to be a smart ass,” said Thompson.

Thompson can be found manning the bar at the Edge most Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays from noon to 7 p.m. or Tuesdays from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.

The Edge, 4149 18th Street, San Francisco, (415) 8634027. www.edgesf.com.

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Food and Drink

From page 24

remains a favorite spot for sunning, dining, and sipping on drinks with B.A.R. readers, who named it the best cafe two years in a row.

Cafe Flore, 2298 Market St., San Francisco, (415) 621-8579. www.cafeflore.com

eatery is open until 10 p.m. most nights, 11 p.m. Saturdays.

Zapata Mexican Grill, 4150 18th Street, San Francisco, (415) 861-4470.

Best Asian Restaurant

Brandy Ho’s

Readers’ taste buds did switch this year when it came to picking the town’s best slice. Castro mainstay Marcello’s bills itself as the “best pizza in the universe.” While the B.A.R. didn’t poll galactically, respondents did name the restaurant the best in San Francisco. Not only satiating hungry bar patrons before they head home, Marcello’s also provides “fast, fresh, free,” delivery for orders more than $10. Their drivers can be just as appetizing as the pizza.

Hot and spicy is the name of the game at Brandy Ho’s, hence the local family-owned restaurant’s pepper motif. Cooked Hunan style and served “country style,” the eatery’s peasant-inspired southern Chinese dishes use very little oil and no MSG. Instead the food is simple, substantial, and down-to-earth.

Operated by the Ho brothers – Brandy, Jack, and Sedgwick – the trio chose to play off of the heat and humidity the ancient Hunan region is known for. Their menu takes inspiration – and a bit of perspiration – from the Hunan saying, “when you eat pepper you sweat and cleanse yourself.”

Marcello’s Pizza, 420 Castro Street, San Francisco, (415) 8633900. marcellospizzasf.com

Brandy Ho’s, 4068 18th Street, San Francisco, (415)-252-8000. www.brandyhos.com

Best Pizza

Marcello’s Pizza

Best Brunch

Lime It has been quite the year for Lime, the Castro small-plates eatery on Market Street. Its bottomless Mimosa brunches have attracted negative press and complaints from residents about inebriated patrons.

Then a tax payment hiccup led state regulators to briefly close the place.

But as the maxim goes, even bad publicity is good press and word has gotten out about the weekend bacchanals (though recent Yelp reviews suggest the free-flowing booze may have dried out.) The crowd is decidedly 20-something and the music can be deafening, so a polite postchurch brunch spot this is not.

Lime, 2247 Market Street, San Francisco, (415-621-5256). www.lime-sf.com

www.ebar.com

Best Burger and Fries

Best Restaurant with a View

Cliff House Someday the powerful waves ceaselessly crashing into Ocean Beach will eventually erode the sandy shoreline inward. Until that day of reckoning comes, the best spot to view Mother Nature’s stunning power with drink in hand is the Cliff House. Perched atop Point Lobos at the mouth of the Golden Gate, the restaurant has been wowing guests with its menu and the stunning marine scenery since 1863. Known for its Sunday Champagne brunches and nightly sunset dining, the Cliff House has three dining rooms and two cocktail lounges that all provide breathtakingly beautiful views.

Cliff House, 1090 Point Lobos, San Francisco, 415-386-3330. www.Cliffhouse.com

Super Duper Burgers DIYers will find this Castro burger flipper aptly named. For at Super Duper Burgers you can choose a dozen different toppings to add atop the mouthwatering Niman Ranch beef patties. Those who can’t decide can just tell them to throw everything in between the two buns. The restaurant, which this year secured a solo win in this category after sharing the honor last year, also offers ice cream lovers soft cones and milk shakes made with organic products from the local Straus Family Creamery.

Super Duper Burgers, 2304 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 558-8123. www.superdupersf.com

Best Burrito

Zapata Mexican Grill Forget about the numerous taquerias in the Mission, when B.A.R. readers are craving a burrito they head to the Castro’s Zapata Mexican Grill. The family-owned and -operated eatery has been packing them into its 18th Street location since 1993. Conveniently located near three of the gayborhood’s bars, the

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Best Dessert

Sweet Inspiration Your sweet tooth needs some attention? Then there is no better place to head for a sugar fix than Sweet Inspiration. The Market Street bakery has been offering confections to its Castro patrons for three decades and is well known for its array of sumptuous birthday cakes. Last June business partners Michael Colter and Wendy Mogg, who is bisexual, took over the shop.

Both parents of out, queer kids, they have maintained close ties to the LGBT community as they have upgraded the space into a modern-day soda shop.

Sweet Inspiration, 2239 Market Street, San Francisco, (415)-621-8664. www.sweetinspirationbakery.com

Best Vegetarian Vegan Restaurant

Greens Housed inside a former marine warehouse at Fort Mason, Greens Restaurant has been a pioneer in vegetarian cooking since the 1960s.

Opened by the LGBT-friendly San Francisco Zen Center, the eatery’s menu is now overseen by celebrated chef Annie Somerville. Much of the organic produce comes from the Zen center’s Green Gulch Farm located in the Marin Headlands. The foodie favorite is a sensory overload, from the delectable dishes to the eye-popping views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marina.

Greens, Fort Mason, Building A, San Francisco, (415) 771-6222. www.greensrestaurant.com

Best Splurge Restaurant (more than $20 per person)

Gary Danko At minimum it is a two-month wait for a table at the 65-seat Gary Danko, and the bill is sure to be a wallet drainer. But the patience and cost continue to be time and money well spent, say B.A.R. readers, when looking to splurge on a night out on the town. Danko’s namesake restaurant – awarded one star this year by the Michelin Guide – is also one of the few reasons many locals will venture into the tourist-soaked Ghirardelli Square section of San Francisco.

Gary Danko, 800 North Point, San Francisco, (415) 749-2060. www.garydanko.com

Best Cheap Restaurant (less than $6 per person)

Dinosaurs Best Late-Night Restaurant

Orphan Andy’s Once again Orphan Andy’s has been named the place for night owls

by B.A.R. readers. A go-to spot to sober out once the bars close, this diner at the corner of Castro and 17th streets doesn’t look like it has changed much since it opened its doors more than three decades ago. Owned by a gay couple that lives nearby, the restaurant is one of the few places open 24 hours, seven days a week. It is also a great place to grab a meal and people watch while seated at one of the tables in Jane Warner Plaza.

Orphan Andy’s Restaurant, 3991 A 17th Street, San Francisco, (415) 864-9795.

While saving up to pay for your tab at Danko’s, the best place to grab a cheap meal is at the Castro’s Dinosaurs, a Vietnamese sandwich shop on 16th Street. Overlooked by the crowds at nearby sandwich purveyor Ike’s Place, whose location struggles and devoted followers have been detailed to death by the media, this tiny shop on the other hand has barely registered among the food cognoscenti. Not true for B.A.R. readers, who have discovered this gem of a quick lunch place to grab tasty Banh mi sandwiches not far off Market Street.

Dinosaurs, 3518 16th Street at Prosper, San Francisco.

(415) 503-1421.

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The BEST OF THE GAYS • 2012

T

HA

NK YOU BAY AREA FOR VOT I N G U S B E S T PLACE TO BUY EYEWEAR! V E O

O P T I C S

C A S T R O

VEO CASTRO

VEO MARINA

VEO UNION SQUARE

(corner of Market & Church St.)

(corner of Union & Octavia St.)

(at Stockton St.)

San Francisco, CA 94114 Phone: 415-861-2020

San Francisco, CA 94123 Phone: 415-921-2020

San Francisco, CA 94108 Phone: 415-434-2020

2101 Market Street

1799 Union Street

VEO THEATRE DISTRICT 454 Geary Street (at Mason St.)

San Francisco, CA 94102 Phone:415-885-2020

393 Sutter Street

VEO DESIGN CENTER 450 Geary Street (at Mason St.)

San Francisco, CA 94102 Phone: 415-885-2020

http://www.veooptics.com

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sex & romance

rently illegal in California, LGBT couples can still book domestic partnership ceremonies in the landing outside of the Board of Supervisors’ chambers by contacting the city clerk’s office.

San Francisco City Hall, Office of the County Clerk, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place Rm. 168, San Francisco, (415) 5544950. www.sfgov2.org/index. aspx?page=13

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tulips to brighten a loved one’s day are always welcome, or schedule a delivery to perk up a sullen friend’s mood.

Church Street Flowers, 212 Church Street, San Francisco, (415) 553-7762. www.churchstreetflowers.com

Best Place to Get Married

San Francisco City Hall

ebar.com

Municipal buildings rarely, if ever, play a role in the wedding day fantasies of little brides (or grooms).

Most are often associated with quickie marriages among couples needing to wed on the fly. But San Francisco’s ornate City Hall, with its soaring gold-leafed dome, continues to hold special significance for LGBT people.

Back in 2004 it was the location for a monthlong bonanza of samesex marriages during what became known as the “Winter of Love.”

While those nuptials did not survive the legal wrangling they caused, the images of ecstatic gay and lesbian couples exchanging vows left an indelible imprint. For the second year B.A.R. readers named the building’s marbled Rotunda as the best wedding spot in San Francisco.

While same-sex marriage is cur-

Best Flower Shop

Best Place to Buy Sex Toys

Church Street Flowers

Good Vibrations

Looking for a florist to handle your wedding day arrangements?

Then B.A.R. readers suggest checking out Church Street Flowers.

Tucked into a small brick storefront on the major thoroughfare near the corner of Market Street, the floral shop has been putting together bouquets for nearly two decades. Walkins looking to pick up some roses or

The Castro may be most associated with sex shops in the minds of many anti-gay critics, but locals know the best place to browse for adult items is a few blocks east in the Mission. B.A.R. readers once again named Good Vibrations as their favorite seller of dildos, lubes, condoms and all other products that can add a bit of spice to bedroom goings-on. The sex-positive store has been catering to the libidinous needs of Bay Area shoppers since 1977, and its online site offers a plethora of anal sex toys, masturbation aides and vibrators to a worldwide market. Locations are also on Polk Street and a new store recently opened in Oakland.

Good Vibrations, 899 Mission Street, San Francisco, (415) 5131635. www.goodvibes.com

Best Place to Buy Fetish Gear

Mr. S Leather Those involved in kinkier exploits head South of Market to Mr. S Leather. There, a cornucopia of products awaits fetishists into the leather scene, uniforms, rubber, wrestling singlets, jockstraps, or nasty pig gear. The store also caters to female clientele with its Madame S boutique showcasing women’s fetish clothing.

Mr. S Leather, 385 8th Street, San Francisco, (415) 863-7764. www.mr-s-leather.com

Best Adult Video Store

Folsom Gulch For 40-plus years men in search of the latest porn titles have sought out SOMA’s Folsom Gulch. Bay Area residents have named it the city’s best adult video store on various readers’ polls for years. This marks its first time winning a B.A.R. Best of the Gays award. Its all-male arcade, open 24 hours Fridays and Saturdays, is a particular draw for gay, bisexual, or straight men on the prowl. The store also opened across the street a member’s only, clothing optional sex club called the Gulch’s Playspace.

Folsom Gulch, 947 Folsom Street, San Francisco, (415) 4956402. Facebook.com/thegulch

See page 30 >>

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DINING OUT FOR LIFE.COM/SANFRANCISCO

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Sex and Romance

From page 28

Best Sex Club

Blow Buddies When looking to hookup offline for sex the preferred place to go for B.A.R. readers is SOMA’s Blow Buddies. The sex club won this category outright this year after sharing the award in 2011. Also a members-only establishment, the club has provided a clean space for men to have sex where condom use is encouraged for the last 24 years.

With 6,000 square feet of play space, including a heated backyard area, Blow Buddies boasts it is the largest sex club in San Francisco.

More than 250,000 men are members and enjoy its theme nights, such as Naked Buddies, Golden Shower Buddies, Underwear Buddies, and Bear Buddies.

Blow Buddies, 933 Harrison Street, San Francisco, (415) 7774323. www.blowbuddies.com

The National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park is one of several quieter spots for heart-to-heart conversations.

Best Place for a First Date, Best Place to Breakup

Where romance begins and ends

Best Cruising Spot

Buena Vista Park Not as popular as it once was during the pre-Internet and smartphone app era, cruising for sex outdoors nonetheless has never gone out of style for some men. And in San Francisco those looking for a natural setting to locate a hookup should head over to Buena Vista Park, advise B.A.R. readers. For the second year in a row, this wooded hillside bordering the Haight and Corona Heights has garnered the Best of the Gays award for best cruising spot. But be forewarned, it could land you in jail on indecency charges, even in liberal San Francisco, and was the site of a gruesome death of a gay man last year.

ebar.com

Buena Vista Park. sfrecpark.org/Parks.aspx

by Matthew S. Bajko

T

he heart can be a fickle thing. It can beat wildly over a special someone at first glance and turn even the sourest puss into a lovesick puppy dog.

Then, just like that, the pounding stops and one’s heart grows cold. The once-hot romance has suddenly fizzled and burnt out.

There may be no telling when love will strike or Cupid’s powers will dwindle. But B.A.R. readers are sure of two things when it comes to matters of romance – where to start a courtship and where to end it.

The best place for a first date is the Castro’s Cafe Flore, also named the best cafe in the 2012 Best of the Gays readers’ poll.

The Parisian-inspired coffeehouse, restaurant, and sunnyday hangout has been a favorite spot in the gayborhood since it opened its doors at the corner of Market and Noe streets in the early 1970s.

The relaxed setting, with its garden patio or greenhouse-like indoor area, is ideal for getting to know someone on a first date.

The atmosphere lends itself to having a nice chat, and the cafe’s full bar also helps lubricate the conversation.

Should a romantic spark be ignited, Cafe Flore is a good jumping off point for destinations elsewhere. Or a couple can settle in there for dinner and dessert.

Even better, should the date turn out to be a dud, the Castro’s bars and clubs are steps away filled with other lonely hearts.

Or a stranger at a nearby table may just turn out to be a better match.

“Since 1973, Cafe Flore is the bohemian crown jewel of the Castro where locals and tour-

ists get cozy over American bistro fare and full bar service,” restaurant spokesman Gary Virginia told the B.A.R. “The bustling, romantic setting is as famous for its cruising as it is for its popular carafe and nightly drink specials.”

Once in a relationship whose time has come to say adieu, then B.A.R. readers find the best place to break the news to one’s paramour is in Golden Gate Park.

The vast green space is hardly ever warm, with winds whipping off the Pacific Ocean cooling down the air temperature – fitting surroundings for a love gone cold.

Advantages include many locales filled with fellow parkgoers to act as potential eyewitnesses should one’s soon-to-be ex become distraught. Rain-free Sundays see a flood of walkers, bikers, skateboarders, dancers, and museumgoers traverse down the green space’s JFK Drive, which is closed to vehicular traffic.

For those looking to have a more deep-seated, heart-toheart about the breakup, quieter spots like the Rose Garden, John McLaren Memorial Rhododendron Dell, or the National AIDS Memorial Grove offer contemplative places to talk.

Best to avoid giving the bad news, though, inside the Victorian-styled wood and glass greenhouses of the Conservatory of Flowers or onboard a paddle boat at Stow Lake lest one’s lover zbecomes so distraught their anger turns to rage.

Cafe Flore, 2298 Market Street, San Francisco. (415) 621-8579. www.cafeflore.com Golden Gate Park. www.golden-gate-park.com

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April 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 31

The BEST OF THE GAYS • 2012

NCTC is a place where the queer and allied community can gather to share its stories.” Look for this year’s Pride Season plays.

New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, (415) 861-8972. www.nctcsf.org

arts and nightlife

In the coming year, the de Young will feature such exhibitions as the internationally acclaimed “The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk” (now through August) and a magnificent display of modern and contemporary photography in “Real to Real: Photographs from the Traina Collection” to “Nureyev: A Life in Dance” and the West Coast’s long awaited arrival of “Girl with a Pearl earring: Dutch Paintings from Mauritshuis.” de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco, (415) 7503600. deyoung.famsf.org

Best Dance Club

Badlands Erik Tomasson

Al Pacino at the Castro last month Rick Gertarter

Best Movie Theatre, Best Rep Film House

Castro Theatre Nothing says classic movie palace like the grand art deco facade of the Castro Theatre. It is a symbol of San Francisco’s gay neighborhood, with the sign and marquee appearing as supporting roles in many a protest photo or gay rights celebration.

More than just a backdrop, however, the theater today shows classic films and special first run presentations.

The popular mighty Wurlitzer is played nightly, signaling the program will soon start.

A registered landmark with the city of San Francisco (number 100), the theater was built in 1922 and is currently owned by the Nasser family. This year the Castro Theatre celebrates its 90th anniversary.

Sing-a-longs, film premieres, and special shows are part of the magic.

The Castro Theatre is known for its diverse programming, including classic movies, foreign films, and unusual art house releases. It also plays host to various film festivals, such as Frameline, the LGBT film fest in June. Gays and their friends go all out for special runs, like the recent Sing Along Wizard of Oz, wearing elaborate costumes as they belt out “Over the Rainbow,” made famous in the film by Judy Garland, herself a gay icon.

Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street, San Francisco, (415) 6216120. www.castrotheatre.com

Maria Kochetkova and Taras Domitro in Tomasson/Possokhov’s new Don Quixote

Best Dance Company

San Francsico Ballet The bodies are beautiful and so is the dancing. As America’s oldest professional ballet company and one of the three largest ballet companies in the U.S., San Francisco Ballet has enjoyed a long and rich tradition of artistic “firsts” since its founding in 1933. It performed the first American productions of Swan Lake and Nutcracker, as well as the first production of Coppelia choreographed by an American choreographer. SF Ballet currently presents more than 100 performances a year locally, nationally, and abroad. Under the direction of Helgi Tomasson for 25 years, the company has achieved an international reputation as one of the preeminent ballet companies in the world.

Coming up: April 12-18 the SF Ballet will present Balanchine Masterworks, showcasing three of George Balanchine’s greatest works, plus a full range of lectures and events (www.sfballet.org/balanchine). April 27-May 6 the company will present the classic story ballet Don Quixote, featuring all-new scenery and costumes by Tony Award-winning designer Martin Pakledinaz.

San Francisco Ballet, 455 Franklin Street, San Francisco, (415) 865-2000. www.sfballet.org

Best Art Gallery

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Sunrise Kiss, from NCTC’s Maurice Courtesy NCTC

Best Theater Company

New Conservatory Theatre Center This theater company is on the cutting edge as it champions innovative, high quality productions and educational theater experiences for youth, artists, and the queer and allied communities to effect personal and societal growth, enlightenment and change. Artistic Director Ed Decker was ecstatic to win this category for the second consecutive year. “A terrific honor,” he said.

“Perhaps this means that our vision of theater is a community event and a way to build community is actually succeeding! I am also proud that

Founded in 1935, SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted to modern and contemporary art. The museum’s current home, a dynamic, iconic building, opened in 1995. SFMOMA is currently developing a major expansion to accommodate the ongoing growth of the museum’s programs and to showcase the Doris and Donald Fisher Collection of contemporary art. The museum always has thought-provoking exhibitions on view.

SFMOMA, 151 3rd Street, San Francisco, (415) 357-4000. www.sfmoma.org

Best Museum

de Young Museum A new entry in the Best of the Gays, the de Young, designed by Herzog and de Meuron and located in Golden Gate Park, is part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and among the nation’s most visited art museums. The museum showcases American art from the 17th through the 21st centuries, international contemporary art, textiles, and costumes, and art from the Americas, the Pacific, and Africa.

The dance club in the heart of the Castro is the gayborhood’s most popular video/music entertainment and dancing. The dance floor features a state-of-the-art EAW-powered sound system and colorful dance floor lighting with, of course, the mirrored disco ball. The front lounge area is a great place to meet people, hang out, or enjoy music videos.

Badlands, 4121 18th Street, San Francisco, (415) 626-9320. www.sfbadlands.com

Best After Hours Club

The EndUp Long a favorite stop after the bars have closed, the dancing never stops on the weekends at the EndUp. Friday nights start with Fever and keep going Sundays with the T Dance in the mornings, Sunday School in the afternoons, and Sunday Sessions at night. The club boasts a great outdoor patio for when you need to take a break from the dance floor.

The EndUp, 401 6th Street (at Harrison), San Francisco, (415) 646-0999. www.theendup.com

See page 32 >>

bartabsf.com

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Arts and Nightlife

From page 31

Best Club for Men

Powerhouse This South of Market bar is a favorite among the leather crowd and hosts the popular Bare Chest Calendar contests, as well as other regular events.

Powerhouse, 1347 Folsom Street, San Francisco, (415) 5528689. www.powerhouse-sf.com

Best Club for Women

The Lexington Club Established in 1997, the Lexington Club is celebrating its 15th year in 2012. A new entry to Best of the Gays, the Lexington bills itself as “your friendly neighborhood dyke bar.” Fridays feature Bad Girl Cocktail Hour from 9 to 10 p.m.

Courtesy Robbie Martin

San Francisco DJ Robbie Martin

Best DJ

Robbie Martin has seen it all

The Lexington Club, 3464 19th Street, San Francisco, (415) 8632052. www.lexingtonclub.com

by Cynthia Laird

Best Club for Transgender People

Diva’s This nightclub and bar caters to transgender people and their allies, and was the first to do so. Owner Steve Berkey and manager Alexis Miranda have the longest-running drag show in California. The club started as the Motherlode in 1988 on Larkin Street and has been operating as Diva’s for 13 years.

Diva’s, 1081 Post Street, San Francisco, (415) 474-3482. www.divassf.com

Best Drag Act

ebar.com

Donna Sachet What can we say? The iconic Donna Sachet is everywhere, often lending her considerable talents to help raise funds for numerous

G

reat DJs either command or serve, said Robbie Martin, voted Best DJ in the Bay Area Reporter’s Best of the Gays poll for the second consecutive year.

“I try to do both,” he said. “The ideal is to play great music at the perfect times, mixed seamlessly.”

He said that can be challenging, as crowds and tastes are often unpredictable.

Martin, 37, is going to slow things down for himself, he said, and will be cutting back on his gigs, though it won’t be a retirement, as he alluded to in a Folsom Street Events email last month.

“But then to get word of this award just three days after my retirement performance, I decided to hold off and continue to share my gift with the SF club community,” Martin told the B.A.R. in an email.

Martin, who is gay, has been DJing for 22 years.

“I started DJing at WBRH in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at the age of 15,” he said. “I played big band and classic rock.”

He became self-taught on the art of beatmatching in the production studio of the station, he added.

“I took on a few small clubs in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, but got my big break at the Bourbon Pub/Parade Dance Club on Bourbon Street in New Orleans in 1995.”

Martin was the resident DJ there on and off for six years when he wasn’t at Louisiana State University pursuing his bachelor’s degree.

He moved to San Francisco in 2005 and the party scene hasn’t been the same. Martin has DJed all over the Bay Area, often for nonprofit fundraisers. Gigs have included the Pride main state in 2010, Beatbox, Industry, Ruby Skye, Club Universe Reunion, the EndUp, 1015 Folsom, the Look-

out, Stallion, the White Horse, Club Eight, and Steamworks.

Technology has made it easy for the average person to become an overnight DJ, Martin said, but there’s more to it than that.

“When someone can mix the music without the technology you have a DJ who is a master at his/ her craft,” he said.

Asked to name a favorite DJ, Martin demurred.

“I could list a dozen DJs whom I admire, both alive and passed on, but in doing so I would fail to mention others who I love just as much but for different reasons,” he said. “I will say I have been most influenced by DJ Max Rodriguez, resident DJ at Splash NYC. He was the first pro to take me seriously and acknowledge my potential.”

As for his favorite gig? Martin said two stand out.

“I have two all-time favorite performances. The first was Lundi-Gras at the Bourbon Pub/ Parade Dance Club in 1995,” he said. “It was the first time I played for a packed house and really got to shine.”

Equally memorable, he said, was the recent Red Meat party.

“It fell on St. Patrick’s Day and I announced it as my retirement performance the week prior. I sometimes struggle to stay competitive, and this is a very competitive industry. And when I am competing against people whom I love it can be quite challenging to stay fired up, as I am not extremely competitive by nature.”

Martin thanked voters for the award.

“I am humbled by all who have voted for me,” he said. “Although I will remain resident for Folsom Street Events’ quarterly Red Meat parties at Beatbox and Steamworks Baths in Berkeley, I am clearing space for the universe to reveal my next passion.”

LGBT and HIV/AIDS organizations. She always has a smile and a friendly “hello” for her legions of fans. For the last several years, Sachet has been the society columnist for the B.A.R.; her Out on the Town column appears every other week. She is in her ninth year as a co-announcer for the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade and in her sixth year doing “Sunday’s A Drag,” her popular show at Harry Denton’s Starlight Room that attracts locals and tourists alike. In 2009 she was the first drag performer to sing the national anthem for the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park.

This San Francisco original got her gay comedy start in the city years ago and has been a mainstay ever since.

She has been featured on Logo, HBO, and Showtime. Gomez currently produces and hosts the queer-friendly “Comedy Bodega” every Thursday at Esta Noche in the Mission.

www.donnasachet.com

www.margagomez.com

Best Comedian

Marga Gomez

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The BEST OF THE GAYS • 2012

shopping

Best Bookstore, Best Magazine Collection

Best Vintage Clothing Store (Tie)

Books Inc.

Buffalo Exchange, Sui Generis

It’s harder to find bookstores in the age of e-readers and tablets. But Books Inc. continues to offer an outstanding selection of books and magazines. It won in these categories last year. The Market Street store has been at its current location for 15 years; the 11-store chain was founded in 1851.

The Castro store has the largest stock of gay and lesbian titles and has current author readings regularly.

Books Inc., 2275 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 864-6777. www.booksinc.net/sfcastro

Buffalo Exchange is new to Best of the Gays. It offers new and recycled fashions for men and women at bargain prices. Bring in your former favorites for trade or cash on the spot. The store’s ever-changing inventory includes designer labels, vintage, jeans, leather, current basics, and one-of-a-kind items. You’ll also find new merchandise and accessories. Buffalo is a sustainable, privately held company that helps protect the environment by reusing clothing. The clothing is by the community, for the community.

Three stores in the Bay Area.

Buffalo Exchange, 1555 Haight Street, San Francisco, (415) 4317733. www.buffaloexchange.com

Best Jewelry Store (Tie)

Gallery of Jewels, Tiffany and Co. Both winners are new to Best of the Gays. Gallery of Jewels, with three San Francisco locations, specializes in representing finely handcrafted jewelry by local, regional, and international artisans. Bill Hoover, who owns the store with his wife, Dona, said that they have over 100 designer collections.

“Our styles are unusual; jewelry that offers something unique and unexpected,” he said.

Gallery of Jewels, 4089 24th Street, San Francisco, (415) 2850626. www.galleryofjewels.com

Tiffany’s exudes glamour. The heritage of the long-standing brand is richly reflected in the signature Tiffany blue. One glance at this well-known hue evokes not only excitement, but also appreciation for a legendary style that was crafted by artisans working in a tradition established 175 years ago. The company supports the communities in which it operates through its corporate giving program locally and its foundation’s global philanthropic activities.

Tiffany and Co., 350 Post Street, San Francisco, (415) 781-7000. www.tiffany.com

Best Place to Buy Vinyl, Best Place to Buy CDs

Amoeba Music This longtime music store consistently wins in readers’ polls around the Bay Area. Vinyl is making a comeback and in the age of iPods and CDs, you can find vinyl at Amoeba. It also sells CDs, and movies, new and used.

It is the largest and best independent record store in the world.

Amoeba Music, 1855 Haight Street, San Francisco, (415) 8311200. www.amoeba.com

Best Place to Rent Movies

Superstar Located in the heart of the Castro, Superstar is the home of the finest selection of independent, gay-themed and top Hollywood releases, as well as the curator of the world’s best collection of gay adult films. Some titles are only available at Superstar, which also has many of its gay films available for purchase.

Superstar, 474 Castro Street, San Francisco, (415) 863-3333. www.catromoviestore.com

Sui Generis, located in the Castro, specializes in men’s and women’s new and second-hand consignment items.

First opened on 2006 on Church Street, the store is coming up on its fourth anniversary at its Market Street location. Staff noted that they love being in the Castro and appreciate customers’ support.

Sui Generis, 2231 Market Street, (415) 437-2231 (men’s); 2265 Market Street, (415) 4372265 (women’s). www.suigenerisconsignment.com

Best Place to Buy Eyewear

Veo Optics New to Best of the Gays, Veo is San Francisco’s hottest optical boutique with 6,000 frames, knowledgeable stylists, and great prices. The company has several San Francisco locations and is known for its customer service.

Veo Optics, 2101 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 861-2020. www.veooptics.com

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Shopping

From page 33

Best Thrift Store

Out of the Closet This well-known thrift store has several Bay Area locations. Owned and operated by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, 96 cents of every $1 generated at Out of the Closet goes directly back to providing lifesaving care and treatment for those affected

by HIV/AIDS. Some locations offer free, confidential HIV testing. Locations offer a variety of clothing, furniture, and other items. Free pick-up of large items is available. Out of the Closet has an active online presence: follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Out of the Closet, 100 Church Street, San Francisco, (415)252-1101). www.outofthecloset.org

Courtesy Macy’s

Macy’s in Union Square is a hit with LGBT shoppers.

Best Clothing Store for Men and Women; Best Place to Buy Wedding Wear

Shop til you drop

by Cynthia Laird

W

Best Shoe Store

De La Sole Owner Joe Costa knows what it means to find the perfect shoe and he also knows that LGBTs love them. De La Sole, the Castro’s “Official Shoe Store,” offers fashion footwear for men and women. The store also has lots of accessories and its buyers are always looking for upand-coming merchandise. It’s highbrow style without the pomp.

De La Sole, 549 Castro Street, San Francisco, (415) 255-3140. www.delasole.com

Best Pet Shop

Best in Show It’s slogan is “Only the Best for your Pets” and this Castro mainstay is a hit with people and their fourlegged companions alike. Specializing in dogs, it stocks a wide assortment of food, supplies, toys, and apparel for canines, and also has food and other items for cats. The neighborhood shop opened about 10 years ago and quickly became a local favorite.

Best in Show, 545 Castro Street, San Francisco, (415) 864-7387. www.bestinshowsf.com

hen Bay Area Reporter readers think of clothing stores for men and women, one destination stands out: Macy’s at Union Square. The flagship store was the winner this year, and Macy’s officials couldn’t be happier.

Betsy Nelson, vice president of media relations and cause marketing for the Northwest and Southwest regions, told the B.A.R. that Macy’s has something for everyone.

“Macy’s is honored to be chosen best men’s and women’s clothing store by your readers,” Nelson said in an email.

In particular, the stand-alone men’s has been newly expanded and almost completely renovated. It includes a large collection of contemporary sportswear (Impulse) and an expanded assortment of premium denim, as well as expanded tailored clothing, shoes, and active wear.

For the women, the Union Square store has it all: contemporary merchandise in sportswear (Impulse), dresses, handbags, and shoes. There’s also Macy’s Woman for larger sizes.

Best Quirky Specialty Store

Cliff’s Variety For the second consecutive year, Cliff’s Varity is the winner in this category, and really, how could it not?

Cliff’s has proudly served the Castro for 76 years, supplying its customers with everything they need for their

Its shoe department boasts the largest selection in the city.

Nelson added that the Beauty and Fragrance Department has a brow bar. And the Home Store has everything necessary to furnish every room in your house.

When it comes to shopping for wedding fashions, Macy’s tied with Nordstrom.

Macy’s has the Wedding Shop, where you can find clothing, jewelry, and gifts. Nelson pointed out that Macy’s has a genderneutral bridal registry, making it easy to select gifts.

At Nordstrom, the Wedding Suite offers wedding stylists, as well as clothing and gifts.

While same-sex marriage isn’t legal in California right now, several other states such as New York allow gay and lesbian couples to wed.

Macy’s, 120 Stockton Street, San Francisco, (415) 3973333. www.macys.com Nordstrom, San Francisco Centre, 865 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 2438500. www.nordstrom.com

home improvement projects, crafts and hobbies, gift ideas, costumes, Burning Man supplies, seasonal decor, and zombie attack kits. Terry Asten Bennett runs the show, and Cliff’s also gives back to the community.

One thing Asten Bennett wanted readers to know: Cliff never worked there. The store was named after the founder’s son, Cliff, who was a musician, in hopes that he would take it over and “get a real job.” The store was taken over by Cliff’s older brother, Ernie.

Cliff’s Variety, 479 Castro Street, San Francisco, (415) 4315365. www.cliffsvariety.com

Best Pharmacy

Walgreens Walgreens continues to be the readers’ choice in this category. With its specially trained HIV pharmacists, personal medication consultation, immunizations, and a range of other services. It also gives back to the community through its window display on 18th Street, in which area nonprofits get to use the space to publicize themselves and events.

Store manager Sharon Woo and her staff are ready to meet your needs.

Walgreens, 498 Castro Street, San Francisco, (415) 861-3136. www.walgreens.com

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April 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 35

The BEST OF THE GAYS • 2012

Best Pet Groomer Best Politician, Best Politician You Love to Hate

Mudpuppy's city living

Best Tattoo Studio

Bulldog Tattoo Owner Gauge Strongarm’s shop is once again the favorite among B.A.R. readers, and tats are as popular as ever for men and women. Located in the Castro, Bulldog is open “from the time we get in until the time we close, everyday,” Strongarm said.

He added that the shop has been expanded to include piercing and jewelry. Veteran piercer Sharrin Spector is available by appointment only.

So when you’re ready to get your body art, check it out. Bulldog has all the resources to develop your idea into a design that works for you.

Bulldog Tattoo, 2275 Market Street, Suite 6 (behind Active Nutrition, next to Books Inc.), San Francisco, (415) 431-8900. www.bulldogtattoosf.com

Technically, Mudpuppy’s isn’t a pet groomer, but don’t tell that to the happy dogs that get the royal treatment when they come in for a bath. This dog-washing service opened in the Castro in December 2011 and quickly became a hit; the original has been in operation at Point Isabel Dog Park in Richmond since 1995. Gay-owned and -operated, Mudpuppy’s is run by Daniel Bergerac, Eddie Lundeen, and Todd Ahlberg.

In addition to bathing, the shop offers de-shedding, coat-conditioning, flea dips, and mani-pedis to keep your pet’s paws feeling good.

“We love what we do, we love dogs, and we treat yours as our own,” Ahlberg said.

Mudpuppy’s, 536 Castro Street, San Francisco, (415) 431-8899. www.mudpuppys.com

Best Dentist

Garret S. Madderra, DDS, LP A new entry to Best of the Gays, Dr. Garret S. Madderra offers complete dental care, whether it be regular cleanings or more advanced work. He also offers cosmetic dentistry and periodontal care. He is very community oriented and volunteers once a year in Bolivia, offering his skills.

Madderra Dental Spa, 2370 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 552-9200. www.madderradentistry.com

Best Doctor (Tie)

Mark Illeman, FNP, Dr. Shawn Hassler Folsom Street Fair 2011 Rick Gerharter

Best Street Fair

Folsom Street Fair The leather and fetish extravaganza that rocks South of Market every September is once again our readers’ favorite. The nonprofit Folsom Street Events that produces the fair – and several affiliated events – was established in 1984. Hundreds of thousands of people descend on SOMA during the fair to revel in what can be described as an “only in San Francisco experience,” noted Demetri Moshoyannis, FSE executive director. And FSE also helps out various LGBT and HIV/AIDS organizations as all money raised goes back to the community. Last year a whopping $330,745 was returned to the beneficiaries.

Moshoyannis said the fair is important for many reasons. “First, it is a uniquely unabashed expression of queer sexuality that many of us engage in and appreciate. The fair is largely erotic and sensual, extremely entertaining, distinctly diverse, and sometimes just off-the-wall,” he said. “I’ve been to just about every major leather/fetish event in the world, and there really isn’t anything like it.”

Plans for this year’s fair include shaking up the entertainment, and consolidating the two live stages into one main stage and putting it on 10th Street between Howard and Folsom (where the dance area used to be), Moshoyannis said.

“And, we are featuring two dance areas, the Magnitude Dance Area on Folsom at 12th Street and the Deviants Dance Area on Folsom at 7th Street,” he added.

This year, as the B.A.R. reported in December, the Folsom Street Fair will be held a week earlier than usual, Sunday, September 23, so keep that in mind when making plans.

Folsom Street Fair, (415) 777-3247. www.folsomstreetfair.com

Mark Illeman, a family nurse practitioner, has been practicing with the Feldman Medical Group since 1983. He does primary care, internal medicine, and specializes in HIV medicine and dermatology.

A longtime community activist, Illeman is on the board of Project Inform and is a strong advocate for universal testing for HIV and hepatitis C. “Know your status and get on treatment,” he said.

Feldman Medical Group, Mark Illeman, FNP, 2300 California Street, Suite 306, San Francisco, (415) 202-1550.

Dr. Shawn Hassler has been with the Optimus Medical Group since 1997. He practices internal medicine with an emphasis on HIV and gay men’s health. His mission is to heal and empower people through a combination of medical knowledge and expertise, love and compassion, and a support and nourishment of the spirit.

Optimus Medical Group, Dr. Shawn Hassler, 870 Market Street, Suite 600, San Francisco, (415) 397-0700.

Best Attorney

Roger S. Gross A new winner this year, Roger S. Gross is a sensitive and compassionate attorney specializing in personal and small business transactions. He handles wills and trusts and probate law. Gross has been supportive of many community members and organizations over the years.

Roger S. Gross, 317 Noe Street, San Francisco, (415) 861-5225.

Best Mechanic

Cowden Automative Owner Paul Cowden started his business in 1978 because he was always fixing his neighbors’ cars in his

Oh, those politicians

by Cynthia Laird

G

avin Newsom may not be mayor of San Francisco anymore, but he remains – for the second year – the favorite politician among Bay Area Reporter readers.

Newsom, of course, started the national debate on same-sex marriage when he boldly ordered city officials to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples in 2004.

Now, eight years later, same-sex marriage is legal in eight states (two, Maryland and Washington, have yet to begin the nuptials and could face referendums) plus the District of Columbia.

Today, Newsom is California’s lieutenant governor. While the office doesn’t come with many official duties, Newsom has continued to be involved in green tech and energy issues. He is a regent of the UC system and has used that position to forcefully argue against further tuition increases in the university system.

It also seems that readers long for the City Hall fights between Newsom and his nemesis, former Supervisor Chris Daly. For the second year, the fiery ex-legislator has received the Best Politician You Love

garage. They asked him because they complained that they couldn’t find anybody trustworthy to repair their vehicles. He figured if being trustworthy was all it took he could make a go of it, and 34 years later it seems he was right. Cowden specializes in foreign cars, including Toyota, Scion, Subaru, Honda, Lexus, and more, including hybrids.

Cowden Automotive Foreign Car Repair, 875 Folsom Street, San Francisco, (415) 777-9858. www.cowdenautomotive.com

Lydia Gonzales

Gavin Newsom

Rick Gerharter

Former Supervisor Chris Daly

to Hate “honor.” No word on what either man thinks of these distinctions, neither returned messages seeking comment. Since leaving office, Daly bought The Buck, a Market Street watering hole, where

Best Tax Preparer (Tie)

Johnston Tax Group, H&R Block These competitors want your business, and both offer professional services to the LGBT community. Samesex couples often have complicated tax needs that can’t be met by tax software programs.

Jeff Johnston, owner of Johnston Tax Group, is known for his “Tax Daddy” ads. A member of the SF gay community for 12 years, he is active in the SF Gay

he and other members of the city’s progressive faction can be found plotting their next ballot measure or recruiting candidates.

But Daly wasn’t alone this year, as readers also named current Mayor Ed Lee and suspended Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi as politicians for which they have love-hate feelings. Lee, who was sworn into a full-year term in January, has generally received high marks from LGBT residents, though he did ruffle some with his recent decision to kick two gay men off the Health Commission, leaving the seven-member panel without LGBT representation for the first time in nearly 20 years.

As for Mirkarimi, his rapid fall has been chronicled in the media since before he took office in January. Following an alleged domestic incident with his wife, Mirkarimi pleaded guilty last month to a misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment and was ordered to attend domestic violence counseling. The mayor promptly suspended Mirkarimi and appointed Vicki Hennessy as interim sheriff. Mirkarimi, meanwhile, is fighting his suspension and hopes to be reinstated. Stay tuned.

Men’s Chorus, Sundance Saloon, and the Homoto Motorcycle Club, among others. He specializes in registered domestic partners and same-sex married couples; advises distressed property owners on the tax consequences of foreclosures, short sales, and loan modifications; and advises small business owners on maximizing tax benefits.

Johnston Tax Group, 2327 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 294-1040. www.johnstontaxgroup.com

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City Living

From page 35

H&R Block offers a full range of tax services and has offices throughout the Bay Area.

H&R Block, 2370 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 241-0318. www.hrblock.com

an inviting Pan-Asian setting. Men’s days: Monday, Thursday, Saturday; women’s Sunday, Wednesday, Friday.

Tuesday is co-ed.

Kabuki Springs and Spa, 1750 Geary Boulevard (at Fillmore), (415) 922-6000. www.kabukisprings.com

Best Massage Therapist

Joel Banuelos A massage therapist since 2003, Joel Banuelos, CMT, does therapeutic and clinical work. He specializes in athletes and chiropractic patients and does more active work with clients versus relaxing spa massage.

On Fridays he is at Diakadi Body, 290 Division Street, Suite 200 in SF. Joel Banuelos, 582 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 2716545. www.sanfranciscobodywork.com

Best Day Spa

Kabuki Springs and Spa In the great tradition of Japanese public baths, Kabuki Springs and Spa is a peaceful sanctuary devoted to nurturing harmony and relaxation through the healing powers of water and therapeutic touch. Located in San Francisco’s vibrant Japantown, Kabuki Springs and Spa features a traditional Japanese-style communal bath and offers an extensive menu of wellness-focused spa services in

Best Medical Marijuana Dispensary (Tie)

The Apothecarium, The Vapor Room

▼

Best Non-Professional Sports Team

San Francisco Fog Rugby Football Club Also standing in the winner’s circle a second time is the San Francisco Fog, the city’s gay rugby team. There are both women’s and men’s teams, and both are open to heterosexual players as well as newbies to a rugby pitch.

While the Fog has found success on the field, it will be forever stitched into the national memory due to one of its players, Mark Bingham, who was onboard hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

He and his fellow passengers helped crash the plane in a field outside of Pittsburgh rather than its intended target in Washington, D.C. San Francisco Fog Rugby Football Club, San Francisco. www.sffog.org

Medical cannabis is under siege by the feds, but dispensaries continue to provide a vital need to patients who rely on the drug to help alleviate various illnesses, such as wasting in people living with HIV/AIDS. Two dispensaries were voted Best of the Gays.

The Apothecarium opened last year and provides medical marijuana at a “compassionate” price and also supports the local community via charitable giving. Recently the dispensary provided funds for an awning at Maitri Hospice so that patients could smoke their medicine in a more convenient setting.

Looking to work off that growing waistline or tone up your muscles?

Then head over to Gold’s Gym. For the second year B.A.R. readers named it the best gym in the city. Its Castro location is just a block away from the heart of the gayborhood, while its second locale is in the gay section of South of Market. The popularity of the Castro Gold’s has led the family that owns the local franchise to look at expanding the Market Street property.

The Apothecarium, 2095 Market Street, San Francisco (415) 5002620. www.apothecariumsf.com

Gold’s Gym, 2301 Market Street, San Francisco, (415) 626-4488. www.ggsf.com

The Vapor Room Cooperative operates as a nonprofit and is committed to serving member-patient needs with the highest level of compassion and professionalism. Established in 2004, the dispensary offers a variety of free health and wellness services to members and the general public, including counseling, veteran’s support group, massage, peer counseling, and yoga three times weekly at the Harvey Milk Center for the Recreational Arts.

A calendar of services is online.

The Vapor Room, 607A Haight Street (at Steiner), San Francisco, (415) 626-2100. www.vaporroom.com

outdoors and sports

Best Gym

Gold’s Gym

Best Yoga Studio

Yoga Tree Started in 1999 by Tim and Tara Dale, whose family backgrounds include circus acrobatics and gymnastics, the Yoga Tree earned top honors this year as the best yoga studio. In addition to its five San Francisco locations and one in Berkeley, the Yoga Tree also runs a teachertraining center and a retreat center in Sonoma. It employs a number of LGBT and straight teachers offering classes in meditation and a variety of yoga practices, from Baptiste and Forrest to Hatha and Vinyasa.

Yoga Tree, 97 Collingwood Street at 18th Street, San Francisco, (415) 701-9642. www.yogatreesf.com

Best Professional Sports Team

San Francisco Giants They may not have repeated their thrilling 2010 World Series win last year, but the San Francisco Giants did make their hometown gay fans just as proud in 2011 by becoming the first major professional sports team to film a video for the It Gets Better project aimed at LGBT youth. The Giants have a long history supporting the LGBT community; in 1994 they were the first professional sports team to dedicate a game toward raising money for AIDS. Now they are repeat winners in this Best of the Gays category.

San Francisco Giants, 24 Willie Mays Plaza, San Francisco, (415) 972-2000. sanfrancisco. tinyurl.com/6v9fn59

Best Place to Buy Bikes and Gear

Valencia Cyclery Valencia Cyclery pedaled past its competitors this year to be named the best bike shop in the city by B.A.R. readers. For 27 years this family bike shop has been outfitting cyclists of all ages and abilities. It boasts that it has the most competitive prices in town and provides the best customer-friendly service.

Valencia Cyclery, 1065 and 1077 Valencia Street, San Francisco, (415) 550-6600. www.valenciacyclery.com

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Outdoors and Sports

From page 36

Best Personal Trainer

Christopher Watros This year Christopher Watros, part of the team of personal trainers at Alex Fitness in the Castro,

flexed his muscles to be named the city’s best personal trainer by B.A.R. readers. A marathon runner, Watros started out eight years ago showing other runners the ropes. Now a certified personal trainer and sports nutritionist, he has his own business called Phoenix Training and Fitness. Watros provides in-home sessions where he brings the weight equipment to you or works out of

The BEST OF THE GAYS • 2012

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the Market Street gym. You can also sign up for his morning Boot Camps.

Christopher Watros, (408) 710-2670. www.phoenixtrainingandfitness.com

Best Public Park

Golden Gate Park When it comes to urban green spaces, nothing beats Golden Gate Park say B.A.R. readers, who once again named it the best public park.

From world-class museums like the de Young and Academy of Sciences to scenic windmills and specialty gardens, it is no wonder this windswept, man-made landscape is the third most visited park in the United States. Nothing beats heading over to grab an organic hotdog at the stand behind the band shell and eating lunch al fresco on a bench in the Music Concourse.

Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, (415) 831-5500. www.golden-gate-park.com

Best Dog Park

Duboce Park Pooches of all sizes and breeds have the run of a majority of Duboce Park, and that is just fine with B.A.R. readers, who once again named this smaller-sized public open space in Duboce Triangle the best dog park in the city. Here canines run and frolic off-leash in their own grassy lawn. In April they strut their stuff to win prizes at Dogfest, an annual fundraiser for McKinley Elementary School, a public K-5 school in the Castro, held at the park.

Duboce Park, 500 Duboce Street, San Francisco, (415) 8312700. www.sfrecpark.org

Best City Vista

Twin Peaks Yes, it is overrun with tourists from sunup to sundown. Yes, even on the sunniest days you still freeze atop these identical hills due to the ocean breezes. Yes, locals often only visit when carting guests around town. But there is a reason why no trip to San Francisco is complete without a drive or hike up to the lookout at Twin Peaks. From there you get sweeping views of the Pacific, downtown’s skyline, several bridges and the East Bay hills. It’s where many leave their hearts.

Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks Boulevard, San Francisco, (415) 831-2700. www.sfrecpark.org

Rick Gerharter

Baker Beach offers stunning views for gay men who like to experience the beach in the buff.

Best Nude Beach

The views can't be beat

by Matthew S. Bajko

T

he shoreline is less than ideal, particularly at high tide, and the waters frigid and dangerous year-round, but Baker Beach remains top notch among Bay Area Reporter readers as the go-to place to sunbath in the buff.

For the second year the scraggy coastline on the northwestern edge of the Presidio has been named the best nude beach in the Best of the Gays awards. While the southern edge of Baker Beach is a family-friendly place to picnic and frolic by the Pacific, it is the northern most reaches gay men have staked claim to for decades.

Those in the know scramble over the rock outcroppings at the northern end of Baker Beach to make their way to what is commonly called Marshall Beach.

It also has been designated Bad Boy’s Beach due to the hordes of clothing-less men who make a beeline there whenever the city’s fog bank retreats.

The views are stunning, and not just of the chiseled flesh stretched out on blankets. Rising nearby are the International Orange Art Deco towers of the Golden Gate Bridge and across the way are the Marin Headlands.

On certain cloudless days the Farallon Islands can be gleaned on the horizon.

Its location had long been a secret hidden spot gay men whispered about among themselves.

But the free-for-all days when a hike down a precarious, cliffhanging, unofficial trail along the bluffs led to a seaside gay fantasia are no more.

Six years ago the Presidio Trust, which oversees the area for the National Park Service, undertook a major restoration project that saw a new staircase built along a safer and less environmentally damaging route.

The now publicly accessible pathway has brought more tourists, joggers, beachcombers, and straight families face-to-face with the nudists.

From time to time that has led to complaints being lodged with park rangers and some beachgoers being ticketed for various violations. So keep in mind these rules next time the sun shines down on San Francisco and you head over to catch some rays on your bare behind.

While nudity is tolerated, engaging in sexual activity is not.

Park rangers will cite people they discover cavorting on the beach or in the rock grottos people have built at the bottom of the bluffs.

Due to the shoreline being federal land, California’s allowance of medical marijuana use does not apply there. Any drug use on the beach is illegal.

As for dogs, sadly they are not allowed on Marshall Beach or on the Battery to Bluffs trail that leads down to the beach. They can only be at Baker Beach north of Lobos Creek, according to the current rules posted on the Golden Gate Recreational Area’s website listing where canines are welcome.

The one exception is service animals, who when accompanying a person with a disability, as defined by federal law, are allowed anywhere on the beach.

Those looking for less populated coastal hideaways to go nude may want to cross the Golden Gate and head instead to Black Sand Beach off Conzelman Road in the Marin Headlands or Hagmaier Pond further north on Highway 1 near Olema.

Baker Beach, Battery Chamberlin Road, San Francisco, (415) 561-4323. tinyurl.com/2ey3pn5

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Laramie lately

50

53

Int'l Ms. Leather 2012

49

French resisters

The

Vol. 42 • No. 14 • April 5-11, 2012

www.ebar.com/arts

A palm leaf jacket hat (right) with other examples of Gaultier’s signature blue stripes designs are part of The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk at the de Young Museum.

Rick Gerharter

E

quality, diversity and perversity,” the cri de coeur of enfant terrible fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier, is (to paraphrase Woody Allen) “a campaign slogan a French politician could run on.” It’s also how Gaultier, who’s an openly gay, self-styled populist in a media- and money-saturated field, views himself.

These personal themes, among other things, are expressed in outrageous, gender-bending, hyper-sexualized transgressive form in The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk

‘The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk’ at the de Young Museum

by Sura Wood to the Catwalk, an extravaganza costuming exhibition now at the de Young.

The development of the French avant-garde icon from his lonely, misfit childhood in the Paris suburbs, through 35 years of collections,

is mounted in a multi-media showcase that, in some respects, echoes the wild spectacle of his runway shows. It includes over 140 ensembles organized along thematic rather than chronological lines, stage costumes, a moving catwalk complete

with spotlights and music, and artistic sketches from his collaborations with risk-taking film directors Peter Greenaway, Luc Besson and Pedro Almodovar.

There’s also an impressive array of striking fashion photographs such as Steven Klein’s “Madonna Rides Again,” a black & white shot of the singer in an equestrian dominatrix get-up. Seated in a stable facing a horse’s stall, a crop in hand, she wears fishnet stockings and boots. A saddle See page 52 >>

Finding freedom in repression Jordan Harrison’s ‘Maple and Vine’ comes to ACT

by Richard Dodds

W

e all like having choices. At least, we think we do. But choices mean making decisions, and the more choices, the more decisions to be made.

Maple and Vine, Jordan Harrison’s play at ACT, creates a haven of reduction, a place where contemporary achievers can sign up to live according to Father Knows Best roles and rules. “One character says the word ‘repression’ is not a bad word,” the playwright said recently from New York. “It’s like repression is actually a complicated and satisfying thing for the residents to portray.”

These would be the residents of a closed-off community run by the Society of Dynamic Obsolescence, where it is forever the mid-1950s. “The play is certainly not trying to say that things were better then,” Harrison said. “The dark twist is that this is not a fully nuanced warts-andall kind of 1950s. Now when we see an Ozzie and Harriet episode, we assume it’s a veneer and wonder what’s hidden beneath that. The characters enjoy that tension of what you present to the world and what you live behind closed doors.”

There is a significant gay element that comes to light in this dynamic, but Harri-

son asked that it be described in generalities. “The B.A.R. is a gay publication, and it makes sense to reference that some of the characters are gay, but I hope we can keep it a little bit in the fog,” he said. “I do like how it can sneak up on audiences.”

Harrison, 34, is a prolific and widely produced playwright who lives in Brooklyn with his partner of almost seven years, director Adam Greenfield. “We just took the plunge, and bought a place,” he said.

The original idea behind Maple and Vine came out of a series of interviews done by Civilians Investigative Theatre See page 53 >>

Joan Marcus

Playwright Jordan Harrison, in Maple and Vine at ACT, explores a contemporary community that enforces 1950s rules and roles on its residents.

{ SECOND OF TWO SECTIONS } W G! O N YIN A PL

A M E R I C A N CO N S E RVATO RY T H E AT E R

WELCOME TO 1955.

Isn’t life better when you’re in the closet? Have a great day!

A new play by

Directed Dire Di rect cted ed by by

Jordan d H A RRRIS R I S ON O

Mark RUCK ER ACT-SF.ORG/VINE | 415.749.2228

<< Out There

42 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 5-11, 2012

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It’s all Greek to us

by Roberto Friedman

I

t’s hard to imagine a more entertaining show on the San Francisco boards right now than the vintage Cockettes musical Hot Greeks, given a new, fully restored version at the Hypnodrome by the Thrillpeddlers under the direction of Russell Blackwood.

Original Cockette and composer Scrumbly Koldewyn serves as musical director and plays piano.

The 1972-vintage extravaganza, an original musical by Martin Worman and Koldewyn, was the Cockettes’ only other scripted book musical besides Pearls Over Shanghai. Last year the Thrillpeddlers mounted a condensed 70-minute version, but this new production restores three songs from the original show and brings it to full-length.

The spirited cast of 23 pumps life and energy into the campy material, which somehow grafts Aristophanes’ Lysistrata onto a campus

football saga. The plot’s not the point of the proceedings, which run to Peloponnesian priapism and plenty of skin. Big-band rhythms and vaudeville shuffle give flavor to numbers like “Doin’ the Campus Rumpus” and “Everybody’s Got a Buddy on the Front.” Stand-out performers in a thoroughly gifted cast include Rik Lopes as Lysistrata, Tom Orr as star quarterback Pendulum Pulaski, puchritudinous trio Steven Satyricon, Ste Fishell, and Bobby Singer as chorus-boy classical columns, Joshua Devore as a sultry Diameter by way of Joan Crawford, and Jan Adrienne Gilbert as Leda, she of the unfortunate encounter with a swan.

In the end, the animals and gods have spoken – also, the Oracle of Delphi, aka the Hot Twat of Tangier (Blackwood) – and it’s time for the Peddlers’ patented spooky-effects segment, entirely gratuitous but packed with fun. We were exhausted from pleasure. Hot Greeks runs

David Wilson

Bobby Singer, Ste Fishell & TJ Buswell in Thrillpeddlers’ Hot Greeks at the Hypnodrome.

Thurs.-Sat. through May 5; tickets are at (800) 838-3006 or www. brownpapertickets.com.

Putting the plus in ‘plus one’ This week’s column is dedicated to our stellar companion Pepi, with thanks for the enormous reserves of time and energy he has put into being our loyal “plus one” at press events and openings over the years.

Why just this past week, Pepi consented to being our p.o. at the opening night of The Caretaker, a reception for the Buckminster Fuller exhibit at SFMOMA, the Thrillpeddlers’ Hot Greeks at the Hypnodrome, Miss Coco Peru’s appearance at the Victoria Theatre, and a launch party for the San Francisco Symphony’s Black & White Ball at AT&T Park. Boy howdy, that’s a fulltime job right there!

We’ve often mused that Pepi could lead an intensive workshop on the ways and wherefores of being a “plus one.” Grooming is important, as is wardrobe, and P. gets high marks on both counts. When breaking in a new outfit, he will often remark, “It’s very stylish – you would hate it.” In our view, he’s always the most handsome man in the room – except on one rare occasion, but that’s a story for another time.

One night at some function, while chatting up another pressie’s “plus one,” Pepi made some reference to his own “plus onehood.”

The Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller, courtesy SFMOMA

Building Construction/Geodesic Dome, United States Patent Office no. 2,682,235, by Buckminster Fuller, from the portfolio Inventions: Twelve Around One (1981).

“What’s a ‘plus one?’” asked the other “plus one,” clearly new to the role.

“Honey,” said Pepi suavely, “you’re a plus one.”

After opening night of Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker at the Curran Theatre, presenters SHN invited Out There plus one to the cast party, held in the Spanish Suite of the Clift Hotel. The setting was glamorous, the company charming, and the play’s full cast – actor Jonathan Pryce in his Bay Area stage debut, Alan Cox and Alex Hassell – attended. Even though a small sitting area was reserved for them, the thespians mingled with the rest of the party just like average Joes. Pepi made sure we thanked our hostess on our way out.

The next night, the Architecture + Design Forum of SFMOMA invited us to an exhibition preview for The Utopian Impulse: Buckminster Fuller and the Bay Area. The reception afterwards was given in the museum’s Schwab Room. After an afternoon spent taking in the Jean Paul Gaultier show at the de Young (thanks to Pepi, a FAM-SF member), OT knew we were seriously courting museum fatigue with the evening event at the Modern. But the exhibit was interesting, and Pepi suggested we remember to bring a glass of wine for a colleague during one of our trips to the bar. He’s so thoughtful.

Saturday meant boys’ night out at the Hypnodrome, where Pepi was delighted by a performance of the Thrillpeddlers’ Hot Greeks. Sunday night we just had time for a quick repast at our favorite Mission taque-

ria La Cumbre before making the 7 p.m. show of There Comes a Time by performance artiste Miss Coco Peru, put on by producer Marc Huestis. Coco, a self-described “effeminate, damaged boy from the Bronx,” was the real goods, a dragster with real talent and heart.

Doesn’t it boggle your mind that Out There attends all these performances and affairs while holding down a full-time job? It sure does boggle ours. But that’s why we get the big bucks. LOL. Plussing the one makes it all worthwhile.

Monroe doctrine 42nd Street Moon will celebrate its production Sugar with a tribute to Marilyn Monroe (star of the movie Some Like it Hot, on which Sugar is based) with a Marilyn drag contest. On Wed., April 11, before the curtain rises on the performance at the Eureka Theatre, contestants are asked to give their best rendition of the Blonde Bombshell. Audiences will decide the winner over the course of the run: photos of the contestants, along with video, will be shown online and at the theatre for all performances after April 11.

Based on Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond’s Some Like it Hot screenplay, Sugar (book by Peter Stone, music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill) premiered in 1972 and was nominated for four Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Moon’s version features Michael Kern Cassidy, Tony Panighetti and Riley Krull in starring roles under the direction of Dyan McBride, and runs through April 22. Tickets are at (415) 2558207 or www.42ndstmoon.org.▼

ebar.com

Read more online at www.ebar.com

April 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 43

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

44 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 5-11, 2012

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Theatre>>

Home sweet hovel

by Richard Dodds

T

here was a fasten-your-seatbelts energy in the audience before the house lights dimmed signaling the start of The Caretaker at the Curran Theatre. Whether it was by reputation or previous exposures, expectations for a Harold Pinter play are largely solidified: elliptical storytelling, psychological violence, and a lot of pauses. But The Caretaker, which indeed contains these elements, is considerably more accessible than, for example, The Birthday Party and The Homecoming, Pinter plays that preceded and followed this 1960 success.

Adding to that accessibility is Jonathan Pryce’s beguiling performance as an utterly unbeguiling character.

Pryce plays Davies, or maybe it’s Jenkins, a grimy, homeless vagabond of shifting provenance who still fancies himself a clever manipulator. Given shelter by a curiously accommodating squatter in an otherwise abandoned building, Davies tries to jockey for a superior status by playing his host off his more volatile brother. It’s a losing game.

Pryce first played Davies in 2009 at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, where the award-winning actor began his career four decades ago. The production moved to London, and the current brief tour derived from the Everyman original, although the roles of the brothers have been recast, fortunately, in excellent fashion.

Pinter employs considerable humor amidst the ominous mind games, and Pryce is masterful at pull-

Shane Reid

Jonathan Pryce, right, plays a drifter who makes himself at home in a flat that may or may not be owned by a dangerously friendly character played by Alex Hassell in The Caretaker at the Curran Theatre.

ing the audience into his character’s double-take confusions as the ground is always shifting around him. This is the kind of character in whom you want to see the mental wheels spinning, which Pryce is able to provide without overstating the transparency.

On the other hand, the audience is left to deduce the motivations of the two brothers whose manners seem to be polar opposites, and yet who communicate in some unspoken fashion. Alan Cox plays the brother Aston, who invites Davies to share his hovel, with an understatement that has its own power, especially in the long monologue in which he calmly recounts his mental breakdown and

subsequent treatment. Brother Mick, in contrast, throws off dangerous sparks in whatever he says or does, and Alex Hassell adeptly inhabits the role.

Christopher Morahan, who first directed The Caretaker in 1972, is a veteran British director who takes a straightforward approach to the material. Seatbelts may not be needed for this production, but the ride is still an intriguing adventure into the worlds of both Pryce and Pinter.▼ The Caretaker will run at the Curran Theatre through April 22.

Tickets are $31-$100. Call (888) 746-1799 or go www.shnsf.com.

Books >>

ebar.com First love

by David-Elijah Nahmod

Every Time I Think of You, a novel

by Jim Provenzano; CreateSpace, $14.95

B

.A.R. assistant arts editor (and editor of our companion magazine BARtab) offers his unforgettable and profoundly moving fourth novel, nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. As Every Time I Think of You opens, it’s 1978. Reid and Everett meet and fall deeply in love over the course of a weekend. They live on opposite sides of the tracks.

Reid is a shy bookworm from a decidedly blue-collar family, while Everett is the scion of the town’s wealthiest family.

In setting his story several years before the AIDS crisis struck, Provenzano wisely allows his protagonists to dive into love – and sex – without fear. The first few times the boys are together are filled with the joy and nervousness that only happens when you meet your soulmate.

After a few short days together, Everett has to return to his private school hundreds of miles away. Though separated, their love endures.

Provenzano’s vividly written prose captures the excitement and anticipation Reid and Everett share as they send each other packages, speak on the phone when they can, and await their next meeting. The author brings his characters to life – it often reads like we’re observing two people we’ve actually met.

About midway through the book, the story takes a sharp, dramatic turn.

An unforeseen tragedy comes between Reid and Everett. Can their love survive this unexpected hurdle? Can they, as teenagers, deal with what the universe has thrust at them?

There are so many levels of nu-

ance to Provenzano’s story. Set in a small, somewhat conservative town in Pennsylvania, the book reminds us that it’s not always easy to be in a gay relationship in areas where being gay can still be frowned upon. The boys often have to fib in order to spend time together – at first they’re forced to introduce each other to their families as “friends.” But reading about

the clever ways in which they find to spend time together is inspiring and touching.

The sex scenes are somewhat graphic, but never pornographic.

They don’t fuck, they make love. It’s an exciting voyage of discovery, for them and for readers alike. When the story takes its more serious turn, Every Time I Think of You becomes a tale of heartbreak, courage, and healing. It’s a remarkable, uplifting story that Provenzano should be proud of.

Every Time I Think of You is available in select bookstores, and at Amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle editions.▼

▼

Dance>>

April 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 45

Choreography’s secret history

by Paul Parish

T

he transgender choreographer Sean Dorsey is working his own mode of being an LGBT genius. I can’t say I like his current mode as much as I did his very first work The Outsider Chronicles, which evoked the awkwardness of being the wrong gender in brilliant detail, with every geeky gesture ringing true. But it may just be that being transgender is different from being queer, and the issues are more complex than I find I can be comfortable with.

Dorsey is a transgender man, child of two progressive lesbians supporting his aspirations to masculinity, who after a decade of breast surgery and hormone treatments has beefed up to the point where only his large pelvis and centralized nipples betray his birthsex. He’s one of the most imaginative dance-makers around. His latest work is a thorough-going revision of The Secret History of Love, which does for transgender prostitutes what Roots did for African Americans: it’s a sentimentalized history, told with the queer version of survivor guilt, in homage to the transgenders of the 1920s, WWII, and the 1950s, whom he’s interviewed and studied, whose testimony is worked into a voice-over sound-montage.

There’s a strange discrepancy between the queer-bar culture this show celebrates and the dance style that Dorsey has cultivated. Only the Fever episode, bewitchingly sung by Shawna Virago in a ball gown, and brilliantly danced by Brian Fisher, Nol Somonse, Juan de la Rosa, and Dorsey, in a cabaret style using all the Fosse shtick you can imagine, evokes the kind of music and dance that could take a trans prostitute’s mind off her troubles and transport you into the realm of the absolutely fabulous. All the rest of the show is earnest modern dance, to dull commissioned music that has some texture but no style, flair, or rhythm.

A club that played this music would go out of business. Similarly, if the “working girls” whose voices we hear were wearing fuck-me-now clothes on the street and full satin drag as they danced the night away, why are Dorsey’s dancers wearing chinos and plaid shirts? What’s up with that? It’s all beautifully danced by these extraordinary virtuosi, in a style strangely at odds with the subject it seeks to celebrate. I find it sentimental.

Dorsey is just entering middle age; he’s just achieved a bull neck. There’s a lot more to come. For the moment, the miracle is the artists he’s got working for him. They are all virtuosi at this, especially Fisher, who was once a Broadway dancer, then a star of ODC/ SF, now a father of two rambunctious boys, who’s never danced better. It is ravishing to see.

Meanwhile, San Francisco Ballet’s Program 5 gave us spectacular dancing of all three ballets on its mixed bill, but only one had inspired choreography. This show opened two weeks ago, but your reviewer had to wait to see it til near the end of the run, by which time the dancers had many chances to polish the more awkward bits.

The ravishing thing about Helgi Thomason’s Fifth Season was the sensitivity of the partnering. To see the care with which a man placed his hand on his partner’s ribs, to support her in a tilted arabesque or to spin her softly in multiple turns, was to see a kind of courtesy that borders on romance.

Davit Karapetyan, Tiit Helimets, and Ruben Martin Cintas listen with their hands, and the whole body does what it must to keep their partners comfortable, centered, a-hover. Tomasson’s skillful dance-making is not the sort of thing that hurries away the soul, but he does make patterns that allow the dancers to sweep you away. Even in overhead lifts, where the men must take the women by the ribs and hoist 100 pounds of female, there’s no sense

of grappling; the women help, they jump, and the guys give a power assist with soft hands, power in the back, and a vivid awareness of the trajectory this soaring creature is going to take.

The Fifth Season is actually romantic, in a modern way, the same way that Robert Frost claimed his lyrics were – it’s “a diminished thing,” but the rapturous feeling is still there. The ballet is helped by the bittersweet melancholy of Karl Jenkins’ music String Quartet #2 plus Palladio, well-played by the SFB orchestra under Martin West, and by Sandra Woodall’s sleek grey unitards, which make the dancers look clothed in the harmony of beautiful proportions, lovely in their bones – as Theodore Roethke said, “the shapes a bright container can contain!”

As for the world premiere, Edwaard Liang’s Symphonic Dances set to Rachmaninov’s last composition of the same name, I have to reserve judgment; my friends who liked it saw it from as far away as the balcony, where one said the patterns were fantastic. But from as close as I sat there were only a few beautiful lifts that relieved the constant churning. The costumes featured a strange underskin that made the dancers seem encased in snakeskin from the nipples to the collarbone. From close up, they just

Dancer/choreographer Sean Dorsey.

Lydia Daniller

looked herpetic. Sarah Van Patten and Anthony Spaulding had considerable success with the second movement, Frances Chung and Dana Genshaft had wonderful moments in the first and third, but the thing just seemed to go on and on, with the Dies Irae wailing at you from the horns in the finale.

Robbins’ Glass Pieces has no such pretensions – au contraire, it’s his “pedestrian” piece. Robbins was one of those queers who made a living out of being a popular entertainer, and found shelter in that persona after nearly escaping exposure as a queer twice – during WWII, when he was rejected by the army for being queer, and during the McCarthy era, when he’d “finked” under threat of having his homosexuality exposed. He rebuilt his sense of security by making himself indispensible as America’s court jester with the ballets Fancy Free and West Side Story.

In Glass Pieces, Robbins used music by composer Philip Glass, and filled the stage with dancers walking pellmell like New Yorkers in a subway station. It’s a huge crowd, and they adjust their trajectories while in their midst angelic creatures leap in like flawed superheroes, unobserved. The second and third movements quote and steal from Trisha Brown, Yvonne Rainer, and all the others, and build a sense of delight that sends the audience home filled with a sense that modern life is crazy-busy, but not so bad after all.▼

<< Theatre

46 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 5-11, 2012

▼

Laramie, retrospectively

by Richard Dodds

W

bartabsf.com

hen the name of a town becomes symbolic for a horrific event, especially when it involves the youth who are supposed to inherit its earth, it’s not surprising that the citizens will shudder each time an important anniversary approaches.

Laramie, Wyo. Columbine, Colo.

And, in the future, Sanford, Fla. “Laramie is a community, not a project,” complained an editorial in the city’s daily newspaper on the 10th anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s murder. That was obviously a slam at The Laramie Project, shaped from interviews conducted in Laramie by members of the Tectonic Theatre Project in the weeks following the 1998 murder. It was a powerful piece that showed how theater could be both politically timely and enduring.

The newspaper, the unfortunatelynamed Boomerang, knew that Tectonic members were back in Laramie conducting follow-up interviews on the decadal anniversary. And the sentiments heard by troupe members from many of their interviewees were variations on, “It’s time to move on,” and, “Let the poor boy rest in peace,” and, “This could have happened anywhere.”

These are among the easily understood reactions in The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, in an engrossing production at New Conservatory Theatre Center. But there are also unsettling revisionist histories developing. It was a simple robbery gone wrong. Shepard should have realized his captors were tweaking on meth.

Homophobia was not a factor. The murderers themselves, not available to the Tectonic team the first time around, pretty much put the kibosh on these theories with no apparent self-serving motives.

The scenes with the confessed murderers, based on separate interviews with Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney, are by far the most breath-catching moments in a play with its fair share of theatrical reportage both intellectually and emotionally stimulating. Henderson and McKinney, former friends and now “cordial” prisonmates, offer stunningly different personages after 10 years in prison.

Each perpetrator is convincingly brought to life: Alex Hero as the re-

Lois Tema

Timothy Beagley, right, plays a member of Tectonic Theatre who interviews Aaron McKinney (Sal Mattos), one of Matthew Shepard’s murderers in The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later at New Conservatory Theatre Center.

morseful Henderson, and Sal Mattos as the brutish McKinney, even though we have already seen these actors in a variety of contrasting roles. Each of the eight cast members plays multiple and often-recurring roles, and simple journalistic-style introductions help keep straight the who’s who.

Among the other memorable character recreations are Heidi Wolf as the first out lesbian in the Wyoming legislature, and as Matthew’s activist mother Judy; Natasha Noel as one of the original police investigators; Diana Brown and Timothy Beagley as Tectonic interviewers; Patrick Barresi as Tectonic Artistic Director Moises Kaufman; and Chris Quintos as a clueless University of Wyoming student.

Director Sara Staley keeps this

docudrama moving simply, briskly, and empathetically through its many scenes on a simply furnished set by Ron Gasparinetti. It is a set built to travel, and will head to inland territories on a June tour to Grass Valley, Fairfield, Modesto, and Fresno.

The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later has messages of many moods.

Triumph, denial, survival, anger, hope, and hate are all a part of the story. In the end, it’s hard to argue with the Laramie resident who defensively says, “This could have happened anywhere.”▼ The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later will run at New Conservatory Theatre Center through April 29. Tickets are $25-$45. Call 8618972 or go to www.nctcsf.org.

▼

Books>>

April 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 47

Magical music

by Tavo Amador

T

he love Achilles and Patrocles had for each other is among the greatest in literature and an important theme in Homer’s Iliad. In her extraordinary debut novel The Song of Achilles (Ecco, $25.95), Madeline Miller retells the story from Patrocles’ perspective.

The son of King Menoitius, Patrocles is exiled for accidentally killing another boy in self-defense. With suitable treasure for his maintenance, he’s sent to Phthia, ruled by King

Peleus, whose son by the sea nymph Thetis is beautiful, golden-haired, green-eyed Achilles. Patrocles is one of many young boys at the court, all of whom are enthralled by Achilles, who, even as a child, is called Aristos Achaion, Best of the Greeks. His will be a short, glorious life.

Patrocles is small, chubby, plainlooking. To his amazement – and that of the other boys – Achilles befriends him. Soon, the prince asks his father to let Patrocles share his room. Peleus sends them to spend several years under the tutelage of the kindly, wise centaur, Chiron. He teaches them the arts of war, at which Achilles excels. Patrocles isn’t a warrior, but he learns about herbs and medicines.

Both boys are taught to play the lyre, another talent Achilles possesses.

Thetis, however, loathes Patrocles, whom she considers unworthy of her son. She’s a frightening figure, large, cold, fiercely protective of Achilles and aware of his fate. Achilles ignores her insistence that he end his friendship with Patrocles. As the boys become teenagers, their relationship intensifies, turning physical as well as spiritual.

After Peleus summons the youths back to his court, Thetis, desperate to save her son, kidnaps him, taking him to the kingdom of Sycros, ruled by King Lycomedes. Achilles is forced to dress like a girl and to secretly marry Lycomedes’ daughter, Deademia. Patrocles, distraught, persuades Peleus to tell him where his beloved is. Peleus does so, and Patrocles arrives at Sycros, where he and Achilles resume their intense, passionate relationship. Achilles admits to Patrocles that he slept with his wife, twice, an experience that gave him no pleasure. Pregnant, she is desperately in love with him. To her fury, he ignores her. Patrocles is sympathetic to her, knowing how he would feel if Achilles ever became indifferent to him.

Odysseus, prince of Ithaca, and Diomedes, king of Argos, arrive at Sycros with news that Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta, has been kidnaped to Troy by Paris. Menelaus’ brother Agamemnon is leading a vast Greek army to bring her back.

Initially, the crafty Odysseus pretends

not to recognize Achilles in his female garb or Patrocles, but soon exposes them, asking them to join the army.

Achilles isn’t interested. Patrocles is relieved. Each moment together is precious.

Eventually, Achilles joins the Greek army. He and Agamemnon clash, Achilles refusing to subordinate himself to the older man. At Aulis, Agamemnon is forced to sacrifice his daughter Iphignia to secure a wind so that the fleet of 1,000 ships can sail to Troy. Once there, Achilles proves himself an unequaled warrior, ki killing one Trojan after an another, defying all their sp spears and arrows. Patr trocles doesn’t fight, but te tends the wounded, using th knowledge he gained the fr Chiron. They share from a tent.

Agamemnon and A Achilles quarrel over B Briseis, a beautiful girl c captured by the Greeks.

A Achilles demands her for h himself – he, as Aristos A Achaion, is entitled to t first choice of spoils. the A Agamemnon refuses, but d doesn’t dare bed the girl.

A Achilles, insulted, refuses t fight until she is given to t him – not because he to d desires her physically – h doesn’t, he only wants he P Patrocles – but because his pride has been offended. Without Achilles, the Trojans and their a allies begin destroying the Greek army. Odysseus, Ajax, Diomedes, even Agamemnon plead with him to return to battle. He won’t until Agamemnon apologizes and gives him Briseis.

The frightened Greeks begin resenting their hero. Patrocles, desperate to save Achilles’ reputation, begs him to fight. Achilles refuses, saying, “Ask me anything else.” Patrocles then begs to let him don his armor to lead the Greeks, who will think it’s Achilles. Achilles had promised, but is terrified, knowing his lover is no warrior. Patrocles insists. Achilles reluctantly agrees.

The Greeks are fooled into thinking Achilles has returned to battle.

They drive the Trojans back to their city gates. But Patrocles is killed by Hector. The grief-stricken Achilles is inconsolable. His vengeance is extraordinary, fulfilling the childhood prophecy about him.

In his recent translation of the Iliad, Stephen Mitchell argues that while ancients (including Alexander the Great and his beloved, Hephastion) and moderns have assumed Achilles and Patrocles were lovers, Homer doesn’t explicitly state it.

What did Mitchell expect? Perhaps something like, “The moans from Achilles’ tent as he and Patrocles made love kept the other Greeks awake each night.”

Miller, who has a BA and MA in Latin and Ancient Greek from Brown, knows the material well and accepts the traditional interpretation of the heroes’ feelings for each other. Her deceptively simple prose superbly recreates the world of Archaic Greece. Mortals, gods, and mythological creatures blend naturally. Thetis’ appearances are comparable to the sightings of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes and Fatima.

Miller unflinchingly, easily conveys the complete love Achilles and Patrocles share. This is a bildungsroman, a homoerotic coming-of-age story that is beautifully told. The last few chapters would bring tears to obsidian eyes. The Song of Achilles is worthy of a place alongside Mary Renault’s classic The Last of the Wine and Marguerite Yourcenar’s majestic The Memoirs of Hadrian.▼

<< Out&About

48 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 5-11, 2012

Thu 5>> Fantazia @ Mist Gender illusionist act with the ladies of Fantazia: Anya, Bobbi Pinn, Anjie Myma and Lychee Minnelli. Kylie Minono MCs. DJ Chad William. Proceeds benefit Sunburst Youth Camp. $10. 9pm-2am. 316 11th St. www.mistsf.com

God-Des & She @ Red Devil Lounge Lesbian music duo performs. Aima the dreamer opens. $10-$14. 8pm. 21+.

1695 Polk St. www.god-desandshe.com www.reddevillounge.com/event/106101/

dark comedy about a couple who give up contemporary life and join a group of 1950s reenactors who want to live life like “the good old days.” Special LGBT Out With A.C.T. after-party April 11. $10-$95. Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru April 22.

415 Geary St. 749-2228. www.act-sf.org

whose passion, power and heartache impact her drive to stardom. $10-$15. Fri & Sat, 8pm; thru April 7. 3252-A 19th St. 289-2000. www.ftloose.org

Marilyn Pittman @ The Marsh

Gritty dramas of battling brothers and family secrets; the first and second of four Sam Shepard plays the company will perform in repertory thru April 26. True West and Buried Child thru April 7. $25-$35, or $85-$120 full pass. 505 Natoma St. 967-2227. www.boxcartheatre.org

The veteran lesbian comic gets a little more serious in her solo show about her parents’ tragic murder-suicide. $15-$35-$50. Thu 8pm, Sat 8:30pm, Sun 7pm thru April 15. Studio Theater, 1062 Valencia St. (800) 838-3006. www.themarsh.org

Pagan parties

by Jim Provenzano

Y

ou can go full tilt religious, offbeat Wiccan, or flamboyantly oyantly faerie to celebrate the various overlapping holidays this ses weekend. Be it bunnies, barbeques, or babe-alicious Jesuses ng (Jesi?), celebrate Spring, life, and whatever you like, so long as nobody gets hurt. Oh, wait. That cuts out about half off organized religion. Oh, well!

Indulge in beauty with some fun films that featuree Jean Paul Gaultier’s fab costumes. April 5, Madonna’ss Truth or Dare (7pm), The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (9:20pm). April 6, The Fifth Element (7pm) and The eatre, City of Lost Children (9:30pm). $7.50-$10. The Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com ut also For more Gaultier, see his de Young Museum exhibit. But eaches enjoy a party there this Friday. At Beautiful Rebels, Peaches n World Christ hosts a drag and dance tribute party for The Fashion rs. Vera, of Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit, with Mister David, Tria, Mrs. s, Haute Double Duchess, DJs David Sternesky and Mat dos Santos, Gloo craft workshops, drinks and designs. Friday, April 6. Freewara Tea $18 (full museum admission). 6pm-8:45pm. 50 Hagiwara Garden Drive, Golden Gate Park. www.famsf.org ck edge?

What’s the buzz? Feeling a bit more traditional with a rock uperstar, Doncha get me wrong. The Sing-Along Jesus Christ Superstar Friday, April 6, at the Victoria Theatre, hosted by The Sisterss of Perpetual Indulgence, lets you rock out to the classic Andrew Lloyd ds Weber rock opera’s film version, starring Ted Neely; proceeds w. benefit the Trans March. $15-$25. 7pm. 2961 16th St. www. thesisters.org www.brownpapertickets.com/event/233798 nal Don’t know how to love that? Go more full-on traditional Friday April 6 when the St. Paul’s Choir performs J.S Bach’s St. John Passion, with orchestral accompaniment conducted by violinist/concertmaster Elizabeth Blumenstock. Free. 12pm-3pm. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Oakland 114 Montecito Ave. Oakland. www.stpaulsoakland.org Sunday, of course, Easter Celebrations at Dolores Park will be quite popular. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’s annual irreverent holiday celebration, this year titled “Pumps & Circumstance,” includes performances by Planet Booty, Jesus Christ Superstar Whoa Nellies, Ethel Merman, Thrillpeddlers, Red Hots Burlesque, and of course, the Hunky Jesus Contest. 11am-4pm. 18th-20th St. at Dolores. www.thesisters.org Afterward, dance the holiday egg salad away at the Sundance Saloon Anniversary Party, April 8 at Space 550. The popular countrywestern dance night celebrates 14 years, with performing CW dancers the Sundance Bandits, plus lessons and souvenirs. Free. 5pm-10:30pm.

550 Barneveld Ave. near Industrial. www.sundancesaloon.org For those who take their ritual sacrifice a bit more seriously, and more deliciously, Sunday’s Butcherfest at Bloodhound offers barbequed goat meat – sliders, Easter at Dolores Park sausage and flatbreads with a tasty flair prepared by Café Rouge’s Rick DeBearord, with lots of food, and a cocktail with your ticket. $50. 3pm-7pm.

1145 Folsom St. www.bloodhoundsf.com Sundance Saloon’s Anniversary Party

Audience as Subject @ YBCA

Weekly series of documentaries and films about great directors. First, a double feature: Marcel Ophuls and Jean-Luc Godard: The Meeting in St-Gervais and John Cassavetes. $6-$8. 7:30pm. Yerba Y Buena Center for the Arts screening ro room, 701 Mission St. 978-2787. www.ybca.org www.y

Melissa M Manchester @ The Rrazz R Room Grammy Grammy-winning singer-songwriter returns return for an intimate concert of her cclassic hits and new music. $45. $4 8pm. Also April 6, 8pm and an April 7, 7pm & 9:30pm.

2-drink 2 min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com w

Fri 6>> Anatol @ Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Arthur Sch Schnitzler’s play about a Viennese philanderer, in the world premiere of a newly translated adaptat by Margret Schaefer. adaptation $34-$5 Tue 7pm. Wed-Sat 8pm. $34-$55.

Sun 2pm & 7pm. 2081 Addison St. Thru May 13. (510) 843-4822. www. www.auroratheatre.org

The Caretaker @ Cu Curran Theatre Jonath Pryce stars in a new Jonathan London touring production of the Londo revival of Harold Pinter’s comic yett menacing drama. $25-$175.

Tue-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm & 7:30pm.

Thru April 22. 445 Geary St. (888) 746 1799. www.shnsf.com/shows/thecaretaker

True West, Buried Child @ Boxcar Theatre

Sat 7>>

Great Directors @ YBCA

The Fifth Element

▼

Mark Bradford (found material sculptures) and Audience as Subject, Part 2, (big photos of fans at soccer matches and rock concerts), plus other exhibits. Thru May 27.

701 Mission St. 978-2787. www.ybca.org

Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi

Sun 8 Hella Gay Comedy Show @ 50 Mason Social House Charlie Ballard hosts a night of ireverent stand-up, with guests Justin Lucas, Jessica Sealy, Fred Anderson and Andrew Holmgren. $10. 8pm. 21+. 50 Mason St. 4335050. www.charlieballard.com www.50masonsocialhouse.com

The Real Americans @ the Marsh Dan Hoyle’s fascinating multiple-character solo show based on his cross-country trek into America’s red states and liberal cities. $25-$50. Fri 8pm. Sat 5pm. Sun 2pm.

Thru April 14. 1062 Valencia St. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Red @ Berkeley Repertory John Logan’s (screenwriter of The Aviator, Gladiator and Hugo) Broadway hit about abstract painter Mark Rothko, engaged in a battle of wits with his young assistant. $14$72. Tue-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. & 7pm Thru April 29. 2025 Addison St., Berkeley.

(510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

Musical comedy revue, now in its 35th year, with an ever-changing lineup of political and pop culture icons, all in gigantic wigs. $25-$130. Wed, Thu, Fri at 8pm. Sat 6:30, 9:30pm. Sun 2pm, 5pm. (Beer/wine served; cash only). 678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd (Green St.). 421-4222. www.beachblanketbabylon.com

The Cult of Beauty @ Legion of Honor Subtitled The Victorian Avante-Garde, 1860-1900, this new exhibit focuses on the British Aesthetic Movement; paintings, architecture and decorative arts by Gabriel Rossetti, James McNeill Whistler, Edward Burne-Jones, E.W. Godwin, William Morris, Christopher Dresser and others. Free-$20.

Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. Thru June 17.

Lincoln Park, 100 34th Ave. 750-3620. www.famsf.org

Josh Klipp & The Klipptones @ Savanna Jazz Local vocalist performs cool jazz songs with his band. $8. 7:30pm. 2937 Mission St. at 25th. (707) 793-0955. www.joshuaklipp.com

Of Mice and Men @ Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts

Classical Music Recitals @ SF Conservatory of Music

Theatre Works’ production of John Steinbeck’s stage adapatation of his classic novel about troubled drifters during the Great Depression. $19-$69. Tue & Wed 7:30pm.

Thu-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm and Sun 7pm.

Thru April 29. (650) 463-1960. www.theatreworks.org

Nightly free concerts of performances by students and faculty. Check schedule online.

50 Oak St. 503-6265. www.sfcm.edu

Photography in Mexico @ SF Museum of Modern Art

Cobra @ Magnet Opening reception for an exhibit of wooden carvings with a decidedly erotic nature, made by the Santa Cruz artist. Free, appetizers, beverages. 8pm-10pm. Exhibit thru April. 4122 18th St. www.magnetsf.org

The Coast of Utopia: Voyage @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley Shotgun Players’ staging of Tom Stoppard’s first in a trilogy of works exploring a wealthy family in pre-revolutionary Russia. $7-$32.

Wed & Thu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 5pm Thru April 15. 1901 Ashby Ave. (510) 8416500. www.shotgunplayers.org

The Flow Show @ Dance Mission Theater Fourth annual showcase of innovative performers on hoops, juggling, Maori poi and other forms of movement with unique props with a culturally-based but decidedly contemporary spin. $20. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 7pm. 3316 24th St. at Mission. www.dancemission.com

The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later @ New Conservatory Theatre The sequel to the groundbreaking drama, based on real interviews with people effected by the murder of Matthew Shepard, gets its San Francisco premiere. $25-$40.

Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru April 29.

Previews thru 25 Van Ness Ave., lower level. www.nctcsf.org

Maurice @ New Conservatory Theatre Andy Graham and Roger Parsley’s erudite stage adaptation of E.M. Forster’s pioneering 1914 novel about the romance between an aristocratic Englishman and a workingclass groundskeeper. $22-$45. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Extended thru April 7.

25 Van Ness Ave. at Market, lower level.

861-8972. www.nctcsf.org

Maple & Vine @ American Conservatory Theatre West Coast premiere of Jordan Harrison’s

Mon 9 Life & Death in Black & White @ GLBT History Museum AIDS Direct Action in San Francisco, 1985–1990, focuses on the work of Jane Philomen Cleland, Patrick Clifton, Marc Geller, Rick Gerharter and Daniel Nicoletta, five gay & lesbian photographers who documented the emergence of militant AIDS activism in San Francisco through the medium of black-and-white film.

Special panel discussion tonight (April 9) with each of the photographers. 7pm-9pm. Selection of other LGBT historic items also on display. $5. Wed-Sat 11am-7pm.

Sun 12pm-5pm. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

Tableau Stations @ CounterPulse An eclectic mix of collaborators including Yuko Kaseki (Berlin), José Navarrete, and Christian Nagler, the multidisciplinary performance project reflects on the nature of silence in a city. $15-$20. Fri-Sun 8pm.

1310 Mission st. www.counterpulse.org

The Tennessee Menagerie @ Studio Theatre, Santa Rosa An Evening with the Women of Tennessee Williams, a series of scenes from the gay playwright’s classics. $10-$25. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru April 7. 6th Street Playhouse, 52 West 6th St., Santa Rosa. (707) 523-4185. www.6thstreetplayhouse.com

Tina D’Elia @ Shotwell Studios The solo performer’s The Rita Hayworth of this Generation is the story of Carmelita Cristina Rivera, a queer Latina performer

New group exhibit of historic prints documenting Mexican life and culture since 1920.

Also, The Utopian Impulse: Buckminster Fuller and the Bay Area, and a new mural

by Dutch artist Parra. March 31-July 29.

Free-$18. Open daily (except Wednesdays) 11am-5:45pm.; open late Thursdays, until 8:45pm. Thru July 8. 131 Third St. 357-4000. www.sfmoma.org

Sun 8>> Bijou @ Martuni's Enjoy an Easter-themed musical cabaret show post-Sisters in the Park, with Molly Gazay, Robb Huddleston, Nikki Arias, Dennis Sanchez, hostess Trauma Flintstone and accompanist Alan Choy. $5. 7pm.

4 Valencia St. at Market. 241-0205.

Charmaine Clamor @ The Rrazz Room Filipino-American vocal star performs a non-denominational program of soulful music. $30. 7pm. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Chris Thile @ Herbst Theatre Versatile musician and mandolinist performs a rare solo recital. $35-$65.

7pm. 401 Van Ness Ave. 392-2545. www.sfperformances.org

Do Not Destroy @ Contemp. Jewish Museum Trees, Art and Jewish Thought, a group exhibit exploring the tree in Jewish tradition; thru May 28. $5-$12. Thu-Tue 11am-5pm.

736 Mission St. at 3rd. 655-7800. www.thecjm.org

SF Hiking Club @ Mt. Diablo Join GLBT hikers for a 10-mile hike along Wall Point Ridge to Rock City at Mt. Diablo State Park through rolling meadows, chaparral, woodlands, grasslands, and oak forests. Bring water, lunch, hat, layers, sturdy shoes, sunscreen. Carpool meets 9am at Safeway sign, Market & Dolores.

794-2275. www.sfhiking.com

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Out&About >>

April 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 49

Tue 10>>

Wed 11>>

Anne Lamott @ Herbst Theatre

Any Given Day @ Magic Theatre

Mon 9>>

City Arts & Lectures presents the author of Bird by Bird, Some Assembly Required and other bestsellers, in conversation with Sam Lamott. $22-$27. 8pm. 401 Van Ness Ave. 392-4400. www.booksinc.net www.cityarts.net

Linda McLean’s taut drama about family tensions in a Glasgow Scotland family. $20-$60.

Tue 7pm. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2:30pm. Fort Mason, Bldg. D., 3rd floor. 441-8822. www.magictheatre.org

Comedy Returns @ El Rio

Dharma Brandon @ Magnet

Sunday’s a Drag @ Starlight Room Donna Sachet and Harry Denton host the weekly fabulous brunch and drag show. $45. 11am, show at noon; 1:30pm, show at 2:30pm. 450 Powell St. in Union Square.

395-8595. www.harrydenton.com

Hot Lisa Geduldig welcomes Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, Carla Clayy, Yayne Abeba, Casey Grim for a night of multicultural wit. $7-$20.

8pm. 3158 Mission St. at Precita. www.koshercomedy.com www.elriosf.com

Hubba Hubba Revue @ The Uptown, Oakland Vagabondage, accordionist J.D. Limelight, and burlesque artistes Mistress Pon-Farr, Rasa Vitalia, Sgt. Die Wies and Kitty Von Quimm present an old-school vaudevillestyle show. $5. 9pm. 1928 Telegraph Ave. (510) 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com

James Hormel @ Jewish Community Center KQED’s Scott Shafer interviews the gay philanthropist and memoir author ( Fit to Serve: Reflections on a Secret Life, Private Struggle, and Public Battle to Become the First Openly Gay U.S. Ambassador). Free 7pm. 3200 California St. at Presidio. 2921233. www.jccsf.org

Monday Musicals @ The Edge The renovated bar now shows fun musicals each week. 7pm-2am (live show at 9pm). 2 for 1 Stoli cocktails. 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Ten Percent @ Comcast 104 David Perry’s talk show about LGBT people and issues. Mon-Fri 11:30am & 10:30pm. Sat & Sun 10:30pm. www.comcasthometown.com

Wallin & Barretta @ The Rrazz Room Vocal duo, with the Kelly Park Quartet, performs a tribute to Italian singers. 8pm.

2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Discussion about sexual fantasies and obsessions. Free. 6:30pm. RSVP at www.

InsightTransformation.com 4122 18th St. www.magnetsf.org

The Drag Show @ Various Channels Stu Smith’s weekly LGBT variety show features local talents, and not just drag artistes.

Channels 29 & 76 on Comcast; 99 on AT&T and 30 on Astound. www.thedragshow.org

Elect to Laugh @ The Marsh Will Durst welcomes comic commentator pals to a new weekly political humor night. $15-$50. 8pm. Thru Nov 6. 1062 Valencia St. at 21st. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Mike Doughty @ Swedish American Hall Books Inc presents the musician and author of the memoir The Book of Drugs, who discusses his funny stories of addiction, his band’s collapse, and sings some songs as well. Q&A. $20. 8pm. 2174 Market St. 8615016. www.mikedoughty.com www.booksinc.net www.cafedunord.com

Robin Duhe & His Band @ The Rrazz Room Enjoy smooth jazz with the veteran musician. $25. 8pm. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Singing Class @ La Peña Cultrual Center, Berkeley Eli Conley leads weekly community singing classes for LGBTQ folks and friends. $200 eight-week session. 7pm-9pm. Thru May 29. 3105 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley. Register: SingWithEli@gmail.com www.eliconley.com

Author, Author @ SF Public Library Michael Childer’s photographs of prominent authors, screenwriters and playwrights (including several gay writers).

100 Larkin St. www.sfpl.org

Benny Golson Quintet @ The Rrazz Room Veteran jazz saxaphonist performs with his bandand vocalist Nnenna Freelon. $40-$45.

8pm. Also April 12 & 13 at 8pm. 2-drink min.

Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Broadside Attractions, Vanquished Terrains @ Intersection for the Arts Opening reception for a group exhibit of paired visual and literary artists’ works exploring the history of print publishing. Free.

7pm-9pm. Exhibit hours Tue-Sat 12pm-6pm.

626-2787. www.theintersection.org

Dream Queens Revue @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge Retro-classic drag show (2nd and 4th Wednesday) at the classic Tenderloin bar.

No cover. 10pm. 133 Turk St. 441-2922. www.dreamqueensrevue.com

LGBT Book Club @ Books Inc. Open group where readers discuss this month’s book, The Empty Family by Colm Toibin. Free. 7pm. 2275 Market St. www.booksinc.net

Singing the Golden State @ Society of Cali. Pioneers Exhibit of beautiful sheet music and artwork from 1849 -1930s, all with California themes; curated James M. Keller, the exhibit includes a few subtly gay and historically transgender subjects. $2.50-$50. Wed-Fri 10am-4pm.

First Saturdays 10am-4pm. 300 Fourth St. 957-1849. www.californiapioneers.org

Thu 12>> Comedy Bodega @ Esta Nocha The new LGBT and indie comic stand-up night’s hosted by “Mr. Gomez” (retired Telemundo extra and associate of comic Marga Gomez). 8pm-9:30pm. 3079 16th St. at Mission. www.comedybodega.com

Go Deep @ El Rio

Hairspray

Show tunes

F

or some gay folks, musical theatre is a religion. Consider New York’s revived sacrifical lamb, Carrie, the Musical. Aside from utter flops like that (again!), who doesn’t love a good show tune? Plenty of local productions will leave you humming a tune, or considering some new drag options.

The national touring company of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Hairspray, based on the campy John Waters film, makes a Bay Area appearance. $20-$48. ThuSat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru April 22. Fox Theatre, 2215 Broadway St., Redwood City. (650) 579-5565. www.broadwaybythebay.org Speaking of revivals – successful ones!– Thrillpeddlers has returned Hot Greeks with a brand spankin’ new production of Hot Greeks, the Cockettes’ hilarious college comedy revue that meets ancient Greek bawdy burlesque. $30-$35; $69 for a pair. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru May 5. 575 10th St. at Bryant & Division. (800) 838-3006. www.thrillpeddlers.com For more historic drag camp, take in 42nd Street Moon’s production of Sugar, Peter Stone, Bob Merrill and Jule Styne’s 1972 comic drag musical based on the Billy Wilder film Some Like It Hot; starring award-winning drag actor Scott Hayes, with a special Marilyn Monroe drag contest April 11. $20-$50. Wed 7pm. Thu & Fri 8pm. Sat 6pm. Thru April 22 at the Eureka Theater, 215 Jackson St. 255-8205. www.42ndstmoon.org Sugar – J.P.

Man on man lube wrestling in the pit (an inflatable mini-pool), porn guys, drag queens, clowns, Boylesque performances, DJ Drama Bin Laden and Cajun food! 2nd Thursdays. 8pm-12am. 3158 Mission St. www.elriosf.com

The Human Form @ Robert Tat Gallery Exhibit of vintage and contemporary photographic prints, including some stunning male and female nudes. Tue-Sat 11am-5:30pm. 49 Geary St. #410. 781-1122. www.roberttat. com

Love/Hate @ ODC Theater Jack Perla and Rob Bailis’ dark-hued chamber opera with comedic rhapsodic themes about passion and perplexing personal lives. $35-$55. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 7pm. 3153 17th St. www.odctheater.org

Move(Men)t 5 @ The Garage Fifth anniversary concert of men’s choreography features new works by Tim Rubel’s Human Shakes (April 12 & 13) and Jorge de Hoyos (April 14 & 15). $10-$20. 8pm. 978 Howard St. 518-1517. www.975howard.com

Train @ Bimbo’s Pop band performs as part of their West Coast tour. $35. 18+. 8pm. 1025 Columbus Ave. 474-0365. www.bimbos365club.com

Xavier Castellanos @ Si Pietro Todd Exhibit of quaint colorful paintings by the Mexican-Swiss gay artist. 2239 Fillmore St., thru April 21. www.xavierart.com

For more arts events, visit www.ebar.com To submit event listings, email jim@ebar.com.

Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication.

For more bar and nightlife events, go to www.bartabsf.com

www.ebar.com

<< Leather+

50 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 5-11, 2012

▼

Synn wins Int’l Ms. Leather 2012

by Scott Brogan

H

ebar.com

ere’s to the ladies! Once again the International Ms. Leather/ International Ms. Bootblack (IMsL/ IMsBB) contest weekend proved to be an astounding success. “Synn” from Texas won the coveted title of IMsL 2012 over some serious competition from First Runner-up Angel Propps, CoCo Monroe (winner of the Heart & Soul Award), Ohh, Rio, Sarha Shaubach, and Tokyo. The Bootblack category didn’t disappoint, either. Bear and Tarna competed, with Tarna winning IMsBB 2012 and the Heart & Soul Award. These wonderful women ran the gamut from femme to butch and everything in-between, with all bringing their A game. As a result, the contest was fantastic.

Speeches, pop questions, and fantasies were the focus. Oh, the fantasies! I’m always impressed and a bit amazed at how much more erotic and fun the ladies’ fantasies are than the men’s. The ladies have it going on, with a solid “strap-on” theme running throughout. The standouts were Sarha’s and Synn’s fantasies.

Hailing from Alaska, Sarha appropriately featured a dogsled driven by male pups as her main prop. They went out to “rescue” the women’s Olympic wrestling team. Being snowed in, they did what most of us would do: have an orgy. The male pups even had little red “lipstick” wieners. Love that attention to detail!

Not to be shown up, Synn’s fantasy was all about getting past the (wait for it) kinky TSA agent while lugging what at first appeared to be a suitcase filled with your garden-variety sex toys. Unbeknownst to the audience, Synn’s suitcase was hiding a blowup doll, not a real one but a real girl.

When the agent unzipped the zipper and a real girl came tumbling out, the audience went wild. Naturally they proceeded to “blow her up.”

Hysterical.

The judges had their work cut out for them: Arli, Colten, Sir Cougar, Queen Cougar (no relation), current IML Eric Guttierez, Master Rick, and Mollena Williams. Judges for the bootblacks were Jayson DaBoy, Jim Deuder, and

Scott Brogan

IMsL Runner-Up Angel Propps, IMsL 2012 Synn and IMsBB Tarna pose for pics after the contest on March 31.

Scott Brogan

Deborah Wade Hoffman and Leland Carina look smashing during last Saturday’s IMsL/IMsBB contest.

Riley Johnson. The secret judge (not announced until contest night) was “Morgan.”

The contest was the main focus of the weekend, but it wasn’t the only event.

The days prior featured workshops, speakers, a leather marketplace, and play spaces. For the first time there was also a “men’s only” play space. They really thought of everything and were 100%

inclusive of all, whether gay, lesbian, bi, transgender, queer or however else you identify. Congratulations to producers Glenda Rider, tomo, Ms. Rhonda and everyone involved for putting on this monumental weekend. And a final shout out of congrats to the outgoing IMsL Sara Vibes and outgoing IMsBB “kd” for a job well done, stepping up to represent our community. Many people out there don’t know about all the blood, sweat, and tears involved, See page 51 >>

Coming up in leather and kink Thu., Apr. 5: Daddy Thursdays at Kok Bar (1225 Folsom). Shot & drink specials. 10 p.m.-close.

Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Thu., Apr. 5: Bare Chest Calendar Contest at The Powerhouse (1347 Folsom). 8-10 p.m.

Go to: www.barechest.org.

Thu., Apr. 5: Underwear Night at The Powerhouse. $5 cover to benefit Project Inform. 10 p.m.-close.

Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Fri., Apr. 6: Fuzz at Kok Bar. Come hang with the hairy dudes. No cover. $2 off first drinks if you’re shirtless, more specials if you stay shirtless. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Exchange (220 Jones St.). $20, 18 or older. 1-6 p.m.

Go to: www.voy.com/201188/.

Sun., Apr. 8: Truck Bust Sundays at Truck. $1 beer bust, 4-8 p.m. Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Sun., Apr. 8: SF MAsT (Masters and slaves Together) at the SF Citadel. 7:30 p.m. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Sun., Apr. 8: Beer Bust Sundays at Kok Bar. 3-7 p.m.

Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Sun., Apr. 8: Nasty at The Powerhouse.

10 p.m.-close. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Mon., Apr. 9: Trivia Night with host Casey Ley at Truck. 8-10 p.m. Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Fri., Apr. 6: Truck Wash at Truck (1900 Folsom).

10 p.m.-close. Live shower boys, drink specials, loads of fun! Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Tue., Apr. 10: Safeword: 12-Step Kink Recovery Group at the SF Citadel. 6:30-8 p.m.

Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Fri., Apr. 6: Michael Brandon presents Locker Room at The Edge (4149 Collingwood). Go-go boys, specials, giveaways, 9 p.m.-close. Check out Michael’s Facebook page.

Tue., Apr. 10: So You Think You’re an s-type?

A Primer on Taking Care of Yourself within a Power Exchange Environment at the SF Citadel.

Presented by FlamingJune and Gabby. 8-10 p.m.

Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Sat., Apr. 7: SF Pride Leather Contingent Meeting at the SF Citadel (363 6th St.). The committee will accept nominations for the two 2012 Leather Marshals, 2:30 p.m. Go to: www.sfleather.org.

Tue., Apr. 10: Ink & Metal at The Powerhouse.

9 p.m.-close. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Sat., Apr. 7: Steamworks at The Edge. Enjoy the boys in towels. Go to: www.edgesf.com.

Wed., Apr. 11: Pit Stop at Kok Bar. Happy Hour prices all night, 5 p.m.-close. $5 Rolling Rock beer bust starts at 9 p.m. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com

Sat., Apr. 7: All Beef Saturday Nights at The Lone Star (1354 Harrison). 100% SoMa Beef!

9 p.m.-close. Go to: www.facebook.com/lonestarsf.

Wed., Apr. 11: Nipple Play at The Powerhouse.

Drink specials for the shirtless. 10 p.m.-close.

Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Sat., Apr. 7: Boot Lickin’ at The Powerhouse.

It’s all about the boots! 9 p.m.-close.

Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Wed., Apr. 11: Golden Shower Buddies at Blow Buddies (933 Harrison), a male-only club.

Doors open 8 p.m.-12 a.m. Play till late.

Go to: www.blowbuddies.com.

Sun., Apr. 8: SF Men’s Spanking Party at the Power

▼

Karrnal >>

April 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 51

Stand-up guys

by John F. Karr

L

ike to get a little cozy with a performer? Like the camera cruising the comestibles, giving us a chance to catalogue his good parts, as he takes the chance to show it all off? As these wares are most often superior to what we’d find in our own bedroom, we’d welcome the chance. Alas, it is not to be.

Pity the poor director and his cameraman when they’re making standard porn. How can they hold back? The rush to get it in a hole is too strong to be resisted. So it goes like this: the camera sidles up to a guy, scoots up, then down, goes all around, and zoom, zeroes in on the primary piece. And bada-boom, it’s show time! Or, as it’s known in porn circles, Insertion.

And that is why I like the private tête-à-tête of a good ole jack-off. I like to get a touch of the performer’s personality, and visit all his better parts.

I’ve been told I’m phallocentric, which means I wanna see his cock.

Spend the sort of pecker prime time that’s mostly disavowed in porn when performers are partnered. True, it’s not uncommon for a feature to have bonus solos of the stars jerking. But most performers, whether unsure or unguided, focus on the bone, to the near exclusion of the viewer.

So some praise here for Colt Studios director Kristofer Weston, who makes us a collaborator in his continuing series of Minute Man solos.

Perhaps that’s an unfortunate name.

It is I, not the gods of Colt, who take a minute. If I went on as long as Weston’s men, my toes would be curled back to my knees.

Weston gives his guys luxurious settings, and suffuses them with light. Music with a light texture simmers under the action in subtle support. Even the editing holds off from changing the view every five seconds.

It’s a reassuring environment that Weston has provided, and so his men are relaxed, welcoming.

Their eyes and smiles tell us that we’re about to have a good time together. Instead of a guy off in his own world whackin’ it, Weston’s solos are one-on-one events. It’s just the performer, giving himself to us. Oh, sure, he’ll fall into that private hot zone of bliss when he nears take-off. But his connection with us has been so tight that we’re going with him up, up and away.

Despite the amazing performance uniquely handsome Scott Carter gives with his big black vibrator in Minute Man 37, I think I like Vol. 38 better. It starts with Casey Williams; I loved him when he was a youngster, and I think I love him more now that he’s returned to porn, his first tinge of crow’s feet saying he’s not a kid anymore, his clear blue eyes and sly smile saying he’s glad to see us, and

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Leather +

From page 50

but know that we do appreciate and thank you!

Fun with fundraising: If you think fundraising has gotten stale (what, another raffle?), think again.

The folks at Square Peg (www. squarepegtoys.com) were in town setting up shop in the upstairs play space at Mr. S Leather (www.mr-sleather.com) March 23 & 24, building dildos to order. Yep, Square Peg makes amazing dildos and toys that are quite malleable yet firm at the same time. For $75 a pop they made dildos out of anything and everything brought to them. Customers didn’t disappoint in the creativity department, having molds made of

Colt Studio Group

Uniquely handsome Scott Carter in Colt’s Minute Man 37.

that stand-up, super-stiff cock which seems to be saying, “Ain’t I a beaut,” as he poses for us to appreciate it in varying degrees of profile. It sends his jizz so high and far that he can’t help laughing, and he scoops some off his forehead and rubs it on his lips like you used to do with cocaine. It’s a drug, you know, that sperm. Gotta have it.

Alex Chambers is a dirty blonde with louche demeanor and a solidly built physique. His smoky briefs whisper their content – a hint of cockring, and a fat cock and full balls. The third star of this 42-minute film is Michael Buffalari, whose figure is that Mercedes Benz-type embodied so famously by classic Colt star Mike Betts. Buffalari loves showing it off, giving a legit bodybuilder’s display of the various muscle groups, and teasing us with the hesitant removal of his briefs. When finally loose, his cock stands up in sharp parallel to his steely belly. He doesn’t cum much, but his cock looks terrif while he’s getting to it.

Although I’m so enslaved by Scott Carter that I can barely see the other two guys who share Vol.

feet, hands, a husband’s penis (for when he “has a headache”), you get the idea. The best request had to be the true story of one man who brought his grandma and grandpa.

It turns out that grandpa wanted a dildo made of grandma’s arm. No problem. They left with dildo in hand, so to speak. The next time you think “old people” are sexless, remember this story. We all have our needs, no matter our age. Each $75 fee went to Magnet here in San Francisco. Thank you, Square Peg, for stepping up. They’ll be back soon to do it again, so start thinking of what you might want molded.

New Palm Springs fetish organization: The Desert Fetish Authority is Palm Springs’ newest fetish organization. They are “a

bartabsf.com Colt Studio Group

Dirty blonde Alex Chambers in Colt’s Minute Man 38.

37 with him, they’re hardly secondhand goods. Ralph Hudson is the lean brunet with a treasure trail of fine black hair and a chocolaty foreskin, and Aaron Cage is the beefy brunet daddy. Also uncut.

If I think that ultimately Ron Lloyd’s Body Solo movies are the best of solo cinema, Colt’s Minute Men series gives them pretty stiff competition.▼ www.COLTStudioGroup.com

brotherhood of men who are into fetish gear and kinky play and who want to learn more about both.

[They’re] a next-generation organization built around the principles of Brotherhood, Gear, Education, Play, Pride and Fun.” Be sure to attend their Rope Bondage 101 Class (7:309 p.m.) at The Barracks in Cathedral City. The class will be followed by a Gear Up Party from 9-11 p.m. The perfect excuse for a trip to the desert. Check them out on Facebook or their website, www.DesertFetishAuthority.com.

That’s it for now. Remember, email me at leather@ebar.com (the earlier the better) to see your leather/kink/gear events make it into the calendar and the column. Happy Kinking!▼

<< Film

52 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 5-11, 2012

▼

Learning how to become a man

by David Lamble

A

s I left a second screening of The Kid with a Bike at Landmark’s Embarcadero Cinemas, a young French-speaking lad jokingly reminded his pals, “Le gamin au velo, he really loves that bike!” It’s impossible not to marvel at the jolt of energy unleashed right out of the box in this turbo-charged fairy tale from two middle-aged filmmaking Belgian brothers. It’s not the first time that Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have made us feel deeply about the fate of a young French-

speaking lad who is neither a good boy nor a bad boy. But he’s definitely a needy boy who will not stop his warp-speed forward motion until he’s latched onto a suitable parent, or died trying.

Newcomer Thomas Doret is a revelation as 11-year-old Cyril, frantically dialing and redialing the last mobile number for his missing dad, Guy (Jeremie Renier). Refusing to believe the orphanage cops that Guy has sold his precious bike and abandoned him, Cyril demands to be taken to a now-empty flat. Giving his minders the slip, the boy ducks into a medi-

IFC Films

Cyril (Thomas Doret) cycles with Samantha (Cecile de France) in The Kid with a Bike.

cal office, where he impulsively grabs onto a kindly patient, Samantha (Cecile de France, from Hereafter). This bonding moment shouldn’t be read as a “cute meet,” because the boy is probably just using Samantha to keep the orphanage workers at bay.

Hosting the boy weekends at her hairdressing salon, Samantha recovers Cyril’s bike and brokers a meeting with Guy, now boyfriend to a nervous female restaurant owner. Guy confesses to being a zero in the dad department. Renier has traded the Ken doll look he sported as the gay son in Francois Ozon’s Potiche for bottle-blonde kitchen worker.

“With his grandma gone, I can’t look after him. He likes you, you look after him.”

“He wants you, not me.”

“He’ll forget me.”

Fans of earlier Dardenne films with Renier – in 1996’s The Promise, his wild-child teen overcame a mercenary dad’s heartless treatment of illegal migrants; in 2005’s The Child, his young vagrant sold an infant son for food money – will recognize him as their human template for boys “raised by wolves,” not ready to be men, tested almost beyond endurance. Here Renier passes the fecklessguy baton on to young Doret, abandoning the wisp of a child with his soiled red T-shirt, ill-fitting jeans and 10-speed bike, and little more than a bag of chips and a soda.

“Stay with that woman. You’ll be o.k.”

“You won’t be calling me?”

“No, don’t ever come here again!”

As Guy slams the restaurant door on Cyril’s dreams of recovering his childhood, Samantha finds herself alone with a furious little boy. Cyril is adept at clamming up, refusing to make eye contact, engaging in maddening behaviors like running the tap on her salon’s sink, and behaving like a caged wolverine when she attempts to ground him.

Lost boys Cyril and Samantha’s provincial Walloon (French-speaking) town has its “island of lost boys,” a youth gang presided over by a charming thug who goes by Wes. Egon Di Mateo is adept at grooming new boys, bartering for their affection and loyalty with snacks and a chance to vent on Play Station 3. Cyril is about to indenture himself with an updated Fagin.

The Dardennes use their simple Catholicism to demonstrate how in a world bereft of religion’s moral grounding, boys like Cyril practically raise themselves, facing perils, as both victims and perpetrators of bad behavior, that might try the scruples of a saint. Director of photography Alain Marcoen gets as much emotional mileage from sticking like flypaper to the back of a fleeing Cyril as lesser filmmakers obtain from full-face close-ups or frontal nudity.

Normally a signature of these

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Jean Paul Gaultier

From page 41

and stirrups are built into the waistline at the back, and a long tulle skirt trails underneath. You’ll just have to see this one. (A notice warns visitors entering the show that sexual themes lie ahead.)

In an innovative, downright creepy touch that may startle some, the show features 30 mannequins who speak and have animated faces, and a Gaultier avatar who greets visitors as they enter the galleries. These virtual players introduce a voyeuristic, unsettling quality to the standard museum experience; the watchers are being watched.

If you’re familiar with Gaultier’s haute couture only through images from glossy fashion magazines or the behemoth exhibition catalogue, some of his ensembles look cheesier in person – that’s cheesy as in overdone and tacky, not inexpensive – than they appear on the page. Take a jaw-dropping, too-spectacular-for-words, beaded

films is a complete absence of manipulative musical underscoring.

Here the Dardennes make a concession, demarcating the chapters in this boy’s sentimental education with passages from Beethoven’s Emperor concerto. Mostly replacing music is a mosaic of real sounds: Cyril shifting gears and doing parking lot wheelies, a Louisville slugger connecting to a human skull, an 11-year-old heart desperately beating.

Just when we’re home-free, with Cyril apologizing for assaulting father/son news-sellers with Wes’ baseball bat in exchange for a modern, no-fault mediation, the Dardennes up the ante and have Cyril be the victim of the news dealer’s furious boy. The pair we’ve seen as victims then plot their own getout-of-jail card should Cyril perish from the assault. In the Dardennes’ updated Dickensian universe, there are no easy saints or heroes, just flawed souls who haven’t met their Waterloos.

In a perfect world, the Dardennes would work across the Atlantic, on parables for our own moral toxicdump sites like the Trayvon Martin tragedy or schoolyard bullying of vulnerable queer youth. We’ll content ourselves with Samantha’s bittersweet advice to Cyril about the limits of their future as mom/son.

“Don’t be upset if it’s not the way you dreamed it would be.”

“I’m not dreaming.”▼ wedding dress. With its white-feathered “Indian Chief” headdress reaching to the ground, silvery epaulets on one shoulder, chains slung across a strapless bodice wrapped in pale tulle, and a jeweled mask from which hang strings of assorted pearls, plus a skirt with folds of bejeweled gathered fabric, the splendid creation embodies the brilliance with which Gaultier balances and integrates what would be incongruous elements in lesser hands.

In the staged, imaginary world of a photograph, it’s breathtaking, but on the mannequin, its magnificent artifice and artistry seem merely artificial.

His designs benefit from glamorous lighting and theatrical photography because at heart, Gaultier is about performance and fantasy in an ideal, egalitarian, multi-sexual world – not comfort, practicality or good taste. If you want to fade into the background he’s not the guy for you; but if you yearn to up-end bourgeois convention and traditional notions of gender, See page 53 >>

▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

April 5-11, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 53

Film>>

French Arab resistance story

by David Lamble

E

arly in Free Men, Moroccanborn director Ismael Ferroukhi’s tribute to foreign-born Arab workers joining the WWII French resistance against the Nazis, we witness the effect on two very different, very straight guys when they lay eyes on a male angel later discovered to be both secretly Jewish and covertly queer. The angel in question is Algerian singer Salim Halali (Mahmoud Shalaby, with the sizzle of a young Sal Mineo), whose welfare becomes as much a goal for the combatants in this Arab Schindler’s List as the preservation of the Mosque or the liberation of Paris.

The 20-something, slim figure with a wild mane has the kind of voice that drives men mad, or at least to frequenting a shabby little bistro in the 11th Arrondisement. It’s starting to sound like Rick’s Café in Casablanca.

One of Salim’s admirers is German Major Von Ratibor (Christopher Buchholz), who has been hanging around the Mosque pestering its rector, Ben Ghabrit (the venerable Michael Lonsdale), to have the Sultan of Morocco award him a large medal,

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IDs to allow threatened Jews to pass as Muslims to avoid arrest, torture and worse.

In A Prophet, the boyish Tahar Rahim became a believable courier between fiercely hostile prison gangs.

Here he must also change before our eyes from a callow, pleasure-seeking youth, a total opportunist, into a serious underground fighter who will risk his skin for the likes of people whose existence he was once completely oblivious of. Rahim’s Younes must be a moral but not too quick-change artist. The foundation is his instant attraction to Salim, for of course strictly aesthetic reasons. Then Younes must react to the attempts of the hated security police of the collaborationist Vichy government to get him to spy on the Mosque. Ironically, this French police intelligence operation mirrors the current government’s efforts to head off tragedies like the terrorist cell in Toulouse.

Ultimately Rahim’s ability to project a sensitive yet rugged Arab everyman capable of astonishing personal growth boils down to the ability of great actors to shed one character skin for another, to turn before our eyes

Jean Paul Gaultier

From page 52

climb on board.

Just try wearing the red glass-bead “Galleon” headband with a sailing vessel perched atop your head without causing a stir. This may be why rock stars like Tina Turner, Madonna and Kylie Minogue – who once wore the silver lame, diamond-faceted, Barbarella corset bodysuit on view here – have gravitated toward him.

(He reportedly declined to dress Mick Jagger, explaining: “He’s no longer the person he was.”)

On these shores, Gaultier reached ignition and lift-off when he outfitted Madonna in the notorious cone-bra corset whose pointed cups she aimed at an unsuspecting, god-fearing nation during her 1990 Blonde Ambition tour. (She lent two corsets to the show.) His velvety body-corset bra dress has cups that protrude some eight inches into the atmosphere; one can only hope they’re not locked and loaded.

Rooted in fun and dress-up, which is what fashion ought to be, Gaultier has been inspired by pop and street culture, the movies and the Folies Bergere, blending vulgarity and glamour, bondage and high fashion in designs such as a straw and horsehair hat-gown complemented by lace bloomers and elbow-length gloves, an outfit that could have stepped off the stage of that infamous French revue.

He does the fashion equivalent of mixing metaphors with a flowing tulle ballet skirt worn with converse sneak-

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the kind of trophy given out in movies to keep Nazis from behaving like Nazis. Admirer #2 is an almost equally shady character: a young, handsome Algerian refugee, Younes (Tahar Rahim, incendiary young lead from A Prophet), who is at first strictly out for #1, a non-political, successful black marketer, a younger version of Casablanca’s Rick. It is upon Younes that Salim’s face and voice make the greatest impression, and the filmmakers are forced into some nimble narrative two-stepping to ensure we don’t get the wrong idea.

Ferroukhi uses Younes, a composite of several real-life Arab Resistance fighters, to demonstrate the labyrinthine nature of this mythologized organization. In Free Men we see patriotic Frenchmen from Gaullists to Communists in opportunistic solidarity with Arab North Africans.

The Arabs are lobbying a Free French government under De Gaulle to grant them postwar independence. The slightly stooped, courtly rector becomes the godly figure above the fray.

Ghabrit must pretend to know nothing about the machinations occurring under his nose: the issuance of forged

Maple and Vine

From page 41

as its members explored groups who have opted out of modern society.

Anne Kauffman of New York’s Playwrights Horizons gave Harrison the material as the basis for a new play, and after several attempts at trying to be reverent to the source material, he started over by creating his own characters and situations. What the play does share with the original interviews is, Harrison said, “how it can actually be freeing to exist with those walls and boundaries.”

SF audiences have had the chance to see two previous Harrison plays.

In 2005, Berkeley Rep presented the world premiere of Finn in the Underworld, a dark ghost story with a forbidden gay relationship at its core, and Act a Lady, which Harrison wrote as a commission for a

Rick Gerharter

A “leopard skin” beaded evening gown with rhinestone “claws” is part of The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk at the de Young Museum. It took 1,006 hours to create.

theater in rural Minneapolis. It was based on historical photos he found in the town’s museum that depicted a drag show in which wives helped their husbands to be as authentically feminine as possible. Act a Lady has had numerous productions, including a 2009 staging at New Conservatory Theatre Center.

As for Maple and Vine, ACT’s Artistic Director Carey Perloff became interested when she saw its premiere production at Louisville’s Humana Festival last year. It also helped, Harrison speculated, that he and ACT’s Mark Rucker, who is directing Maple and Vine, have the same agent.

Harrison has two new projects in the works. One is a commission from Playwrights Horizons, and the second is a musical about William Moulton Marston. Marston, who died in 1947, co-created the Wonder Woman character, helped develop

Rex Reed will narrate The Man That Got Away: Ira Without George, a musical revue coming to JCCSF that focuses on later songs with lyrics by Ira Gershwin.

Courtesy Film Movement

Younes (Tahar Rahim) and Salim (Mahmoud Shalaby) in director Ismael Ferroukhi’s Free Men.

into far better humans than the likes of us. It also involves the filmmakers keeping many dramatic balls in the air, including one scene where Salim performs his bedroom disappearing act with a nubile young dancer.

Writer/director Ferroukhi, drawing on significant new scholarly research and first-person survivor accounts, makes a strong case for at least an alliance of convenience between Free French forces and what would be the first stirrings of an Arab Spring.

Finally, there’s actor Michael Lonsdale. This 80-something grand old man of French cinema pops up at least once in every decade of

my filmgoing life. He’s the goodnatured martyred monk in last year’s Of Gods and Men, the affable double agent in Spielberg’s Munich, again a monk in 1986’s The Name of the Rose. But for me he will always be the dutiful would-be boy-seducing father confessor in Louis Malle’s awesome Murmur of the Heart, and literally the first hero I saw on the big Castro Theatre screen as the dogged policeman thwarting a plot against De Gaulle in The Day of the Jackal – a memory from the 1970s, when the Castro was a decaying, third-run movie palace awaiting the wrecking ball. (Opens Friday.)▼

ers, a studded satin bustier and distressed motorcycle jacket; a cropped jacket whose vermillion and fawncolored, bird-feather sleeves resemble wings; and a chanting mermaid in a gilded bodysuit who leans on crutches encrusted with coral shells. Eye a taffeta evening gown and discover the leopard “print” is achieved with tiny beaded embroidery.

One will emerge from this overwhelming show – it can feel like one of those hip boutiques where your senses are assaulted – with gratitude for Gaultier’s nurturing grandmother, not only for encouraging her lessthan-athletically-inclined grandson in his drawing and predilection for clothing, but also for her closet, where he unearthed the body-cinching corsets that set him on his career path and that he would make his own. But his versions, made of satin, gold lame and diamonds, metal, crocodile, taffeta and even one with a baby bump, are flashier and more risqué than anything grandma used to wear. At age eight, Gaultier, precocious lad that he was, styled a prototype of conical breasts he fashioned out of newsprint for Nana, his teddy bear, and a matching skirt out of a lace doily, too. Nana and the corsets that inevitably followed can be found in the “Boudoir” section; some are in a large quilted pink box with windows, a display case reminiscent of a peep show.

Declaring “clothing has no gender,” he reached back to the sarong of the samurai, uniforms of the military cavalry, the kilt and the long aprons worn by Parisian waiters in brasseries

for his men’s skirt, which he asserted had “nothing to do with drag.” It sent shock waves through the industry, sold out during its first run in 1985, and was reportedly more popular with straight men than with gay customers.

A feathered men’s bustier with beads and lace bustle skirt, as well as a backless jersey jumpsuit and pants with tiered bell-bottoms, are modeled by male mannequins, but there should be a “Brave Men Wanted” sign posted nearby.

Trumpeting “vivre la difference,” Gaultier doesn’t consider himself an artist as much as a designer of the people, at least the people who can afford couture. According to the curators, one of the justifications (and it’s a lame one) for having the show in an art museum is to give the less affluent a chance to see up-close the technical virtuosity only the rich can afford. Sheer enjoyment and attracting thousands of visitors who might not otherwise set foot in the de Young seem like reason enough, though the costuming exhibitions remain a flash point for critics.

An outcast kid who never went to fashion school, Gaultier been called a postmodern poet, a shrewd psychologist and “a utopian agitator in a media entertainer’s clothing,” and his creations compared to a happy pill and a self-esteem booster. To his credit, he doesn’t seem to take himself quite as seriously as those who rhapsodize about him. “I look at everything,” he says. “I have no theories.”▼

the polygraph test, was a feminist scholar, and lived in a polyamorous relationship with two women.

Many of Harrison’s plays are set in the past or, like Maple and Vine, have a retro consciousness. “I wouldn’t say this is the chief reason I write in period, but I do think there is a preoccupation with being closeted in a time when people didn’t even use the word ‘closeted’ – of not being able to express desire, or having to express it in coded terms.

That’s what it felt like when I was a 16 year-old growing up in the Pacific Northwest. Daring to be outward with your affections is a very fertile theme for me.”

Maple and Vine runs through April 22. Tickets at www.act-sf.org.

abruptly ended when younger brother George died in 1937 at age 38. But a devastated Ira carried on for three more decades, providing lyrics to music by a series of stellar composers. Those songs are at the heart of The Man That Got Away: Ira Without George, a narrated revue playing April 13-15 at JCCSF’s Kanbar Hall.

The narration was written and will be presented by the iconic entertainment journalist Rex Reed, with 27 songs offered by TV and stage personalities Gregory Harrison, Sally Mayes, Linda Purl, and Kurt Reichenbach.

Reed first presented The Man That Got Away in 2009 as part of the 92nd Street Y’s Lyrics and Lyricists series in New York, and has since toured it through Texas. Tickets to its West Coast premiere are available at 292-1233 or www.jccsf.org. ▼

Lyrics by Ira George and Ira Gershwin were a songwriting team nonpareil that

Through Aug. 19 at the de Young Museum.

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

54 • BAY AREA REPORTER • April 5-11, 2012

As heard on TV ox’s cash calf Glee hits a new low with the seventh installment of its Glee: The Music (Columbia) series of soundtracks. Uninspired performances combined with pointless song selection (“Hot for Teacher” and “Uptown Girl,” really?) earn this one an F. As covers of Coldplay’s “Fix You” go, the Glee rendition doesn’t hold a candle to the one performed by the senior citizens in the doc Young @ Heart. “Constant Craving” is too faithful to the original, although the duet on “Somewhere” featuring Idina Menzel isn’t too bad. But worst of all is the blatant (and uncredited) rip-off of Greg Laswell’s brilliant arrangement of the Cyndi Lauper hit “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” originally heard in Laswell’s version on the Confessions of a Shopaholic OST (search it on YouTube). If McKinley were a real high school (and it’s good that it’s not), someone would be expelled for plagiarism.

Poor Kelly Clarkson. Constant denial of lesbian rumors aside, she will forever be linked, as the first season’s champ, with second-rate network Fox’s American Idol, the 21st-century version of low-rent talent competition shows such as Star Search. But you have to hand it to her because she’s managed to turn such a disgrace into a successful and rewarding recorded music career. Although there’s nothing as alluring as “My Life Would Suck Without You” (from 2009’s All I Ever Wanted) on her new disc Stronger (19/RCA), there’s still plenty to recommend. Songs such as “Mr. Know It All,” “What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger),” and originals “You Love Me” and “Hello” make this a strong album.

The popular motorcycle gangthemed FX series Sons of Anarchy, starring Charlie Hunnam (from the original UK version of Queer as Folk) and Katey Sagal (formerly known as one of Bette Midler’s Harlettes), has earned its own soundtrack recording, Songs of Anarchy: Music from Sons of Anarchy, Seasons 1-4 (Columbia). Making good use of Sagal’s vocal skills, the soundtrack includes her singing “Son of a Preacher Man,” “Bird on a Wire” and “Strange Fruit.” Other highlights include Audra Mae’s reading of “Forever Young” and Alison Mosshart’s take on “What a

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F

Wonderful World.”

As one-third of Disney’s prefab trio The Jonas Brothers, Joe Jonas (the most attractive of the bros) got a taste of the rock-star life. Stepping out on his own on Fastlife (Hollywood), Jonas sounds eager to snatch the crowns from the heads of the Justins (Timberlake and Bieber).

Tracks such as “Just in Love” (the version minus Lil Wayne), “Not Right Now,” “Take It and Run” and the title cut indicate that it might be

entirely possible for him to do so.

There’s no reason why HBO’s lauded series Boardwalk Empire shouldn’t have an equally noteworthy soundtrack to accompany it.

That can be found on the various artist set Boardwalk Empire, Vol. 1: Music from the HBO Original Series (Elektra). In addition to several instrumental numbers performed

by Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, there are period tunes done

by Regina Spektor (“My Man”), Martha Wainwright (“All by Myself ”) and Nellie McKay (“Wild Romantic Blues”).

It probably looked like a good idea on paper, but the final result is anything but. English actor Hugh Laurie, who got his start as one-half of a comedy duo with out actor/writer Stephen Fry and later went on to g great acclaim on the TV s series House, is an acc complished musician.

L Laurie’s debut disc Let T Them Talk (WB), prod duced

by Joe Henry, i an excursion into is t traditional blues. It’s t kind of album that the y listen to and think you t that Laurie is better o being a fan of the off m music than performi it himself. It’s not ing t that he’s not a decent p performer; it’s just that the musical selections, especially for a first album, are g going to have a limited audience and run the risk of coming off as a novelty.

For the generation that came of age on 1960s TV, the name Billy Mumy will be familiar as the name of the actor who played young Will Robinson on Lost in Space. Now going by Bill, Mumy has been plying his trade as a singer/songwriter for more than 30 years. On his latest album Until the Big Bang Whimpers (Global Recording Artists), Mumy sounds like he could be a contemporary of Joe Henry, especially on tracks such as “The Big Barn is Burning,” “I Owe a Little Money” and the romantic “Isn’t That What You Said?”▼

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