August 30, 2012 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

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Vol. 42 • No. 35 • August 30-September 5, 2012

Oakland prepares for LGBT Pride by Seth Hemmelgarn

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akland’s third annual LGBT Pride festival is coming this weekend, and organizers are hoping attendees don’t see it as just a one-day party, but as an event to help the community’s future. This year’s Oakland Pride will be from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, September 2. The Labor Day weekend festival takes place at 20th Street and Broadway in the city’s Uptown neighborhood. (BART riders should exit at the 19th Street station). CeCe Peniston, best known for her 1991 song “Finally,” will be among the headliners. Admission is $10, or $5 for seniors and youth 12 and under. Pride organizers have struggled to break even, but board Chair Amber Todd said they’re still hoping to help gather funds for establishing an LGBT community center in Oakland – a long-term goal of the revitalized Pride festival. Raising money to put toward a community center is Pride’s “driving force,” she said. “Our goal is to fundraise so that all the bills are paid before we open the gates, so that the money collected at the gates can go toward the following year and creating sustainability,” Todd said. There’s still no money set aside for the center, Todd said. The board’s “not quite” there yet, Todd said. “We’re barely breaking even year to year,” she said. “It’s not that we’re not trying. It’s just hard.” Todd couldn’t immediately say what total expenses are expected to be this year. She estimated that fundraising efforts have generated more than $80,000 so far, but she wasn’t sure how much of that’s actually come in. Pride board Treasurer Frank Ciglar didn’t provide financial figures for this story, despite multiple requests. One issue facing Pride is that “we get a lot of mixed signals,” Todd said. “A large part of the community would prefer we are not corporate-sponsored,” she said, but right now, those backers are “what’s keeping us stable.” She said organizers have taken on some new sponsors this year that have See page 11 >>

Pols praise Kors hire by Cynthia Laird

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olitical leaders and activists praised the announcement this week that former Equality California executive director Geoff Kors has joined the National Center for Lesbian Rights as its new senior legislative and policy strategist. Rick Gerharter As the Bay Area Re- Geoff Kors porter reported online Tuesday, Kors, who started work August 28, will be working at the state and local level to advance LGBT laws and rights, mainly outside of California. State Senator Mark Leno (D-California) praised the pick as being “a great benefit” to the community in general. “His track record is incomparable in the success of moving our issues forward. He’s a great coalition builder,” Leno said in a brief phone interview Tuesday. In a conference call Monday with NCLR le-

Angie Williams-Vansteenberg made a “Hella-Gay” chalk drawing at last year’s festival.

See page 13 >>

Jane Philomen Cleland

Cordileone SF breast cancer services busted hope for Komen comeback for DUI by Catherine Pickavet

by Chuck Colbert

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he archbishopelect for the San Francisco Catholic Archdiocese, a muscular opponent of same-sex marriage in California, was arrested in San Diego last weekend on suspicion of driving under the Steven Underhill influence. Salvatore The DUI arrest Cordileone prompted sharp reactions from gay Catholics and gay-rights advocates, while a parish priest voiced grief. Police took the Oakland Diocese’s currently serving bishop, the Reverend Salvatore Cordileone, 56, into custody over the weekend, after being stopped at a DUI checkpoint in the city’s College district neighborhood, located near the campus of San Diego State University. The time of the offense was shortly after midnight on Saturday morning, August 25, acSee page 12 >>

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wo San Francisco groups dedicated to supporting low-income and uninsured women with breast cancer are preparing for a tough budget season due to controversy that rocked the Susan G. Komen For the Cure foundation earlier this year. The Breast Cancer Emergency Fund and Lyon-Martin Health Services are almost certain to take a hit in their 2013 budgets once the San Francisco Bay Area affiliate of Komen calculates proceeds from the 2012 Race for the Cure, which will take place in San Francisco on Sunday, September 9 and has seen a sharp drop in registration. Both agencies serve women in the LBT communities, as well as others. “Komen is the single largest funder to the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund,” said Mike Smith, executive director of the BCEF, in an interview. “They really believe in the work we’re doing around economic empowerment for low-income women. From the standpoint of community-based agencies that rely on Komen funding, this is devastating.” BCEF, which was granted $275,000 last year, or about 25 percent of its operating budget according to Smith, provides emergency financial assistance to approximately 500 low-income and uninsured women in San Francisco,

Courtesy Komen SF Bay Area affiliate

Participants ran out of the gate at 2011’s Komen Race for the Cure in San Francisco.

San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties while they undergo treatment for breast cancer. “Most of the women we serve are in hourly wage jobs and often don’t have health care through their employer,” Smith said. “And usually during their treatment for breast cancer, they end up losing their jobs, because they

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miss so much work.” Lyon-Martin Health Services is another local group that provides a range of services to women, lesbians, and transgender people seeking a “safe and compassionate environment.” Dr. Dawn Harbatkin, executive director and See page 13 >>

<< Community News

2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • August 30-September 5, 2012

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Milk plaza benches may be modified or removed by Chris Carson

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he benches at Harvey Milk Plaza are not merely a place where people sit. According to Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District board members, Castro merchants, some residents, and members of various Upper Market and Noe Valley committees, they are the source of all problems at Harvey Milk Plaza; including an unsafe environment, noise, filth, inappropriate behavior, intoxication, drug use, and an overall unwelcoming atmosphere. That is why the CBD will begin to look into the cost of modifying the benches, limiting their access with large planters, or removing them altogether, based on information gathered at a CBD Streetscape Committee meeting held at the LGBT Community Center Monday night. Andrea Aiello, executive director of the Castro CBD, stopped short of calling the plan to remove the benches good or bad, but she did say she felt good “about people’s level of participation and their diverse interests.� Aiello said that even before Monday’s meeting “the sense I had from lots of people in the neighborhood was the CBD had to do something about the benches. That it just was

Rick Gerharter

Andrea Aiello, left, executive director of the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District, moderated a discussion Monday night about ways to improve Harvey Milk Plaza.

so unpleasant. The space was so unpleasant for people and it was worse for the benches.� But, as Aiello said herself, “it always takes so much longer to implement things than to come up with ideas.� Recommendations from the August 27 meeting will be brought to the CBD board on September 13. Then the board will begin to look into the costs for retrofitting or removing the benches and who will foot the bill. When all is said and done, action on the benches may not be taken until

December. There is a chance it could take even longer though, once advocacy groups like the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center get word. In a story from earlier this year a representative from LYRIC, an LGBT youth support group located on Collingwood Street, about a block from Harvey Milk Plaza, told the Bay Area Reporter LYRIC is “opposed to this and are troubled by the privatization of public space,� and has, in the See page 13 >>

Artist works to take show to Africa by Elliot Owen

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vonne Fly Onakeme Etaghene is doing something revolutionary. Three months ago, the self-identified Nigerian dyke poet founded Guava, a multimedia performance project about queer African sexuality to be performed in Nigeria and South Africa in partnership with localized LGBTQ African organizations. The project seeks to highlight complex experiences born out of queer African identity by using various forms of creative expression. Though the performance element of Guava is still in its preliminary planning stages, Etaghene, 32, will integrate spoken word, monologues, music, dance, and video to create live performances that address issues ranging from love and heartache to homeland issues, dual identity, and activism. “Guava is about recognizing the amazing work that’s happening on the African continent and supporting that as much as I can as someone who lives in the states,� said Etaghene, who moved to Oakland from New York City in December. “It’s about joining my voice into the amazing chorus that’s already happening. I don’t know anybody that’s doing exactly what I’m doing, which makes my voice unique and necessary.� While global conversations about the meaning of queer identities is steadily diversifying, it remains difficult to find queer Africans who tell their own stories in their own ways without Western interpretation or critique. A queer African herself, Etaghene understands the value of sharing her own story on her own terms. In doing so, she hopes to provoke, encourage and inspire future dialogues within the larger queer African community. “Queer Africans need to speak for themselves, to have conversations with each other about how to address homophobia and heterosexism at home,� she said. “It’s not just about contrasting existing Eurocentric, racist, imperialist views of Africa; all of our lives can’t be lived in defense. It’s about finding what we

Elliot Owen

Performance artist Yvonne Fly Onakeme Etaghene is working on a show about queer African identity that she plans to perform in Africa next year.

want our communities to look like and working within our own genius to create a space where we can live happy, fulfilled lives.� After each Guava performance, Etaghene plans to open the space for attendees to share their own stories. She also plans to leave behind an anthology of some of the work performed in addition to creative and community engagement workshop materials to document Guava and encourage the creation of future queer African art and activism on the continent. “It’s important to document who we are. Without documentation, it’s very easy to think that we don’t exist,� she said. While it’s clear that Etaghene has much to offer the queer African community, she is very cognizant about avoiding the recreation of a paternalistic “savior� mentality so often enacted when people go to Africa to help. That’s why she is partnering with African organizations – to support and collaborate with people actually doing the work on the ground. “Even as an African I recognize that there’s certain privilege that comes along with being an African who hasn’t lived consistently in Africa since I was a child,� Etaghene

said. “How I even approach returning has a lot to do with not asserting privilege.â€? As a child moving back and forth from Syracuse, New York to the Delta region of Nigeria, Etaghene grew up trying to reconcile the very different worlds she was exposed to. At age 9, creative expression became her refuge. “I had just come back from being in Nigeria for two or three years and I had an accent,â€? Etaghene said. “I did not fit in. I was sad about that so I started writing. I would write about all these people that were my friends only in the stories. That’s where I went to have community.â€? In sixth grade she started writing poetry and by age 19 she began performing spoken word pieces, marking the beginning of her evolution as a performance artist. The past 13 years of her life have included three solo tours and shows in over 30 U.S. cities. She has shared stages with Amina Baraka, Bonfire Madigan, Sharon Bridgforth, Staceyann Chin, climbing poeTree, Aya de Leon, and many others. “I can rock a show anywhere,â€? Etaghene said. “It’s just so easy for me. I rarely ever get nervous. It’s where I’m most me.â€? As her various identities overlap and color each other, her multiple forms of creative expression present themselves just as uniquely, often as powerfully dynamic, provocative, and humorous pieces that reverberate throughout any room. Etaghene has self-published three collections of poetry, produced four solo art exhibitions, and is currently finalizing a novel. She is also the founder of Sugarcane, a writing workshop for LGBTQ people of color. Etaghene is currently fundraising for Guava. Her goal is to hit $10,000 by the end of the year to finance the success of performances in both Nigeria and South Africa. She’ll depart by June.â–ź For more information about Yvonne Fly Onakeme Etaghene, visit http://myloveisaverb.wordpress.com. To donate to Guava, visit http://www.indiegogo. com/GUAVA.

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Community News>>

August 30-September 5, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 3

Women set to bring the party to Oakland by Heather Cassell

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he fiveTen weekend event will kick off Oakland Pride starting Friday, August 31 and ending with a dance party on Sunday, September 2, the day of the Pride festival. Headlining the fiveTen after-party is TheeSatisfaction, a soul funk lesbian duet out of Seattle, and local musician Valerie Troutt and her JazzSoul Trio. This year marks fiveTen’s second foray into Oakland during the Pride festivities. The daylong festival in the city’s Uptown district attracts upwards of 50,000 people annually, according to Oakland Pride’s website. “We wanted to do something daring, something different, something out of the box,” said Christine De La Rosa, co-producer of fiveTen and owner of promotion company Eden Pride Events. FiveTen (the Oakland area code) is a mix of dance parties, brunch, live performances, and a bike ride. It’s promoted by Eden Pride Events and produced by De La Rosa and Chaney Turner. Unlike most of Eden Pride’s

Courtesy Eden Pride Events/fiveTen

MC Lyte, left, performed at the fiveTen Oakland Pride after-party last year. Organizers have lined up several events this weekend for men and women to enjoy.

events, which are geared toward women, this weekend’s fiveTen parties, dances, and other activities are for everyone, organizers said. De La Rosa, an out lesbian, is a 30-something new Oakland resident who arrived in the Bay Area from her home state of Texas four and a half years ago. Turner, 32, is

an out lesbian and Oakland native who owns SocialLife, a promotion and event production company. Last year fiveTen did a test afterparty at Oakland Pride with MC Lyte that attracted 800 people, De La Rosa said. This year she anticipates upwards of 1,000 guests attending at least one of fiveTen’s

events throughout the weekend. “Our vision of the weekend was to spotlight Oakland in the best way we know how. I’ve never seen so many different communities be so supportive of each other,” De La Rosa said about Oakland’s mishmash of ethnicities and gay and straight communities that come together. “You see everybody together and that’s always been a vibe that I really love. “We always talk about unity and pride and there is more than just gay Pride; there are people who are proud of their brothers and sisters who are gay, proud that they are allies of the community, there’s a lot of different types of pride,” she added. The weekend kicks off Friday, August 31 with a Pride Bike Ride starting at 6:30 p.m. at the West Oakland BART and going to the first party at Disco Volente (347 14th Street) for Out All Night. There is no cost to participate in the bike ride. The other events have various admission costs, or people can buy a weekend pass for $50. Valet bike parking supported by Oakland Spokes will be available for all parties, the two

Bridge span raises suicide concerns by Matthew S. Bajko

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ith the new Bay Bridge eastern span set to open on Labor Day in 2013, concerns are growing that it may attract people contemplating suicide. The single-tower suspension bridge will connect Oakland to Yerba Buena Island, and for the first time, offer pedestrian and bicycle access from the East Bay to both the island off San Francisco and the adjoining man-made Treasure Island. But similar to the Golden Gate Bridge, which has become a magnet for suicide jumpers since it opened 75 years ago, the design for the new Bay Bridge does not include a suicide barrier. Bart Ney, CalTrans spokesman for the Bay Bridge project, told the Bay Area Reporter this week that including a suicide barrier with the new span never came up during any of the public hearings and workshops held to discuss the design of the bridge. “Currently, there are no plans to design or build a suicide barrier for the new span,” said Ney, adding that, “the department would be open to hearing those concerns.” Yet in an interview this summer, Eve R. Meyer, executive director of the nonprofit San Francisco Suicide Prevention, said her agency did advocate for a suicide barrier on the new Bay Bridge. “We did meet with the same walls,” Meyer said, that advocates had to contend with during the debate over adding a suicide barrier to

the Golden Gate Bridge. After years of pressure from some lawmakers and activists, the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District agreed to add a suicide barrier to the iconic structure. District officials are now trying to secure the $45 million the barrier is estimated to cost and do not expect to install it for several more years. The lack of a similar barrier on the new Bay Bridge has some suicide prevention officials and at least one state lawmaker concerned that it may only be a matter of time before the roadway sees its first suicide attempt after it opens to the public next year. The first documented suicide at the Golden Gate Bridge occurred less than three months after it opened. Openly gay Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), who was recently named to the Assembly Transportation Committee, criticized the lack of suicide prevention measures at the Bay Bridge in a statement emailed to the B.A.R. this week. “The whole point of the new span is to save lives in a major quake, which we know is inevitable. I’m baffled and disappointed that they didn’t do more to prevent other tragic, but predictable deaths – those of the people who will find the bridge an attractive and convenient suicide opportunity,” stated Ammiano. “Shoulder-high fences on the pedestrian walkway are not enough.” The problem of bridges being built without suicide preventative

measures gained renewed attention after Tony Scott, the director of Top Gun and other films, jumped to his death off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles on August 19. Around the same time noted bisexual activist and erotica writer Bill Brent took his own life by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. [See news obit, page 12.] In a statement released last week, Ammiano called for transportation officials to address the lack of suicide barriers on bridges throughout the state. “We need to work to put suicide barriers on these bridges. Barriers save lives,” stated Ammiano. “It’s a sensible way to prevent future heartbreak.” As a former director for the Golden Gate Bridge district, Ammiano has worked for a decade to see that a suicide preventative barrier be erected at the iconic span. “The Golden Gate Bridge is a leader in suicide prevention efforts, but there are many other bridges that should have barriers,” Ammiano stated in his press release. “As a new member of the Assembly Transportation Committee, I will start working right away to move California in the direction of bridge safety.” A few weeks prior to the latest bridge suicides garnering headlines, three members of Ammiano’s staff toured the new Bay Bridge span and asked about the issue of a suicide barrier. Ammiano’s spokesman Carlos Alcala, one of the people on the tour, told the B.A.R. that they

Some lawmakers and suicide prevention advocates favor barriers on the Bay Bridge’s new eastern span, seen under construction at left, to prevent suicide.

found the absence of a barrier there “perplexing.” Ammiano was “dismayed,” said Alcala, to learn of the omission. There is growing acknowledgement that such measures can prevent suicides. “We know there is cost and many See page 13 >>

women said. Troutt wraps up a power packed lineup that includes Charito and FunkCh3n and Midnight in the Library, which will warm up the audience on the dance floor on Friday night, August 31. TheeSatisfaction will make their last U.S. appearance before heading off to Australia and Barcelona on Sunday night, September 2 at New Parish, 579 18th Street. DJs are definitely a part of the mix as eight of them will spin at the parties on Friday and Sunday nights after the live performances and at the Bottomless Beats brunch on Saturday, September 1 at Liege, 481 9th Street, where the mimosas will be poured non-stop. It’s going to be a “memorable and beautiful experience and something that [guests] will take with them,” said Turner. For more information, visit http:// www.510oaklandpride.com.▼

<< Open Forum

4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • August 30-September 5, 2012

Volume 42, Number 35 August 30-September 5, 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 • Matthew Kennedy David Lamble • Michael McDonagh David-Elijah Nahmod • Elliot Owen Paul Parish • Lois Pearlman • Tim Pfaff Jim Piechota • Bob Roehr • Donna Sachet Adam Sandel • Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith • Ed Walsh • Sura Wood

ART DIRECTION Kurt Thomas PRODUCTION MANAGER T. Scott King PHOTOGRAPHERS Jane Philomen Cleland Marc Geller Rick Gerharter Lydia Gonzales Rudy K. Lawidjaja Steven Underhill Bill Wilson ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS Paul Berge Christine Smith GENERAL MANAGER Michael M. Yamashita DISPLAY ADVERTISING Simma Baghbanbashi Colleen Small Scott Wazlowski NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863

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News Editor • news@ebar.com Arts Editor • arts@ebar.com Out & About listings • events@ebar.com Advertising • advertising@ebar.com Letters • letters@ebar.com A division of Benro Enterprises, Inc. © 2012 Published weekly. Bay Area Reporter reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement which the publisher believes is in poor taste or which advertises illegal items which might result in legal action against Bay Area Reporter. Ads will not be rejected solely on the basis of politics, philosophy, religion, race, age, or sexual orientation. Advertising rates available upon request. Our list of subscribers and advertisers is confidential and is not sold. The sexual orientation of advertisers, photographers, and writers published herein is neither inferred nor implied. We are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.

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49ers could get better L

ast week the San Francisco 49ers became the first professional football team to unveil an It Gets Better video. The one-minute piece features four 49ers players – all people of color – talking about the importance of preventing bullying and to “let all LGBT teens know that it gets better.” “We are on your side,” safety Donte Whitner says in the video. He is joined by fellow defensive players Ahmad Brooks, Isaac Spoaga, and Ricky Jean Francois. The players urge teens to be themselves and to resist intimidation by bullying. It’s a powerful message to young people, who often look to professional athletes as role models, despite the danger that it sometimes entails, as many adults have discovered. Nevertheless, for the macho world that is the National Football League, the video is a great first step. We certainly encourage other teams to follow suit. Unfortunately the video won’t be seen at a 49ers game. Sacramento Bee sports columnist Matt Barrows reported last week that while the video has been released on YouTube and the team’s Facebook page, there are no plans to play it during a game. That’s a shame, because that’s exactly where it needs to be seen: in the stands by fans who may or may not know LGBT youth and by youth themselves, whether or not they identify as gay. What better way to kick off the home opener than show this brief video during one of the many timeouts that take place during a game? The timing couldn’t be better now that students are returning to classes throughout the Bay Area. Professional sports are one of the last bastions of homophobia, so much so that there isn’t a single out player in any of the four major sports – football, baseball, basketball, and hockey – who is currently on a team’s payroll. Heck, there are only a handful of male athletes who came out only after retiring. If fans (and players) hear more about LGBT youth, it’s one more step toward breaking down stereotypes and creating a more welcoming atmosphere for when that first professional male athlete decides to come out of the closet. We urge the 49ers, who have been an ally to

the LGBT community in recent years, to reconsider and show the video during a game. The San Francisco Giants organization made an It Gets Better video that was played during home games and the crowd reaction was pretty supportive. A video encouraging acceptance and telling kids to be proud of who they are is worth the few minutes it would take to queue it up.

Jason’s last stand We were as surprised as anyone when we learned recently that AIDS activist Jason Villalobos was packing up and leaving San Francisco. And we felt it was newsworthy enough to post a story about it on our blog last week. But apparently some readers don’t agree, as evidenced by a letter we received that’s printed in this issue. We’d like to point out, however, that while Villalobos is an outspoken young man, he certainly has made his

mark and worked hard to combat one of the AIDS epidemic’s lingering social side effects – stigma. Villalobos went out on a limb – in a big way – when he volunteered to be the public face of a campaign to break down stigma. Called the Greater than AIDS campaign, it launched in 2011 and encouraged people living with HIV/ AIDS to seek treatment. He was one of several people who agreed to use their names and images for the campaign; all are to be commended for their decision to go public. Villalobos, as a participant in several AIDS/ LifeCycle bike rides, has also raised thousands of dollars over the years for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. And while he has been critical of SFAF’s high salaries and overhead, that certainly does not detract from his contributions. Lots of people take part in things that they find fault with; no organization is perfect. San Francisco’s LGBT and HIV/AIDS communities likely will miss Villalobos’s drive, rants, and passion. They should appreciate the work he did while he was here.▼

Where is the love?

by Eugene McMullan

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ast weekend the incoming archbishop of San Francisco was arrested in San Diego on suspicion of drunken driving. Prior to that, he gave a radio interview to KCBS in which he basically said that he wants to set aside stereotypes and get to know us on a human level, so that he can then educate and lead us into holiness. The problem is that he conflates holiness with intellectual assent to the doctrinal pronouncements of church officials. The rest of us meet holiness in the human, in our failings, in relationships, in graced encounters with those who are different from ourselves. We also find it in community, especially in the sacramental life of the church. We all depend on grace. I am praying that the bishop will use the occasion of his alleged DUI to enter more fully into communion with ordinary people, especially those who happen to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. Heretofore the Catholic approach in San Francisco has been to bracket human sexuality, or to tentatively raise it as one of a host of peace and justice issues. If now-retired Archbishop John Quinn was occasionally forced to defend the anti-gay tradition, he usually exercised a more pastoral approach. Our beloved “queer sanctuary” at Most Holy Redeemer is a testament to Quinn’s pastoral sensitivity. Though he caved to Rome on domestic partners, Quinn, “the people’s bishop,” stood watch with us during the AIDS crisis, opposed anti-gay violence, and was in most instances supportive of LGBT civil rights. He helped us defeat the Briggs initiative. Cordileone is no Quinn. The first question Cordileone fielded at his St. Mary’s debut concerned Proposition 8 and sex abuse. He elicited nervous laughter when he affirmed that he was for marriage and against abuse. I admit I was also startled by the question. Marriage and sex abuse do not belong together. In the big picture, however, the hierarchy’s dysfunctional and misguided responses to both issues reveal its culpable incompetence to deal with issues of human sexuality. His talking points are not entirely original.

The Vatican letter that forms the basis for the anti-marriage activism of church officials today (“Considerations regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons”) was written in 2003, just two years after the abuse scandal broke in the United States. The Vatican itself is the authoritative source of the false and hateful argument that same-gender marriage harms children. Is it going too far to suggest that the hierarchy began saying these things in order to draw attention away from its own culpability in the abuse crisis? That would be cynical. Yet I cannot avoid the feeling that we have been scapegoated. While the institutional church has distanced itself from early efforts to blame the problem of sex abuse on gay priests, the church has since launched a crusade against the visible LGBT community. At the same time, Catholic support for LGBT rights has topped 70 percent according to one poll, and LGBT-allied Catholics are finally speaking out. We no longer buy the anti-gay pronouncements of church officials. As Kathleen Kennedy Townsend put it, marriage equality is consistent with what the church has been trying (and in some respects failing) to teach for two thousand years. The teaching of the church is love. So what does Cordileone mean when he says that he loves me and wants to help me? Let’s review: Cordileone used his religious office to help engineer the overturn of marriage equality in California in November 2008. Even though it was frequently couched in positive, sweet-smelling rhetoric, Prop 8 was a stinker motivated by anti-gay animus (as the court ruled). It was in no way a defense of marriage, and in no way helped traditional families. It did, however, hurt non-traditional families. In that sense it was a “hateful” measure, and not consistent with the love he claims to feel for us. He has not to my knowledge repented of that hate, and continues to advance it through his role as the head of the U.S. bish-

ops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage. I will say no more here about his anti-gay activism, which has also been reviewed in an essay by Jamie L. Manson in the National Catholic Reporter (http://tinyurl.com/chnskdw). We are all too familiar with the Christian admonition to love the sinner, hate the sin. The problem, of course, is that the Catholic tradition considers the genital expression of my sexual personhood in a committed, monogamous relationship categorically sinful. But on a more basic level, the problem is our preoccupation with the sins of others. Love the sinner, hate the sin imposes a moral judgment on the other, resulting in the most pathetic and patronizing pseudo-love imaginable. It is the same love a benevolent master professes for the slave, or the abusive husband for his victim-wife. But if you actually love me and want to help me, by all means stop your antigay activism. Don’t refer me to the Courage apostolate. When you have lifted your foot from my neck, then by the grace of God I will stand up and tell you as a free person what I think of your alleged love. If I sound angry, that is because I am angry. But I will not hate you, and I will try my best to love you. Not because I can claim as some Christians do to have achieved the ability to love everyone. Yet I may love you, and declare here that as God allows I will love you. That is a choice I am free to make, consistent with my dignity as a child of God and my calling as a Catholic. I choose and am able to love because I have answered for myself the question, “Where is the love?” that was prophetically tagged on the walls of Most Holy Redeemer when your hateful Prop 8 passed. I have found love, and am growing in love with my husband, in my community, and at the table of my beloved church. Love is a place where everyone is welcome, even the “Father of Prop 8.”▼ Eugene McMullan is a parishioner at Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church.

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Letters >>

August 30-September 5, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 5

Prop F and SF water

The gay age of ingratitude

As part of a community interested in bettering the world for future generations, I am fully supportive of voters having a voice in our water’s future [“Tempers boil over SF water supply measure,” August 23]. What Proposition F authorizes is merely a plan; a plan to do better. San Francisco is a city that ranks first in trash recycling and composting so why not water? We need new ways to engage with our need for power and water in San Francisco, and should seek to right the countless wrongs that we have perpetrated on the environment. Thank you for your objective coverage of this story. We should be clear exactly what is called for in this proposition, a plan for San Francisco to live up to its values. This is an initiative that gives voters the right to determine our future. It creates a task force whose recommendations will return back to the voters in November 2016. The best outcome being that our water’s future will no longer be controlled solely by political appointees and bureaucrats. Communities will have the final say. That’s the kind of San Francisco I want to live in.

So let me get this straight: Jason Villalobos wrote a blog about becoming HIV-positive and then appeared in an ad and somehow it is newsworthy that he is leaving town [“SF AIDS activist Jason Villalobos leaving town,” B.A.R. blog, August 23]? Will the city be left in a vacuum of his extensive volunteerism? He rants about things he has no experience in – executive pay for quality leadership that can take an organization to higher and further reaching areas. He whines about not getting more PR because he bit the hand that fed him? He will no doubt cry that no one should be loyal to a group that they do not totally agree with yet he is blindly loyal to the extreme far-left progressives in town without question? He criticizes elected officials for what? Just because he has a tiny microphone and needs more attention – he can never articulate why he is critical, just that he deems it unpopular among his extremist views? He takes away from the good work that San Francisco AIDS Foundation CEO Neil Giuliano and [vice president of public affairs] James Loduca do and diminishes their valuable time by having to listen to his unfounded rants. Maybe if he knew how to lead an organization like SFAF he wouldn’t be working “dressing rich people” and would better understand they are worth every penny. Would he rather leave it to an unskilled leader? Don’t let the door hit you on the way out of town, Jason – we like people in San Francisco that actually are giving back. Shame on the B.A.R. for publishing something so not newsworthy.

Pity the poor fellow who can’t understand why “the good Catholic members of Most Holy Redeemer continue their obedient financial support of a religious empire ...” [Mailstrom, August 23]. Pity him and others for their obliviousness to their own slavish “obedience” to media manipulation and the prevailing toxic and totalitarian winds blowing through the gay community. Finally, pity him, his friends, and admirers for their crass, stunted, and supercilious, shallow historicism. The United States is a direct descendant of Europe. Perhaps providentially, western Europe became the seedbed for the most dynamic, creative, and humane civilization the world has ever seen, and the spirit that managed to yoke the spirits of Jerusalem and Athens together to engender the ultimate tripartite miracle was Rome. Without Roman Catholic Christianity, i.e., the four Gospels and the body and blood of Christ, Europe never would have been born. No Europe without the Roman Catholic Church. The superabundance of little churches and big churches throughout the continent in virtually every village and megalopolis provides testimony, as do the great original universities, founded by religious orders and sponsored by popes one and all. And, remember, it was in these same universities that modern law, economics, the scientific method, and so much else was hammered out. The philosophical construction of the rights of man was built on the theological foundation of man made in the image and likeness of God, preached century after century. Do you think the opening words of our Declaration of Independence came out of thin air? If you want to understand European history in depth, study the lives of the church’s great saints down the centuries. Probably more than any other group, they distill the complexities and anguish of the ages into real flesh and blood. Yes, and that includes Saint Francis, a.k.a. San Francisco. Not to mention the arts. The backbone of the western classical tradition in music was Gregorian chant and its invention of a written notation. The church did not create the Dark Ages; rather it was the church, through the great monastic houses, that built the roads that permitted Europe to navigate the centuries after the fall of ancient Rome. Only over the centuries did our current “superior” perspective arise, in the often bloody bath of history. The cost in terms of blood, toil, sweat, tears, and selfsacrifice has been unfathomable. For gay people to point their organically fed fingers at the awful Roman Catholic Church, and the other Christian confessions, for their “bad feelings” about themselves betrays a really criminal level of ingratitude. If the church has been such a black and bloody homophobe, why have those lands with no Christian history – China, India, the Muslim countries – not become a fag’s paradise? Move to Muslim Saudi Arabia or atheist China and see how you like it. The root meaning of Eucharist is Thanksgiving, but welcome to the new, gay age of ingratitude. Shakespeare perhaps considered ingratitude the most vile of corruptions, worse even than murder. In King Lear the king calls ingratitude “a marble-hearted fiend,” “sharper than a serpent’s tooth.” Take heed.

Geoffrey Krauss San Francisco

Michael Biehl San Francisco

Glendon Hyde/Anna Conda San Francisco

[Editor’s note: The author, while president of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, wrote this letter as an individual. The Milk Club’s endorsements come out September 18.]

Activist’s leaving town is not news

Sheehy reappointed to stem cell board compiled by Cynthia Laird

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an Francisco resident Jeff Sheehy was sworn in Monday, August 27 to a second term on California’s stem cell board. The reappointment was made by the Senate Rules Committee and announced by Senate President pro tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento). Sheehy, who is openly gay and HIV-positive, is the deputy director of communications for UCSF’s AIDS Research Institute. He previously served as AIDS policy adviser to former Mayor Gavin Newsom. As a member of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, Sheehy has been instrumental in seeing that stem cell money is allocated for HIV/AIDS research, along with research in various other diseases. His second term formally begins in November and is for eight years. Sheehy and former state senator and former California Demo-

Courtesy Jeff Sheehy

California stem cell board member Jeff Sheehy, second from left, was sworn in Monday by Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, left. Joining them were Sheehy’s husband Bill Berry, and stem cell board chair Jon Thomas, far right.

cratic Party chairman Art Torres are the board’s two openly gay members. The governing board oversees the $3 billion state stem cell agency established through voters by the passage of Proposition 71 in 2004. Board members do not receive a salary, though members do receive a per diem of $115 for each meeting they

attend. Sheehy was originally appointed in 2004 by Senate President pro tem John Burton, now the state Democratic Party chair.

AIDS conference reportback in Oakland The Black Treatment Advocates Network and Allen Temple Baptist Church’s AIDS ministry will present a report-back from the InterSee page 8 >>

<< Travel

▼ Philly’s history – gay and straight – in easy reach 6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • August 30-September 5, 2012

by Ed Walsh

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’ll be honest. When they Bay Area Reporter first suggested I write about Philadelphia, it was not at the top of my list of places to visit. A lot of history, I thought, but with a lot of big-city hassles. But after visiting last month, I can say I am a true believer and want to go back to see the stuff I missed the first time around. Philadelphia has everything LGBT travelers would want in a big city: culture, great restaurants, and abundant gay nightlife. Plus, Philadelphia tacks on more history per square mile than just about anywhere, and from the LGBT traveler’s perspective, may be the most walkable big city in America.

Walking city Many big cities, including San Francisco, boast walkability but Philadelphia may have them all beat. When I arrived last month on one of the new Virgin America flights, I had a short walk to a train that took me to the East Market Station in the heart of the city. Then, it was a 10-minute walk to my hotel, the gay-owned and -operated Alexander Inn. From there, most of the historical sites as well as the LGBT nightlife were just short walks away. I took the Big Bus sightseeing tour one day to see some of the outlying attractions, but aside from that, I could go everywhere and

Ed Walsh

Philadelphia has many murals, including this gay-themed one on the side of the William Way LGBT Community Center.

see most of the highlights of the city without needing to take cabs or public transit. Just about everything was within an easy walk. The gayborhood, as locals call it, is bordered on one side by 11th and Broad streets, and on the other side by Chestnut and Pine streets. You will know you are in the ‘hood by the street signs that have the rainbow flag stripes over the top of the street name. If you are staying in the gay-

borhood, you will only have a short walk to the major sights of the city.

Gay nightlife Most of the gay nightlife is centered in the gayborhood, so you can barhop to your heart’s content without having to drive, take cabs, or figure out which subway train or bus goes there. Woody’s, at 202 South 13th Street, is open seven days a week and is among the most popular gay nightclubs in Philly. It has been a mainstay for more than three decades. An expansive video bar is on the first floor with two separate dance bars on the second. The bar is mostly gay male, but is very women- and straightfriendly. Philly’s lesbian bar is Sisters (1320 Chancellor Street). It has two floors, with two bars, a restaurant, and billiards. Wednesday is Trivia Night. The bar’s popular karaoke night is on Thursday. The happy hour drink discounts are at 6 p.m. The lesbian-owned Stir bar (1705 Chancellor Street), just outside the gayborhood in the University City area, attracts a mostly gay male young, hip crowd but it’s also women- and hetero-friendly. The 4 p.m. happy hour is popular with people heading home from work. Tabu (200 South 12th Street) is the gay sports bar in the heart of the gayborhood. It also attracts a healthy share of women. Tavern on Camac, at 243 South Camac Street, is one of the oldest

gay bars in the country. It has been around since 1936. The building has undergone a number of renovations and name changes over the years, and now sports a modern interior. Most recently it was called Maxine’s. The bar’s lower level restaurant has a loyal following for dinner. “You don’t ever have to leave,” manager Adam Price told the B.A.R. “And we have the cheapest drink prices and there is never a cover.” Knock (225 S. 12th Street) is a lounge bar and restaurant popular with the 45 and up demographic. The Bike Stop (206 South Quince St.) is the gayborhood’s popular leather, Levi, and bear bar. The three-level iCandy bar (254 South 12th Street) is Philly’s only gay bar with a rooftop deck, which makes it very popular this time of year. Like California, the bars in Philly close at 2 a.m. But some after-hours clubs are allowed to stay open a little later. The gay nightclub Voyeur (1221 South James Street) is open until 3:30 a.m. While you are in the gayborhood, the Mazzoni Center’s Washington West Project at 1201 Locust Street offers HIV and STD testing. It stays open until midnight on Thursday and Friday nights to make it convenient for bar hoppers to make a pit stop.

The sights We all know of Philadelphia as the place where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed but it was also one of the places where the first gay rights demonstrations were held. Early gay activists held “Annual Reminders” pickets in front of Independence Hall every July 4 from

1965 to 1969. A historical marker street sign just across from the Liberty Bell Center, on South 6th Street near Chestnut Street, honors those early pioneers. For first time visitors, a tour bus is a good way to get around to see everything without getting lost. On my trip last month, I spent most of my day on buses from the Big Bus company. It makes 21 stops at various cultural and historical sites. The buses run regularly, so for a 24-hour pass, you can hop on and hop off at attractions that interest you. The strategy I used was to get off at the attractions outside downtown. The downtown attractions were easily walkable from my hotel. Philadelphia has its own version of Alcatraz and it is proving to be one of the city’s most-visited tourist attractions. The circa-1829 Eastern State Penitentiary bills itself as the world’s first true penitentiary, a building designed to bring about penitence, or true regret, to its reluctant residents. It closed in 1971 and stood vacant until the 1990s when preservationists pushed to reopen the prison as a cultural attraction. The prison once held Al Capone and it includes a recreation of his posh cell. About a dozen cells are artist installations. One artist managed to reassemble a car in a cell, another artist cloaked a cell in knitted yarn. One cell features a video on the plight of transgender inmates. The prison also hosts the country’s biggest haunted house, which attracts more than 100,000 people every year around Halloween. Philadelphia boasts more murals than any other city. You will see the paintings on walls at every turn. The mural project was done years ago as a way to combat the city’s growing graffiti problem. There is even a gay-themed mural on the wall of the William Way LGBT Community Center at 1315 Spruce Street. Founded in 1973, Giovanni’s Room at 245 South 12th Street is the oldest gay bookstore in the U.S., as well as one of the few remaining ones that are still open. It often hosts talks and book signings by authors from around the world. Philadelphia’s City Hall takes up four and a half blocks in the heart of downtown. It’s the landmark building that is one of the city’s icons, with a statue of Pennsylvania’s founder William Penn perched on top of the tower. A viewing area from the building’s tower offers sweeping vistas of the city. One of the newest museums in Philly is the National Museum of Jewish American History, which opened its doors in a brand new facility less than two years ago. It is just across from Independence Square. Penn founded Philadelphia next page >>

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Travel >>

August 30-September 5, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

Ed Walsh

A recreation of Al Capone’s swanky jail cell is now a tourist attraction at Eastern State Penitentiary.

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Philadelphia

previous page

in 1862 on the principle of religious tolerance, so its location is a perfect fit. The museum showcases the contributions Jewish Americans have made to the country from the sciences to entertainment. It also touches on infamous Jewish Americans, including Prohibition-era gangsters and convicted Soviet spies Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. The National Constitution Center will celebrate its 10th anniversary next July 4. It is on the block across from Independence Square and is a must-stop for any visitor. It includes a wonderful inspiring multi-media show and a main exhibit hall with interactive exhibits on the Constitution. The main hall includes a circular interactive display of Americans who made a difference. Our own Harvey Milk is among about 100 people profiled. The symbol of Philadelphia is, of course, the Liberty Bell, and after a number of homes, it stands proudly in the Liberty Bell Center. A glass wall in the back of the bell makes for great photos showing off Independence Hall in the background. The Liberty 360 3-D show, just outside Independence Square, is well worth seeing. It features a 3-D Ben Franklin who chronicles early American history and leaves you with a surprise ending. The William Way Center is Philly’s LGBT center. It includes a library with 10,000 books and 200 DVDs that are available to check out for visitors and locals alike. The center’s website is http://www.waygay. org and includes a calendar of daily activities where visitors would have an opportunity to mix with locals. The African American Museum, just a block from Independence Square on Arch Street, chronicles the life of African Americans in Philadelphia from the 18th and 19th centuries. Interactive displays feature life-size video panels of actors who respond to a series of questions. By the way, the plight of African Americans in America’s earliest days is integrated in most of the historical attractions throughout Philadelphia. The footprint of George Washington’s house across from the Liberty Bell Center includes videos of actors portraying Washington’s slaves as they described their lives working for America’s first couple. Museum Row and Avenue of the Arts is where you will find the famous “Rocky Steps.” Those are the steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art that the Rocky Balboa character climbed to train for his big fight in the movie. A statue of Rocky sits on a plaza next to the stairs. The biggest gay event in Philadelphia is Outfest, the celebration around National Coming Out Day, on October 11. This year Outfest will celebrate with an all-day festival on

Sunday, October 7.

Accommodations Alexander Inn proudly boasts that it is the only gay-owned and -operated hotel in Philadelphia. With 48 rooms, the boutique hotel is the perfect place to stay in the city. It is in the heart of the gayborhood on 301 South 12th Street at Spruce Street, and is just a 10-minute walk from a stop where you can catch a highspeed train to the airport. Rates start at $119 and include an expansive continental breakfast, gym, free WiFi, and free fresh fruit and snacks 24 hours a day. The gay-friendly San Franciscobased Kimpton chain runs the upscale and trendy 230-unit Palomar Hotel in the Rittenhouse Square area, a short walk from the gayborhood. If you stay there, be sure to sign up for the hotel’s reward program to get free Wi-Fi and a $10 minibar credit. It’s free to sign up. The Palomar offers a free daily 5 to 6 p.m. wine hour where you can meet the manager and schmooze with fellow guests. In October, Kimpton plans to open a brand new hotel called Monaco near Independence Square. If it’s anything like the company’s other properties, it should have no problem attracting a loyal following. The Marriot and Lowes hotels just outside the gayborhood are other gay-popular choices. In the gayborhood, the upscale Independent Hotel, at 1234 Locust Street, is also a popular option.

notch restaurants on 13th Street: the upscale Mexican eatery Lolita; the Spanish bar and restaurant Jamonera; and the Mediterranean restaurant and bar, Barbuzzo. Philadelphia magazine named the couple among its 10 Best Philadelphians for their success in helping to transform the gayborhood into one of the city’s trendiest neighborhoods. They also own the jewelry and gift shop Verde; the boutique housewares shop Open House; and Grocery, a market and catering shop. For a unique and intimate dining experience, check out the gay-owned terra – with a small t – restaurant in the basement of the Tavern on Camac bar. New American cuisine is served up by chef Eric Parakevas. Vedge, at 2221 Locust, is the gayborhood’s gourmet vegetarian restaurant. Raw, at 1221 Sansom, is the neighborhood’s popular sushi restaurant.

Getting there and getting around Virgin America started flying nonstop from San Francisco International airport to Philadelphia in the spring. The competition has translated into lower fares. And Virgin has upped the ante with its service and planes. All its aircraft have personal entertainment screens where you can watch TV and order food and drinks from your seat. Virgin also flies out of SFO’s new Terminal 2, which provides ample work-space seating with plugs everywhere to charge your laptop and phone while you wait. The Burlingame-based Virgin takes gay friendliness to a new level. Its entertainment selection has a “Pride” audio channel showcasing LGBT artists. A train runs from the Philly airport to the heart of downtown in about 30 minutes. The trains run every half hour. If you are going to the gayborhood, get off at the Market East station. It’s just a short stroll from there. The fare is $7 each way. For more information on gay Philadelphia, see www.Visitphilly. com/gay; www.nightlifegay.com; and www.Philadelphiagaytourism.com.

Get out of town Ed Walsh

Valerie Safran stands near the kitchen at Lolita, one of several Philadelphia businesses she owns along with her business and life partner Marcie Turney. The couple also operate/own Bindi, Open House, Verde, Barbuzzo, and Grocery.

Eating out You don’t have to leave the gayborhood to experience great dining. The neighborhood’s best-known restaurateurs, Marcie Turney and her life and business partner, Valerie Safran, are also the area’s most prolific businesspeople. They own three top-

Atlantic City, New Jersey, is a little over an hour’s drive from Philadelphia and it makes a great side trip for ocean-lovers. Just last year, Atlantic City’s first gay bar on the Boardwalk, Prohibition – also known as Pro bar – opened in the Resorts Casino Hotel. Resorts was Atlantic City’s first casino when the city legalized gambling in 1978, so it is fitting it hosts the first permanent gay nightclub. The very gay-friendly Caesar’s Entertainment owns four properties in Atlantic City: Caesar’s, Bally’s, Harrah’s, and Showboat. For more information on gay Atlantic City visit http://www.atlanticcitynj.com and click on the rainbow flag. ▼

ebar.com

<< Election 2012

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • August 30-September 5, 2012

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2 gays vie for Berkeley council seats by Seth Hemmelgarn

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ne gay man is working to keep his seat on the Berkeley City Council, and a gay candidate in another district is looking to join the panel. Out Councilman Darryl Moore, 51, is running against challengers Adolfo Cabral and Denisha DeLane to hold onto his District 2 seat, representing southwest Berkeley. Among other achievements since he was first elected in November 2004, Moore authored legislation to help people seeking gender-reassignment surgery get coverage by the city. But Cabral, 60, indicated Moore has been less helpful in other areas, in particular around land use issues. He said there’s been a “lack of representation” from Moore and referred to a measure on the November ballot to amend the West Berkeley Plan and Zoning Ordinance. Among Cabral’s concerns are that buildings would be allowed to be constructed that are too tall. He said councilmembers put the development measure on the ballot “so that they can feel blameless.” “It seems as though we are the new frontier for development in Berkeley, and it’s not that the community or myself are against development,” Cabral said. “We are all for development.” However, he said, city leaders “seem to be in league with these few developers who take an ‘Our way or the highway’ attitude when it comes to their projects.” Moore said councilmembers put the measure on the ballot because they “want voters to be able to hear the issues and to be able to vote on the economic project that is the West Berkeley Project and have them weigh in.” He said there’s “truly a great need

Katina Parker

Courtesy Besler for City Council campaign

Berkeley Councilman Darryl Moore

City council candidate Adolfo Cabral

City council candidate Dmitri Belser

for good-paying, career-type jobs, and the rezoning in West Berkeley would help create those jobs.” Development would help UC Berkeley and professors and others looking for research space, Moore said. The expansion would also create “ancillary spinoff,” he said, bringing coffee shops, dry cleaners, and other businesses. Moore, who mentioned crime as another concern, works at the Oakland Housing Authority as a senior management analyst. He’s also board chair of the National Black Justice Coalition, the leading national black LGBT civil rights organization. He’s budgeted $30,000 for his campaign, and said he’s raised about $8,000. The East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club has given Moore an early endorsement. Michael Colbruno, the LGBT group’s political action committee co-chair, said Moore is “a proven leader on the City Council in Berkeley who can reach out to all factions,” somebody who’s “well-

respected in the community,” and “a capable leader.” District 7 Councilman Kriss Worthington, who’s another Stonewall PAC co-chair and is running for Berkeley mayor, has endorsed DeLane. He wouldn’t comment on the District 2 race other than to say, “Berkeley is lucky that we have so many great candidates in that district.” DeLane wasn’t available for comment. Cabral said he’s a “novice” at politics, but he’s been a community activist for years. A West Berkeley homeowner, he said he’s been active with the neighborhood association. Now retired, Cabral is a former facilities and operations manager for a San Francisco company and is married to Dorothy Cox. He expects to have to raise $12,000 to $15,000. “I’m not even half-way there,” said Cabral, who expressed hope of gaining LGBT endorsements.

central Berkeley, openly gay Dmitri Belser is running to unseat City Councilman Maxwell Anderson. Belser, 54, said crime and development of commercial strips are big issues, and what’s behind problems in the district is “a real lack of civic engagement here because there hasn’t been a lot of responsiveness” from Anderson. “I’m hearing from a lot of people that they feel like they want to have some representation,” Belser said.

District 3 In District 3, which covers south-

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News Briefs

From page 5

national AIDS Conference tonight (Thursday, August 30) from 5 to 7 p.m. at Cal-Pep, 2811 Adeline Street in Oakland. The report-back will look at ending AIDS in black communities and include a roundtable discussion, community discussions, and videos from the conference. To register, go to http://www.blackaids.org/aids2012. Click “Post AIDS 2012 updates,” then “sign-up now.”

Leatherwalk benefit Sunday It’s almost September and that means the annual Leatherwalk is coming up. In advance of the walk, Troy Brunet will be holding his seventh annual Leatherwalk fundraiser Sunday, September 2 that will benefit the AIDS Emergency Fund and the affiliated Breast Cancer Emergency Fund. Both groups are beneficiaries of the Leatherwalk, which takes place Sunday, September 16. Brunet said the fun takes place from 3 to 7 p.m. at Toad Hall, 4146 18th Street. The cost is $10. There will be Jell-O shots and raffle prizes.

New LGBT business group forms at Cal An undergraduate LGBT business organization for students at UC Berkeley launched last week and plans an official event September 12. Out 4 Business at Berkeley was cofounded by Sean Drimmel, a student at the Haas School of Business and a marketing manager intern at Paragon Strategies. The group intends to provide space and a support system for LGBT undergrads interested in pursuing a career in business. “When I was admitted to Cal, I joined two organizations – one based on business and one based on sexual orientation. Now, with the presence of O4B, students can join one organization that is uniquely dedicated to both business and LGBT matters,” Drimmel said in a news release. For more information about the organization, visit the group’s Facebook page (“Out 4 Business at Berkeley”) or email mailto:o4batberkeley@ gmail.com.

Deadline soon for SF poetry contest San Francisco poets, get your pens. The Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, along with the library’s and friends’ poet-in-

“They don’t feel like they’ve been represented, and they’re excited there’s an opportunity for somebody who would do that.” There hasn’t been a lot of attention paid to crime, Belser said. He also said that, if elected, he’d be meeting with potential new business representatives and others “and saying, ‘What can I do to help make this happen?’” Belser, who has “low vision” and is legally blind, is executive director of the Center for Accessible Technology in Berkeley. He hasn’t held elected office before but has served on the city’s Commission of Disability and several nonprofit boards. Belser said he’s raised almost no money but “I’m not looking to raise a huge amount.” He said he’s “mostly going to be walking the district and talking to people one-on-one.” Out lesbian Joan Starr, who works at California Digital Library, said in an email, “I’ve known Dmitri for over 25 years, and, in that time, I’ve seen over and over his commitment to high principles, his perseverance against obstacles both personal and societal, and his kindness.” Anderson didn’t respond to interview requests by presstime. ▼

residence Jack Hirschman have announced that submissions are being accepted for Poets 11 2012. Now in its fourth year, Poets 11 is a citywide poetry contest and reading series that collects poems from every neighborhood and features poetry readings at branch libraries in each of the city’s 11 districts in October. Local poets are encouraged to submit up to three poems. The poetry will be reviewed by Hirschman and selected poets will be announced at each of the branch events. All types of poetry are accepted. Writings that reflect the city’s diversity of languages and culture and those written in languages other than English are highly encouraged. The deadline for entries is September 8. They should be sent to poets11@friendssfpl.org or by mail to Friends of the SFPL, Attn: Poets 11, 710 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102. For more information, visit www.friendssfpl.org or call (415) 626-7500.

Auditions for Beach Blanket Babylon announced If you’ve always wanted to be a star this might be your ticket. San Francisco’s iconic Beach Blanket Babylon is holding open auditions for male and female singers for the world’s longest running musical revue, producer Jo Schuman Silver has announced. Auditions for openings in January take place Saturday, September 15 at noon at Club Fugazi, 678 Beach Blanket Babylon Boulevard in the city. No appointment is necessary. Auditioners should be prepared to sing one ballad and one up-tempo number (preferably rock or pop). An accompanist will be provided, but auditioners must bring their own sheet music (in their key) along with a current resume and photo. Dance shoes are optional. Multiple roles are available; all are encouraged to audition. Beach Blanket Babylon offers competitive salary, full medical benefits (health, dental, and chiropractic), as well as paid vacations and sick leave. Interested performers who cannot attend can send a DVD (two minutes or less) of their best performance voice (no dancing or acting) to auditions@beachblanketbabylon.com or mail to SSPI, 470 Columbus Avenue, #204, San Francisco, CA 94133. For questions, email auditions@ beachblanketbabylon.com or visit the http://www.beachblanketbabylon.com (click on “Auditions”).▼

Politics>>

▼ Dem, GOP party platforms diverge on LGBT rights

August 30-September 5, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11

by Matthew S. Bajko

in LGBT history. “It is very historic and I am just so excited to be a part of it. At this time of my life who would have thought I would be alive. I’m really excited about participating in it,” said Quinto. “This is my way of giving back and contributing to make sure LGBTs across the country are treated as human beings and we have human rights. I support the president for being so brave and compassionate to include LGBTs in the platform.”

T

he country’s two main political parties couldn’t be further apart when it comes to LGBT rights. Their divergence on gay issues is being made clear in the platforms that Republicans and Democrats are adopting during their quadrennial conventions. The GOP on Tuesday during their confab in Tampa, Florida approved a document that supports not only denying same-sex couples the right to marry but also attacks judges who have ruled in favor of marriage equality. And it repeats disputed claims that “traditional marriage is best for children.” The 62-page document calls for a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and applauds the Republican-led House of Representatives for defending the federal Defense of Marriage Act in court. The platform also says that faithbased institutions should be allowed to ignore policies that ban LGBT discrimination and allow samesex couples to adopt. It also backs private organizations like the Boy Scouts of America that restrict membership based on sexual orientation. And the GOP platform not only condemns “the hate campaigns, threats of violence, and vandalism by proponents of same-sex marriage against advocates of traditional marriage,” it calls for a federal investigation “into attempts to deny religious believers their civil rights.” While denouncing their party’s anti-gay stances, LGBT Republicans nonetheless saw some positive advances this year. They and their conservative allies, many part of a younger generation of Republicans, were able to defeat attempts to include language calling for a return to banning gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military and barriers that would impede LGBT asylum seekers from escaping persecution in their home countries. “The obsessive exclusion of gay couples, including military and families, from the rights and responsibilities of marriage, combined with bizarre rhetoric about ‘hate campaigns’ and ‘the homosexual rights agenda’ are clear signs of desperation among social conservatives who know that public opinion is rapidly turning in favor of equality,” stated Log Cabin Republican Executive Director R. Clarke Cooper. The Obama campaign was quick to denounce the GOP’s anti-gay platform and its attacks against the LGBT rights that President Barack Obama has advanced since being elected in 2008. “This platform, which was written at the direction of Mitt Rom-

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Oakland Pride

From page 1

“raised the eyebrows” of some community members. Among those is Chevron, the giant oil and gas corporation, which Todd said is providing about $10,000. (Pride’s website indicates the company is contributing $30,000.) She said complaints from the community came in even before the recent fire at Chevron’s Richmond refinery. In response to emailed questions, Chevron spokesman Lloyd Avram said Chevron Energy Solutions is the corporation sponsoring Pride. “The event is important to the community of Oakland and it is a

Alice snubs Olague

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney

ney’s campaign, defines the Republican Party today,” Jamie Citron, Obama for America’s national LGBT vote director, wrote in a message sent to LGBT supporters. Citron added that the document is “a sharp reminder” of what kinds of policies could be implemented should Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, and his running mate, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, who secured their party’s nomination Tuesday, are elected. “We stand to lose if Romney and Ryan take the White House this November. One party supports our right to be equals in the eyes of the law, the other rejects it,” wrote Citron. “There is a clear choice in this election for the LGBT community and allies. We’ve got to fight for the only candidate who has our back.” But Dan Brown, president of the Log Cabin San Francisco chapter, countered that the GOP presidential candidate “disagrees with a large majority of that platform” and said the document would prove to be irrelevant. “We all know a platform is a piece of paper that very few people will ever look at again after this convention process is finalized,” said Brown, adding that having Log Cabin able to have an impact on writing the document was significant. “It is not ideal and not what I would have wanted as a platform. But no one is ever going to be happy with everything in the platform.” The national Log Cabin group has yet to back Romney – it does not issue endorsements until after the party convention wraps up – and it remains unclear if it will give him its official imprimatur. Gay GOPers have mixed feelings about their candidate, acknowledged Brown. “In terms of people’s personal opinions, there is a variety. Some people are extremely supportive; for others he was not their top choice but are now getting behind him,”

key part of CES’ social investment activity in the city,” Avram said. “CES works with civic leaders and communities across a broad spectrum of diverse American cities.” The theme for this year’s Oakland Pride is “It’s a Celebration,” and City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, an out lesbian, indicated she thinks the event is living up to that title. “The Pride festival is an important accomplishment in its own right,” she said. “ ... The assumption was not that the Pride festival itself would be responsible for raising the money for the center.” Funding sources, including business and foundations, are being looked into for a center, Kaplan said, and the Pride party is already “help-

President Barack Obama

said Brown, who initially backed former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. in the race. “Personally, I am endorsing Romney. I think Governor Romney is the best suited candidate at this moment, time and place to get this country back on track and get our economy growing again.” LGBT Republicans in San Francisco will gather at 6 p.m. tonight (Thursday, August 30) to watch Romney’s acceptance speech. The public event takes place at Cow Hollow watering hole The Republic, located at 3213 Scott Street.

Dems set to endorse same-sex marriage Unlike their Republican counterparts, LGBT Democrats are jubilant at the prospect of seeing their party adopt the most pro-LGBT party platform in the nation’s history during their confab next week in Charlotte, North Carolina. In addition to stating unequivocal support for marriage equality, the Democratic platform is expected to call for the passage of a federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act that covers both sexual orientation and gender identity. It also includes support for LGBT immigration rights. “Four years ago it only had sexual orientation for ENDA, so LGBT Democrats are very happy to see that,” said San Jose resident Clark Williams, a gay man who is a delegate to the convention and served on the platform committee. The difference in the two parties’ planks is “night and day in terms of LGBT equality,” said Williams, who is the northern California chair of the state Democratic Party’s LGBT Caucus. “The Republican Party platform is becoming more conservative and more anti-LGBT with every convention. It is the wrong direction for our country.” El Cerrito resident Gabriel Quinto, 51, a gay HIV-positive Filipino American, is headed to the Democratic gathering as a delegateat-large for California. When he applied earlier this year for one of the delegate slots, Quinto said he had no inkling he would be taking part

ing people to feel that they can be part of an active, vibrant community in Oakland.” She said one of her “big successes” this year is that $15,000 from the city budget is expected for Pride. Sunday’s Pride festivities will include stages devoted to urban soul and Latin entertainment, as well as the women’s and main stages. The expanded offerings are in response to community members saying they wanted more diverse programing, Todd said. There will also be a family and children’s area and a community health pavilion. For more information, visit http://www.oaklandpride.org. For a look at Pride-related parties, see story, page 3.▼

As expected, the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club has snubbed bisexual District 5 Supervisor Christina Olague in her bid for a full term this fall. The moderate group has given a sole endorsement to her challenger London Breed, executive director of the African American Art and Culture Complex. Alice members Monday night, August 27 approved the club’s political action committee’s recommendations on which candidates to back in local races this fall. Olague is the only LGBT candidate on the ballot not to win Alice’s support. The decision was hardly a surprise, as a club co-chair told the Political Notebook last week that Alice members knew Breed better and longer than they did Olague. In the race for the open District 7 seat, Alice gave a first place endorsement to Port Commissioner Francis Xavier “F.X.” Crowley; a second place nod to Board of Appeals President Michael Garcia; and third place support to gay journalist Joel Engardio. For the rest of Alice’s endorsements, visit the club’s website at http://www.alicebtoklas. org/2012/08/2012endorsements/.

Bi woman survives House primary Former Arizona state lawmaker Kyrsten Sinema could become the

first out bisexual elected to Congress this November after surviving Tuesday’s Democratic primary. But she now faces a tough general election fight against her GOP opponent, Paradise Valley Town Councilman Vernon Parker, in the race for the newly created 9th Congressional District in Phoenix. On the losing side Tuesday night was gay Tucson Dr. Matt Heinz, a state representative running for the seat once held by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. He was seen as the underdog and lost badly against former Giffords aide Ron Barber, who won a special election in June to serve out the remainder of Gifford’s term. Now the LGBT political world turns its eyes to Rhode Island, where gay Democratic Congressman David Cicilline is struggling to be reelected to a second term. His fate could very well be decided in his primary election Tuesday, September 11. In recent days his Democratic challenger, businessman Anthony Gemma, has accused Cicilline of voter fraud, though without any proof, and during a debate Tuesday night called him an outright liar. Polls show the race essentially a dead heat. ▼ Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check http://www.ebar.com Monday mornings at noon for Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion. This week’s column reports on trans leaders uniting to re-elect President Barack Obama. Keep abreast of the latest LGBT political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/politicalnotes. Got a tip on LGBT politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 8615019 or e-mail mailto:m.bajko@ ebar.com.

<< Obituaries

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • August 30-September 5, 2012

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Pro-sex publisher Bill Brent dies by Liz Highleyman

B

ill Brent, a prolific author of sex-positive literature and a member of San Francisco’s alternative sexuality communities, died during the weekend of August 1819. He ended his life by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge after a long struggle with depression and chronic pain. He was 52. Mr. Brent was involved in the Bay Area bisexual, BDSM, Black Leather Wings radical faerie, and pro-sex literary communities in the 1990s. He published The Black Book – one of the first queer and alternative sexuality directories – and edited or contributed to more than 30 erotic anthologies. “Bill was a leader in the fin de siecle San Francisco erotic and sex radical renaissance in countless ways,” said author Susie Bright, former editor of On Our Backs. “He published so many great people, he was endlessly generous, and a devoted literature person in every way.” Mr. Brent was born July 17, 1960, and grew up mainly in the East Bay. Recalling his less than happy childhood he once wrote, “[San Francisco] was my home away from home, that suburban hell where I’d spent most of the 1970s in a deep depression knowing that I was a freak, a rebel, an outcast every time I boarded the bus for the lunatic asylum called high school.” Mr. Brent attended San Francisco State University in the late 1970s, where he studied theater arts. He got involved in the punk rock scene and began to frequent gay sex venues in the city. After college he performed with Bay Area drama groups, tap danced, and helped start a theater company. In the late 1980s Mr. Brent began

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Cordileone

From page 1

cording a redacted police arrest report. The arresting officer was Kelly Patrick. Cordileone was released later that day on $2,500 bond. A San Diego native and former auxiliary bishop there, Cordileone “opted only for a breath test,” said Lieutenant Andra Brown, public information officer for the San Diego Police Department, during a telephone interview on Tuesday. “We do know what the blood alcohol level was,” she explained. “But we do not release that information because it is considered a part of the investigation, and the investigation is exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act.” Brown said the archbishop-elect is scheduled for a court appearance at 8:30 a.m. on October 9 when he can enter a plea and “depending on what he says,” the case would be set for “further trial date” or “set for a sentencing date.” The police report described Cordileone as “clean shaven,” with “quiet speech” and “medium” voice. Dressed in a “white button-up shirt, tan pants, and brown loafers,” he was driving a blue 2008 Ford Taurus sedan.

Michael Rosen

Bill Brent

volunteering with San Francisco Sex Information. Noting the lack of a comprehensive compilation of sex-positive resources, he produced the first of six editions of The Black Book in 1992, which he described as “a resource for everyone sexual in the ‘other’ category – everyone who wasn’t married and having children, basically.” “Bill lived his whole life never apologizing for two important things: who he was and what he was into,” said longtime friend and colleague Thomas Roche. “He didn’t hide his bisexuality from the gay community. Now many people prefer the less restrictive, more inclusive, and for many more descriptive term ‘queer.’ But Bill is one of the people who helped invent that queer identity, well before it was fashionable. He helped show a bunch of people just how much their own rights to their own identities could matter.” Mr. Brent started a small publishing company, also called Black Books, while supplementing his

The case, handled by San Diego’s city attorney, will go through superior court. A spokesperson for the city attorney’s office, Gail Coburn, said on Tuesday through e-mail correspondence, “Our office has not yet received the case.” In a statement released on Monday, Cordileone acknowledged that he was “found to be over the California legal blood alcohol level.” The legal limit of the state’s blood-alcohol-content level is .08 percent. “I apologize for my error in judgment and feel shame for the disgrace I have brought upon the church and myself,” he said in the statement. “I will repay my debt to society and I ask forgiveness from my family and my friends and coworkers at the Diocese of Oakland and the Archdiocese of San Francisco. I pray that God, in his inscrutable wisdom, will bring some good out of this.” He said that the incident occurred after dinner “at the home of some friends along with a priest friend who was visiting from outside the country and my mother.” His mother, Mary Cordileone, was in the car at the time of her son’s arrest. In an interview with San Diego’s KFMB-TV, a CBS affiliate, she said,

Obituaries >> Daniel Scott Naccarato February 11, 1969 – August 26, 2012

Daniel Scott Naccarato passed away suddenly on August 26, 2012 at his San Francisco home. He was 43. Born in California on February 11, 1969, he is survived

by his mother Lorraine, and his many wonderful friends: David Barbieri, who was Dan’s soul mate and who loved him with all his heart; Jeff Langenfeld, and Dan Walker, all of San Francisco; Ray Robertson of Palm Springs; his brother Don, his niece Dawnie, his nephew Garry from Utah; and so many others whose lives he touched during his short life. May he forever rest in peace. He is greatly loved and missed.

income with temp word processing and freelance desktop publishing gigs. As “Uncle Bill” he wrote an advice column for Anything That Moves, the first national bisexual magazine, and in 1993 he began publishing his own sex magazine, Black Sheets. “Bill was a wonderful writer, but to my mind his greatest importance came in the way he created queer/bi/ pansexual literary community,” said Carol Queen, founding director of the Center for Sex and Culture. “He introduced many new writers via the zine, readings, and anthologies, and many of them remained close even after Bill left the Bay Area.” “Bill had a particular knack for befriending difficult people, ‘unlikable’ people, people who were stubborn and opinionated, the awkward and the shy and the clueless,” added Black Books colleague Lori Selke. “This is a big part of what made his community-building so successful.” Black Books was not financially lucrative, and to raise funds Mr. Brent started producing the Perverts Put Out reading series – which continues today – and hosting Black Sheets pansexual play parties. “Bill threw the kind of sex parties where you would find people around a snack table talking about geometry in the garden,” said author Kirk Read. “His social world encompassed all genders and all generations. I watched him bring writers and sex pigs into communal settings and I took notes.” “In the 1990s, as the emerging mainstream gay media championed same-sex marriage and gays in the military, Bill was throwing pansexual parties and building communities of queer intimacies that defied the usual straight

categories of husband, wife, and ‘friends without benefits’ – and he was busy documenting it all in his writing and indie press,” said longtime friend and colleague Lisa Montanarelli. Mr. Brent’s stories appeared in anthologies including Best American Erotica (1997), Best Gay Erotica (2002 and 2004), Tough Guys (2001), Everything You Know About God Is Wrong (2007), and The Cougar Book (2010). His character Dick Death, Punk Detective appeared in Roche’s Noirotica series. With Queen, he edited two editions of Best Bisexual Erotica, the second of which was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. His nonfiction work included How To Make a Zine (1997 and 2008) and The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Men (2002). He produced three poetry chapbooks and completed an unpublished novel in 2008. Mr. Brent battled depression throughout his life. Years of writing and other computer work led to repetitive strain injury and back problems that continued to plague him. Having contracted HIV early in the epidemic, he became very ill in the early 1990s, but recovered mid-decade with the advent of effective antiretroviral treatment. Nevertheless, worsening mental and physical difficulties led Mr. Brent to withdraw from his work and his social circles in the Bay Area. In 2005 he and longtime spouse Doug Puma Harrison moved to the Big Island of Hawaii. Six years later, feeling increasingly isolated and having trouble making ends meet, Mr. Brent moved back to northern California, but had trouble dealing with the culture shock. After spending time with friends in Portland and Columbus, Ohio, he returned to

Hawaii, only to come back to California earlier this year, where he lived in Sonoma with Black Leather Wings comrade Hugh Trutton. Although Mr. Brent had felt isolated living on the island, he found the bustle of the Bay Area overwhelming when he returned, said Heron Saline, his lover in the North Bay. “After living on the side of a volcano, he couldn’t live in the city. It was too much stimulation and he didn’t find the right resources.” “He was hurt and searching, both physically and mentally, and he just got tired,” Harrison added. Mr. Brent’s death came as a shock to many Bay Area friends and colleagues. According to Saline, “he was trying to find his way back to the public life,” and he had recently been in contact with Selke to discuss resuming Black Sheets parties. “Bill was such an unassuming figure that it only dawned on people slowly that an entire community swarmed around him,” said Roche. “He inspired and encouraged people who were outsiders everywhere else to build a place where they really belonged.” “I didn’t know one person who didn’t think well of Bill,” said Saline. “His contributions in writing and the sex community touched a lot of lives and opened a lot of doors for people to understand themselves and one another, and to be whole people in their bodies and their sexuality.” Mr. Brent is survived by Harrison, Saline, Trutton, his sister Juli, brother Todd, and many friends, lovers, and colleagues in San Francisco and throughout the world. A memorial for Mr. Brent will take place September 26 starting at 6 p.m. at the Center for Sex and Culture, 1349 Mission Street in San Francisco. ▼

“I blame myself for that.” “He loved his wine. And they kept filling his glass and filling his glass,” said Mary Cordileone. “I didn’t want to seem like a bossy mother. I should have told him, ‘You are drinking too much wine.’” Meanwhile back in San Francisco, marriage equality activist Stuart Gaffney posted his reaction on Facebook: “I am looking forward to the day when we see the same apology for taking away LGBT rights and marriage equality.” Longtime gay rights activist Nicholas Renault said good timing for such an apology would be once same-sex marriage is legal again in California. “I hope we do not have a situation where we are hounded to the gates of hell for being gay, hounded through life, denied rights, vilified and ostracized,” he said in a phone interview. Renault, who said he called the San Francisco archdiocesan offices to voice concern about Cordileone’s arrest, pointed to a biblical warning against intoxication from wine and strong drink in Leviticus 10:9. Renault also said that in raising his concerns with an archdiocesan communications person named Virginia, she suggested he seek mental health assistance for his “problem.” Reached by phone, communications manager Virginia Marshall said, “I would never say anything like that,” adding, “We have been inundated with calls. I don’t recall any one specifically.” Ernest Camisa, a spokesman for and secretary of Dignity/San Francisco, had this to say in e-mail correspondence: “For a man who is overly concerned about the social consequences of same-sex marriage, he should have been equally respectful of the law, especially with

his mother in the car.” “This shows bad judgment in regards to the safety of all involved,” said Camisa. “I think the archbishop-elect’s actions speak for themselves. He acted in a very irresponsible way,” said Joe Murray of the Chicagobased Rainbow Sash Movement, a pro-LGBT Catholic advocacy group. “My concern is only that he be treated as any other individual driving under the influence of alcohol in our legal system,” said Murray in an e-mail exchange. Murray added that alcohol abuse is a widespread problem in the country. “Alcohol abuse is at epidemic levels in the U.S. and impacts the LGBT community as it does many other communities, including Roman Catholic priests,” he said. “I don’t know if Cordileone has a problem with alcohol, but this could be a teaching moment for him to give as much attention to that issue among the clergy as he has given to the gay marriage issue.” Others said Cordileone exhibited poor judgment. “This is very sad news for the Archdiocese of San Francisco and for archbishop-designate Cordileone. His behavior exhibits very poor judgment, which endangered people’s lives,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a pro-LGBT ministry group. “His vociferous opposition to marriage equality already made him a poor candidate to lead Catholics in San Francisco, with its large gay and lesbian community. He will have an uphill battle to gain the trust and respect of Catholics and others,” DeBernardo added in an e-mail. For his part, Eugene McMullan, a

parishioner at Most Holy Redeemer said, “I feel sorry for him, but the main issue is his anti-gay activism.” Cordileone has come under fire in recent weeks as it became known that Most Holy Redeemer would no longer rent its social hall to outside groups, including the Castro Country Club, a sober space in the gay neighborhood that had planned to hold its fall gala there, complete with drag entertainment. The pastor at Most Holy Redeemer, Brian Costello, initially said that drag acts were being banned from the church and that he got his orders from the archdiocese. While Cordileone has yet to be installed as San Francisco’s archbishop, many believe that he had a hand in orchestrating the drag ban, which church officials later clarified to mean that no outside events would be held at the Castro church. Cordileone is no ordinary samesex marriage detractor. For more than a year now, he has been chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage. In an interview last year with the National Catholic Register Cordileone said that same-sex marriage is “a very serious social experiment that will have dire consequences.” The story of Cordileone’s DUI arrest has captured headlines locally and nationwide. Asked for his reaction, Costello said, “This is a very sad situation.” Cordileone’s installation as San Francisco’s archbishop is scheduled for October 4 at Saint Mary’s Cathedral. “It’s going to be a tough job,” Mary Cordileone told KFMB-TV television. “You know he has always preached against same-sex marriages, and the gays are very active there.”▼

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Community News>>

Bridge span

From page 3

things to consider in designing a bridge, but wherever possible, we would hope that bridges can have barriers,” said Robert Gebbia, executive director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “There is enough evidence now to show they can be a deterrent to suicide.” A 2007 study that the foundation funded found that suicides did not increase at other nearby sites after a barrier was installed to a bridge in England that attracted suicide attempts.

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Komen comeback

From page 1

medical director of Lyon-Martin, shares Smith’s concerns and is well aware of the impact Komen has had on its bottom line. “Komen has been a consistent funder of ours since 2007,” said Harbatkin in a phone interview. “They fund a big chunk of the preventive care around breast cancer screening that we do for low-income and uninsured women and transgender people.”

Komen controversy In 2011, Komen’s San Francisco affiliate granted $1.1 million to 19 groups in nine Bay Area counties that provide a range of breast cancer services to low-income and underserved women and their families. A majority of those funds, about $800,000, came from the San Francisco Race for the Cure. Fallout from a “bad mistake” by Komen’s board of directors earlier this year has affected 2012 race registrations: 5,300 participated in the 2011 race; at press time, only 1,693

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Kors

From page 1

gal director Shannon Minter, Kors said that he’s looking to replicate successful strategies that other state and local LGBT organizations can use in conjunction with passing and implementing legislation. “Oftentimes state groups replicate things that are done elsewhere,” Kors said, adding that NCLR has regularly assisted with such work in the past. Kors said he hopes to develop sample emails and action alerts and “put together a standard campaign” for state and local organizations, “to hand them this package.” Minter explained that NCLR currently has two full-time employees doing work with state and local groups: Connie Utada who is based in San Francisco, and Maya Rupert who is based in Washington, D.C. and focuses on federal policy. “But we’ve not been able to provide, until now, real hands-on support to implement and enact policies,” Minter said. “That’s where Geoff adds a new dimension.” He will also be identifying coalition partners and where votes are for legislative matters. Kors, 51, who moved to Palm Springs with his partner James Williamson after he stepped down from EQCA in March 2011, said he will

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Milk plaza

From page 2

past, also publicly opposed removal of the benches. However, there was no way of knowing what the position of such groups would have been because none of them came to Monday’s meeting. When asked why they weren’t invited, Aiello said that nobody was invited. Instead there was an open invitation. Blogger Michael Petrelis posted about the meeting on

August 30-September 5, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 13

Because the Bay Bridge does not have the same international stature as its more famous neighbor, it could turn out that the East Bay’s span will not become a magnet for suicide attempts. “I am not as fearful because it does not have the same kind of lore, I would say, as the Golden Gate

Bridge developed over the years,” said Meyer. And unlike the San Francisco to Marin span, which has parking lots on either side, the new Bay Bridge will not be quite as accessible. Pedestrians and bicyclists will have to park some distance away to connect with trails leading to the new span. “It will be harder to get to and is not a destination. Hopefully, it will remain that way,” said Meyer. Project planners, though, have already begun to tout the new span and the Gateway Park set to be built on the Oakland side as global draws. “The new Bay Bridge east span will offer one of the most spectacu-

lar bicycle and pedestrian experiences in the world, connecting Oakland to Yerba Buena Island while it opens surprising regional vistas and a new understanding of the bay itself. Gateway Park will be a starting point for that journey,” touts a website for the new park. The suicide prevention foundation’s Gebbia said that, “it is hard to know, in fairness,” how big of a draw the new span may be to people thinking about suicide. “It may not turn out to be a hotspot for such behavior,” he said. “But you don’t want to wait until all of a sudden it happens when there is an opportunity to make it safe.”

Just as it remains to be seen if suicidal people will jump off the Bay Bridge, it is unclear if the fall would be fatal. Ney said the drop from the span to the water, at a range of 120 to 150 feet, is shorter than that off the Golden Gate. The deck there is 245 feet above the water. “You would survive if you jumped off the eastern span,” said Ney, though when asked to clarify his statement he said that bridge officials are not “confident” that people would survive. Rather, Ney said, “It is probable that you would” survive a jump off the Bay Bridge east span.▼

are registered for the 2012 race, which takes place in a week and a half. This year’s San Francisco event is the organization’s 22nd annual and goes along the Embarcadero. The controversy began when Komen’s national board of directors announced it would withdraw funding from organizations currently under local, state, or federal government investigations, including Planned Parenthood, which at the time had been under investigation by Congress after a Republican congressman launched an inquiry at the behest of anti-abortion groups. In addition, organizations under investigation would also be prohibited from applying for grants. The announcement ignited a social media firestorm that thrust Komen and Planned Parenthood into the national spotlight on opposing sides. Defenders of Planned Parenthood, steadfast in their belief that Komen and its board had abandoned the organization, rallied, and as quickly as their message spread, Komen’s brand was

tarnished. “It was a very bad mistake by our Dallas leadership,” Maria Sousa, executive director of Komen’s San Francisco Bay Area affiliate, said in a phone interview. “And unfortunately it’s the local affiliates – who had nothing to do with it and, in fact, didn’t agree with the policy – who are paying the price.” The affiliates believe that they should have a right to determine what the unmet needs are, Sousa said, and the local affiliates determine the best agencies to meet those needs. Incidentally, in its 25 years, Sousa added, the San Francisco affiliate never received a grant request from Planned Parenthood. Immediately after the controversy broke in late January, the seven California affiliates, which, in addition to San Francisco, include the Central Valley, Inland Empire, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Sacramento Valley, and San Diego, sprung into action, initiating a dialogue with national to explain its opposition to the proposed policy. Within days, the boards of directors of the California affiliates

passed a resolution to officially and publicly oppose the policy. By the end of that week, the national board announced it had reversed its policy, saying Komen would “continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.”

national isn’t Planned Parenthood or anybody else. It’s low-income women.” Lyon-Martin, which almost had to shutter its doors in 2011, is constantly looking for new sources of funding, said Harbatkin, in the hopes it will be a surplus that will enable the agency to introduce new services rather just meeting the bottom line. “As long as we are open we will serve these patients,” said Harbatkin. “The real question is, without this kind of funding, will we be able to stay open, and that for us is the bigger question.” With the race just over a week away, the local affiliate and the Bay Area groups it supports are holding out for an influx of late registrations. “I really do hope that people go and support the San Francisco local affiliate for Komen so that they can raise the money that they need to help us provide the care that we all think is so important,” said Harbatkin. ▼

remain in southern California. Most of Kors’s work will be outside of California, he and Minter said. Rick Jacobs, chair of the progressive Courage Campaign, was a one-time critic of Kors when he led EQCA. But over the years that has changed, he said. “As a former critic of Geoff ’s on some issues, I welcome him back,” Jacobs said in an email. “Geoff gets credit in my book for building EQCA from nothing.” Jacobs also praised NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell and Minter. “Kate and Shannon and company have done and do amazing work. They are easy partners, always accessible, and always ready to make complex cases part of the daily lexicon for any who ask. We have collaborated regularly, and expect to continue to do so,” he said. In a news release NCLR noted that Kors will be working with the Equality Federation, which Jacobs also noted. That group is a membership organization for independent state LGBT groups. “California can use a dose of policy leadership in LGBT-land and the collaboration with the Equality Federation is great,” he added. In the conference call, Minter and Kors explained that most LGBT state

and local organizations have few resources – financial and staff – and the extra help from NCLR would be welcome. “There’s a gap between places that are amazingly successful and places that are struggling and really stark,” Minter said. “Our thinking was, how can we expand and what do groups really need?” Since leaving EQCA, Kors has spent time traveling. Once back, he and NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell started talking about strategy and “kicking around ideas,” he said. “Kate asked if I’d be interested,” he said. Many of the groups he’s worked with before and he knows many state leaders and executive directors. In May, Kors joined the board of Freedom to Marry, a national marriage equality organization. In that capacity he has been doing fundraising and chairs the board’s development committee.

criticism from many in the LGBT community. People blamed the No on 8 committee, of which he and Kendell were executive members, for running a campaign light on LGBT voices and heavy on consultants. Both sides stayed even in the money race, raising about $80 million combined. Last year Kors called the No on 8 campaign “a 24/7 effort, and having the voters take away our rights was a painful experience, I think, for the whole community.” Kors joined EQCA in 2002 and quickly set about rebranding the group, raising money, and hiring staff. EQCA had a track record of successes under his leadership, including the first legislative passage of a marriage bill in California (vetoed by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger). It also developed a standard for its political action committee to endorse candidates, insisting on them being 100 percent for full equality, including marriage and transgender issues. EQCA had a string of legislative victories, including advances in equal rights fro LGBT youth, transgender people, and domestic partners.

his site. And it was Petrelis who pointed out the absence of such groups. Longtime Castro resident and queer activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca said he found out about the meeting too late to attend. But in a statement he sent to the B.A.R. he criticized the CBD, saying the group “doesn’t want to represent or listen to all of the voices of our community, only those with whom they agree.” “Shouldn’t a publicly funded body have an obligation to be inclusive of, and accountable to, the whole com-

munity and not just merchants and the condo owners at Castro and Market?” Avicolli Mecca stated. “Harvey Milk Plaza is a public space. As such, everyone has a right to it. Milk Plaza has always been a space where people can gather, hold rallies, hang out, play guitar, even dance ...” But many are concerned with the homeless. According to both District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener and Mayor Ed Lee’s homeless policy adviser Bevan Dufty, attempts by outreach groups to assist the homeless

“What we have learned is it does seem to be a deterrent and people just don’t go to the next bridge nearby,” said Gebbia. “That was one of the fears if you put it on one bridge then people would go to another.”

New bridge may be less of a draw

Not marriage-focused Kors did say that in his new position with NCLR he would probably not be involved with the marriage campaigns this fall in Washington state, Minnesota, Maine, and Maryland. It was after the passage of Proposition 8 in California four years ago that Kors came under intense

Race for the money The debacle put affiliates in the position to try and overcome the public relations nightmare that has impacted Race for the Cure registrations and that will, by extension, significantly alter the bottom lines of local groups in dire need of funding. It’s a position for which BCEF and Lyon-Martin have had to prepare. “If the current race comes in with half as much money, we’re going to need to be scrambling to find ways to patch a very deep hole in next year’s budget,” BCEF’s Smith said. “In the long run, people who pay the price for this decision by Komen

For registration information, visit www.komensf.org.

Excited with new role

much work to do with partners at the state and local level,” he said. “So many states have one or two staff people. There’s room for lots more.” NCLR is a 501(c)3 organization that also has a (c)4 component. But Kors said that under the (c)3 H designation, the nonprofit would be allowed to spend a percentage of its budget on legislative work. Groups that have a 501(c) 3 status without that designation are not supposed to engage in political work such as endorsements or donations. Nonprofits with a 501(c)4 designation can engage in political work. NCLR’s annual budget is just over $4 million; it has 32 staff (full- and part-time). Minter declined to answer a question about Kors’s salary, saying the organization only releases that information for its executive director. On the agency’s 2011 990 tax form, Kendell’s salary is listed at $231,372; two other staffers are also listed as they make more than $100,000 per year. NCLR spokesman Erik Olvera said Monday that Kors’s salary would not fall under the threshold for reporting requirements, and that his hours would vary depending on the scope of his work.▼

Kors said that he is looking forward to his new job. “The reality is that there is so

A longer version of this article is online at ebar.com.

who frequent Harvey Milk Plaza have been unsuccessful. Likewise, according to San Francisco Police Department Captain Bob Moser, who oversees Mission Station, issuing citations for things like smoking or public intoxication or public urination has done little to clean up the plaza because those being cited are usually “backpackers” or people traveling through the city who may or may not come back. Overall, the meeting’s theme seemed to be not only cleaning up

the plaza but keeping people out of it. Wiener did not agree. “I think by and large people just want the plaza to be more welcoming to everyone,” he said. “People who deal with it every day just want it to stop, and I totally understand that. But in the long run it really has to be about redesigning the plaza and making it a more open space,” he added. Such long-term plans will have to wait, however, until after the CBD addresses the benches. ▼

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

14 • Bay Area Reporter • August 30-September 5, 2012

Classifieds

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Legal Notices>>

The

Legal Notices>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF california, county of san francisco file CNC12-548839 In the matter of the application of: SEOW LONG CHIN for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner SEOW LONG CHIN is requesting that the name WAN QI CHIN be changed to WANQI KAY CHIN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 20th of September 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

August 9, 16, 23, 30, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034493900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: POMODORO PIZZA 240 KEARNY ST., SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Sasan Shams. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/14/08. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/31/12.

August 9, 16, 23, 30, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034499600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STANDARD BUILDING COMPANY, 72 COUNTRY CLUB DR., SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94132. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Daniel Bernard Griffin. 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 08/02/12.

August 9, 16, 23, 30, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034496400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MY SISTER VIV, 1035 Pine St. Apt 402, San Francisco, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Maria Roetgerman. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/01/12.

August 9, 16, 23, 30, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034495300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MY NAILS, 1204 Green St., SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Thanh Ngoc Do. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/01/12.

August 9, 16, 23, 30, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034506100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SUGOI SUSHI, 1058 Valencia St., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Zhiliang Shen. 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 08/06/12.

August 9, 16, 23, 30, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034496700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ROBERT & CO., 3863A 26th street, SF, CA 94131. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Robert & Company LLC (CA). 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 08/01/12.

August 9, 16, 23, 30, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034496000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SHELDON HOTEL, 629 Post St., SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by co-partners, and is signed Kamran Ardebilchi & Jahangir Ardebilchi. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/17/83. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/01/12.

August 9, 16, 23, 30, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 08/17/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: ONIGILLY 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 343 KEARNY ST., SF, CA 941083204. Type of license applied for

41 - On-sale BEER AND WINEeating place AUG 23, 30, SEPT 06, 2012

notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 08/13/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: ANDIAMO DINER 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 3047 MISSION ST., SF, CA 94110-4501. Type of license applied for

41 - ON-sale BEER AND WINEEATING PLACE AUG 23, 30, SEPT 06, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS

Dated 08/16/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: COOPERSNETWORK 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 1477 VAN NESS AVE., SF, CA 94109-4637. Type of license applied for

41 - ON-sale BEER AND WINEEATING PLACE AUG 23, 30, SEPT 06, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034524200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WESTERN PLYWOOD, 2600 HARRISON ST., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed The Woodbank Inc. CA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/2012. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/14/12.

Aug 16, 23, 30, sept 06, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034522000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: R and A GROCERY, 5172 3RD St., SF, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a husband and wife, and is signed Raja Z. Ahmed and Ayesha Zaheer. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/13/12.

Aug 16, 23, 30, SEPt 06, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034518800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CREATE CHANGE, 257 OAK ST., SF, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Linda Joy Wells. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/10/12.

Aug 16, 23, 30, SEPT 6, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034519900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ACUPUNCTURE & INTEGRATIVE HEALTH PROGRAMS INC., 2833 WASHINGTON, SF, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Acupuncture & Integrative Health Programs Inc. CA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/08/2012. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/10/12.

Aug 16, 23, 30, SEPT 6, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034514900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: RENTOBO, 1293 Green St., SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Sibylus Inc (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/2012. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/08/12.

Aug 16, 23, 30, SEPT 6, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034507500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE BURR-EATERY, 1335 Guerrero St., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a husband and wife, and is signed Aaron Levi Bullington and Isla Patricia Ruffua. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/06/12.

Aug 16, 23, 30, SEPT 6, 2012 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF california, county of san francisco file CNC12-548880 In the matter of the application of: LAURENTPAUL PERROUD for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner LAURENT-PAUL PERROUD is requesting that the name LAURENTPAUL PERROUD be changed to LAURENT-PAUL DURELL. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 514 on the 23rd of October 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

Aug 23, 30, SEPT 06, 13, 2012

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034512400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ALEGRIA LIMO SERVICE, 318 25th Ave. #4, SF, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Ludmylla Bastos Curado. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/08/2012. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/08/12.

Aug 16, 23, 30, SePT 6, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034517200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MADDERLAKE STUDIOS, 2233 Divisadero St. #404, SF, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Mary A. Hayne. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/10/2012. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/10/12.

Aug 16, 23, 30, SEPT 6, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034520100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SCORES ON BROADWAY, 1516 Broadway, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Red Stick Enterprises, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/10/12.

Aug 16, 23, 30, SEPT 6, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034514400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS, 124 Jersey St., SF, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed William Korthof. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/01/2012. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/08/12.

Aug 16, 23, 30, SEPT 6, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034494500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STANZA COFFEE, 1673 Haight St., SF, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed Michael Musleh and Issam Abu Ali. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/31/2012. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/31/12.

Aug 16, 23, 30, SEPT 6, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034516200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TERRY’S TAVERN, 1368 Irving St., SF, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed 4 of a Kind Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/01/2012. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/09/12.

Aug 16, 23, 30, SEPT 6, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034511400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CELESTIAL NEW AGE STORE, 2205 Pine St., SF, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Virginia Johnson. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/06/2012. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/07/12.

Aug 16, 23, 30, SEPT 6, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034505600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WILDLINE!, 300 Brannan St. #601, SF, CA 94107 This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Click Group Inc.(Delaware). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/01/2012. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/06/12.

Aug 16, 23, 30, SEPT 6, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034514000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ESSENCE CO., 15 Delta St. SF, CA 94134. This business is conducted by a husband and wife, and is signed Biu Wing and Mindy Au. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/21/2011. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/08/12.

Aug 16, 23, 30, SEPT 6, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034516400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JIAN’S CONSTRUCTION, 806 Schwerin St., DALY CITY, CA 94014. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Jian Wu Yu. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 8/09/2012. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/09/12.

AUG 23, 30, SEPT 06, 13, 2012

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034523600

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034528000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SHUN SUM INTERNATIONAL SERVICES, 855 Stockton St. #202, SF, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Jin Ping Liu. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/14/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/14/12.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DAIGO SUSHI, 2450 Clement St., SF, CA 94121. This business is conducted by a limited liability corporation, and is signed Minamoto, LLC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/16/12.

AUG 23, 30, SEPT 06, 13, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034527000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DUKANAC ARCHITECTURE, 451 Kansas St. Unit 509, SF, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Vuk Dukanac. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/15/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/15/12.

AUG 23, 30, SEPT 06, 13, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034535100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BRAMBLE FLOWERS, 164 Lundys Ln., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Jacqueline Huck. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/20/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/20/12.

AUG 23, 30, SEPT 06, 13, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034534000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: 1000 YEARS CLINIC; 1000YEARSCLINIC.COM, 1021 Mission St., SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Arif A. Khan. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/25/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/20/12.

AUG 23, 30, SEPT 06, 13, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034537000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AUTO PANEL, 1620 Davidson Ave., SF, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Chan, Edmund. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/21/12.

AUG 23, 30, SEPT 06, 13, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034525800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BAD ASS ORGANIZING, 275 5th St. #310, SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Jane Dolan. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/14/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/14/12.

AUG 23, 30, SEPT 06, 13, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034519200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FRIENDS OF THE SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY, 710 Van Ness Ave., SF, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Friends + Foundation of the SF Public Library, (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/27/00. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/10/12.

AUG 23, 30, SEPT 06, 13, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034521400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ACCELERATE FORWARD; XLR8 FORWARD; XLR8FORWARD; XLR8FWD; 14 Woodward St., SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed International Technologists, Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/13/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/13/12.

AUG 23, 30, SEPT 06, 13, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034527100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SODA POPINSKI’S, 1548 California St., SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Bitter Badger, Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/15/12.

AUG 23, 30, SEPT 06, 13, 2012 notice of application FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF alcoholic beverage LICENSE Dated 08/22/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: MINAMOTO 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 2450 Clement St., SF, CA 941211922. Type of license applied for

41 - ON-sale BEER AND WINEEATING PLACE AUG 30, 2012

ebar.com

AUG 23, 30, SEPT 06, 13, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034515900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: 18 MONKEY, 25867 Cascade St., HAYWARD, CA 94544. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed Henry Chan and Michael Lau. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/09/12.

AUG 23, 30, SEPT 06, 13, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034531800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LELAND MARKET, 65 Leland Ave., SF, CA 94134. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is Maninder Singh and Patwinder Singh. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/17/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/17/12.

AUG 23, 30, SEPT 06, 13, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034522300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ATTORNEY SERVICE OF SAN FRANCISCO; PROCESS SERVER INSTITUTE; TRAVELING NOTARY, 667 Folsom St. 2nd Fl., SF, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Tony Klein. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/13/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/13/12.

AUG 23, 30, SEPT 06, 13, 2012 SUMMONS SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO NOTICE TO RESPONDENT: STANLEY LEE, DOES 1 TO 10 YOU ARE BEING SUED BY PLAINTIFF: STEPHEN J. USOZ, TRUSTEE OF THE STEPHEN J. USOZ EXEMPT TRUST CASE NO. CGC-12-519589 Notice: You have been sued. The court may decide against you without your being heard unless you respond within 30 days. Read the information below. You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this summons and legal papers are served on you to file a written response at this court and have a copy served on the plaintiff. A letter or phone call will not protect you. Your written response must be in proper legal form if you want the court to hear your case. There may be a court form that you can use for your response. You can find these court forms and more information at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp). your county law library, or the courthouse nearest you. If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the court clerk for a fee waiver form. If you do not file your response on time, you may lose the case by default, and your wages, money, and property may be taken without further warning from the court. There are other legal requirements. You may want to call an attorney right away. If you do not know an attorney, you may want to call an attorney referral service. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may be eligible for free legal services from a nonprofit legal services program. You can locate these nonprofit groups at the California Legal Services Web site (www. lawhelpcalifornia.org), the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/ selfhelp), or by contacting your local court or county bar association. NOTE: The court has a statutory lien for waived fees and costs on any settlement or arbitration award of $10,000 or more in a civil case. The court’s lien must be paid before the court will dismiss the case. The name and address of the court is : SUPERIOR COURT, STATE OF CALIFORNIAUNLTD, 400 MCALLISTER ST., SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94102 The name, address, and telephone number of the plantiff’s attorney, or plantiff without an attorney, is:

NILS ROSENQUEST, ROSENQUEST & ASSOCIATES, 2720 TAYLOR ST. #420, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, 94133; 415-292-0980. Date: Mar 29, 2012; Clerk of the Court: Rossaly Lavega Navarro.

AUG 23, 30, SEP 6, 13, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 08/21/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: LORIS DINER INTERNATIONAL 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 449 Powell St. 3rd Fl., SF, CA 94102-1503. Type of license applied for

47 - ON-sale GENERAL EATING PLACE AUG 30, SEPT 6, 13, 2012

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Read more online at www.ebar.com

August 30-September 5, 2012 • Bay Area Reporter • 15

Legal Services>>

Legal Notices>> notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 08/21/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: LORIS DINER INTERNATIONAL 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 439 Powell St., SF, CA 94102-1503. Type of license applied for

41 - ON-sale BEER & WINE - EATING PLACE AUG 30, SEPT 6, 13, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034546500

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034535900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BELLA FIORA, A FLORAL DESIGN STUDIO, 1475 Polk St. #7, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed by Dino A. Bocala & Mark A. Leahy. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/20/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/20/12.

AUG 30, SEPT 6, 13, 20, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034545000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SIDELINE TOWING, 1175 Selby St., SF, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed by Mayra L. Sevillano. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/23/12.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SYCAMORE STREET RESIDENCY, 30 Sycamore St., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed by Dipak Bhogilal Gandhi & Hansaben Dipak Gandhi. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/23/12.

AUG 30, SEPT 6, 13, 20, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034546400

AUG 30, SEPT 6, 13, 20, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034541500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NET STOP BUSINESS CENTER, 4460 Mission St., SF, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed by Thomas Lacey. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/23/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/23/12.

AUG 30, SEPT 6, 13, 20, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034544600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ASIAN PACIFIC TRAVEL, 703 Market St. #1506, SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed by Alfred Natividad. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/23/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/23/12.

AUG 30, SEPT 6, 13, 20, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034537700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: RIENSPA, 582 Market St. #1510, SF, CA 94104. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed by Carrie Kang. 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 08/21/12.

AUG 30, SEPT 6, 13, 20, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034535200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: S MCCANN CONSTRUCTION, 83 Garden Grove Dr., Daly City, CA 94015. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed by John McCann. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/20/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/20/12.

AUG 30, SEPT 6, 13, 20, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034551000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MANAGING HUMAN DIFFERENCES, 735 Geary #404, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed by Mark L. Perlmutter. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/16/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/24/12.

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Vol. 42 • No. 35 • August 30-September 5, 2012

www.ebar.com/arts

n Lerman, (L. to r.:) Loga d Emma Ezra Miller an hen ep St Watson in Perks of e Th y’s sk Chbo er. ow lfl Being a Wal

Dive into the dating pool of some fall 2012 films by David Lamble

T

he chaotic, ever-shifting landscape of commercial film exhibition offers a few morsels for LGBT fans this fall, along with a smattering of art-house fare that bears good buzz. Here are 15 upcoming releases to look out for. The Perks of Being a Wallflower For queer filmgoers, Stephen Chbosky’s decision to translate his MTV-published cult novel into a movie where “the gay kid is the coolest kid,” in effect the movie’s Ferris Bueller, pays huge dividends, especially since that character becomes a breakout role for the sharp and sassy Ezra Miller. “Why do I and everybody I love pick people who treat us like we’re nothing?” “We accept the love we think we deserve.” Miller’s Patrick, who won’t take no guff from either his school’s redneck shop teacher or his closeted jock boyfriend, becomes a role model and cheerleader for his only two friends, Charlie (Logan Lerman), a severely depressed high school freshman, and Sam (Emma Watson), a gradu-

ating senior saddled with a faithless beau and a niche on the Penn State waiting list. Fueled by the year’s hippest soundtrack, Perks turns the cruel roller-coaster ride of adolescent popularity into a life-affirming bell-ringer. (9/28) Keep the Lights On Inevitably, this story about a doomed alliance between a documentary filmmaker (Thure Lindhart) and a literary lawyer plagued by substance abuse (Zachary Booth) will spark intense feelings among gay men who feel hopelessly at sea in a dating pool swamped by addiction issues. Ira Sachs wisely chooses to frame the nine-year affair from the point of view of the filmmaker Eric (Lindhart), although those in the recovery community may feel that this unfairly stacks the deck against those, like Paul, for whom recovery is a lifetime journey. (9/14) How to Survive a Plague David France’s documentary traces how the 1980s fight against AIDS turned the tide and produced today’s treatment regimen. (9/21) Little White Lies Guillaume Canet (Tell No One)

Time to face the music New season highlights for classical music-lovers by Philip Campbell

I

t might feel like there is a lot of summertime left, but that’s only because the weather stays cool in the city until after Labor Day. Take another look at your calendar, make a pot of coffee, and get ready to face the music of autumn. It’s time for classical music-lovers to start planning their fall and winter concert attendance. It would also be smart to secure your seats for some exciting events happening after the

concocts a Big Chill spoof with dueling queer subplots to produce a nutty French folks-on-vacation romp. There’s an intriguing scene where a man makes an embarrassing confession to another man that could have paid dividends if Canet had resisted a propensity for Adam Sandler-worthy, anything-for-a-cheap-laugh gags. (8/31) War of the Buttons Christophe Barratier, whose queerfriendly feature The Chorus examined the fate of a group of war orphans in a badly run state school, here tackles another contentious slice of WWII French history by focusing on the feud between rival kid gangs in occupied France. The leader of one of the gangs, Lebbrac (Jean Texier, a young star in the making), falls for a young Jewish girl, subsequently seeking a truce with his rivals to prevent the girl from falling into the clutches of the Nazis. The material was co-written by Oscar winner Thomas Langmann (The Artist) based on a 1912 cult novel by Louis Pergaud. See page 33 >>

Serbian baritone Zeljko Lucic will play the title role in the San Francisco Opera production of Verdi’s Rigoletto.

New Year. Single ticket sales for both the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Symphony have been available since July, and the New Century Chamber Orchestra (seriously, not to be ignored) opened their box office for individual programs in August. The SFS opening night gala celebrating the start of season 101 is happening a little late this year. There will actually be two weeks of See page 33 >>

{ SECOND OF TWO SECTIONS }

Marty Sohl

<< Out There

18 • BAY AREA REPORTER • August 30-September 5, 2012

▼

Late summer reveries by Roberto Friedman

T

he new arts season approaches, and this week you’ll find brief surveys of highlights from our arts writers who cover film and DVD/ Blu-rays, TV, the symphony hall and the opera house. Next week, stay tuned for a look at the fall season in theatre, book releases, and fine arts – museum shows, then galleries. To recharge our batteries before the fall onslaught, Out There took a little sojourn up in the wine country last week. The River Terrace Inn in Napa invited us to stay for a few nights in luxe accommodations with a balcony overlooking the bucolic Napa River. A tidal river with constant current, it’s muddy and green, but sparkles in the late summer light. At sundown, the waters and banks disappear into inky black, framed by sparse lights on a ridge that forms the horizon. We dined on “high country cui-

sine” at the adjoining Restaurant Cuvée. Both eatery and inn recently underwent a $2.7 million renovation, and its indoor/outdoor dining rooms provided ambiance both relaxing and sophisticated-feeling. Cuvée’s executive chef Jordan Mackey served up trout and snapper, we greatly enjoyed the fruit of various grapes, and feeling flushed but not rushed, OT and plus-one nonpareil Pepi lingered over an elegant dessert of fresh berry cobbler. An open fire-pit on the restaurant patio mesmerized. We returned to our room, the terrace, the river and a nice buzz-on. Next day it was an easy walk from the RTI over the 1st St. bridge to downtown Napa, where we investigated the Napa Valley Opera House and the Jarvis Conservatory, two arts institutions that have been sending us press releases for years, and that we had never visited. In the Oxbow district, we toured the Oxbow Public Market, a bustling,

lively venue for fresh produce, local wine, seafood, cheese, and other culinary delights. Its offerings put us in mind of its kissing cousin, the Ferry Building in SF. We had grilled oysters, seafood stew and clam chowder at the counter of Hog Island Oyster Co., washed down by a crisp sauvignon blanc. To our Napa getaway we brought an advance copy of English Graphic, a book of essays about illustrations written by [UK] Independent art critic Tom Lubbock, to be released this fall from Frances Lincoln Ltd. The graphics Lubbock discusses include ancient maps and stained glass windows, miniatures and frontispieces; Robert Hooke’s 1665 engraving of a flea; William Hogarth’s wicked caricatures; pen-and-ink and watercolor landscapes; and Harry Beck’s iconic graphic for the London Underground map. Lubbock considers the high point of English graphic art to have been in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and accordingly his essays on Henry Fuseli, Samuel Palmer and William Blake are his most developed. There’s a wonderful piece on John Tenniel’s illustration Alice Overgrowing the Room from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865). But we chose Blake’s Albion Rose to illustrate this column, Albion being a wellproportioned personification of England. “Even in its own day, it was highly optimistic,” writes Lubbock, finding Albion “can only feel like a cruel irony or a bitter protest or an impossibly remote ideal.” Sort of like 0% body fat. There’s also a great print by gay and astonishingly short-lived (1872-98) Art Nouveau artist Aubrey Beardsley, Portrait of Himself in Bed (1894). As Lubbock points out, “Hardly anyone is ever portrayed in bed, let alone self-portrayed. The convention is mainly used for corpses: the death-bed portrait. What’s more, the artist depicts himself as a tiny figure. It’s a self-portrait where you have to spot the subject, half-hidden, turbaned, drowned in the bedclothes of an enormous curtained bed.” The French inscription in the drawing’s corner is self-deprecatory. Translated, it reads, “By the twin gods, not all the monsters are in Africa.” Lubbock wonders: “What’s he up to, under the sheets?”

Courtesy Frances Lincoln Limited

Albion Rose, color-printed etching with ink and watercolor (1796) by William Blake, from English Graphic, by Tom Lubbock.

Courtesy Cuvée

Entrance to the indoor/outdoor ambiance of Restaurant Cuvée Napa.

Lit fights The literary world was abuzz last week about reviewer William Giraldi’s takedown of two books by author Alix Ohlin in the NYT Book Review. Giraldi generated a lot of piquant commentary: “Ohlin’s language betrays an appalling lack of register – language that limps onto the page proudly indifferent to pitch or vigor.” “But too many of Ohlin’s stories suffer hyperglycemic shock because she’s incapable of mustering the requisite insulin.” But perhaps the knockout punch references a veritable San Francisco icon: “For a writer so invested in the bland earnestness of realism, Ohlin forces her characters to speak and behave like few humans from reality: her dialogue, by turns stenographic and saccharine, sounds transplanted from the desiccated pages of Danielle Steel.” Ooo, that’s really hitting below the (smartly accessorized) belt! But just one week previously in the august pages of the NYTBR, reviewer Ron Powers gutted the latest effort from gay author Dale Peck, and no-one so much as batted an eyelash! Perhaps this is because Peck is well-known for his own savage literary criticism, collected in the aptly titled Hatchet Jobs. Here’s Powers: “The problem is not that Dale Peck can’t write. Far from it. The problem is that Dale Peck can’t stop writing.” “Peck, who has set legitimately high standards as a critic, seems here to have committed one of

the most amateurish of authorial sins: rather than invite the reader into a story, he demands unconditional surrender to his solipsism and his rhetorical strut. It doesn’t work. Um, duh.” Um, ouch! But to go with the review of the There’s No Business Like Show Business DVD release in this week’s issue, let’s wind up with an anecdote that’s worthy of a few Out There column inches. When B.A.R. arts writer Tavo Amador interviewed actress Mitzi Gaynor a couple of years back, she told him that she and Ethel Merman got along superbly on the set of Show Business. Amador asked how Merman felt about fellow star Marilyn Monroe. Gaynor said, “Marilyn was often late. We’d all be waiting for her and after awhile, Ethel would get impatient and ask, in her inimitable manner, ‘All right! Where’s the blonde?’” She pretended not to remember her name. Oh, Ethel!▼

▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

August 30-September 5, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 19

<< Theatre

20 • BAY AREA REPORTER • August 30-September 5, 2012

▼

Lois Tema

Jomar Tagatac, right, plays a young gay Balinese man named Wayan who offers a prayer to the moon goddess in Rights of Passage at New Conservatory Theatre Center.

International modern by Richard Dodds

I

ebar.com

n Bali, where art is religion and religion is art, everyone is an artist. It’s a centuries-old concept that also suggests that tradition will harmoniously blend with the new. Lovely, and easier said than done. Both father and son evoke tradition as they clash in their Balinese village in the main story that unites the around-the-world scenario of Rights of Passage, a new play by Ed Decker and Robert Leone having its world premiere at New Conservatory Theatre Center. Wayan sees in his Bali-flavored Hinduism acceptance for his same-sex longings, while his father can’t bend his beliefs that far. The locale may be distant and its culture seems exotic, but the basics of this conflict have abundant parallels in most of our own backyards.

Decker, NCTC’s artistic director, and his husband Leone were spurred by the passage of Prop 8 to take stock of LGBT rights (or lack of) in societies across the globe. Short scenes set in locales ranging from Belgrade to Bangkok and Mississippi to Malawi arise as the central story unfolds. Dozens of interviews and international travels conducted over five years inform Rights of Passage, a thoughtful, sensitive, and surprisingly humorous play. Directed by Arturo Catricala, this is a handsome production that takes elements of Balinese dance, music, storytelling, and design to lend specific gravity to the familiar new vs. old conflicts of Wayan and his father. Especially delightful are the puppets designed and choreographed by Allison Daniel. They illustrate fables and reality, and can twist our sober expectations of puppetry (and of Bali) when, for example, 10-year-old Wayan, in life-size puppet form, suggests an outing to an Internet cafe. The puppets can also change the dynamics of a horrific scene of rape in Dakar, which becomes less realistically graphic but eerily disturbing when an object we associate with childhood play is being violated. More often than not, flesh-andblood actors are portraying with dexterity the international spectrum of characters. The globe-trotting interludes don’t necessarily have direct connections to the story set in Bali, yet often work in their own right as mini-dramas of human

nature, illustrating lives struggling to find accommodations for their sexualities within their own worlds. But it is Wayan’s story that centers the play, and Jomar Tagatac centers the role with a characterization that is impish, impetuous, and uncompromising. If there can be a second center, it would belong to Michaela Greeley, who, despite wearing a mask, plays Wayan’s incisive grandmother communicating a steely warmth. The other six actors play a multitude of roles, including an imprisoned gay couple in Malawi (Dazie Rustin Grego and Anthony Rollins-Mullens), a cranky moon goddess (Desiree Rogers), a homophobic-but-evolving plumber in Walnut Creek (Randall Nakano), Wayan’s boyhood friend and grown-up lover (RJ Castaneda), and a German boy (a puppeteering Christopher Morrell) writing to Santa Claus for an Easy-Bake Oven. Numerous other creative credits deserve acknowledgement, including set designer Kuo-Hao Lo, lighting designer Christian Mejia, costume designer Jorge Hernandez, and prop designer Stacy Bock. All are part of the impressive team that has clearly poured blood, sweat, tears, and laughter into Rights of Passage, a play that offers its cautious optimism on a tightrope.▼ Rights of Passage will run at New Conservatory Theatre Center through Sept. 16. Tickets are $25$45. Call 861-8972 or go to www. nctcsf.org.

Lois Tema

Christopher Morrell helps animate a puppet named Klaus as he writes to Santa Claus for toys his parents consider gender inappropriate in a scene from NCTC’s Rights of Passage.

▼

Fine Art >>

August 30-September 5, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 21

Barry McGee makes his mark by Sura Wood

A

s you enter the first-floor walkway of the Berkeley Art Museum, you’ll notice a white TV repair van that appears to have gone over the ledge and is pointed nose down toward the lower floor. Three or four taggers in hoodies balance precariously on its dented body, standing on each other’s shoulders, while the one on top sprays the uppermost concrete balcony with red paint. It’s safe to say you’ve never seen anything like this at BAM. The taggers are animatronic and part of the museum’s mid-career retrospective of the work of San Francisco-born and -raised artist Barry McGee. Though he studied painting and printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute, his creative life began in earnest on the streets of the city in the late 1980s, when he went by the tag name of “Twist,” and other alter egos, and made his mark, so to speak, with image-based graffiti. The show brings street-culture attitude and the visual cacophony of McGee’s Mission District neighborhood, where he still lives and works, into a mainstream museum setting that barely contains his exuberance: it’s not an easy fit. McGee, who’s a youthful-looking 46, shouldn’t be dismissed as some talented anarchist with a spray can: he has shown at galleries and museums around the world for the last two decades, and he was championed early on by art dealer Jeffrey Deitch, the embattled director of L.A. MoCA, who, in 1996, founded Deitch Projects, a risktaking gallery and immense project space in New York showcasing emerging artists. Informed by solid technique, formal sophistication and a mastery of drawing, McGee’s work reflects an inherent tension between chaos and control that expresses the artist’s experience of modern urban society. That urban aesthetic and vibe is everywhere, as is his predilection for found materials. In one gallery, a wall is covered in rusted metal tiles with his small, classical etchings set into letter-press trays. Across the space, there’s a defaced “no parking” sign, a tagger’s paint-stained jacket, a ream of empty spray paint cans and a handwritten sign reading: “Do not mark on this, and do not remove this sign.” Good luck with that. Organized chronologically, the exhibition includes the artist’s familiar down-and-out, urban characters that surface in numerous drawings, paintings, cartoons and murals; and a painted wall that takes its bright red hue from the Chinatown gates and is being “modified” by an animatronic tagger. Later pieces, characterized by intricate patterning and a fluorescent color palette, are overly busy and not my favorite among his lines of inquiry,

BAM/PFA

Untitled (2005), by San Francisco-born and -raised Barry McGee.

especially when they’re deployed as wallpaper or decorate the plentiful supply of surfboards scattered throughout the exhibit. Far more appealing are subtle etchings and a cluster of smallish, framed ink-andgraphite sketches of cars, a female nude, studies of a stag’s head and a tree trunk with a face imbedded in it, which show off the skilled draftsmanship McGee is known for. He has adapted several of his large-scale, life-sized installations, like a public restroom undergoing a “redesign” by another tagger, and the neighborhood bodega advertising sundry, out-of-date items in its windows, owned by fictional proprietors Lydia and Ray Fong (McGee pseudonyms). Inside the museum, these big installations and panel/mural paintings have a movie-set unreality; they crave the scale of the outdoors, where they could breathe and relate to other urban structures, however impractical that might be. No doubt McGee loves stuff, and lots of it. The back office of the store, for instance, visible through an open door, is crammed with stacks of LPs,

Courtesy of the artist

Barry McGee in “Roseville Trainyards, 1995,” photo by Craig Costello.

used books and beaten-up, obsolete electronic equipment. “Sociology/ Anthro,” a placard that looks like a refugee from a forgotten undergrad course, is lodged above the door-

frame. If she were with us, what would Margaret Mead have to say about this collection of cultural artifacts? Despite his art-world success,

McGee’s street cred remains intact. The son of an auto-body detailer, he came out of the city’s car and underground commix countercultures – Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, R. Crumb and the Beat poets were important influences – and he has a devoted cult following among surf, skateboard, bike and music subcultures, constituencies that aren’t ordinarily represented in mainstream museums, but are expected to show up for this exhibition in droves. But as far as attracting a wider audience, that’s a toss-up and a gamble for BAM. Whether the work speaks to you has a lot to do with how you’re wired, if you’re young, unconventional and/or tuned into his frame of reference. If you’re none of the above, the art doesn’t have the universality and depth you can return to repeatedly for discovery. For many younger people, though, the man is a legend. In the early 1990s when he was just out of art school, YBCA commissioned him to paint barricades lining the perimeter of the building that was then under construction. The wooden planks that formed an enormous mural painted by McGee were stolen and subsequently fetched steep prices on eBay. And the mystique abides. Rather than a publicity-seeking self-promoter, he seems genuinely committed to the concept of an egalitarian society where people are not disenfranchised or left behind. If there’s a message, it’s about total freedom in making art and living life unobstructed by corporate interests, private property or crippling poverty. These days, those are radical ideas. ▼ Barry McGee at Berkeley Art Museum, through Dec. 9. For more info: www.bampfa.berkeley.edu or call: (510) 642-0808.

<< Music

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • August 30-September 5, 2012

▼

Jazz great Karrin Allyson returns to SF by Jason Victor Serinus

S

uperb is an adjective frequently used to describe performances by jazz vocalist Karrin Allyson. The longtime Concord Jazz artist, whose 20-year performing career has yielded 13 albums and four Grammy nominations, is prized for the rare communicative power of her remarkably sophisticated, disarmingly direct vocalism. Her careful attention to words; the intelligence with which she molds her phrases; her unique sultry, husky voice; and her impeccably poised pianism inevitably pull listeners into her songs. For her three-day, three-performance Labor Day weekend gig at the Rrazz Room, Allyson plans to focus on songs from her latest Grammynominated disc, Round Midnight. Called a masterpiece by Downbeat and “darkly beautiful and melancholic” by the Associated Press, the laid-back album melds classics such as Bill Evans’ “Turn Out the Stars,” Harry Carroll’s “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows,” Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile,” Duke Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady,” Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns,” and Thelonious Monk’s “’Round Midnight” with a more contemporary classic,

Jazz vocalist Karrin Allyson will focus on songs from her latest disc, Round Midnight.

Paul Simon’s “April Come She Will.” Given the extraordinary intimacy of the renditions, it’s safe to say that Allyson will leave audience members feeling as though they’re spending

an evening in the quiet comfort of her living room. “Imagine yourself in the city, walking late at night,” Allyson writes in the album’s liner notes. “The wind is cold, but you hear some warm sounds, and you follow your ear down into a small, dark club. There’s a woman at the piano singing these intimate ballads, one after the other. Maybe you’ve just recently suffered a heartache, or maybe the lyrics, melodies and harmonies evoke feelings you have somewhere deep down inside.” Born in Omaha, Allyson spent a number of years in Oakland, where she attended Holy Names High School while her mother served as Dean of Women’s Studies at Mills College. Earlier in her life, when her

mother conducted the children’s choir at the church where her father was a minister, she began studies in classical piano. “Piano was my major in college,” Allyson told the Bay Area Reporter by phone. “I never thought I was going to be a singer. But in Oakland, I started getting involved in theatre. I was the lead in two plays at Holy Names. So I guess I’ve always had a love for the dramatic part of music.” Drama, in the case of Round Midnight, is soft-pedaled, as if mellowed by a combination of wisdom and vodka. “Storytelling is what I’m interested in,” she said. “When I was in high school in the mid-70s, I discovered singer-songwriters like Carole King, Carly Simon, Janis Ian,

Roberta Flack, Melissa Manchester, and Joni Mitchell. I fell in love with these songs that told stories. I’d buy sheet music to these tunes, and my piano teacher at the time, who followed my mom, encouraged improvisation. It wasn’t like we were Bud Powell or anything like that, but we’d take little songs and do chord changes and try and improvise over them instead of just sight-reading.” After she got a scholarship for classical piano studies at the University of Nebraska, where she earned her degree, she thought that was the direction she would go. But when she would sing for friends or family, she received constant encouragement. “I remember a friend saying, ‘You know, you should listen to yourself, you really have something there,’” she recollects. “A little encouragement goes a long way for those who like performing, so that’s when I started to do more of it. I tried for a couple of little restaurant gigs playing and singing, and really had to come up with a lot of material to keep myself and other people interested. That’s how that moved to the other side, as it were.” Soon after Allyson recorded her first CD, in 1990, a woman who fell in love with her singing passed her CD along to Stan Dunn, a DJ at KJAZ-FM in San Francisco. After listeners went wild, Dunn introduced her to Carl Jefferson, founder of Concord Records. Before long, Concord had bought her self-produced CD, I Didn’t Know About You, which it reissued in 1992. Twenty years later, her mastery has deepened.▼ Karrin Allyson performs Fri. & Sat., Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 at 7:30 p.m., and Sun., Sept. 2 at 5 p.m. For tickets, see www.therrazzroom.com or call (415) 394-1189.

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August 30-September 5, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

Theatre >>

Language lessons by Richard Dodds

I

t’s easy enough to peg Precious Little as an issue drama. And issues it has, including surrogate motherhood, lesbian parenting, abortion, and student-teacher sexual fraternization. But these topics are really there to serve a theme that blankets those territories and beyond. Madeleine George’s play is about human communication, and how the device we call language is such a faulty system to accomplish it. It’s appropriate, and ultimately ironic, that the central character is a linguistics scholar whose work is about bundling up languages as if she were canning preserves. But even with all her Mason jars filled with words, Brodie finds herself increasingly isolated as verbal messages sent and received can’t keep up with the emotions informing them. Shotgun Players is presenting the Bay Area premiere of Precious Little, an imaginatively engaging if at times lop-sided play that gains clarity in director Marissa Wolf ’s sharp production at Ashby Stage. The multi-scene play quickly sets up the central conflict that fuels most everything that follows. Brodie is providing intake information to a pregnancy counselor who will administer an amniocentesis test. She’s 42, a lesbian, picked the sperm donor from a catalog, and knows that the risks of natal abnormalities are higher in a woman of her age. The

tests are ambiguous, with a wide range of possible defects that puts abortion on the table. As Brodie, Zehra Berkman captures a steely resolve that also reveals a delicately balanced soul who can be thrown when others don’t behave according to her expectations. In fact, most of the other characters are either crude or clueless, which works if you imagine that you are viewing these characters through Brodie’s judgmental eyes. But there are times when even that concept does not explain away some of the curiosities. Brodie is having a sexual affair with one of her graduate assistants, a candidate for a master’s degree in linguistics whose conversations are filled with fuckin’ this and fuckin’ that, while the pregnancy counselor could as well be discussing Brodie’s liaison with the Yeti judging by the shock she registers at finding her client is a lesbian. Since the dialogue was provided by the playwright, there is no blame indicated for actress Rami Margron in her rendering of this linguistically challenged linguistics student or the clumsy counselor. And besides, Margron is so wonderful in a cornucopia of other characters, especially in her comic ability to suggest family groups bickering amongst themselves as they visit the zoo. And how did we get to the zoo? Brodie’s lover wants to take their relationship out of the sack and into public, and suggests an outing to the

Pak Han

Zehra Berkman, left, plays a linguistics scholar trying to convince an aging European immigrant (Nancy Carlin) to help preserve her native language while her skeptical daughter (Rami Margron) looks on in Precious Little.

zoo, where a famous gorilla with a purported concept of language is in residence. “Her gestures are pluperfect,” marvels Brodie as the gorilla lolls indifferently in its cubicle of fake jungle. With no attempt at gorilla costuming, Nancy Carlin plays the ape with a keen languor. At times we are privy to its stream-of-consciousness thoughts, which are along the lines of, “I chew. I stretch. I look.” Except when an irrelevant word with no

contextual meaning pops into its mind as zoo visitors push madly on a pad that illuminates pictographs that the ape supposedly knows. Carlin goes into quick-change mode to become an elderly immigrant who is one of the last speakers of a disappearing Slavic language. Brodie has her recite lists of arbitrary words while stuffed into a recording booth, which of course mirrors that pictographically confused ape in its enclosure.

Brodie’s arc in Precious Little is one of inverted progression, at least for a scholar who spends her entire life acquiring knowledge. She knows less than she thought she did at the start of the play, but there is at least a glimmer of emancipation in the uncertainty.▼

most obvious effects in opera, that presents the listeners with both a momentary release from anxiety and a transient sense of ecstasy.” Recasting his work in terms of freedom – and making good on it – balances that feeling of the corrective that can make Rosen’s writing so tart. “In the end we must affirm that no single system of interpretation will ever be able to give us

an exhaustive or definitive understanding of why a work of literature or music can hold an enduring interest for us, explain its charms, account for its seduction and our admiration,” he writes in his short, essential introduction. “Listening and reading with intensity for pleasure is the one critical activity that can never be dispensed with or superseded.”▼

Precious Little will run at Asbhy Stage through Sept. 16. Tickets are $18-$25. Call (510) 841-6500 or go to www.shotgunplayers.org.

Books>>

Finding the gangle by Tim Pfaff

C

harles Rosen has always written from a height in the Earth’s atmosphere at which the gas exchange is not the same as it is for most regular folk. That’s the edification, fun, exasperation – and chill – of reading him. The latest collection of his writings, Freedom and the Arts: Essays on Music and Literature (Harvard University Press), offers more communications from his particular beyond, yet collectively these pieces are not just bracing but pleasurable, revealing a personal, even affable side of Rosen. The wholly new pieces in the collection are a substantive piece of Mozart scholarship on a matter of genuine importance (tonal organization in the operas) and an essay whose title sounds an alarm but whose content is, if sage, also little more than common-sensical. “Old Wisdom and Newfangled Theory: Two One-Way Streets to Disaster” argues for a balance to be struck between what are in fact the two dead-end streets of historicity and relevance as drivers of present-day performance. Although the bulk of the writings are on music, and specifically the performance of it (Rosen has had a parallel career as a concert pianist), the ones on literature range from Montaigne to Mallarme by way of the Marquis de Sade, the latter of whom gets consideration in a provocative essay on what constitutes today’s literary canon. Sade receives only three pages, but they’re emblematic of these essays as a group and Rosen’s writing taken as a whole. “It is true that Sade does not write particularly well,” Rosen observes, “but the inspired

originality of Sade was to introduce the excesses of cruelty systematically into the vast corpus of erotic literature which played such an important role in 18th-century culture. By its icy intensity, his work attains the monumental sublime.” That’s the voice of the French scholar, another of Rosen’s chapeaux. “The actions current in the strange world of S and M make those that he actually committed look, by comparison, like the experiments of a timid beginner; his sadism was almost purely literary,” he writes transitionally. Then comes the telling passage: “When I was writing a review of Alban Berg’s correspondence, I remarked to an elderly and very distinguished psychoanalyst that I was surprised by how many of Schoenberg’s students seemed to enjoy being treated so badly and humiliated by him. She replied, ‘I have no time to explain this just now, but I assure you there are a great many

masochists and not nearly e enough sadists to go around.’ I have since asked around in S a M circles and have found and t this was indeed accurate.” that Asked around. Similarly, in a review of a volume of prose by W.H. A Auden, Rosen leavens his p praise for Auden’s genius w pointed analyses of how with A Auden got both Huckleberry F Finn and Oscar Wilde fundam mentally wrong. After noting t that Auden fell deeply in love w the American poet Cheswith t Kallman, maintained the ter re relationship until he died in 1 1973 and “treated it as a marri riage,” Rosen with some Sadeli matter-of-factness of his like o own, adds, “I understand that K Kallman refused to have sexual relations with Auden after a ve short time, and they were very al always together only in vacation months in Austria and Italy.” The scholarship and sheer range of knowledge in these essays are predictably dazzling. And Rosen’s sniping is always amusing and sometimes pleasurable. But it also bears noting that he is adept at finding what my editor calls the “gangle” – the gay angle – in any topic. His 1993 review of The Grove History of Opera (which he famously savages) and Wayne Koestenbaum’s The Queen’s Throat (his praise of which has a Pauline Kaellike surprise element to it) sets the stage for a remarkable half-dozen sapient pages on the phenomenon of the opera queen, in which Rosen confides that seeing Callas as Norma in Rome was “the only time I have ever gone to the same opera twice in one week.” A note sounded throughout this collection is stated with particular eloquence here: “It is the erotic power of music, which achieves its

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

24 • BAY AREA REPORTER • August 30-September 5, 2012

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Film >>

Days in the phone sex trade by David Lamble

I

n a summer filled with some diabolically clever stabs at reinventing the romantic comedy – Ruby Sparks, Robot and Frank, Celeste and Jesse Forever, Moonrise Kingdom – the queer-friendliest of the lot is a perky phone sex farce, For a Good Time, Call. It ignites when two would-be college friends get a bit pissy with each other. A decade passes, and Katie (Ari Graynor) and Lauren (Lauren Miller) are yoked together as roommates by their mutual gay best friend, Jesse (Justin Long). Since neither will forgive the other their long-ago botched “cute meet,” it takes a classic movie contrivance to get them to work together. At first Lauren is put off by Katie’s running a phone sex-line out of the flat, but when she’s laid off by a snotty publisher, Lauren decides to contribute her office efficiency skills to “rationalize” the business and get as many bucks as possible from their horny male clients. The filmmakers – openly gay Canadian first-time feature director Jamie Travis and screenwriters Miller and Katie Anne Naylon – smartly reject mining the raunchy titters and cheap pratfalls that abound in a hard-R-rated subject like phone sex. Instead they take the higher if slippery path of pursuing the romantic implications in an unlikely female friendship. The first step is keeping the action and the characters real, and the second is surrounding the women with unusually sensitive and supportive men. Justin Long’s Jesse is an example of a refreshing, long overdue trend in the creation of “best gay male buddies,” characters neither sarcastic Eve Arden/Thelma Ritter knockoffs nor sexless Will & Grace

clones, but closer-to-life dynamos who could easily steal the movie from the nominal leads. Like Kieran Culkin’s hyperwitty gay roommate in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World or Ezra Miller’s sassy high school senior reaching out to a confused straight kid in the forthcoming Perks of Being a Wallflower, Jesse is a believably empathetic friend who cunningly masks his good deeds with a blizzard of drop-dead-funny lines. The other freshly re-imagined male character is the even trickier-tobelieve phone-sex client who actually turns out to be a non-creepy date for Katie. Much of the credit goes to Mark Webber’s take on Sean, a persistent caller who’s neither predictably pathetic nor too Prince Charming-like. Even smarter is how Katie’s coupling with Sean provides a lovely diversion from her real destination. Enough of the spoilers already – trust me, it works. With cute but not overly intrusive drop-in guest appearances by Seth Rogen and Kevin Smith, For a Good Time, Call meets its LOL quota without stooping to rom-com clichés.

On the record As luck would have it, the creators of this nimble social comedy are as witty in person as on the screen. Director Jamie Travis has garnered a considerable reputation along the queer-festival circuit for audacious shorts like The Saddest Boy in the World, The Armoire and Why the Anderson Children Didn’t Come to Dinner. This morning, he was trying out a bowtie as a fashion accessory for the film’s New York opening. Co-stars Lauren Miller and Ari Graynor were pleased to be heading up the cast of a project that had been so much fun to make. Cowriter Katie Anne Naylon was eager

to discuss what she had and had not included in her own personal back-story as a one-time phone-sex operator. David Lamble: Justin Long is extraordinary as the gay best friend. Katie Anne Naylon: He’s a scenestealer. It’s funny because in the final version we cut back a lot of Justin, because it really is about the girls. Jamie Travis: The extended scenes on the DVD will feature a lot more Justin. Justin’s such a smart actor and such a good storyteller that even when he was going off the rails and giving us surprising performances in every take, where you never know what he’s going to say, it’s always funny. Ari Graynor: Justin did this great character study of Jamie and wanted to follow Jamie around, dress like him and sort of take his vibe. I have a few really important gay friends that really anchor my life, it was so important that that character not be a send-up. Let’s discuss how fact and fiction turn into art and comedy gold. Naylon: Real-life Lauren and I are best friends, and we’re sort of an odd couple. Not all two best friends are blondes who like all the same boys. There was something in celebrating your best friend and reaching a middle ground, and definitely the sexuality behind the girls. Certain sexuality is repressed, and certain sexuality is really put out there, and also it’s flipped, and it’s not exactly what it seems. I had worked as a phone sex operator in my college dorm for money, and there was no end to the funny stories. It really puts sex right out there when you’re describing it in words, sort of weird fetishes, it’s not TV sex before nine o’clock.

Focus Features

Lauren Miller as Lauren and Ari Graynor as Katie in Jamie Travis’ For a Good Time, Call.

Miller: We set the movie 10 years later, where people are in that interesting transition in their lives: Lauren has had a very structured life, and then she gets fired and is with this girl who’s a little bit weird, and that’s when she discovers who she is. Now, as in the film, Katie really did mail panties to callers, had a 10-minute minimum, but we didn’t portray what Katie really heard on the phone when she was 18. That would be a little scary. Graynor: We wanted to make a feel-good movie that would hearken back to the 1980s movies that we loved, with Shelly Long, Bette Midler and Goldie Hawn, the heyday of women’s films that weren’t just about getting the guy. Travis: I knew this film was going to live or die based on the likeability of Katie and Lauren, and the audience’s desire for them to be together. It’s the classic romantic comedy

structure, but applied to friendship and subverted with raunchy subject matter. Like with the scene of Lauren talking to her real-life husband Seth Rogen. That scene’s not about an airline pilot, but about these two girls letting their guard down and becoming friends. One stretch is that you meet a “Mr. Right” through one of your calls, so ably played by Mark Webber. Graynor: Mark brought such a beautiful sensitivity to this character, it was so important for him to not be “creepy,” someone where you could really understand that he was hiding behind the phone, too. Naylon: He’s such a total genius. He wanted to wear glasses, smoke a cigarette and be a little unkempt. Graynor: It’s funny that the more outrageous things nobody would bat an eye at, but the more intimate stuff we actually had to pull back on.▼

Books >>

Travels with Dad by Jim Piechota A Sense of Direction by Gideon Lewis-Kraus; Riverhead Books, $26.95

T

he “direction” that Brooklyn freelance writer Lewis-Kraus takes in his new travel memoir A Sense of Direction is a wildly varying one, yet one with purpose, a cathartic sense of release, and the welcome company of his best friend and his father, a gay rabbi. His book begins with a yearning to be freed from the cigarette-smoking, pretentious art-installation stagnancy of modern life in Berlin (after living in “lovely, provincial” San Francisco for a while), and a restlessness he feels a journey abroad would alleviate. His friend Tom, also a writer, mentions that the two of them should embark upon “our walk across Spain” in order for them to separately “wake up each morning full of the simple, broad purpose of moving forward.” This “walk” simplistically refers to the grand 500-mile Camino de Santiago, a religious Spanish pilgrimage to the city of Santiago de Compostela, demarcated with posted yellow markers and a footpath running through sainted villages. Their journey is documented with writing that flows effortlessly, and highlighted by the many eccentric characters each meet while sweating along the exhausting trail (the map graphic in the book gives a better sense of just how long and physically demanding their trip really becomes). Lewis-Kraus also provides interesting insight into his personal life, raised by parents who were both rabbis. Yet he still developed an “early mistrust of religious authority.” The Camino is just one of three pilgrimages the author

embarks upon that further widen his memoir’s scope. He also takes on an 88-temple tour through the Japanese island of Shikoku (map provided also), which becomes a daunting if transcendental experience for him. But the third leg of his travels is perhaps the most illuminating. Lewis-Kraus is joined by his brother Micah and his plucky father, a man who came to terms with his homosexuality at middle age – though the author admits to having had a hint as a boy when his father’s “least eventful days featured costume changes to rival Freddie Mercury’s.” The author reminisces about his father’s apprehensive coming-out process and the emotional impact it had on his own and his family’s life, and how he viewed his father going forward. There are poignant passages of dialogue and reconnection between father and son here so powerful they almost overwhelm the author’s entire voyage. But they don’t, since LewisKraus’s tri-fold trek remains the driving force behind this beautifully written, secular travelogue that’s as transformational for the author as it is enlightening for the reader.▼

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August 30-September 5, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 25

<< Out&About

26 • BAY AREA REPORTER • August 30-September 5, 2012

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Thu 30 Buster Keaton Films @ Castro Theatre City Lights (2pm, 4:45, 7:30) and Sherlock, Jr. (3:45, 6:30, 9:15). $7.50-$10. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com

Comedy Bodega @ Esta Nocha The weekly LGBT and indie comic stand-up night. 8pm-9:30pm. 3079 16th St. at Mission. www.comedybodega.com

David Barnett @ Under One Roof Sausalito Art Festival

Outta town by Jim Provenzano

W

hether you’re leaving town for real, or just taking a day off, local and regional events can provide amusements that aren’t too laborious to get to this Labor Day weekend. Some take you to distant countries and worlds. Others offer a travel of the imagination, and still more might lure you to the exotic…suburbs!

60th annual festival of art (260 artists), crafts, live music, food, beverages and sunshine. Performers include America, The Yardbirds, Smash Mouth, Herman’s Hermits, Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks, The Grass Roots, The Fixx and more. 9am-6pm; Sun til 5pm. Sept 1-3. www.sausalitoartfestival.org

SF Hiking Club

SF Hiking Club @ Big Basin State Park

Circus Vargas @ Great Mall, Milpitas The California family-run circus returns with their small show with big talents, including jugglers, a human cannon ball, and hunky high-wire acrobats. $20-$65. 4pm-9:30pm. Daily Aug. 31 thru Sept 3. Entrance 3 parking lot, 447 Great Mall Drive. (408) 956-2033. www.circusvargas.com

Chinglish @ Berkeley Rep David Henry Hwang’s ( M. Butterfly) new play, set in China, explores the cultural confusion a businessman faces while attempting to secure a lucrative company contract. $15-$99. Tue, & Thu-Sat 8pm. Wed & Sun 7pm. Also Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru Oct. 7. Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St. at Shattuck, Berkeley. (510) 6472949. www.berkeleyrep.org

California Men’s Gathering @ Camp Newman, Santa Rosa Annual inclusive retreat for empowering events, discussions, community and camping. $235-$465. Aug 31 thru Sept 3. (877) 984-3264. www.thecmg.org

Oakland Pride

Classic animated film is screened with live accompaniment by Korean American musician Donghoon Han on the cine-stage; also, a diverse slate of films set against Han’s unique fusion of nostalgic Korean pop and futuristic synth-based melodies. The program is bookended with sublime nature pics Earth: Man’s Home (1970), The Milky Way (1970s), and other shorts. $10. 8pm. Also, Aug 31, Animated films about birds and flying creatures. 275 Capp St. 558-8117. www.oddballfilms.blogspot.com

Original Plumbing Party @ Elbo Room Three-year anniversary for the transmen zine, with DJs Chelsea Starr, Rapid Fire, live acts by Rocco Katastrophe. $3-$6. 10pm. 647 Valencia St. 552-7788. www.elbo.com

Rights of Passage @ New Conservatory Theatre

The Liar @ Forest Meadows Ampitheatre, San Rafael

World premiere of Ed Decker and Robert Leone’s play about a gay Hindu in Bali, and the struggle for human rights; told with monologues, puppetry, digital media and dance. $22-$40. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru Sept. 16. 25 Van Ness Ave. at Market, lower level. 861-8972. www.nctcsf.org

Marin Shakespeare Festival’s production of David Ives’ adaptation of Pierre Cornielle’s 17th-century fast-paced romp about charming pathological liar. $20-$35. Fri-Sun 8pm. Some 1pm & 4pm matinees. Thru Sept. 23. Dominican University of California, 890 Belle Ave. 499-4488. www.marinshakespeare.org

Rocky Horror Picture Show @ Ohlone College, Fremont

Stellar vocalist performs R&B hits and classics. $35. 8pm. Also Aug. 30. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Bring your toast, squirt guns, drag, etc., to a festive interactive screening of the transtastic scifi musical film based on the stage show. $5. 8:30pm. Smith Center Amphitheatre at Ohlone College 43600 Mission Boulevard, Fremont. (510) 6596031. www.smithcenter.com

War Horse @ Curran Theatre

Vertigo @ Castro Theatre

Touring production of the acclaimed Broadway drama about an English soldier’s horse and the harrowing tale of survival during World War I; performed with innovative life-size puppets. $35-$300. Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat Sun 2pm. Sun 7:30pm. Thru Sept. 9. 445 Geary St. (888) 746-1799. www.shnsf.com/online/warhorse

The classic acrophobia-themed Alfred Hitchcock thriller, set in San Francisco, is screened in 70mm! $7.50-$10. 8pm. Sat-Mon 2pm, 5pm, 8pm. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com

The Waiting Period @ The Marsh

Man Ray/Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism @ Legion of Honor Photographs, paintings, drawings and manuscripts that explore the creative interaction between gay artists Man Ray and Lee Miller, two giants of European Surrealism. Also, Marcel Duchamp: The Book and the Box. And, Gifts From the Gods: Art and the Olympic Ideal, a new exhibit of Greek and Roman artifacts and art related to the lives of athletes of ancient times, and modern works that reflect athletics, including Robert Anderson “Gay Olympics” poster. Free-$10. Thru Oct. 14. Tue-Sat 9:30am5:15pm. Lincoln Park at 100 34th Avenue (at Clement Street). www.famsf.org

Mark Nadler @ The Rrazz Room

Join GLBT hikers for a 14-mile hike on a trail that is mostly in forested areas and leads to some beautiful waterfalls (Berry Creek Falls, Silver Falls, Golden Falls). Bring water, lunch, hat, sunscreen, layers, sturdy hiking boots. Saturday, Sept. 1. Carpool meets 8:30 at Safeway sign, Market & Dolores. (650) 615-0151. www.sfhiking.com

Brian Copeland’s hit solo show, about an intense time when he tried to purchase a gun to kill himself, is extended thru Sept. 29. $33-$53. Fridays 8pm. Saturdays 5pm. 1062 Valencia St. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Sat 1

My Fair Lady @ SF Playhouse

Enjoy a trio of Pride-related events in Oakland Sunday, September 2:

Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi

Oakland Pride @ Downtown Oakland

Musical comedy revue, now in its 35th year, with an ever-changing lineup of political and pop culture icons, all in gigantic wigs. Reg: $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.). 4214222. www.beachblanketbabylon.com

Modern stripped-down (11 actors, two pianos) adaptation of the Lerner & Lowe classic musical based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. $20-$50. Tue-Thu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 3pm. Thru Sept. 29. 533 Sutter St. 677-9596. www.sfplayhouse.org

Day-long LGBTQ celebration, with performances by CeCe Peniston, Clyde Carson, Rah Digga, Martin Luther, DJed dance spaces, kids/family spaces, more than 100 food, beverage and info booths, and thousands of people enjoying the day. $10. 11am-7pm. Franklin Street, between 18th & 22nd. (510) 545-6251. www.oaklandpride.org

Oakland Pride After-Party @ Telegraph & 17th

Chinglish

The Hand @ Oddball Films

Nicole Henry @ The Rrazz Room

Sausalito Art Festival @ Marinship Park

Circus Vargas

Exhibit of the local artist’s colorful male nude paintings. Thru Sept. 9. 518 Castro St. at 18th. www.DavidBarnettArt.com www.UnderOneRoof.org

Fri 31

Enjoy more pride, with CeCe Peniston and Michah Tron; DJs David Harness, Luna, Miss Jackson, PornStar, Rum and others spin tunes. 30-foot outdoor bar. $15 6pm-12am outdoors, 6pm-4am at Bench and Bar. 510 17th St. (510) 4442266. www.bench-and-bar.com

Oakland Pride Tour @ Oakland Museum of Cali. Celebrate Oakland Pride with LGBT History Docent Tours of the Gallery of California History. Discover historic LGBT artifacts and explore the stories behind California’s vibrant, diverse LGBT culture. Take a trip through LGBT history, including the rise of sexual identity questioning in the early 20th century, and the gay liberation movement during San Francisco’s Beat and hippie eras. Hear stories from LGBT lives, and share your own experiences and anecdotes. Meet at entrance to History Gallery. $6-$12. 1pm. 1000 Oak St. Oakland. (510) 3188400. www.museumca.org

Thu 30 Hot Draw @ Mark I. Chester Studio Drawing group for gay men, with a sexy model doing a variety of erotic/kink-themed poses. Donations. Sign-up day-of: 621-6294. 6:30-9:30pm. 1229 Folsom St. www.markichester.com

Fri 31 The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety @ Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Aurora Theatre Company’s production of Kristoffer Diaz’ smart, action-packed play about racial stereotypes in the world of professional wrestling, this metaphor for modern-day America received the 2011 Obie Award for Best New American Play, the Lucille Lortel Award for Best New Play, and was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. $32-$50. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm., Also Tue 7pm. Thru Sept 30. 2081 Addison St. (510) 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org

A Midsummer Night’s Dream @ Forest Meadows Ampitheatre, San Rafael Shakespeare’s summery romantic comedy, where fairies make asses of humans, gets an appropriate outdoor production by Marin Shakes. $20-$35. Thru Sept 30. Dominican University of California, 890 Belle Ave., San Rafael. 499-4488. www.marinshakespeare.org

Cindy Sherman @ SF MOMA Retrospective touring exhibit of 150 photos by the artist who poses as different fascinating and obscure characters. Free-$18. Daily 11am-5:30pm, except Wed. late Thu until 8:45pm. Thru Oct. 8. 151 Third St. www.sfmoma.org

Choose Paint! Choose Abstraction! @ MOAD Exhibit of abstract art by African American artists. Special lectures and programs thru exhibit run. Museum of the African Diaspora, 685 Mission St. 358-7200. www.moadsf.org

Cory Benhatzel @ Modern Eden Gallery Exhibition of mystical animal portraits rich in symbolism. Wed-Sun 11am-7pm. Thru Sept 9. 403 Francisco St. 956-3303. www.ModernEden.com

Earthquake @ California Academy of Sciences New exhibit and planetarium show with various live, interactive and installed exhibits about our ever-shifting earth. $20-$30. Mon-Sat 9:30am-5pm. Sun 11am-5pm. 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. 379-8000. www.calacademy.org

Chuck Close @ de Young Museum Exhibit of the painter’s printmaking works; also, permanent exhibits of Modern art. $6-$20. Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm.. Friday night special events 5:30pm-8:45pm. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, Golden Gate Park. 750-3600. www.famsf.org

San Francisco @ City Art

Karrin Allyson @ The Rrazz Room

Group exhibit of paintings and works in other media, each visualizing San Francisco. 12pm-9pm, Wed-Sun. Thru Sept 1. 828 Valencia St. 970-9900. www.cityartgallery.org

Three-time Grammy nominee performs her cabaret show. $35. 7:30pm. Also Sept 2, 5pm. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

The comic singer performs “Crazy 1961,” retro tunes and fun. $35. 9:15pm. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Occupy Bay Area @ YBCA New exhibit of activist art related to the Occupy protests. Exhibit $8-$10. Thru Oct. 14. Also, David Shrigley: Brain Activity, an exhibit of caustically witty sculptures and visual art. Free-$15. Exhibit thru Sept. 23. $8-$10. 701 Mission St. 978-2787. www.ybca.org

Plantosaurus Rex @ Conservatory of Flowers Exhibit of prehistoric plants and flowers (giant ferns, spiky horsetails) from the Mesozoic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, with life-size models of dinosaurs. Free-$7. Tue-Sun 10am-4:30pm. Thru Oct. 21. 100 JFK Drive, Golden Gate Park. 831-2090. www.conservatoryofflowers.org

Precious Little @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley Shotgun Players’ production of Madeleine George’s comic and heartfelt play about a lesbian mother-to-be struggling with potential childbirth problems while researching a lost Eastern European language, and interacting with an ape. $18-$25. Wed & Thu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 5pm. Thru Sept 9. 1901 Ashby Stage, Berkeley. (510) 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org

RAWdance @ Sanchez Studio Experimental dance series with works by the company, and Smith/Wymore Disappearing Acts, Yayoi Kambara, Palanza Dance, detour dance, and Chris Black. Pay what you can. 8pm. Also Sept 2, 3pm & 8pm. 66 Sanchez St. at Duboce. 686-0728. www.rawdance.org

Time Stands Still @ Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts TheatreWorks’ production of Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies’ Tony Award-nominated drama about a war correspondent couple facing the wounds of war. $23-$73. Tue & Wed 7:30pm. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Also Sun 7pm. Thru Sept. 16. 500 Castro St. at Mercy, Mountain View. (650) 463-1960. www.theatreworks.org

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Out&About >>

Sun 2 Marques Daniels

Hero @ Ruby Skye Popular electronic dance night with DJs Dave Aude and Jamie J. Sanchez. $25. 6pm-12am. 21+. 420 Mason St. www.industrysf.com

Phantoms of Asia @ Asian Art Museum Exhibit of bold contemporary art with perspectives on life, death, nature and other themes. $12-$15. 200 Larkin St. 581-3500. www.asianart.org

Visible Horizons @ SF Arts Commision

August 30-September 5, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 27

Tue 4

Wed 5

Animation Exhibits @ Walt Disney Museum

19th Century San Francisco @ Robert Tat Gallery

See biographical exhibits about Walt Disney, early sketches and ephemera from historic Disney movies. Frequent lectures and film screenings. $5-$20. 104 Montgomery St., The Presidio. www.waltdisney.org

Fascinating exhibit of vintage prints from the Bay Area’s early days. Tue-Sat 11am5:30pm & by appointment. Thru Sept. 1. 49 Geary St. Suite 410. 781-1122. www.roberttat.com

The Art of Dr. Seuss @ Dennis Rae Fine Art

Candlelight Flow Yoga @ LGBT Center

Fascinating exhibit of rarely seen prints, paintings, sculptures and a few of the more known drawings by Theodor Geisel, the author/illustrator of the immensely popular children’s books. Ongoing, with updates and new items. 351A Geary St. 391-1948. www.dennisraefineart.com

David Clark leads various yoga poses and practices, plus meditation and breathing exercises. Bring your own mat and water bottle, etc. $10. 7pm-8:30pm. 1800 Market St. www.4dbliss.com

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 weekly political humor night. $15-$50. 8pm. Thru Nov 6. 1062 Valencia St. at 21st. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Main Gallery 401 Van Ness Avenue (at McAllister), San Francisco, CA 94102 415.554.6080 Open Wednesday - Saturday, 12 - 5pm Air & Space Museum SFAC Gallery Window Installation Site, 155 Grove St. Viewing Hours: 24/7

Group exhibit of art in varied media exploring the relationship between Jewish traditions and trees. Free-$12. Daily 11am5pm Closed Wed. Thru Sept 9. 736 Mission St. 655-7800. www.thecjm.org

Jonathan Poretz @ The Rrazz Room Classy Vegas-style crooner performs with his swingin’ trio. $30. 7:30pm. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 3803095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

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

Mon 3 Piano Bar 101 @ Martuni’s Sing-along night with talented locals, and charming accompanist Joe Wicht (aka Trauma Flintstone). 9pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market. www.dragatmartunis.com

Royal Families of the Americas @ SF Public Library, Harvey Milk Exhibit of photographs by Karen Massing of four years of pageantry and royalty in the LGBT International Court System. Thru Sept. 15. 1 Jose Sarria Court at 16th St. www.karenmassingpix.com www.sfpl.org

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

Women’s burlesque show performs each Wed & Fri. $5-$10. 7pm. 3158 Mission St. 282-3325. www.elriosf.com

Thu 6 The Harder They Come, Marley @ Castro Theatre

Actress discusses her new book, When It Happens To You, with Litquake co-founder Jane Ganahl. Reception with drinks, 6:30pm $50. Discussion $12-$15, 8pm. 2424 Mariposa St. www.litquake.org

Placas: The Most Dangerous Tattoo @ Lorraine Hansberry Theater

Touring exhibit of the historic year, with ephemera, protest posters, interactive media; extended thru Nov 2012. Also, Bay Area figurative art; Dorothea Lange archive, early landscape paintings, Gold Rush Era works, California ceramics. Gallery of California Natural Sciences. $6-$12. 1000 Oak St. Oakland. (510) 318-8400. www.museumca.org

Do Not Destroy @ Contemp. Jewish Museum

Red Hots Burlesque @ El Rio

Molly Ringwald @ The Verdi Club

The 1968 Exhibit @ Oakland Museum of Art

New exhibit marking the 25th anniversary of the AIDS Quilt; a 42-inch interactive touchscreen tabletop that allows users to search through and examine detailed individual images from the 1.3 million square feet of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Visitors experience the size and impact of the quilt in a new way; they can search for an individual‚s name to locate panels in the overall collection and find metadata about that panel and person. Tue-Sun, 10am5pm. (Also 7pm-11pm first Fridays). Thru Oct. 14. 520 South First St., San Jose. (408) 971-0323. www.sjquiltmuseum.org

Classic ‘80s school comedies, at 7pm and 8:45. $7.50-$10. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com

Two reggae-music films. $7.50-$10. 7pm, 9pm. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www. castrotheatre.com

Sun 2

AIDS Quilt Interactive @ San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles

Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Back to School @ Castro Theatre

Paul S. Flores’ drama about a San Francisco Mission family troubled by a historic connection to El Salvador criminals; part of the SF International Arts Fesitval. $13-$30. 8pm. Thru Sept 16. 450 Post St. 399-9554. www.sfiaf.org

Tue 4 Lypsinka @ The Rrazz Room New York’s drag icon returns to perform The Passion of the Crawford, the fascinating audio collage tribute to the film diva. $35. Tue-Thu 8pm. Fri & Sat 9:30pm. Sun 7pm. Thru Sept 16. Also, John Epperson (out of drag) performs An Evening With Lipsynka’s Maid, Sept 17, 8pm. $25. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 3803095. www.lypsinka.com www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Funny Tuesdays @ Harvey’s Ronn Vigh hosts the weekly LGBT and gayfriendly comedy night. One drink or menu item minimum. 9pm. 500 Castro St. at 18th. 431-HARV. www.harveyssf.com

The News @ SOMArts Cultural Center Monthly showcase of new experiemental queer-themed works in dance and performance: Alexander Alvina Chamberland, Ryan Crowder, Philip Huang, Evan Johnson, Laura Hyunjhee Kim, Daniel Redman, Liz Tenuto, and September’s guest host, Peter Max Lawrence $5. 7:30pm. 934 Brannan St. at 8th. www.somarts.org

Smarty Pants Trivia @ Stray Bar Kitty Tapata hosts the game show fun with popcorn and prizes at the dog-friendly gay/ straight bar in Bernal Heights. Tuesdays, 8pm. 309 Cortland. www.straybarsf.com

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 10am4pm. Thru Dec. 7. 300 Fourth St. 957-1849. www.californiapioneers.org

Sundance Saloon @ Space 550 The popular country western LGBT dance night. $5. 6:30pm-10:30pm with lessons from 7:00 - 8:00 pm. Also Sundays 5pm10:30pm with lessons from 5:30-7:15 pm. 550 Barneveld Ave. www.sundancesaloon.org

Tubesteak Connection @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge Retro disco tunes and retro cruisy crowd, each Thursday; DJ Bus Station John plays records. $4. 10pm-2am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.com

VGL 5’ 4” Top @ Exit Theatre Lucas Brooks’ comic solo show about the difficulties he’s faced finding a sex partner who wants a shorter top man. Part of the San Francisco Fringe Festival. $10. 8:30pm and various dates/times thru Sept. 16. 277 Taylor St. www.sffringe.org

To submit event listings, email jim@ebar.com. Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication.

In this issue... bartabsf.com

Life & Death in Black & White @ GLBT History Museum AIDS Direct Action in San Francisco, 1985–1990, focuses on the AIDS activist photojournalism of Jane Philomen Cleland, Patrick Clifton, Marc Geller, Rick Gerharter and Daniel Nicoletta. Selection of other LGBT historic items also on display, now include Pride-themed items, including rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker’s sewing machine and other items, plus a marriage equality and LGBT faith community ephemera. $5. New expanded hours: Mon-Sat 11am-7pm. Sun 12pm5pm. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

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<< DVD

28 • BAY AREA REPORTER • August 30-September 5, 2012

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Coming soon to a home theater near you by David Lamble

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ere are some noteworthy LGBT films that are due to be released on DVD or Blu-ray this coming fall. Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait of James Dean Director Matthew Mishory takes some chances in a mythic B&W take on the “lost” year 1951, when a 20-year-old James Byron Dean bummed around Hollywood exchanging blowjobs for professional grooming, flirting with young women on the make, but really getting down and dirty with guys: his introvert roommate, a casual beach pickup, and a cynical radio producer with a big pool and a curious infatuation with The Little Prince. This rough-and-tumble life is the basis for a bitterly funny desert chat between Dean – on the eve of his explosive debut on Broadway and TV’s Golden Age of live dramas – and a frustrated, would-be starlet now reduced to grooming hot boys for Tinseltown’s brutal powerbrokers. “Shouldn’t let guys hit you.” “It hasn’t stopped you, has it?” “Guy’s got to be able to take a punch in this town. Beatings, boots, bondage, I’ve done it all – all the experiences that life has to offer.” “Movie stars don’t hang around with the dregs of the earth.” “I’d take the dregs over the powers-that-be any day. I’ve had to get my cock sucked by every big name in Hollywood.” Half-a-century after his rivals for greatest American film actor have lost their luster – Marlon Brando by abusing his body and his talent, and Paul Newman by turning into an iconic salad dressing – James Dean remains forever young, forever gay, his patented ability to just be on screen now the signature of Sundance-era rebels Paul Dano, James

Courtesy Frameline

A pool scene from Matthew Mishory’s Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait of James Dean.

Franco and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Cloudburst In Act I of this rudely funny, linguistically profane, lesbians-on-the-run road comedy from Canada’s Thom Fitzgerald, Stella, a pickup truck-driving, heavy drinking lesbian who swears like a sailor, sneaks into a rest home where her 30-year squeeze Dot has been committed. “Hey, you know you’re not supposed to be up there after 9:30.” “I feel like I’m nine years old again!” “You know the rules.” “That’s what Joseph Goebbels said.” In addition to a rip-roaring tale of two old gals who still fuss, fight and fuck, the movie levels all the anal-retentive, violence-to-earthy Anglo Saxon cuss-words, FCC rules that have all but destroyed over-theair American TV. In a telling moment, Stella has hitched a ride with a gentleman who’s not fond of the “C-word.” “What takes you to Canada?” “I’m going to meet up with Dottie and get away from her cunt-faced

daughter.” “I wish you wouldn’t use the ‘Cword.’” “What, are you crazy? Cunt is for punctuation. I love cunt. Cunt is a temple, cunt is fast food. Cunt, pussy, snatch – just saying the words makes me drool.” The son of a British sea cook, I’ve never fully trusted folks who don’t swear. In Stella and Dot I trust, plus their young boychik hitchhiker companion isn’t so bad, either. The Wise Kids A still photo from this LGBT film festival favorite shows a high school senior at the beach. What the photo doesn’t reveal is that Tim (Tyler Ross) has just received a mortifying rebuke from his brother, Braxton. What could be the beginning of an adult lifetime of estrangement for these teen siblings is jump-started when their loving dad confirms the 13-year-old’s suspicions about his bro, headed for New York film school. Director Stephen Cone’s serious, novel-quality ensemble piece, inspired by a real-life Charleston,

Courtesy Frameline

A bar scene from Thom Fitzgerald’s Cloudburst.

South Carolina church youth group, minutely tracks the centrifugal forces unleashed when a church’s “good school citizen,” its brightest, sweetest, kindest and most-likely-to-succeed, stringbean-skinny young man, starts to allow his heart to pull him out of his faith. The Wise Kids revels in paradox, like such great stories of families in trouble as The Ice Storm. The minister’s daughter, Brea (Molly Kunz), returns home late from a local queer-friendly club to discover dad asleep in his chair clutching his Carl Sagan; a sexually frustrated church woman barely resists confronting her bitterly closeted choir-teacher hubby; the teacher puts a hunky straight boy up on a cross that physically crumbles, leaving him prostrate at the altar. The Wise Kids joins the Georgia-based Sahkanaga as heartfelt local-color films that straddle the uneasy divide between love and faith. My Best Day Director Erin Greenwell’s small-town slice of dyke mumblecore kicks off in a rundown refrigeration business.

It’s the 4th of July, and the gal on duty gets an emergency call from a dude who seems suspiciously like her long-missing dad. Karen and her buddy Megan (Ashlie Atkinson, the lesbian terrorist “Muffler” from Another Gay Movie) head out only to discover an unplugged fridge and a house full of wildly eccentric menfolk: dad’s 20-something boyfriend living on the couch in denial, a stepbrother approaching a dangerous age ripe for both sex and martial arts, a kleptomaniac and gambling-addicted sister, and, almost anticlimactically, dad himself. Whether your taste for hick weird runs to TV’s Northern Exposure or big-screen Napoleon Dynamite, you’ll get a hoot out of this hyperbolic if intelligent spoof long before the climactic fireworks. Elliot Loves The peripatetic adventures of a lovesick 21-yearold Dominican-American begin as a flashback, as a nine-year-old, TV-raised kid breaks the fourth wall with an impudent spoof of his mom’s favorite shampoo ad. Mom uses a break in The Price Is Right to shout through a locked bathroom door at her curly-haired, precocious little monster. One of the fascinating tricks one-named filmmaker Terracino pulls off, ping-ponging between Elliot as a man and as a man-child, is to demonstrate that even the smartest kids don’t necessarily mature as they age. Because his kid self is the man of the house (at least when mom’s psycho boyfriends are MIA), in some ways we mourn the social smarts that adult Elliot appears to lose as he dumbs himself down for the queer-bar dating game. Terracino makes flashy use of parallel story structure, creating a Hispanic American queer-boy hero who transcends his ghetto-bound mom’s soap opera fantasies.▼

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Television >>

August 30-September 5, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 29

Trap, neuter, premiere by Victoria A. Brownworth

W

e’re still pretty excited about the new fall season. It helps distract us from the now-regular mass shootings across the country (the Empire State Building now? Really? This is not King Kong, folks!) as well as the vicissitudes of electionyear politics. We do feel compelled to note, however, that politicians who can’t think on their feet should stay off the tube. Those endless videotape replays are so career-damaging. Of course this would mean nearly all of them, but we were thinking specifically of Todd Akin. There’s really nothing that hasn’t been said about this already at least a thousand times, but speaking from the vantage point of a former rape victim (“legitimately” raped by a stranger and brutally beaten on Sept. 4, 2002), we were utterly unsurprised by this tidbit: The only celebrity to come to Akin’s defense was Kirk Cameron (Growing Pains), who did so on Today just two days after Akin’s rape comments. This would be the same Kirk Cameron who said a few months back on both Piers Morgan’s show on CNN as well as on Today that marriage equality was “unnatural,” “detrimental” and “ultimately destructive to society.” This time Cameron was on Today plugging his new documentary about religion in American government, in which Akin appears. He said Akin was “a good man.” If you say so, Mr. Hater. Zealots do seem to gravitate toward each other. Is it any wonder we were looking for some seriously escapist TV to drown out the noise? Some terrific shows have already started. Hotel Hell debuted with two of the most irritating queens in TV history. One of them was Finnish, but could not have acted more like a Nazi throughout the majority of the two-part premiere if he’d been dressed like an SS guard. Both of them were vile, self-absorbed, vicious, dreadful to their employees, smugly self-important – pick a negative adjective (or a string of them) and apply it. But since this is a Gordon Ramsay show, their lovely rural hotel was fixed by Ramsay with help from the long-suffering and underpaid staff, and the queens were redeemed in the end. Including the Finnish Nazi, who actually learned how to apologize. Hotel Hell is incredibly compelling. Roaches, bedbugs and all. There are so many good shows about to debut, we wish we had more DVRs. Plus, our old queer favorites will be back shortly: Glee returns Sept. 13, Modern Family and Suburgatory return Sept. 26, Grey’s Anatomy returns Sept. 27, Revenge returns Sept. 30 in its new Sunday time slot where Desperate Housewives used to be, and The Good Wife returns the same night. We’re sure there are more returning shows with central LGBT characters that we’re just forgetting. No, sadly, that’s it. (We don’t count reality TV shows with actual queers on them.) Still, excited as we are about the new season, we’re already more than a little irked by two of the new shows debuting with gay characters, which begs an important question: Is it okay to hate (or just intensely dislike) shows with gay characters when there are so few of them? Let’s say yes. Part of the mainstreaming of queers into straight culture is manipulating them to seem just like straight people. In the cat-rescue business there is trap, neuter, release. On the tube the same thing seems to apply to gay male characters. Gay men with real sexuality, or what we bluntly call balls, appear to be too dangerous for prime

time. Or so it would seem. Why can’t we have any truly sexual gay men on the tube? What’s so scary? Heterosexual couples on TV regularly share passionate kisses, push each other onto beds or up against walls, and touch, touch, touch. Why can’t gay male couples do this? Would showing strong, virile, obviously sexual gay male characters make straight men leave their wives and girlfriends for other men? Will it be the end of society as we know it? Somehow we doubt TV is that powerful. And yet, we get the neutered gay male, time after time. CBS has never had a major gay character in a show (we don’t count the lesbian surrogate mother in Rules of Engagement who lasted half a season: third-tier characters do not a queer presence make). This is why we were looking forward to Partners. It was created by the same team, Matt Mutchnick and David Kohan, that created Will & Grace, and like W&G, it’s a show featuring two gay male characters in a four-person ensemble. Now, we really enjoyed W&G for at least the first few of its eight seasons. But after a time all the squealing by Sean Hayes’ Jack and the stomachbumping between Jack and Karen (Megan Mullally) started to wear on us. Nevertheless, it was consistently funny and, on occasion, even groundbreaking. Even though the show ended in 2006, it remains the “most successful television series with gay principle characters,” according to Mutchnick and Kohan. Alas, it is no longer 1998, and CBS’ Partners, which may be the least funny sitcom to air in a long time and possibly ever, has no hope of besting its progenitor, W&G. The premise strains credulity: Louis (Michael Urie) is gay, and Joe (David Krumholtz from Numbers) is straight, and they are “lifelong friends,” because just like the tired trope of the white hero and black best friend/sidekick, that happens so much in real life. Louis and Joe work together. Hilarity is supposed to ensue, but doesn’t. We saw an interview with Sophia Bush, who plays Joe’s fiancee Ali, on one of the tabloid shows. She was very sweet and thrilled about how much she was personally doing for LGBT rights by just being on this show. She didn’t mean to be condescending, we could tell by her earnestness. But seriously, it’s 2012, and this is a sitcom for which you are getting paid royally. It’s not walking the gauntlet in Little Rock in 1954. But back to the show itself. Louis (how could he help but be gay with that name?) is a high-maintenance queen just like Jack was on W&G, except unlike Jack, Louis has a boyfriend and a job. The representation has really evolved since 1998. Oy. Over at NBC, we have another desexed gay couple. The New Normal features a gay Los Angelino couple (oh, don’t get all excited that they might be Latino, Asian or AfricanAmerican, they’re white) whose life is perfect except they don’t have a baby. Bryan (of course he spells it with a y) and David seek out a surrogate. Enter Goldie (because there are so many women who aren’t hookers with this name). As the single mother of eightyear-old Sharia (as in Sharia law? Really? How long before we hear about a terrorist subtext?), she’s just aching to change her life. And what says change your life like having another baby for a couple of gay strangers? Goldie’s mother, Jane, is the show’s bright spot. She’s played with vicious alacrity by Ellen Barkin. Hilarity, of the sort that considers stereotypes hilarity, ensues. Since Barkin is in the cast (a pivot much like Martha Plimpton in Fox’s

very funny Raising Hope), there are some laughs here. And the show’s cocreator is Ryan Murphy from Glee. But despite these pluses, this is a show where the very idea of the characters is both unoriginal and grating. We’ve already been watching the stereotypical neutered gay male couple with a kid on ABC’s Modern Family for three full seasons. It’s the top sitcom on the tube, it is always funny and has won a crapload of Emmys. But that’s because it moves seamlessly among the three families in the show, all of whom are related, and also has stellar acting and pitch-perfect writing. But let’s remember that we see the two heterosexual couples on Modern Family being sexual, and we never see the gay male couple being sexual. Neutered. We also witnessed a gay male couple trying surrogacy and then adopting on ABC’s Brothers & Sisters, which had a series wrap in May after five seasons. ABC has another surrogacy storyline (plus another stereotypical gay male couple) on Suburgatory. So nothing new here. Except possibly that there’s some noise off in the Internet distance from that stupid right-wing group One Million Moms, which is really more like 40,000 moms. This group went after Ellen and JCPenney back in the spring when Ellen became JCP’s spokesperson for their new ad campaign. The ads were great and the boycott was a failure, because moms shop at JCP and they don’t care if Ellen is the spokesperson, because they watch her every afternoon while the kids are napping. We’re pretty sure that the people who would be watching The New Normal are not the same people who would be among the One Million Moms anyway. So that boycott is over before it’s even started. Fred Silberberg, a gay family law attorney who heads a group called Future Family

CBS-TV

Joe (David Krumholtz) and Louis (Michael Urie) in the new sitcom Partners, created by the team who came up with Will & Grace.

Starters, is going after the show for other reasons. According to a press release from Silberberg’s PR person, Silberberg is concerned that the show will give gay couples the wrong idea about the complicated nature of surrogacy: legal, moral, social, emotional. “While I applaud Ryan Murphy for bringing surrogacy to prime time, its portrayal is incorrect and could turn prospective parents and surrogates away from the process,” says Silberberg. The way TNN presents surrogacy is just too easy-breezy, he says. This, frankly, is the least of our concerns about the show. If you are getting your information on anything serious in your life from a sitcom, you shouldn’t even be having children. Silberberg both credits and decries Murphy for bringing surrogacy to prime time, but Murphy has done no such thing. Surrogacy has been addressed on many TV shows, including shows with gay characters. Silberberg was silent about B&S, Suburgatory (which has a pretty dark surrogacy storyline, actually) and other shows in the past, including the hit series Sisters, Friends and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, all of which have broached the topic with

both queer and straight characters as many as 20 years ago. Young & Restless just had a surrogacy storyline a few months ago. It’s actually more common on the tube than it is in real life, so we’re not sure why Silberberg is targeting The New Normal and Murphy.

Complex lives What concerns us about TNN is that it’s just one long string of stereotypes. Still funny, but the neutered gay male feels a little like the gay Stepin Fetchit to us. (There’s also the drop-dead gorgeous, perpetually bisexual lipstick lesbian, but that’s another TV stereotype for another day.) Let’s take a little trip over to the CW and The LA Complex to watch some unneutered gay men. We admit, we love this show. We tried not to love it, but there it was in the Ringer time slot after Ringer went on summer hiatus, so we got sucked in. And were we glad, because this Canadian import has one of the most realistic gay male storylines on the tube. But (and we don’t mean this to sound pejorative) the gay men are all black. This may be why they are allowed to be blatantly and viscerally sexual, beSee page 33 >>

<< Society

30 • BAY AREA REPORTER • August 30-September 5, 2012

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Celebrity presence by Donna Sachet

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ongratulations to the Emperors of San Francisco on their 40th year of community service, celebrated recently at the ARC with nearly every living Emperor in attendance, some from as far away as New York, Palm Springs, and SoMa. Empresses were in great number as well, traveling from Dallas, New York, Palm Springs, and the Castro. Even Jose Sarria, the very first Empress of San Francisco, was there from Albuquerque looking fit and happy. It was an elegant evening with passed hors d’oeuvres, hosted bar, historic slide show, awards to Gail Wilson and Empress Remy Martin, and musical entertainment by Trauma Flintstone and Queen Cougar. Sundays are quickly becoming the night to go out again, as vividly demonstrated on Aug. 19. After two exhausting shows at Harry Denton’s Starlight Room, we dashed to Public Works for the Bare Chest Calendar Dinner Date Auction, typically one of the biggest fundraisers for AIDS Emergency Fund and Positive Resource Center from this energetic group. This year, the auction went silent rather than live, giving guests the opportunity to eat from the steaming buffet, drink copiously, and bid leisurely at the table provided for the date of their choice. The calendar was for sale and certainly evidences a great variety of male pulchritude, as Mr. Marcus used to famously say. Among those bidding or posing were Lance Brittain, Derek Brocklehurst, Becca Brewer, Jay Wiley, and Ralph Amman. As the auction ended, Suzan Revah and her back-up dancers reprised their hit performance of I Just Wanna F***in’ Dance to kick off the dance party. Next stop for us was BeatBox for Anthem, where Brian Kent, newly relocated to San Francisco, added his live singing to the dance music of DJ Brian Reyes. We can’t say enough about this great club, which is just over a year old now and pulling crowds in on a regular

Steven Underhill

Legendary Broadway star and 2011 Kennedy Center honoree Barbara Cook played the Rrazz Room last week.

basis. The space has great flexibility, the sound system is incredible, the laser and other lights are fabulous, the bartending staff is accommodating, and talent fills the stage and the DJ booth consistently. Under the influence of a gaggle of friends, we then headed over to Honey Sound System, the Sunday night event at Holy Cow. Here, the crowd is tremendously diverse but welcoming, the multi-room space is confusing but intriguing, and the music is loud but unfamiliar. Try it! SF Pride hosted its check distribution party last Tuesday at the LGBT Center, awarding over $142,000 to some 75 community partners in this year’s Pride Celebration. We emceed the lively proceedings, which included Parade

contingent recognition, sponsor acknowledgements, and food and drink. After some years of obvious financial challenges, SF Pride seems to be back on solid footing, and smiles abounded. Among the crowd were Grand Marshal Sister Roma, Reigning Emperor Bradley Roberts and Empress Sissy St. Clair, John Caldera, Troy Brunet, Reverend William Knight, Jim Oerther, and Michelle Jester. Legendary Broadway star and 2011 Kennedy Center honoree Barbara Cook took the Rrazz Room by storm last week with sold-out houses each night, and for an added Sunday matinee. What a rare opportunity to see and hear such a superstar in an intimate cabaret setting! She tried new material, took courageous chances with notes and delivery, and won over each attendee with her charm, wit, and extraorSee next page >>

Coming up in leather and kink Thu., Aug. 30: Koktail Club Happy Hour at Kok Bar (1225 Folsom). 5-10 p.m. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Sat., Sep. 1: Boot Lickin’ at The Powerhouse. 9 p.m.close. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Thu., Aug. 30: Underwear Night at The Powerhouse. Strip down for drink specials. 10 p.m.-close. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Sun., Sep. 2: Truck Bust Sundays at Truck. $1 beer bust. 4-8 p.m. Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Thu., Aug. 30: Remedial Ropes: Beginning Bondage with Stefanos & Shay at the SF Citadel (181 Eddy). $20. 8 p.m. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org. Fri., Aug. 31: Fridays Underwear at Kok Bar. Boxers, jockstraps, undies and drink specials! 10 p.m.-close. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com. Fri., Aug. 31: Transmission, for trans people and our friends at the SF Citadel. $25. 10 p.m.-1 a.m. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org. Fri., Aug. 31: BSDM 101: Back to School Edition at The Powerhouse. Knotty Brent, Tyger Yoshi, Jell-O shots, live demos in two rooms. 9 p.m.-close. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Sun., Sep. 2: Men in Gear Monthly Beer Bust at Kok Bar. 3-7 p.m. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com. Sun., Sep. 2: PoHo Sundays at The Powerhouse. Dollar drafts all day! Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com. Mon., Sep. 3: Trivia Night with host Casey Ley at Truck. 8 p.m. Go to: www.trucksf.com. Mon., Sep. 3:Dirty Dicks at The Powerhouse. $3 well drinks. 4-10 p.m. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com. Tue., Sep. 4: Busted at Truck. $5 beer bust. 9-11 p.m. Go to: www.trucksf.com. Tue., Sep. 4: Safeword: 12-Step Kink Recovery Group at the SF Citadel. 6:30 p.m. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org/calendar/.

Fri., Aug. 31: Truck Wash at Truck (1900 Folsom). 10 p.m.-close. Live shower boys, drink specials! Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Tue., Sep. 4: Drosselmeier’s Dream: Creating and Playing with Human Dolls and Toys at the SF Citadel. 8 p.m. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Sat., Sep. 1: SF Citadel Newbie Munch. 6 p.m. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Wed., Sep. 5: Pit Stop at Kok Bar. Happy Hour prices 5 p.m.-close. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Sat., Sep. 1: Leather Beer Bust at Kok Bar. $5 Rolling Rock Beer Bust, $3 all other beer and well Koktails. 5-9 p.m. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Wed., Sep. 5: Wolf! for Furry Men on the Prowl at the Watergarden (1010 the Alemeda, San Jose). Lockers are half-off. Go to: www.thewatergarden.com.

Sat., Sep. 1: All Beef Saturday Nights at The Lone Star (1354 Harrison) 100% SoMa Beef! 9 p.m.-close. Go to: www.facebook.com/lonestarsf.

Wed., Sep. 5: Naked Buddies at Blow Buddies (933 Harrison), male-only club. Doors open 8 p.m.-12 a.m. Play till late. Go to: www.blowbuddies.com.

Sat., Sep. 1: Stallion Saturdays at Rebel Bar (1760 Market). Revolving DJs, afterhours fun! 9 p.m.-4 a.m. Go to: www.stallionsaturdays.com.

Wed., Sep. 5: Underwear Night at The Powerhouse. Free clothes check. 10 p.m.-close. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

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Erotica>>

August 30-September 5, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 31

Holy lads by Ernie Alderete

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srael Views (Bruno Gmuender) works on multiple levels in its soldier set-ups. Uniform devotees will of course be delighted, but Israel Views transcends that genre by a long, wet cum-shot. The book’s title is a clever play on words. The photographer’s surname is Israel. At first glance I could not tell if his pictures were the genuine article – that is, actual Israeli soldiers. They were 100% authentic-looking – the men, the uniforms, the equipment, including military materiel and vehicles – but the delightful subjects were just a little too pretty for your average, run-of-the-mill grunts in any army. I soon learned that Kobi Israel set out to recreate his own mandatory induction into the Israeli Army at 18. Kobi claims he used actual real-life stills, along with posed recreations, to visualize the crush of emotions (apparently mostly erotic!) that he felt back then. But I can’t tell which pictures are honest-to-goodness real-life stills, and which are supposed recreations. All of the pictures meld into one subtle, seamless sea of masculinity. It’s the most realistic gay military scenario I’ve ever seen, not just a bunch of guys wearing dogtags playing make-believe. Israel Views is completely softcore and vanilla. There’s not even a glimpse of the so-called meat and potatoes. So there is obviously no sex, but there is an incredibly high degree of intimacy, tinged with barely understated eroticism. The book is totally inoffensive – there’s no wrapping naked bodies, however macho and attractive, in the Star of David flag. Just clean-cut snapshots of young, half-naked soldiers in the arid Negev desert, at their most appealing. Nor is there anything belligerent in Israel Views. Never is one race, religion or nationality pitted against another. The best picture depicts a pair of privates hitching a ride along a paved highway with a kiosk behind them covered in advertising, in Hebrew script. A superb image, it sets the mood perfectly. The standing soldier in black leather boots, balancing on the

Untitled (Soldiers No. 5), photograph by Kobi Israel.

slightest hint of a ledge curbside, wears a lightweight, khaki-colored uniform. His buddy squats in the roadway. We see this same pair in both the front- and back-cover fold-out pages, tenderly embracing without their uniforms. What we first only suspected is now confirmed: they are an intimate couple for the moment, if not for life. Several shots set the standard for solo composition. The men not only are alone in the pictures, but define solitude itself. One shirtless soldier, Tiran, walks forlornly down a winding dirt road, his shirt slung over his shoulder. Another picture of Tiran shows him in the thick brush just

off that dirt road, perhaps looking for a private spot to rest or take care of personal business. But this time you get the feeling that you’re a peeping Tom peering into private space, invading his world. Subtle nuances, perhaps including body language, create an aura. Another picture captures Tiran at water’s edge, perhaps the Dead Sea or the River Jordan. We see him from behind, seven-foot-tall stands of foliage on either side, perfectly framing the composition. We also see Tiran in profile, taking a big gulp from his canteen, a brisk breeze blowing his unbuttoned shirt, exposing his well-developed chest. All of the models are Mediterranean-looking, dark-haired, in t their early- to mid-20s, the kind of men you’d expect to find in t Israeli army. There’s not a bad the p picture or an unattractive or unc convincing model in the bunch. A few pictures show soldiers a alone in repose on their cots. T These might be the real-life stills t the photographer mentioned. B Israel Views is no one-trickBut p pony. There are several photos w with multiple first-rate models, f from two to six men. Not one s single model was wasted. Each o brought something unique one to the table. Several photos show th guys in not much more than the th jockstraps. You get the feeltheir in the orgy is about to begin. You ing fe that after the camera was set feel d down, they got down to serious b business.▼

Steven Underhill

Shawna Hamic of the cast of Les Miserables had some fun performing at a recent REAF benefit.

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On the Town

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dinary talent. We were amazed to see that Lypsinka will make her return to San Francisco at the Rrazz Room, Sept. 4-16. Don’t miss her! Finally, this past weekend was all about birthdays, with a splashy Saturday night benefit for the ARC to celebrate Terry Penn, popular manager of the Edge bar, and a loving

gathering to honor Emperor Steven Rascher at Marlena’s on Sunday. Labor Day weekend kicks off with the much ballyhooed WE Party this Saturday at Mezzanine. Touting an international reputation, a dizzying array of DJs, and over-the-top visual displays, this event promises to dazzle San Francisco, and we can’t wait! Surely you’ve gotten your tickets by now for Olivia Newton-John’s return to San Francisco on Sept. 13

at the Golden Gate Theatre! She is ready to share with us decades of award-winning music from her early country roots to pop, from the hit movie Grease to the amazing Xanadu, and perhaps some tidbits from Sordid Lives and her newest film My Best Men. Few singers have received her critical acclaim, popular success, and career longevity. Let’s welcome her to San Francisco with open arms!▼

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32 • BAY AREA REPORTER • August 30-September 5, 2012

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Music >>

There’s no-one like Nona Hendryx by Gregg Shapiro

Q

ueer singer/songwriter Nona Hendryx has had the kind of career longevity that many musicians can only dream of. Best known as one-third of the groundbreaking soul/rock trio Labelle (who not only had a massive hit with “Lady Marmalade,” but also sang with Laura Nyro), the uncompromising Hendryx has had an unconventional solo career, daring to go in musical directions (performing with Bill Laswell’s Material, doing backing vocals for Talking Heads) few others would ever consider. Her latest album, Mutatis Mutandis (Righteous Babe), was released this summer. Gregg Shapiro: Before we get to Mutatis Mutandis, I’d like to go back a few years. The last time I interviewed you was with Patti and Sarah, when the Labelle reunion disc was released. Looking back on the disc and the tour, how would you describe your experience? Nona Hendryx: It was a lot of things! It was joyful, exhilarating, difficult, interesting, enlightening and a great experience. Of the nine songs that you wrote or co-wrote on Mutatis Mutandis, were any of them written during the Labelle reunion period? Those songs came out of me over a period of time since 9/11. I’ve written many songs since then, but this is a group of songs that live together. The most recent is “Mad as Hell.” With songs such as “Tea Party,” “The Ballad of Rush Limbaugh” and “Mad as Hell,” not to mention your cover of “Strange Fruit,” would it be fair to say that Mutatis Mutandis is one of your most political recordings? Yes, I would say it’s the most, as a set of songs. We were always political as Labelle, and within my solo career, there’ve been social statements, some political, but more dealing with social thoughts and feelings. But this is much more pointedly political.

Queer singer/songwriter Nona Hendryx wants to nourish your soul.

You make reference to the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, in “Tea Party.” We are speaking a few days after the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado, another example of senseless gun violence. What are your thoughts about that? Only how sad it is. Looking at this you see how impossible it is to legislate the individual. This has been an ongoing problem, and I think we can look to European countries and learn a strong lesson about gun control. It still happens; it happens everywhere. We are just more prone to that type of violence because of how we have accepted weaponry over time, since the birth of our country. I parallel that with the desire to legislate a woman’s body. Which one is more threatening and more violent? One gives birth, one gives life. One takes life. And you want to legislate the one, but not the other. I don’t understand it. My brain can’t compute that. “Temple of Heaven” was cowritten with queer singer and bass-playing legend Gail Ann Dorsey. How did that collaboration come about? That came about through me and Felicia Collins. Felicia and I had this grand idea of putting together a rock/metal/funk band, and one of

the people we immediately thought of was Gail. We were talking with Cindy Blackman, the drummer who has worked with Lenny Kravitz, and recently married Carlos Santana. That was going to be the band, that’s what we were working on. This is one of the songs that came out of our first get-together to see what we could make. Grammy-winning lesbian jazz drummer Terri Lyne Carrington performs on the song “Let’s Give Love a Try,” and you can be heard singing on Carrington’s rendition of your song “Transformation” on her Mosaic Project album. What did it mean to you to have that song covered by another performer? It’s not the first time. It’s the same, but different. Terri is really talented, and she has this great ability to take something like “Transformation,” which is a funk-pop groove, written by me and Carole Pope and Kevin Staples, and give it another life, in horn and piano parts. I think it’s beautiful. It’s one of my favorite things that I have now. Amidst all the anger and frustration on the disc, love offers hope on the songs “Let’s Give Love a Try” and “When Love Goes to War.” Do you think love stands a chance in these times?

Love always stands a chance! They say, “Perennial as the grass, it will bloom.” As long as there are young and old hearts, people who’ve been jaded, crushed or hurt by life’s experiences, that is the thing that powers our getting up every day and walking through the pain and difficulties that are part of the human experience. Nine of the 10 songs on the disc are original compositions. Why did you choose to cover “Strange Fruit?” I’ve been moved by that song for I don’t know how many years. It was so owned by Billie Holiday. I found it difficult to get to, to interpret, to feel that I could actually do it justice in any way. When there were a lot of noose hangings in America, in the South and somewhere in the Northeast. It brought back that vivid image. With the rise of the Tea Party and other things, it just felt like that kind of thing could happen again. There was that young gay man who was left hanging on the fence a few years ago, he was killed. It felt so palpable that that kind of energy was on the rise in America. I went into my studio one day and made my version of the song, That’s the way for me to express it rather than, say, getting angry and doing something that would be harmful to me or to others. Music is my release. Your version is very effective. Mutatis Mutandis was released on Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe label. How did that come to be? Through Lisa Barberis, who manages me and Cyndi Lauper and other people. She knew someone in England, Ian Blackaby from Ardent Music, and she introduced me to him about releasing it in Europe and the UK. Because here in America, these kinds of political and social recordings aren’t so welcome. He said, yes let’s do this. He also represents Righteous Babe, and he said they

might be interested. We worked out an agreement so that they would do the distribution and I do the other grunt work, the marketing, promotion and stuff like that myself. It really is the new way, because the music business became topheavy and toppled over. Unfortunately, those on the lower rungs were crushed by it, because the outlet for many artists was the labels, who could provide tour support and other things that go with promotion. Without that, basically it’s going back to the old-school way of selling your music directly to your fans, which is how people did it in the beginning. We’re making that happen again. You mentioned Cyndi Lauper, who has collaborated with Harvey Fierstein on a new Broadway-bound musical based on the movie Kinky Boots. Do you have a Broadway musical in you? I have a musical, but it may not be Broadway! It’s based on my Skin Diver album. I’ve been working on that with Charles Randolph-Wright, who is preparing the Broadway musical of The Berry Gordy Story. Charles and I have been working together for quite some time. We worked on plays with music called Blue and Oak and Ivy that were performed at Arena Stage [Washington, DC]. Skin Diver has been our longawaited baby that we’re birthing! When your tour comes to town, what can people expect? They can expect my high-energy, funky, rocking performance, where your head is nourished, and your soul is nourished, and your booty is shaking!▼

DVD>>

Monroe, Merman & gay Johnny Ray by Tavo Amador

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ifty years after her death at 36, Marilyn Monroe remains unchallenged as Hollywood’s most famous blonde. So firmly is her legend in place that it has obscured the bumpy trajectory she followed before reaching full stardom. While the camera eventually worshiped her, it wasn’t love at first sight. In 1950, for example, she had featured roles in The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve. In both she showed a shrewd toughness not normally associated with her. And in both, she hadn’t learned to part her lips to conceal her underbite. In 1953, however, she established herself. Her incandescence lit up the screen in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She was radiant, funny, the smartest dumb blonde of the era. She and Betty Grable scored in How To Marry a Millionaire, although Lauren Bacall stole the movie. That same year, her studio, 20th Century Fox, had another hit, Call Me Madam, in which Ethel Merman recreated her Tony Award-winning performance in Irving Berlin’s acclaimed musical. In what turned out to be an unlikely casting coup, the studio co-starred Merman and Monroe in There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954), recently re-

leased in a new DVD. The plot centers around “The Five Donahues,” a family of vaudevillians: Molly (Merman), Terry (Dan Dailey), and their children, Tim (Donald O’Connor), Steve (Johnny Ray), and Katy (Mitzi Gaynor). When the kids are little, Molly insists show business is no life for them. So they are enrolled in boarding school while Mom and Pop make a living, successfully managing the transition to Broadway musicals, revues, and nightclubs. The children, of course, have ideas of their own. Tim and Kay join the family business, while Steve finds a different calling. Tim falls in love with singer/ dancer Vicky Parker (Monroe), and their romance is a rocky one. He and Terry have a falling out that devastates the family. Katy, meanwhile, finds love with Charles Gibbs (Hugh O’Brien, before TV’s Wyatt Earp). The sentimental story is acted in a straightforward manner by the leads, but it’s the nonstop Irving Berlin numbers that are fascinating and make the movie memorable. Merman, O’Connor, Dailey, and Gaynor had years of musical comedy experience, and their abilities shine – all are ex-

cellent. Merman is in sensational voice. On her own, she sings “A Simple Melody” and “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody.” She and Dailey are splendid with “Remember” and singing and dancing to “When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam’,” the latter reprised by the gifted O’Connor and Gaynor. Merman and Gaynor hoof and belt “A Sailor’s Not a Sailor (Til a Sailor’s Been Tattooed).” They all memorably perform “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.” With the exception of one scene, Monroe looks great. She deliv-

ers a sexy rendition of “After You Get What You Want, You Don’t Want It,” and is funny b being “Lazy,” while O’Connor a and Gaynor are wonderful d dancing around her. She’s c charming with O’Connor on “ Man Chases a Girl (Until “A S Catches Him),” but her She b big solo, “Heat Wave,” revealed h her limitations. Vocally, she’s fine. Alas, she cannot overccome the unflattering costtume, which makes her look tthick-waisted, or comfortably h handle Jack Cole’s choreogrraphy. (The number needed tthe rare combination of great d dancing and smoldering magn netism that Rita Hayworth had.) Monroe, who previously had been saddled with unexciting leading men (Tommy Noonan, David Wayne), succeeds in making the audience believe that she loves the eternally boyish O’Connor. She holds her own with Merman in their dramatic confrontation. Ray (1927-90), a singer who in 1951 had the first double-sided hit with the mawkish “Cry” and “The Little White Cloud That Cried,” was popular at the time. Known as “The Prince of Wails,” his other bestselling songs included “Just Walkin’ in the Rain” and “Walkin’

My Baby Back Home.” His brief marriage failed to conceal his homosexuality, which, in that intensely homophobic era, hurt him professionally. His decline was also compounded by the rapid rise of rock n’ roll, which made him seem old-fashioned. In the movie, he belts the maudlin “If You Believe,” which viewers may forgive because his character has become a priest. (That’s a heavy price to pay for an awkward screen presence.) The glorious finale has firstbilled Merman leading the cast in an unforgettable delivery of the title song, which she introduced in Annie Get Your Gun (1946). Walter Lang’s direction is unimaginative (one can only wish Vincente Minnelli had been given the assignment), but the film moves quickly. Phoebe and Henry Ephron wrote the screenplay, from a story by Lamar Trotti. Travilla and Miles White designed the costumes – the gown Merman wears at the end is astonishing. Leon Shamroy’s color cinematography is superb. The movie wasn’t the expected success. Monroe went on to greater acclaim, but it effectively ended Merman’s belated chances for film stardom. More than six decades later, however, it’s an irresistible guilty pleasure.▼

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August 30-September 5, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 33

Fall 2012 films

From Arts cover

(10/12) Liberal Arts “Nobody feels like an adult. It’s the world’s dirty secret.” A decade out of school, Jesse (writer/director Josh Radnor) attends the retirement dinner for his favorite college professor (Richard Jenkins). His old campus (the movie was filmed at Radnor’s actual alma mater, Kenyon College) looks deceptively familiar: there’s the female professor he had a crush on (Allison Janney), who’s rather mean after their night in the sack: “Put some armor around that gooey little heart of yours.” There’s the bi-polar lost boy (John Magaro) who’s a little too devoted to the novels of David Foster Wallace. And there’s Zippy the available coed (Elizabeth Olsen), who constantly challenges Jesse’s 30-something “wisdom.” “So you’re saying things suck, and I should prepare myself for suckiness?” “No, a liberal arts education solves all your problems. It’s worth every penny.”

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“Thank God!” (9/28) Chicken with Plums The makers of the Iranian-based graphic novel animation Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, return with a time-bending romantic tale involving a sad musician and a love that got away. (9/7) Red Hook Summer Spike Lee offers a passionate “home movie” made with his film students, about an aging black pastor and an ugly secret from his past. (8/31)

The Loneliest Planet Russian émigré director Julia Loktev places a couple soon to be married (Gael Garcia Bernal and Hani Furstenberg) on a pre-honeymoon hike through Georgia’s Caucasus Mountains. Drama ensues when one of the pair slips up during a bizarre encounter with the natives. (11/2) Sleepwalk with Me A wannabe comic, whose stage act is marred by feeble jokes indifferently delivered,

Fall 2012 music

From Arts cover

regular subscription concerts featuring guest conductor Semyon Bychkov before Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas is back in the house. The venerable institution isn’t hanging fire because of a hangover from the amazing centennial season, just doing some heavy juggling with MTT’s schedule and commitments abroad. Not having the super conductor on the podium at Davies Symphony Hall until Wednesday, Sept. 19 shouldn’t keep us holding our breath for long. Bychkov, with violinist Pinchas Zukerman in a program of Bruch and Tchaikovsky, and even more enticingly, with an evening devoted to Shostakovich’s massive Symphony No. 7, Leningrad, ought to blow the dust off the acoustic discs at Davies, and the arrangement does offer a respite from all the social hoopla surrounding the usual back-to-back opening nights. Once the Michael is back in charge, this year’s gala looks pretty darn swell, with Joshua Bell a suitably glamorous, famous and talented guest artist. Selections from Romeo and Juliet by Berlioz, violin pieces by Chausson and Saint-Saens, and a concluding Ravel’s Bolero may not top last year’s centennial bash, but the SFS always does opening night with tasteful restraint and flair. September ends with MTT bringing back the Mahler Fifth, and leading the West Coast premiere of an SFS co-commission with the New World Symphony, Drift and Providence (nicely evocative title, don’t you think?) by Samuel Carl Adams. The California-born, Brooklynbased composer is making his own

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Frameline

Thure Lindhart and Zachary Booth in Ira Sachs’ Keep the Lights On.

Lavender Tube

From page 29

cause that’s a different stereotype, the hypersexual black male. Sigh. It’s so complicated. Or maybe not. The storyline between Kaldrick King (super sexy and oh-so-hunky Andra Fuller) and Tariq Mohammad (the sweet but tough and believable, no-stomachbumping, not-self-absorbed, nosquealing Benjamin Charles Watson) is serious, real-life relationship material. Kaldrick is a hip-hop artist trying to get back on track, and Tariq is trying to move through the land mine of the LA music world. The down-low drama in the black community gets addressed, the necessity for machismo, the violence that hovers beneath the surface of the hip hop

Karen Almond, courtesy of Dallas Opera

Composer Jake Heggie’s and librettist Gene Scheer’s Moby-Dick, with Ben Heppner as Captain Ahab and Morgan Smith as Starbuck.

name as a creator of acoustic and electroacoustic music, keeping it fairly quiet that his famous dad John has already made some big shoes for him to fill. The following weeks include some exciting conductor debuts. Russian Vladimir Jurowski (Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic) is leading a big Russian bill of Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev. The Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, and guest soloists join in the US premiere of a new arrangement of Prokofiev’s thrilling score to a film about Russia’s first Tsar, Ivan the Terrible. Also in October, Dutch violinist and conductor Jaap van Zweden (Music Director of the Dallas Symphony) takes the podium for

a weighty program of Wagner and Brahms, sandwiching the return appearance of pianist David Fray and his performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22. Don’t let the French virtuoso’s GQ looks fool you. He already proved his talent and technique here during his SFS debut in 2010. MTT closes the month on Halloween night with a subscription series program that features more Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev and the world premiere of SFS Assistant Concertmaster (he started in 1972) Mark Volkert’s work for string orchestra, Pandora (another good title). That concert also brings pianist Yuja Wang to center stage for the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2. After the usual round of holiday

and rap worlds, it’s all there. Kaldrick and Tariq are so attractive to the audience that they have their own fan page on Facebook. Let’s see if Bryan and David get one of those. Kaldrick is tortured. He doesn’t know how to be out. He tries to kill himself after he beats the crap out of Tariq because he’s fallen in love with him. This storyline on LA Complex explores what happens when homophobia and conflicting cultures collide. It’s real. Just like the passion between the two central gay male characters is real. The first time they kissed, the heat was palpable. At least one of the gay men in a TV relationship has to be shrieking or squealing, has to be excessively queeny (which is fine, we love queens, but we’d like to see a butch top once in a while, too), there has to be hang-

ing out with straight women friends, there has to be obsession with things that women are supposed to be obsessed with, from shopping to waxing to looking at cute guys’ asses. Louis is somehow the only man in an all-female yoga class, for example. Because he’s not really a man, he’s, you know, gay. And neutered. We know we are supposed to be thrilled that there are two sitcoms with gay male couples featured this season. But what’s the message in The New Normal? That gay men trade a sexually vibrant relationship for a baby, and that the only way a woman can make her life make sense is to have a baby for gay strangers. We reiterate, it’s 2012. Women and gay men really can be fully realized characters on TV in dramas and sitcoms. Let’s try that for a change.

William Lucas Walker

Peter Staley in a scene from David France’s ACT-UP era documentary How To Survive a Plague.

gets more mileage from a heavily fictionalized spin on his private life with a long-suffering girlfriend. Mike Birbiglia adapts his stage play, employing the cultural tropes of “nonfiction” storytelling refined over the years by Ira Glass for his popular public radio show This American Life. (8/31) Flight Denzel Washington stars

as a hero pilot whose great moment unravels under closer examination. Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future) helms a cast including Don Cheadle, John Goodman, and Melissa Leo. (11/2) The Guilt Trip A mother/son road trip from hell puts Seth Rogen in the driver’s seat, with Barbra StreSee page 34 >>

events, including Handel’s Messiah conducted by SFS Chorus Director Ragnar Bohlin, there is a lot of music to consider in 2013. January brings a semi-staged production of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt conducted by MTT that includes Grieg’s beloved incidental music, supplemented by pieces composed by Alfred Schnittke and Robin Holloway, among others. Get to the box office tout suite for the first concert performances by an orchestra of Bernstein’s West Side Story in June. I don’t know how they plan on doing it without dancers, but I don’t care, this is a major treat for anyone who loves Bernstein and his greatest score. Could there be anyone better than MTT to make it all happen? Before we forget, the New Century Chamber Orchestra and Music Director and Concertmaster Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg also have an intriguing season planned. I especially wouldn’t want to miss the celebration of Benjamin Britten’s centennial with concerts in September that feature soprano Melody Moore singing Les Illuminations. NCCO has enjoyed a surge of energy since SalernoSonnenberg joined in 2008.

While we’re talking about theatrical musical personalities, we had better take a look at 2012-13 at the San Francisco Opera. Music Director Nicola Luisotti opens the 90th season with Verdi’s Rigoletto, starring Serbian baritone Zeljko Lucic in the title role. I’m looking forward to hearing the role really sung rather than gasped and barked, by a younger specialist who still has the voice. Catch Lucic’s stunning performance on DVD in the Nikolaus Lehnhoff production if you need convincing.

There is more glorious Italian melody on tap in late September with Bellini’s bel canto treasure I Capuleti e I Montecchi (you know, Romeo and Juliet). Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato is Romeo, but opera isn’t really about gender specificity, and I would look forward to any appearance by the dazzling diva, regardless of her apparel. The highly anticipated San Francisco premiere of Jake Heggie’s and librettist Gene Scheer’s Moby-Dick in October will finally bring the work, co-commissioned and produced by the SFO and already a triumph in Dallas and other productions, to the War Memorial. Ben Heppner is Captain Ahab. Jay Hunter Morris (a big hit here in the Ring Cycle as Siegfried) will take over the part at the end of the run. Also in repertory that month, a production new to SF of Wagner’s Lohengrin will star Brandon Jovanovich (another stand-out SFO Ring performer) in the title role, and another SFO veteran, Gerd Grochowski (The Makropulos Case), as Friedrich von Telramund. Puccini’s Tosca opens in mid-November with two bona fide divas as the fiery opera star and tormented lover. Angela Ghorghiu is alternated by Patricia Racette. Talk about luxury casting! The fall-winter season ends in March with a world premiere of a coproduction with Cal Performances of The Secret Garden by Nolan Gasser and Carey Harrison. Based on the beloved book by Frances Hodgson Burnette, the project is aimed at luring families and younger audiences to an institution that is often stereotyped as stuffy and elitist. Hey, you don’t have to sell me. I know the SFO is not only on the cutting edge, but also endearingly eager to please.▼

In other queer TV news, our pal Rosie O’Donnell had a heart attack. Rosie has always been excessively open about her life, and this event was no exception. She chewed some aspirin (the right thing to do), then went to bed (the wrong thing to do: she should have gone straight to the hospital). The next day when she did see the doctor, tests showed she had a 90% blockage in an artery. Rosie is lucky: she’s still alive. Heart disease is the leading killer of women. A heart attack at 50 is unusual, but Rosie has been candid about her battles with weight, as well as her battles with eating healthily. In recent months she had even appeared on Dr. Oz to talk about trying to change her eating habits. The TV tabloids and national news outlets all used O’Donnell’s

heart attack to jump-start discussion on the issue of heart attacks in women, because women are far more likely to ignore symptoms of a heart attack than men. In case you missed this cautionary tale, if you have chest pain, pain in your neck or jaw, or pain in your left arm, if you have shortness of breath, if you feel dizzy, sweaty and clammy, get yourself to the doctor. As ABC’s Chief Health and Medical Editor Dr. Richard Besser noted in discussing this heart attack, doctors would much rather have some cases turn out to be nothing than have one person die unnecessarily. Rosie said that things she had seen on TV helped her remember both the symptoms and the remedy for a heart attack. So for that reason and so many others, you really must stay tuned.▼

Nights at the opera

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

34 • BAY AREA REPORTER • August 30-September 5, 2012

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From page 33

isand riding shotgun. (12/25) Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away Andrew Adamson delivers an original story employing the cast of this famous troupe. (12/21) V/H/S A horror anthology with this premise: a gang of thugs arrives at a lonely rundown rural house seeking a mysterious piece of found footage. They discover a corpse, a collection of old TVs, and a huge pile of old horror tapes. This gives V/H/S’ multiple directors the chance to slice and dice some great, gruesome moments from a variety of lost treasures. The film coincides with a new movement among horror fans to honor low-tech work

produced before the digital era. (10/5) Hands of Stone For all the lunatic passion devoted to soccer in Latin America, boxing still separates the men from the boys in a culture where macho remains a compliment. Venezuelan Jonathan Jakubowicz assembles an awesome international cast to examine the five-decade career of Panamanian legend Roberto Duran. Gael Garcia Bernal portrays the ring warrior who reportedly jumped in the ring at eight, turned pro at 16, and didn’t hang up his gloves until turning 50. Robert De Niro plays Duran’s famed trainer Ray Arcel, and pop star Rusher appears as Duran’s most durable opponent, Sugar Ray Leonard. (2013) (Release dates are subject to change.)▼

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