December 8, 2016 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Bay Area Reporter

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Vol. 46 • No. 49 • December 8-14, 2016

Diaz, accused in assault, back in jail

Bay Area grieves Ghost Ship fire victims

by Seth Hemmelgarn

D Hundreds of people gathered at Oakland’s Lake Merritt Monday for a candlelight vigil to mourn the 36 lives lost in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire.

by Seth Hemmelgarn

any in the Bay Area are grieving the loss of 36 individuals, including three who identified as transgender people, who died in a fire at an Oakland warehouse known as the Ghost Ship. The space, which had reportedly

housed several artists, was the site of an electronic music concert Friday night, December 2, when a three-alarm blaze erupted at 11:32. Officials are investigating what led to the fire at the Fruitvale district warehouse, which had been the subject of complaints as recently as November.

One of the victims, Cash Askew, 22, of Oakland, was part of the band Them Are Us Too. Askew recently told journalist Beth Winegarner, “As a young teenager, I was definitely attracted to goth and new wave in part because See page 21 >>

avid Munoz Diaz, who was acquitted in 2014 of murdering another man during a sexual encounter in San Francisco’s Buena Vista Park, and then released from jail in September in an unrelated Rick Gerharter arson case, is back in custody after he allegedly as- David Munoz Diaz at his 2015 saulted another man. Diaz, 27, was booked arraignment. into custody Tuesday, November 29 on suspicion of assault with force likely to commit great bodily injury, unlawful use of a badge, false imprisonment, mayhem, and battery with serious bodily injury, according to sheriff ’s department records. He allegedly bit the victim’s head, “taking See page 22 >>

Castro homeless program sees results Safe injection Michael Nugent

by Matthew S. Bajko

less noted their friendly interaction was a success. Members of the arly last Thursday morncity’s Homeless Outreach Team, ing Elester Hubbard and twice a week they are hired by the Charles Garcia set out on Castro Cares program to focus a loop through the heart of San solely on interacting with homeFrancisco’s Castro district in less individuals in the gayborhood. search of homeless individuals “Sometimes we get a warm interested in utilizing an array welcome and sometimes people of city services, from temporary don’t want to be bothered. All of housing to medical care. our services are voluntary,” said Stocked with a number of care Hubbard, who has worked for packages – plastic re-sealable bags more than a year as an emergency filled with power bars, a juice box, responder for the city’s Homesocks, and toiletries, they walked less Outreach Team and has been first along the 500 and 400 blocks working for the Castro Cares proof Castro Street then turned north gram since August. “Even if they Rick Gerharter up Market Street and stopped at decline services, we aim to build a Jane Warner Plaza, the public par- Homeless Outreach Team members Elester Hubbard, left, and Charles rapport with them.” klet built at the intersection there Garcia offer assistance to a couple of men sitting near the Muni platform. On this morning on a section of 17th Street. Hubbard and Garcia when he asked if she needed any services. She Half a dozen homeless individwere also promoting the uals were hanging out next to the Muni platform told the B.A.R. she avoided staying in city-run December 7 Project Homeless Conin the plaza, and several accepted the pair’s offer shelters because she has “a lot of anxiety issues.” nect event, where homeless individuOriginally from Los Angeles, Evans said she als could access numerous services of a care package. One woman, Lexie Evans, 25, arrived in San Francisco in February when she had slept in the parklet that night with a male under one roof. Over the course of 90 left Humboldt. Overall, she has had a “positive” minutes, they had encountered close companion, as she said the person they had been experience while in the city. staying with was in the hospital. to a dozen people on Market Street between “I haven’t had any problems out here. It has Castro and Octavia Boulevard, many they had “I like it better than the Haight. People are friendlier here,” Evans, who is bisexual, told been fun getting to know the interesting per- never met before. sonalities out here,” she said, adding that the the Bay Area Reporter when asked why she had Most engaged with them briefly, either acceptCastro “has become home to me.” spent the night in the city’s LGBT district. ing a care package or a flier about the upcomWhile Evans and her friend declined their Earlier, when asked by Hubbard how her See page 15 >> health was, Evans responded, “OK,” but declined offer of services, Hubbard and Garcia nonethe-

sites get boost from Garcia by Cynthia Laird

afe injection sites, supported by harm reduction advocates as a way for homeless people who use drugs and other addicts to do so in a supervised environment, Rick Gerharter got a boost last week Health Director from Health Director Barbara Garcia Barbara Garcia. Garcia addressed a Board of Supervisors committee meeting last week where she was quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle as saying, “I think even if we were to open one it would be very successful.” That comment prompted a wave of support from LGBT health advocates and others. Gay Supervisor David Campos tweeted his support of Garcia’s comment December 1. “THANK YOU to Health Director #BarbaraGarcia for having courage to say she supports supervised safe injection sites as a matter of health policy!” he wrote. See page 21 >>

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YOU MATTER AND SO DOES YOUR HEALTH

That’s why starting and staying on HIV-1 treatment is so important.

What is DESCOVY®?

What are the other possible side effects of DESCOVY?

DESCOVY is a prescription medicine that is used together with other HIV-1 medicines to treat HIV-1 in people 12 years and older. DESCOVY is not for use to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection. DESCOVY combines 2 medicines into 1 pill taken once a day. Because DESCOVY by itself is not a complete treatment for HIV-1, it must be used together with other HIV-1 medicines.

Serious side effects of DESCOVY may also include:

DESCOVY does not cure HIV-1 infection or AIDS. To control HIV-1 infection and decrease HIV-related illnesses, you must keep taking DESCOVY. Ask your healthcare provider if you have questions about how to reduce the risk of passing HIV-1 to others. Always practice safer sex and use condoms to lower the chance of sexual contact with body ﬂuids. Never reuse or share needles or other items that have body ﬂuids on them.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION What is the most important information I should know about DESCOVY? DESCOVY may cause serious side effects: •

•

Buildup of an acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious medical emergency. Symptoms of lactic acidosis include feeling very weak or tired, unusual muscle pain, trouble breathing, stomach pain with nausea or vomiting, feeling cold (especially in your arms and legs), feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and/or a fast or irregular heartbeat. Serious liver problems. The liver may become large and fatty. Symptoms of liver problems include your skin or the white part of your eyes turning yellow (jaundice); dark “tea-colored” urine; light-colored bowel movements (stools); loss of appetite; nausea; and/or pain, aching, or tenderness on the right side of your stomach area. You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or serious liver problems if you are female, very overweight, or have been taking DESCOVY for a long time. In some cases, lactic acidosis and serious liver problems have led to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any symptoms of these conditions. Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. DESCOVY is not approved to treat HBV. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV and stop taking DESCOVY, your HBV may suddenly get worse. Do not stop taking DESCOVY without ﬁrst talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to monitor your health.

•

Changes in body fat, which can happen in people taking HIV-1 medicines.

•

Changes in your immune system. Your immune system may get stronger and begin to ﬁght infections. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any new symptoms after you start taking DESCOVY.

•

Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider should do blood and urine tests to check your kidneys. Your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking DESCOVY if you develop new or worse kidney problems.

•

Bone problems, such as bone pain, softening, or thinning, which may lead to fractures. Your healthcare provider may do tests to check your bones.

The most common side effect of DESCOVY is nausea. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or don’t go away. What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking DESCOVY? •

All your health problems. Be sure to tell your healthcare provider if you have or have had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis virus infection.

•

All the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Other medicines may affect how DESCOVY works. Keep a list of all your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist. Ask your healthcare provider if it is safe to take DESCOVY with all of your other medicines.

•

If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if DESCOVY can harm your unborn baby. Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking DESCOVY.

•

If you are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/ medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088. Please see Important Facts about DESCOVY, including important warnings, on the following page.

Ask your healthcare provider if an HIV-1 treatment that contains DESCOVY® is right for you.

IMPORTANT FACTS (des-KOH-vee)

This is only a brief summary of important information about DESCOVY® and does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your condition and your treatment.

MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT DESCOVY

POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF DESCOVY

DESCOVY may cause serious side effects, including:

DESCOVY can cause serious side effects, including:

• Buildup of lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious medical emergency that can lead to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these symptoms: feeling very weak or tired, unusual muscle pain, trouble breathing, stomach pain with nausea or vomiting, feeling cold (especially in your arms and legs), feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and/or a fast or irregular heartbeat.

• Those in the “Most Important Information About DESCOVY” section.

• Severe liver problems, which in some cases can lead to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these symptoms: your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow (jaundice); dark “tea-colored” urine; loss of appetite; light-colored bowel movements (stools); nausea; and/or pain, aching, or tenderness on the right side of your stomach area. • Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. DESCOVY is not approved to treat HBV. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV, your HBV may suddenly get worse if you stop taking DESCOVY. Do not stop taking DESCOVY without ﬁrst talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months. You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or severe liver problems if you are female, very overweight, or have been taking DESCOVY or a similar medicine for a long time.

ABOUT DESCOVY • DESCOVY is a prescription medicine that is used together with other HIV-1 medicines to treat HIV-1 in people 12 years of age and older. DESCOVY is not for use to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection. • DESCOVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. Ask your healthcare provider about how to prevent passing HIV-1 to others.

• Changes in body fat. • Changes in your immune system. • New or worse kidney problems, including kidney failure. • Bone problems. The most common side effect of DESCOVY is nausea. These are not all the possible side eﬀects of DESCOVY. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking DESCOVY. Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with DESCOVY.

BEFORE TAKING DESCOVY Tell your healthcare provider if you: • Have or had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis infection. • Have any other medical condition. • Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. • Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed if you have HIV-1 because of the risk of passing HIV-1 to your baby. Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take: • Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist. • Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist about medicines that should not be taken with DESCOVY.

HOW TO TAKE DESCOVY

GET MORE INFORMATION

• DESCOVY is a one pill, once a day HIV-1 medicine that is taken with other HIV-1 medicines.

• This is only a brief summary of important information about DESCOVY. Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more.

• Take DESCOVY with or without food.

• Go to DESCOVY.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5 • If you need help paying for your medicine, visit DESCOVY.com for program information.

DESCOVY, the DESCOVY Logo, GILEAD, the GILEAD Logo, and LOVE WHAT’S INSIDE are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. All other marks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners. © 2016 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. DVYC0021 11/16

Community News>>

December 8-14, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 5

SF Pride resolves lawsuits over shootings by Seth Hemmelgarn

ne man who was shot and another who was injured during shootings at recent San Francisco LGBT Pride celebrations have resolved their lawsuits with the event’s organizers. In complaints filed in May, Freddy Atton and Mahlik Smith claimed that they’d been hurt because the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee had failed to provide adequate security. In response to emailed questions, George Ridgely, the Pride Committee’s executive director, said the Atton case “settled on terms acceptable to all parties, and those terms are confidential. The Smith case has also been resolved, and the resolution is confidential.” Ryan Lapine, an attorney representing Atton, who was 64 when he was shot, and Smith, 19, said in a brief phone call, “The parties reached satisfactory settlement to

resolve their disputes.” He said he couldn’t answer more questions. According to court records, Atton’s case was settled November 30. Smith’s was dismissed with prejudice December 1, which essentially means the case can’t be re-filed. Atton, of San Francisco, was shot in the arm June 27, 2015, after “a large fight broke out” on Fulton Street west of Hyde, which was inside the Pride festival perimeter. He claimed in his complaint that the Pride Committee allowed someone “to bring a handgun into the celebration.” “There was no security in sight to address the fight, to dissipate it, or to eject the combatants,” the complaint says, and the celebration was allowed “to descend as it does annually into lawlessness.” Atton’s injuries included losing the use of his left hand, according to court records. He’d sought at least $10 million in damages. Joshua Spencer, 20, has pleaded

not guilty to charges including attempted murder and assault with a semiautomatic firearm in the incident. Spencer, whose next court date is Friday, December 9, is in custody on $2.5 million bail. Smith, who’s from Oakland, was injured as he fled a shooting at the June 30, 2013 celebration. His complaint says that after 6 p.m. that night, the party “was still in full swing. A group of young men began fighting outside the celebration and were allowed to proceed” inside “without anyone stopping them. ... The committee’s safety volunteers, in the middle of this, just up and left.” Eventually, at least one of the people involved in the fight “began to display a handgun and rob attendees.” Nobody from SF Pride tried to stop the fight or throw out the people involved, the documents say, and soon after the 6:30 closing time, “one of the combatants fired into the crowd shooting at least two victims.”

Rick Gerharter

People sat on the lawn in Civic Center during the June 30, 2013 San Francisco Pride celebration.

Smith “was shoved to the ground by the stampede” that resulted, “his head striking a metal pole before hitting the ground,” his complaint says. He became unconscious during the incident and later started having “debilitating and frequent migraine headaches.” (Two weeks before the Pride party, he’d suffered a concussion while playing sports, but after being released from the hospital that

time he’d “suffered from no symptoms and, importantly, had never experienced a migraine in his life,” his complaint says.) Smith’s brother, Monte Smith, 20, was also injured and was originally part of the complaint, but he was eventually removed as a plaintiff. The brothers had sought at least $5 million. During the court proceedings, Pride organizers had fought demands that they add metal detectors and bag checks, among other security tactics, to the June 2016 celebration, but they relented shortly after the mass shooting June 12 at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Forty-nine people died and 53 people were injured. The Pride celebration and parade draw hundreds of thousands of people every year. Proceeds from donations at the festivities have resulted in over $2.5 million going to local nonprofits that work on issues ranging from HIV/AIDS to homelessness.t

Trial starts in San Diego Pride nudity case by Matthew S. Bajko

jury trial kicked off this week in a San Diego federal courtroom that could impact how local police departments throughout California enforce nudity laws at various community events, such as LGBT pride festivals, and outdoor gatherings. At the heart of the lawsuit are allegations that San Diego police use different standards when enforcing the city’s rules governing public nudity depending on the venue. It stems from an incident at the 2011 San Diego Pride festival where police cited Will X. Walters, a gay San Diego resident, for violating the nudity rules. Walters’ attorney, Chris Morris,

has argued that the police In his opening remarks applied a separate, more Tuesday, Morris told the restrictive, standard of eneight-person jury that the forcement of the city’s nuevidence in the case “will dity ordinance at the annual show Mr. Walters was treatLGBT Pride festival than ed differently,” by the police used at straight events, such “because of who he was, as beach athletic tournawhere he was and what he Vito Di Stefano ments and the city’s worldrepresented,” according to famous Comic-Con event, Plaintiff local media reports. which feature women in Will X. Walters Deputy City Attorney scanty outfits. Stacy Plotkin-Wolff coun“If you go to the beaches, you tered that Walters wasn’t the only will see women in G-strings all day person asked to cover up at that long. If you can have a G-string on year’s Pride event. As local media at the beach, you can certainly have reported, she told the jury that the a G-string on at Pride,” Morris told police also approached a man wearthe Bay Area Reporter by phone last ing chaps and exposing his buttocks month. “They looked at it with bias.” and a woman without a shirt wearing

pasties who both agreed to cover up. “The same rules apply to everyone equally,” Plotkin-Wolff said in her opening statement. “Mr. Walters doesn’t believe those rules apply to him though.” The legal case has been winding its way through the courts since 2012, when Walters first filed a complaint against the city, several police officers, and Pride organizers. In March 2013 San Diego Pride’s motion for dismissal was granted, and Walters amended his complaint. In 2014, U.S. District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo ruled in the city’s favor, and Walters appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A threejudge panel on the appellate court

overturned her decision this past April and sent the case back for a jury to decide if the San Diego police had violated Walters’ 14th Amendment right to equal enforcement of the law. He is also seeking unspecified damages for emotional distress, as he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following the incident. According to his lawyer, Walters has incurred $1 million in legal fees in pressing his case. Walters, 35, told the B.A.R. that the last five years “honestly, it has been rough.” Most of his focus has been on an organization he started, Free Will USA. “Right now I do the best I can See page 17 >>

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<< Open Forum

t Safe injection sites should be studied

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 8-14, 2016

Volume 46, Number 49 December 8-14, 2016 www.ebar.com PUBLISHER Michael M. Yamashita Thomas E. Horn, Publisher Emeritus (2013) Publisher (2003 – 2013) Bob Ross, Founder (1971 – 2003) NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird ARTS EDITOR Roberto Friedman BARTAB EDITOR & EVENTS LISTINGS EDITOR Jim Provenzano ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko • Seth Hemmelgarn CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ray Aguilera • Tavo Amador • Race Bannon Erin Blackwell • Roger Brigham Brian Bromberger • Victoria A. Brownworth Brent Calderwood • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Belo Cipriani Richard Dodds • Michael Flanagan Jim Gladstone • David Guarino Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell • John F. Karr Lisa Keen • Matthew Kennedy • Joshua Klipp David Lamble • Max Leger Michael McDonagh • David-Elijah Nahmod Paul Parish • Sean Piverger • Lois Pearlman Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota • Bob Roehr Donna Sachet • Adam Sandel • Khaled Sayed Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith • Sari Staver • Jim Stewart Sean Timberlake • Andre Torrez • Ronn Vigh Ed Walsh • Cornelius Washington Sura Wood ART DIRECTION Jay Cribas PRODUCTION/DESIGN Max Leger PHOTOGRAPHERS Jane Philomen Cleland • FBFE Rick Gerharter • Gareth Gooch Lydia Gonzales • Jose Guzman-Colon Rudy K. Lawidjaja • Georg Lester • Dan Lloyd Jo-Lynn Otto • Rich Stadtmiller Steven Underhil • Dallis Willard • Bill Wilson ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS Paul Berge • Christine Smith ADVERTISING/ADMINISTRATION Colleen Small VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVERTISING Scott Wazlowski – 415.829.8937 NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863

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an Francisco Health Director Barbara Garcia has never opposed the idea of safe injection sites for drug users. Her comment at a Board of Supervisors hearing last week raised the possibility that the city could operate such a site, which has long been a goal of harm reduction and homeless advocates. They reason that if people who live on the streets inject drugs in a safer environment, they might reduce their use or get clean. At a minimum, they wouldn’t be using dirty needles that put them at risk for HIV and other diseases, such as hepatitis C. During the Bay Area Reporter’s participation this week in a second Day of Coverage as part of the SF Homeless Project organized by the San Francisco Chronicle, we say it’s time for city leaders to prioritize a pilot program to study the issue. At last week’s hearing, Garcia was quoted by the Chronicle as saying, “I think even if we were to open one it would be very successful.” That prompted an outpouring of support from policy leaders, harm reduction advocates, and others, who want to see the city try innovative programs to reduce homelessness. As Garcia told us earlier this year during an editorial board meeting, determining the exact location of a safe injection site (also called supervised injection facilities) is one of the thorniest issues. Most neighborhoods would be opposed to hosting one and would surely scrutinize the location’s proximity to schools, parks, and other areas frequented by children. But a progressive city like San Francisco must find a location for a pilot program to address a growing problem. This week, Garcia estimated that the city has up to 22,000 injection drug users, and that a single location would not be enough. She’s right. But this first step is a pilot program, which, if it’s successful, would likely ease residents’ concerns and pro-

vide insight about identifying other locations. Most people encounter drug users shooting up in doorways or in plain view on the streets. A managed facility would be cleaner and safer than the streets, bringing injection drug users in contact with trained harm reduction specialists and health workers. Garcia noted in a statement to us that state and federal law currently do not allow safe injection sites. But San Francisco has been a leader of innovative public policy before. We see it with the city’s sanctuary city policy, and it was true three decades ago in response to the AIDS crisis. State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) has told us that he’s open to such facilities – with the caveat that they be well managed so as not to create negative impacts on the neighborhood. In support of local decision-making, he said that state law should not be a barrier to local jurisdictions implementing safe injection sites. One of the hurdles for advocates is Mayor Ed Lee, who remains opposed to safe injection sites. “I am not immediately buying arguments” of advocates, the mayor told us. For years syringe exchange programs have helped reduce the spread of HIV and hep C.

It was a controversial idea too; back in the 1990s, the Board of Supervisors regularly had to declare a public health emergency to enable the programs to operate. But the city kept at it because needle exchange worked. And the programs continue today for that same reason. Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York City recently praised that city’s decision to allocate $100,000 to study supervised injection facilities. The agency noted that there are now approximately 100 such programs operating in at least 66 cities around the world in nine countries. The first North American supervised injection site opened in Vancouver, Canada in 2003, and the evidence has shown that the sites reduce HIV and hepatitis transmission risks, prevent overdose deaths, reduce public injections, reduce discarded syringes, and increase the number of people who enter drug treatment, GMHC noted in a news release. “For too long, local governments have rejected supervised injection facilities because of our collective discomfort with the painful challenges of drug addiction,” GMHC CEO Kelsey Louie said in a statement. We know the city’s budget will suffer if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his campaign statements to cut federal funds to sanctuary cities. But allocating $100,000 like New York is a realistic option to study safe injection sites. During a meeting about how to develop stories about people who are homeless for the Day of Coverage, reporters and editors from more than 80 media outlets reached consensus that we should focus on solutions. To us, safe injection sites offer one possible way of reducing harm caused by drug users who are living on the streets. And, in the long run, such facilities might significantly reduce costs down the line, like emergency responders and unnecessary hospital visits. We encourage the mayor to talk to health officials and include some money in the budget for a study.t

More than a game: How sports act as a platform for social change by Maddy Federman

gay American, I know what it means to look at the flag and not have it protect all of your ocial inequality is deeply rooted in liberties,” United States women’s soccer American culture and in recent years team veteran Megan Rapinoe told Amerihas been on the rise. During the football can Soccer Now after kneeling during the season, this escalation caused Colin Kaepeanthem. Rather than diluting Kaepernick’s rnick, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, initial message, Rapinoe’s ongoing protest to demand a change. Using his platform as highlights the validity of it while expressing a professional athlete, he decided to kneel solidarity. during the United States’ national anthem. Kaepernick is allowing athletes to quesKaepernick’s protest has undoubtedly tion why they stand for the anthem and if been effective in bringing attention to the the country they are standing for supports Courtesy AP issues of racial injustice in the United States. issues that they believe are substantial. Prior However, that narrative is in danger of Eric Reid, left, and Colin Kaepernick kneel during to 2009, it was not standard practice for NFL being lost by those questioning the means the national anthem before a 49ers game. players to be on the field during the national and motivation of his message. anthem. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy Fortunately, Kaepernick is not alone. Many “This stand wasn’t for me,” Kaepernick confirmed this by saying that “players are other NFL players joined his movement, intold the media on August 28 during the preencouraged but not required to stand for the cluding Brandon Marshall, Eric Reid, and season. “This is because I’m seeing things hapanthem.” Arian Foster. pen to people that don’t have a voice, people Athletes bringing attention to causes imThere are many other players who support that don’t have a platform to talk and have portant to them has been a recurring theme in Kaepernick’s message but chose to demtheir voices heard, and effect change.” sports history. From Tommie Smith and onstrate it differently. The Seattle SeHe added that kneeling brings forth issues John Carlos’ raised fists at the 1968 ahawks decided to link arms, while including police brutality and oppression that Summer Olympics to protest racial other players are holding their fists makes most people in America uncomfortinjustice in the United States to the in the air while the anthem is played. able to talk about. That discomfort led to critentire roster of the WNBA’s Indiana Despite the different actions, they ics changing the subject to things as inane as Fever kneeling and locking arms a all support the underlying message questioning Kaepernick’s patriotism. few months ago, sports have been of promoting social justice. “I think it’s a problem, anybody who disrea popular platform to start conKaepernick has also received spects this country and the flag,” Mike Ditka, a versations on social issues. support from NFL Commissioner Hall of Fame coach and ESPN pundit, told the “I have nothing to lose by standRoger Goodell. “I truly respect our Guardian on September 23. “If they don’t like ing up for my beliefs,” the late Muplayers wanting to speak out and change their the country, if they don’t like our flag, get the hammad Ali said when he refused to fight in community,” Goodell said. “We don’t live in a hell out. That’s what I think.” the Vietnam War. “So I’ll go to jail, so what? perfect society. We want them to use their voice.” He also added, “I have no respect for Colin We’ve been in jail for 400 years.” Goodell also added that players are movKaepernick. He probably has no respect for Ali’s willingness to sacrifice his livelihood, ing from protest to progress in communities. me, that’s his choice. My choice is that I like and even his freedom, was not widely celebratThis is shown by Kaepernick’s vow to donate this country, I respect our flag, and I don’t see ed at the time. Over time, however, it became $1 million to help communities bring awareall the atrocities going on in this country that a defining part of his legacy and made him ness and conversation to racial discrimination. people say are going on.” transcend the sport of boxing and become a The San Francisco 49ers matched Kaepernick’s That kind of backlash is completely irrasocial icon. donation in an effort to combat racial and ecotional; Kaepernick has gone out of his way to While this may not be Kaepernick’s fate, at nomic inequality. say that his actions are meant to improve his least he got people talking.t Athletes in other sports have also embraced country. Ditka’s reaction reaffirms Kaeperthis form of protest with the intention of nick’s statement that people don’t want to talk Maddy Federman is a student at McMaster bringing other issues to the forefront. “Being a about racial issues. University in Ontario, Canada.

Community News>>

December 8-14, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

CA Hall honors Takei A

Pool via Sacramento Bee

ctor George Takei flashes the familiar sign from Star Trek as he greets wellwishers outside the California Museum in Sacramento Wednesday, November 30. Takei, a gay man, was one of the inductees into the California Hall of Fame. Governor Jerry Brown and his wife, first lady Anne Gust Brown, inducted members of the newest class, which included Isabel Allende, Harrison Ford, Tony Gwynn (posthumously), Corita Kent (posthumously), William J. Perry, and Russ Solomon. California’s former first lady Maria Shriver, who started the Hall of Fame when her then-husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was governor, was also inducted.

Richards says Planned Parenthood Barry Schneider Attorney at Law family law specialist* is ready to spar with Trump by Sari Staver

control. Once incarcerated, Sanger continued her quest by he incoming Congress’ educating inmates on the topic. anticipated attempts to “We’re going to need that restrict abortions and defund kind of resilience” to deal with health care services for women the incoming administration, will be met “with an uprising said Richards, citing evidence of like they’ve never seen before,” the anticipated struggle to come. said Planned Parenthood Fed“We face tough times” beeration of America President cause of the attitudes about Cecile Richards. women expressed by members Sari Staver Speaking to a sold-out audiof the new administration, she ence at a Commonwealth Club Planned Parenthood Federation of America said. Vice President-elect Mike forum in San Francisco Mon- President Cecile Richards waves to the audience Pence, for example, has been day, December 5, Richards as she is interviewed by gay former football trying to defund Planned Parsaid that while politicians are player Wade Davis Monday in San Francisco. enthood for several years. Since giving lip service to the issue of the election, Richards noted and federal funding and closure of its infrastructure and jobs, their that over 70,000 individuals clinics, said Richards. Over 2.5 mil“number one targets” are women have made contributions to the orgalion men and women visit Planned and Planned Parenthood. nization in Pence’s name as part of an Parenthood affiliate health centers in “We’re ready for them,” said Richindependent grassroots campaign. the U.S. annually, she said. ards. “We’ve spent 100 years” getting Additionally, said Richards, since Many Republican lawmakers have ready for this fight. November 8 hundreds of thousands argued that the government should In conversation with gay ex-NFL of people have joined Planned Parnot support Planned Parenthood player Wade Davis, Richards said enthood, which is now one and a initiatives, while the organization’s 9 that Planned Parenthood’s strathalf times larger than the National million supporters argue that withegy involves cooperation with other Rifle Association. out their services, public health and organizations, including those sup“Not that it’s a competition,” she safety are endangered, Richards said. porting LGBT rights. added. Explaining the organization’s hisPlanned Parenthood, which proAsked how Planned Parenthood is tory, Richards said that when founder vides health care services, education, using technology, Richards said over Margaret Sanger began the organizaand information, has faced major 6 million people visit the organization in New York City 100 years ago, opposition in this election year, with tion’s website monthly. A relatively undercover cops took her to jail for many politicians calling for the elimSee page 11 >> distributing information on birth ination of the organization’s state

Remembering Buzz Bense

Thank you for publishing Liz Highleyman’s important article and tribute, “Safe-sex activist Buzz Bense dies” [November 24]. Bense did something that the bathhouse owners of the early-to-mid 1980s said was not possible: he opened a successful safersex sex club in San Francisco, at 890 Folsom Street. Like others in the city, he knew that the local commercial sex arena needed to be re-engineered to make safer-sex the norm rather than the exception, mandatory rather than voluntary. With that move, he and his allies saved the lives of many men, most of whom are still alive today. Bense was a trailblazer and a community hero. John Mehring San Francisco

Jones says, ‘Thanks’

I want to thank everyone who attended the publication party for my new memoir, When We Rise – My Life in the Movement, last Saturday at Strut. It was a wonderful event and I’m deeply grateful to everyone who worked so hard to make it such a great evening. Special thanks to the inimitable Juanita More and her assistant, Jesse Oberst. I was so happy to have the event at Strut, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s center on Castro Street. I am a co-founder of the organization and a strong supporter of its programs. Thanks to SFAF CEO Joe Hollendoner, James Loduca, Jared Hemming, Chris Richey, Baruch Porras-Hernandez, Kay Nilson, Cantewell Muchenfuss, Gary Keener, and Lemuel Valbuena. Thanks to DJ Tweak Turner and the Brass Liberation Orchestra for the music. Thank you Tank 18 for the wine. Thank you to Catch, Hecho, La Mediteranee and Harvey’s for the delicious food. Thanks to Gilbert Baker (creator of the rainbow flag) for the beautiful banner he created for the event and to Tyson Lee for the flowers. I was so happy to have the books provided by Dog Eared Books, our local and independent bookstore. Thank you Kate, Alvin, and Marcus. Thank you to photographers

Garaje Gooch, Tom Schmidt, Steven Underhill, and Rink. Many thanks to the volunteers including Adam Odsess-Rubin, Brenden Chadwick, Justin Jodiatis, Christopher Vasquez, Jonny Fisher, Luke Leonhard, Manny Sanchez, Nic Candito, Race Bannon, Matthew Lindgren, and Michael German. I also want to thank the Bay Area Reporter, Hoodline, and the San Francisco Chronicle for their coverage, and NPR’s Terry Gross for her wonderful support of my book. Cleve Jones San Francisco

Wiener’s Airbnb vote stinks

Hardly a week goes by without someone coming into my Castro district shop to sell off some of their possessions; often as a result of the need to downsize because they no longer can afford to live in San Francisco or, worse yet, an eviction. Now we have Scott Wiener, having recently eked out a win for state Senate, voting against the 60-day hard cap for Airbnb rentals on his way out the door of the Board of Supervisors. There is more than ample anecdotal evidence to suggest the existence of these largely unregulated, home rental platforms are exacerbating the tight San Francisco housing market and forcing many long-term residents out of their rent controlled living situations. In a metaphoric flip of his middle finger to his constituents in District 8, as well as other residents of the city, many of who have experienced real estate speculation fueled evictions, Wiener’s questionable exit vote ensures a veto proof situation on this sensible rental cap. A cap supported by a majority of his fellow supervisors. Wiener can now cement his, as well as Ed Lee’s allegiance to, and support of, the darkest of dark monied interests who are busy ripping out the very soul of San Francisco and ridding it of those who have made it a special place. Those tech and real estate interests knew what they were doing when they poured nearly $2 million into his race to defeat his opponent and Wiener certainly didn’t disappoint them. Patrick Batt San Francisco

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<< Commentary

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 8-14, 2016

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trying to pin their failure to beat Donald Trump on myself and other transgender people. I refuse to be their scapegoat, but I know they’ll spite of his claims that he would be nevertheless be lukewarm at best a supporter of LGBTQ rights, and a when it comes to defending trans past history of same. rights over the next few years. But it is more likely that Vice So I’m sure you can understand President-elect Mike Pence is the that I cannot help but envision all power behind this throne, and he or most of the trans rights gains we has a long history of anti-LGBTQ have seen over the last eight years actions, including taking money crushed by this incoming adminisearmarked for HIV treatment and tration in one way or another. using it instead to fund life-destroyWith this is mind, I am now in ing conversion therapies. the midst of getting my paperwork The new Cabinet includes Alatogether for my passport. While I’ve Hybrid/City Kid’s Kid’s bama Senator Jeff Sessions (R) as Hybrid/City Hybrid/City Kid’s been perfectly willing to skate along Christine Smith the nominee for attorney general. with little more than a driver’s license talitarian attitude from the left that He wanted to see same-sex marand Social Security card declaring my any freakish lifestyle, any marginal riage barred under the Constitucorrect gender – and only the former lifestyle, is now considered part of the tion, and preferred that hate crime being fully updated with the correct norm, and they’re shoving it down bills not include LGBTQ people. gender marker – this administration our throats. So if you’re not careful To head the Department has forced my hand to get my paperwhen you engage in this of Education, it’s GOP work in order as soon as I can. Now Open Thursday to 7pm! conversation, they’ll look donor Betsy DeVos, who Passports are one of many things Road Mountain for the trap, and they’ll Road Mountain Mountainlike Pence, is an advocate that were improved during the Road catch you saying someObama administration, making Now OpentoThursday to 7pm! for conversion therapy. I Every Now Thursday April between 4 & 7pm Open in Thursday 7pm! thing that’s clumsy or not doubt we’ll see the educait far easier to update the gender Now Open Thursday to 7pm! Thursday to 7pm! well articulated, and then take 20% Now OFF Open all parts, accessories & clothing.* tion department do much marker. As it stands now, one can they’ll just attack you get a full 10-year passport with Every Thursday April between & 7pm EveryinThursday in 4April between 4 & 7pm to support trans stu*Salesbetween limited 4to&stock – they’ll attack you dents when the new Every Thursday in April 7pmon hand. appropriate certification from a Thursday in April between 4 & 7pm takeEvery 20%take OFF all parts, accessories & clothing.* 20%Thursday OFF all parts, accessories & clothing.* NowOFF Open 7pm! with it. ‘Transgender take 20% OFF to all & parts, accessories & clothing.*administration takes physician stating that one has had take 20% all parts, accessories clothing.* *Sales limited to stock on hand. phobic’ and all this over January 20. appropriate treatment for a gender limited to stock on hand. *Sales to stock on hand. *Sales limited to stock on*Sales hand. limited other nonsense.” On Wednesday, transition. And while I am not planSPRING Every Thursday in April between 4 & 7pm I don’t consider Trump named rening any big trips in the immediate got take 20% OFF all parts, accessories We’ve & clothing.* myself a pessimist, but I cannot tired General John Kelly to lead the future, a passport still stands as a m ready to ride help but feel a sense of creeping valuable identity document and *Sales limited to stock on hand. Department of Homeland Security. dread from these and other CabiOne person under consideration proof of your citizenship. net nominees. That dread, I should had been Milwaukee Sheriff David It’s plenty possible that these note, goes far beyond just things Clarke. 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<< Politics

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 8-14, 2016

Wiener transitions to state Senate role by Matthew S. Bajko

ay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) hit the ground running this week, introducing his first bill, on housing, shortly after taking his oath of office Monday, December 5 and assembling most of his Sacramento and district office staff. Formerly the District 8 supervisor, Wiener beat his board colleague, District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim, in November to secure the state Senate’s District 11 seat. His victory ensures San Francisco continues to have LGBT representation in its state legislative delegation, as its two Assembly seats are held by straight men. He had been endorsed by his predecessor, gay former Senator Mark Leno, who was termed out of office, as well as statewide LGBT advocacy group Equality California, which made Wiener’s Senate bid a top electoral priority this year. Speaking to the Bay Area Reporter several days prior to his swearing-in ceremony, Wiener said he was excited to serve in the state Legislature despite it being “a scary time” due to the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump. “It is a scary time because of the transition in Washington but it invigorates me,” said Wiener. “I am up for the fight and ready to get to work.” Wiener is renting a room from a friend who owns a home in Sacramento to use when the Legislature is in session. And he has filled many of the 11 staff positions for his office. He has named Jeff Cretan and Andres Power, who worked for him at City Hall, as his spokesman

and senior policy aide, respectively, while his third supervisorial aide Adam Taylor decided not to join Wiener’s Senate staff. His chief of staff is Krista Pfefferkorn, who previously held the same position in the office of former state Senator Mark DeSaulnier, who is now in Congress. Jeff Sparks, his campaign manager, will be district director in the San Francisco office. Three gay men are a part of his Senate staff. In addition to Power, Victor Ruiz-Cornejo, who ran Wiener’s field campaign in the Senate race, will be his deputy district director in the San Francisco office, while Brian Smith, who was a campaign volunteer, will work as an aide in the district office. In addition to the housing bill, the details of which should be released Thursday or Friday, Wiener will be carrying an EQCA-sponsored LGBTspecific bill in the new legislative session, which begins January 4. But he declined to disclose what its focus would be, and an EQCA spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. Wiener requested to be named to several Senate committees that oversee cannabis issues, climate change policies, and transportation needs. And Wiener sought out the advice of not only Leno, whom he spoke with for three hours last week, but also that of former mayor Art Agnos, who also served in the state Assembly. “I was picking his brain about everything conceivable and just getting advice on how to be in the state Senate,” Wiener said of Leno, adding that Agnos also “had a lot of great advice. I will continue to take people’s advice.”

Rick Gerharter

State Senator Scott Wiener greets well-wishers at his thank you and swearing-in party Monday at the Swedish-American Hall in San Francisco.

AIDS activists floated as possible successors

As for who will be named as Wiener’s replacement on the board, attention has turned in the last week to two gay AIDS activists who live in the district who were early backers of Wiener’s Senate run. According to sources, a number of neighborhood leaders have been asked by Mayor Ed Lee’s office about James Loduca, who in October resigned as the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s senior vice president. He lives with his partner, Charlie Smith, in Noe Valley. During the weeks leading up to the November election, Loduca grew increasingly vocal about his support for Wiener and more critical of Kim on social media after she endorsed a drug pricing ballot measure authored by the Los Angelesbased AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Officially, SFAF remained neutral on the measure, but many other local AIDS advocates opposed it, arguing it would do little to lower drug prices in the state. At the same time, support in the district has been growing for Jeff Sheehy, who served as former Mayor

Gavin Newsom’s adviser on AIDS issues who lives with his husband, Bill Berry, and their daughter Michelle in Glen Park. He is well known among LGBT Democratic Party activists, having served as a leader of the progressive Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club in the mid-1990s. Sheehy currently serves on the governing board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and is director for communications at the UCSF AIDS Research Institute. Sheehy, who is HIV-positive, was also a founding member of the steering committee of San Francisco’s Getting to Zero Consortium. Contacted Tuesday about their being mentioned for the supervisor seat, Loduca and Sheehy both declined to comment. Also said to be under consideration for the seat are gay community college board member Alex Randolph; Conor Johnston, a gay man who is chief of staff to board President London Breed; and Rebecca Prozan, Google’s chief of public policy and government affairs who lives with her wife, Julia Adams, in the Castro. The names of two gay mayoral aides have also

been floated, Francis Tsang and Paul Henderson. Speculation has grown that an announcement on the new supervisor could come as soon as next week. But the person will likely not be sworn in until January so that they could serve out the remaining two year’s of Wiener’s term and still be eligible to run for two full, four-year terms. Mayoral spokeswoman Deirdre Hussey told the B.A.R. Tuesday she could not say when exactly Lee would announce his pick to fill the District 8 vacancy. The mayor returns Thursday (December 8) from his economic and cultural mission to Seoul, South Korea, where he helped mark the 40th anniversary of the San FranciscoSeoul sister city relationship. “The mayor will announce his decision when he finds the appropriate person to serve the specific needs of D8 as well as citywide issues,” said Hussey. Wiener told the B.A.R. last Friday that “if the mayor makes the announcement earlier, that person will presumably begin interacting with constituents and helping people. I don’t think it will be that long of a gap.” He has already met once with Lee, who asked him his advice on a number of candidates, whom Wiener declined to name, and expects to speak with Lee again regarding the appointment. Many constituents have told him they want Lee to name “someone responsive to the needs of the community” and who is “proactive,” as well as a person who can “focus on the major policy challenges facing the city around housing, homelessness, public safety and transportation.” Whoever is selected will need to run to serve out Wiener’s term on the June 2018 primary ballot, when the next citywide election will be held, and run for a full term that November.t

Community News>>

December 8-14, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11

Oakland town hall discusses Trump threat by Liz Highleyman

ore than 150 activists gathered at a town hall meeting in Oakland Saturday, December 3, to discuss potential threats to LGBT and other communities following the election of Donald Trump and how best to respond. “Progressives have been aware that if Trump was elected we’d be facing major threats to LGBT rights in areas we care about – not only civil rights, but also health care, education, and reproductive rights,” author Annechristine d’Adesky, who initiated the meeting, told the Bay Area Reporter. “We anticipate major roll-backs that will lead to a lot of suffering and felt it was critical to bring folks together.” Speakers representing several communities and organizations described what they are doing in the wake of the election. Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, reassured participants that living in California provides LGBT people with “a great measure of safety and security.”

Planned Parenthood

From page 7

7.625 in.

new program enables people around the world to get birth control information on their mobile phones. Recently, a Planned Parenthood clinician in Seattle was able to arrange a video conference with a woman living in the Arctic Circle. Five days later, the woman received her birth control prescription, dropped by a plane. New technology also enables people to use a text chat program to receive information from Planned Parenthood, Richards said. “Sometimes young people with a problem feel more comfortable texting than talking,” she explained.

People in same-sex marriages do not need to worry about them being dissolved and existing state laws protect queer youth, she explained. “Many of us in this room will not be the first targets,” Kendell told the mostly white, middle-aged audience. “But there are many people living in much more hostile states who are going to be hurt the most and are living in terror day in and day out. “We have to be prepared to do whatever it takes to protect the most vulnerable,” she continued. “We understand that any attack on the humanity of individuals in this country based on who they are or how they live is an attack on all of us.” Oakland at-large City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan and departing Emeryville City Council member Ruth Atkin, both lesbians, pledged their support. Kaplan reminded participants that despite the national climate, progressive initiatives at the city and state level did well during this year’s election. “As much as the country lurched to the right, every progressive measure we put on the ballot passed by a large “Planned Parenthood technology and the web are a match made in heaven.” Richards urged parents to start conversations with their kids about sex, “not just the transaction” but also about intimacy and relationships. Davis, who came out after retiring from the NFL in 2012, noted that he learned about sex online. “Probably the worst way,” he said. “As a male, I wish I had known about Planned Parenthood,” said Davis, who is executive director of the You Can Play Project, an advocacy organization working to eradicate homophobia in professional sports. 9.75 in. Richards emphasized that men can also come to Planned Parenthood for health care. According to

margin,” she said, referring to several Oakland initiatives. “One of the things I think we’re going to see is an increasing distance between progressive areas and non-progressive areas.” San Francisco, Oakland, and other Bay Area communities have already passed sanctuary city policies to protect undocumented immigrants. Kaplan noted that it will be important

to have replacement funding for vital programs if the federal government threatens to defund these cities, and she suggested adopting “sister cities” in more conservative parts of the country. Atkin, who served on the Emeryville City Council since 1999 but this year did not seek re-election, emphasized that “an unprecedented amount of organized direct action will be needed in the years to come.” Longtime AIDS activist Mike Shriver addressed threats to the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, and Ryan White funding for people living with HIV/AIDS. “We know the ACA is going, and what that will do to HIV and other health issues is incalculable,” he said. “We don’t know whether it will be a death by a thousand cuts or immediate repeal. But we know it will be bad. When Reagan was in office we had a religious invasion of public health agencies – expect that again.” Shriver called on Democratic legislators to “play every trick they have in their book” to fight cuts to HIV funding, Planned Parenthood, and entitlement systems.

Organizers have started a new group, the Bay Area Queer AntiFascist Network, to coordinate ongoing action. The group’s Facebook page, created a week ago, has more than 1,000 members. The group decided to meet monthly, alternating between San Francisco and Oakland. Several working groups emerged from the town hall focusing on areas such as ongoing access to health care and strengthening sanctuary for immigrants. Future meetings and activities – including actions around the inauguration in January – will be announced on Facebook. Several speakers recalled that the LGBT community has extensive experience dealing with a conservative federal government, and lessons from the Reagan and Bush years – including the direct action of ACT UP and the creation of alternative caregiving systems for people with AIDS – remain relevant today. “We have fought those battles and we have won them,” d’Adesky said. “Go look at our playbook for what we did and repeat that model, because it worked.”t

the organization’s website, men’s health care services include checkups for reproductive or sexual health problems; colon, prostate, and testicular cancer screenings; condoms and vasectomy; and erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation services. With more than 2.5 million people now using Planned Parenthood for health care, Richards said the organization is expanding its services for transgender people across the country. “People should be able to get health care services without shame or stigma,” she said. Richards said she recently learned that a gay male friend of hers, now a successful New York business-

man, had been a peer educator for Planned Parenthood in Plano, Texas where he grew up. Planned Parenthood, Richards said, “is a place to be loud and proud.” A number of questions submitted by audience members involved the anticipated problems stemming from President-elect Donald Trump’s administration. One asked whether Richards was worried about the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade (the 1973 decision upholding a woman’s decision to have an abortion under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment) and about anticipated congressional efforts to restrict abortions.

“Yes and yes,” she responded. Richards reminded the audience of a fight Planned Parenthood won several years ago, after former Texas Governor Rick Perry led the drive to defund women’s health care in the state, shuttering 80 health centers. Three years later, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the Texas laws were unconstitutional. “People never gave up,” she said. “We must remember that now.” “We won’t have the votes [in Congress] over the coming months,” she conceded. “But in the long run, we’ll win. “I think I will live to see the day” when safe and legal abortions and birth control are free for everyone in this country, she added.t

Liz Highleyman

Author Anne-christine d’Adesky speaks at a town hall meeting called to determine how to respond to the election of Donald Trump.

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What is TRUVADA for PrEP (Pre-exposure Prophylaxis)? TRUVADA is a prescription medicine that can be used for PrEP to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection when used together with safer sex practices. This use is only for adults who are at high risk of getting HIV-1 through sex. This includes HIV-negative men who have sex with men and who are at high risk of getting infected with HIV-1 through sex, and male-female sex partners when one partner has HIV-1 infection and the other does not. Ask your healthcare provider if you have questions about how to prevent getting HIV-1. Always practice safer sex and use condoms to lower the chance of sexual contact with body fluids. Never reuse or share needles or other items that have body fluids on them.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION What is the most important information I should know about TRUVADA for PrEP? Before taking TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce your risk of getting HIV-1 infection: u You must be HIV-negative. You must get tested to make sure that you do not already have HIV-1 infection. Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 unless you are conﬁrmed to be HIV-negative. u Many HIV-1 tests can miss HIV-1 infection in a person who has recently become infected. If you have flu-like symptoms, you could have recently become infected with HIV-1. Tell your healthcare provider if you had a flu-like illness within the last month before starting TRUVADA for PrEP or at any time while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Symptoms of new HIV-1 infection include tiredness, fever, joint or muscle aches, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, night sweats, and/or enlarged lymph nodes in the neck or groin. While taking TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce your risk of getting HIV-1 infection: u You must continue using safer sex practices. Just taking TRUVADA for PrEP may not keep you from getting HIV-1. u You must stay HIV-negative to keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP. u To further help reduce your risk of getting HIV-1: • Know your HIV-1 status and the HIV-1 status of your partners. • Get tested for HIV-1 at least every 3 months or when your healthcare provider tells you. • Get tested for other sexually transmitted infections. Other infections make it easier for HIV-1 to infect you. • Get information and support to help reduce risky sexual behavior. • Have fewer sex partners. • Do not miss any doses of TRUVADA. Missing doses may increase your risk of getting HIV-1 infection. • If you think you were exposed to HIV-1, tell your healthcare provider right away. u If you do become HIV-1 positive, you need more medicine than TRUVADA alone to treat HIV-1. TRUVADA by itself is not a complete treatment for HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time. TRUVADA can cause serious side effects: u Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious medical emergency. Symptoms of lactic acidosis include weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, nausea, vomiting, stomach-area pain, cold or blue hands and feet, feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and/or fast or abnormal heartbeats. u Serious liver problems. Your liver may become large and tender, and you may develop fat in your liver. Symptoms of liver problems include your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, and/or stomach-area pain.

u You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or serious liver

problems if you are female, very overweight (obese), or have been taking TRUVADA for a long time. In some cases, these serious conditions have led to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any symptoms of these conditions. u Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. If you also have HBV and take TRUVADA, your hepatitis may become worse if you stop taking TRUVADA. Do not stop taking TRUVADA without ﬁrst talking to your healthcare provider. If your healthcare provider tells you to stop taking TRUVADA, they will need to watch you closely for several months to monitor your health. TRUVADA is not approved for the treatment of HBV.

Who should not take TRUVADA for PrEP? Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP if you already have HIV-1 infection or if you do not know your HIV-1 status. If you are HIV-1 positive, you need to take other medicines with TRUVADA to treat HIV-1. TRUVADA by itself is not a complete treatment for HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time. Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP if you also take lamivudine (Epivir-HBV) or adefovir (HEPSERA).

What are the other possible side effects of TRUVADA for PrEP? Serious side effects of TRUVADA may also include: u Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider may do blood tests to check your kidneys before and during treatment with TRUVADA for PrEP. If you develop kidney problems, your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking TRUVADA for PrEP. u Bone problems, including bone pain or bones getting soft or thin, may lead to fractures. Your healthcare provider may do tests to check your bones. u Changes in body fat, which can happen in people taking TRUVADA or medicines like TRUVADA. Common side effects in people taking TRUVADA for PrEP are stomach-area (abdomen) pain, headache, and decreased weight. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or do not go away.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking TRUVADA for PrEP? u All your health problems. Be sure to tell your healthcare

provider if you have or have had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis virus infection. u If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if TRUVADA can harm your unborn baby. If you become pregnant while taking TRUVADA for PrEP, talk to your healthcare provider to decide if you should keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Pregnancy Registry: A pregnancy registry collects information about your health and the health of your baby. There is a pregnancy registry for women who take medicines to prevent HIV-1 during pregnancy. For more information about the registry and how it works, talk to your healthcare provider. u If you are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. The medicines in TRUVADA can pass to your baby in breast milk. If you become HIV-1 positive, HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk. u All the medicines you take, including prescription and overthe-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. TRUVADA may interact with other medicines. Keep a list of all your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist when you get a new medicine. u If you take certain other medicines with TRUVADA for PrEP, your healthcare provider may need to check you more often or change your dose. These medicines include ledipasvir with sofosbuvir (HARVONI). You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.FDA.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Please see Important Facts about TRUVADA for PrEP including important warnings on the following page.

Have you heard about

TRUVADA for PrEP ? TM

The once-daily prescription medicine that can help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 when used with safer sex practices. • TRUVADA for PrEP is only for adults who are at high risk of getting HIV through sex. • You must be HIV-negative before you start taking TRUVADA. Ask your doctor about your risk of getting HIV-1 infection and if TRUVADA for PrEP may be right for you.

visit start.truvada.com

Community News>>

December 8-14, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 15

Kaiser AIDS tribute honors gay activist

Michael Nugent

Staff at Kaiser Permanente San Leandro remembered Grupo VIP founder Ron Chavez during a World AIDS Day gathering December 1.

by Michael Nugent

aiser Permanente San Leandro marked this year’s World AIDS Day with a memorial and march in honor of Ron Chavez. Chavez, a gay man, founded and ran Grupo VIP in Fremont, a support group for Latino and Spanish-speaking people living with HIV/AIDS. He died three months ago and is survived by his partner, Antonio Osuna. Dr. Daniel Klein, chief of infectious diseases for Kaiser Permanente San Leandro and a past chair of Kaiser’s Regional HIV Committee, said, “Ron was a saint. He was dedicated to improving the care of HIV pa-

Homeless program

From page 1

ing connect event. One gentleman, an elderly individual seated outside Weaver’s Coffee, smiled hello when he saw Hubbard and Garcia. “He is one of our regulars,” said Hubbard, adding that they had built up trust with the man over time to the point where they were able to convince him to see a doctor at a city-run health clinic. “He didn’t want anything to do with us at first and now he talks to us.” Garcia, who joined HOT three months ago, added that, “His demeanor got nicer and he had more smiles for us over time.” By having a consistent presence in the neighborhood, Garcia said he and Hubbard often see the same individuals, who over time become more willing to engage with them. “Because they already feel rejected by the rest of the population because everyone ignores them, our role is not to ignore them,” he said. Added Hubbard, “We show them we care.”

Thousands of encounters

Since the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District, working with a number of other Castro-based neighborhood groups, launched the Castro Cares initiative in the fall of 2014, outreach workers have had 3,346 encounters with people living on the street. The services were increased from four hours a month to 20 hours a month in April 2015, and the program now has a budget of $260,000. “These are 2,000-plus engagements with the social service system which probably would not have been made if not for the Castro Cares funded homeless outreach workers,” noted the CBD in a recent email about the program. Over the last two years 448 shelter bed referrals were made, and 216 people received referrals for mental health, medical, or substance abuse services. More than 340 people received assistance with benefits including Social Security, disability services, or food stamps, while 449 people received some other type of assistance. “There are four or five people we have gotten into permanent housing,” said CBD Executive Director Andrea Aiello. “It doesn’t mean they are not

tients who only speak Spanish and continuing to struggle for the betterment of his community.” After the initial ceremony, the group of about 40 people marched along Merced Boulevard in San Leandro with red ribbon signs held aloft to the sounds of frequent, supportive honking of passersby. Chavez, previously a social worker, founded Grupo VIP once he stopped working due to his illness. The group serves mostly Latinos, helping them to navigate the medical system and get needs met for education, food, and housing. Chavez invited different agencies to come to the monthly meetings, and worked back on the street during the day, but they have a place to go to at night where they can cook and shower.” The program receives $175,000 from city grants, which runs through June 2018, and the CBD launched a fundraising drive this year to raise $50,000 from residents of the area. The program has also resulted in 26 hours more a week in patrol special police coverage of the Castro, as well as 12 to 15 hours a week in overtime for police officers, most of whom work during the evening hours to assist with issues that arrive from the area’s late night bar scene. Aiello stressed that while Castro Cares has been successful, the program will not result in the end of homelessness in the neighborhood. “There are real limits to what we can do. Some people think we can just make it all go away,” she said. “We can’t, and that is not the purpose of Castro Cares to sanitize the Castro.” Castro Merchants President Daniel Bergerac told the B.A.R. that he believes the program has brought greater awareness to the issue of homelessness in the neighborhood. It has had a number of successes, he said, both on a “community-wide and individual level.” “We have made amazing inroads and gotten people into treatment and housing. We have been able to reach out to people,” he noted. The biggest misconception people have had about Castro Cares, said Bergerac, is that homelessness in the area “was all going to go away.” And while the extra police presence has helped, Bergerac said, “People thought we were going to have a tremendous amount of SFPD here, but there are limited resources.” The focus of the extra patrols is on addressing quality of life issues, said Bergerac, not on arresting homeless people. “Homelessness is not a crime, the bad behavior is,” he said. With the data collected from the program, the Castro Cares leadership team is regularly evaluating the results and what changes need to be made so it is more effective, said Aiello. And it hopes the city’s new Department on Homelessness and Supportive Housing will launch any pilot programs it starts in the Castro. “Are we really meeting the needs of the people on the street? And is what we are doing the right thing,” she said.

alongside the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Shanti Project in his activism and advocacy work. People would come from as far away as Modesto, Stockton, and the North Bay to Grupo’s meetings, as no other Spanish-language support groups existed. Stigma was also more prevalent in the Central Valley for people living with HIV, speakers noted. “Ron would bring his dad to appointments so his family could know the medical providers he was working with. I never had a more appreciative patient. He was an inspiration to me as a provider and for the Hispanic community in the East Bay,” said Klein. Grupo VIP will now be run by Gustavo Fernandez, a gay man who has been a member for seven years. The group is still recovering from the loss of Chavez, but plans to continue meeting. “We’re working to keep Grupo together. I’m in contact with most of the group, and we’re all eager to have another meeting,” said Fernandez. Kaiser has been a longtime financial supporter of Grupo. Chavez’s extended family is also helping to keep Grupo VIP going in the wake of his death. Grupo has an annual Christmas retreat in the North Bay that is continuing as planned. The monthly meetings are tentatively scheduled to resume in early 2017, on the last Sunday of the month at Washington Hospital in Fremont.

“HIV hasn’t gone away, it’s still around and we still need funding, food and housing so people can get tested and treated,” said Fernandez. Kaiser is working toward getting to zero new HIV infections, modeled after San Francisco’s Getting to Zero initiative. Kaiser in northern California has also been successful in getting patients on treatment or PrEP, with 95 percent of its HIV patients having undetectable viral load, Klein said. Reflecting on World AIDS Day, Klein found many reasons to be grateful – but none for complacency.

“I’ve been seeing HIV patients for almost 40 years, starting in the late 1970s at San Francisco General with patients who in hindsight clearly had HIV. We’re at a point now where patients live long enough only to grow old. Care isn’t about the virus it’s about helping achieve maximum life expectancy – which is now almost 80,” said Klein. “The drugs are so much kinder than even 10 years ago. As a provider that’s so satisfying.” Donations in Chavez’s memory can be made to the AIDS Project of the East Bay (http://www.apeb.org).t

“We’re still seeing lots of new infections,” he said. “There’s not a sense of how awful the disease can be. It’s an accomplishment of treatment – people don’t think it’s as big of a deal. Recreational drugs also promote unsafe sex,” he said.

“Is homeless outreach enough? Or should we try a different strategy?” Toward the end of their shift last Thursday, Hubbard and Garcia encountered an elderly black man, wearing a heavy black coat and pajama bottoms featuring an Oscar the Grouch adorned in a Santa hat pattern, sleeping in the bulb-out where Market, Laguna and Hermann streets intersect. The gentleman complained his foot hurt due to a deep cut and agreed to wait for them to return with a van so they could take him to a health clinic. Later that morning Hubbard informed the B.A.R. in an email that they were able to transport the man to a city clinic where he was “being seen by a doctor.” To learn more about Castro Cares, or to donate to the program, visit its website at www.castrocares.org.t

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<< Community News

16 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 8-14, 2016

Inscribe continues to teach about AIDS by David-Elijah Nahmod

or the second consecutive year students at the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, an LGBT-inclusive public elementary school in the Castro, commemorated World AIDS Day with Inscribe, taking to neighborhood streets to write the names of those lost to AIDS on the sidewalk. Castro resident George Kelly, a longtime HIV survivor who has volunteered at the Milk school for 20 years, created Inscribe both as a memorial and as a teaching tool for students. Kelly first showed AIDS symptoms in 1982. By the 1990s, he said he weighed 110 pounds, walked with a cane, and needed a home health care attendant. He became so ill that a priest who delivered last rites visited him. Kelly rallied, and today he remains relatively healthy.

“It’s still very exciting,” Kelly, 56, told the Bay Area Reporter as the Inscribe event was getting underway December 1. “One of the most rewarding parts of Inscribe is the classroom educational part – when community members came to class to share their stories it was very emotional.” This year’s Inscribe took on a deeper, more personal meaning to the students and teachers as many remembered former Milk schoolteacher Tom Ryan, who died of AIDS-related complications in 2012. “It was a big loss to the community,” Kelly said. “We had to explain this to kids in kindergarten and the first grade. Inscribe is a great way to honor Mr. Tom.” Students were accompanied by teachers and parents, and wrote the names of the deceased on the sidewalk in chalk. Those names were photographed for archival purposes.

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Community members “He was a good raphad messaged many of per,” Kilimanjaro said. the names to the Inscribe “And I’m so proud that Facebook page, but passRyan White stood up.” ersby were also asked if All three kids were chapthey wanted the name of eroned by school parent a friend or loved one to David Lubensky, who said be added. Students also he was a straight ally. “It’s explained to pedestrians important to represent why they were doing this. minorities – everyone “I’m happy to honor needs to have a voice. This the people with AIDS is a great way to make the and HIV,” 10-year-old next generation honor the fifth grader Zuri told the power of that voice,” he B.A.R. “It’s good for the said. community. It honors evAs the students contineryone with HIV/AIDS.” ued their work, hundreds Rick Gerharter (School officials reof names were inscribed quested that only first Fourth and fifth graders from the Harvey Milk Civil on the sidewalk on both names be used for stu- Rights Academy participate in the December 1 Inscribe sides of Castro Street. event, remembering those who have died from AIDS by John Muratet, who teachdents interviewed.) Some of the inscrip- writing their names on the sidewalks of Castro Street. es fourth and fifth grades, tions included personal told the B.A.R. that evnosed with HIV in 1991. dedications, such as “my eryone at the school emFifth grader Kilimanjaro, 10, wants friend,” or “my partner.” A few people braced Inscribe. people to remember Ryan White, the stopped to quietly read the names. “A lot of the students may not Indiana teen who died of AIDS-relatJose, another 10-year-old fifth have a lot of first-hand knowledge of ed complications in 1990. White, who grader, expressed what Inscribe the epidemic,” Muratet said. “Some contracted AIDS from a tainted blood meant to him. “I like celebrating of the students don’t know that they transfusion, made headlines when his the HIV ceremonies because Magic had friends or family who were afschool refused him admittance beJohnson was one of the greatest fected, so Inscribe has allowed them cause of his HIV status. Kilimanjaro NBA players,” he said. “It brings to learn about their community’s also remembered rapper Eric Wright, back really good memories of him history and their family history.” better known as Easy-E, who died of playing with the Lakers.” “We went through this so you AIDS-related complications in 1995 Johnson, a former basketball won’t have to,” Kelly told his at age 30. player with the LA Lakers, was diagstudents.t

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penhouse, the LGBT seniors agency, has announced that Karyn Skultety, Ph.D. has been named its new executive director. Skultety, 40, is currently the vice president of health services at the Institute on Aging. She will begin her new position February 13. Skultety, who identifies as a member of the LGBTQ community, succeeds Seth Kilbourn, a gay man who shepherded through the first phase of the agency’s 55 Laguna senior housing project that includes 40 residential units, with one set aside for a resident manager. As recently reported, the first residents of the $16 million affordable development began moving in last month. According to housing officials, more than 60 percent of the initial residents self-identify as LGBT. (Due to anti-discrimination laws, the project can’t restrict the units solely to LGBT seniors.) Since Kilbourn’s departure in late May, Tim Daniels has been serving as interim executive director; he had indicated he did not want the job permanently. According to a news release, Skultety oversees a budget of more than $15 million and over 150 staff members. The Openhouse board said that her leadership and ability to build effective strategic partnerships would serve the agency well as it expands services. It is set to begin construction next year on 79 units of affordable senior housing as the second phase of the Laguna Street project. Openhouse board President Bill Scherer said the agency cast a “wide net” for a new leader. “We are delighted that we found that person right here in San Francisco in Karyn Skultety,” he said. “As Openhouse prepares to enter its second decade of service, her strategic vision, leadership, and expertise will be essential.” Scherer declined to provide information on Skultety’s salary. “I am thrilled to become Open-

According to Bridgehouse’s executive direcmen, the SFFD’s toy drive tor,” Skultety said in the started over 50 years ago release. “As the only agenafter a fire destroyed cy in the Bay Area with a several homes in the Bay mission targeting LGBT Area and firefighters seniors, the services prowanted to help families vided by Openhouse have who lost their homes. never been more imporToday, the program coltant or needed more.” lects and gives toys away Skultety received her to tens of thousands of doctorate in clinical psy- Karyn Skultety, Ph.D. kids every year. chology from the UniverAn email noted that sity of Massachusetts and Bridgemen will be collecting toys at earned her undergraduate degree at Strut until December 16, so people Johns Hopkins University. can drop off a donation even if they Tenderloin holiday bazaar can’t make the party. The Tenderloin Museum will Equality Wines hold a festive holiday bazaar Thursto help Face to Face day (December 8) from 6 to 9 p.m. Face to Face, which offers HIV at 398 Eddy Street in San Francisco. services in Sonoma County, will Museum officials said that the benefit from wine sales on www. celebration will feature exclusive equalitywines.com, the world’s first merchandise for sale by local arti“cause” wine portfolio dedicated to sans, including photography, prints, equality for all people. One of its coceramics, leather accessories, vinfounders is Jim Obergefell, the lead tage apparel, handmade textiles, plaintiff in the winning same-sex succulent planters, and much more. marriage case decided by the U.S. The evening will also feature Supreme Court in 2015. music, refreshments, and special From now until December 31, holiday treats. $10 of every bottle sold on the Among the participating website will be donated to Face to artists will be Vacation, Face. The special offer was made in the Tenderloin’s only vinconjunction with World AIDS Day, tage buy/sell/trade and which was December 1. underground perfor“We are honored and also hummance space; Crack bled by Equality Wine’s generosity and Cider, a store and willingness to support our imwhere customers portant efforts to end HIV in our can buy useful items community and help those living for people who are with this disease,” Dennis Agnos of homeless; and Clay Face to Face said in a news release. and Color, which offers affordable Obergefell said he was glad that succulents in diverse arrangements. his activism is reaching issues beBridgemen hold yond marriage equality. annual toy drive “I’m humbled to have helped creBridgemen, a social program of ate a legacy for my husband through the San Francisco AIDS Foundation the fight for marriage equality, for gay, bi, and trans men looking and he would be proud to know to give back to the community, is that his legacy extends beyond the collecting toys for the San Francisco landmark Supreme Court decision Fire Department’s toy drive. This and into other issues that affect the year marks the group’s sixth year LGBTQ community and many othhelping local kids. ers worldwide,” Obergefell said in People are invited to join in the a news release, referring to his late holiday spirit at a party Friday, Dehusband, John Arthur. cember 9 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Strut, There are two wines available: 470 Castro Street. Attendees are Love Wins Cuvee, and the Decision asked to bring a new unwrapped toy Pinot Noir. Both wines are produced for children ages 1-12. See page 21 >>

Community News>>

December 8-14, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 17

Gypsy Rosalie’s wigs set for holidays by Seth Hemmelgarn

fter recently gaining legacy business status, Gypsy Rosalie’s Wigs and Vintage Shop has settled into a new North Beach location and is open for holiday shopping. In a recent visit to her new store, owner Rosalie Jacques, who opened her first shop at 784 Broadway Street in 1960, attributed her success to her special skills. Jacques doesn’t just sell wigs, she’s a longtime hair and wig stylist who also teaches others. She’s currently offering to do three-hour classes at $200, rather than the $300 she usually charges. “What I teach is something I

would say only hairdressers from the 1960s learned to do, and that’s any kind of styling,” Jacques, 79, said. Starting in the 1970s, she said, everything became “cut, blow dry, cut, blow dry.” Over the years, she’s counted stars like singer Etta James and stripper Carol Doda among her customers. Jacques has also helped numerous drag queens. Her small store is crammed with every shape, size, and color of wig imaginable. “A big part of my business is with the LGBT community,” she said in her application to join the city’s legacy business registry. Among other benefits, businesses on the

registry may be able to get assistance for their landlords so that they can stay in their locations. The city’s Small Business Commission added Rosalie’s to the list this fall. For several years, Jacques’ shop was at 1222 Sutter Street, but she left after having issues with the landlord that she’s been reluctant to provide details about. District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin’s office, which represents North Beach, nominated Rosalie’s for the status. Peskin said Jacques is “a great San Franciscan, and I adore her.” “My life has been such a blessing,” Jacques said during the recent visit.t

Rick Gerharter

Rosalie Jacques is surrounded by wigs in her North Beach store.

AHF drops lawsuit against SF officials by Seth Hemmelgarn

he Los Ange les-b ase d AIDS Healthcare Foundation has dropped a lawsuit against San Francisco officials after a judge issued a Judge Richard proposed order Seeborg granting a motion to dismiss the case. AHF had sought to move an existing local pharmacy to 518 Castro Street, where it has a clinic. City officials had argued that the move would violate formula retail rules. In August 2014, the nonprofit sued the city, the Board of Supervisors, and thenSupervisor Scott Wiener, who represented the Castro and other neighborhoods in District 8. Wiener was recently sworn in as a state senator. In its 2014 complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, AHF claimed that Wiener had unfairly targeted it and that, at Wiener’s behest, the city had violated its equal protection, due process, and free speech rights. But in a proposed order filed November 21, Judge Richard Seeborg granted the defendants’ motion to dis-

miss AHF’s latest amended complaint. AHF had argued that the city had violated its constitutional rights “on a number of grounds,” Seeborg noted, but he said the nonprofit “had failed to plead facts supporting such constitutional violations.” He also pointed out that AHF had claimed Wiener had aimed “to punish [it] for its advocacy against the use of PrEP to prevent the spread of

HIV/AIDS.” Wiener, who’s gay, has publicly stated his use of the prevention measure. Seeborg said, “AHF’s unsupported conclusions and speculation concerning the motivation of the city’s decision-makers are inadequate to support its claims.” In a Friday, December 2 filing, AHF voluntarily dismissed the case. In a news release Monday, De-

cember 5, City Attorney Dennis Herrera said, “There was never any merit to their claims. The fact that they dropped their case sends that message loud and clear. AHF was mistaken when it argued that the U.S. Constitution allows it to put chain stores wherever it wants. Courts have long recognized local governments’ broad authority to regulate land uses in myriad ways. San Francisco is no exception.”

In response to an email from the Bay Area Reporter, AHF spokesman Ged Kenslea said the nonprofit “decided to drop this lawsuit (which, despite how the San Francisco city attorney characterizes it, we believe does have merit) because we believe we can now receive fair treatment and get a fair shake from San Francisco officials with Scott Wiener no longer serving as a supervisor.”t

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From page 5

fighting for civil rights here,” said Walters. He had attended both the 2011 Pride parade and the ticketed festival area adorned in a custom-tailored, fine-leather gladiator kilt and upper-torso leather harness outfit, which included thong underwear beneath. He had worn the same outfit, which cost him $1,000, the year prior without incident. But while inside the gated festival area’s beer garden in 2011, Walters was approached by San Diego police Lieutenant (now Captain) David Nisleit and told his outfit was not compliant with the city’s dress code because his buttocks were visible. Walters disputed that his outfit was an issue and told the officer to either cite him or leave him alone. Nisleit then left but returned a short while later with several other police officers and told Walters he was going to cite him for his outfit. Walters claims a female officer then grabbed him from behind and led him out of the beer garden and just outside of the festival area. “Another officer told me, ‘You are See page 18 >>

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Correction The November 3 article, “Gay serial killer breaks his silence,” should have said that Randy Kraft was stopped by the California Highway Patrol on Interstate 5 in southern California, not far from the El Toro military base. The online version has been corrected.

<< Business News

t SF store features gay owner’s home decor aesthetic 18 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 8-14, 2016

by Matthew S. Bajko

t Maker and Moss in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley neighborhood, the creations of craftspeople and artists, many based in California, fill the barn-like home decor store. Bathed in natural light pouring in from a trio of skylights cut into the wood-trellised ceiling, the 1,800 square foot shop features a variety of furnishings for one’s living room or kitchen. Hand-written notes inform customers of who created the items and where they were made. The store, located at 364 Hayes Street, is currently carrying butcher blocks made of American white oak and brass ($300) created by Jacob May in Oakland. According to the “Meet the Maker” note, “each piece is hand-made with domestically sourced materials.” Also for sale are touch lights with old-fashioned bulbs ($250) made by gay Los Angeles-based artist Luke Hobbs. Also popular are wood chart maps of various locales, such as San Francisco Bay ($298) or the city itself ($258, $158 for the smaller size).

Curating the store’s collection of furnishings and home gift items is owner Matt Bissinger, a gay man and San Francisco native who opened Maker and Moss three years ago. It is a 15-block commute from his home in the Panhandle near Golden Gate Park. “The space is really cool. It was an all men’s gym in the 1980s, early 1990s. Older gentlemen will come in who were gym members,” said Bissinger, 46, who had co-owned a smaller home decor store in Pacific Heights called Bae, the Korean maiden name of his business partner’s mother. When that shop closed and he sought to open his own store, Bissinger quit his job as a fundraiser for nonprofits, such as the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco and the San Francisco Opera, to focus full-time on Maker and Moss. While the growth of online retailing has been disruptive for local merchants, Bissinger said brickand-mortar businesses like his can still thrive. “I don’t think retail is dying. I think retail is changing,” said Bissinger, who graduated from Sarah

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Rick Gerharter

Matt Bissinger, owner of Maker and Moss in Hayes Valley, stands in front of some unique hanging lamps.

Lawrence College in southern New York and lived for a time in Seattle before returning to his hometown in 1995. “What I don’t think is changing is humans by nature are social creatures; they want that social experience. In order to survive, you have to sell that experience. And you have to curate it for people so they don’t have to sift through hundreds of items on Amazon to find the perfect gift.” Plus, with furniture in particular, people still want that tactile experience of sitting on a sofa or chaise longue before buying it, noted Bissinger, who in early 2017 will begin carrying Cisco Home’s line of sustainable furniture that is handcrafted in Los Angeles. The company used to have a retail location in the neighborhood before relocating its store to the Design District near Mission Bay. “You can send a pair of pants that you bought online back, but you can’t do that so easily with a sofa,” said Bissinger, whose store also offers interior decorating services. While his priority is to source the items he sells locally, Bissinger said he doesn’t exclude someone based on where they are from, as “an equal priority is to find stuff we like.” His guiding principle is to carry items that are “well-made and reasonably priced.” The Christmas shopping season remains a “pretty critical” time of year, said Bissinger, in terms of the store’s sales. He also recently upgraded the store’s website – http://makerandmoss.com/ – and offers a wedding registry both online and in the store. Being centrally located, and within walking distance of BART and Muni stations, there is a steady flow of shoppers, both local and tourists, coming to spend the day in Hayes Valley or popping in prior to seeing a show at the nearby theaters and music venues. “I really wanted to be in Hayes Valley. It seemed a perfect fit for us,” said Bissinger, who signed a five-year lease with an option to renew for another five years. “This neighborhood’s centrality is unique. It is a booming neighborhood and it is growing more quickly.” Maker and Moss is open this month from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday due to the holidays. It normally closes at 6 p.m.

San Diego

From page 17

under arrest because of your outfit. You are naked in public.’ I was blown away; I didn’t even know what that meant,” recalled Walters, who asked the officer why he needed to cover up. Eventually, the police told him they would cite him and he would then be free to go on his way, said Walters. But when he refused to sign the citation without being able to read it, he was arrested. Walters insists he was arrested for violating the nudity laws, while San Diego officials have claimed it was because he wouldn’t sign the citation. In an emailed statement to the B.A.R., Executive Assistant City Attorney Paul

those days and is open noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

Site curates shoes for men

The same concept of curating a shopping experience for customers is at the heart of the business plan for the gay-owned online shoe retailer King and Stone. The site features a limited selection of shoes each season that its members, who pay a monthly subscription fee of $25, choose from and have delivered. Co-founders Shaun Rosenstein and Krijn Mossel launched the company in 2014, and the website – http://www.kingandstone.com/ – went live in 2015, with the first pairs of shoes shipped to subscribers this past January. The company’s name is derived from the first letters of the their birth names, with each shoe named after a king and the colors named for stones. “It is more than just a shoe company; we have a bigger mission. We want to make it easy for guys to look

great all year long,” said Rosenstein, 35, who had been living in San Francisco but recently relocated to southern California where he grew up. “The problem with shoes in particular is the in store and online experience is not great.” Shopping for shoes in stores, noted Rosenstein, is often a hassle as you have to find the style you want from a multitude of options and then a worker has to go and get the size you need. Online the sheer volume of different shoes offered on many sites can be overwhelming, added Rosenstein. “We thought we could do this better and make buying shoes an affordable, fun experience,” he said. “We offer a highly curated selection of limited styles that are on trend for that season and at an affordable price every month.” Mossel, 43, who grew up in Volendam, a small town north of Amsterdam, said that subscriptionbased retail is proving to be a successful business model, whether for clothing, food, or shaving needs. But they noticed no one was focused on shoes, especially not for men. “It seemed like there would be demand for something like that to make it super easy for guys to get fashionable shoes. You still have a choice, but we would make sure every choice they make is on the edge of fashion and a certain style context,” said Mossel, who lives with his husband, John Rinaldi, in Mountain View and provides IT services on a freelance basis to tech startups. While Mossel is focused on King and Stone’s technical infrastructure needs, he also assists Rosenstein with the design of the shoes and finding manufacturers in Southeast Asia. They have worked with factories in both India and China, as their shoe orders are too small See page 22 >>

Courtesy Shaun Rosenstein

Shaun Rosenstein holds a King and Stone shoe.

E. Cooper stressed that the lawsuit isn’t a criminal case as his office declined to press charges against Walters. “What happened was that a police officer asked the plaintiff to cover himself. When he refused, the officer wrote him a ticket for violation of the city’s nudity law,” wrote Cooper. “After the plaintiff refused to sign the ticket agreeing to appear in court, the officer took the plaintiff into custody (just as they would do if a motorist refused to sign a traffic citation promising to appear in traffic court). The officer sent the case over to our office and, as noted above, our prosecutors declined to file a criminal case.” Cooper added, “We still haven’t seen any evidence to support the claim of inequitable enforcement. Plaintiff was

not prosecuted for anything and was arrested only because he refused to sign the ticket promising to appear.” The trial is expected to last at least a week. Should they prevail over the city, Morris told the B.A.R. it could have a statewide impact. “In smaller communities they may take their nudity codes and make them more stringent for gay Pride events. If we can get a court to say, ‘No, you can’t do that here,’ I think it will have an impact across the state,” he said. It is why, Walters added, he has pursued his case against the city and police. “This really can show police and can show politicians, even people in their own community, that we cannot be censored by celebrating our own community,” he said.t

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<< Sports

20 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 8-14, 2016

Gay Games bids are in for 2022 by Roger Brigham

ver most of the next year, Federation of Gay Games members will choose from eight bidders to determine who will have the right to host Gay Games XI in 2022. They’ll be trying to decide which of the cities is best equipped to deliver a financially successful event with the best, most inclusive sports experience. Want to play Quidditch in a place that brags it is downright weird? Austin, Texas could be your bidder of choice. Want something big or want to get high? Those are themes Dallas and Denver, respectively, offer in their bids. Want to get away from the states and venture where no Gay Games has gone before? Bids from Hong Kong or Mexico could be for you. Or, of course, voters could choose San Francisco – the place where it all started in 1982. After the likes of Los Angeles, Tel Aviv, and Cape Town withdrew from the initial group of cities expressing interest in hosting, the FGG was left at the end of November with eight cities each plunking down a $7,500 fee to be considered as potential hosts: Austin and Dallas, Texas; Denver; Salt Lake City; San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; Guadalajara, Mexico; and Hong Kong. That list will be pared to three finalists early in 2017. The final vote will come at the FGG membership meeting in Paris late in the year. Consider the initial bid submissions as a beauty pageant. Each bidder is trying to strike the most appealing image it can: why it is the most, the best, or the only one for the job. After the field is pared to three, the real work of examining claims and capacity will begin,

and who knows who will emerge victorious? In the meantime, we can only imagine and surmise – and, now and then, poke fun at how cities project themselves. Being a wrestler and having been the head of the LGBT-centric Wrestlers WithOut Borders, the first thing I do with bid books – which were made available to FGG members December 1 – is to compare what bidders have lined up for wrestling. Since 2014, two disciplines (grappling and freestyle) are required offerings for hosts who include wrestling; two other disciplines (GrecoRoman and beach wrestling) are optional. The last time the Gay Games drew more than 100 wrestlers was 2006 in Chicago, and no Gay Games has ever drawn 200. So imagine my surprise when Austin, which has no local LGBT wrestling clubs, predicted it would have 240 wrestlers. (Not to mention its bid anticipates 15,000 athletes total, a projection that would massively exceed any previous Gay Games.) Washington also optimistically calls for 200 wrestlers – and yet would offer them a maximum of three matches, rather than the Gay Games standard of five. It doesn’t offer Greco-Roman wrestling, but it does offer a world-class GrecoRoman wrestler, Akil Patterson, as wrestling coordinator. Austin also listed something called America’s Academy of Pro Wrestling as a national sanctioning body for the sport. Pro wrestling – seriously? Asked about what it planned to do to accommodate handicapped wrestlers, Dallas said hearing-im-

paired wrestlers would be able to compete – not noting that blind and athletes without limbs are common in the sport. Hong Kong offers a sensible low wrestling registration fee, but it, Denver, and Salt Lake City expect the event to be smooshed into two days, and offer no grappling. Austin also omits grappling, but for some reason listed the International Association of Gay and Lesbian Martial Artists as a sanctioning body. San Francisco, bless its little heart, offers the prospect of including Greco-Roman. The bid from Mexico, however, would eliminate wrestling from the Gay Games for the first time ever. On the plus side, Guadalajara has the most beautiful logo of all, inspired by and rooted in Native culture. The point I am making in the wrestling comparisons is that this is all new to bidders. They’ve either never put on a sports event of this magnitude or a sports event with this unique mission. They are trying to apply skill sets from politicians, tourism representatives, and human rights activists, and organize a participatory event in which sports reign supreme. Attention to detail is critical and understanding of mission requirements is mandatory. So as the beauty pageant progresses, it will be fascinating which of them actually corrects and educates itself. The way cities portray themselves in the bids is illuminating. Cities such as Austin or Dallas paint themselves as vanguards of progressive acceptance and human rights, although Dallas brags about having a gayborhood while Austin proclaims its greater integration. Others, such as Guadalajara and Hong Kong, stress that a Gay Games would change perceptions and conditions for local LGBT residents.

Guadalajara, Mexico’s beautiful logo for its 2022 Gay Games bid.

Dallas can’t get over the fact that it is big. Big, big, big, – has an entire conference built around that theme. Austin proclaims itself weird. Keep it weird. Denver, in something of a double entendre, emphasizes again and again how high it is. High, high, high. The camel sticking its nose under the tent flap in almost all of the bids are sports human rights conferences. Newer sports with the best chance to join the Gay Games? Climbing, rodeo, and anything involving throwing a Frisbee. Six of the eight finalists are in the United States, but as Hong Kong metaphorically coughed under its breath in objection, “North America has already hosted the Games six times out of nine.” The bidder also pleaded its positioning to bring the event to uncharted territory by noting that 20 counties were “within five hours flying time, including all of the largest by population.” So, who is the favorite? Can’t believe I am saying this,

but probably Washington, D.C. – although the presidential election results may turn most international bidders off to the idea of coming to the United States just about now. D.C. lost a previous bid mostly because the costs seemed prohibitive, there was an arrogance in the bid that athletes should be honored just to show up in the nation’s capital, and there were apparent disconnects with local LGBT sports organizations despite the city having an exceedingly strong and active LGBT sports culture. In the current bid, Washington organizers consciously try to allay fears of housing costs, address concerns of Gay Games loyalists that offering a conference will strain host resources, and project confidence that they deserve the nod second time round – just like Paris. And who knows? Maybe the idea of reclaiming the nation’s capital with tens of thousands of queer athletes and artists marching in will strike people’s fancy. Can hardly wait for the next round.t

A memorial was held at Laguna Honda Hospital October 5 at which time many colleagues, nurses, staff, and friends recounted their experiences with him over a lifetime of service to the patients and friends he loved and to the city of his dreams, San Francisco. A fund will be established for recognition in his honor at Laguna Honda Hospital. Please contact Dr. Jerome Goldstein regarding the Paul J. Isakson memorial. Contributions can be made to the Diversity Foundation of San Francisco (http://www. divsf.org) or contact Goldstein at jgoldstein@sfcrc.org or (415) 279-6952 for more information.

Obituaries >> Paul J. Isakson, M.D.

THIS IS THE

October 26, 1937 – September 25, 2016

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Dr. Paul J. Isakson retired to Eagle Point, Oregon in 2009 and died from complications of renal failure with a significant antecedent renal sepsis at the Asante Medical Center in Medford, Oregon September 25, 2016. Paul was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on October 26, 1937. His undergraduate education was at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota and he received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine in 1963. His internship and residency were done at the Southern Pacific Memorial Hospital in San Francisco. He served in the United States Navy at the Naval Hospital at St. Albans, Long Island, New York. Paul was in private practice in San Francisco from 1969 – with affiliations at Davies Medical Center, St. Francis Memorial Hospital, St. Mary’s Hospital, and the Sutter Group of Hospitals – through the time that he assumed the role of medical director at Laguna Honda Hospital on a full-time basis. He was appointed to the Mayor’s Long Term Care Coordinating Council in 2004 and the Laguna Honda Hospital Assisted Living Advisory Group in 2006. In retirement he enjoyed his passion for gardening and being with his second life partner, James Johnson. His first life partner, Robert Noeltner, died of lung cancer several years prior. Paul always considered himself the luckiest person on earth to have been blessed with two such meaningful and fulfilling relationships. Paul was a committed clinician of the highest order and developed a professional, caring, and continual relationship with all he served over his years of practice and his administrative roles at Laguna Honda Hospital. During the AIDS crisis he was on the forefront of new therapies including the AZT trials and subsequent therapies. His commitment to the LGBTQ community was unwavering through his many years in practice and while in command at Laguna Honda Hospital. Additionally, Paul loved committee work at all his hospitals and never faltered in his commitment to the best medical care possible by whatever changes might be made for improvement.

Horacio N. Roque Ramírez November 15, 1969 – December 25, 2015 Horacio’s expertise in dancing cumbias was a proud reflection of his immigrant Salvadorian background – he loved to party and loved his men brown. Often he was seen collaborating with the queer Latina/o HIV agency Proyecto ContraSIDA Por Vida. He distinguished himself as an expert witness fighting for asylum-seeking LGBT Central Americans, was a founding member of La Colectiva, a SF Bay Area LGBT Latina/o History Collective; winner of various scholarly prizes, including those of the National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies; taught at San Jose State University and at UC Berkeley (where he received his doctorate), became a tenured professor in ethnic studies at UC Santa Barbara; and was renowned as a SF Bay Area multigender queer Latina/o oral historian and archivist. He contributed to the Encyclopedia of American Immigration (M.E. Sharpe 2001), Civil Rights in the United States (Gale 2000), Virgins, Guerrillas & Locas (Cleis 1999), and co-edited Bodies of Evidence (Oxford University Press 2012 ). Horacio is survived by many in San Francisco and Los Angeles that loved him and by his mother, Lydia Roque Ramirez, and sisters Violeta, Nubia, and Norma Roque and their respective families. A remembrance event is being held in his honor Saturday, December 10, from 2 to 5 p.m. at Galería de la Raza, 2857 24th Street, San Francisco.

Transmissions

From page 8

Not only are various trans and LGBT organizations seemingly coming out of an eight-year hibernation – or at least a two-year hiatus since the Obergefell v. Hodges decision that legalized same-sex marriage – but a generation of activists are stepping back up to the plate, joined by more than a few new faces. We see the dangers, and are preparing to push back as much as we can. As a generation before me said: we’re not going back into the closet. What’s more, there has been a new move that has formed just days after the election, and it is where I turned for advice on securing my passport. Started as a hashtag on Twitter, #translawhelp has since evolved into http://www.translawhelp.org, and serves as an online database of legal resources for the United States trans community. More than this, they have been helping transgender people in need to cover the costs of these documents, and have worked to put trans people in touch with lawyers and others willing to help out on an urgent basis. I hope that this is the start of something bigger, and we see a future of solid advocacy for the trans community. I also would like to think that the spirit of community Trans Law Help and others will help the trans community become stronger and more resilient during the years to come. Perhaps, if we cannot look to the Trump administration or a wishywashy Democratic Party, we shall be able to help ourselves.t Gwen Smith will have to handle her other paperwork, too. You can find her at gwensmith.com.

Community News>>

December 8-14, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 21

City agency reports increase in used syringes by Seth Hemmelgarn

an Francisco’s struggle with discarded syringes on sidewalks, parking lots, and other locations continues, despite years of attempts to address the problem. The controller’s office issued a report recently that there was a 40 percent increase in calls of syringes to the 311 customer service line from July 2015 through June 2016. The reports hit “a total of 3,551 service requests after monthly reports reached an all-time high of 396 in May 2016. ... Internal counts of needles collected by public works ‘Hot Spot’ crews also increased nearly 40 percent according to the department, from roughly 16,000 to 22,300.” The paraphernalia discarded by intravenous drug users has long littered outdoor spaces. Many people over the years have blamed the city’s syringe access efforts, where the

Safe injection sites

From page 1

While Garcia was not available this week to speak with the Bay Area Reporter, she did tell the paper this spring that she’s not opposed to safe injection sites, also known as supervised injection facilities. “I do not oppose safe injection drug sites,” Garcia, a lesbian, told the paper. But she said that it was a matter “about prioritization” of the Department of Public Health’s budget and what other programs would be cut in order to fund such a proposal. In a statement to the B.A.R. last Friday, Garcia pointed out that safe injection sites are currently illegal “and would require a change in state law.”

“a larger style kiosk” in the Civic Center area, South of Market, and “the Tenderloin is always under consideration,” she said. The primary challenges to placing more receptacles are “making sure that it’s a good location, and that is key,” Loughran said. “We want to just make sure that one, it’s a hot spot, and two, drug users will use it.” She said increases in discarded syringes can’t necessarily be tied to the growth of homeless tent encampments in recent years. “That’s completely anecdotal,” Loughran said. She said when people see used syringes, they should call 311. That ensures reports can be tracked. “I go by 311 data to help me identify hotspots, and that helps us determine where to place boxes and where to put our resources as far as rapid response teams,” who clean up syringes, Loughran said.t

“Safe injection sites, also called supervised injection services, may promote safer injection practices, connect users with health and social services, and reduce overdoses,” Garcia wrote. “But they also pose several challenges.” She said the health department estimates that it would cost approximately $3 million and that one location would not suffice. “In a city with up to 22,000 people who inject drugs, as many as six sites could be needed,” she explained. “In San Francisco, we would anticipate difficulty finding locations for such sites,” Garcia added. Resolving neighborhood concerns would be one of the priorities. “What is going to be palatable

Louie added that like San Francisco, New York City is progressive and able to get things done that may be unconventional, like supervised injection sites. However, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee remains firmly opposed to the idea. He told the B.A.R. during an editorial board meeting several months ago his priority is to be “very careful.” “I’m not immediately buying the arguments,” he said of the supervised sites. “We have methadone clinics. Where would they get the drugs?” At the time, the mayor also said such facilities were not the “highest priority” of the health department.t

with the neighbors?” Garcia asked when she met with the B.A.R. this spring. “There will be neighbors who don’t want drug addicts next door and who will be concerned they will bring trouble.” State Senator Scott Wiener (DSan Francisco) told the B.A.R. that he’s open to safe injection sites with some caveats. “I’d need to be assured that they would be extremely well managed so as not to create negative impacts, and focused on getting people healthy,” he said in a phone interview. Wiener also believes that state law should not be a barrier to local jurisdictions that may want to have such sites.

“I don’t think the state should be preventing local jurisdictions from trying” new approaches, he said. The New York City Council recently allocated $100,000 to the city’s health department to study supervised injection facilities. The funds come from a $5.6 million allocation in the city’s most recent budget targeted toward ending the AIDS epidemic. Kelsey Louie, CEO of Gay Men’s Health Crisis, told the B.A.R. this week that the funds have been allocated and proposals are being written. While GMHC is not involved in the project directly, Louie said the organization is very supportive. “It is certainly a worthwhile issue to study,” he said.

Fire victims

From page 1

of the androgyny, and that aesthetic gave me a way to explore my gender expression before I could even come to terms with being transgender.” Recalling Em Bohlka also known as Em B, 33, of Oakland, the East Bay Times reported that Jack Bohlka, Em Bohlka’s father, “said on Facebook that his daughter was transitioning from a man to ‘becoming a beautiful, happy woman. ‘She at last was living as she was meant to live. I only wish she had more time to fully enjoy her life,’” he said. Scout Wolfcave, a friend of fire victim Feral Pines, 29, of Berkeley, told the Times, “For many of her trans community, Feral was a guide and sister in a world of small joys and terrible precarity for trans women. Feral was truly committed to empowering those that the world deems powerless.” Gehno Aviance, 43, a gay San Francisco man who often works as a DJ, knew many of the people who died in the fire. In a Facebook exchange with the Bay Area Reporter, Aviance said, “I am utterly devastated but know that it is my higher mission to work through these feelings and live a life that honors theirs. This means: making more art, helping create non-corporate safe-spaces for artists and art-lovers to commune, loving myself, and helping other heal, to name a few.” Aviance recalled three friends in particular. Amanda Allen Kershaw, a photographer, “was an incredible human” and “an inspiration to many,” he said. She’d spent this last Thanksgiving at

devices can be obtained boxes in the area. through nonprofits that A map provided by the are working to reduce HIV, health department shows hepatitis C, and other in11 sites where the receptafections that can be spread cles have been placed. The through shared syringes. closest ones to Goad were The city and the groups it several blocks away. works with have sought to Eileen Loughran, health make sure that syringes are program coordinator for discarded properly. the health department’s District 6, which includes Community Health Equity the Tenderloin and South and Promotion branch, Rick Gerharter of Market neighborhoods, said the city’s syringe dishad more public service A recent city report noted a spike in used syringes on posal collaboration, which requests submitted to 311 the streets. includes city officials and than any other district, with community partners, the damn court,” said Goad, refer1,106 during the 2015 fiscal hopes to have more boxes ring to the nearby Hall of Justice at year and 1,653 the next year, a 49 perin place in the coming months. 850 Bryant Street. cent increase. “I would like to say that they’ll be in “A lot of people just toss them 10 Daniel Goad, 51, a homeless place by March 2017,” Loughran said. feet away. ... They’re worried about man who was camped out near Exact locations haven’t been getting in trouble with the police,” Eighth and Bryant streets, which is determined, “but they will match he said. in District 6, said he sees discarded the hot spots we know of that we Goad, who isn’t an IV drug user, syringes “Everywhere.” get from 311” and other sources, said there should be more disposal “I see them using them in front of Loughran said. That could include

News Briefs

From page 16

by famed wineries in the Russian River Valley. The cuvee comes from Iron Horse Vineyards and the pinot noir from Giusti Ranch. The website also offers a “Biscuits and Bubbles” gift set that includes Guerneville’s

Cash Askew

Em Bohlka

Feral Pines

the home of Aviance and his husband. Another friend was Johnny Igaz, a musician, DJ, producer, and historian who went by the name Nackt and was “a loud voice for trans and queer rights,” Aviance said. Igaz was “one of those who knew the roots of the modern sounds we hear today,” he said. The last gig Igaz played before the fire was Aviance’s Say YES! Party, he said. Chelsea Faith, 33, who was also known as Cherushii, also DJ’d the Say YES! Party. Faith produced and performed her own music and had a weekly show at Underground SF called “Run the Length of Your Wildness.” Aviance said she was an “incredible soul and artist. ... Her music was some of the best” he’d heard. Trans people and many others attended a vigil Monday night, December 5, in San Francisco’s Castro district. The Reverend Megan Rohrer, who identifies as transgender, said, “There is a need to create a safe space to

mourn and to honor the transgender people who died in the fire.” Ian Stanford, an Episcopal priest, said, “As a trans man I want to call out that trans lives matter. Artists matter. Musicians matter. Children matter. The disabled matter. Mommas matter. All humans matter.” Sister Merry Peter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence choked back tears as she recalled other times of grief: The mass shooting earlier this year at the gay Pulse nightclub in Florida; the November victory of President-elect Donald Trump, who’s loaded his administration with people who are anti-LGBT; and the 1978 assassination of gay civil rights leader Harvey Milk. “I just want to be standing with you tonight,” Merry Peter said. “We were just here in June for Orlando. We were here night after night after the election. We were here to remember Harvey with candles and prayers. And now tonight – my heart is breaking that we have to do it again.” Another vigil Monday night was

held at Oakland’s Lake Merritt. Micah Estrella said, “I lost my brother Chris in the fire. Knowing he is still with me spiritually is the one thing that has gotten me through it.” Jessica Jarvis, of Richmond, California, said, “This has shaken the entire global rave scene. Tragedy brings people together, at this gathering people are reaching out and hugging strangers.”

own Big Bottom Market biscuit mix and orange blossom honey.

Pavilion, 1414 Harbour Way, on the Richmond waterfront. Fairgoers can choose from a variety of vendors, including those selling wearable textiles, glasswork ceramic, and innovative furniture. There’s also photography, original paintings, and hand-made jewelry. The premier Bay Area craft fair

benefits KPFA 94.1 FM public radio, which has a reputation for embracing diversity and supporting local communities through its programming. Organizers said the radio station applied similar principles in the selection process for exhibitors at the fair. There will also be food and wine

Holiday craft fair in Richmond

The 46th annual KPFA Crafts Fair, now called the Craneway Crafts Fair, will take place Saturday and Sunday, December 17-18, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Craneway

Officials respond

The Alameda County District Attorney’s office has launched a criminal investigation into the fire, which destroyed the warehouse space at 1315 31st Avenue. “We are committed to bringing every resource to bear to determine what happened here and how such a tragic event could have occurred,” Oakland officials said in a news release. “Our priority is to bring closure to this tragedy for the victims’ families.” Personnel from the Oakland Fire Department; Oakland Police Department; U.S. Bureau of Alcohol,

Tobacco and Firearms; Alameda County Sheriff ’s Office; and other agencies have been working at the scene of the fire since the weekend. Many have raised questions about the safety of the building, which was leased by Derick Ion Almena and reportedly was crammed with pianos, rugs, artwork, and other objects, and had a problematic electrical system, no sprinklers, and limited exits. According to media reports, many artists had lived there over the years even though it wasn’t zoned for that use. It doesn’t appear city agencies had done much to address the hazards. “The last permitted use of the building was as a warehouse,” officials said. On November 13, the city “received complaints of blight and unpermitted interior construction at the building.” On November 17, officials said, “a city building inspector visited the property and verified the blight complaint, but could not gain access to the building to confirm the other complaint regarding unpermitted construction. This is an ongoing investigation.” Darin Ranelletti, interim director of Oakland’s planning and building department, didn’t respond to an interview request. Aviance, the DJ who lost friends in the fire, said, “I have many negative feelings come up when I think of how all these deaths could have been prevented, but I will allow the experts to decide and our justice system to make a ruling.”t David-Elijah Nahmod and Michael Nugent contributed to this report.

and beer sold during the event, as well as live music in the dining area. Admission is $12 (ages 18-64), $8 for seniors and disabled; youth are free. There is free parking on site, or people can take the free shuttle to and from the Richmond BART station. For more information, visit www. cranewaycraftsfair.com.t

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 8-14, 2016

Business Briefs

From page 18

at this point to make it economically feasible to sign contracts with American manufacturers. The co-owners declined to disclose to the Bay Area Reporter how many subscribers they currently have but did say they have been pleased so far with the company’s growth. Anyone living in the U.S. or its territories can subscribe, and by 2018, they hope to have expanded to include overseas members. “We have been growing at a healthy clip ever since we launched,” said Rosenstein, whose e-commerce background includes working at upstart social and digital firms Crowd Factory and Science Lab. New customers can pick from four shoe styles right away then within four to six months are emailed six options to select from for their second shoe. Thereafter, every three months they can select a new pair from six new styles or choose from a prior season if that style of shoe is still in stock. “We try to keep our warehousing and inventory costs low so we

Diaz

From page 1

a chunk of scalp,” Superior Court Judge Garrett L. Wong said at Diaz’s court appearance Friday, December 2. The piece of the victim’s scalp was found at the scene, Wong said. At his hearing, Diaz looked like he’d been battered, too. His face was swollen, there appeared to be a small section of hair missing from the left side of his head, and his left hand was bandaged. Wong denied Deputy Public Defender Michelle Tong’s motion to have Diaz released on his own recognizance, saying he’s “a threat to public safety, a serious threat.” The latest incident reportedly occurred at 4:55 a.m. Tuesday, November 29 at Folsom and Harriet streets when Diaz allegedly walked up to the victim, who was in his car, “shined a flashlight on him,” and “told him to get out of the car,” according to a police summary. The victim, who’s 45, got out of the car, and he and Diaz allegedly fought. “Both parties suffered injuries,” police said. The victim’s injuries were listed as non-life threatening. According to the Hoodline news site, Diaz was the suspect arrested in the incident, which occurred next to the 1015 Folsom nightlife venue. Larry Metzger, 58, Diaz’s former boyfriend, told the Bay Area Reporter November 29, the day Diaz was arrested, that they’d gone to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them the previous night. “I think he was fine,” Metzger, who owns the Castro bar the Mix, said. “... He was happy with working. He seemed to like the classes he was taking. I didn’t notice any depression or anything like that.” The next time he saw Diaz was in the emergency room at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Diaz told him that he’d been “hit with a pipe,” Metzger said, but he didn’t have much more information because police had told him he had to leave. “He looked pretty bad,” Metzger said. “He had stitches on his forehead.” Metzger expressed shock at the charges, including the unlawful use of a badge accusation. “I’ve never seen him with anything” like that, he said, and he didn’t know how Diaz would’ve obtained one, “unless it was some tin one from a store.”

Previous charges

In 2014, Diaz stood trial for the June 2011 death of Freddy CanulArguello, 23, in Buena Vista Park. In his testimony, Diaz testified that Canul-Arguello had asked to be

can pass on that saving to customers,” said Rosenstein, who said their designs are meant to be “smart casual,” meaning they are shoes that are “nice to wear to work all day but fun enough to wear to happy hour or a night out after work as well.” They offer a free exchange every season, though Rosenstein said subscribers shouldn’t have too many problems with incorrect sizes since their shoes are made to the same specifications each season. “You may have to exchange the first season’s pair with us if you find it is a half size bigger or smaller. After that, it usually is a good fit,” he said. They aren’t currently looking to partner with a brick-and-mortar store to carry their line of shoes. But they are likely to begin selling individual pairs of shoes for $125 on their website sometime in early 2017. “For now, we do have some shoes left over each season,” said Rosenstein.t Got a tip on LGBT business news? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or e-mail m.bajko@ ebar.com.

choked during a sexual encounter and that he’d accidentally killed him. Diaz said he’d set fire to a cup in a recycling bin to signal for help. The melted bin was found with CanulArguello’s heavily charred body. Jurors acquitted Diaz of seconddegree murder but convicted him of involuntary manslaughter, arson, mutilating human remains, and destroying evidence. He was released in September 2014 after spending more than three years in custody. Superior Court Judge Donald Sullivan dismissed the arson count. In 2015, Diaz was arrested again for allegedly starting fires in the Castro district. He was accused of setting a fire at the Up Hair salon, which is located above the Mix, as well as burning Metzger’s car. He originally pleaded not guilty to felony counts of arson of an inhabited structure, arson of property, and possession of an incendiary device, but as part of a deal with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty in August to the incendiary device charge and a count of second-degree burglary. He was released in September after spending more than eight months in custody. Just before Diaz’s release, retired Superior Court Judge Philip Moscone sentenced him to a year of mandatory supervision. He was required to register as an arsonist for life, wear an ankle monitor for at least the first six months of his supervision, and receive counseling. He was also ordered to stay 150 yards away from 4082 through 4086 18th Street, the building where the Mix bar and the apartment where he’d lived with Metzger are located. In court last Friday, Assistant District Attorney Andrew Clark said that the adult probation department had already recommended about a week before the alleged assault that Diaz be remanded. Clark didn’t provide details of what Diaz’s violation was. A probation department official didn’t respond to a call from the B.A.R. Metzger, who said that he and Diaz are still friends, said, “He wasn’t allowed to come around here. He stayed away. He never violated his restraining order.” Diaz had been doing “all the things he was supposed to be doing,” Metzger said. “I don’t know how this happened.” He declined to say where Diaz had been living or working. Wong granted a motion by Clark, the prosecutor, to administratively revoke Diaz’s mandatory supervision status. Diaz, who declined to be interviewed, is being held without bond. His next court date is Thursday, December 8.t

Legal Notices>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037319900

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037348500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ROBOT BOY PRODUCTIONS, 2166 45TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed EDGAR GARCIA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/25/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/25/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: OCEAN BEACH SF, 2117 48TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KELLY MALIA STANFORD. 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 11/15/16.

NOV 10, 17, 24, DEC 01, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037330200

NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037346700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SAN FRANCISCO THERAPY SERVICES, 45 FRANKLIN ST #213, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ALEXIS STRICKER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/02/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/02/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: KEANE EYES GALLERY, 3040 LARKIN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual and is signed ROBERT L. BROWN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/01/90. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/14/16.

NOV 10, 17, 24, DEC 01, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037334600

NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037311400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CLEAN LINE CONSTRUCTION, 1580 GREAT HWY #4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DANIEL CLAYTON HEKKEL. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/17/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/04/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DSG STUDIOS, 564 MONTEREY BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94127. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ANN MARIE GARVIN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/13/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/16.

NOV 10, 17, 24, DEC 01, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037332300

NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037337900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AAA SOLAR AND DEVELOPERS; GOLDEN GATE SOLAR AND DEVELOPERS; 130 POPE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed YOSHIRO MIKUMO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/03/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/03/16.

NOV 10, 17, 24, DEC 01, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037331200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: INTOACTIONS, 1850 PAGE ST #2, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117-1910. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed REINHOLD A. STEINBECK. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/31/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/02/16.

NOV 10, 17, 24, DEC 01, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037307100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: IMPECCABLE BOOKKEEPING, 1675 26TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KAMALJIT BAINS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/13/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/13/16.

NOV 10, 17, 24, DEC 01, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037338100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SAN FRANCISCO DETACHMENT, MARINE CORPS LEAGUE, 401 VAN NESS AVE #101, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102-4521. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed BARRY L. MARQUARDT & HENRY ROSE JR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/08/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/08/16.

NOV 10, 17, 24, DEC 01, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037332000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FITNESS SF EMBARCADERO, 2 EMBARCADERO CENTER, LOBBY LEVEL, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed EMBARCADERO FITNESS INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/03/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/03/16.

NOV 10, 17, 24, DEC 01, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037332400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CALIFORNIA MOVERS LOCAL & LONG DISTANCE INC., 1888 GENEVA AVE #504B, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed CALIFORNIA MOVERS LOCAL & LONG DISTANCE INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/01/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/03/16.

NOV 10, 17, 24, DEC 01, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037332500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SIMPLE MOVE SF, 1888 GENEVA AVE #504B, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SIMPLE MOVE INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/03/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/03/16.

NOV 10, 17, 24, DEC 01, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037330400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CITY COUNTER, 115 SANSOME ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed CITY COUNTER, 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 11/02/16.

NOV 10, 17, 24, DEC 01, 2016

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AA BACK FLOW TESTING, 127 KINGSTON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JOHN BENETT. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/08/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/08/16.

NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037336600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: RIENA KIM, 4052 18TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RIENA Y. KIM. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/07/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/07/16.

NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037347600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PMR PRIME, 350 TOWNSEND ST #405, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed INTERNET 404 TECHNOLOGIES, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/14/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/15/16.

NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037320400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SPEAK E Z (CA), 455 UPPER TERRACE #5, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SPEAK E Z (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/25/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/25/16.

NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037319100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PRIDE ROOFING, 650 SOUTH VAN NESS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RAFAEL ALATORRE HUERTA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/24/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/24/16.

NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2016 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-035765000

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: CHINO, 3198 16TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business was conducted by a limited liability company and signed by CHINO-AMERICANO LLC (CA). The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/04/14.

NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2016 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-16-552540

In the matter of the application of: TIMOTHY WAYNE ARNETT, 182 HOWARD ST #141, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner TIMOTHY WAYNE ARNETT, is requesting that the name TIMOTHY WAYNE ARNETT, be changed to JAX LELAND MCCLOUD. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 12th of January 2017 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 24, DEC 01, 08, 15, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037355400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LA KIWI BABY, 566A GROVE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed BRITTANY HOOPER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/26/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/21/16.

NOV 24, DEC 01, 08, 15, 2016

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037348900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE RENTAL GAL; BAY AREA RENTAL ADVISORS; BAY AREA REAL ESTATE ADVISORS, 1998 PACIFIC AVE #201, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed PAMELA O’BRIEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/06/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/15/16.

NOV 24, DEC 01, 08, 15, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037346200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GERMAN’S ELECTRICAL SERVICES, 1008 LARKIN ST #304, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed GERMAN EDUARDO LOPEZ SANCHEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/14/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/14/16.

NOV 24, DEC 01, 08, 15, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037350100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BRAND X ANTIQUES, 570 CASTRO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed TIMOTHY J. FLINT. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/09/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/16/16.

NOV 24, DEC 01, 08, 15, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037327800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE JACKSONFULLER TEAM; SF MODERN CONDOS PROJECT, 2282 MARKET ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed ALABAMA NAPLES, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/01/16.

NOV 24, DEC 01, 08, 15, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037353700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ABRAMS TOWING, 585 BRYANT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SAN FRANCISCO AUTO BODY, INC. (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 11/18/16.

NOV 24, DEC 01, 08, 15, 2016 STATE OF MAINE DISTRICT COURT OF LEWISTON CIVIL ACTION DOCKET NO.: FM-16-291

LESLIE KOVALAKIDES, Plaintiff, v. JESUS GUITERREZ, Defendant. The matter of Leslie Kovalakides v. Jesus Guiterrez is pending in the County of Androscoggin, Lewiston, Maine. The action is for divorce. Plaintiff is represented by Attorney Sheilah R. McLaughlin, 124 Maine Street, Ste. 216, Brunswick, Maine 04011. The Family Matter Summons and Preliminary Injunction states that Plaintiff has filed an action against Defendant for divorce. If Defendant wants to oppose this action, he must serve a written answer to the Complaint within 20 days after the day he receives notice by publication to the Lewiston District Court, 71 Lisbon Street, P.O. Box 1345, Lewiston, Maine 04243-1345, and to mail a copy of his answer to Plaintiff’s attorney at the above address. This order shall be published once a week for 3 successive weeks in Androscoggin County in the following publication: a San Francisco newspaper within 20 days after the date the court granted the Order for Service by Publication. Dated 10/13/16.

DECEMBER 01, 08, 15, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037351200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DOES ARCHITECTURE, 22 MONTEZUMA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ERIC D. STATEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/26/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/17/16.

DEC 01, 08, 15, 22, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037357800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PRO VET WARE, 3450 17TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ARI ERIC ROZYCKI. 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 11/23/16.

DEC 01, 08, 15, 22, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037360100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Y MIKUMO CO, 130 POPE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed YOSHIRO MIKUMO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/23/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/28/16.

DEC 01, 08, 15, 22, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037360400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CONSULT OUR SOURCE, 1628 FOLSOM ST, SAN FRANCISCO 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DAVID W. AGUILAR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/28/16.

DEC 01, 08, 15, 22, 2016

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Read more online at www.ebar.com

Legal Notices>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037355900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HAIR BY TERI ANNE, 2444 FILLMORE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed TERRI KEMNITZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/21/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/21/16.

DEC 01, 08, 15, 22, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037363500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ZAKHRABOV MOTORS, 1317 EVANS #C, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed OREN ZAKHRABOV. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/29/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/29/16.

DEC 01, 08, 15, 22, 2016 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-16-552546

In the matter of the application of: SOOYEON CHO, 1435 WASHINGTON ST #7, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner SOOYEON CHO, is requesting that the name SOOYEON CHO, be changed to TIFFANY CHO FORD. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 19th of January 2017 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

DEC 08, 15, 22, 29, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037375600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: IAMTHEWAYSERVICES1, 291 HOLLY AVE, SO. SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94080. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MIGUEL A. JIMENEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/17/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/06/16.

DEC 08, 15, 22, 29, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037353300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CUMBE LEATHERS, 3448 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed NICOLAS ULLOA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/01/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/18/16.

DEC 08, 15, 22, 29, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037372600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MUTINY RADIO AND GALLERY, 2781 21ST ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed PAMELA BENJAMIN. 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 12/05/16.

DEC 08, 15, 22, 29, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037353900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BAY AREA DBT & COUPLES COUNSELING CENTER, 4216 18TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARIELLE BERG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/18/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/18/16.

DEC 08, 15, 22, 29, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037363200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TWIN PEAKS ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTING, 1504 SHRADER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed YINLAN ZHANG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/29/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/29/16.

DEC 08, 15, 22, 29, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037342400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DIG-IT TRAVEL, 77 SHOTWELL ST, UNIT 3, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LUKE JOHNSTONE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/28/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/10/16.

DEC 08, 15, 22, 29, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037342500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DIG-IT EXPERIENCES, 77 SHOTWELL ST, UNIT 3, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LUKE JOHNSTONE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/28/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/10/16.

DEC 08, 15, 22, 29, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037350300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WEST PORTAL PRODUCE MARKET, 222 WEST PORTAL AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94127. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed YH CHOE AND SONS, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/01/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/16/16.

DEC 08, 15, 22, 29, 2016

December 8-14, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

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NOV 10, 17, 24, DEC 01, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037375200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WASSAM LABORATORIES, 1026 WISCONSIN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed WASSAM LABORATORIES INC. (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 12/06/16.

DEC 08, 15, 22, 29, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037370000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: RIVERSIDE SEAFOOD RESTAURANT, 1201 VICENTE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed E&S SUNSET GROUP INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/21/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/01/16.

DEC 08, 15, 22, 29, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037366400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SLICE HOUSE BY TONY GEMIGNANI, 1535 HAIGHT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed FERAT INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/30/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/30/16.

DEC 08, 15, 22, 29, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037369600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JYVE, 832 SANSOME ST, 1ST FL, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed JYVE (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/02/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/01/16.

DEC 08, 15, 22, 29, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037372500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EYEBROW QUEEN SALON, 4792 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed EYEBROW QUEEN SALON INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/05/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/05/16.

DEC 08, 15, 22, 29, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037369500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ST. REGIS HOTEL SAN FRANCISCO; ST. REGIS LOBBY LOUNGE; VITRINE; REMEDE SPA; ST. REGIS HOME OWNER ASSOCIATION; GRILL RESTAURANT, 125 3RD STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed QIA SR SAN FRANCISCO OPERATING LLC (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/01/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/01/16.

DEC 08, 15, 22, 29, 2016

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DEC 08, 15, 22, 29, 2016 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-035773700

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DEC 08, 15, 22, 29, 2016 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-036255800

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: WASSAM LABORATORIES, 660 4TH ST #297, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by PASCAL WASSAM. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/20/15.

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Vol. 46 • No. 49 • December 8-14, 2016

www.ebar.com/arts

All the, world s a holiday stage by Richard Dodds

ithout our holiday traditions, we’d be as shaky as a little drummer boy on the roof. We have those seasonal theatrical traditions, and some new entries that may cause that kid to wobble a bit. Perhaps a show that mashes up “We Got the Beat” and “Little Drummer Boy” by a cast that could be costumed by Fruit of the Loom. Or a fantasy in which Queen Elizabeth I pops into the future on a Christmas Eve to see how Ole London Towne is faring 400 years after her reign. Here is a sampling from the dizzying ways the region stuffs our stockings. See page 34 >>

Randy Harrison (center) is guest starring with the Skivvies in Holiday Roadkill at ACT’s Strand Theatre later this month.

Courtesy the Skivvies

o t n i g n i Tun ay d i l o s h g n i d r o rec

by Jason Victor Serinus

or the latest installment of B.A.R.’s annual holiday recording round-up, we begin with the one that’s received the Upper/ Downer Pairing of the Season Award for 2016, Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker & Symphony No. 4 (Mariinsky SACD). The source is that happiest of campers, Valery Gergiev, and the Mariinsky Orchestra. Tchaikovsky’s delightful fantasy ballet zips along at a pace that will keep dancers on their toes. In case they’re flying too high, the fate theme from the Fourth Symphony will remind you of the consequences of living a closeted life amidst societal pressure to partner with a member of the opposite sex. Since Tchaikovsky’s possible suicide is not a fate you wish to bestow on any young child, please encourage them to explore their full potential with pride. You also might encourage them to stop the disc once The Nutcracker ends. See page 26 >>

{ SECOND OF THREE SECTIONS } PRESENTED BY

NOV 25 - DEC 11, 2016 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

<< Out There

26 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 8-14, 2016

Triple-feature threat

by Roberto Friedman

WINNER Best Wedding Photographer

Steven Underhill

PHOTOGRAPHY

415 370 7152

WEDDINGS, HEADSHOTS, PORTRAITS

stevenunderhill.com · stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com 1 11/28/16 4:02 PM

2pub-BBB_BAR_120816.pdf

he Mostly British Film Festival will offer a free holiday triple feature on Wed., Dec. 14, 7 p.m. at the Vogue Theater in San Francisco. San Francisco Chronicle movie correspondent Ruthe Stein, who recently wrote her Oscar predictions for the Chron’s Pink Pages, will discuss leading nominees in all of the top categories, and show trailers from frontrunners like La La Land, Fences, Arrival, Manchester by the Sea and Silence. Stein also will preview the 2017 Mostly British Film Festival and screen trailers from opening and closing nights, as well as from special programs like The Beatles on Film. Series passes can be purchased for the reduced price of $125 for that night only. Individual tickets will also be for sale. The first 35 people to buy a pass on Dec. 14 will be invited to be guests at the residence of the Consul General of Portugal for a port-tasting party in conjunction with the festival screening of A Year in Port. That’s what we call a perk! Finally, intrepid triple-feature-goers will be treated to three British and Irish shorts that won Oscars in the “Best Short Film, Live Action” category. Out There knows them all, and they are touching and unforgettable films. Six Shooter (2006) is written and directed by the esteemed Irish playwright Martin McDonagh (The Beauty Queen of Leenane). Brendan Gleeson stars as a man whose wife has just died. On the train going home from the hospital he encounters a chatty young man whose violent tirades upset a young couple who have just lost their baby. In Phone Call (2013), Sally Hawkins stars as a support person at a helpline call center who fights her shyness to be able to connect on a

<< C

CMY

Holiday discs

From page 25

While we’re wallowing in downers, how about the hi-resolution disc pairing Ricardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Schoenberg: Kol Nidre; Shostakovich: Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti (CSO Live SACD)? It’s the wrong Jewish prayer for Hanukkah, and the Michelangelo is no romp in the park, but the recording does help us acknowledge that Jews are celebrating Hanukkah amidst a rise in anti-Semitic attacks. It also reminds us that some of the greatest artists of all time, e.g. Michelangelo, were homosexual. Narrator Alberto Mizrahi, dramatic though he may be, sounds far too arch and evil for the Schoenberg. But bass Ildar Abdrazakov is magnificent in the Michelangelo. Time to clear the air with The King’s Singers’ Christmas Songbook (Signum). “Get on down/Santa Claus, he’s comin’ to town” is not what you’d expect from these six proper Englishmen, but their renditions are coy and comfy. Gustav Holst, Meredith Wilson, Irving Berlin and Franz Xavier Gruber gather round the Christmas tree on this a cappella follow-up to the boys’ sometimes campy The Great American Songbook project. Sporting two different dos, one for her natural trumpet, and the other for her fuller-sounding modern version of same, Alison Balsom joins the Academy of Ancient Music, Stephen Cleobury and Tom Etheridge on organ, and the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge for Jubilo (Warner), a very fine disc of trumpet music by Fasch, Bach,

Sally Hawkins plays a helpline call worker in the 2013 short film Phone Call, playing the Vogue Theater on Dec. 14.

call from a mystery man (Jim Broadbent). And the final Oscar winner is The Stutterer (2015), which focuses on a handsome young man who feels isolated from the world because he can’t control his stutter, but who is able to sustain an online relationship. For free tickets, e-mail adam@cinemasf.com, put “triple feature” in the header, and indicate if you want one or two tickets. You will receive a response. Thanks, MBFF!

Reagan National

While we were in Washington, DC, last week, we enjoyed reading Finale – a Novel of the Reagan Years by Thomas Mallon, newly out in a Vintage paperback. This is delicious historical fiction covering all the craziness of the Gipper years, including “Star Wars” defense, “Just Say No,” AIDSphobia, Iran-Contra, and a long central set-piece on the Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Reykjavik. Some of this is filtered though the consciousness of the late great journalist/man of letters Christopher Hitchens, who pursues

multiple assignments including the Iceland summit, a profile of political courtesan Pamela Harrison, and a purported Homintern (homosexual cabal) in the National Security Council. Ronnie, “Mommy” (Nancy Reagan) and a secret underground of gay “Hill Rats” – the federal fun just never stops! In the Tower of the National Gallery of Art (through Jan. 22): artist Barbara Kruger’s The Future Belongs to Those Who Can See It – except the future of the U.S. government, which belongs to the ethically blind.t

Torelli, and Corelli (his Christmas Concerto). Carolae: Music for Christmas (Naxos) is a fitting showcase for the craft of Grammy-nominated English composer James Whitbourn (b. 1963). Several world premiere recordings, including the portentous “Veni et illumine,” accompany the disc’s centerpiece, the various Missa carolae. Medieval influences abound, as does a weighty musical sensibility that seems equally fit for a TV miniseries soundtrack or a Christmas procession for a long-forgotten King and Queen. In answer to the question, “What is the world coming to?” it’s been there for far longer than your lifetime, honey. If only great tenor Fritz Wunderlich hadn’t drunk too much and, shortly before his 36th birthday, tripped on the laces of his boots, falling down the stairs to his death in a hunting lodge. Thankfully, his glorious gifts were recognized early. Thus do we have Fritz Wunderlich Sings Festival Arias (SWR Music), comprised mainly of early, rare radio tapes of Bach, Handel, Buxtedhude, Schütz, and Telemann. Arias from Des Messias are gorgeous, with historically apt embellishments but sometimes ponderous tempi. The earliest recording was made shortly after Wunderlich turned 25. Julian Wachner continues to do fantastic work with the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, as their atmospherically recorded The Snow Lay on the Ground: Festive Carols from Trinity Wall Street (Arsis) shows. Together with the Trinity Youth Chorus and Novus NY, these renditions of Wachner’s arrangements, along with his four unedited, first-take organ improvisations,

score a 10. Dynamics are excellent for CD, with the beginning of “Joy to the World” strong enough to bolster a crumbling empire. Only the over-enunciation (the t’s could kill) and extra effort to sound like anything but singers from New York detract from an otherwise superb production. Canadian pop singer Sarah McLachlan’s Wonderland (Verve) uses a modest amount of percussive and spacey effects to frame McLachlan’s sweet, upbeat, breathy voice. The feeling may be pop, but the optimism is like a blast from the past. It feels like what you might expect from a cozy family Christmas where all talk of politics is banned. The NOLA Players’ Christmas in New Orleans (Verve) is a retro, jazz-tinged big-band visit to a land where good cheer compensates for a lack of snow. Forget about breaking new ground, and instead pass the egg nog. Christmas with Septura (Naxos) features an excellent bass septet performing arrangements of music by Bach, Handel, Rachmaninov, and Warlock. The arrangement of “Ich freue mich in dir” (“I am delighted in thee”) is a joy to listen to. This is a great one to play in the background to lift everyone’s spirits. Voces 8’s Winter (Decca) offers a spacious, New Age take on music by Olafur Arnalds & Arnor Dan Arnarson, Arvo Pärt, Peteris Vaska, Ola Gjeilo, Sergei Rachmaninov, and Judith Bingham. The eight singers are quite accomplished, and the presentation a variation of the Great Pyramid Meets the Crystal Cathedral. The sound is as lovely as the mixed a cappella ensemble is photogenic.t

Theatre>>

December 8-14, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 27

Sweet perfume

Jessica Palopoli

Monique Hafen and Jeffrey Brian Adams play sparring work colleagues who don’t realize they are lonely-hearts pen pals in She Loves Me at San Francisco Playhouse.

by Richard Dodds

he Loves Me has no interest in blowing your socks off. It’s happy enough to charm you without having to jettison hosiery. That charm carried it only so far when it opened on Broadway in 1963, but regard for this gentle musical has pushed it from cult favorite toward mainstream appreciation. Yet it’s still a musical that may confound audiences at first as musical numbers come and ago without the hard sell that elicits big applause. But then the allure settles in as the authors’ methods become clearer, and we relax into the ride through a gentle wonderland. It is set in a place filled with delicate objects, taking place in a perfumery in 1937 Budapest, and the show itself must be treated with specific care. And so it is in director Susi Damilano’s production for San Francisco Playhouse. This giftwrapped production is set during the holidays, has the spirit of the holidays, but really isn’t about the holidays at all. The story has been retold in several famous film manifestations: The Shop Around the Corner in 1940, In the Good Old Summertime in 1949, and You’ve Got Mail in 1998. They all began with Hungarian playwright Miklos Laszlo’s Parfumerie, which premiered in Budapest in 1938, the same year that Laszlo left for the United States in anticipation of bad times for Jews in Europe. Whatever storm clouds were gathering, this Budapest, and librettist Joe Masteroff ’s adaptation of it for She Loves Me, is presented as an idyllic place where the only stormy weather is romantic. Bill English and Jacquelyn Scott’s storybook set reflects that as it opens and folds and rearranges itself into different locales. If you’ve seen any of the story’s incarnations, you know it is about work colleagues who detest each other while unknowingly carrying on an anonymous romance through the mail after connecting through lonely-hearts ads (or in an AOL chat room, in the most recent film retelling). The characters Amalia and Georg have to be likable, but believably unlikable to each other, and

Monique Hafen and Jeffrey Brian Adams give us just that. There aren’t a lot of “big” songs in composer Jerry Bock and lyricist Sheldon Harnick’s score, but Hafen and Adams thoroughly deliver on their back-toback showstoppers: Amalia’s comic aria “Vanilla Ice Cream” and Georg’s infectiously joyous “She Loves Me.” There are so many songs in the score that the original cast album was released as a rare two-disc set in the days of vinyl. Even after several encounters with the musical, I can still find myself thinking, Does this moment really require a song? But once the tune begins, there is a simple allure that captures a character’s specificity and holds our interest. And again, the SF Playhouse cast zeroes in on these moments, from the adorable Nicholas J. Garland’s pleas for a promotion in “Try Me,” to succulent Nanci Zoppi’s sexually infused “Trip to the Library,” to Joe Estlack as an affably hapless salesclerk in his make-no-waves anthem “Perspective,” and Michael Gene Sullivan’s poignant moment in “Days Gone By” as an otherwise loveably cantankerous boss. Rodney Earl Jackson Jr., suitably oleaginous as a lothario salesclerk, delivers a splendid sendoff number in “Grand Knowing You,” which highlights Kimberly Richards’ choreography. And likely in collaboration with Damilano, there is the feat of carefully choreographed chaos as increasingly frantic shoppers work their way down from “Twelve Days to Christmas.” More atmospheric effervescence is provided in Abra Berman’s costumes, Thomas J. Munn’s lighting, and with a special ovation, to music director David Aaron Brown, who pulls rich sounds from the five-member band. A world war may be coming, along with Nazi and Soviet occupations, but these characters aren’t looking beyond their tidy little world. She Loves Me is a musical that makes you feel good, and we should all be allowed at least some spells of that, no matter how fretful the times.t She Loves Me will run at San Francisco Playhouse through Jan. 14. Tickets are $30-$125. Call (415) 677-9596 or go to sfplayhouse.org.

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<< Theatre

28 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 8-14, 2016

Anger management by Richard Dodds

ou’re unlikely to find a more affable storyteller talking about pedophilia than Martin Moran. The Broadway musical veteran is currently in residence at ACT’s Strand Theater, where he’s performing in repertory two interrelated solo shows. He first performed The Tricky Part in 2005, which I reviewed at San Jose Rep, so the following will focus more on All the Rage, which he wrote nearly a decade later. The newer show was written at least partly in response to reactions to The Tricky Part, but he gives us enough of the gist of the first show that All the Rage can work with or without taking in The Tricky Part. The new show has been ingeniously staged by Seth Barrish using low-tech devices like a pull-down map, an overhead projector, a chalkboard, and various lights and lamps that Moran himself switches on and off. It helps establish an informality that eases transitions that can shift from comic to sad to tragic in a beat. And it helps that Moran comes across as such a gentle soul, someone who wouldn’t want to push upset onto us.

That’s particularly true in The Tricky Part, in which sexual abuse over several years by a camp counselor, and Moran’s long quest for some kind of resolution, lead to a reunion with the predator. He must disarm audiences to keep them open to the story that, like All the Rage, must comfortably speak about the unspeakable. After providing a quick background on The Tricky Part, which he has performed across the country, he pulls out a yellowing tearsheet from The Denver Post, his hometown newspaper, with its review of The Tricky Part. He reads part of it: “Most troubling is his inability to be angry and move on.” Those types of reactions, he says, “kind of piss me off.” But he thought about anger, and whether he needs to cultivate it, and various experiences began to coalesce into a piece about the nature of that burning emotion. One seemingly inconsequential impetus came from a confrontation he witnessed between a pedestrian and the driver of an oversized SUV who pulled into the crosswalk a moment after the light had changed. “Get your fucking gas guzzler out of my

face,” shrieked the well-dressed pedestrian. “You’re the reason we’re in Iraq, bitch!” The intensity stunned him, and he filed it away into a memory bank that would build into All the Rage. As Moran recounts a considerably more disturbing episode, working as a volunteer translator for a tortured refugee from Chad seeking asylum, he leavens the account with absurdity. He performs brief excerpts from his paying job at the time as Sir Robin in Spamalot on Broadway between his sessions with the preternaturally peaceable refugee. Moran bobs and weaves through his experiences – perhaps none more harrowing than his poisonous relationship with his homophobic stepmother – and there are no tidy resolutions to the question about when and if anger can be a necessary outlet. The most therapeutic emotion that Moran seems able to muster is forgiveness.t Joan Marcus

All the Rage and The Tricky Part will play in repertory through Dec. 11 at ACT’s Strand Theater. Tickets are $25-$65. Call (415) 7492228 or go to act-sf.org.

Martin Moran explores the uses and misuses of anger in All the Rage, being performed in repertory with his earlier show The Tricky Part at ACT’s Strand Theater.

Bright young operatic talents impress by Philip Campbell

art commencement ceremony and part season finale, The Future Is Now: Adler Fellows Gala Concert packed Herbst Theatre last week for an evening of opera arias and scenes designed to dazzle friends, family and enthusiastic supporters of the esteemed multi-year residency given to young artists by the San Francisco Opera. Founded in 1977 and later named for SFO’s former General Director Kurt Herbert Adler, the Fellowship Program provides participants, selected from the Merola Opera Program, an advanced training for the opera big leagues, and working experience performing supporting roles in mainstage productions. It is an internationally recognized system that has launched some world-class careers, and at the local level alone, offers fresh hope for the future of the art. 2016 Adler Fellows have proven exceptionally promising, racking up impressive stage portrayals along with successful recitals and appearances at the San Francisco Opera Center. For the gala, Resident Conductor Jordi Bernàcer led the SFO Orchestra in a long but swiftmoving concert that showcased the range and remarkable vocal talents of the current crop. The strings of the Orchestra are giving their own concert this week (Thurs., Dec. 8,

Kristen Loken

Adler Fellows Anthony Reed and Edward Nelson perform a scene from Britten’s Billy Budd during The Future Is Now: Adler Fellows Gala Concert at the Herbst Theatre.

Taube Atrium Theater), and they demonstrated their ability well, along with the rest of the accomplished crew. Concertmaster Kay Stern received a deserved ovation before they even played a note. The Act III Prelude to Wagner’s Lohengrin filled the newly acoustically improved Herbst with a sense of grandeur that might have placed a little too much pressure on bassbaritone Matthew Stump as the first singer on the bill. Continuing the big Wagnerian mood, he offered a rather generalized portrayal

of the composer’s agonized “Flying Dutchman.” Slightly constricted at times but warm of tone and appealing, Stump moved through the difficult assignment to a satisfying close. Coming from the 2015 Merola program, New Zealand Soprano Amina Edris has demonstrated her bright and attractive singing skills throughout her first year as an Adler Fellow. Her opening aria from Meyerbeer’s Robert le Diable weighed a bit too heavily on her, but she and Stump both performed better as the night progressed and initial nerves were calmed. Edris has a knack for comedy and coloratura that amazes even as she flirts, and she got plenty of opportunity to show herself to best advantage in the second half. The first scene of the evening was taken from Leoncavallo’s verismo opera Pagliacci. Second-year Fellow baritone Edward Nelson and first-year soprano Toni Marie Palmertree nailed it with a fully-fleshed, vocally radiant performance that started with a fight and ended with a passionate embrace. Both singers went on to kind of steal the show with their remarkable abilities, but this wasn’t meant to be a competition, and there were plenty of equally stellar moments to come from other participants. First-year Fellow bass-baritone Brad Walker lightened the mood with an aria for Count Almaviva from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. His sardonic look and pleasing tone fit the part perfectly. Walker, Nelson and Edris also appeared in a delightful trio recital at the Opera Center earlier this year, more evidence of

their fantastic range. Soprano Julie Adams, a secondyear Fellow, has performed on the mainstage most recently as Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, and she has also appeared in The Makropulos Case, Jenufa and The Magic Flute. Her first aria for the gala was an exquisite rendition of the lovely Glück das mir verblieb (Marietta’s Lied) from Die Tote Stadt by Erich Korngold. Adams would change from the glamor of her first character to the bruised and defeated country girl of Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah later, pairing with Brad Walker for an extended excerpt that was as disturbing as it was dramatically convincing. Chinese mezzo-soprano Nian Wang (2014 Merola, second-year Fellow) sang a duet with Samoan-born New Zealander tenor Pene Pati (firstyear Fellow) from Bellini’s Romeo and Juliet opera, I Capuleti e i Montecchi. Obviously comfortable in “pants roles,” Ms. Wang stayed in her suit and tie for her second appearance in the program as the title character in Handel’s Serse. Her full tone with a clear edge suited both parts perfectly. As Romeo, she was ardent; as the emperor Xerxes, she was ferocious. Pene Pati startled us with his big clarion sound. He actually bears comparison to the young Pavarotti, and his stage presence is also endearing. His thrilling second aria from Verdi’s Luisa Miller won a huge and well-deserved ovation. Sporting a new beard, bass Anthony Reed (second-year) offered two impressive solo contributions with arias from Richard Strauss and

Rimsky-Korsakov. In the first number he had us wondering just how low he could go and still remain audible, and in the second, how flexible and lyrical a dark register can be. He was triumphant in both cases. Reed coupled with Edward Nelson for a scene from Britten’s Billy Budd. His brief, kindly interchange with the condemned title character was deeply and unexpectedly moving. Unexpected in the sense that we didn’t know we would be so moved. We didn’t really think we would tear up at a gala, but it was a testament to the singers’ convincing acting. Wow, if the SFO revives Billy Budd, they had better check Nelson’s future schedule. Latvian mezzo-soprano Zanda Svede is a third-year Adler Fellow consistently making good on her promise both here and throughout the US. I was most recently impressed by her excellent Suzuki in the SFO Butterfly. Her scene from Massenet’s Cleopatre, with Matthew Stump as her Marc-Antoine, was wonderful. There is a clear purity about her voice that makes her a natural for the repertoire. More than a few listeners hope new SFO General Director Matthew Shilvock takes notice of the interest. Svede also sang a Russian aria from Khovanshchina by Mussorgsky. As the Old Believer Marfa, she also made us long for more. Characteristic of the entire ensemble, Zanda Svede proves the inestimable worth of the Adler Fellowship Program. The Gala could have been called New Hope for the Future.t

Kristen Loken

Adler Fellows Matthew Stump and Zanda Svede perform a duet from Massenet’s Cléopâtre during The Future is Now: Adler Fellows Gala Concert at the Herbst Theatre.

Film>>

December 8-14, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 29

Flight of the refugees

Welcome the season with Chanticleer's profound and joyful mix of holiday music, from the Renaissance to spirituals and carols

A Chanticleer Christmas Dec 10-23

Oakland: 12/10 @ 8:15pm Cathedral of Christ the Light, 2121 Harrison Street

Arte France Cinéma

Scene from director Gianfranco Rosi’s Fire at Sea, opening Friday at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

talian director Gianfranco Rosi’s narrative doc Fire at Sea is a compelling if maddening attempt to drag a reality-TV-distracted film audience into the real world of this decade’s “boat people.” The heartbreaking tragedy now playing is made all-the-more poignant by this year’s election returns. Opening at SF’s Roxie Theater on Dec. 9, Fire at Sea is an agit-prop film that all but shoves your head down into the diesel-tainted waters off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa. It’s also a deeply personal drama that feels like it was spun out of somebody’s imagination. Winner of a top doc prize at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, Fuocoamare (Fire at Sea) pivots between the views of the Lampedusa’s only physician (Dr. Pietro Bartolo) and those of a nine-year-old imp of a boy (Samuele). Director Rosi admits that he was initially looking to make a 10-minute short suitable for TV syndication, but the “heartrending” images shown him by the doctor pricked his conscience, leading to a year’s residency and a film

that will be shortlisted for Golden Globe and Oscar consideration. At 108 minutes, it pushes the envelope on what Western film audiences can stand to witness: dead bodies freshly dragged from the sea, and traumatized survivors at risk for the emotional stress that war inflicts. Rosi’s two protagonists are as narrowly focused as the father-son duo of the neo-realist postwar hit The Bicycle Thief. Samuele, a bright, almost hyperactive kid, is obsessed with attacking his island’s plant life with his slingshot. Later it develops that Samuele has a “lazy eye” that requires him to wear a patch. It’s an obvious metaphor for the willingness of an international community to see a gut-wrenching crisis and heroically respond when larger, richer nations look on with disdain or inertia. We see the boy as he struggles to command a small rowboat, a vital tool in his fishing community. The voices of other islanders are heard in the calls received at Lampedusa’s small radio station. The film (in Italian with English subtitles) ends abruptly with a shot of another fishing vessel out at sea in search of another deadly cargo. The film is not yet MPAA-rated. There

probably isn’t a category sufficiently depressing to indicate what a potentially life-altering experience this is. Closet Monster Already one of the best-reviewed gay male dramas of the year, this film, deliciously mixing genres from domestic comedy to teen horror/fantasy, centers on an ambitious Newfoundlandraised kid. Oscar is double-cast: Jack Fulton is a seven-year-old discovering the terrors of what appears in his bedroom when the lights go down; and the handsome Connor Jessup is the teen Oscar, terrified of his emerging gay self and working at a hardware store next to his high school’s most gorgeous hunk, Wilder (lanky tease Aliocha Schneider). CM is a sexy compilation of every imaginable erotic and social misadventure. From his fumbling attempts to be a movie specialeffects makeup artist to the social meltdown of a disastrous Halloween costume party, Oscar’s struggles are funny and identifiable. The film also boasts a terrific son/dad meltdown. Written and directed by Stephen Dunn, now at SF’s Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, 2550 Mission St., SF.t

Native sons by Brian Bromberger

any San Franciscans have wondered why so many poor, rural, and working-class Americans voted for the billionaire Donald Trump as President. Fire Song, made last year but just released on DVD by Wolfe Video, implies that the destitute environment common to such communities renders them vulnerable to a savior who promises to liberate them from their unhappy lives. Fire Song presents one such locale, a First Nations Anishnaabe reservation in northern Ontario, in all its bleakness. The film focuses on a population, aboriginal youth, almost never discussed in LGBT cinema, so on that note alone, Fire Song is worth viewing. Shane (Andrew Martin) is a gay teenager coming to a crossroads in his life. He had planned to attend college in Toronto, trying to coax his secret boyfriend David (Harley Legarde) to accompany him, but his sister Destiny’s suicide has put a hold on his future. His widowed mother Jackie (Jennifer Poderneski) is shattered by grief and spends all her time sitting alone in Destiny’s bedroom, refusing to attend her funeral. Shane desperately wants to escape – his father left him money to go to university – but must cope with caring for and supporting his depressed mother, a house literally falling apart, concealing his homosexuality, denying his true affections for David, guilt over his sister’s death, and betraying his girlfriend Tara (Mary Galloway). Tara has no idea Shane is gay, is pressuring him

to have sex as well as fighting off her father’s incestuous advances, and is willing to go with him to Toronto. Destiny’s ghost haunts Shane wherever he goes. Her death has affected everyone in this povertystricken community. Traditional healing circles are formed in a vain attempt to help the teenagers cope with her passing. We are not told why she killed herself, but it’s easy to see why suicide is a temptation in a place where there seem few options for a better future. Suicide is the leading cause of death among aboriginal youth in Canada. Though they acknowledge the presence of two-spirited persons, the inhabitants aren’t very tolerant of queer people, with David’s grandmother Evie (Ma-Nee Chacaby) warning him that “too much male energy is not good.” David is

Carmel: 12/13 @ 6 & 8:30pm Carmel Mission, 3080 Rio Road Sacramento: 12/15 @ 8pm Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, 1017 11th Street San Francisco: 12/17 & 12/23 @ 8pm St. Ignatius Church, 650 Parker Street Berkeley: 12/18 @ 8pm 1st Presbyterian Church, 2407 Dana Street Santa Clara: 12/22 @ 6 & 8:30pm Mission Santa Clara, 500 El Camino Real Cla

Tickets available through City Box Office: 415-392-4400 or online: www.chanticleer.org

th e

the closeted grandson of a tribal leader, one of the bright stars being apprenticed as a medicine man, and reluctant to leave with Shane. Shane, trying to keep everyone happy, starts buckling under a heavy emotional toll. He makes some poor decisions that land him in messes. Time is running out for him to decide whether or not to leave this dead-end town, with his ambitions not encouraged by the locals or his family. Writer/director Adam Garnet Jones is Anishnaabe, and most of the cast and crew are First Nations people. Home, and all the characters’ ambivalent feelings about it, especially as gay people in a quasihostile environment, is a central theme. Cinematographer James Kinistin captures the power of the harsh landscape and its isolation. Unfortunately, there is too much tragedy stuffed into 90 minutes: suicide, rape, incest, homophobia, alcohol, drugs, stifling small-town existence. Jones tries to resolve all the conflicts, to conclude on an upbeat note, despite the downer subject matter. Two stellar performances, from Martin (in a James Dean mode) and Poderneski (showing us pain but not going overboard), ground the film, but many of the other actors are nonprofessional, and it shows. Also, the relationship between Shane and David, is not very exciting, lacking any real erotic spark, so the audience wonders whether their connection is worth all the turmoil it is stirring up. Still, Jones shows promise showcasing a marginalized indigenous culture, revealing how gayness is both part of that culture and a challenge to it.t

: S E I V V I SK O A D K IL L H O L ID AY R

JACQUELINE PATTON PHOTOGRAPHY

by David Lamble

Petaluma: 12/11 @ 5 & 7:30pm St. Vincent’s Church, 35 Liberty Street

STARRING

LAUREN MOLINA AND NICK CEARLEY RANDY HARRISON

WITH SPECIAL GUEST

Literally stripping to their skivvies, performing hilarious mash-ups of pop songs and classics such as “Blue Christmas” on an array of quirky instruments, The Skivvies take on holiday music with such creativity and originality that you’ll feel like you’re hearing old standards for the first time.

“UNDIE ROCK, with a SOUPÇON OF BROADWAY” The New York Times

DEC 22–23 ACT-SF.ORG | 415.749.2228

A.C.T.'S STR AND THE ATER

1127 MARKET STREET

<< Theatre

30 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 8-14, 2016

Musical ‘Allegiance’ comes to cinemas by David-Elijah Nahmod

or openly gay Star Trek icon George Takei, the unexpected rise of Donald Trump to the Presidency has taken on a deeper, more personal meaning. In his youth Takei, who is of Japanese descent, spent several years in an internment camp. During WWII the U.S. government kept countless Japanese Americans, none of whom had committed any crime, under lock and key in the aftermath of the bombing of Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor by the Japanese government. During his campaign, Trump spoke of building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. The Presidentelect has also suggested a ban on Muslims entering the country, and a possible “Muslim registry.” Trump continues to promise to deport millions of undocumented immigrants as soon as he takes office. “I was hoping Trump would moderate his words and behavior with the thought of the Presidency becoming reality, but now, with his selection of Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, I sense something ominous beginning to rise,” Takei told the B.A.R., speaking from his home in Los Angeles. “I’m worried. And he has done little to quell many of his own supporters’ actions, which also has me worried. The sight of neo-Nazis sieg-heiling in victory, just blocks away from the White House, was chilling.” The President-elect has since made a few comments in which he denounced hate, but Takei feels these statements weren’t enough. “Trump must do more to distance himself from such hate groups and to moderate his own rhetoric and actions that seem always to divide

Courtesy the subject

Leon Le Photography

George Takei (right) in his musical Allegiance, screening in SF.

Allegiance co-star Telly Leung.

rather than bring us together.” Takei’s recent musical Allegiance was performed in San Diego and New York. The show, which was taped before a live audience, recalls the Japanese internment camps. It will screen in cinemas nationwide on Dec. 13. “Allegiance follows the story of a Japanese American family caught up in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor and the internment,” Takei explained. “The storyline centers around a brother and a sister who choose fatefully different paths in response to their unjust incarceration. Allegiance involves two love stories that blossomed behind those barbed-wire fences. The fracturing of the family metaphorically represents the rupture of the Japanese American community under the strains of the internment years.” Takei plays dual roles in the show. “In the beginning, I am the older version of Sam Kimura, in the present, looking back on his life,” he

Leung told the B.A.R. “At 78, he did eight shows a week, he never missed a show, and his stamina and dedication to the story we were telling, his story, were an inspiration to the entire company. He also found the time and energy to be a top-notch, warm, generous human being.” Leung shares many of Takei’s concerns for the future under a Trump presidency. “Trump’s surrogates have suggested that the Japanese-American internment was a lawful precedent for the intense vetting of Muslims entering the U.S.,” he said. “This eerily echoes the kind of speech and rhetoric of 1942, when Executive Order 9066 forced thousands of Japanese-Americans to relocate to camps because of prejudice, fear, war hysteria and poor political leadership.” The actors also expressed their concern for the future of gay rights, as Trump has appointed a number of openly anti-LGBT people to his cabinet.

said. “I am an old veteran with a big chip on my shoulder over what transpired many decades ago. But once we go back in time, to the story that took place just before, during and after the war, I play another character, Ojii-chan, which means grandfather in Japanese. Ojii-chan is a jovial old farmer who helps anchor the Kimura family in their Japanese culture and traditions.” Takei, now an elder statesman for the acting profession and the LGBT community, spoke warmly of Telly Leung, the young openly gay Asian actor who co-stars in Allegiance. “Telly is an enormously gifted and disciplined artist who has the promise of becoming a commanding star. He is my hope for the future of Asian Americans in theater, film, television and the performing arts, a multi-talented star. He also happens to be a great friend.” Leung feels the same about Takei. “George is one of the hardestworking men in show business,”

“No one, not a single appointment, is an advocate for the LGBT community,” Leung pointed out. “Many of them have been vocal about their opposition to marriage equality. Trump has said he is a supporter of LGBT rights, but actions speak louder than words.” But Leung isn’t giving up. “I am confident that the LGBTQ community will fight relentlessly for equality,” he said. “The spirit of those first, feisty, brave brothers and sisters at Stonewall, the spirit of Harvey Milk, of Edith Windsor, it is something we have in our DNA as a community, and we will not have our rights taken away without a good fight.” “We need to be ever-vigilant,” added Takei. “Trump has begun to appoint very troubling people to his cabinet, with the transition team headed by the most anti-LGBT Vice President in our history. Many of his short-list picks for the Supreme Court are publicly anti-LGBT, some even saying that consensual gay sex should be criminalized.” These are some of the messages which Takei hopes people will take from Allegiance. “We live in a time when we again hear the chilling words of irrational fear and hatred against Muslims, as well as Mexicans and trans people,” he said. “We must never allow the mass hysteria and racism that happened to Japanese Americans during WWII to be inflicted on other minorities. If there is any takeaway from our show, it’s to demonstrate that this type of massive tragedy not only did happen, but could happen again to another group if we are not vigilant.” Alligiance will screen on Dec. 13 at the Sundance Kabuki and the AMC Van Ness Theaters in SF. Tickets: fathomevents.com.t

Superstar of the sword drama by David Lamble

The Magnificent Seven. Mifune: The Last Samurai comes at a moment when new generations need to learn the origin stories of their heroes, some now reduced to mere supporting characters in video games. Okazaki spends the greater part of his film exploring his subject’s central role in the creation of the great samurai films for many notable Japanese directors, including Akira Kurosawa and Hiroshi Inagaki. I would have

to become one of the first non-white action heroes, but also garnered him an international fan club of filmmakers, including such superstar directors as Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. With the help of both of those American disciples, Okazaki’s Mifune: The Last Samurai manages to demonstrate how the gestation of Japanese “sword dramas” influenced and made possible such towering Hollywood classics as Star Wars and

ne of the best qualities of Japanese-American director Steven Okazaki’s hip and engaging bio-doc of the great action-movie star Toshiro Mifune is the insight the film provides on the development and cultural import of the action movie in both America and Japan. It turns out that the long career of Mifune (1920-97) not only allowed him

D I D

Y O U

M I S S

U S ?

NEW CONSERVATORY THEATRE CENTER

Avenue

“A local tradition” SAN FRANCISCO TRAVEL

“Hilarious” FOR ALL EVENTS

THE MUSICAL MUSIC & LYRICS BY ROBERT LOPEZ & JEFF MARX

BOOK BY JEFF WHITTY

BASED ON AN ORIGINAL CONCEPT BY ROBERT LOPEZ & JEFF MARX

DIRECTED BY DENNIS LICKTEIG MUSICAL DIRECTION BY MATTHEW LEE CANNON ORCHESTRATIONS AND ARRANGEMENTS BY STEPHEN OREMUS

DEC 2, 2016 – JAN 15, 2017 BUY TICKETS AT NCTCSF.ORG BOX OFFICE: 415.861.8972 25 VAN NESS AVE AT MARKET ST AVENUE Q is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. 421 West 54th Street, New York, NY 10019. Phone: 212-541-4684 Fax: 212-397-4684. www.MTIShows.com Avenue Q has not been authorized or approved by the Jim Henson Company or Sesame Workshop, which have no responsibility for its content.

appreciated more time on such modern crime titles as High and Low and my own fave, the deliciously-titled The Bad Sleep Well. But Mifune: The Last Samurai provides an invaluable guide to how today’s Japanese film industry emerged from the ashes of the WWII Allied bombing of Japan, climaxing in the twin atomic-bomb blasts that brought the horrific conflict to a shattering conclusion in August, 1945. It’s to the filmmaker’s credit that he doesn’t skip over Mifune’s wartime role as a flight instructor who sent droves of young pilots on “kamikaze” suicide missions against American ships in the Pacific. Against the background of Mifune’s war service, it’s even more amazing that he found a path to international stardom, overcoming such obstacles as a seven-year American-imposed ban on the creation of sword-fight films by Japanese directors. Mifune is chock full of interviews with the actor’s surviving contemporaries revealing that he once harbored directorial ambitions. His storied screen-acting resume is in some ways a fortuitous by-product of chaotic times. The film contains ample evidence of the actor’s conflicting attributes: the persona of a humble village peasant could swiftly morph into that of a ferocious warrior. Okazaki provides a stellar account of perhaps the most notable Mifune/Kurosawa collaboration, 1950’s Rashomon, a 88-minute drama whose title and substance transferred directly into our own film culture. Rashomon tells the story of a murder/rape in a tiny village from four distinct viewpoints, leaving the question of truth to the judgment of each filmgoer. This idea would appear in the scripts of 50s “adult’ Westerns, then find its way into serious film, stage and literary

photo

Great action-movie star Toshiro Mifune starred in director Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon.

treatments. Mifune: The Last Samurai benefits from insights from the subject’s family and friends, and from a large stash of clips, from films whose DNA has become a vital part of our postmodern sensibility. In a revealing interview with IndieWire website, Steven Okazaki described how he first stumbled upon the work of Toshiro Mifune. “I was 10 when I saw my first Mifune movie. Seven Samurai was shown at the Japanese Community Center in Venice, CA. We sat on rickety wooden seats, the noisy 16mm projector was propped up on a table, and the screen was two white bedsheets clipped together in the middle. I remember walking behind the screen and watching the last battle-scene – the bandits roaring into the village, the horses struggling in the mud, and Mifune falling and dying in the rain. I was hooked. Is there any action movie that tops Seven Samurai?”t

Fine Art>>

December 8-14, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 31

Repositories of memory by Sura Wood

emory is an exceptionally poignant concept for the Jews. Given their history, the passing on of their ideas and philosophy, their heritage and life experience has been essential to ensuring survival and an “I’m still here” stand against those who would see them obliterated. That’s the context, though not necessarily the content, of From Generation to Generation: Inherited Memory and Contemporary Art, a new exhibition at the Contemporary Jewish Museum. The diverse works by the show’s 24 artists don’t reflect their own memories, but instead draw on the collective imagination, popular culture, overheard recollections, haunting echoes of the Holocaust, civil rights struggles (Hank Willis Thomas’ wooden pillory has a microphone planted in front of where one’s unfortunate head would be) and even the secret lives of superheroes. One of the pitfalls of group exhibitions is that they’re rarely cohesive and often uneven. While the premise of this one is quite broad, the work, with a couple of exceptions, is impressive. Exile, separation, the loss of homeland or loved ones and war are approached, albeit indirectly, with whimsy, mournfulness and ingenuity or a combination thereof. Add a wink to those descriptive nouns and you have British artist Ellen Harvey’s prescient pre-Presidential-primary installation “Alien Souvenir Stand” (2013), a large, complex, almost cartoonish lampoon of the nation’s capital and democracy after the fall. Washington, DC’s wounded institutional edifices – the White House, Supreme Court, etc. – have been left barely standing amidst rubble, damaged pillars and columns like latter-day Parthenons. Abe Lincoln, seated majestically in his marble chair at his memorial, is

Dale Griner

Nao Bustamante, Kevlar Fighting Costumes (set of 5) (2015). Protective Kevlar wearable fighting costume. Courtesy of the artist. Now showing at the Contemporary Jewish Museum/SF.

missing a leg, and the human race has apparently been wiped out by an unnamed disaster. In Harvey’s fanciful origin story, the neo-classical ruins – an architectural style favored by Fascists and Stalinists – have become theme-park attractions that lure visiting aliens who prefer “swimming and flirting” to world domination. They’ve built a booth (a repurposed hot dog stand) hawking postcards and pamphlets that cater to extraterrestrial tourists. The clayboard aluminum structure is comprised of 350 oil and watercolor illustrations that are bleak and gray because the aliens are color-blind. Right, of course they would be. Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein’s unfinished 1930s opus, which was to include a never-shot sequence about the soldiers of the Mexican revolution, inspired Nao Bustamante’s “Kevlar Fighting Costumes” (2015). Her quintet of stiff,

sunny yellow dresses may look like dowdy uniforms worn by big-boned matrons at an antediluvian mental institution, but the artist has armed these garments with protection, after the fact, for the soldaderas who went into battle with none. Moved by a visit to the Buchenwald concentration camp, particularly the sight of the belongings left behind by inmates, Lisa Kokin created “Inventory” (1997), a powerful testimonial to those who perished into night and fog. The materials she scavenged from thrift shops and flea markets – lone buttons, keys, watch faces, a broken pair of spectacles, zipper fragments, a bra-hook closure – are congealed in hog gut squares, like fossils in amber, and lined up in rows from floor to ceiling on two walls at right angles to one another. Ever wonder what good deeds Superman is up to when not starring

in blockbusters or fighting for truth, justice and the American way? Mike Kelley’s “Kandor 17” (2007), a pleasurable dip into fantasy, fills in some of the blanks with a terrific futuristic depiction of Superman’s birthplace, Kandor, on his home planet of Krypton, whose imminent destruction, according to comic book legend, prompted baby Superman’s evacuation to earth. Instead of being annihilated, however, Kandor was shrunk and bottled by a villain in a city eventually liberated by our heroic Man of Steel. He protected the mini-metropolis and its miniature denizens for 25 years under a bell jar in the Fortress of Solitude, where he simultaneously sustained their lives and his connection to his lost past. Exhibited in its own sacred space, and bolstered by tanks of atmosphere, the colony of craggy icicles is preserved in an oversized snow globe, and infused with pink

light generated by the purple panel behind it. Bernice Eisenstein has been on a life-long hunt for things that are hidden, found and stored out of sight. “Genizot” (2014), an installation which mines the transience and repositories of memory, includes a table dotted with precious objets such as collaged and folded books, a dragonfly, a roll of twine and her father’s tie clip. A series of pen-andink or gouache-and-charcoal portraits, all of which have text written on them, hang in an alcove behind the display. “A Conversation,” a portrait of the artist’s mother who suffered from dementia, is paired with “River of Forgetfulness,” a portrait of Alois Alzheimer, the doctor for whom the disease that robbed her mother of her memory is named. Marcel Proust, whose seven-volume novel Remembrance of Things Past earned him admission to Eisenstein’s gallery, is shown as a glum young boy, a bow tied around his neck in the European fashion of the day. 958 of his words from the longest sentence he ever wrote – with some lines written upside-down – are inscribed on the background. Writing text on images requires words that add depth, perhaps irony, and relate to the image without competing with it or being too literal; it’s a thorny proposition Eisenstein pulls off with élan. David “Chim” Seymour, co-founder of Magnum Photo, whom she calls “the eye of compassion,” has his possessions at the time of his death listed to his left. But, in a flight of imagination that pierces the heart and sums up this complicated show, she carefully prints the following line from John Updike on his jacket: “What is the past, after all,” he laments, “but a vast sheet of darkness, in which a few moments, picked apparently at random, shine?”t Through April 2 at CJM/SF.

Giving the gift of movies by Gregg Shapiro

ho doesn’t love movies? The DVD and Blu-ray titles that follow cover a broad range of subjects and genres. In other words, there’s something for almost everyone on your holiday gift list. For the politically minded: All the Way (HBO) Nominated for eight Emmy Awards, the movie adaptation of Robert Schenkkan’s play stars Bryan Cranston reprising his Tony Award-winning role as President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Confirmation (HBO) Kerry Washington was nominated for an Emmy Award for her portrayal of Anita Hill, the former Judge Clarence Thomas colleague who testified against him for sexual harassment during his nomination hearings. House of Cards (Sony Pictures) The complete fourth season, chapters 4052, of the popular Netflix series stars Golden Globe winners Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright as the only political couple more frightening than Karl Rove and Dick Cheney. For gay eyes (and others): The Dresser (Starz) A remake of the lauded 1985 film based on Ronald Harwood’s play, this version stars Sir Anthony Hopkins as a temperamental actor and out actor Sir Ian McKellan as the actor’s closeted gay dresser. Kamikaze ’89 (Film Movement) The late gay filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder stars as police lieutenant Jansen in Wolf Gremm’s 1982 film adaptation of Per Wahlöö’s 1964 novel Murder on the 31st Floor.

Holding the Man (Strand Releasing) Based on the memoir by Timothy Conigrave, starring Guy Pearce, Geoffrey Rush and Anthony LaPaglia, Neil Armfield’s film follows the 15-year relationship of two gay men. For the artistically inclined: Hockney (Film Movement) Randall Wright’s David Hockney doc follows the artist from the height of his British Pop Art scene success to his later struggles during the AIDS era. Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict (Music Box Films) From Lisa Immordino Vreeland (Diana Vreeland:

Travel comes this The Eye Has To Travel) celebration of the heiress who became a central figure in the modern art movement. Francophonia (Music Box Films) Combining documentary with drama, Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark) offers his own “personal view of the profound cultural legacy” of the Nazi occupation of France during WWII. For those who like to laugh: Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (Universal) If an often shirtless Zac Efron is your idea of entertainment, then this sequel to the outrageous

2014 comedy will make a perfect gift for that special someone. Joshy (Lionsgate) Don’t you just love Thomas Middleditch on Silicon Valley? You should see him as Joshy, dealing with the aftermath of his canceled wedding engagement. For those celebrating the Festival of Lights: Wedding Doll (Strand Releasing) Hagit, a toilet paper factory employee with an active imagination, falls in love with the boss’ son. What could possibly go wrong? Princess (Breaking Glass) Tali Shalom Ezer’s film focuses on the relationship between Adar and her

stepfather, and what happens when she introduces Alan, a boy who could be her twin, into the picture. For documentary devotees: Tab Hunter Confidential (FilmRise/Automat) Filmmaker Jeffrey Schwarz (I Am Divine) turns his lens on 1950s Hollywood heartthrob Tab Hunter, a movie and music sensation of the era and beyond, who led a secret gay life before coming out. What Happened, Miss Simone? (Eagle Vision) The Blu-ray/CD package features Liz Garbus’ acclaimed Nina Simone doc as well as a CD of 15 beloved Simone performances. No Home Movie (Icarus Films) The late lesbian filmmaker Chantal Akerman’s personal final film examines her relationship with her Holocaust survivor mother, Natalia. The Homestretch (Kartemquin) Anne de Mare and Kristen Kelly’s doc introduces viewers to three homeless teens, including lesbian Kacey, who navigate the system as well as the cold, winter streets of Chicago. For filmmaker followers: The Sea of Trees (A24/Lionsgate) Directed by gay filmmaker Gus Van Sant (Milk), this film about love and redemption stars Matthew McConaughey and Naomi Watts. Knight of Cups (Broadgreen) Directed by Terrence Malick (Days of Heaven), Knight of Cups stars Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Natalie Portman. A Hologram for the King (Lionsgate) Directed by Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) and starring Tom Hanks, the movie is based on the novel by Dave Eggers.t

<< Out&About

O&A

32 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 8-14, 2016

Sat 10 Nutcracker Sweetie @ Cowell Theater

Equus @ Eureka Theatre Theatre Rhinoceros’ production of Peter Shaffer’s compelling drama about a psychoanalyst treating a teenage boy who has a strange relationship with barnyard horses. $15-$40. Tue-Sat 8pm. Sat 3pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm. Thru Dec. 10. 215 Jackson St. at Battery. TheRhino.org

The Jewelry Box @ The Marsh

Holodeck by Jim Provenzano

e share eight days of arts, with lots of choruses celebrating the holidays. Sing and dance along; make your imaginary happy world more real. For more arts events, plus nightlife, go to www.ebar.com

Thu 8 All Aunt Hagar’s Children @ Z Space Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward P. Jones’ drama set in 1950s Washington, DC involves a Korean war veteran determined to solve a murder. $20-$58. Tue,Wed,Thu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 3pm. Thru Dec. 11. 450 Florida St. www.zspace.org

Classic & New Films @ Castro Theatre Dec. 8: La La Land with Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, & John Legend in person. $20-$25. 8:30pm. Dec. 9: Bullitt (7pm) and Dirty Harry (9:15). Dec. 10: Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (2:35, 7pm) and The Trouble With Harry (5, 9:25). Dec. 11: Rita Hayworth in The Lady From Shanghai (3pm. 7pm) and Gilda (4:45, 8:45). Dec. 12: The 24 Hour War (7pm). Dec. 14. Noir City Xmas presents Cash on Demand (7:30) and The Ice Harvest (9:30). Dec. 15: Little Shop of Horrors (7pm) and Three Amigos (9pm). $11-$16. 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

Drag Queens on Ice @ Safeway Holiday Ice Rink The annual fun show of drag royalty singing, lip-synching and dancing on the ice at the Union Square rink, with Mutha Chucka, Paju Munro, KyliePop, BeBe Sweetbriar, Sister Roma, Queen Dilly Dally, Khmera Rouge and Mahlae Balenciaga with MC Donna Sachet. 8pm-9:30pm. www.unionsquareicerink.com

Gerald Casel Dance @ ODC Theater The company performs Cover Your Mouth When You Smile, with choreographer Na-ye Kim, Thirdperson, and Fluster. $20-$30. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru Dec. 10. 3153 17th St. www.geraldcasel.com www.odcdance.org

The Golden Girls @ Victoria Theatre Heklina, D’Arcy Drollinger, Matthew Martin and Holotta Tymes return in Christmas episodes of the hilarious and popular drag stage adaptation of the hit sitcom about retired women in Florida. $30. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 7pm. Thru Dec. 23. 2961 16th St. at Mission. www.goldengirlssf.com

Jane Lynch @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The comic actress-singer returns with her Swingin’ Little Christmas cabaret concert. $90-$110. ($20 food/drink min.). Thu & Fri 8pm. Sat 7pm. Thru Dec. 10. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.feinsteinsatthenikko.com

The King and I @ Golden Gate Theatre The touring production of the Lincoln Center Theatre four-Tony-winning production of the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein musical about a schoolteacher and the King of Siam. $55-$225. Tue-Sat 8pm. Many 2pm matinees. Thru Dec. 11. 1 Taylor St. www.shnsf.com

The Last Christmas @ PianoFight Daniel Heath and Christy Crowley’s Holiday Action Musical pits Santa Claus, Jesus and a pop princess against Big Oil’s plan to drill at the North Pole. $20-$50. Thu-Sat 7pm. Thru Dec. 23. 144 Taylor St. www.pianofight.com

Scrooge in Love @ Marines’ Memorial Theatre Jason Graae stars in 42nd Street Moon’s production of Grossman, Blair & Poole’s fun musical about what happens to Ebeneezer Scrooge after Christmas. Thru Dec. 24. 609 Sutter St. www.42ndStMoon.org

When a Killer Stalked the Castro @ GLBT History Museum Journalist Elon Green presents an illustrated talk about the Doodler murders, when an apparent 5-time serial killer stalked the Castro neighborhood. $5. 7pm. Dec. 15, 7pm: Lesbian & Bisexual Stars: Inside the Hollywood Closet with author Boze Hadleigh. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

Brian Copeland returns with his solo show about his misadventures in buying his mother a Christmas present on the ‘mean streets’ of Oakland. $30-$100. Fri 8pm, Sat 5pm. Thru Dec. 17. 1062 Valencia St. www.themarsh.org

SF Gay Men’s Chorus @ Nourse Theater The acclaimed choir performs Babes in Joyland, their new holiday concert. $25-$175 (gold subscriber). 8pm. Dec 10 at 2:30pm & 8pm. 275 Hayes St. Also Home for the Holidays concerts at The Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St. Dec. 24 at 5pm, 7pm & 9pm. sfgmc.org www.cityboxoffice.com

Singin’ in the Rain @ Davies Symphony Hall The SF Symphony performs the score with a screening of the classic Gene Kelly/Debbie Reynolds musical. $25$89. 7:30pm. Dec. 10 at 7:30pm. 201 Van Ness Ave. www.sfsymphony.org

Sons of the Prophet @ New Conservatory Theatre Center Stephen Karam’s Tony-winning and Pulitzer Prize Finalist comic family play about suffering and redemption gets a local production. $25-$50. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sat 3pm. Sun 2pm. Thru Dec. 18. 25 Van Ness Ave., lower level. www.nctcsf.org

Star Trek Live @ Oasis

Mascara @ Eureka Valley Rec. Center Miss CCC Intensive Claire hosts the monthly drag show benefit for the Castro Country Club. $15-$20. 7:30pm. 100 Collingwood St. www.castrocountryclub.org

Mincing Words @ The Marsh Tom Ammiano returns to the stage with his comic solo show about his life in politics. $20-$100. Thu 8pm, Sat 5pm. Thru Dec. 10. 1062 Valencia St. www.themarsh.org

Nutcracker Sweetie @ Cowell Theater Mark Foehringer Dance Project’s annual concert of a shortened (50-minute) light-hearted take on the The Nutcracker, with live musical accompaniment. $21-$31. Sat & Sun 11am & 1pm. Also Mon/Tue Dec. 19 & 20. Thru Dec. 20. Fort Mason Center, Marina Blvd at Buchanan. www.nutcrackersweets.org www.fortmason.org

Paradise Street @ Exit Theatre Clive Barker’s unusual Christmas play gets an American premiere production; two British brothers debunk miracles on a mystical street on the eve of its demolition. $20-$30. Thru Dec. 17. 156 Eddy St. theexit.org

San Francisco Boys Chorus @ Calvary Presbyterian Church Holiday music is performed by the acclaimed choir. $30-$40. 5pm. 2515 Fillmore St. www.sfbc.org

Santa Slays 5K @ Merritt Ampitheater The Queer Gym’s benefit run around Lake Merritt. $20-$35. 10am. Register at: www.thequeergym.com

SF Hiking Club @ Carquinez Strait

“Mirror, Mirror,” a new episode of the hilarious live adaptation of the classic scifi TV show, stars Leigh Crow, Honey Mahogany and other talents. $25, $35 and $225 VIP champagne tables. 7pm. Most Wed-Sat thru Dec. 10. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Join GLBT hikers of the SF Hiking Club for a 7-mile hike near the Carquinez Strait. Bring lunch, water, hiking shoes, hat, layers, sunscreen, hiking poles. Carpool meets at Safeway sign, Market & Dolores, at 8:30am. Also Dec. 11 at Crystal Springs. 7409888. www.sfhiking.com

Fri 9

Sat 10

She Loves Me @ SF Playhouse

946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips @ Berkeley Rep

Chanticleer @ Various Venues

Michael Morpurgo and Emma Rice’s rousing musical play about a seaside British family whose house is invaded by WWII U.S. soldiers after D-Day. $29-$97. Tue-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Sun 7pm. Thru Jan. 15. Roda Theatre, 201 Addison St., Berkeley. www.berkeleyrep.org

Avenue Q @ New Conservatory Theatre Center Lopez & Marx and Whitty’s hilarious puppets-for-adults musical comedy returns, with two different casts, and a New Year’s Eve show, too. $20-$60. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru Jan. 15. 25 Van Ness AAve., lower level. www.nctcsf.org

Cirque du Soleil @ AT&T Park The amazing Canadian circus company performs another dazzling show, Luzia, a Waking Dream of Mexico. $49 and up. Tue-Sat 8pm. Also various matiness thru Jan. 29. 74 Mission Rock St. www.cirquedusoleil.com/luzia

A Christmas Carol @ Geary Theatre American Conservatory Theatre’s popular annual large-scale stage adaptation (by Cary Perloff and Paul Walsh) of Charles Dickens’ holiday story about Ebeneezer Scrooge. $25$120. pm. Tue-Sat 7pm. Wed, Fri Sat 2pm. Sun 1pm & 5:30pm. Thru 415 Geary St. www.act-sf.org

Cleve Jones @ JCCSF The longtime gay activist discusses his life and new memoir, When We Rise, in conversation with Peter Stein. Signed books included. $28-$38. 7pm. 3200 California St. www.jccsf.org

The Grammy-winning a cappella men’s vocal ensemble performs at several Bay Area churches. Dec. 10 in Oakland at Cathederal of Christ the Light, 2121 Harrison St. www.chanticleer.org

Dance-Along Nutcracker @ YBCA SF Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band’s annual fun kid-friendly and more adult versions of the interactive holiday concert and dance party, this time with a superhero theme. $18-$30 3pm & 7pm. Also Dec. 11, 11am & 3pm. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum, 701 Mission St. www.sflgfb.org www.ybca.org

Inversion: Circus Disobedience @ Kinetic Arts Center, Oakland Live circus-theatre show about civil disobedience and justice. $24-$75. Sat 4pm & 8pm. Sun 3pm & 7pm. Thru Dec. 18. 785 7th St., Oakland. www.kineticartsproductions.com

Kitka @ Various Venues The amazing women’s European folk vocal ensemble performs their Wintersongs concert at multiple venues Dec. 10-18. $10-$30. 12/10: Kanbar Center, Marin JCC, San Rafael. 12/11: Arts at St. Bede’s, Menlo Park. 12/15 at Louden Nelson Center, Santa Cruz. 12/16 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Oakland. 12/17 at Old First Church, SF. www.kitka.org

LGBT Latina/o History @ Galeria de la Raza Archival display, panel discussion, camaraderie and wine, at a reunion remembering and continuing the legacy of the late oral historian Horacio N. Roque Ramirez. 2pm-5pm. 2857 24th St. galeriadelaraza.org

Mon 12 Calamus @ Bound Together Bookstore Faggot Sensibility, An Exploration of Gay/Queer Men’s Consciousness, hosts Varda The Dolly Omie Palone; an Exploration of Polari, The Prelegalization Patois of UK Homos. 7pm. 1369 Haight St. boundtogetherbooks.wordpress.com

Cindy Wilson @ Oasis The B52s cofounder and singer performs new solo music. $25-$40. pm. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Perfectly Queer @ Dog Eared Books Oakland publisher Nomadic Press, with founder J.K. Fowler, authors Kwan Booth, M.K. Chavez, and Arisa White and singer-songwriter Azuah, are presented at the monthly reading series. 7pm. 489 Castro St. www.dogearedbooks.com

Tue 13 The Kinsey Sicks @ Oasis The dragapella quartet’s holiday show, Oy Vey in a Manger, will make you bust a gut with their gay song parodies. $25-$35. 7pm. Thru Dec. 15. 298 11th St. www.kinseysicks.com www.sfoasis.com

Moonlighting @ PianoFight Holiday variety show hosted by Jenn Stokes and Duserock, with Nancy French & Manuel Caneri, Carnie Asada, Chaton Chiffon, Jeremy Vik and others. $10-$20. 8pm. 144 Taylor St. www.pianofight.com

Radar Reading @ SF Public Library Maya Pindyck, Katherine Agard, Chloe Caldwell and Grace Rosario Perkins read at the queer series. 5:45pm. 100 Larkin st., lower level. radarproductions.org www.sfpl.org

Wed 14 Sarah Cahill @ Hotel Rex

The lighthearted musical by Masteroff, Bock and Harnick follows a comedic misadventures of a straight couple looking for love over the holidays. $30-$125. Tue-Thu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sat 3pm, Sun 2pm. Thru Jan. 14. 450 Post St. www.sfplayhouse.org

The acclaimed classical/modern pianist performs a concert of chaconnes by composers Danny Clay, Sofia Gubaidulina, John Blow, Cecile Chaminade, George Friedrich Handel, Louis Couperin and others. $25. 6:30pm. 562 Sutter St. www.sarahcahill.com www.sfperformances.org

This is Not Normal! @ Justin Herman Plaza

Watermelon Woman 3.0 @ Center for Sex and Culture

Large protest against the neo-fascist Trump regime. 2pm-6pm. 1 Market St. facebook.com/sanfranciscomarch/

Sun 11 Abrazo, Queer Tango @ Finnish Brotherhood Hall, Berkeley Enjoy weekly same-sex tango dancing and a potluck, with lessons early in the day. $7-$15. 3:30-6:30pm. 1970 Chestnut St., Berkeley. (510) 8455352. www.finnishhall.com

Fauxnique @ Oasis The faux queen and performer’s fascinating feminist solo show, The F Word, returns. $20-$25. 7pm. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Oakland Symphony & Chorus @ Paramount Theatre Activism and arts are celebrated with music from the Black Panther Party era, with holiday music as well. $25$80. 4pm. 2025 Broadway, Oakland. www.oaklandsymphony.org

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley Shotgun Players perform Edward Albee’s classic drama about disgruntled married college town couples. $25-$40. In repertory thru Jan. 22. 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org

Group exhibit of diverse art works celebrating director Cheryl Dunye’s groundbreaking African American lesbian film. Thru Jan. 6. 1349 Mission St. www.sexandculture.org

White Christmas @ Golden Gate Theatre The classic Irving Berlin musical returns for the holidays, with lavish sets and production numbers. $30$120. Tue-Fri, 7:30pm. Wed 2pm. Sat & Sun 12pm & 5:30pm. Thru Dec. 24. 1 Golden Gate at Market. www.shnsf.com

Thu 15 Smuin Ballet @ YBCA Michael Smuin’s The Christmas Ballet is performed by the popular local dance company. $25-$70. Thu-Sun 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru Dec. 24. 700 Howard St. www.smuinballet.org www.ybca.org

X @ The Independent The popular art rock band led by Exene Cervenka and John Doe performs four nights of shows, with different opening bands. $35-$99 VIP. Thru Dec. 11. 8pm or 9pm. 628 Divisadero St. www.xtheband.com www.theindependentsf.com To submit event listings, email events@ebar.com

Books>>

December 8-14, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 33

Reading the holidays right by Tavo Amador

(1895-1972) founded the F.B.I. in 1935 and remained its head until his death. A rabid right-winger, he suffered tremendously from internalized homophobia, which drove him to prosecute gay men and lesbians so as to dispel rumors about his own sexual orientation. His most important relationship was with associate Clyde Tolson, who was likely his lover. This ugly but important story is covered in great detail by Charles. Countless lives were ruined and many more people were pushed into closets, felt compelled to marry, and led frightened lives of quiet desperation. Tallulah Bankhead (1902-68) was once so famous that she successfully sued Prell shampoo to prevent them from using an advertising slogan that included the line, “I’m Tallulah, the tube of Prell.” Born

into a prominent political family in Alabama (her father would become Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; her grandfather and uncle were U.S. Senators), she became a successful actress as celebrated for her beauty, outrageous behavior and dazzling wit as she was for her stage and occasional cinematic triumphs. She called herself “ambisextrous” and had affairs with women (“Hello, dahling, I’m Tallulah Bankhead and I’m a lesbian. What do you do?”) and men (“I want to fuck that divine Gary Cooper”). Her sanitized memoirs Tallulah, originally published in 1952, have been reissued by the University of Mississippi Press ($25) and are hugely entertaining. “When it comes to Davis, I’ll take Jefferson, you can have Bette,” she said of her alleged rival, who often starred in the movie versions of roles Bankhead created on stage, including 1938’s Jezebel and 1941’s The Little Foxes. Noel Coward, Tennessee Williams, Dorothy Parker, Thornton Wilder, Ethel Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich are among Bankhead’s famous contemporaries making appearances in this autobiography. Mystery-lovers will be delighted with Rhys Bowen’s latest Lady Georgiana tale Crowned and Dangerous (Berkeley Crime, $26). Georgie is 35th in line to the English throne, occupied by King George V and Queen Mary of Teck. She and her longtime love, broke Irish peer Darcy O’Meara, want to marry, but he’s a Catholic and she will need royal permission to wed him. But that obstacle pales when the two are once again investigating a murder, this time involving Darcy’s father. Bowen’s wit, her bemused portrayal of English high society in the 1930s, and Georgie’s engaging personality make this series a continuing delight.t

old duffer with a comb-over that requires frequent attention who darts about like a tweaking marionette, a death-dealing pucker seeking a target. We’ve not had a character singer this good since Gerhard Stolze. If you’ve seen a great Parsifal this lifetime, Rene Pape was probably the Gurnemanz, and if he’s ever given a slack performance, I haven’t heard about it. Still, the sharp, multifaceted character Tcherniakov draws out of him makes his earlier portrayals look like sketches for this canvas in Rembrandt oils. There’s singing that will bowl you over. Pape’s expressive range is complete, his timing incisive and alarmingly immediate. Tcherniakov cleverly turns the first act’s long Grail narrative into a slide show Gurnemaz conducts, complete with pointer, but an idea that could have gone terribly wrong is saved by using historical depictions of the Grail legend and early Parsifal productions, Pape a holy Scheherazade talking-story. There’s all the magnificent singing you could want, but that’s the last thing on the minds of these singers, charged with making all the sounds they can muster. Andreas Schager, Europe’s Heldentenor

of the moment, is a backpacking Parsifal who’s everybody’s fool until he’s nobody’s, and like Kampe, as compelling a presence when he’s not singing. Wolfgang Koch, his fat oldman tits sagging over bloody gauze bandages, makes unearthly sounds for Amfortas’ agony in a vocally overwhelming performance not chary of its own vileness. Kundry may have only “Dienen, dienen” to sing in the last act, but the redemption of Parsifal and Kundry, two pairs of eyes orbiting like planets, strikes closer to the heart of the action than the closing of Amfortas’ wound. Wagner’s orchestra is always a character of its own, but seldom is that as palpable as in Daniel Barenboim’s knowing, explosive yet infinitely subtle conducting. His band is in on the action at every insinuating, evanescent turn. Sometimes I feel like the old lady in the audience who was hauled out of Bayreuth’s latest Tristan wailing, “You can’t change the ending.” That’s where Tcherniakov’s Parsifal explicitly departs from Wagner – the stage directions, not the words or music – with a plot innovation that left me thunderstruck.t

fter years of being hurt by Amazon, brick-and-mortar bookstores are enjoying a comeback. Sales in the last few years have increased. It’s easy to see why: walking into a book-filled space, browsing through the selections, or having a light refreshment is a civilized way to spend time. It’s also a great way to find the right selection for people on your holiday gift-list. John Preston’s A Very English Scandal – Sex, Lies and a Murder Plot at the Heart of the Establishment (Other Press, $27.95) is a spellbinding true account of Jeremy Thorpe (1929-2014), a Member of Parliament and head of the Liberal Party from 1967-76. He was among the most popular and charismatic politicians of the era. Few knew of his secret homosexual life. He often harassed his ex-partners, embezzled funds, and was involved in other unsavory and dangerous undertakings. In 1979, in a real-life event right out of a classic British mystery, the upper-class Oxford graduate’s life came undone. On a dark night he met an ex-lover on a moor. Also present was a hired killer and a dog. The consequences rocked the country. Thorpe was charged with murder and tried at the Old Bailey. Not since Oscar Wilde had the United Kingdom been shocked by such a scandal. Preston’s research is thorough, and he resists the temptation to sensationalize the narrative. He doesn’t have to. American author Gore Vidal (1925-2012), a self-described “homosexualist,” was no stranger to politics or the foibles of the upper classes. Grandson of Oklahoma Senator Thomas Gore, he was born into privilege. In 1948, his groundbreaking novel The City and the Pillar, a homosexual love story, caused

a furor. The New York Times refused to review any of his subsequent books, a ban that remained in place for many years. Jay Parini’s Empire of Self (Anchor Books, $18) is a sympathetic but honest biography of a fine, versatile writer, a superb raconteur, an astringent critic of America, a one-time intimate of the Kennedys, and an emotionally frigid man who eventually followed his dazzling mother Nina into alcoholism and a life of name-dropping snobbery. It’s a cautionary tale well-told. Movie buffs and anyone who believes that creativity doesn’t diminish with age will enjoy Jason Solomon’s Woody Allen, Film by Film (Carlton Books, $40). It’s a wellillustrated assessment of Allen’s (b. 1935) exceptional oeuvre, which ranges from the neurotic comedy

of Best Picture Oscar winner Annie Hall (1977) to the emotionally repressed and chilly family in Interiors (1978), to the charmingly romantic magical realism of Midnight in Paris (2011), to his most recent, Cafe Society (2016). Allen’s self-involved obsessions are well known: Manhattan (as seen through the eyes of a Brooklyn native), death, Ingmar Bergman, the meaning of life, the small, homely, nerdy man’s need to woo and win beautiful women: all are on display. The book includes an introductory interview with Allen. The election of Donald Trump, Mike Pence, and their administration may usher in a new age of government-sponsored homophobia. A past one is documented by Douglas M. Charles in his Hoover’s War on Gays (University Press of Kansas, $34.95). J. Edgar Hoover

Penetrating Parsifal by Tim Pfaff

ven by operatic standards, four women characters represent the feminine at its most mysterious. Handel’s Alcina, Wagner’s Kundry, Debussy’s Melisande and Berg’s Lulu are women with deeply uncertain pasts and present-day deadly allure. (Elena Makropulos is another, but we reliably learn her story.) All four have made arresting appearances on video recently. The Pelleas et Melisande, with out baritone Stephane Degout and to-die-for Barbara Hannigan, is viewable online free on The Opera Platform. A central element in director Dmitri Tcherniakov’s 2015 production of Parsifal for the Berliner Staatsoper (BelAir DVD/Blu-ray), as thoughtful and penetrating a Parsifal as can be had, is its clarity that Kundry’s story is in fact the opera’s throughline. The character goes back at least as far as the Crucifixion, and the curse she incurs by laughing at the cross-bearing Jesus makes her a vassal to the Grail Knights and their evil outcast brother Klingsor and, more gravely, a slave to sex. (“Just give me one hour.” Ouch.) She’s not just the star of the opera’s teeming, tortured second act, she’s the magnetic presence that binds all the characters

and drives the story as her curse drives her. No less a singing actress than Anja Kampe could have risen to the challenges of Tcherniakov’s extraordinarily complex Kundry, and although her singing is as good as any I’ve heard (and I’ve heard Ludwig, Rysanek and Meier in the house), she’s as strong a presence in the considerable stretches of music when she’s not singing but remains the focus, or a reflector, of events. No other Parsifal I’ve seen has realized Wagner’s opera as fully

aurally and visually. There’s no swan, but there is a Grail chalice, a spear and a suppurating wound, and the Christian symbols Wagner drew on reclaim their potency cauterized of Church and creed. As often these days, the Grail knights are cult followers down on their spiritual luck. Tcherniakov’s, too, is a modern-dress Parsifal (he’s the author of the whole physical production, working with trusted designers), but none of these down-and-out spiritual seekers looks like any other; particularly in the crucial massed scenes, every last chorister knows precisely who she is. The stage is never still, but nothing feels staged. The Flower Maidens are nymphets in flowered dresses, and even the singing ones are little Lolitas at the extreme lower end of legal. The returning Parsifal sings, “Heil mir, das ich dich wiederfinde” straight into Kundry’s welling eyes, and the rest of the act proceeds from shock to shock, almost all of it grounded in Wagner’s text. The principals don’t seem directed so much as released into their characters. Tomas Tomasson is the Klingsor I’ve long awaited: no generic villain, but rather, a tweedy

/lgbtsf

<< Film

34 • BAY AREA REPORTER • December 8-14, 2016

Old Stone’s tale of woe by Erin Blackwell

nyone who’s heard good things about the new Chinese film Lao Shi (Old Stone) and doesn’t want me to ruin it for them should stop reading now. This wannabe cuttingedge denunciation of a society bent on its own destruction through lack of compassion, which turns a good man into a bad man when all he wanted to do was be good, might be your cup of oolong. Don’t let me stop you from queuing up at Opera Plaza in San Fran, or Shattuck Cinema in Berkeley, starting Fri., Dec. 9. There are many ways to ruin a movie, but the simplest is not to have a good script. At 80 minutes, Old Stone is short for a feature, since it’s really a short story plumped up with spliced-in footage of trees waving in the wind or grimy city streets. Its linear plot proceeds step by obvious step, following an anti-hero who is alone in possessing any twinkle of subjectivity, but is surrounded and hounded by troglodytes who never detach long enough from their grubby pursuit of narrow material goals to show signs of a soul. Only the anti-hero has the sense to be disappointed in humanity. Old Stone is the name of a taxi driver who, as played by Chen Gang, is tall, sinewy, weather-beaten, beautiful albeit grizzled, aloof, naive bordering on indifferent. His life comes complete with a taxi, a wife, a teenage

Zeitgeist Films

Chen Gang as taxi driver Lao Shi in director Johnny Ma’s Old Stone.

daughter, and a smoking habit. When he allows some pushy woman to shove a drunken man into the front seat of his cab and accepts her cash to override his personal rule never to chauffeur a drunk, Old Stone sets in motion a series of events some might call Kafkaesque but I will call barely believable, or rigged in service of a cynical world view. The Drunk messes with Old Stone’s ability to control his cab,

which fells a scooter driver. As in all parables, these generalized types never accede to the level of humanity the film seems hell-bent on skewering modern Chinese society for denying its own people. See the irony there? Filmmaker Johnny Ma takes such a long view that his humans are reduced to ants, his actors to masks that never take on life. He even undercuts his own vision by bringing in violins, literally, to underscore shots

The Skivvies are an in-crowd New York favorite, performing their scantily attired comedy-pop cabaret shows in all the smart places. The creation of musician-performers Lauren Molina and Nick Cearly, who favor underused instruments and unexpected song lists, the Skivvies are headed to San Francisco with their show Holiday Roadkill. They’ll be at ACT’s Strand Theater on Dec. 22-23 with Randy Harrison (TV’s Queer as Folk, the tour of Cabaret) as guest star. Call (415) 749-2228 or go to act-sf.org.

and has had art in galleries around the world. What he’s least known for are his plays, originally seen by tiny fringe audiences, and only now are they becoming available as producible texts. Exit Theatre is presenting the American premiere of Paradise Street, running through Dec. 17, and this is the holiday show about the time-traveling Virgin Queen. It’s actually about much more than that, but we’ll let Exit Theatre do the heavy lifting with its try at a synopsis: “Paradise Street is a lot like A Midsummer Night’s Dream crossed with A Christmas Carol crossed with a Blackadder episode crossed with Look Back in Anger.” Tickets at theexit.org.

after past runs at the Curran and the Orpheum. Adapted from the 1954 movie, with additional Irving Berlin songs added, it’s the tale of a couple of soldiers-turned-showmen who enlist fellow vets to help their former commanding officer rescue his snow-deprived Vermont inn by putting on a show. And then it snows – on stage and, in a Christmas miracle, on the audience as well. Tickets at (888) 746-1799 or shnsf.com.

Paradise found

The snow must go on

Holiday stages

From page 25

Underwear unleashed

Clive Barker is a man of many talents. He’s directed a series of horror films starting with Hellraiser, produced Gods and Monsters, written scores of novels and short stories,

And now for something completely traditional. The stage musical based on the movie White Christmas is returning to SF, this time to the Golden Gate Theatre on Dec. 14-24

With his taxi impounded, he’s seen throwing bricks and driving a white pick-up truck when he’s not hanging out in the hospital watching over his victim, now in a coma. Spoiler alert. Is the director an admirer of the Michael Douglas school of revenge fantasy? There are too many film influences here to count. After the predictably downward wifeless spiral of not shaving, drinking while driving, and looking morose, Old Stone grows some and decides to kill his victim by pulling the plug on the respirator. At minute 56, the plot thickens. The shock revives the patient in a truly nerve-wracking moment of nurse-doctor scurrying panic. So Old Stone traces him to his village and they end up slugging it out in a marsh on a moonless night to the tune of very loud frogs. Then they’re both killed by an 18-wheeler. But not before Old Stone has a vision of his much younger wife almost smiling at him, and his daughter turning her back to practice a cheesy dance routine. Face covered in fake blood and sweat, Old Stone is conscious enough to see the driver give him the once-over and decide he’s not worth driving to the hospital. See the irony? Old Stone does, but it’s too late to save him or this film. So the trucker runs him over on purpose this time, to take us out of our misery as bagpipes blare over the end credits.t

Golden memories

The gift of fruitcakes may have waned, but not so the annual arrival of The Golden Girls for the Yuletide. San Francisco’s drag interpretations of the 1980s sitcom began in 2006, and two new holiday-infused episodes are on stage at the Victoria Theatre through Dec. 23. Longtime cast veterans Heklina and Matthew Martin are back as Dorothy and Blanche, while D’Arcy Drollinger and Holotta Tymes as Rose and Sophia are in their second season with the show. Tickets at goldengirlssf.com.

David Allen

The ghost of Jacob Marley (Ryan Drummond) returns to haunt Ebenezer Scrooge (Jason Graae) as 42nd Street Moon brings back the musical Scrooge in Love.

Please, sir, I want some more

No, not more gruel for Oliver Twist, but more Scrooge for 42nd Street Moon. Last year, the troupe offered the world premiere of Scrooge in Love!, and the musical sequel to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was such a success that it’s back in a larger venue. Performances at Marines’ Memorial Theatre continue through Dec. 24, and stage and cabaret veteran Jason Graae again stars as the mellower Scrooge whose heart still needs some warming. The music is by Larry Grossman, whose Broadway songwriting credits include Minnie’s Boys, Goodtime Charley, and A Doll’s Life, with lyrics by Kellen Blair and a book by Duane Poole. Tickets at (415) 255-8207 or 42ndstmoon.org.

Egg rolls & mirth

415 -500 -2620

of his self-pitying protagonist. Old Stone, having no will of his own, lets the jabbering crowd convince him to drive Scooter Boy to the hospital rather than wait for an ambulance. He starts paying the hospital bills. Once his wife finds out, she’s understandably pissed off, yet is portrayed as just one more yammering nuisance in Old Stone’s Tale of Woe. How exactly they separate and where he then goes to live remain mysteries.

The informal tradition of Jewish families eating Chinese on Christmas Day has been turned into something of a San Francisco institution as Kung Pao Kosher Comedy returns for its 24th year of serving up Jewish comedians along with Chinese victuals. Headliner Elayne Boosler has been a television and comedy club staple for more than

Courtesy NBC-TV

Veteran comedian Elayne Boosler headlines the 24th annual holiday offering of Kung Pao Kosher Comedy, which serves jokes with Chinese food.

40 years, and she’ll be joined by gay New York comic Eddie Sarfaty and standup newcomer Alex Edelman. And as always, creator, producer, and emcee Lisa Geduldig will oversee the proceedings at the New Asia Restaurant, where cocktail and dinner shows are on the menu Dec. 2325. Tickets are at (925) 743-1282 or koshercomedy.com.

Back on the avenue Not

all

theatrical

holiday

traditions have anything to do with the holidays. New Conservatory Theatre Center seems to have found its variation on annual stagings of A Christmas Carol as the puppetfriendly musical Avenue Q returns for its fourth year. The grownup variation on Sesame Street, which won the Tony Award for best musical in 2004, is this time operating with two casts performing on alternate nights through Jan. 15. Tickets at (415) 861-8972 or nctcsf.org.t

Club 1220 turns 40

Amy Hanaiali’i

Leather Vol. 46 • No. 49 • December 8-14, 2016

www.ebar.com V www.bartabsf.com

Jane Lynch Have a ‘Swinging’ Little Christmas’ with the actress-singer at Feinstein’s By Jim Gladstone

rom Madonna to child: Actress Jane Lynch’s unlikely mid-career emergence as a singer began with an impressive Sue Sylvester version of “Vogue” during the 2010 debut season of Glee. Six years later, she’s singing Christmas music at Feinstein’s at the Nikko, tonight through Saturday. See page 36 >>

On the Tab Dec. 8-15

T Georg Lester

he last month of this yea r offers some respite and culture for the mid-h oliday-weary. Benefits, bar invasions, costumed cap ers, quality concerts, and queens on ice should swirl up your spirits.

page 38 >> Listings begin on

Sun 11 Santa Skivvies Run @ Lookout

{ THIRD OF THREE SECTIONS }

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6/28/16 2:45 PM

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

36 • Bay Area Reporter • December 8-14, 2016

Jane Lynch in her recent concert, See Jane Sing.

Jane Lynch

From page 35

Lynch’s new, self-released holiday album, A Swingin’ Little Christmas, has shot into the Top 10 on Billboard magazine’s jazz charts. It features big band takes on Yuletide classics along with five originals by Tony Guerrero, who will accompany Lynch at Feinstein’s, along with covocalists Kate Flannery (“Meredith” from The Office) and Tim Davis, who Lynch befriended when he was a music director on Glee. Crisply recorded, with none of the glossy, overwrought production flourishes that lead most celebrity Christmas albums to be put into deep hibernation between January and November (We’re talking to you, Mariah), Lynch’s disc has an irresistible zip and unaffected sense of playfulness that could keep listeners spinning it well into spring. Even when sung with tongues planted ever-so-lightly in cheek, Guererro’s new tunes, including the

album’s title track and “Winter’s Never Cold When You’re Around,” feel like perfectly roasted 1950s chestnuts. The sound is so retro that Lynch has pressed a limited run of vinyl albums, autographed copies of which are only available at www. janelynchofficial.com. (You can also check out a few videos from the album there). While relatively earnest recordings of “We Three Kings,” “Jingle Bells,” and “The First Noel” may seem an unlikely step on Lynch’s career path, during a recent phone conversation from her home in Los Angeles, she explained that the album springs from ties to both family and friends. Growing up Catholic in suburban Illinois, Lynch said that her family’s Christmases centered around listening, and singing along, to holiday music on the annual albums released by the Firestone tire company. Lynch returns to the midwest to spend the holidays with a brother, sister, aunt and nieces every year.

Jane Lynch (right) with her Glee character Sue Sylvester wax figure at Madame Tussaid’s in Hollywood.

time together at least once a year. went to future Conan collaborator, “I’m a very Christmassy person,” Though Lynch named her label Andy Richter). Don’t be surprised explained Lynch, “Just not a churchy KitschTone Records and promises if Lynch has a few kind words this person.” audiences plenty of irreverent patter weekend for Carol’s originator, the Lynch –currently featured in throughout this weekend’s shows, late Florence Henderson. Netflix’s new Christopher Guest her album is no joke. Its vocal harIf the Swingin’ Little Christmas mockumentary Mascots, hosting album –and plans for the live holimonies and instrumental arrangeHollywood Game Night on NBC– day show– feel significantly more ments are impressively tight and also partly conceived the album as coherent than the idiosyncratic repsprightly, full of accomplished singa way to continue working with her ing and musicianship. friends Flannery, Davis, Working in an entirely and Guerrero. They toured different musical genre the country together over than Glee’s contemporary the past two years with pop, vocal producer Davis Lynch’s first cabaret act, See continues to demonstrate Jane Sing! a great talent for wittily The show, which played layered counterpoint; and San Francisco’s Palace of bandleader/music director the Fine Arts in spring Tony Guerrero brings seri2015, developed as someous jazz chops to the party: thing of a lark after Lynch, A trumpet player since age on hiatus from Glee pro9, Guerrero’s signature induction in 2013, took on strument is the flugelhorn. a limited engagement He’s worked with jazz legplaying the role of Miss ends including Freddie Hannigan in the Broadway Hubbard and Joe Sample, revival of Annie. as well as releasing over a During that run, Lynch dozen solo albums. was unexpectedly offered a While Guerrero charted four-night gig at Manhatarrangements for a 13 piece tan’s 54 Below nightclub. brass section to record Invigorated by her BroadLynch’s album, he’ll pare way debut –a return to the things down to a crackstage after many years of Jane Lynch’s new album, Swingin’ Little Christmas. erjack quintet for the live working exclusively in performances. Audiences television and film– she ertoire of See Jane Sing!, that’s altolured to attend by the show’s celebpulled together an ad hoc act which, gether intentional. While the shows rity lynchpin will likely be bowled ultimately, morphed into the tour. at Feinstein’s, plus one additional over by her supporting team. In that show, Lynch wove togethnight at Los Angeles’ Largo, will be “I love being with these guys,” er a wild variety of material, from their only concert performances of Lynch says. “It’s like we’re having a the classic novelty tune “Mairzy Domusic from Swingin Little Christparty when we play together.”t ats” to Nikki Minaj’s “Anaconda.” mas in 2016, Lynch and crew are A reworked rendition of Jefferson hoping that a successful album will Airplane’s “White Rabbit” –with Jane Lynch @ Feinstein’s at the lead to an evergreen opportunity. its refrain of “Go ask Alice...”– alNikko: The star of stage, screen and comedy returns with her Lynch explained that she views lowed Lynch and Flannery to riff ‘Swingin’ Little Christmas’ cabaret the album as a platform from which on a years-earlier tour in The Real concert. $90-$110. ($20 food/drink she and her band of merrymaking Live Brady Bunch, a stage parody of min.). December 8 thru 10. Thu & the sitcom in which Lynch played friends can launch annual holiday Fri 8pm. Sat 7pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Carol Brady and Flannery was Altours, assuring that despite all of Mason St. (866) 663-1063. ice, the maid (The Robert Reed role their busy schedules, they’ll spend www.feinsteinsatthenikko.com

㐀㄀㔀 ⴀ㔀 ⴀ㈀㘀㈀

Jane Lynch (3rd right) in Mascots.

Read more online at www.ebar.com

December 8-14, 2016 • Bay Area Reporter • 37

Club 1220 Walnut Creek gay bar celebrates 40 years

Recent patrons of Club 1220.

by Michael Nugent

lub 1220 –beloved by many as a gay Cheers– is celebrating its 40th Anniversary. Originally named The Hub, the club opened through the financial backing of gay brothers Jon and Steve Crovo’s parents on December 16, 1976. The Crovos have seen a kaleidoscopic rainbow pass through their doors at 1220 Pine Street in Walnut Creek over the last four decades. “I think about all of the people that used to walk through that door that aren’t here anymore. It’s been an incredible journey,” said owner Jon Crovo. “I found my safe place at this bar. I feel like the luckiest guy in the world that my parents helped open a gay bar for me and my brother. I didn’t have to pretend I was someone I wasn’t. I will never be able to repay being able to live my life openly from a young age.” Originally, the club was going to open in Pleasant Hill, but when the city learned of their plans they passed an ordinance, effectively keeping them out. Walnut Creek was the only city where the Crovos were able to meet with the City Detective and Police Chief and put all their plans on the table. “The Chief called San Francisco and Oakland and asked them what problems they had with gay bars. They said there were none, all problems at gay bars were dealt with in house,” said Crovo. “No one wanted trouble then because no one wanted their name in the paper!” The Chief gave them five stipulations to open, including no drag shows, separate urinal stalls, and no same-sex dancing (which was illegal in California at the time). The Hub opened as a piano bar. Within two years a mirror ball was placed on the ceiling as a warning sign: when it stopped it meant the police were coming.

A recent drag show at Club 1220.

It was amazing to see so many gay people come together in the suburban East Bay. “No one would come from San Francisco to Walnut Creek, so our clientele was all from the East Bay. It was eye-popping in the ‘70s to see so many gays in the East Bay and have it be wall to wall in here,” said Crovo. “That was the biggest shock to us and our parents.” Over the years, there have been many memorable events at the bar. During the Briggs Initiative fight, Harvey Milk agreed to a debate with Briggs in Walnut Creek. When the Crovos found out Milk was coming to town, they called his office and asked him to make an appearance. After the debate ended, Harvey Milk arrived. He was immediately moved to see a mix of both men and women inside –virtually unheard of in the ‘70s. Milk got on a bar stool and said, “I look on this crowd and San Francisco and its people have a lot to learn. This is what our rainbow looks like.” “My Dad said everyone must be welcome here, no exceptions, so that’s how we ran things,” said Crovo. “That speech by Milk was the most poignant moment we ever had here.”

never had a problem with the police again. I had to work to convince the clientele the cops would actually protect us,” said Crovo. The early AIDS years transformed the club into a de facto community center. “We were shell-shocked. I lost seven staff in the first two years,” Crovo added. “The bar became a safe rallying place to find out what was going on with AIDS, for anyone who was supporting a family, before and after the funeral.” The Club was now focused on saving men. Committees were formed to pick up families from airports and tell them what was hap-

Defending a home

The early years were a constant fight, with the clientele getting beat up and the windows smashed. The Crovos took out the windows, operated without a sign in the front of the building and built a rock wall fortress to protect the bar. Spotters were outside looking for the cops and there were car lot monitors. The bar became known as the black door behind 7-11. When the front doorman and Steve Crovo got stabbed, it was a turning point. “The Walnut Creek police told us: ‘Don’t give up on what you’ve got here, we will back you 100%.’ We

Michael Nugent

Club 1220 owner Jon Crovo.

David Mifflin. “What I love about this place is Jon’s showing Walnut Creek you can have a historically gay establishment and an office party can come here and see we’re not so different from anybody sense.” Since the recent Presidential election, the Club has started getting nasty calls and threats for the first time in many years. “The cops said to us, ‘You are loved downtown. No one is driving anyone out of Walnut Creek,’ said Crovo. “There was a lot of fear at World AIDS Day at the Club this year; we don’t know what we’re in for. We’ve been through a lot in 40 years, and we once again need to come together.” The Club now has regular programming throughout the week, including karaoke, gay bingo and Jazz Sundays, all of which are bringing new people to visit. Business is up 25% from a year ago. And the Club finally erected a sign outside the building. “Being a young lesbian in the East Bay, 1220 was a place you didn’t have to come out. You could just come here and be yourself,” said patron Angela Castro. “I love this place, I never felt judged or felt it was only a gay man’s bar. It’s my gay Cheers.” The Anniversary fun starts on Friday, Dec 16 from noon to 2 am. Drinks will be at 1976 prices with no cover. On Saturday, Dec 17 there will be a VIP Reception at 2pm.t www.club1220.com

Jon Crovo

Michael Nugent

Holiday decorations at Club 1220.

pening with their sons. The first heterosexuals at the bar were the loved ones of friends who had died. “One Mom just fell in love with gay men through coming here,” said Crovo. “She wished she had known her son. Two worlds started meshing one person at a time.” In the early 1990s there was more competition from two new gay bars that opened in Walnut Creek. The Crovos’ father decided to sell his businesses, including the Club. He didn’t want the brothers to keep going, as the other bars had taken away most of their business. But Jon and Steve were determined to continue. They bought it, remodeled and reopened as Club 1220. The other gay bars in town closed around 2000. By the time of the economy crash in 2008, big changes were once again underway at the club. “We can no longer stay exclusively as a gay bar. No matter what, we have to keep readjusting to the times. The Internet wiped out probably 50% of the gay bar business. I’m staying open by thinking outside the box and welcoming gay-friendly people here as well,” said Crovo. “Gay bars not wanting straight people are committing suicide I think. We have to be careful, as a minority, of reverse discrimination.” Many patrons consider the bar a special place. “I first came here when I was 25. This is now the only gay bar on this side of the Caldecott,” said patron

Vintage days at Club 1220.

<< On the Tab

38 • Bay Area Reporter • December 8-14, 2016

Bridgemen Holiday Toy Drive and Party @ Strut Enjoy snacks and beverages, bring unwrapped toys to donate for kids 1-12 years for the SF Firefighters Toy Program. 7pm-9pm. 470 Castro St. www.bridgemen.org www.strutsf.org

DTF Fridays @ Port Bar, Oakland Various DJs play house music at the new gay bar’s weekly event. 9pm2am. 2023 Broadway. (510) 823-2099. www.portbaroakland.com

Gays in Space! @ Oasis Science fiction and Star Trek gay fan gathering, with celebrity appearances. $20-$30. 7pm. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Gogo Fridays @ Toad Hall Hot dancers grind it at the Castro bar with a dance floor and patio. 4146 18th St. www.toadhallbar.com

Happy Friday @ Midnight Sun The popular video bar ends each work week with gogo guys (starting at 9pm) and drink specials. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

Sun 11

Hard Fridays @ Qbar DH Haute Toddy’s weekly electro-pop night with hotty gogos. $3. 9pm-2am (happy hour 4pm-9pm). 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

Vanessa Bousay @ Martuni’s

Holidaze Variety Show @ The New Parish, Oakland

On the Tab

From page 35

Thu 8

After Dark @ Exploratorium Adult cocktail party at the interactive science museum. Dec. 8: Resonance and visual motion with composer Narielle Jakobsons, and “Chicory Chic” tastings. $10-$15. 6pm-10pm. Pier 15 at Embarcadero. www.exploratorium.edu

Drag Queens on Ice @ Safeway Holiday Ice Rink The annual fun show of drag royalty singing, lip-synching and dancing on the ice at the Union Square rink, with Mutha Chucka, Paju Munro, Kylie-Pop, BeBe Sweetbriar, Sister Roma, Queen Dilly Dally, Khmera Rouge and Mahlae Balenciaga with MC Donna Sachet. 8pm-9:30pm. unionsquareicerink.com

Jane Lynch @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The brilliant star of stage, screen and comedy returns with her Swingin’ Little Christmas cabaret concert. $90$110. ($20 food/drink min.). Thu & Fri 8pm. Sat 7pm. Thru Dec. 10. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.feinsteinsatthenikko.com

Karaoke Night @ The Stud Sing along and sing out, Louise, with hostess Sister Flora Goodthyme. 8pm2am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Picante @ The Cafe Lulu and DJ Marco’s Latin night with sexy gogo guys. 9pm-2am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Queer Karaoke @ Club OMG Dana hosts the weekly singing night; unleash your inner American Idol. 8pm. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Star Trek Live @ Oasis Enjoy “Mirror, Mirror,” a new episode of the hilarious live adaptation of the classic scifi TV show, with Leigh Crow, Honey Mahogany and other talents. $25, $35 and $225 VIP champagne tables. 7pm. Most Wed-Sat thru Dec. 10. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Thump @ White Horse, Oakland Weekly electro music night with DJ Matthew Baker and guests. 9pm-2am. 6551 Telegraph Ave, (510) 652-3820. www.whitehorsebar.com

Thursday Night Live @ SF Eagle Music night with local and touring bands. $8. 9:30pm. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Tubesteak Connection @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge Disco guru DJ Bus Station John spins grooves at the intimate retro music night. No cell phones on the dance floor, please! $5. 10pm-2am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.com

The Revivalists, Band of Horse and Blind Pilot perform at a benefit for the children’s charity. $25-$68. 7pm. 1111 California St. www.sfmasonic.com

Mary Go Round @ Lookout

Lick It @ Powerhouse DJ Blackstone plays at the toy drive; bring a new unwrapped kid’s toy for free admission. 10pm-1am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

The Monster Show @ The Edge The weekly drag show with DJ MC2, themed nights and hilarious fun. $5. 9pm-2am. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Fri 9 Uhaul @ Oasis

Vibe Fridays @ Club BnB, Oakland House music and cocktails, with DJs Shareef Raheim-Jihad and Ellis Lindsey. 9pm-2am. 2120 Broadway. (510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Sat 10 Black XXXmas @ 1015 Folsom

Industry and Gus Presents’ 11th annual sexy, cruisy leather holiday circuit party, with DJs Wayne G and Abel. $80-$100. 10pm-6am. 1015 Folsom St. www.guspresents.com

La Bota Loca @ Club 21, Oakland Latin, hip hop and Electro music night. $5-$25. 9pm-4am. 2111 Franklin St., Oakland. www.club21oakland.com

Bootie SF @ DNA Lounge DJs Mysterious D and guests spin at the mash-up DJ dance party, with four rooms of different sounds and eight DJs. $10-$15 and up. 9:30pm3am. 375 11th St. www.bootiesf.com www.dnalounge.com

Bounce @ Lookout Dance music with a view at the Castro bar. 9pm-2am. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

Cast Hope Benefit Concert @ Slim’s The nonprofit that provides outdoor experiences for urban kids features the Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Chuck Ragan, Rocky Votalato, Travis Hayes and Royal Oaks. $26 ($51 with dinner). 8pm. 333 11th St. www.slimspresents.com

Ain’t Mama’s Drag @ Balancoire Weekly drag queen and drag king show hosted by Cruzin d’Loo. 8pm10pm. No cover. 2565 Mission St. www.balancoiresf.com

Thu 8

Boy Bar @ The Cafe

David Shaw of the Revivalists at KFOG Concert for Kids @ Masonic Hall

Gus Presents’ weekly dance night, with DJ Kid Sysko, cute gogos and $2 beer (before 10pm). 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Boy Division @ Cat Club The Queer Wave dance party celebrates Sagittarius birthdays with a whitecolor-themed party, New Wave, goth and Britpop grooves by Zander, Tomas Diablo, Donimo, Daniel Skellington and Starr. $5-$8. 9:30pm-3am. 1190 Folsom St. www.sfcatclub.com

Manimal @ Beaux Gogo-tastic dance night starts off your weekend. $5. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Midnight Show @ Divas Weekly drag shows at the last transgender-friendly bar in the Polk; with hosts Victoria Secret, Alexis Miranda and several performers. Also Saturdays. $10. 11pm. 1081 Polk St. www.divassf.com

Red Hots Burlesque @ The Stud

Rock Fag @ Hole in the Wall

Nightlife @ California Academy of Sciences

The women’s dance party returns. $10-$15. 10pm-2am. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Fri 9

The saucy women’s burlesque show hosted by Dottie Lux will titillate and tantalize. $10-$20. 8pm-9:30pm. 399 9th St. Also Sunday brunch shows at PianoFight Theatre. Dec 11: a threering Xmas Brunch-athon $30-$80. 12pm-4pm. 144 Taylor St. . www.redhotsburlesque.com www.studsf.com

Mercedez Munro and Holotta Tymes’ weekly drag show. $5. 10:30pm show. DJ Philip Grasso. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

Themed event nights at the fascinating nature museum, with DJed dancing, cocktails, fish, frogs, food and fun. Dec. 8: Holiday Bazaar NightLife, Silent Disco plus music by Make It Funky DJs. $10-$12. 6pm-10pm, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. 379-8000. www.calacademy.org

Free coat/clothes check when you strip down to your skivvies at the cruisy SoMa bar. $5. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Shot in the City

KFOG Concert for Kids @ Masonic Hall

Underwear Night @ Powerhouse

Uhaul @ Oasis

David Oppenheimer

Planet Booty and DJ Galen headline the show, sponsored by Patients Care Collective pot store. 9pm. 1743 San Pablo Ave., Oakland. www.berkeleypatientscare.com www.thenewparish.com

Club Rimshot @ Club BNB, Oakland The weekly hip hop and R&B night. $5-$15. 9pm to 4am. 2120 Broadway. (510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Cockblock @ Rickshaw Stop The queer women and pals’ dance party returns for a holiday night, with DJs China G, MsJackson, Motive and a lesbian Santa Claus! $10. 10pm-3am. 155 Fell St. www.rickshawstop.com

Dance Party @ Port Bar, Oakland Enjoy relaxed happy hour cocktails early (open at 5pm) and later dancing in the cozy back room at the newest LGBT bar. Daily 5pm-2am. 2023 Broadway, Oakland. www. portbaroakland.com

Drag Me to Brunch @ Lookout

Enjoy hard rock and punk music from DJ Don Baird at the wonderfully divey SoMa bar. Also Fridays. 7pm-2am. 1369 Folsom St. 431-4695. www.hitws.com

Weekly show with soul, funk and Motown grooves hosted by Carnie Asada, with DJs Becky Knox and Pumpkin Spice. The yummy brunch menu starts at 12pm, with the show at 1pm. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

Some Thing @ The Stud

Flex @ Powerhouse

Mica Sigourney and pals’ weekly offbeat themed drag performance night. $7. 10pm-3am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

DJ Mohammed, cruisy dude night. $5. 9pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Godless Perverts @ Center for Sex & Culture Holiday fundraiser party for the St. James Infirmary, with food, drinks atheist holiday songs, door prizes; blasphemous costumes and festive garb encouraged. $10-$20. 8pm11pm. 1349 Mission St. www.godlessperverts.com

December 8-14, 2016 • Bay Area Reporter • 39

Marques Daniels

On the Tab>>

Vanessa Bousay @ Martuni’s

Underwear Night @ 440

Enjoy the elegant drag chanteuse’s Home for the Holidays concert. $15. 7pm. 4 Valencia St. www.vanessabousay.com

Strip down to your skivvies at the popular men’s night. 9pm-2am. 440 Castro St. 621-8732. the440.com

Mon 12

Cindy Wilson @ Oasis

Mother @ Oasis Heklina’s popular drag show Dec. 10: a special B52s tribute night with Cindy Wilson! $10-$15. 10pm-2am. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

The B52s cofounder and singer performs her new solo music. $25-$40. pm. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Nitty Gritty @ Beaux

Mahlae Balenciaga and DJ Kidd Sysko’s weekly drag and dance night. 9pm-1am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Drag Mondays @ The Cafe

Weekly dance night with nearly naked gogo guys & gals; DJs Chad Bays, Ms. Jackson, Becky Know and Jorge T. $4. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Fri 9

Cruisy fun with grooves and guys; DJs Kevin O’Connor, Taco Tuesdays. $10. 9:30pm-1:30am. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Black XXXmas @ 1015 Folsom

Pretty in Ink @ Powerhouse Show off your tattoos at the inkthemed night. $5. 9pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Santacon @ Citywide Don your Santa suit or run from the increasingly drunken hordes of partying ‘Bad Santas’, with an official party at Club OMG, 1pm-8pm. 43 6th St. www.clubOMGsf.com www.santacon.info/San_Francisco-CA/

Saturgay @ Qbar Stanley Frank spins house dance remixes at the intimate Castro dance bar. $3. 9pm-2am (weekly beer bust 2pm-9pm). 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

Ben Harper @ Bimbo’s The talented singer-composer performs an acoustic concert at a fundraiser for New light India. $75-$250. 7pm. 1025 Columbus Ave. www.bimbos365club.com

Big Top @ Beaux The fun Castro nightclub, with hot local DJs and sexy gogo guys and gals. $5. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.Beauxsf.com

Blessed @ Port Bar, Oakland Carnie Asada hosts a cabaret night, with DJ Pumpkin Spice. 9pm-2am. 2023 Broadway, Oakland. www.portbaroakland.com

Domingo De Escandal @ Club OMG Weekly Latin night with drag shows hosted by Vicky Jimenez and DJ Luis. 7pm-2am. 43 6th St. clubomgsf.com

Fauxnique @ Oasis The faux queen and performer’s fascinating Feminist solo show, The F Word, returns. $20-$25. 7pm. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Mondays and Tuesdays popular weekly sing-along night. No cover. 8:30pm1am. 6551 Telegraph Ave, (510) 6523820. www.whitehorsebar.com

Gaymer Meetup @ Brewcade The weekly LGBT video game enthusiast night includes big-screen games and signature beers, with a new remodeled layout, including an outdoor patio. No cover. 7pm-11pm. 2200 Market St. www.brewcadesf.com

Karaoke Night @ SF Eagle Sing along, with guest host Nick Radford. 8pm-12am. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Bandit @ Lone Star Saloon New weekly queer event with resident DJ Justime; electro, soul, funk, house. No cover. 9pm-1am. 1354 Harrison St. www.facebook.com/BanditPartySF www.lonestarsf.com

Block Party @ Midnight Sun Weekly screenings of music videos, concert footage, interviews and more, of popular pop stars. 9pm-2am. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

Cock Shot @ Beaux Shot specials and adult Bingo games, with DJs Chad Bays and Riley Patrick, at the new weekly night. No cover. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Gaymer Night @ Eagle Gay gaming fun on the bar’s big screen TVs. Have a nerdgasm and a beer with your pals. 8pm. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Hella Saucy @ Q Bar Queer dance party at the stylish intimate bar. 9pm-2am. 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

Femme Brunch @ Balancoire Weekly live music shows with various acts, along with brunch buffet, bottomless Mimosas, champagne and more, at the stylish nightclub and restaurant, with live entertainment and DJ Shawn P. $15-$20. 11am-3pm. After that, Femme T-Dance drag shows at 7pm, 10pm and 11pm. 2565 Mission St. at 21st. 920-0577. www.balancoiresf.com

Jeremy Ayers

Pound Puppy @ SF Eagle

Epic Karaoke @ White Horse, Oakland

Tue 13

GlamaZone @ The Cafe

Sun 11 Daniel Reichard @ Feinstein’s

Pollo del Mar’s weekly drag show takes on different themes with a comic edge. 8:30-11:30pm. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Mon 12

Jock @ The Lookout

Cindy Wilson @ Oasis

Enjoy the weekly jock-ular fun, with DJed dance music at sports team fundraisers. 12pm-1am. NY DJ Sharon White from 3pm-6pm. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

LQQKS @ Powerhouse

Santa Skivvies Run @ Lookout

The gay cruise bar’s drag night, with a runway walk-off. $5. 10pm. 9pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. powerhousebar.com

SF AIDS Foundation’s 8th annual holiday fundraiser, where participants run around the Castro in red skivvies and other holiday-themed undies and onesies. Begins and ends at The Lookout. 11am. 3600 Market St. at 16th. www.santaskivviesrun.org

Sunday’s a Drag @ Starlight Room Soul Party @ Elbo Room DJs Lucky, Paul, and Phengren Osward spin 60s soul 45s. $5-$10 ($5 off in semi-formal attire). 10pm-2am. 647 Valencia St. 552-7788. www.elbo.com

Writers With Drinks @ The Make Out Room Michael Krasny, Daryl Gregory, Anne Raeff, Variny Yim, Vidhu Aggarwal and Garrett Caples are the reader/ storytellers at the literary libationfilled night, hosted by Charlie Jane Anders. $5-$20. 7:30pm. 3225 22nd St. www.makeoutroom.com

Sun 11

Beer Bust @ Lone Star Saloon Enjoy daytime partying with bears and cubs, plus fundraisers for the SF Fog Rugby team. 4pm-8pm. 1354 Harrison St. www.lonestarsf.com

Beer Bust @ SF Eagle The classic leather bar’s most popular Sunday daytime event in town draws the menfolk. Beer bust donations benefit local nonprofits. $10. 3pm6pm. Now also on Saturdays. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Daniel Reichard @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The Broadway actor-singer and original cast member of Jersey Boys returns with his holiday-themed cabaret show. $20-$50 ($20 food/ drink min.). 7pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. www.danielreichard.com www.feinsteinsatthenikko.com

Donna Sachet often hosts the weekly fabulous brunch/drag show, now celebrating its 10th anniversary. $45. 11am, show at noon; 1:30pm, show at 2:30pm. 450 Powell St. in Union Square. 395-8595. www.starlightroomsf.com

Sunday Brunch @ Thee Parkside Bottomless Mimosas until 3pm at the fun rock-punk club. 1600 17th St. 2521330. www.theeparkside.com

Mahogany Mondays @ Midnight Sun Honey Mahogany’s weekly drag and musical talent show starts around 10pm. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

Mule Mondays @ Port Bar, Oakland Enjoy frosty Moscow Mule cocktails in a brassy mug, specials before 8pm. 2023 Broadway, Oakland. www.portbaroakland.com

Musical Mondays @ The Edge Sing along at the popular musical theatre night; also Wednesdays. 7pm2am. 2 for 1 cocktail, 5pm-closing. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

No No Bingo @ Virgil’s Sea Room

Tue 13

Mica Sigourney and Tom Temprano cohost the wacky weekly game night at the cool Mission bar. 8pm. 3152 Mission St. www.virgilssf.com

The Kinsey Sicks @ Oasis

Opulence @ Beaux Weekly dance night, with Jocques, DJs Tori, Twistmix and Andre. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Piano Bar 101 @ Martuni’s Sing-along night with talented locals, and charming accompanist Joe Wicht. 9pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market.

Sacred Cocktails @ The Lookout Drinks and discussion about the election: What are you doing with your fear? 6:30pm-8pm. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

High Fantasy @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge Weekly drag and variety show, with live acts and lip-synching divas, plus DJed grooves. $5. Shows at 10:30pm & 12am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.com

Hysteria @ Martuni’s Irene Tu and Jessica Sele cohost the comedy open mic night for women and queers. No cover. 6pm-8:30pm. 4 Valencia St.

The Kinsey Sicks @ Oasis The dragapella quartet’s holiday show, Oy Vey in a Manger, will make you bust a gut with their gay song parodies. $25-$35. 7pm. Thru Dec. 15. 298 11th St. www.kinseysicks.com www.sfoasis.com

Meow Mix @ The Stud The weekly themed variety cabaret showcases new and unusual talents with MC Ferosha Titties. $3-$7. Show at 11pm. 9pm-2am. 399 9th St. at Harrison. www.studsf.com

Naked Night @ Nob Hill Theatre Strip down as the strippers also take it all off. $20. 9pm. 729 Bush St. at Powell. 397-6758. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

Queer Jitterbugs @ The Verdi Club Enjoy weekly same-sex (and other) swing dancing, with lessons, social dancing, ASL interpreters and live music. $15. 9pm-11:45pm. 2424 Mariposa St. at Potrero. www.verdiclub.net

See page 42 >>

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

40 • Bay Area Reporter • December 8-14, 2016

popular vocalist Amy Hanaiali’i Hawaii’s at Feinstein’s

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by Jim Gladstone

“I

can’t tell you exactly why,” says Amy Hanaiali’i, the bestselling Hawaiian-language female vocalist of all time, “But I’ve always had a huge gay following. And I’ve always had to beat the drag queens to get the best outfits at Ross in Honolulu.” The lady doth jokily protest too much. Five-time Grammy nominee Hanaiali’i, who will perform at Feinstein’s at the Nikko on December 14, has long been a champion for the visibility and rights of minorities; from the native Hawaiians whose traditional music and language she both preserves and revitalizes, to transgender members of her extended family. There is an important connection between the two. In traditional Hawaiian culture, the concept of māhū is well-accepted. Māhū are individuals who consider themselves genderfluid and embrace both masculine and feminine traits. Similar to the berdache or twospirit individuals in mainland Native American cultures and the hijra of India and Pakistan, māhū were once respected –even revered– within their communities, gradually becoming more marginalized as colonial mores took hold. In 2013, Haniali’i sang “Imagine” by John Lennon at Hawaiian Governor Neil Abercrombie’s signing ceremony for the Hawaii Marriage Equality Act. She has also worked with San Francisco’s Asian Pacific Islander Wellness Center serving as a public ambassador to help destigmatize HIV/AIDS in the Asian American community. Haniali’i, who makes her home on Maui, experienced her own sense of cultural marginalization after moving from Hawaii to California to attend the United States International University in San Diego, where she studied musical theater in the late 1980s. She won roles, including the lead in a production of Hello Dolly (Haniali’i is friendly with fellow Hawaiian and Broadway’s newest Dolly, Bette Midler), and she sang in R&B studio sessions with her friend and classmate Jamie Foxx. But Haniali’i says that, for four years, “my voice teacher was trying to help me smooth out the little yodel sound when I shifted from my lower to my higher register.” That sound, though, is an integral part of a traditional Hawaiian vocal technique that Haniali’i grew up hearing and integrating into her own singing. Known as leo ki’eke’e i when sung by men and ha’I –or female falsetto– when sung by women, the accentuated break in register

is intended to add a sense of emotional urgency to specific passages of a song. (For an English-language counterpart, think of the Bee Gees, or Lee Ann Rimes). Back in Hawaii, when Haniali’i expressed frustration with trying to smooth out her voice, her grandma stepped in. “It’s supposed to be different,” Haniali’i recalls being told.

Family ties

Jennie Napua Woodd, Haniali’i’s paternal grandmother, knew that having something different to offer could be played as a strength, rather than the handicap her granddaughter’s college instructors saw it as. Woodd, a dancer, had brought her expertise in hula and other Hawaiian choreography styles to Hollywood in the 1940s and ‘50s. The dozens of films she worked on served to expose traditional Hawaiian music and dance to a much broader audience than ever before. Woodd also performed on Broadway in Hellzapoppin’ and as a featured performer in New York night clubs alongside their mainstay jazz bands. Playing at the Lexington Hotel, she met Haniali’i’s grandfather, Llloyd Gilliom, a trumpeter and guitarist. Together, they introduced Hawaiian sounds to the repertoires of Tommy Dorsey, Sammy Kaye and other big band leaders of the day. At her grandmother’s urging, Haniali’i began studying with Genoa Keawe, a famous elder ha’i singer. Rather than trying to hide her vocal uniqueness, Haniali’i learned to showcase it. As a result, her career blossomed. While Hawaiian music has not maintained the relatively high profile it enjoyed during the mid-20th century on the mainland U.S., it is

highly respected on the world music scene worldwide. On tour, Haniali’i regularly sells out theaters and nightclubs in Europe, China, and Japan. “There are two million women who practice hula dancing in Japan,” says Haniali’i, who recently played a run of a dozen sold out shows there. At Feinstein’s, Haniali’i will perform a mix of traditional Hawaiian songs, original compositions in Hawaiian, and, to celebrate the season, Hawaiian-language versions of Christmas songs. In recent years, Haniali’i says that, globally, sales of recorded Hawaiian music –like music in general– have been in decline and live performance has become more essential for income generation. But in her native state, sales continue to be quite solid. “Hawaii is ten years behind the rest of the world on this,” she says. “My fans here still want to open a CD and read along with the lyrics. It’s just now that Hawaiians are starting to catch on to digital downloading.” Nonetheless, the entrepreneurial Haniali’i has recently expanded her repertoire from listenables to drinkables, partnering with the Smith Devereux winery in Napa on a signature line of Haniali’i wines. Not coincidentally, her latest album is titled Chardonnay. A toast then, to turning differences into strengths!t Amy Hanaiali’i @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko: The bestselling Hawaiian singer performs a holiday-themed cabaret show. $25-$60. Dec. 14, 7pm. Also Dec. 15, 8pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.amyhanaialiigilliom.com www.feinsteinsatthenikko.com

Amy Hanaiali’I at the All Angels Jazz Festival in February 2016.

Read more online at www.ebar.com

December 8-14, 2016 • Bay Area Reporter • 41

Rent-a-Dungeon by Race Bannon

ne of the challenges some kinksters consistently encounter is having a suitable place in which to play. A lot of the erotic activity we enjoy can be more easily done in an appropriately outfitted play space. Good bondage equipment, adequate soundproofing, and other sexual amenities can greatly improve the overall experience for certain segments of our scene. Further complicating the situation are two specific trends – the disappearance of public play spaces and the high cost of housing in urban areas where kinksters tend to concentrate. Taken together they pose roadblocks to finding places to play. As often happens these days, applying technology to a problem can result is a unique solution unthinkable not that long ago. Such is the case with KinkBnB (www.kinkbnb. com), a relatively new service that aims to rent kinksters suitable accommodations, play spaces and dungeons. One of the reasons I wanted to write this column is because lack of spaces in which to play has become one of the most common refrains I hear in our scene. In cities like San Francisco, the cost of housing has become so high that many must resort to living in smaller spaces or with one or more roommates. This often squelches opportunities to play in our own homes and our sex lives can be negatively impacted. Another reason I wrote this column is that I hope to stimulate our collective thinking on how we can further leverage technology to address needs within our kink world. We’ve done a decent job of creating hookup apps and offering fetish clothing and gear online, but apart from that our use of technology in innovative ways seems to be lacking. We’re a smart bunch. Let’s put our thinking caps on. Businesses always seem to have a kismet moment that spawns the start of the venture. That moment for KinkBnB was when a friend of the founders was offering her dungeon for rent on a popular ac-

commodation share site and her listing was suddenly dropped without any explanation. Upon hearing of the incident, Darren McKeeman put up a mock-up website for KinkBnB. Overnight more than one hundred people signed up. Two days later, Darren and Ryan Galiotto started the company. Shortly thereafter, Matias Drago joined them. So, how does the service work? If you have a sex positive home with a play space, or even simple guest accommodations, you can list that space with KinkBnB and rent it out to travelers or people looking for a place for a fun date night. There is an internal message system and the hosts can set A sneap peek at the new KinkBnB website design being launched in January. up email notifications. Once a reservation is made, the host is given KinkBnB fully embraces the 24 hours to approve the stay. LGBTQ community. They offer Why might someone want to truly sex positive accommodarent out their dungeon or play tions and their basic requirement space? The folks at KinkBnB say for their hosts is to be accepting that some of their hosts run proand inviting to all. Providing safe fessional style dungeons that they spaces for travel and play is what rent out to the public. Other hosts they do, including for our LGBTQ have a play space or dungeon in community. their homes. To keep the stockpile Thus far, the site has been in beta of available spaces grow(early phase) mode, but that’s about ing, KinkBnB hopes to ento change with a new site design becourage people that have ing launched in January. The site available space in their will have a whole new look and a homes to build a play smoother user experience. They space since it can not will also be introducing a new sysonly be fun for them, tem for people to show off their inbut earn them some volvement in various communities. extra money too. KinkAs but one example, members of BnB’s attitude is the more Wicked Grounds Cafe in San Franadults playing the better. cisco could have a stamp on their Right now, they have more than KinkBnB profile. These commu20,000 members worldwide in over nity involvement indicators will give 80 countries. The business operathose who host and rent a sense of tors say it’s difficult to pick out a kinship that fosters faith and trust. typical user of the service. GenerThe business is also commitally, couples are looking for a fun ted to supporting the community. date night place and travelers want They have thus far given money, to stay with like-minded people. expertise and support to groups When you’re kinky, staying somelike SWOP in Sacramento and the where where your proclivities are Red Umbrella Policy Project. Kinkwelcomed and celebrated makes BnB was one of the travel partners a big difference in how much you for this year’s Folsom Street Fair. enjoy your stay. Quality is always a top priority for any business. To maintain the quality of their offerings, KinkBnB uses a peer review process. They take all complaints from their users quite seriously. As they grow, they plan to devote even more assets to further support their hosts and travelers. Here I’ve profiled one service using technology to offer benefits to our scene members. I really do hope we can all continue to figure out yet more ways to use technology to improve life for leatherfolk and kinksters everywhere. Leather bars are continuing to find it difficult to cater exclusively to a kinky crowd. Public play spaces are dwindling. At a time when the kink world’s numbers are ostensibly increasing, we’re having an increasingly difficult time finding places and ways to meet up face to face. Organizing and collaborating within our scene can sometimes be difficult. Perhaps technology is the answer, or at least one of the answers. It’s sure worth a try.t

For Leather Events Listings, please visit www.ebar.com/bartab KinkBnB

Members of the KinkBnB team (left to right): Ryan Galiotto, Darren McKeeman and Matias Drago.

Race Bannon is a local author, blogger and activist. You can reach him through his website, www.bannon.com

KinkBnB

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

42 • Bay Area Reporter • December 8-14, 2016

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From page 39

Retro Night @ 440 Castro Jim Hopkins plays classic pop oldies, with vintage music videos. 9pm-2am. 44 Castro St. www.the440.com

Tap That Ass @ SF Eagle Bartender Steve Dalton’s beer night happy hour. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Trivia Night @ Hi Tops Play the trivia game at the popular new sports bar. 9pm. 2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

Trivia Night @ Port Bar, Oakland Cranny hosts a big gay trivia night at the new East Bay bar; drinks specials and prizes. 7:30pm. 2023 Broadway. www.portbaroakland.com

Una Noche @ Club BnB, Oakland Vicky Jimenez’ drag show and contest; Latin music all night. 9pm-2am. 2120 Broadway. (510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Underwear Night @ Club OMG Weekly underwear night includes free clothes check, and drink specials. $4. 10pm-2am. Preceded by Open Mic Comedy, 7pm, no cover. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Wed 14

Amy Hanaiali’I @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The bestselling Hawaiian singer performs a holiday-themed cabaret show. $25-$60. 7pm. Also Dec. 15, 8pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.amyhanaialiigilliom.com www.feinsteinsatthenikko.com

Bondage-a-Gogo @ The Cat Club The weekly gay/straight/whatever fetish-themed kinky dance night. $7$10. 9:30pm-2:30am. 1190 Folsom St. www.bondage-a-go-go.com www.catclubsf.com

Bottoms Up Bingo @ Hi Tops Play board games and win offbeat prizes at the popular sports bar. 9pm. 2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

B.P.M. @ Club BnB, Oakland Olga T and Shugga Shay’s weekly queer women and men’s R&B hip hop and soul night, at the club’s new location. No cover. 8pm-2am. 2120 Broadway, Oakland. www.bench-and-bar.com

Bridgemen @ Lookout Monthly meeting of the gay men’s outreach group for social events and community projects. Enjoy food, drinks, and schmoozing. 7pm-9pm. 3600 16th St. at Market. www.bridgemen.org www.sflookout.com

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Christmas Divas @ Oasis

LGBT Pub Crawl @ Castro

My So-Called Night @ Beaux

The vocal quartet and special musical guests perform fun twists on holiday songs. $25-$30. 9:30pm. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Weekly guided tour of bars. $10-$18. Meet at Harvey Milk Plaza, 7:45pm. Also morning historic tours on Mon, Wed, & Sat. www.wildsftours.com

Comedy Showcase @ SF Eagle

Miss Kitty’s Trivia Night @ Wild Side West

Kollin Holtz hosts the open mic comedy night. 5:30pm-8pm. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

The weekly fun night at the Bernal Heights bar includes prizes, hosted by Kitty Tapata. No cover. 7pm-10pm. 424 Cortland St. 647-3099. www.wildsidewest.com

Carnie Asada hosts a new weekly ‘90s-themed video, dancin’, drinkin’ night, with VJs Jorge Terez. Get down with your funky bunch, and enjoy 90cent drinks. ‘90s-themed attire and costume contest. No cover. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Flame @ Uptown, Oakland Keshet, the LGBTQ Jewish organization, hosts a holiday party and show. 7pm-10pm. 1928 Telegraph Ave. Oakland. wwwkeshetonline.org

Girl Scout @ Port Bar, Oakland The new weekly women’s happy hour and dance night with DJ Becky Knox. 6pm-10pm. 2023 Broadway. www.portbaroakland.com

Latin Drag Night @ Club OMG Weekly Latin night with drag shows hosted by Vicky Jimenez. 9pm-2am. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Thu 15 Man Haters Comedy @ White Horse Bar, Oakland

Nip @ Powerhouse Nipple play night for the chesty types. Free coatcheck and drink discount for the shirtless. $5. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Thu 15 Comedy Returns @ El Rio

Marga Gomez, Matt Gubser, Priyanka Wali, Nick Leonard, and Lisa Geduldig share jokes you can actually laugh at. $7-$20. 3158 Missoin St. www.elriosf.com

Gym Class @ Hi Tops Enjoy whiskey shots from jockstrapped hotties and sexy sports videos at the popular sports bar. 10pm-2am. 2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

Kick It @ DNA Lounge Kandi Love, Northcore Collective and Plus Alliance’s weekly EDM, flow arts dance night, with DJs; glow drag encouraged. $5-$10. 9pm-2am. 375 11th St. www.dnalounge.com

Man Haters Comedy @ White Horse Bar, Oakland Ever Mainard, Karinda Dobbins, Casey Ley and cohosts Irene Tu and Ash Fisher bring on the jokes at the monthly show’s 1-year anniversary. $7.70-$10. 7pm. 6551 Telegraph Ave. www.whitehorsebar.com

Nap’s Karaoke @ Virgil’s Sea Room Sing out loud at the weekly least judgmental karaoke in town, hosted by the former owner of the bar. No cover. 9pm. 3152 Mission St. 8292233. www.virgilssf.com

Skate Night @ Church on 8 Wheels Groove on wheels at the former Sacred Heart Church-turned disco roller skate party space, hosted by John D. Miles, the “Godfather of Skate.” Also Wed, Thu, 7pm-10pm. Sat afternoon sessions 1pm-2:30pm and 3pm5:30pm. $10. Kids 12 and under $5. Skate rentals $5. 554 Fillmore St. at Fell. www.churchof8wheels.com

Throwback Thursdays @ Qbar Enjoy retro 80s soul, dance and pop classics with DJ Jorge Terez. No cover. 9pm-2am. 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

Thursday Night Live @ SF Eagle Music night with local and touring bands. Dec. 1: Floating Goat’s record release party. $8. 9:30pm. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Tubesteak Connection @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge Disco guru DJ Bus Station John spins grooves at the intimate retro music night. 10pm-2am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.com Want your nightlife event listed? Email events@ebar.com, at least two weeks before your event. Event photos welcome.

Read more online at www.ebar.com

Shining Stars

December 8-14, 2016 • Bay Area Reporter • 43

Photos by

Steven Underhill Light in the Grove

he National AIDS Memorial Grove glowed with warm kinship at the November 30 sold-out Light in the Grove, an Evening of Remembrance, Renewal and Reunion. The event’s dinner, held in a decorated tent, also included outdoor dances and candlelit wooded settings. According to board member Dan Bernal, the event more than doubled its fundraising goal of $25,000 with $51,750 raised. Al Baum was a Lifetime of Commitment Honoree. Performers included the Klipptones jazz band, former Weather Girl Jeanie Tracy, and outdoor dances by James Graham, Will Woodward and others. www.aidsmemorial.org More photo albums are on BARtab’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/lgbtsf.nightlife. See more of Steven Underhill’s photos at www.StevenUnderhill.com.

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For headshots, portraits or to arrange your wedding photos

call (415) 370-7152 or visit www.StevenUnderhill.com or email stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Tis the Season for Science Now through January 8 The reindeer are back! Meet our Arctic friends and learn how these sturdy animals adapt to extreme conditions in this one-of-a-kind interactive experience. Plus, enjoy indoor snow flurries, music, and other festivities at our annual winter exhibitâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;now open every day this holiday season! Get tickets at calacademy.org

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