July 16, 2015 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Bay Area Reporter

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Vol. 45 • No. 29 • July 16-22, 2015

Website Roaches lead to Castro eatery closures curates coming A out stories by Seth Hemmelgarn

by Matthew S. Bajko

ome of the stories are from anonymous posters, such as one by a gay man from the Middle East now living in the U.S. but still concerned about people from his home country learning about his William Thwaites sexual orientation. Coming Out founder “I’m Middle East- Nate Warden ern and I come from a culture where being gay is not acceptable. Technically, I could go to jail or even worse if anyone back in the Middle East were to know I am gay,” wrote the Chicago resident. Other contributors choose to use their full names in writing about the difficult conversations that took place between them and their loved ones, whether parents, siblings, or friends, in revealing their true selves. “Coming out was not easy. Becoming the person I am today was not easy. Opening their minds to the fact that our family is far from traditional was not easy for my parents, but we did it together,” wrote Ricardo Sebastian, a gay man living in the South Bay region of southern California near Los Angeles. Theirs are just two of the 18 short essays posted so far to a new website called Coming Out – http://www.comingout.space/ – where LGBT people can write about how they broke out of the closet. Created by Nate Warden, the site launched Friday, June 26 to coincide with the Pride weekends taking place throughout North America at the end of June. “Everyone has unique stories about coming out to friends and family. Some of us were very young, some older, and most of us were very alone,” said Warden, 25, who is moving from Toronto to New York City next month. “Imagine if we could see how others did it – to use their stories as a guide or to help find the strength to go through a difficult time.” Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Warden began to come out of the closet about being gay while in college. It was an “emotional experience,” as he writes in his own essay titled “It’s hard. It hurts. I know.” on the website (http://www.comingout.space/ its-hard-it-hurts-i-know/). “Growing up in a small Ohio town pushed me to the limit – just close enough for me to look over the edge and into the abyss,” wrote Warden, who works for the Nielsen ratings company. “But coming out in a small Ohio town also set me free – free to be my true, unlimited self and I’ve never looked back.” See page 5 >>

The city agency found “rodent droppings” throughout handful of restauthe shelving under the counrants have reopened ter at the front service and in San Francisco’s cook’s line areas, in the rear Castro neighborhood after prep area, and in the upstairs recently being closed when storage space. city inspectors found cockThe inspector also noted roaches and, in some cases, “multiple live (lively) cockrodent infestations. roaches in the rear prep It’s not clear where the verarea,” and behind a refrigmin have come from, but one erator and freezer. city health official indicated “A heavy build-up of dirt, there’s no reason to worry. debris, [and] organic matNancy Sarieh, a spokester,” including “droppings woman for the health departand grease” were discovered ment, said when there are only throughout the business. about half a dozen eateries “in Rick Gerharter Among other directions, the last nine months in very Posh Bagel on Castro Street was shuttered for a day in May due to a the inspector told the diner different locations, that doesn’t cockroach infestation. The vermin have popped up at several other eateries to “immediately eliminate really raise any red flags for us.” in the gay neighborhood in recent weeks. cockroach and rodent acNo one from any of the tivity utilizing a licensed restaurants responded to inpest control operator.” imminent public health risk,” the document terview requests. Slider’s was also told to “Clean and mainSlider’s Diner, at 449 Castro Street, is the says. “Your permit to operate is temporarily tain garbage areas in a manner that does not suspended due to the rodent and cockroach most recent eatery the health department’s enattract vermin,” and to stop “storing onions on infestation observed.” vironmental health branch told to shut down the floor.” The report included a “high risk violation” temporarily. The health department said the diner was to An inspection report dated July 7 says ro- related to rodents and roaches, moderate-level remain shut down until an inspector approved problems with “inadequate food safety knowldents and cockroaches were behind the order. it to operate again. “This facility shall cease and desist all op- edge,” and “low risk violations” for “unclean See page 13 >> nonfood contact surfaces” and other conditions. erations and close to the public due to an

AIDS Walk team raises awareness about cannabis by Matthew S. Bajko

plants through its Oaklandbased Dark Heart Nursery it or the second year in a then sells to medical cannarow a number of Bay bis dispensaries throughout Area-based cannabis northern California. It has businesses are teaming up to taken a lead in coordinating participate in this weekend’s the Team Cannabis AIDS AIDS Walk San Francisco. Walk contingent. During the 2014 event, an Dan Grace, 32, CEO of annual fundraiser for local Dark Heart Industries, said HIV prevention programs the main purpose for Team and AIDS service providers, Cannabis being in the AIDS the Team Cannabis group Walk is to encourage cannabis numbered 40 walkers repusers to be visible, similar to resenting five organizations the concept of coming out of and raised $36,000. This the closet about one’s sexual year nine businesses and orientation or gender identity. two other groups are particCourtesy Team Cannabis “The primary effort with ipating in Team Cannabis, Members of Team Cannabis gathered at last year’s AIDS Walk San Francisco. this is not to pitch the ballot whose expected 100 marchinitiative. The real message ers aim to raise $70,000. for Team Cannabis is we The outreach effort at the are coming out,” said Grace, money for AIDS. We are also coming out green 10K walk through Golden Gate Park, which atto the community as we are looking at 2016 leg- who is straight and serves on the board of the tracts upwards of 20,000 participants, comes as islation for adult use in California,” explained California Cannabis Industry Association. supporters of legalizing recreational use of mari“What we want to say is it is OK to be a cannaChristopher Esposito, a gay man who is the juana in California ready to place a ballot mea- director of human resources at Dark Heart Inbis consumer and it is OK to celebrate that and sure before voters in November 2016. Medical celebrate what the plant does for you.” dustries. Esposito is also on the board of Project use of cannabis in the Golden State was legalized Other Team Cannabis participants include Inform, which provides treatment information with the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996. medical cannabis dispensaries Harborside about HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C and is the lead “Team Cannabis is made up of 10 to 12 canHealth Center and Blum in Oakland and the agency of the AIDS Walk. nabis organizations coming together to raise The company cultivates cannabis starter See page 13 >>

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2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 16-22, 2015

Another Bay Area ED takes sabbatical by Seth Hemmelgarn

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nother executive director of a Bay Area-based LGBT organization is taking a sabbatical, joining the ranks of several other local nonprofit directors who have recently taken similar breaks. Though the time away may seem like vacations, some see them as crucial for nonprofits who want to retain staff. Judy Appel, executive director of the San Francisco-based Our Family Coalition, is on a two-month sabbatical that began July 1. “I have been around for 10 years,” Appel, 50, said. “The board is acknowledging the work that I’ve done and that we’ve done as a team.” The coalition, which also has an office in Oakland, works to advance equity for LGBTQ families with children through education, advocacy, and other means. Appel, who lives in Berkeley and has a wife and two children, plans to spend more time with her own family during the next several weeks. She said she’d also be seeing friends, working out, doing projects around her home, and taking “some small trips.” “Our Family Coalition really values its employees,” Appel said, and she’s “taking time to replenish and have a little down time.” She said the nonprofit’s policy is “that every five years, you get a month sabbatical, and I’m the first person to reach 10 years.” Another staffer will reach the five-year mark this year and will also take a month off. While Appel is gone, Renata Moreira, who’s been the coalition’s policy and communications director for three years, is leading the organization.

Courtesy OFC

Our Family Coalition’s Judy Appel

Appel called Moreira “really amazing” and said, “It’s good for an organization to have a shift in leadership and a chance for people to grow, and I feel very confident in the skills of our staff.” Moreira, who’s 38 and identifies as a queer Latina, said Our Family Coalition has “a really rock star team,” and she’s been supporting other staffers “and making sure everything goes according to the plan.” In response to emailed questions, Our Family Coalition board member Ora Prochovnick said Appel “was given a sabbatical for the usual reasons an organization would choose to grant one: to recognize and reward Judy for her many years of devoted leadership with the organization, to allow her time to rejuvenate and replenish, grow and learn, to have an opportunity for others on staff to grow into leadership roles for succession planning.” Summer is typically “a slower time” for Our Family Coalition, Appel said, but the group, which has

a budget of approximately $1.2 million and 13 staff members, is keeping busy. Appel said OFC is expanding its efforts to include middle schools and is doing “a lot more work in Sacramento,” including supporting Assembly Bill 960, The Equal Protection for All Families Act, which was authored by Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) and would update assisted reproduction laws to help ensure equal protections for all families. Appel said she’s not leaving Our Family Coalition. Asked why the group hadn’t announced her sabbatical, she said, “Why would we announce it? ... There was nothing, really, to announce.” “It’s an internal thing,” she added. Prochovnick, a former coalition board co-chair, said, “This sabbatical had been in the works for quite some time, and was carefully discussed and planned – there was no intent to ‘hide’ it.” The B.A.R. learned of Appel’s sabbatical from a post she wrote on her Facebook page about it. Appel, who was sick at the time she spoke with the Bay Area Reporter, expressed irritation about having to take time out of her break to speak with a reporter. “You’re calling me on my sabbatical to ask me about my sabbatical?” she said. The sabbatical is paid. Appel declined to say what her salary is, explaining, “I just don’t feel comfortable” discussing it. Our Family Coalition’s tax documents for the fiscal year ending in June 2013, the most recent records available, See page 8 >>

Castro Valley Pride focuses on youth, services by Elliot Owen

astro Valley Pride turned five last weekend and, with each passing year, continues to grow in both size and impact. Approximately 2,000 people attended the July 11 event according to organizer Billy Bradford, who has been integral to the establishment of the celebration as a family-oriented tradition. “We’re not professional Pride event planners,” Bradford told the Bay Area Reporter, “we’re just moms, dads, and kids. Castro Valley is a bedroom community; there’s no draw here other than schools and housing. So what we have is gay families, and that’s what Castro Valley Pride is about.” Throughout the day from the event’s main stage, acknowledgements were made of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to guarantee same-sex couples the right to marry. Speakers and performers also made sure to underline that the fight for full LGBTQ acceptance and federal equality doesn’t stop at the legalization of same-sex marriage. “We want to celebrate the great strides we’ve made as LGBT people, couples, and families,” Bradford said, “but understand that in 29 states people can still be fired for being gay, and the incidence of LGBT suicide is still higher than non-gay kids. We still have churches in our community that have anti-gay rhetoric on their websites. There’s still work to be done.” The afternoon festival boasted 63 booth spaces filled by vendors, food trucks, and various organizations including seven faith-based ones.

Elliot Owen

Performers Deuces and Diamonds took a break at Castro Valley Pride.

Held at Castro Valley High School, there was also a large emphasis on the next generation and providing a safe space for LGBTQ youth to celebrate their identities and access resources. Our Space, a Hayward-based LGBTQ youth community center and program of Bay Area Youth Center/Sunny Hills Services, tabled at the event for the second year in a row. “We’re very youth-centric,” Our Space Community Center coordinator Barbara Da Silva told the B.A.R. “With the legacy of Castro Valley Pride being founded by young people, held at a high school, and having lots of young people present, we thought attending would be a great way to support. We also want to reach out to the youth that are here and let them know that not so far away there’s a community center where they can come, feel

safe, get leadership opportunities, and gain skills.” Two stages provided the performance space for a diverse array of dynamic performers including Charm Alina, Ethel Meman, Kippy Marks, Raquela, Young Shorty DooWop, Xavier Toscano, SJS Theatrical Productions, and Deuces and Diamonds. “We really like the neighborhood aspect of Castro Valley Pride,” Josh Pollack, 26, of Deuces and Diamonds told the B.A.R. “We perform for really good causes and it was important for us to get in with gay pride and support equality.” Castro Valley Pride is funded completely by individual donors, Bradford said. “No corporate sponsors. Every year we make the calls and generous people come through. This year, $9,000 was raised to cover the event’s cost.”t

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4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 16-22, 2015

Volume 45, Number 29 July 16-22, 2015 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 • 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 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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News Editor • news@ebar.com Arts Editor • arts@ebar.com Out & About listings • jim@ebar.com Advertising • scott@ebar.com Letters • letters@ebar.com Published weekly. Bay Area Reporter reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement which the publisher believes is in poor taste or which advertises illegal items which might result in legal action against Bay Area Reporter. Ads will not be rejected solely on the basis of politics, philosophy, religion, race, age, or sexual orientation. Advertising rates available upon request. Our list of subscribers and advertisers is confidential and is not sold. The sexual orientation of advertisers, photographers, and writers published herein is neither inferred nor implied. We are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.

<< Open Forum

t Papal opportunity awaits Mayor Lee S

an Francisco Mayor Ed Lee will join California Governor Jerry Brown, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, and other world leaders for talks on the environment and climate change in the Vatican next week. The meeting with Pope Francis follows the pontiff ’s recent encyclical identifying environmental degradation as one of the biggest challenges facing the world – and how it mainly affects the poor. We have no quarrel with that, and given our state’s leadership on addressing climate change, the talks could be productive. We’re sure the mayor will be busy at the meetings, which are organized by the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences and focus on local jurisdictions. However, we would be remiss if we didn’t encourage our mayor to make the most of his visit to the Vatican, and the upcoming trip offers Lee a diplomatic opportunity that stays true to the city’s values. The mayor should find the moment to talk to the pope about the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, and relay to him the fact that San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is not the right fit for the city. The archbishop, a steadfast opponent of marriage equality, has spent much of this year in disagreement with teachers and staff at four Catholic high schools as he demands that they sign morality clauses declaring that same-sex relations are “gravely evil.” He also wants to designate teaching staff as “ministers,” thereby diluting contract provisions. While the mayor is not involved in the archdiocese’s labor negotiations, he certainly believes that marriage is an institution that all couples can enjoy. “San Francisco has

always been proud of our role” in the marriage equality fight, the mayor said as he celebrated on the steps of City Hall just hours after the Supreme Court’s decision. In the weeks since the court’s decision, Episcopal clergy and lay members voted to allow same-sex couples to wed in church – another big milestone that came with liturgical changes. We don’t see the Catholic Church adopting a similar policy any time soon, but the pope must be aware of the shift now underway; Ireland, a very Catholic country, approved marriage equality during a referendum vote in May. Meeting with the pope is a once in a lifetime opportunity. The mayor should take advantage of it and stand up for San Francisco values. While the pope may not come around to supporting same-sex marriage, maybe he can give us a new archbishop.

A step closer to trans military service

Nearly five years after Congress voted to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which banned

gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, the Defense Department this week announced a plan to ease its ban on transgender people serving in the armed forces. Unlike DADT, the trans ban doesn’t require congressional action, meaning that in the next year or so, we should see the end of this outdated policy that currently automatically declares trans people medically unfit for service. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced the formation of a six-month working group to study the impact of lifting the ban on unit readiness. Concurrently, the announcement elevates the decision authority regarding administrative discharge for trans service members and those diagnosed with gender dysphoria to Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Brad R. Carson. The American Civil Liberties Union noted that in recent months, service branches have allowed some trans people to continue serving, but that they and their commanders are in an administrative limbo. We’ve reported that four of the service branches – Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines – have made it more difficult to discharge transgender service members. If all of this has a familiar ring, it’s because that’s how the road to DADT repeal started. First, the branches elevated discharge decision making to those higher up the chain of command. Then, military brass established study groups to examine how repeal would affect unit readiness. The troops and their families were also surveyed. In short, it was a lengthy process, but one that worked. We see this week’s announcement as an indication that the Defense Department is embarking on the same strategy for accommodating transgender service members. It will take longer than we would like, but it seems that the process is in motion, and that’s a good thing.t

The Mission needs housing & democracy by Michael Petrelis

pressuring the Mission’s supervisor, David Campos, to hold hearings y husband, Mike, and I reand propose legislative relief. cently celebrated the 20th It took more than four years for anniversary of when we first met, city agencies, Campos, and the Doand the 19th anniversary of living lores Street Community Services together in the same apartment. nonprofit to bring an existing buildI jest about how we’re more coning up to code, ready to provide 24 cerned with having our names on shelter beds and services to homeCourtesy Michael Petrelis a lease than a marriage license, illess LGBT adults. lustrating the importance we place If the politicians and nonprofits Michael Petrelis on our housing security. We’re not need that extended period for that married in the eyes of the law, but small project, it doesn’t instill confiare very much husbands, quite happily redence in us that they have their act together to claiming that word for our purpose. address much larger housing concerns. We experience aging in San Francisco as There are numerous excellent ideas, inlong-term AIDS survivors, with health chalcluding an eviction moratorium, which has lenges always evolving, and the stress that ima groundswell of support across political difpacts our mental and physical wellness from ferences, but they’re the idea du jour that too housing worries is managed as best as possible. often fail to turn into reality. Watching our neighbors in recent years A huge deficit for Mission nondisplaced because of flipping properties, outprofits and Plaza 16 is the absence rageous rental increases or fires, and construcof radical inclusiveness and demotion dearth of new housing that would be cratic principles, starting with the affordable to us, has been the basis for many former not holding any public conversations over the breakfast table. board of directors’ meetings and In the past year, I’ve attended various events the latter maintaining an erratic in the Mission, where we live on the border of monthly and steering committee that neighborhood and outer Castro, and gotmeeting schedule. ten to know and observe leaders of housing Consistent meeting dates, times, and Latino nonprofits, and other local renters. and locations would allow more Mission The Plaza 16 group fancies itself a grassroots residents to participate in the decision-making coalition and it’s certainly tapped into wideprocess and goal-setting of Plaza 16, which spread anger and nervousness over evictions might produce tangible affordable housing and luxury condo developments, generating solutions. much legacy and social media attention, but Fear of Mission renters, and others who it’s too much under the thumb of nonprofits. don’t pass political litmus tests, keeps out fresh One of them is the 42-year-old Mission ideas and voices, tamps down vibrant political Economic Development Agency, or MEDA, engagement, and diminishes democracy. New which has had a light touch with Plaza 16 but leaders and organizers are always needed to is the engine behind the condo development achieve social justice. moratorium that has gone through several itI had hoped the grassroots energy of the erations, none successful, and may be on the Mission would be nurtured and sustained for November ballot. genuine community organizing that is not a The eviction epidemic, one aspect of path to either Democratic Party campaigns or the complex housing crises we face, was no driven by potential candidates to replace Camovernight development. Warning signs were pos and Supervisor John Avalos when they are evident for years, yet no organizing took place termed out of office.

What we have instead is not enough transparency and too much hopscotching. One day the development moratorium is not going the ballot route, only to see a last-minute effort mounted. If it qualifies, valuable community enthusiasm and resources will be diverted to campaigning for a measure that is very likely to be defeated just as the anti-speculator Proposition G initiative was in 2014. Labor leaders essentially hijack the opposition to the Maximus proposal for 16th and Mission streets for a demonstration at an office with questionable links to the developer. The week after, the union collaboration vanishes as quickly as it appeared. About 13 lots in the Mission allegedly suitable for purchase by the city for building hundreds of low- and moderate-income housing units were recently identified. I never saw a list of the properties, same for a plan to underwrite actual construction of even half the lots. Plans A and B from the current crop of Mission leaders seem to be the same. Maximize nonprofits and political operatives’ dominance of the professional and grassroots networks working on housing problems and keeping people in their homes, and minimize engagement with diverse individuals who think plans C through Z are needed. Win or lose, the luxury condo moratorium will require many plans the day after the election to give Mission renters hope, plans that must be devised with greater democracy and accountability than we’ve had up to now. As two mature gay and HIV-poz men, our stressors over personal housing security are equal to that of thousands of other tenants. We all deserve a better organizing structure and process and quickly too, before more of the Mission is further disfigured by greed and gentrification.t Michael Petrelis is a write-in candidate for mayor of San Francisco this November. Visit his social media here: www.Facebook. com/Petrelis4Mayor.

Politics>>

July 16-22, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 5

LGBT Dem clubs endorse in SF college board race by Matthew S. Bajko

he city’s two LGBT Democratic clubs have chosen sides in the race for a seat on the board of City College of San Francisco, expected to be the only competitive local contest featuring out candidates this year. Their choices of whom to early endorse were hardly a surprise, as former officers of the clubs are seeking the seat. The deadline to file paperwork for the race is Friday, August 7; six candidates have indicated they plan to run. At its meeting Monday night, July 13, the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club approved an endorsement for Alex Randolph, a former board member of the moderate political group. Mayor Ed Lee in April appointed Randolph, who is gay, to fill the vacancy on the community college board created by longtime trustee Natalie Berg’s decision to resign for personal reasons. In announcing its endorsement of Randolph via its Facebook page, Alice leaders noted they “look forward to working to get him elected in Nov.” “I am very grateful and excited to have been endorsed by the members of my family at Alice where I got my start in the political process in San Francisco,” Randolph told the Bay Area Reporter. “I think Alice has a reputation for really considering and thinking about who they endorse for political office. It definitely gets me a lot of support and a boost in my campaign.” In June the more progressive Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club voted to early endorse its former copresident, Thomas Temprano, in the race. Temprano, a gay man who goes by Tom, is a nightlife promoter and Mission bar owner. “As a club, we know what a dedicated activist and courageous community leader Tom has been. On the college board, he’ll be a strong voice for students, teachers, and workers and a stalwart defender of City College as a vital community resource now more than ever,” the club’s leaders wrote on Facebook following the endorsement vote. In an interview this week with the B.A.R., Temprano said the club’s backing is particularly gratifying because, during his time as president in 2013 and 2014, the Milk club made it a priority to fight to save City College’s accreditation. Two years ago this month the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges threatened to revoke the community college’s accreditation, setting off a fierce political fight that reverberated throughout California and caught the attention of lawmakers in Washington, D.C. Earlier this year the accreditation committee granted “restoration” status to CCSF, giving it two years to fully comply with the requirements needed to be in good standing. In the meantime, a city lawsuit against the commission is making

Coming out

From page 1

In his first press interview about the site, Warden told the Bay Area Reporter that the idea for Coming Out was sparked in January. He noticed that the information online about coming out appeared to be scattered across various websites. “The truth is there is a good wealth of information about it online, but it is very fragmented,” said Warden. “To find something meaningful to you as an individual takes a

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Courtesy Tom Temprano’s Facebook page

Rick Gerharter

City College candidate Tom Temprano was in the Castro last weekend campaigning.

City College Trustee Alex Randolph at the Alice club’s Pride breakfast.

its way through state court, while the college’s elected oversight body is slowly regaining the authority it was stripped of two years ago. “Looking back on my two years as president of the Harvey Milk club, the work I am proudest of is really the work that the club did saving City College and being part of that coalition of community groups fighting to save its accreditation,” said Temprano. “The club endorsing me, I am gratified of course, but I am even more gratified knowing the work the club was able to do to save City College during my two years as president.” Yet, to date, Temprano does not have the endorsement of any of the current City College trustees. Gay City College board President Rafael Mandelman, himself a former Milk club president, told the B.A.R. in April that he planned to remain neutral in the race due to his friendships with both Temprano and Randolph. Trustee Thea Selby, vice president of the board, has yet to endorse in the race, and Temprano is actively seeking her support. He said he is not worried about his lack of endorsements from the seven trustees elected citywide. (The board also includes a non-voting student trustee elected by the campus.) “Obviously, endorsements are political and endorsements aren’t always 100 percent reflective of the work a person has done on a particular issue,” said Temprano, who has yet to post a full list of his endorsers on his campaign site. Of those who are supporting him, such as gay former Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, gay District 9 Supervisor David Campos, and progressive Supervisors John Avalos (District 11) and Jane Kim (D6), Temprano said they have been at the forefront of working to see that City College doesn’t close. “You would be hard pressed to find people as engaged in that fight as Ammiano, Campos, and Kim,” he said. As for Randolph, among his supporters are City College Trustees Amy Bacharach and Steve Ngo. Two lesbian former members of the community college board, Leslie

Katz and Andrea Shorter, as well as gay former Trustee Lawrence Wong, are backing his bid. “I am very excited and happy to have endorsements from two of my colleagues,” said Randolph, who in May quit his job as a special assistant to the regional administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration for Region 9 – Pacific Rim in order to run for public office. “If you talk to any of my colleagues on the board, they will say I am a very hard working and productive member of the board of directors.” Other out leaders supporting Randolph in the race include gay state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco); lesbian Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego); gay Assemblyman Evan Low (DCampbell); District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener; and gay former District 8 Supervisor Bevan Dufty, for whom Randolph worked as an aide and campaign manager. The Gay Asian Pacific Alliance this week also endorsed him in the race. Of the other expected candidates in the race, Wendy Aragon has also racked up considerable early support. Aragon, a straight woman, came in fifth place in the November election for three four-year seats on the community college board. According to her campaign website for the 2015 election, Aragon has the support of District 1 Supervisor Eric Mar, City College Trustees Brigitte Davila and John Rizzo, as well as former trustee Chris Jackson and former Mayor Art Agnos. She also picked up early endorsements from both the Richmond District Democratic Club and the San Francisco Latino Democratic Club. “City College does not belong to one political faction or interest group,” Aragon told supporters in an email earlier this month. “City College belongs to the people who it is intended to serve, be it transferring to a 4 year college, workforce training for better jobs, second chance programs, or just wanting to be a lifelong learner. For me, helping this college to get back on its feet and thrive is an issue of social justice and economic equality.” Whichever candidate wins the race this November will then need to stand for re-election to a full four-year term in 2016.t

lot of time to get to. Even then, you may not find it.” He sees the site as being different from the video-based It Gets Better Project, which launched in 2010 in response to a rash of LGBT teen suicides that had gained wide media attention. For one, it addresses an often-heard complaint about the earlier project that even after LGBT people come out they oftentimes continue to endure harassment, discrimination, or abuse as adults. “As encouraging as it is that these issues are being talked about in the

mainstream media, the truth is it doesn’t always get better. That sugar coats a difficult time for a lot of people,” said Warden. “People talk about how hard it can be and to know it sometimes doesn’t get better right away. Sometimes it doesn’t ever.” Depending on the success of the Coming Out site, people may be able to post videos at some point. For now the site is solely focused on personal essays 500 words in length or less. Submissions can be sent in See page 13 >>

<< International News

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 16-22, 2015

Obama’s trip to Kenya stirs anti-gay backlash by Heather Cassell

ebar.com

resident Barack Obama’s upcoming trip to Kenya is kicking up some anti-gay dust in the East African country. Obama is scheduled to attend the sixth Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi July 25-26. LGBT rights are a very sensitive issue in Kenya, Obama’s father’s homeland, as they are throughout much of Africa. While Obama has been to subSaharan Africa on three other occasions, next week’s trip will be his first to Kenya as president. As with previous trips to the continent, anti-gay Kenyan government and religious leaders are already demonstrating against Obama’s pro-gay position. Additionally, antigay attacks have risen as his visit nears, according to media reports. The White House firmly stated July 6 that Obama doesn’t plan on censoring himself. That same day a small anti-gay demonstration was held in the streets of Nairobi.

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“When the president travels around the world, he does not hesitate to raise concerns about human rights,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “I am confident that the president will not hesitate to make clear the protection of basic fundamental human rights in Kenya is also a priority and consistent that we hold dear here in the United States of America.” In Obama’s request to respect Kenyans’ human rights “might come respect for sexual orientation,” Denis Nzioka, a Kenyan LGBTI rights activist, told the International Business Times. However, Nzioka warned that if Obama gets specific about LGBT rights it will anger many Kenyans who are already disturbed by his pro-gay position. “If he does get very specific about LGBTI human rights issues, people would be very angry that he’s coming here to promote gays,” Nzioka said, adding that if he mentions LGBT rights that it will be good, but if he doesn’t, “then the haters will have egg on their face.” Kenyan LGBT activists are waiting to see what happens. “Whatever happens, I hope there is no risk to the lives of LGBTI Kenyans by adding fuel to the fire,” said Nzioka, who told the media outlet that there have already been other anti-gay attacks and evictions and he anticipates the situation getting worse ahead of the president’s trip.

Courtesy U.S. Navy

President Barack Obama is preparing for a trip to Kenya next week.

Kenyans are already upset by Obama’s pending visit to the country, especially after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last month legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states. On July 3, Peter, 26, and John, 29, who are only being identified by their first names to protect their identity, became international symbols of the reality of Kenya’s homophobic society. The gay couple was evicted from their home in Kabete, on the outskirts of Nairobi, by their landlord, who told them to “Go wait for your Obama,” reported the Business Times. The landlord and neighbors suspected that the couple, who lived See page 12 >>

Activists celebrate Queer Nation anniversary by Liz Highleyman

he GLBT History Museum in the Castro will hold a reunion and panel discussion Thursday to mark the 25th anniversary of the activist group Queer Nation, known for its flamboyant street actions, ubiquitous fluorescent stickers, and its slogan “We’re here! We’re queer! Get used to it!” Queer Nation was part of an upsurge of activism in the late 1980s and early 1990s. ACT UP, formed in 1987, held many successful actions that targeted both AIDS and homophobia – with many blaming the latter for the government’s neglect of the former – but some activists wanted a more specific focus on queer identity and issues. “Queer Nation arose at a time when blatant heterosexism was the norm, the Supreme Court had recently affirmed the criminality of gay sex, gay-bashing was common, and the LGBT rights agenda had been overwhelmed by the HIV/AIDS crisis,” said GLBT Historical Society publicist Ben Carlson. “It attracted members who embraced difference and rejected assimilation as a strategy for overcoming oppression.” Carlson told the Bay Area Reporter that the historical society has a substantial collection of documents and ephemera related to the formation, actions, and internal debates of Queer Nation San Francisco, which was used to put together the July 16 event.

A bit of history

The first Queer Nation group

Rick Gerharter

Peter Laska was escorted off the pier during an October 1990 Queer Nation protest of the military’s anti-gay policies held during the San Francisco port call of the USS Missouri.

started in New York City in the spring of 1990, but it hit the national radar with the still-anonymous “Queers Read This” broadsheet distributed at that city’s Pride march in late June. Buzz about the new group – and the idea of starting a local chapter – was in the air during the week of ACT UP protests surrounding the June 1990 International AIDS Conference in San Francisco. Queer Nation San Francisco cofounder Mark Duran, one of the panelists at Thursday’s event, recalls that he was watching a “town hall” meeting on KQED on the Saturday before the 1990 Pride parade featuring representatives from New York and San Francisco. “The New York side was made up of ACT UP and Queer Nation people, See page 11 >>

Community News>>

July 16-22, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

HIV cases, deaths fall to new low in SF by Liz Highleyman

he number of new HIV cases diagnosed in San Francisco decreased by more than 18 percent between 2013 and 2014, and deaths among people with HIV also fell during the same period, according to a recent progress report on the city’s Getting to Zero initiative presented to the San Francisco Health Commission. “The decline in new infections and deaths is very encouraging, and shows we are on our way to zero,” Susan Buchbinder, director of Bridge HIV at the SF Department of Public Health, told the Bay Area Reporter. “We believe the decline comes from a strong base of community support, community organizations, and clinicians serving multiple HIV-affected communities in San Francisco.” Experts agree that the decline in new infections is due to a combination of factors including widespread testing, early antiretroviral treatment, and possibly pre-exposure prophylaxis – although PrEP is probably too recent to have had a substantial effect yet. The Getting to Zero Consortium aims to make San Francisco the first U.S. jurisdiction to achieve the UNAIDS goals of eliminating new HIV infections, HIV-related deaths, and HIV stigma and discrimination, using a three-prong strategy of expanded access to PrEP, rapid access to antiretroviral therapy, and retention of HIV-positive people in care. The city has allocated funding to increase PrEP access, but the process of getting the money where it’s needed is moving slowly. During her update at the July 7 Health Commission meeting, Buchbinder gave a preview of data from the department’s annual HIV epidemiology report, which will be

released in late August. Role of PrEP Buchbinder reported PrEP, or use of antiretthat the number of new roviral drugs to prevent HIV diagnoses in San HIV from taking hold in Francisco fell by 18.5 the body after exposure, percent, from 371 in can dramatically reduce 2013 to 302 in 2014 – the the risk of infection if lowest number since the used regularly. start of the epidemic. The iPrEx trial of mostLiz Highleyman The actual number of ly gay and bisexual men – new HIV infections is Bridge HIV the group that accounts greater than the number director Susan for about three-quarters of newly diagnosed cases, Buchbinder of new HIV infections in since not every infection San Francisco – showed is immediately diagthat Gilead Sciences’ nosed. DPH estimates that about 94 Truvada (tenofovir/emtricitabine) percent of people living with HIV in taken once-daily reduced the risk the city have been diagnosed. of HIV infection by 44 percent The number of deaths due to all overall, rising to 92 percent among causes among HIV-positive people participants with blood drug levels in the city also fell, from 209 in 2013 indicating consistent use. to 177 in 2014 – a decrease of 15.3 In July 2012, the Food and Drug percent. Administration approved Truvada Since the advent of effective antifor PrEP and in May 2014 the Cenretroviral therapy in the mid-1990s, ters for Disease Control and Predeaths due to AIDS have steadily vention recommended that people declined and most HIV-positive at substantial risk for HIV infection people now die of other causes. The should consider using it. drop in deaths of people living with Adoption was initially slow, howHIV in San Francisco may not be ever, and the number of San Franentirely good news, however. cisco residents seeking PrEP did not “There has not been any radically begin to climb steeply until the fall new and improved therapy that can of 2013 – largely due to awareness explain the decrease in deaths, so we and advocacy within the gay commust look for other contributing munity – according to figures from factors,” said Brian Basinger, direcSF City Clinic and Kaiser Permantor of AIDS Housing Alliance/San ente. Therefore, the level of PrEP Francisco. “The reason is displaceuse was likely not yet high enough ment. People with HIV – espeto have had a substantial effect cially the most vulnerable disabled on the 2014 figures presented by long-term survivors – are getting Buchbinder. kicked out of their homes and dying At this year’s Conference on Retelsewhere. We have displaced HIV roviruses and Opportunistic Infecdeaths, not ended them.” tions, iPrEx investigator Robert Buchbinder told the online news Grant from the Gladstone Institutes blog http://www.48hills.org that the at UCSF reported that an estimated death figures include all people di10 percent of San Francisco gay men agnosed with HIV in San Francisco, had used PrEP during the prior 12 regardless of where they died, based months – or approximately 5,000 on matching with local, state, and total, based on an estimated citynational death records. wide population of 50,000 men who

Courtesy SFDPH

This chart shows the declining number of HIV cases in San Francisco.

have sex with men. Grant’s team estimated that this level of PrEP use would decrease annual HIV diagnoses to just over 300 -- similar to the actual observed number for 2014. But this represents only about one-third of all atrisk people who could benefit, and wider use could reduce new infections by 70 percent. “I find the numbers incredibly encouraging,” said study investigator Dave Glidden of UCSF. “San Francisco is doing so many progressive things to reduce the number of new HIV diagnoses that it is hard to parse out the contributions of each. The scale-up of PrEP is comparatively recent and some of the work of my colleagues suggests it can play a big role in continuing to drive down the number of new HIV infections.” Another factor contributing to the decrease in new HIV diagnoses – which has been underway since 2008, but with a steeper decline since 2012 – is the widespread availability of early treatment. In 2010 San Francisco was the

first city to recommend antiretroviral therapy for everyone diagnosed with HIV regardless of CD4 T-cell count; U.S. treatment guidelines adopted the same recommendation in 2013. As recently confirmed by the START trial, prompt treatment significantly lowers the risk of illness and death for people with HIV. In addition, HIV-positive people on treatment with an undetectable viral load have a near-zero risk of passing the virus on to others. San Francisco leads the way in getting people living with HIV into care. Among people newly diagnosed with HIV in 2012, 89 percent were linked to care, most of these were prescribed antiretroviral therapy, and 68 percent achieved viral suppression. Under the RAPID ART program, people diagnosed with HIV at San Francisco General Hospital are offered treatment on the spot, and the city aims to expand this initiative to other providers. See page 11 >>

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<< Pride 2015

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 16-22, 2015

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At 90, gay vet marches in first Pride parade by Bob Ristelhueber

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ESCAPE TO PALM SPRINGS

ack Dineen had never marched in a Pride parade, or even watched one, before this year’s big event in San Francisco a few weeks ago. The night before the parade, alone in his room in a Marin retirement community, he wrote out the sign he would wear on this Pride Sunday: “90 years old – Wounded Veteran World War 2 – Proudly Gay!!” After a friend gave him a lift to the foot of Market Street, Dineen hesitated. He hadn’t signed up to participate in the march, and wasn’t part of any group. “I didn’t even know if they were going to allow me, but everyone in the crowd was saying, ‘Just walk,’” he said. So, he did. Marching the entire length of the parade route, carrying a cane but not using it, Dineen was greeted by a sea of smiling faces, people calling out to him, shouting thanks. Many parade watchers became emotional when they spotted his sign. “It was one of the great events of my life,” he said. “I’m absolutely ecstatic.” It was a long way from Enfield, Connecticut, a blue-collar town where he was born in 1925. The town was famous for producing gunpowder during the Civil War. His father and many of his relatives worked in a carpet factory and the family lived in company housing. Like many kids who later grew up to be gay, Dineen somehow knew he was different, without understanding quite why. “I discovered the opera on the radio,” he recalled. “No one else in the house liked it. They just suffered as I listened to the Saturday afternoon opera.” Occasionally, he would take a bus to Hartford to hear the Boston Symphony perform. With college thought to be out of the question, Dineen took commercial courses in high school. That is when his sense of being different became acute. “I didn’t even know I was gay. I knew something was wrong in my high school days, where I could see all the other guys were connecting with girls and I didn’t connect.”

Bitter battles

Like millions of other young men, Dineen’s life changed dramatically with the outbreak of World War II.

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Jack Dineen greets a wellwisher during last month’s San Francisco LGBT Pride parade.

He enlisted as a private in the Army at 18, and after basic training found himself engaged in some of the bitterest fighting of the war in Europe. In March 1945, he said that he was sent into the Remagen bridgehead, one of the key battles against Hitler’s Germany. “I remember crossing the Rhine on a pontoon bridge in the middle of the night, with tracer bullets from our side whizzing past my head,” he said. “We were shooting at anything that moved in the river.” Dineen soon found himself on a patrol with two other GIs in a town that had a tuberculosis sanitarium run by Catholic nuns. A sudden burst of gunfire sent him to the ground, a bullet passing cleanly through his left thigh. As his buddies ran for cover, Dineen could only wait for the next bullet that would finish him off. “For the next minute or so, I was absolutely convinced I was going to die,” he said. When no more shots rang out, he managed to find refuge in the basement of the sanitarium, where German medics and nuns treated his wounds. The next day, American troops rescued him. Dineen received a Purple Heart and a ticket home.

Post-war life

Using the GI bill, Dineen enrolled at the University of Chicago in 1946. He worked as an usher so he could hear the Chicago Symphony, and that is where he had the revelation that he was gay. “Some guy spotted me and in his own mind said, ‘That guy is gay

whether he knows it or not.’ So he invited me up to listen to records one night, and he seduced me,” Dineen said. “Suddenly, I realized this is what I am, I’m gay! But you had to absolutely hide it, because you could be arrested in those days.” From Chicago, he made his way to UC Berkeley for his master’s degree in English literature. Every weekend, he would hop on the Key System train and go into San Francisco to hit the gay bars, which back then were mostly in North Beach. “The Black Cat was just the best bar I’ve ever been in,” he recalled. “It was a real honky-tonk with sawdust on the floor.” The famed drag queen Jose Sarria would serenade the patrons with parodies of opera arias, which particularly tickled Dineen. A job offer led him to move to New York after graduation, where he met his long-term partner Robert Gleason in a bathhouse. They settled into a Greenwich Village apartment just a couple blocks from the Stonewall Inn. (They were home the night of the riot and missed it). After Gleason died of a heart attack in 1977, Dineen stayed in New York managing an accounting office until 1990, when his sister invited him to move back to California and live in a cottage next to her house in Inverness. He later moved into his retirement community, which he called “very gay friendly. You can be anything you want here, except Republican,” he laughed. A lesbian couple lives on the floor below his room. For awhile, health issues kept him from exploring San Francisco’s current gay neighborhood, the Castro. But when his health began to improve, he was determined to march in the Pride parade. “I wanted to do it once before I died,” he said, and knew that this year’s parade would be special because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage. “I won’t do it again, once was enough,” he said. “But I had to do it.”t

Sabbatical

From page 2

list Appel’s compensation as $92,839. Appel is president of Berkeley Unified School District’s board, but she said most of her sabbatical time coincides with the board’s summer break. She does plan to attend the next regularly scheduled meetings this month and in August.

Other sabbaticals

Appel’s sabbatical follows the recent departure of two San Francisco nonprofit heads who left their jobs after taking similar leaves. Transgender Law Center Executive Director Masen Davis left that nonprofit earlier this year. Last summer, Carolyn Laub quit the Gay-Straight Alliance Network. Both Davis and Laub have since been replaced. Sometimes, local agency heads come back to their jobs. Brett Andrews, executive director of San Francisco’s Positive Resource Center, recently returned to his post after a three-month sabbatical. In an interview this week, Andrews, whose nonprofit provides comprehensive benefits counseling and employment services to people who are living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS, said he used his time to travel and meditate. “The organization is in the preliminary stages of embarking on a feasibility study for a potential capital campaign” as it considers purchasing a building, Andrews, 50, said. See page 12 >>

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<< Community News

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 16-22, 2015

Tenderloin Museum opens with trans panel compiled by Cynthia Laird

he new Tenderloin Museum kicks off its evening programming Thursday with its first event ever – transgender activists and a filmmaker talking about the 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria riot when trans women and queers were harassed by

police and business people. Panel participants include Tamara Ching, Veronika Fimbres, and Susan Stryker. Ching, a native San Franciscan, has long been involved with civil and equal rights for Chinese people, people of color, trans people, and sex workers.

Fimbres, who came to the city in 1996, has received numerous awards on behalf of the HIV/AIDS and transgender communities. In 1997 she became the first transgender officer in the city when she was appointed to the Veterans Affairs Commission. Stryker is a professor, author, and

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ers called in a first filmmaker whose work alarm. The blaze was focuses on gender and controlled by 8:30. No human sexuality. She is injuries were reported. an associate professor On Wednesday, Talof gender and women’s madge said that the instudies at the Univervestigation revealed the sity of Arizona and is fire started behind the director of the school’s Courtesy KQED.org wall. Radiant heat from Institute for LGBT an oven from a restauStudies. She received a rant next door was the San Francisco/Northcause, the report said. ern California Emmy Associate Professor A news release from Award for her directo- Susan Stryker Brewcade also blamed rial work on Screaming the fire on “radiant heat” from a Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafstove at Hecho, the restaurant next eteria (2005). door. Both locations share a wall. Moderator for the panel will Brewcade co-owners Shawn Verbe Randy Shaw, director of the gara and Tiffny Vergara Chung said Tenderloin Housing Clinic and of in the release that they are “workUptown Tenderloin Inc., the group ing with our neighbors at Hecho that spearheaded the museum. He to make sure this is an isolated traces the emergence and situation.” growth of the neighThe bar and arcade in the borhood’s queer comCastro is expected to remunity in his new open, although a date has book, The Tenderloin: not been announced. Sex, Crime, and ResisHecho co-owners tance in the Heart of San Jesse Woodward and Francisco. Dana Gleim did not The July 16 event starts respond to a request for at 6:30 p.m. at the mucomment. seum, 398 Eddy Street (at Leavenworth). Tickets Seniors celebrate are $10, which includes museum Medicare, Medicaid admission. For more information, The Berkeley-East Bay Gray Panvisit http://tenderloinmuseum.org/. thers will have an event to celebrate Coming up later this month, the the 50th anniversary of Medicare museum will show, for the first time and Medicaid Wednesday, July 22 in nearly 50 years, the 1966 KQED at 1:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley documentary Drugs in the TenderSenior Center, 1901 Hearst Avenue loin. Director Robert Zagone will be (at MLK Jr. Way). on hand to answer questions. Medicare, the government health The film captures the neighborinsurance for people age 65 and hood as it transformed into a center older, and Medicaid, the federal for young queers and drug users. health insurance program for lowThe screening takes place Thursincome people, became law on July day, July 23 at 6:30 p.m. at the mu30, 1965 when President Lyndon B. seum. The cost is $10. Johnson signed legislation creating Fire temporarily shutters the programs. Brewcade At next week’s local event, A one-alarm fire last weekend at speakers will include Teri GerBrewcade resulted in the bar being ritz, with the California Retired closed for a few days while repairs Teachers Association, who will are made. talk about the expansion of SoAccording to San Francisco Fire cial Security; and Jodi Reid, with Department spokeswoman Lieuthe California Alliance of Retired tenant Mindy Talmadge, the first Americans. call came at 8:12 p.m. Saturday, Organizers said there will be July 11 at 2200 Market Street when music, fun, and surprises. The an engine responded to a report venue is wheelchair accessible. See page 14 >> of smoke. Upon arrival, firefight-

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Commentary>>

July 16-22, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11

Employment resources for HIV-positive job seekers by Belo Cipriani

s a community grand marshal for the 2015 San Francisco Pride parade, I spent the last month attending Pride events all over San Francisco. With my guide dog, Oslo, I moseyed through festive crowds, shaking hands and giving hugs. And while I met tons of smart and funny people, there is one person that stood out from the bunch. He had large hands, a deep voice and was exactly my age; he was also full of questions. “How did you become a writer? Who helped you get your writing jobs? Wow, you are a teacher too? How did you get that job?” As a former career advice blogger, I shared my job search tips without hesitation. Yet, as he confessed that he was HIV-positive, and had been looking for work for almost a year, I thought about the challenges of finding work with a disability that’s not visible to the public. We exchanged contact information and I asked him to send me a note so I could forward along some information, but I never heard back from him. I did, though, hear from other HIV-positive men, who, like the guy from the Pride party, were deeply frustrated with their inability to find a job. The unemployment rate among the disabled is high. Among the blind community, for example, it’s at 70 percent, and I believe it’s because people with disabilities don’t always get the interview training needed to land a job with a disability. Furthermore, many people living with a disability are not always familiar with the agencies that offer employment services. Since I don’t have any experience with looking for work with an invisible disability, I reached out to the Positive Resource Center in San Francisco. Within an hour of leav-

Queer Nation

From page 6

while the San Francisco side was made up of your typical gay Democratic club hacks,” Duran told the B.A.R. “At one point tempers flared, with the New York queers insisting that direct action was an important tactic while the San Francisco gays gave the usual ‘work-within-the-system’ pushback. It was at that precise moment that I realized the time was up for asking for crumbs from the table as our gay leaders had been doing for so long – it was time for us to simply take our place at that table and demand our civil and human rights.” Queer Nation had no official

ou, <<Castro! HIV cases

From page 7

“Despite being a huge PrEP advocate, I caution against over-selling the contribution of this very new intervention in San Francisco’s ongoing success in reducing HIV infections,” prevention advocate Jim Pickett from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago told the B.A.R. “But the city’s efforts around testing, linkage to care, offering treatment, and viral suppression – coupled with condom provision, sterile syringe access, health care expansion, and other efforts, including PrEP – are clearly coming together in a very robust package of combination prevention that is producing results See page 14 >>

Courtesy PRC

Dennis Reilly is PRC’s supervising employment specialist.

ing a message, I was on the phone with the executive director of the organization, Brett Andrews. And a short bit after that, I was exchanging emails with the agency’s supervising employment specialist, Dennis Reilly. The Positive Resource Center serves HIV-positive clients and individuals with mental health disabilities. They work with San Francisco residents, but can also work with clients from other counties through the California Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. Reilly, who has been with Positive Resource Center for 18 years, said staying competitive in a changing economy is tough for all job seekers, since they must work on both hard and soft skills. PRC is facing this challenge head on by providing classes in software applications, like Microsoft Office, as well as by offering workshops in interviewing and self-branding. “The employment specialists at PRC,” shared Reilly, “are really skilled in helping a client identify their ‘brand’ – to differentiate themselves from other job seekers. We call it uncovering your ‘unique leadership structure, operated on a consensus model, and chapters acted autonomously. Queer Nation San Francisco met weekly at the Women’s Building and communicated through its Queer Week newsletter and Queerline voice mail system. “I remember the founding of Queer Nation and its early days of meetings and actions as one of the most thrilling times of my life,” said former Queer Nation San Francisco member Rachel Pepper, also on the panel. “I felt swept along in a giant raging wave of positive energy, which was a welcome change from the profound grief, sadness, and anger many of us felt as a result of not only AIDS, but the conservative, anti-gay climate

promise of value.’” Reilly believes employers are mostly interested in what a person can offer and not what the person is seeking from them. Therefore, conversations around accommodations should happen once someone receives an offer letter and not during the interview process. “The most common request,” continued Reilly, “is for flexible working hours, as some clients report difficulty with medications or sleep issues. Our experience is that most employers are very willing to provide a ‘reasonable accommodation,’ as long as the essential functions of the job can still be performed.” In addition to offering vocational training, PRC offers counseling around earned income while on disability benefits. “For HIV-positive clients, understanding the impact of earned income on disability benefits is critical, and PRC offers a monthly workshop on that topic,” said Reilly. You can learn more about the Positive Resource Center online at www.positiveresource.org. For those living outside of the San Francisco Bay Area, I encourage you to reach out to your local agencies to see if they offer employment services. Personally, I have received employment services from many different agencies. Most recently, I had the San Francisco LGBT Community Center (http://www.sfcenter.org) help me revise my resume. So, you may be surprised by who in your area can help with your job search. Looking for work with a disability is hard, but with the right support, it can become manageable.t Belo Cipriani is a freelance journalist, the award-winning author of Blind: A Memoir and Midday Dreams, and a spokesman for Guide Dogs for the Blind. He was voted Best Disability Advocate in the Bay Area in 2015 by SF Weekly. Learn more at BeloCipriani.com.

in this country at the time. The birth of Queer Nation felt like the birth of hope for our generation of mostly 20-something queer kids.” Queer Nation actions focused on queer visibility – including take-overs of straight nightclubs and shopping malls, often featuring same-sex kissins – as well as protests against the religious right, queer-positive sex education campaigns, and efforts to stop anti-gay violence. “At a time when many in our communities were rightfully focused on AIDS, Queer Nation was born to remind us that there was more to our existence and survival than only fightSee page 14 >>

We love you Castro! Thank you for your character, courage, love & pride. Serving the Castro since 1997 215 Church Street @ Market • www.chowfoodbar.com

<< Sports

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 16-22, 2015

Gay softball group still grappling with diversity by Roger Brigham

ans attending this week’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Cincinnati had a chance to see a special baseball exhibit at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center that pays tribute to various individuals who have broken down barriers of intolerance in the sport. (No truth to the rumor the exhibit was funded by former Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott.) Among those recognized in the exhibition with their own display plaques are Billy Bean, who came out of the closet after playing in the majors and now works for MLB to promote inclusive acceptance; and gay MLB umpire Dale Scott. It’s fitting that

Scott and Bean will be recognized alongside the likes of Rafael Almeida, a third baseman from Cuba who played for the Reds in 1911-13 and is believed to have been the first Cuban to play in the National League; and second baseman Jackie Robinson, who in 1947 became the first African American to play in MLB when he broke in with the Brooklyn Dodgers. All witnessed and experienced discrimination as they traveled the country playing the game they loved and all excelled in the face of that adversity. In 2006, Cincinnati became the 13th city in Ohio to include sexual orientation and gender expression and identity in its municipal antidiscrimination code. That reversed

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a 13-year exclusion of those individuals from legal protection in the city – a time during which it remained illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, gender – or what part of Appalachia you are from. (Nope, not making this stuff up.) The Diversity in Sport exhibition, which runs through September 12, is a testament to the positive power for human change that comes through unfettered, desegregated social interaction and acceptance of human diversity. That’s a similar message that is currently being delivered at the Pan American Games Pride House in Toronto: Diversity makes us strong, and we are strongest when we have the courage to accept. That’s a message yet to be received by the likes of the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance, which will hold its 39th annual Gay Softball World Series August 17-22 in Columbus, Ohio. Now, compared with Cincinnati, Columbus is a fairly progressive and accepting college town. Sure, the state had a same-sex marriage ban until the Supreme Court struck it down this year, but Chapter 2331.04 of Columbus municipal code prevents organizations or individuals from denying use of public recreational grounds to “any person on account of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, familial status or military status or that such person is unwelcome, objectionable, or not acceptable, desired or solicited.” It says organizations and individuals may not publish any communications indicating that any of those individuals would be denied the use of the grounds because of one of those forbidden forms of discrimination. Violation of the code is a misdemeanor. Thumb through the 47 pages of the NAGAAA bylaws, however, and on page 28 you stumble across a most unwelcoming message – an antiquated restriction on “non-gay” players that is a legacy from a more paranoid and homophobic era and that has been modified only marginally (and with resistance) as the rest of the country marches toward enlightenment. For years, softball series rules, written at a time most cities and states did not have anti-discrimination laws guaranteeing access to public parks for LGBT individuals, restricted teams to having no more

Obituaries >> Mark Gregory Wilford Smith January 4,1924 – July 17, 2014

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Serving the LGBT Community with Pride!

Friday, July 17, completes one year since my beloved spouse, King Marco, departed Earth. Over the past 12 months, I have mourned, and it was only very recently that my longawaited “sunrise” occurred. It doesn’t mean I miss Mark any less, but I have begun to appreciate and see more clearly what my partner of 15 years taught me, whether it pertained to classical music, foreign travel or, most importantly, love, the apex of human experience. Mark lived in his beloved San Francisco from 1951 to 2003, the majority of his 90 years on Earth. For those of you who had the good fortune to know Mark during those five decades, I know he touched each and every one of you in a rare way, whether it was as an orchestra conductor or as a music teacher or as a music salesman. May we all have the good fortune to continue to befriend others like Mark, who strongly believed in honesty, fairness, human dignity, and the healing nature of music. May God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit bless you, my dearest Marco, keeping you safe. Your loving man, Gregory Sands de Jean.

The plaque featuring gay baseball umpire Dale Scott is on exhibit in Cincinnati as part of this year’s All-Star festivities.

than three straight players. Because of another team’s protest under that rule, D2, a team from San Francisco, was yanked out of the championship game in 2008; an ad hoc hearing was held in which players were asked invasive questions about their personal sexual preferences and activities; and the hearing panel ruled that three players of color on D2, none of whom self-identified as heterosexual, were ruled to have disqualified the team from the tournament. After a failed lawsuit, NAGAAA modified its rules slightly, changing the restriction of three “straight” players to two “non-gay” players, and laying out the protest hearing procedures more clearly. So what’s my beef with the way things are now? First, we have spent the past few decades arguing for equal rights, equal opportunity, equal access. In some cases we have won, and the access to public accommodations, in places where it has occurred such as Columbus and Cincinnati, is as important, if less celebrated, than the right to fight in war or to wed in matrimony. Access and visibility are not the same thing as acceptance, but they are essential rights and are building blocks that engender acceptance through exposure and familiarity. It is easier to sustain hate against the person you do not know than it is against a neighbor. So it is hypocritical and counterproductive to argue we should have

Out in the World

From page 6

in the apartment for two years, was gay, in spite of their story that they were just two friends living together. The eviction forced the two men to be separated, one returning home to his homophobic family and the other going to not-so-desirable temporary housing. Media outlets reported that the July 6 protesters were supported by some of Kenya’s government leaders, who have threatened to heckle and

Sabbatical

From page 8

“That’s going to be a heavier lift both on the staff side and the board of directors, and I wanted to be fully prepared and ready to help lead that effort,” he said. The nonprofit is currently interviewing consultants. Andrews said his agency now has a policy to give two sabbaticals a year. He said he’s approved a break for someone else this year.

What a sabbatical is for

Scott Miller, the gay man who owns the San Francisco firm Scott Miller Executive Search, said he’s placed many of the city’s most well-known LGBT executive directors, including

the right to exclude others from public access. The point of public access is for us to interact with each other, not just ourselves. Second, the invasion into people’s sexual orientation is repugnant and reminiscent of the inquisitions the military used to conduct into the intimate lives of service personnel. Haven’t we been arguing that this crap shouldn’t matter, shouldn’t be anybody else’s business? And suppose you are a 20-something man with questions and confusion about your own sexuality? You’re inexperienced, you do not understand your own impulses, and you are finally comfortable playing on a team in which not every conversation is a bunch of false bragging about who got pussy last night. Ya know, you just might not be ready to sit under a spotlight and declare with clarity what your sexual preferences are – or if you have even had any sexual experience or impulse at all. But Section 2.8 of the NAGAAA bylaws requires players registering for the series to select in advance their “LGBT/Non-LGBT status.” How comfortable would you be with a question like that on an application for housing or employment? Why were limitations on straight players ever imposed? Initially it was to help build a sense of unity, a sense of sameness, and to ensure no team was stacking its roster with supertalented “ringers” to gain an unfair advantage. But in this day and age, such rules have become artificial barriers toward social acceptance. They fail to recognize that many of us athletes playing in LGBT-friendly sports have straight and queer friends, have straight and queer family members, and straight and queer teammates. They fail to realize that the important thing is not whom the players sleep with when they leave the field, but whom they bond with when they come together as a team. I’d suggest officers of NAGAAA take a break between games next month and take the 90-minute drive down the interstate to Cincinnati. Go see the Diversity in Sports exhibition and look at the tribute to Robinson. What led to change: equal opportunity, or the courage to tear down a barrier? Then go to the restroom and take a long look in the mirror.t “throw rotten eggs” at Obama if he mentions the so-called gay agenda. National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi warned that Parliament and citizens have the capability “to sanction any advances perceived to encroach on our social fabric,” reported All Africa. Bishop Mark Kariuki, an evangelical Christian clergy member who organized the anti-gay protest, told Agence France-Presse during the demonstration, “It is important for us as Kenyans to know that the U.S. is not God, and thus we cannot follow them blindly.”t Mike Smith, who formerly led AIDS Emergency Fund, and Roger Doughty at Horizons Foundation. Despite the recent movement among executive directors, Miller said he doesn’t see a trend. “It’s not something I see a lot,” he said. Miller indicated Appel’s use of her sabbatical is typical. “I’ve seen everything” when it comes to what executives do with their sabbaticals, he said, “from going to exotic locations to just taking a family vacation” or working on house projects. Some people write books or do research. “Sometimes it is good to recharge,” and such breaks allow executive directors “to come back reSee page 13 >>

t <<

Community News>>

Sabbatical

From page 12

freshed and recharged,” Miller said. The sabbaticals come “usually after a minimum” of five years, but sometimes seven, he said. “It’s an easy bone for a board to throw to offer up as a retention tool,” Miller said, noting that many executive directors work 50 to 80 hours a week. He doesn’t think sabbaticals are unique to LGBT nonprofits. He also said a sabbatical is different from a vacation. For many executives, “even when they’re on vacation, they’re working,” Miller said. A sabbatical, which typically lasts four weeks – “sometimes a little longer” – lets people “really fully disengage and recharge and come back fresh.”

AIDS Walk

From page 1

Apothecarium in San Francisco’s Castro district; Kiva Connections and Bhang, which make cannabis infused chocolate products; Leafly, a website that provides information about medical cannabis; and the Cann-I-Dream Foundation, whose Cannabis is Medicine project supports granting serious and terminally ill children access to the drug. The Berkeley Patient’s Group, which participated last year, expects that nearly half of the dispensary’s 75 employees will be walking this time. “We are supporting it for a second year because the Berkeley Patient’s Group was founded in the fire of the AIDS crisis, much like the medical marijuana movement in California was founded in the fire of the AIDS crisis,” said Victor Pinho, the dispensary’s director of marketing and communications. Sixteen years ago Jim McClelland, a gay man living with HIV and AIDS who eventually died from complications of the disease in 2001, co-

Eatery closures

From page 1

In the report, Slider’s received a score of 85, meaning it “needs improvement.” According to the Hoodline news site, which has been reporting on the closures for months, the diner had opened again by Friday, July 10.

Slider Bar

Cockroaches also led to the health department ordering Slider Bar, at 2295 Market Street, to close May 28. Slider Bar had many high-risk violations. Among other cockroach problems, an inspector found three live roaches between the wall and the grill on the cook’s line. There were also two live and seven dead roaches, and eight egg casings around a water heater. Other violations included the temperature at which food was held and unclean “food contact surfaces.” Slider Bar was ordered to “eliminate cockroach activity and continue working with a licensed pest control operator.” The restaurant’s score was 77, putting it in the “needs improvement” range. The problems were confirmed to have been corrected

Coming out

From page 5

anonymously or include a person’s photo and full name. Warden also welcomes what he called “coming out stories told in reverse,” meaning essays written by straight people about how their friend or family member came out to them. “The only thing not optional is an email address at which we can reach you,” said Warden, who has been approached by several online sites, such as the Huffington Post, about cross posting content from those

July 16-22, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 13

He said he hasn’t seen people going on sabbatical, returning to their job, and then leaving soon thereafter. When someone takes a sabbatical, “it’s a signal they’re going to come back,” he said. “... They’re not just going to go and job hunt.” Whether a sabbatical is preferable to a leadership change “depends on the executive,” Miller said. “Sometimes an organization needs a change, and you need a different type of leadership.” The board has to have that conversation with the executive director, and they “have to have a robust dialogue back and forth.” If a board’s offering a sabbatical, that’s “clearly a signal they want the executive director to stay,” Miller said. “Sometimes,” though, “it’s a good time” to talk about what the organization needs and what the ED

needs in their career. “It’s a two-way street,” Miller said. Rick Cohen is a spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based National Council of Nonprofits. Asked whether he sees directors coming back from sabbatical only to quit soon thereafter, or taking a break and not returning at all, Cohen said, “It’s really on a case by case basis. From what we’ve seen, most do come back and do stay for a period of time.” The time off “does sometimes lead somebody to decide they want to go in another direction, but I haven’t seen that as a trend.” What his organization typically sees with sabbaticals differs from what Appel’s using it for, and Cohen said sabbaticals aren’t a way to give people more paid vacation time. The breaks are “definitely not vaca-

tion time,” he said. “Most sabbaticals we’ve heard about are highly structured. They’re not time off.” Usually, he said, specific goals have been set “to advance the organization.” “It’s not a vacation by any means,” Cohen said. Andrews, of Positive Resource Center, said, “Legally,” a vacation comes from “accrued benefits that you take, so by law, that’s owed to you.” He said a sabbatical involves “a particular policy that any organization may or may not want.” Cohen said sabbaticals have “gained a little bit more prominence since the economy has recovered a little bit.” During the recent downturn, it was time for “all hands on deck, 24/7” at many agencies. The breaks can “reduce burnout,” he said, and they can also serve as a

“test for how prepared the organization is” for a transition in leadership or an absence if an agency’s head has to leave temporarily. Such leaves also give a group’s board and executive director a chance to see “who could have an opportunity to move up in the future.” Sabbaticals may be preferable to a leadership change. “If you can do a three- or sixmonth sabbatical which allows the CEO to recharge their batteries and you have a strong leadership team in place,” it’s “a lot better to have that CEO come back refreshed with some brilliant new ideas than to have to bring somebody else in,” Cohen said. However, he said, “sometimes an organization will realize it’s time for a change, and absence didn’t make the heart grow fonder.”t

founded the group, the oldest continuously operating dispensary in the country. It helped secure medicinal marijuana for people living with AIDS and other chronic illnesses. “His mission in life was to provide free and low cost medicine to patients who critically needed the medicine,” said Pinho, who is straight and began working at the dispensary a year ago. Although the Berkeley Patient’s Group does not know how many of its current patients are living with HIV or AIDS, Pinho said many of the people it serves are HIV-positive. Thus, taking part in the AIDS Walk is a way to support them and their medical needs, he said. “It raises awareness for something we care about and helps our patient community,” said Pinho. “As a community organization, because that is what we are, it is our duty to represent that population and support that population and do what we can to end the AIDS epidemic. The same way we would like to end the war on cannabis.” Similar to how the LGBT commu-

nity became more vocal and out as it fought for funding and policy changes to address the AIDS epidemic, leaders within the cannabis industry see fostering the same sort of networking and organizing as critical for their community. Team Cannabis is one of the more visible manifestations of their efforts to collaborate. “I had conversations with some of my other industry colleagues and we were able to form this team. We made a good splash in our first appearance,” said Grace of Team Cannabis.

try together and make sure their concerns are addressed then you get wedges driving apart the community,” said Grace. “We want to try to make sure everyone has their voice heard in this process and we know how to work together.” Since those earlier ballot defeats, voters in Washington and Colorado have legalized recreational marijuana use, bolstering advocates hopes that other states will follow suit. But similar to the 2008 fight in California over Proposition 8, a ballot measure banning same-sex marriage that many residents assumed (wrongly) would be defeated, proponents of marijuana legalization are concerned about supporters once again being too complacent. “Yes, absolutely that scares me. It was a big part of what happened to us in 2010,” said Grace. “I hope that won’t happen to us again in 2016. I do think it is a real danger that people will be complacent. What I will say is I am seeing a lot more energy and a lot better organizing going into this.” A critical voting bloc for the 2016 legalization effort will be the LGBT

community, acknowledged marijuana advocates. “I would hope the gay community will support it. They have supported it thus far,” said Esposito, who welcomed anyone interested in Team Cannabis to join it at the AIDS Walk or donate to it via the event’s website at https://sf.aidswalk.net/Donate. The group has already pledged $40,000 – out its goal of raising a total $70,000 – to sponsor one of the walk’s check points. It is a rest stop for walkers where they can stop to grab refreshments, be entertained by a puppeteer and deejay, and get their photo taken with the Team Cannabis logo. The group will also be presenting a timeline looking at the history of cannabis and HIV.t

June 4, according to health department data.

Posh Bagel

health department recently shut down ManDu, at 2251 Market Street, because of a “rodent infestation,” and that space became Janchi, serving Korean tapas.

who consent to do so. Warden and two other people are volunteering their time to oversee the site, which he said he does not intend to monetize for personal gain. He would like to reach a point where the site can sustain itself either through advertising or sponsorships. “I am not looking to make it for profit. I am working on it to be nonprofit to cover the costs of maintaining the site and hiring a site administrator,” said Warden, who is paying several hundred dollars out of his own pocket for the domain name and cost of hosting the site.

Several themes already have emerged in the coming out stories submitted to date, said Warden. Many people conclude their essay by saying how much better off they are for having come out, he noted. “People are ending most essays with something to the extent of it is hard but I am so much happier now. I am the best version of myself now, which I wasn’t before,” he said. “Another theme is I am happy I came out but being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender is only one small part of who I am. It doesn’t define me.”

A cockroach infestation was also the reason the permit for Posh Bagel, at 495A Castro Street, was temporarily suspended, according to an inspector’s report dated May 18. An inspection revealed several live cockroaches in the prep area and other sections, as well as old “rodent droppings” that were under milk creates in a storage area. Among other instructions, the report said the bagel shop should “elevate all food and food-related items at least six inches off of the floor to facilitate easy cleaning and minimize potential contamination.” Posh Bagel’s final tally was 89. That’s an “adequate” score, according to the health department’s website, but most of the 11 points that were lost were for high-risk violations. Information from the health department shows the violations had been corrected May 19, the day after the closure had been ordered. As with the other eateries, the inspection report for Posh Bagel was marked “Routine.” According to Hoodline, the

Ballot fight

Fostering stronger ties within the Bay Area cannabis community is also seen as benefitting the ballot measure fight next year. Five years ago a similar effort to legalize marijuana use in California was defeated, with 54 percent of voters rejecting Proposition 19. Two years later four legalization ballot measures were proposed with none able to muster enough support to land on the November 2012 ballot. “When you don’t do a good job getting different parts of the indus-

The 29th annual AIDS Walk San Francisco kicks off with an opening ceremony at 9:45 a.m. Sunday, July 19 in Sharon Meadow within Golden Gate Park. The walk should begin at 10:30 a.m. followed by a post-walk concert at 12:30 p.m. For more information, visit http://sf.aidswalk.net.

area could have been part of the problem, said a professional exterminator visits his diner monthly. “I’ve been here for almost 39 years, and we’ve never had what you would Reasons unclear call ‘an infestation,’” Ziebell, Sarieh didn’t know whether who lives upstairs from Orthere have actually been more phan Andy’s, said. He said vermin infestations, as the rehe’s never seen cockroaches cent closures seem to indicate. or mice in the diner. “From our perspective, The business closes every we don’t know, because our three months so the kitchresponsibility is to cite for en can be steam cleaned, violations,” she said. The deamong other efforts, he said. Courtesy SF Dept. of Public Health partment doesn’t do further Ziebell said he had “no inspections “to find the source. Live cockroaches scurry about in Slider’s Diner idea” what’s behind the The responsibility of that is in July during a health inspector’s visit. infestations the health deon the owner of the business,” partment has found in area whose responsibility it also is to eateries, but he added that Orphan Andy’s, a popular diner at “get rid of” the problems. “it could be a problem of 3991 17th Street, wasn’t shut down, “If we see droppings or a mouse the building, not necessarily just the but in March, an inspector did find or two, or a rat or two, it’s not conrestaurant,” such as if an adjacent a “moderate risk vermin infestation” sidered an imminent health risk,” retail business that the health deamong other problems, according Sarieh said. But if there’s “more than partment doesn’t inspect is having to data from the health department. a handful of mice or rats or dropan infestation. An April 9 inspection found the viopings” the risk would be imminent, He’s not worried about people lations had been abated. and “that automatically shuts down thinking it’s not safe to eat in the Co-owner Dennis Ziebell said the business.” Castro. the inspector from the health deThe department has more than “Even the best restaurants” have partment had found mouse drop7,500 facilities to inspect, she said, been cited before, Ziebell said, and pings in a common alleyway where and the agency tries to get inspecproblems “can happen in a very, garbage cans are kept. Ziebell, who tors out “to each facility and food very short period of time. ... I think suggested street construction in the prep business at least once a year.” people understand.”t Jay Vallone, 34, who lives in Orange County in southern California, began his coming out process two months ago. He saw the Coming Out website mentioned in a tweet on his Twitter feed and decided to submit an essay, which he titled “My Journey to Coming Out.” It can be read at http://www.comingout. space/my-journey-to-coming-out/. “I just recently came out. I needed to write it down and I needed to tell it for my own reasons,” Vallone, who was raised in a Roman Catholic household and has mixed reactions to his revealing he is gay,

told the B.A.R. in a phone interview. “It is something you need to get off your chest. You hold it in for so long, it kind of eats away at you. It feels good to release that pent up energy.” He said he considers what Warden is doing with the site to be heroic, as so often LGBT people still in the closet feel they are on their own. “There are so many of us who are silent. They need to know there is support out there,” said Vallone, who works in insurance. “The stories are great too, you know. It is tremendous; I think it is very heroic of people to do that.”t

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

14 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 16-22, 2015

Queer Nation

From page 11

ing society’s neglect and indifference around HIV,” said Karl Knapper, also a former member and panelist. “If we were really going to achieve equality and acceptance – as opposed to assimilation – then we would need to boldly and unashamedly assert our visibility and our rights.” Queer Nation spawned several working groups including LABIA (Lesbians and Bi Women in Action), United Colors of Queer Nation, UBIQUITOUS (Uppity Bi Queers United in their Overtly Unconventional Sexuality), and Catherine Did It (a group protesting homophobic and biphobic stereotypes in the film Basic Instinct). During its brief life the group was often mired in controversies over everything from its name (“queer” was controversial, especially among older LGBT people) to its composition (Did “queer” include heterosexual allies?). As much as a sexual orientation, “queer” denoted a confrontational spirit and pride in being an outsider. But some felt Queer Nation only really welcomed the young and hip.

News Briefs

From page 10

BART users should plan for upcoming service interruption

BART is encouraging travelers to plan ahead as the system will provide no service between San Francisco and the East Bay for two weekends in August and September. The closures, from August 1-2, from end of service Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday, and September 5-7, from end of service Friday and all day Saturday through Monday, are needed so that crews can repair a critical section of track near the Transbay Tube. BART will close the West Oakland station and will not run trains between it and the Embarcadero station in San Francisco. BART said it will offer bus service between the 19th Street station in Oakland and the temporary Transbay Terminal in San Francisco, but those buses are intended only for those who have no other options. Other options include the San Francisco Ferry (http://sanfranciscobayferry.com/node/54) or AC Transit bus service (http:// www.actransit.org/rider-info/ transbay-service/). For more information on the BART closures, visit www.bart.gov.

HIV cases

From page 11

worthy of applause, kudos, and high fives.” “San Francisco is a role model once again,” added Kenneth Mayer, medical researcher director at the Fenway Institute in Boston. “Other elements worth considering are the increased access to health insurance and coverage for medication and clinical visits that is feasible in a blue city in a blue state, and the high levels of cultural competence of San Francisco providers in taking care of [gay men] and transgender women. We are seeing favorable trends in Massachusetts, but when I talk with people in Houston, Atlanta, and Jackson, Mississippi, uptake has been impeded by non-supportive health care environments. There’s lots of work to do on a national scale, let alone global impact.”

Good global news

There was also good news on the global front this week, with a new report from UNAIDS showing that new HIV infections worldwide have decreased by 35 percent since 2000 and AIDS-related deaths have fallen by 41 percent since 2005. The report, “How AIDS Changed Everything,” was released Tuesday, July 14,

By the summer of 1991 there were more than 40 Queer Nation chapters in large cities and small towns across the country, but the group largely petered out by 1993. Although short-lived, Queer Nation made a lasting impact on the LGBT movement and the language it uses to describe itself. “What we did created a movement of ideas that is still unfolding,” said Duran. “We still have a great deal of work to do. Nationally, we still need our full package of human and civil rights – we can’t stop until every one of us is equal in the eyes of the law. And as San Francisco devolves into a monocultural city serving only the wealthy, we queers need to act in solidarity with other radical groups to take it back.” The Thursday, July 16 event will feature a panel discussion, slideshow, and time for audience questions. Due to strong advance interest there will be two showings, at 6 and 8 p.m. Tickets ($5) can be purchased online and may be available at the door. For more information, visit https://www. eventbrite.com/e/queer-nation-sanfrancisco-25th-anniversary-reviewtickets-17491805461.t

Leather bay cruise coming up

The Golden Gate Guards and Breeches and Leather Uniform Fanclub, or BLUF, will hold their fifth annual leather cruise on San Francisco Bay Saturday, September 26, the evening before the Folsom Street Fair. Marc Owens, corresponding secretary for the Golden Gate Guards, said the cruise will travel under the Bay Bridge, and pass Angel Island and Treasure Island. Going north, the boat will cruise near Sausalito and take a turn around Alcatraz. From there, the cruise will head to the Golden Gate Bridge for a chance to see it and the city at sundown. No-host cocktails will be available on board (the guards are selling drink tickets), as well as a late afternoon buffet. The cruise departs at 4:30 p.m. and returns to South Beach Harbor, The Embarcadero, Pier 40, near AT&T Park, at 8:15. Leather or uniform attire is expected. Early registration between now and August 1 is $65 (tickets increase to $75 after that date). All attendees receive a commemorative pin, sailor cap, and lei. Net proceeds from the cruise benefit Openhouse, the LGBT senior agency. To purchase tickets, visit https:// www.regonline.com/Reg ister/ Checkin.aspx?EventID=1723936.t in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The report says that the Millennium Development Goal of getting 15 million people with HIV on antiretroviral treatment by 2015 – a goal many once considered impossible – has been reached nine months ahead of schedule. “Fifteen years ago there was a conspiracy of silence. AIDS was a disease of the ‘others’ and treatment was for the rich and not for the poor,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe. “We proved them wrong, and today we have 15 million people on treatment – 15 million success stories.” According to the latest UNAIDS figures, 36.9 million people were living with HIV worldwide and 2 million people were newly infected in 2014. The 15 million people on treatment as of March 2015 represent 41 percent of adults and 32 percent of children with HIV. Among people aware of their HIV status, however, the proportion on ART rises to 75 percent. The goal now is to ensure that all people with HIV have access to treatment before they become ill. UNAIDS estimates that intensive investment over the next five years could reduce new HIV infections by 89 percent and AIDS-related deaths by 81 percent by 2030.t

Legal Notices>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036540200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NEW LIVING, 346 1ST ST #206, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CELINA PHAM. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/22/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/22/15.

JUNE 25, JULY 02, 09, 16, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036537600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: READ A BOOK PUBLISHING CO, 1321 EVANS AVE #C, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ALPHA J. BUIE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/27/03. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/18/15.

JUNE 25, JULY 02, 09, 16, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036534300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ORO, 1299 BUSH ST #401, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JARRETT S. DOWNS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/17/15.

JUNE 25, JULY 02, 09, 16, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036533900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LAIKE VENDING 4U, 660 4TH ST #324, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed YONGYUAN YU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/16/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/16/15.

JUNE 25, JULY, 02, 09, 16, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036536400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: COCO FRIO, 2937 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94101. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MANUEL TORRES. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/18/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/18/15.

JUNE 25, JULY 02, 09, 16, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036539900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NOC NOC ON BROADWAY, 515 BROADWAY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RAHMAT OLLAH SHIRAKHON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/22/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/22/15.

JUNE 25, JULY 02, 09, 16, 2015 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-15-551292

In the matter of the application of: DAVID SCOTT LLEWELLYN, 25 MIRABEL AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner DAVID SCOTT LLEWELLYN, is requesting that the name DAVID SCOTT LLEWELLYN, be changed to DAVID SCOTT LOWE. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 1ST of SEPTEMBER 2015 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036551400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LLOYDS LIMOUSINE SERVICE, 1770 PINE ST #401, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MANSOUR TAVAKOLIAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/04/93. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/29/15.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036553300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ECO SMART ROOF, 61 MINERVA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ARMAND ABELITIS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/30/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/30/15.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036543500

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-15-551265

In the matter of the application of: KAREN SEGAL, 125 CAMBON DR #34, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94132 for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner KAREN SEGAL, is requesting that the name LILAH ROSE SEGAL ANGEL, be changed to LILAH ROSE SEGALANGEL. 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 20th of August 2015 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JUNE 25, JULY 02, 09, 16, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036545100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SAN FRANCISCO CHILD CARE PROVIDER’S ASSOCIATION; SFCCPA, 445 CHURCH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SAN FRANCISCO EARLY CARE EDUCATORS RESOURCE PROGRAM (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 06/24/15.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036549700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: K & D REMODELING, 2706 40TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed K & D REMODELING (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/15/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/26/15.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036544900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DOCTORS OF THE PACIFIC, 300 MONTGOMERY ST #813, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed RGA ASSOCIATES, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/06/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/24/15.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036536700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HELMAND PALACE, 2424 VAN NESS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed HELMAND RESTAURANT INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/18/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/18/15.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036543900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HOTEL DIVA, 440 GEARY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a limited partnership, and is signed 440 GEARY OWNER, L.P. (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/13/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/24/15.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036543700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HOTEL UNION SQUARE, 100-120 POWELL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a limited partnership, and is signed 100-120 POWELL OWNER, L.P (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/13/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/24/15.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036564600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SEIPPEL COACHING & CONSULTING, 1059 UNION ST #E, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHELSEY ANNLYN SEIPPEL. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/07/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/07/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036563300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LE COULOIR, 1537 HAIGHT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MASHAV SHELEF. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/02/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/06/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036555900

NOTICE OF PENDENCY OF SUIT FOR COMPLAINT FOR DEBT AND MONEY DUE AND FOR FORECLOSURE SECOND JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT, COUNTY OF BERNALILLO, STATE OF NEW MEXICO ROBERT WOODFORD & NANCY WOODFORD, HUSBAND & WIFE, PLAINTIFFS, V. BRIEN BURROUGHS, AND THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO TAXATION AND REVENUE DEPARTMENT, DEFENDANTS.

No. D-202-CV-2015-03019 STATE OF NEW MEXICO to Defendant BRIEN BURROUGHS. You are hereby notified that ROBERT WOODFORD and NANCY WOODFORD have filed a FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT FOR DEBT & MONEY DUE AND TO FORECLOSE DEED OF TRUST [NON-OWNER OCCUPIED] against you in the above-entitled Court and cause, the general object thereof being obtain a money judgment on a Promissory Note and to foreclose a Deed of Trust which was recorded on September 2, 2009 as Document Number 2009100363, in the records of the office of the County Clerk of Bernalillo County, New Mexico and concerning the real property described as follows: Unit 3-A of the Sixth Street Lofts Condominiums as described and designated in that certain Sixth Street Lofts Condominium Declaration executed by Quickel Building LLC, a New Mexico limited liability company on June 13, 2005 in Book A98, page 3480, as Document Number 2005084744, and being further amended by that certain Amendment to Sixth Street Lofts Condominium Association, filed November 9, 2005, in Book A106, page 6531, as Document Number 2005166981, records of Bernalillo County, New Mexico. TOGETHER WITH an undivided percentage interest in the common elements and common expenses appurtenant to each unit, as provided for in the declaration; TOGETHER WITH a non-exclusive easement for ingress and egress through all common elements, as more particularly set forth in the declaration. Said Sixth Street Condominiums located within Lots numbered One (1), Two (2), Three (3), Thirteen (13), Fourteen (14), and Fifteen (15), in Block numbered Twenty (20) of the New Mexico Town Company’s Original Townsite of Albuquerque, New Mexico, as the same are shown and designated on the plat thereof, filed in the Office of the County Clerk of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, on December 29, 1882, in Map Book D, folio 140. more commonly known as 600 Central Ave SW, Unit 3A, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102. BE ADVISED that unless you respond to the Complaint within 30 days of the completion of the publication of this Notice, judgment by default will be entered against you. SPANN, HOLLOWWA & ARTLEY /s/ J. Kerwin Hollowwa J. Kerwin Hollowwa Attorney for Plaintiff P. O. Box 1307 Albuquerque, NM 87103 (505) 243-3525 WITNESS the Honorable Victor S. Lopez, Second Judicial District Court Judge, and the seal of the Second Judicial District Court, on this 30th day of June, 2015. James A. Noel CLERK OF THE SECOND DISTRICT COURT By: /s/ Cathy Chavez Deputy Clerk

JULY 09, 16, 23, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036554000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SOMA LEADERSHIP COUNCIL, 364 TENTH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JAMES E. MEKO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/18/00. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/30/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036550700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: R.L. CABINET, 541 GIRARD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LI, ZIRUI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/26/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/26/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036561600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PAINTED MONKEY, 4200 18TH ST #103, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SHADOW MORTON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/15/09. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/06/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036562900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BROWS & BEAUTY BAR, 3196 24TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed SWASTI THAPA; SUJATA ARYAL; SANGITA THAPA. 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 06/24/15.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GARLIC LUVRS SPREAD, 984 OAK ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ERIC C. JOHNSON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/01/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/01/15.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ROWDYPENCIL.COM, 32 TERRA VISTA AVE #4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115-3850. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed RICHARD J. FOSSELMAN & NANCY G. GOLDENBERG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/12/06. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/06/15.

JULY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2015

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015

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FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036563400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SELLING ENERGY; SF GREEN SPACE; 657 MISSION ST #200, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed ENERGY EFFICIENCY FUNDING GROUP, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/29/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/29/15.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MS DEALS, 501 41ST AVE #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MICHAEL SARKISSIAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/06/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/06/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036561800

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036568400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TRAVEL DARLINGS, 2745 WEBSTER ST #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed TRAVEL DARLINGS (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/06/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/06/15.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ANGELINA- PALM READER, 3127 GEARY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LOLA NICHOLAS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on12/12/98. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/09/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036552100

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036565900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MIND’S EYE INTERNATIONAL FILM ACADEMY, U.S.A.; MIND’S EYE INTERNATIONAL FILM PRODUCTION COMPANY; MIND’S EYE CLOTHING COMPANY; 1719 30TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed YING ROYAL INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION (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 06/29/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036558900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ROCKET POSTCARDS, 605 20TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed CLIC, 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 07/02/15.

JULY 09, 16, 23, 30, 2015 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC15-551311

In the matter of the application of: MARIA YAROSLAVOVNA BEZCHINSKY, 1324 WILLARD ST # 206, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner MARIA YAROSLAVOVNA BEZCHINSKY, is requesting that the name MARIA YAROSLAVOVNA BEZCHINSKY, be changed to MARIA HITRAYA-LOW. 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 10th of September 2015 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036574200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LOMBARD NAIL SPA, 2447 LOMBARD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed HA PHUONG QUAN. 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 07/13/15.

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036560100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SIENNA TRADITIONAL MEDICINE, 4052 18TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed STEPHANIE RAE HANEY. 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 07/03/15.

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036567600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GAY THERAPY CENTER, 538 HAYES ST #A, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ADAM D. BLUM. 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 07/08/15.

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Legal Notices>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036552400

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: VIKING PHOTO, 1219 2ND AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LEIF HEILBERG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/08/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/08/15.

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JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036535700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SILVER SPROUTS, 1901 JERROLD AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation and is signed GRUBMARKET INC (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/17/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/17/15.

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JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036546900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THERAPEIA, 1801 BUSH ST LOWER WING, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed RANGNEKAR CHIROPRACTIC INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/25/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/25/15.

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036551600

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ALPHAPUP OFFICE; BLITZ; BLITZ ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN; BLITZ SAN FRANCISCO; BLITZ SF; 435 JACKSON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed DESIGN BLITZ (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/11/2011. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/29/15.

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JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036568800

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MILLER GLOBAL TRAVEL, 1949 GREEN ST #4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed MILLER GLOBAL TRAVEL INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/06/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/09/15.

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036566000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ARUM TEA, 1886 18TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a limited partnership, and is signed NOVO INTERNATIONAL 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 07/08/15.

JULY 16, 23, 30, AUGUST 06, 2015

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Tangerine dreams

Lone shark

Out &About

Company man

O&A

Vol. 45 • No. 29 • July 16-22, 2015

www.ebar.com/arts

Musical citizen of the world by Philip Campbell

nternational pop and West African music star Angélique Kidjo brought her unique blend of global awareness and musical diversity to Davies Symphony Hall last week in a one-night-stand with the San Francisco Symphony. Performing in the Summer with the Symphony series, the singer dubbed “Africa’s premier diva” by Time magazine included the first United States performance of Ifè: Three Yorùbá Songs (2013) by Philip Glass, on a lengthy play list that also abundantly showed her incredible range of influences. Her personal philosophy of music as the best weapon for love and peace had the sold-out auditorium positively ecstatic before the night was over. See page 26 >>

West African music star Angélique Kidjo. CAMI

Capturing the sublime by Sura Wood

ight Begins the Day: Rethinking Space, Time, and Beauty, a new group exhibition now on view at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, is distinguished not only by the strength of the artworks, which stand on their own, but by its aspiration to encompass time, the incomprehensible vastness of

space, the cosmos, elliptical galaxies and dying stars, not to mention the fear, terror and awe of the universe or the sublime, while transmuting those complex concepts for a modern sensibility. It’s a big tent that accommodates the cerebral, multimedia, often outstanding works by 25 artists, scientists and thinkers, which hew to these grand ideas without being ponderous. See page 21 >>

Soleil Noir (2014), 16mm film by Laurent Grasso, from Night Begins the Day: Rethinking Space, Time, and Beauty at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Perrotin

{ SECOND OF THREE SECTIONS }

ASIAN ART MUSEUM

JUN 5–AUG 16, 2015 W W W. A S I A N A RT. O R G

#28CHINESE

28 Chinese is organized by the Rubell Family Collection, Miami. Presentation at the Asian Art Museum is made possible with the generous support of China Art Foundation, Gorretti and Lawrence Lui, Silicon Valley Bank, The Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Fund for Excellence in Exhibitions and Presentations, William Mathews Brooks, Lucy Sun and Warren Felson, and an anonymous donor. Media sponsor: The California Sunday Magazine.Image: Rain-washed Sky, 2008, by Lan Zhenghui (Chinese, b. 1959). Ink on Xuan paper mounted on canvas. Courtesy of Rubell Family Collection, Miami. © Lan Zhenghui.

<< Out There

18 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 16-22, 2015

Tickling the outdoor ivories

Delicious Sichuan specialties Tasty Dim Sum made fresh daily in-house

by Roberto Friedman

Great selection of Belgian beers & California wines

MaMa

Ji’

inne

★★★

&D “As long-time Sum Dim residents of the neighborhood, 4416 18th St. (Douglas & Eureka) we look forward to San Francisco • (415) 626-4416 welcoming you to Mama JI’s.” Visitthe us Heart at www.mamajissf.com HIOTW_21-BAR-Ad_Dances from Poster 7/2/15 6:28 PM Page 1

Gala Reception ★ Concert ★ After Party with Cast

FEATURING BROADWAY, TV, FILM STARS

JOHN LLOYD YOUNG, CONSTANTINE MAROULIS LORETTA DEVINE, JAI RODRIGUEZ, CAROLE COOK, SUSAN ANTON TV, RECORDING STARS

KIMBERLEY LOCKE, JAKE SIMPSON, LINDSAY PEARCE CABARET/JAZZ STARS

★

PAULA WEST, SONY HOLLAND B.O.O.B.S!, From The People's Couch SCOTT NEVINS LEA BOURGADE, Concert Violinist SALSAMANIA, World Champion Salsa Dancers WHITE TREE FINE ART, Ballet duo

★

TICKETS & INFO

Helpisontheway.org

o Out There & Pepi were on our way to see the exhibition J.M.W. Turner: Painting Set Free at the de Young Museum, and we took a scenic short-cut through the San Francisco Botanical Garden. (Admission to the curated garden is free with proof of SF residency; $7 to soak the tourists.) Imagine our surprise when we heard the dulcet tones of pianopaying wafting through the trees! Turned out we were there during the installation of Flower Piano, an interactive public art project on offer through July 20 in the garden. The brainchild of piano proponents Mauro Ffortissimo and Dean Mermell, Flower Piano has sited 12 pianos around the 55-acre garden, and anyone can sit down and play. When we were there, one pianist was picking out Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies, which Pepi remembered from having once having been placed on hold. Another player was working his way through a Scott Joplin rag, and yet another was having her way with Chopin. It was an unexpected smorgasbord of pianistic delights. We’re not sure how they’ll keep the pianos in tune given the perpetual mists in GG Park, but more power to presenting group Sunset Piano. More info can be found at sfbotanicalgarden.org.

Brunch dish

★

Owner-partner Manuel Montalban and chef-partner Gualberto Nic Camara invited Out There to sample the new weekend brunch menu at Manos Nouveau (3970

by Brian Bromberger

ebar.com NEW CONSE RVATORY THEATRE CE NTE R

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Intimacy Idiot by Isaac Oliver; Scribner, $24 e know we are in for a hilarious time when in his Online Dating Profile that introduces Isaac Oliver’s new book, Oliver writes that his typical Friday night is “wine in mouth, dick in hand, hope in heart.” Intimacy Idiot is a debut collection

PRESE NTS

“A MASTER OF THE “DEL SHORES IS TEXAS COMEDY!” SO ENGAGING!” THE COLUMN

Jose Chuc

Courtesy SFBG

Piano-playing during Flower Piano, installed in the San Francisco Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park.

17th St., SF), an offering of their French-Latin-inspired cuisine. We arrived at Noon on July 4th, and in keeping with how the Castro neighborhood had apparently cleared out for the holiday, found that we had the place to ourselves. The service was therefore quite personal and attentive. During brunch hours (Sat. & Sun., 11 a.m.-2 p.m.), Manos Nouveau’s menu is divided into categories of pequeño (smaller bites), brunch mains and sides. We were quite intrigued with the ahi tartare deviled eggs garnished with caviar ($16) on the menu, but it was 86’d because of the holiday delivery schedule. Instead we sampled the chicken breast croquettas topped with bell pepper slices, sautéed spinach, poached eggs, watercress criolla, and an aji pepper cream sauce ($20): really good.

Chicken breast croquettas, a brunch offering at Manos Nouveau in the Castro District.

We enjoyed dishes rooted in Latin heritage such as the black-bean bacon soup topped with a poached egg ($15), a recipe reconceived by Montalban from his grandmother’s kitchen; and a Latin-style French onion soup ($13, also found on the dinner menu). Our holiday “plus one” Wilder had ordered the filet mignon rib-eye burger, ground inhouse ($23), but the house canceled the order because we were clearly full from the two soups and croquettas. To wash down, the restaurant offers an agave wine with oyster shooters ($10) and a tropical fruit juice mimosa ($10). But we each had a glass of a nice sparkling brut rosé, a perfect complement to the yummy victuals. Manos is Spanish for hands, and nouveau is French for new and inventive. Together they conjure up a contemporary French culinary style using Latin ingredients and recipes. For reservations visit manosnouveau.com or call (415) 872-5507.t

Looking for Mr. Gaybar

★

DAVID GALLIGAN, Director MICHAEL ORLAND, Musical Director

“HE HAS NO CENSOR!” CAROLINE RHEA,

ACTRESS

SINgularly SORDID

WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY

DEL SHORES

2 NIGHTS ONLY! JUL 31 & AUG 1 8PM PHOTO BY ROB LEBOW FOR DESERT OUTLOOK

BUY TICKETS AT NCTC SF.ORG BOX OFFICE : 415. 861 . 8972 25 VAN NESS AVE AT MARKET ST

on the trials and tribulations of a gay 20-something single man in New York City, ranging from Grindr hook-ups to amusing but disastrous dates. Oliver’s stories have been featured in Showgasm, Dead Darlings, and Naked Radio compilations as well as in his own blog. He is also a playwright and solo performer whose hit show Intimacy Idiot was developed at ArsNova in Manhattan, where he read stories onstage in a kind of gay Prairie Home Companion style. Those stories have been adapted for this book, which is a loosely structured “comedic cornucopia” of essays, sketches, vignettes, lists, diary entries, recipes for singles, prose poetry, and riffs on the search for love. Intimacy Idiot is not really sustained self-reflection, but rather smart observational musings on the foibles of humanity. “Subway Diaries” are biting transcriptions of conversations Oliver overhears while riding the subway, usually late at night, while “Scene(s) from a Box Office” transpire behind the glass of a Time Square theater box-office job, with the often mean, clueless patrons he endures. But most of Intimacy Idiot concerns Isaac’s sexual escapades. He confesses to having slept with half the people in his Washington Heights neighborhood. He is quite explicit about his no-holds-barred sexual adventures, part of the honesty he brings to all areas of his life. The writing is hysterical, whether he is choking on a dusty dildo during Skype sex, rendezvousing with a flight attendant who dresses as a dolphin (part of the furry phenomenon), spilling a glass of red wine on his date then using a Tide-to-Go

pen on the crotch of his pants to clean up the mess, or having an eczema attack during a sexual liaison. Some of the lines are cocktail-party banter: “If the attractive person is talking to you and seems interested, genuine, or even flirtatious, you’re probably going to get murdered. You could do worse: an ax in the back is still penetration.” “The best place to meet men, I’ve found, is your mind.” “I was in the middle of fellating an aloof actor when suddenly out of nowhere, he said, ‘God I hate Edward Albee. I see you have a bunch of his plays. He’s like needlessly obtuse. Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt. You can proceed.’” “If you use the lint roller just right, it can feel like physical affection.” Oliver has been compared to author David Sedaris, but so far seems to lack his compassionate insight and character development. Many of Oliver’s perceptions are scattered thoughts, a la Joan Rivers. He has the See page 19 >>

Theatre>>

July 16-22, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 19

Love & marriage, Sondheim style by Richard Dodds

espite curious initial reactions, Company is most certainly a defense-of-marriage musical. A cast of married couples spends the entire evening trying to convince their unattached friend that he should take the plunge, and he finally agrees with them. But Dean Jones, who created the role of the habitually single Bobby in 1970, wanted out of the show because he was uncomfortable with what he saw as the show’s “anti-marriage” message. (He left two weeks after its Broadway opening, amidst his messy divorce proceedings.) And the showbiz journal Variety would have been happy if the show had never reached New York. Reviewing the musical’s out-of-town tryout in Boston, Variety reported that “it’s for ladies’ matinees, homos, and misogynists.” One just might think that composer Stephen Sondheim’s and librettist George Furth’s sexualities were being reviewed. In the decades since, Company has been tweaked by its authors, but it’s still a musical with the same message. Now thanks to same-sex marriage advocates and the Supreme Court, that message has been recharged – if homos want so much this thing we already have, maybe it’s worth more than we realized. On the other hand, the conformative pressure that the character Bobby endures can become equal-opportunity hectoring. But let’s get back to Company, which is now widely considered a

classic that launched the intelligent, form-breaking collaborations between Sondheim and director-producer Hal Prince that would include Follies, Pacific Overtures and Sweeney Todd. Although there have been reimagined stagings of the musical – director John Doyle’s strippeddown “I-am-my-own-orchestra” production was well-received on Broadway and later aired as a PBS special, with hints of a bisexual Bobby – San Francisco Playhouse is offering a mostly straightforward rendering with enough polish and appealing performances to make the production a stylish success. The stories of Company are played out in a series of vignettes as the popular Bobby visits with his various sets of “those good and crazy people, my married friends,” while sometimes breaking off for a liaison with one of the three young women he has mostly been stringing along. In director Susie Damilano’s imaginative staging, the scenes flow smoothly into each other, set on Bill English and Jacquelyn Scott’s utilitarian set of scaffolds in front of large projections of various Manhattan scenes. Each of the five couples in Bobby’s life have their own idiosyncrasies but enjoy his company for the break he provides in their routine, and as a cause to provide him with something they are sure is missing from his life. While the wives are singing “poor baby, all alone, evening after evening by the telephone,” Robert is simultaneously seducing a flight attendant who accepts his pro forma im-

Jessica Palopoli

Keith Pinto, as the commitment-phobic Bobby, instigates a onenight-stand with a flight attendant (Morgan Daley) in San Francisco Playhouse’s Company.

ploration to stay after their fling in the one-night-stand song “Barcelona.” As the ditsy flight attendant, Morgan Daley beautifully handles her showcase moment, a spotlight that moves about the couples for their defining moments. She also is part of the excellent harmonizing trio of Bobby’s girlfriends (including Michelle Drexler and Teresa Attridge, the latter less equipped to go solo on “Another Hundred People”) who rail against Robert’s commitmentphobia in “You Could Drive a Person Crazy.” Other superior moments be-

long to Monique Hafen as bride-tobe Amy with cold feet, who gets great comic mileage out of the rat-a-tat lyrics of “Getting Married Today,” and Stephanie Prentice, who, despite Elaine Stritch’s formidable precedent, gives tough-cookie Joanne her own personality and sells, at least to a final wobbly note, the excoriating “The Ladies Who Lunch.” The men mostly get their due in the dialogue moments with their spouses, and in such sensitively sung ensemble numbers as “SorryGrateful,” which features Richard

Frederick, Ryan Drummond, and Christopher Reber. All of the cast members, albeit some more flashily, contribute to the cohesive tone of the production, a group that also includes Velina Brown, John Paul Gonzalez, Abby Sammons, Nicole Weber, and Michael Scott Wells. And then there’s Robert, also known as Bobby Baby and Bobby Bubbi, a tricky role because it’s that of a detached observer. But Keith Pinto doesn’t let Bobby become a cipher, giving him some edge and a streak of smugness. His voice is fine, and while there are moments along the way when one may doubt it, he does deliver on his big song “Being Alive.” He’s also one of the goodenough dancers who deliver Kimberly Richards’ playful choreography. Grand pianos on either side of the stage, one manned by music director David Dobrusky, provide a fuller sound than a two-piece accompaniment might suggest. It’s all in service to a musical about to-death-do-uspart commitment that, in its skill, gives you evidence otherwise before declaring its true intentions. There is an undercurrent of single-shaming in Company, which the Supreme Court’s decision obliquely echoed. But in a quality production such as SF Playhouse’s, Company, and especially Sondheim’s words and music, are always worth a revisit, no matter your nuptial notions.t Company will run at San Francisco Playhouse through Sept. 12. Tickets are $20-$120. Call (415) 677-9596 or go to sfplayhouse.org.

Merman mania by Richard Dodds

here are the potted palms? The current tenant at the Geary Theater suggests an afternoon salon with tea and cakes to follow. What it doesn’t suggest is a proper celebration of Ethel Merman, despite a subtitle staking claim to that proposition. Call Me Miss Birds Eye: A Celebration of Ethel Merman is a curiously wan exercise from the Australia-based Acoustic Voice. This is a company that eschews amplification, and while the legendary belter is a prime candidate for the mikeless approach, the results are undercut by a haphazard biographical narrative and, more problematically, by lackluster vocal performances. In other situations, Denise Wharmby’s pleasantly genteel voice might be at home, but while it’s enough to project at least to the orchestra level at the Geary, her vocals are far removed from the brassy sound that the two narrators keep reminding us Merman owned. Wharmby enunciates the lyrics, but the words gather in thin puddles rather than merrily splashing through the melodies. Such great songs that Merman introduced on Broadway as “I Got Rhythm,” “You’re the Top,” and “I Get a Kick Out of You” are actually diminished in these interpretations that wind down when they should be trum-

Intimacy

From page 18

knack of finding humor in the most heartbreaking of situations, yet oddly exhibits a minimum of self-awareness. While some of the pieces work, about half fall flat. I suspect some of the less successful ones might function better on the stage, where they can be seen and heard. Two standouts that testify to his storytelling abilities: a handsome hockey player

Kevin Berne

Don Bridges, left, and Martin Grimwood narrate Ethel Merman’s story while Denise Wharmby delivers her songs in Call Me Miss Birds Eye at the Geary Theater.

peting up to their final notes. The genesis of the show goes back to 1985, when theater critic Jack Tinker wrote and narrated a Merman tribute (with comic actress Libby Morris singing Merman’s songs) that was part of a series of short-run showcases in London.

Acoustic Voice uncovered Tinker’s script a couple of years ago (was someone actually looking for it?), and the SF run is heralded as the “North American premiere.” It is also being promoted as the “preBroadway run,” an outcome that is highly dubious.

calls Oliver out of loneliness and despair after being diagnosed with Huntington’s disease; and Oliver, on a writer’s retreat in the New Hampshire woods, abandons his cell phone to focus on his work, yet still obsesses about getting laid. In these two essays he is willing to be vulnerable and self-deprecating. There is a dark streak. In the awkward dates and unrequited hookups, Oliver shows a need to be loved, but he never finds it in a stable way,

intimacy always just out of reach. Sadness and lack of fulfillment underlie the comic veneer. Oliver perceives that he tends to treat his existence as a dress rehearsal for a life he has yet to live. He captures the loneliness and despair of looking for love in Manhattan, yet remains true to his own standards. Intimacy Idiot is an auspicious but flawed debut, but there is no doubt why the Advocate named Oliver one of their “People to Watch in 2015.”t

The narrator’s role has been split between Don Bridges and Martin Grimwood, an odd couple with the former coming across as a grizzled musical-hall veteran, and the latter as someone who might be cast as an ominous assassin in a spy movie, with his hulking presence and shaved head. They also sing their

share of songs together and apart, with occasional fumbles, and while Bridges has enough personality to get away with a limited voice, Grimwood generally sinks to a nadir in a particularly dreary effort on “Do I Love You?” The narration provides a bit of personal information about Merman mixed in with career notes, with confusing choices limiting its effort at much of a dramatic arc. While Wharmby does get to speak as Merman, some of the key lines, including the anecdote that inspired the Miss Birds Eye title, are tossed off by the narrators. And when we are told that Jerry Herman wrote two songs for Merman to sing when she joined the cast of Hello, Dolly!, Wharmby ends up singing the traditional first-act finale “Before the Parade Passes By.” (Those interpolated songs are heard earlier without explanation.) Rick Wallace is credited with both the bare-bones direction and choreography, with Acoustic Voice founder and artistic director Graham Clarke getting spinet sounds out of a grand piano. It’s emblematic of the show, and especially of a central performance that would have Ethel Merman stomping down the theater aisle shouting, “Sing out, Denise.”t Call Me Miss Birds Eye: A Celebration of Ethel Merman, through July 19 at the Geary Theater. Tickets: (415) 749-2228.

“THE SPIRIT OF SERGIO LEONE HOVERS ABOVE ARGENTINE DIRECTOR PABLO FENDRIK’S ‘ARDOR’.” – PETER DEBRUGE, VARIETY

“SMOLDERING!” “BEWITCHING!” – THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

GAEL GARCÍA BERNAL

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ALICE BRAGA

A FILM BY PABLO FENDRIK TAKEPART.COM/ARDOR

STARTS FRIDAY, JULY 17

SAN FRANCISCO 4-STAR THEATRE 2200 Clement St (415) 666-3488

<< Film

20 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 16-22, 2015

Oranges are not the only fruit by David Lamble

“

os Angeles is a beautifully wrapped lie.” This tart if sour observation, from the lips of an Armenian cab driver’s mother-inlaw chasing her daughter’s hubby down a cultural rabbit-hole and into a Korean-owned snack shop full of pimps and their transgender African American prostitutes, is a prime reason for catching Tangerine (opening Friday). It’s director Sean Baker’s sassy, witty tour of everything the LA Chamber of Commerce would rather you not see. Baker and screenwriter Chris Bergoch begin their excursion amidst Donut Time’s hard plastic booths as two old friends, Sin-Dee (scenestealing Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) and Alexandra (Mya Taylor) catch up on Santa Monica Blvd. dish and gossip. It’s the night before Christmas, and somebody’s been misbehaving, namely Sin-Dee’s boyfriend Chester (bewitching if slippery James Ransone). If it isn’t bad enough that Chester is two-timing her, the bastard’s doing it with a white skank, Dinah (Mickey O’Hagan). The fact that Sin-Dee has been locked away for 28 days just makes her need to exact re-

venge all the more urgent. “Where’s your fucking phone?” “It was shut off. I had to cover your rent last month.” After Sin-Dee bitches and moans about everything that Chester has done to piss her off, Alexandra promises to help restore a moral order to their world, if only Sin-Dee will promise not to go off halfcocked. “You gotta promise that there’s not going to be any drama!” “I promise! I promise!” “Look into my eyes and Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures promise.” Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez in director Sean Baker’s Tangerine. “I promise, no drama!” Of course, increasingly crazed drama is exactly what the girls are fest is the geek factor of it being “You’re not even hard yet!” going to deliver in spades. What’s filmed on an iPhone, which these “I’m hard.” especially delicious is that the verbal girls would kill for. From a com“That’s hard?” and physical battles to come play out edy angle, the filmmakers get a lot In this year when LGBTQ folks on distinctive LA turf: in Donut Land, of mileage from putting unlikely are tempted to take victory laps, Laundry Land, and the back of an combos of characters together, like Tangerine is a feisty reminder of orange-painted RTD bus. Tangerine a moment when a white male john our tribe’s contributions to liberatis a saucy update of a Depression-era asks a black rent girl to perform an ing America’s remaining Puritan template first found in the 30s-era especially delicate maneuver in the bastions. The meaning of the title is novels of Nathanael West (Miss Lonefront seat. never explicitly spelled out, but one lyhearts, Day of the Locust). “Please grab my balls. It’s Christcan infer from the character tropes What’s particularly daring about mas.” that the fruit in question is a metathis Southland street-queen glam-

phor for a degree of diversity our founders (especially the slaveholders) could never have envisioned, and might have actively fought. Every fan of Tangerine will have his favorite slice, such as the Robert Altmanesque parade of lost souls in the backseat of Razmik’s cab: the old Native American man who doesn’t complain about a detour over the freeway, the old white woman who emerges from a trip to her vet with an empty dog-carrier case, or the disgusted Armenian grandma who chases her untrustworthy son-in-law through the wacko events at Donut Time. Tangerine may be one of the sweetest fruits available at your local cinemaplex. Its iPhone camerawork suggests that first-rate filmmaking has become all the more accessible without dumbing down the product; and that the definition of queer sensibility has expanded seamlessly without leaving anyone behind. Whether Tangerine reminds you of early Cassavetes, Gregg Araki, or the prime of Billy Wilder, this fruit is going to wind up in a lot of “Best Picture” holiday baskets.t

Saving the rain forest

Courtesy of Participant Media

Gael García Bernal (right) as Kaí in director Pablo Fendrik’s Ardor.

by David Lamble

he new jungle adventure Ardor (opening Friday) is a hoot-anda-half for savvy LGBTQ filmgoers on a number of intriguing grounds. The film, written and directed by Pablo Fendrik, stars and is executive produced by the Mexican-born, multilingual hottie Gael Garcia Bernal, first celebrated by queer fans for his complex friendship with his costar and real-life childhood buddy Diego Luna in the hilarious and passionate 2001 Mexican road comedy Y Tu Mama Tambien. That film got them selected as gorgeous straight cover boys for The Advocate. The good news to report from

Ardor is that the Gael many of us swooned over for his passionate male-on-male kissing scene with Luna at the climax of Tu Mama is back, although this time, his male shaman protagonist, Kai, limits his lip-locks to his female co-star Alice Braga (Vania). At the conclusion of a professional chat with Tu Mama director Alfonso Cuaron, he asked wickedly, “Why do gay men love Gael so passionately?” Ardor, not entirely successful as a “save the rain forests” Western, does remind us of the power of a charismatic star to get us to enjoy a drama that would be totally lost in the jungle without his charming, bare-chested presence. Back in 1964, Philippe de Broca’s

That Man from Rio, a satire sending up the newly launched James Bond franchise, starred the French hottie (and Gael of his day) Jean-Paul Belmondo. Looking back over half-a-century of satires and mockumentaries, it’s now possible to see That Man from Rio as a multi-targeted spoof with a timerelease edge that is still paying dividends. In the high-energy prologue, Belmondo searches for treasure in the rain forests of Brazil, the very jungle then being cleared to make way for Brazil’s new capital Brasilia. Fendrik and Gael’s sincere political-drama argument for saving a patch of Argentinian rain forest could have used an injection of the de Broca/Belmondo brand of screwball-comedy satire. The makers of Ardor also pay homage to the classic 1950s-era American Western, specifically George Stevens’ Shane, where Alan Ladd’s “pacifist gunman” character faces down a sincere (therefore subtly campy), mean Jack Palance as the hired gun threatening the lives of Shane’s farmer/sheepherder friends. At the very end of Shane, as the lone-wolf hero rides off the sheepherder’s spread, the family’s young boy (a haunting Brandon de Wilde) calls out to his hero, “Come back, Shane, come back!” With all my reservations about Ardor, I urge you to see this unusual experiment in movie multi-tasking for the gutsy way its reach exceeds its grasp. There are many bad movies out there, but few are worthy of 100 minutes of your time, not to mention $12 from your wallet. In the end, a still-handsome Gael Garcia Bernal, dancing provocatively on the cusp between youth and middle age, is back, and we should all count our blessings.t

Nina Simone and her daughter.

Suffering soul by Ernie Alderete

was shocked by the new documentary that premiered this month on Netflix about singer Nina Simone, What Happened, Miss Simone? I loved Nina when I was much younger, I saved up my pittance of an allowance to buy her long-playing vinyl record albums. I’m not denying anything in the documentary, it probably all happened, but I think the program concentrated too much on the negative, and not enough on what made Nina great in the first place. I don’t think she got a fair shake from Netflix. She’s long dead, she can’t defend herself. Sure, she was troubled. But she was also a major talent. I choose to remember the talent. This program came across like a black version of Mommie Dearest, or Let’s Get Nina. Her daughter, her husband, everyone trashed her memory. Her daughter has every right to tell her side of the story, or course. But like Christina Crawford, her memories are those a child, and children often resent adult decisions a parent has to make, and compromises adults

must make to navigate rough seas. Nina’s voice reflected her suffering – as a woman in a man’s world, as a black person in a white person’s world. She never saw the light at the end of the tunnel. She was consumed by racism and sexism. She even seemed to hate her fans, the basis of her support, the foundation of her financial security. Simone always felt like an outsider in her own country. So much so that she moved to the Republic of Liberia in West Africa, the nation founded by freed slaves from the U.S., primarily from what were at one time the Confederate States of the Deep South. Critics are lambasting a coming dramatization of Nina’s life because her male love interest in the movie was actually gay, so how could he be the love of her life? Hey, it’s a movie, not a documentary. Billy Dee Williams played Billie Holiday’s love interest in Lady Sings the Blues, a completely fictional character, but a handsome male lead made the movie much more interesting, made Lady Sings the Blues a love story. That’s what Hollywood does best.t

t <<

Fine Art>>

July 16-22, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 21

CJM-SF

From page 17

The show’s themes, the province of sci-fi, novels, movies and anyone prone to inquiring into what’s out there, are thought-provoking while teasing both the mind and the eye. And when is the last time a museum show simultaneously offered ruminations on wonderment and a contemplative way to spend an afternoon? Those ruminations, it should be said, are tethered to earthbound consensus reality by well-placed, explanatory text that amplifies select objects. The organizing principle of the exhibition, evolved from two questions percolating in the brain of CJM’s Chief Curator Renny Pritikin: What does the Sublime, a construct that has its roots in the 18th-century, look like today? And what is our relationship to the concept in an age “dominated by information, uncertainty, irony and untrustworthy images?” That inability to trust our eyes in an era dominated by digital manipulation is exemplified by Vanessa Marsh’s “Mountains,” three photograms from her 2014 Falling series. Ostensibly depicting the night sky viewed in an unnamed wilderness, they’re actually total fabrications, collages that combine cut paper, drawings and paintings on Mylar, the latter adding dashes of vibrant color suggesting distant nebula in a dense starscape. A different sleight of hand is at play in Daniel Crooks’ “A Garden of Parallel Paths” (2012), a video loop that poses existential questions about aloneness and separation. Pedestrians going about their daily routines seem oblivious to the fact that they’ve entered the Twilight Zone courtesy of Crooks’ slow-moving camera, which pans across parallel urban alleyways covered in graffiti, and more to the point, captures parallel lives as people pass through walls, magically appearing on the other side or disappearing into thin air. This work, one of several powerful videos here, adds to an ambience that Rod Serling certainly would have appreciated. Local artist Lisa K. Blatt’s video “clearest lake in the world” (2012), screened inside a darkened room, is a nocturnal vista of a glistening mountain lake in Patagonia illuminated solely by stars. Just outside that space is Christopher Woodcock’s “The Great Western Divide” (2011), a stark black & white still that resembles an image sent back from a lunar probe rather than desolate, rugged Sierra terrain, pitchblack except for moonlight. On the other side of the planet, documentary filmmaker Werner Herzog, the poetic chronicler of extreme nature and human endeavor, uncovers wonders under the mysterious, virtually unexplored glacial blue seas of Antarctica. In a clip from his 2007 film Encounters at the End of the World, one can witness our little-known neighbors down below, like the flying clams, opening and closing their shells like clappers; a have-light, will-travel jellyfish lit up with neon from within and shimmying through the deep like a rogue chandelier on the run from its outlet; and, alone on an ice shelf, a spiky black critter that could pass for a medieval weapon of war. Diabolical beauty, the kind of terrible beauty that has mutated into horror, can be found in San Francisco artist Michael Light’s “100 Suns” (2003), images derived from military archive photographs of nuclear bomb explosions and the mushroom clouds their fearsome power produces. As of the mid-20th century, human beings have the capacity to annihilate the entire planet, when not destroying it by degrees in environmental disasters such as the one depicted in “Darvaza aka Doorway to Hell,” a wall-size, digital color photograph, dated 2010, of a

MORGAN JAMES

JUDY GOLD

SALLY KELLERMAN

July 23

July 30

August 1

For tickets:www.feinsteinssf.com Feinstein’s | Hotel Nikko San Francisco 222 Mason Street 855-MF-NIKKO | 855-636-4556

Courtesy of Artware Editions, New York

The Center is Everywhere, brass, cut lead crystal, electric lighting, hand-bound book by Josiah McElheny, from Night Begins the Day: Rethinking Space, Time, and Beauty at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco.

blazing inferno that resulted from an Armageddon-style mistake made by prospectors searching for oil in a natural gas field. A waking nightmare of a dystopian future that’s already here, the site, a 230-foot-wide crater in the Turkmenistan desert, has been burning incessantly since 1971, and will probably do so for eternity. Exploiting “tensions and fractures” in our collective assumptions of how the world works and the arbitrary nature of time, French artist Laurent Grasso’s pensive 16mm film installation Soleil Noir (2014) is a meditation on an ancient catastrophe. The artist deployed drones to shoot aerial views of the ruins of Pompeii in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius, the volcano that erupted in 79 AD, burying the Roman city and its inhabitants in an avalanche of ash and pumice. Few who’ve visited the excavated site can forget the petrified remains of terrified people, struck down as they ran for their lives, who are now frozen in bleached fossilized rigor. The drones glide high above the mistshrouded, still-simmering volcano, then swoop down, coasting through the archaeological site. Like the stray dog seen wandering the streets, our minds drift, concocting imaginary scenarios of oblivion to the sounds of an unsettling soundtrack that instills apprehension of a disaster that hasn’t arrived, at least not yet. (Through Sept. 20.)t

098688.01_HNSF_2015_Bay_Area_Reporter_7-16_MECH ROUND #: MECH Trim: 5.75in x 7.625in Bleed: none Live: 5.75in x 7.625in Color Space: CMYK Fonts: Futura Publication Name: Bay Area Reporter PM: PM AS: RB AD: PA: JR Date: 07/02/15 Loaded Date: 07/06/15

I am the future of the LGBT community. I’m gay. I’m 55. I’ve been out to my family for twenty years. I married a wonderful woman six years ago, and we adopted a baby girl from Vietnam. My family is everything to me. That’s why I’m an avid follower of LGBT rights. Not just marriage, either. I want to make sure that I can travel safely, enjoy my retirement and have my child benefit from my life’s work. I’m the future of the LGBT community. And I read about that future every morning on my work laptop. Because that’s where I want it to be.

The person depicted here is a model. Their image is being used for illustrative purposes only.

<< TV

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 16-22, 2015

Everybody back in the shark tank by Victoria A. Brownworth

s it gears up to be the hottest summer on record all across the U.S. (thank goodness Fox News is still there to tell us there’s no climate change!), why go out when you can watch great TV at home? Besides, that way you are safe from an Arianna Grande-licked doughnut. What could scream summer more than Shark Week? If you missed the 28th season of the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week extravaganza, you can catch the videos online. One fact we learned from Shark Week is researchers estimate that 100 million sharks are killed per year by humans, a conservative estimate. Sharks gestate for at least a year and take as long as humans to reach puberty. So we are killing off the sharks for dinner and souvenirs faster than they can repopulate. Then there’s the return of everyone’s favorite B-movie franchise. Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! is coming to Syfy July 22. But this year, we get more than a sequel, or son of a sequel. We get Sharknado Week, July 18-25. In addition to Sharknado regulars Ian Ziering and Tara Reid, you will also see Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban as President of the United States and Fox News shrike Ann Coulter as Vice President. Michele Bachmann plays herself, of course. Make some cool drinks, sit back, and enjoy the bloodbath. Speaking of bloodbaths, we have been watching the chum in the water as the Republican candidates for president try to out-awful each other. So far Donald Trump has a big lead, but Jeb Bush is catching up fast. We couldn’t be happier that Trump’s been dumped by NBC and Univi-

sion. What’s creepy is that as the backlash against his racist comments grows, so do his poll numbers. Meanwhile, Jeb Bush was quicker to defend a guacamole recipe than he was his own Mexican-born wife, which should disturb Republican women at least. And he’s decided – from the vantage point of the 1% – that Americans aren’t working hard enough, even though we work more than any other country on the planet. It was a comment reminiscent of his father’s not knowing how much milk cost. We’ll have plenty of time to watch these guys self-destruct, of course, but don’t forget what’s said in these early days, like Bobby Jindal, whose parents are immigrants from India, claiming the Confederate flag is a symbol of his Southern heritage and as such must continue to stand in Louisiana; or Rick Santorum saying the SCOTUS decision on marriage equality proved he was right when he said it would open the door for “man-on-dog” relationships, as he famously said in 2003. The suspension of disbelief required to listen to any of these guys and their Fox News handlers is so much more than what’s required to watch sci-fi, we know which we choose. If you haven’t been streaming Sense8 (and we were late to that party), you will want to check it out. This latest offering from the Wachowskis (Bound, The Matrix, V for Vendetta) was created, written and executive-produced by Andy, Lana, and Babylon 5’s J. Michael Straczynski. It’s something else. Literally. The show has got a lot of hype, in part because Netflix is better at promoting their original series than any TV network ever. (If you haven’t seen

Summer at the Cliff House Cliff House and Beyond! Guided Historical Walks Spend a memorable Saturday morning exploring Lands End. Start at the historic Cliff House with a continental breakfast then walk through Adolph Sutro’s magical ‘kingdom by the sea’ with historian guide John A. Martini. Regarded as the ultimate authority on this part of the City’s fabled past John’s walks will be offered on August 1, September 5, and October 10. For more information and to make reservations please visit www.cliffhouse.com/history/Johns_Walk.html

Join us for these Cliff House Weekly Favorites • Wine Lovers’ Tuesday – Half Priced Bottled Wines* • Bistro Wednesday Nights – $28 Three-Course Prix Fixe • Friday Night Jazz in the Balcony Lounge • Sunday Champagne Brunch Buffet Valet parking every night after 5:00 pm. * Some restrictions apply. Promotions are not valid on holidays.

1090 Point Lobos

415-386-3330

www.CliffHouse.com

Courtesy Syfy

Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! is coming to Syfy July 22.

Orange Is the New Black, the third season of which landed for Pride month, or House of Cards, the third season of which landed in February, why not? Both Emmy-winning shows will return for fourth seasons in 2016.) A side note here about Sense8: Lana Wachowski, formerly Larry, transitioned in 2010. She was awarded HRC’s Visibility Award in 2012 at the annual gala in San Francisco. There she spoke about her struggles with identity and her role as part of “the Wachowski Brothers” for years. Now, as the most successful out trans person in Hollywood, Lana is telling her story, and has said part of that story is having trans characters in Sense8. Sense8 (a play on “sensate”) premiered in June. As Netflix describes the series, “The plot revolves around eight strangers from different parts of the world who suddenly become mentally and emotionally linked: Sensates. The show aims to explore subjects that its writers felt science fiction shows tend to ignore or skim through, such as politics, identity, sexuality, gender and religion.” Especially identity and sexuality. There are eight strangers, each from a different culture and different part of the global village: Mexico City, Nairobi, Mumbai, Reykjavik, Seoul, Berlin, Chicago, and yes, San Francisco. A tie that binds them is they each have a secret. But what initiates their Sensate-ism is each has experienced a vision of the violent death of Anjelica “Angel” Turing (activist-actress Daryl Hannah, returning to her Blade Runner roots in this series), who is revealed to be essential to their connection. Once the Sensates are viable – that is, they have all had their vision – they share more than telepathy. They can share their skills, which are, of course, mad. The eight Sensates are helped in uncovering their “mission” via the mysterious stranger Jonas (the super-sexy award-winning British actor Naveen Andrews of Lost), who is trying to protect them from Whispers (Tony-nominated musical actor Terrence Mann), a Sensate who has turned against Sensate-ism and runs an organization focused on eliminating all Sensates, one way or another. Some of this is reminiscent of ABC’s V, which ran from 2009-11, and is on DVD. Among the eight Sensates are four women, two queer couples and four people of color, all with different ethnic/national backgrounds. This is more than the usual “drop in one LGBT person and one person of color, and if possible, make them one and the same” brand of multiculturalism on the tube. (Not to say there aren’t a few stereotypes tossed into the mix in Sense8, like #notallAsians do martial arts.) Among the cast members is Jamie Clayton, who plays Nomi Marks, a trans woman and hacktivist living in San Francisco. Like Lana Wachowski, Nomi is a trans lesbian and has a girlfriend, Amanita (Freema Agyeman, Doctor Who). One of the things Lana Wachowski has brought to Sense8 is realism in

the midst of sci-fi. Jamie Clayton is a trans actress, bringing verisimilitude to the role. Sense8 also includes a gay man among the Sensates, Lito Rodriguez (hunky Miguel Ángel Silvestre), a closeted Spanish actor from Bilbao living in Mexico City whose boyfriend is Hernando (Mexican actor/musician Alfonso Herrera). One star to watch in this cast is British actress Tuppence Middleton, who plays Riley Blue, the Icelandic DJ with, yes, a secret. She is, as they say across the pond, ace, and figures strongly. Sense8 is a complex and sometimes meandering series (think Lost) that could have used someone reeling it in, which no one over at Netflix seems to do, but the strong performances and mystery elements hold one’s attention. If you are one of the people hanging in with Bryan Fuller’s hallucinogenic Hannibal on NBC, or are addicted to BBC America’s Orphan Black, then you will be cool with Sense8. It reminds the TVwatching world that there are people who aren’t straight white men in it.

Cannibal rites

Speaking of Hannibal, a series we have been obsessed with since its first season in 2013, the July 9 episode featured one of the most erotic lesbian sex scenes we’ve ever seen on TV. This show is always out-doing itself on stunning visuals, but the scene between Dr. Alana Bloom (Caroline Dhavernas) and Margot Verger (Katharine Isabelle) was extraordinary. Borrowing from Ingmar Bergman’s iconic film Persona, the scene managed to create lush, explicit images via the use of a kaleidoscope. It was amazing, and so unexpected. This episode also featured yet another sensual/sexual scene between Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen) and Will (Hugh Dancy). Such a tease. What happens next? Previews for the remaining episodes in the season suggest a lot of nudity and cannibalistic fetishism. We are on Team #LetHannibalLive, so we are hoping NBC reconsiders the cancellation of this incredible series, or that Netflix picks it up for a fourth season. Speaking of lesbian sex scenes, we were a little surprised at how much ABC was promoting the ménage à trois between Karen (Yunjin Kim) and her friends Alec and Vivian on Mistresses. This show is one of our guilty pleasures. Seeing the tentative then sensual embrace of Karen’s bicurious experience was intriguing to watch. We’re pretty sure a lot of women are DVRing this season for a reason. We guess this is what is meant by women’s sexuality being fluid. Not so fluid is HBO’s True Detective, which is still holding with the straight white men meme, but season two, which debuted June 21, is doing something completely different than its first season. We aren’t sure how we feel about the paradigm shift, but we’ve watched American Horror Story. We know this is a thing now. Gone are Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. Gone also is the noirish

landscape of Louisiana, replaced by what HBO refers to as “the scorched landscapes of California.” This season’s main stars are also film actors: Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams and Taylor Kitsch (The Normal Heart). Farrell is compelling as Detective Ray Velcoro, a stressed single dad and a cop who walks ethical lines. Vaughn is the bad guy Frank Semyon, a career criminal or businessman, depending on who’s asking. Kitsch plays California Hughway Patrol officer Paul Woodrugh. The most complex character in this multi-layered season is McAdams’ Detective Antigone “Ani” Bezzerides of the Ventura County Sheriff ’s Office Criminal Investigation Division. Antigone as a name is a bit heavyhanded, and the character is written that way. In a series that showcases straight white men and their propensity for violence, the women are background characters: wives, girlfriends, victims. Ani is not. She’s both one of the boys – hard-drinking and hard-partying, has a knife and is of indeterminate sexuality – and distinctly Other. These may be the best roles McAdams and Vaughn, who have slogged through a lot of romantic comedies, have had in a while. It’s worth watching to see what they bring to those roles and how this season shapes up vs. its stiffest competition, the show’s previous season. FX debuted Denis Leary’s (Rescue Me) new series Sex Drugs Rock Roll on July 16. Creator Leary also stars as Johnny Rock, lead singer of the fictional 90s band The Heathens. Johnny Rock is now 25 years older and out of cash as well as opportunities. The hard-partying 90s rocker is trying to get his aging group, which self-destructed, back together. Leary is always good, FX has a proven track record of solid series, so this is worth a look, especially if the 90s was your era. With singer John Corbett (United States of Tara) and Elizabeth Gillies (Victorious). The worst TV story of the week had to be the revelation that Bill Cosby really is a rapist. For many, the unsealing of court documents from 2005 in which Cosby acknowledged buying drugs specifically to give to his victims didn’t alter our perceptions. You either always believed the dozens of women who came forward saying he had drugged and raped them, or you believed Cosby. Whoopi Goldberg got into a shouting match on The View after the news broke. Backing her up was the show’s ever-problematic token lesbian, Raven-Symone, who costarred with Cosby on The Cosby Show for five years. Goldberg said, “No one has convicted him, he has not been arrested, and the bottom line is that’s the law: innocent until proven guilty.” She compared Cosby’s accusers (over 40 women, who include the women in the sealed court documents, as well as African American supermodel Beverly Johnson, model Janice Dickinson, and more than a dozen actresses) of being liars. Goldberg asserted, “He has not been proven a rapist.” Then she made some of us gasp as she joked, “As a former Quaalude user, the 80s were, they weren’t fun for everybody, clearly.” Yikes. Raven-Symone added, “I don’t really like talking about it that much because he’s the reason I’m on this panel in the first place, he gave me my first job. But at the same time, you need the proof, then I’ll be able to give my judgment.” On July 8, Centric, a BET-owned station, dropped The Cosby Show from its network “until further notice,” according to a company spokesperson. Read that as “forever and ever.” Bounce TV pulled Bill Cosby’s other sitcom Cosby, which See page 25 >>

Natureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s secret language If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a Gouldian finch looking for love, the right colors can lead you to the perfect match. Discover how color can attract, warn, camouflage and communicate in this vibrant new exhibit. Get tickets at calacademy.org Generously supported by

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7/8/15 5:51 PM

<< Out&About

24 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 16-22, 2015

O& A

Thu 16

O ut &

A bo

Christian Cagigal’s Obscura @ La Val’s Subterranean

Don’t Stop Me @ Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, Oakland Youth Musical Theater Company’s production of Dave Malloy and Krista Knight’s commissioned musical about the lives of the theatre company’s teens, including lesbians coming out. $15-$28. Fri & Sat 7pm. Sun 2pm. Thru July 26. 1428 Alice St., Oakland. www.ymtcberkeley.org

Jay Brannan @ Bottom of the Hill

Magic acts by Jim Provenzano

ere’s the thing: the stage is sacred. The fourth wall is a magic invisible border that you don’t break. The recent ridiculous behavior of Broadway theater patrons has become a laughing stock, where Patti Lupone herself has had to kick some ass to fight the cell phone idiots. Behave as an audience member, or stay home. And remember, each week, for bar and nightlife events where you can chat and text to your heart’s content, head on over to On the Tab in the BARtab section.

Thu 16 Black Virgins are Not for Hipsters @ The Marsh Echo Brown’s comic solo show follows a young women’s impending sexual encounter, and its political implications. $20-$35. Thu 8pm. Sat 8:30pm. Extended thru Sept 12. 1062 Valencia St. at 22nd. 282-3055. themarsh.org

Champagne White and the Temple of Poon @ Oasis D’Arcy Drollinger’s sequel to the hilarious hit comedy Shit & Champagne, with a women’s prisonthemed parody and suspense-filled action-comedy show. $25-$200 (fourperson VIP table). Thu-Sat 7pm. Thru Sept 12. 298 11th St. sfoasis.com

Club Inferno @ Hypnodrome Thrillpeddlers’ hilarious rockin’ production of Kelly Kittell and Peter Fogel’s glam rock musical spin on Dante’s The Divine Comedy, where the road to fame can be hell, literally! $30-$35. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru Aug. 8. 575 10th St. at Bryant. 377-4202. www.hypnodrome.org

Obscura @ La Val’s Subterranean, Berkeley Christian Cagigal returns with his touching solo show about family, magic, and tales of the occult; it includes some amazing sleight of hand. $15-$25. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru Aug. 8. 1834 Euclid Ave., Berkeley. www.impacttheatre.com

The gay folk-rock singer-guitarist returns for a (most probably sold out) show. Debbie Neigher and Shawn Alpay open. 9:30pm. 1233 17th St. at Missouri. www.jaybrannan.com www.bottomofthehill.com

Love and Information @ Strand Theater The inaugural performances at American Conservatory Theatre’s new satellite theatre; Carol Churchill’s kaleidoscopic play captures the dizzying array of electronic communication that helps and hinders true human connection. $40-$100. Tue-Sat 7:30pm [note earlier curtain time]. Wed & Sat 2pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm. Thru Aug. 9. 1127 Market St. 749-2228. act-sf.org

Rachel Sage @ Dolores Park Cafe The award-winning singer-songwriter performs at the scenic café. 7pm10pm. 501 Dolores St. 621-2936. rachelsage.com doloresparkcafe.com

Sunset Piano @ SF Botanical Gardens

Rita Rudner @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko

Enjoy site-specific recitals by multiple musicians on a dozen pianos set in the outdoor garden’s 55-acre setting; open to the public for playing as well. Thru July 20. www.sunsetpiano.com www.sfbotanicalgardensociety.org

The veteran comic, who tosses out scathing barbs with a sweet edge, performs at the classy downtown cabaret. $35-$50. ($20 food/drink min.) 8pm. Also July 18, 7pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. ritarudner.com www.ticketweb.com

W. Kamau Bell @ The Marsh, Berkeley Acclaimed comic and commentator performs Home by 10, his solo show about current events. Partial proceeds benefit Hearts Leap Preschool. $15$50. Thursdays, 8pm. Thru July 30. 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Top Girls @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley Shotgun Player’s production of Caryl Churchill’s witty play about an ‘80s British employment agency and its women through history. $5-$25. Wed 7pm. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 5pm. Thru Aug. 2. 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-6500. shotgunplayers.org

Comedy Returns @ El Rio Laugh it up with LGBT and queerfriendly comics Bridget Schwartz, Yayne Abeba, Abhay Nadkarni, David Roth and host Lisa Geduldig. $7-$20. 8pm. 3158 Mission St. (800) 8383006. www.elriosf.com

Fri 17 Love and Information @ Strand Theater

The Desk Set @ Exit Theatre

New & Classic Films @ Castro Theatre July 16, Christopher Lee in Horror of Dracula (7:30) and The Wicker Man (5:30, 9pm). July 17: Mad Max 2 (7:20) and The Hitcher (9:30). July 18: singalong Annie (1pm, also July 19, 12pm), Short Cuts (5pm) and Pulp Fiction (8:10). July 19: The Lady Vanishes (3:55, 7pm) and The 39 Steps (5:20, 8:50). July 21: Contempt (7pm) and Mulholland Drive (9pm). July 22: Dusty and Sweets McGee (7pm) and Inherent Vice (8:45). July 23: SF International Jewish Film Festival’s opening day (thru Aug. 9). $11-$15. 429 Castro St. castrotheatre.com

Queer Nation Reunion @ GLBT History Museum Gathering of the activist group’s San Francisco chapter, with panels at 6pm & 8pm. a slideshow and audience Q&A. $5. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

TransCuba, Jamil Hellu @ Rayko Photo Center

Denise Wharmby’s musical tribute solo show as iconic musical theatre singer-actress Ethel Merman includes 30 songs, and stories from Merman’s life. $20-$65. Wed-Sat 7:30pm. Sat 2pm. Sun 7pm. Thru July 19. 405 Geary St. 749-2228. www.act-sf.org

Photo exhibit of the prints by Mariette Pathy Allen of Cuba’s transgender residents. Also, in the side gallery, Jamil Hellu’s Darrin, a series of homoerotic photos of his partner. Thru July 31. 428 3rd St. 495-3773. www.raykophotocenter.com

Fiddler on the Roof @ Julia Morgan Theater, Berkeley Berkeley Playhouse’s production of Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s worldwide hit musical about a Russian Jewish family and the hard-lost traditions at the turn of the century. $25-$60. Fri 7pm, Sat 1pm & 6pm. Sun 12pm & 5pm. Thru Aug. 2. 2640 College Ave., Berkeley. (510) 845-8542. berkeleyplayhouse.org

Karen Hirst, Tom Shaw @ Martuni’s Summer in the City, a concert with the accomplished singer and pianist. $10. 7pm. 4 Valencia St.

Triangle @ Lucie Stern Theatre, Palo Alto

Kevin Berne

Fri 17 Berlin’s Best @ Hotel Rex Society Cabaret presents a night of music by Irving Berlin, with Jill Gould, Danielle Debow, and Christoper M. Nelson. Cocktails and small plates available. $25-$45. 8pm. 562 Sutter St. www.societycabaret.com

Company @ SF Playhouse Local production of the classic 1970s Stephen Sondheim musical about a perpetually single Robert and his notso-happily married friends. $35-$12. Wed & Thu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru Sept. 12. 450 Post St. 6779596. www.sfplayhouse.org

Detroit @ Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Lisa D’Amour’s Obie-winning satire about two very different straight couples in a suburban neighborhood. $32-$50. Tue 7pm. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm. 2081 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org

Sat 18 Anne Deavere Smith @ Berkeley Repertory The award-winning performer presents her solo show, Notes From the Field: Doing Time in Education, the California Chapter; with music composed and performed by Marcus Shelby. $25-$89. Tue-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm, Sun 7pm. Thru Aug. 2. Roda Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

David Barnett @ Kiehl’s, Maxfield’s The local gay painter showcases his animal portraits and takes commissions for your pet. 11am3pm. 1971 Fillmore St. at Pine. Also on display thru July at Maxfield’s House of Caffeine, 398 Dolores St. and Morning Due Café, 3698 17th St. www.davidbarnettart.com

Wed 22 Man Francisco @ Oasis New all-male striptease revue with a storyline of San Francisco’s history, from the Gold Rush to the tech boom. Weekly. $20. 9pm. Thru July. 298 11th St. at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com

Rainbow Skate @ Redwood Roller Rink Weekly LGBT and friends skate night, with groovy disco music and themed events. $9. 8pm-10:30pm. 1303 Main Street, Redwood City. www.rainbowskate.net www.facebook.com/rainbowskating

Theatreworks Silicon valley performs Curtis Moore and Thomas Mizer’s new musical about parallel romances across times between a gay high-tech scientist and women of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. $19-$74. Thru Aug. 2. 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. (650) 463-1960. TheatreWorks.org

Sun 19 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

Katya Presents @ Martuni’s Our beloved countess Katya SmirnoffSkyy is joined in concert with Mz. Michelle Elaine Ianiro, with Tom Shaw at the piano. $11. 7pm. 4 Valencia St.

J.M.W. Turner @ de Young Museum Paintings by the landscape master. Thru Sept 20. Other exhibits of modern art as well. Free/$25. Thru May 31. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. www.famsf.org

The weekly LGBT TV show, with updates on current events. 9:30pm. www.outlookvideo.org

The Bay Area vocalist performs her show Bessie, Dinah and Me, a revue of songs popularized by Bessie Smith, Dinah Washington and Perrier. $25$40. 8pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. deniseperrier.com www.ticketweb.com No Nude Men’s production of William Marchant’s 1955 office comedy about technology and company politics. $20. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru July 25. 156 Eddy St. www.theexit.org

Call Me Miss Birds Eye @ Geary Theater

OutLook Video @ Channel 29

Denise Perrier @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko

Mon 20 30 Years of Collecting Art That Tells Our Stories @ GLBT History Museum New exhibit of collected drawings, paintings and sculptures from three decades of queer donations, guestcurated by Elisabeth Cornu. Free (members)-$5. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

Faux Real @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley Monique Jenkinson, aka Fauxnique, performs her intensely entertaining solo show. $15-$20. 8pm. Also July 21. 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. www.shotgunplayers.org

Hysteria @ Oasis Irene Tu and Jessica Sele cohost the new comedy open mic night for women and queers. No cover. 8pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com

Tue 21 Michelle Tea @ Books Inc., Berkeley The popular local author (and new mother) reads from and discusses her new Young Adult book, Girl at the Bottom of the Sea. 7pm. 1491 Shattuck Ave. www.booksinc.net

Thu 16

W. Kamau Bell @ The Marsh

Thu 23 10 Percent @ Comcast David Perry’s online interviews with notable local and visiting LGBT people, broadcast through the week. Check for times on Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/10Percent/66629477326 www. ComcastHometown.com

Body Language @ Slate Contemporary Art, Oakland Terry Furry, Philippe Jestin and Lisa Levine show new and recent works. Thru Aug. 8. Reg. hours, Thu-Sat 12pm-5pm. 473 25th St., Oakland. (510) 652-4085. www.slateart.net

Literary Speakeasy @ Martuni’s The new monthly reading series at the intimate martini bar is hosted by James J. Siegel (Guy Writers), with Mark Abramson ( Sex, Drugs & Disco ), July Westhale (poet and Fullbright nominee), Elizabeth Creely (California environmentalist and essayist) and Natalia Rose (musician with the band Raven Marcus). 7pm-8:30pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market. www. facebook.com/LiterarySpeakeasy

Morgan James @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko Singer-songwriter actress performs her unique cabaret act, with songs ranging from Prince to her own music from her debut CD Hunter. $35-$50. ($20 food/drink min.) 8pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.morganjamesonline.com www.ticketweb.com

Summer Sampler @ ODC Theater New works by ODC’s Founder and Artistic Director Brenda Way and Associate Choreographer Kimi Okada. $30-$5. Thru July 25. 3153 17th St. www.odcdance.org To submit event listings, email jim@ebar.com. Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication. For more bar and nightlife events, go to On the Tab in our BARtab section, online at www.ebar.com/bartab

Music>>

July 16-22, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 25

Swanee, how I love ya! by Tim Pfaff

usic came to find me in rural South Dakota, surely explaining why I’m alive today. Because it found me first in church, where my mother – who, at the piano at home, had a torrid bluesy streak – was the organist, my first musical mind-blower was “the” (as we said then) Messiah by was-heor-wasn’t-he Handel. My first record purchase, in the nearby Big City (of 40,000), was Eugene Ormandy’s cut version, on two LPs, tailor-made for my allowance. That led to a membership in the Columbia Record Club, where Ormandy ruled, but also where an upstart named Leonard Bernstein began a cycle of Mahler symphonies in hope of resuscitating the composer’s poor reputation. I began with Lennie’s Third, which just slammed me. Soon, along came Ormandy’s Swan Lake “Suite,” cut to fit a single LP, and that sinewy, beckoning, tragedydrenched melody – the promise of a Swan Lake beyond “bloodsucker”-infested Marion Lake – found my inner queen and locked her tragic-romantic heart in its veiny embrace. It may not have been until Ken Russell’s The Music Makers, years later, that I discovered that Tchaikovsky was gay, and tragically, but I had known in our special communication from the start. Some other big tunes from those days eventually outstayed their welcome, or my puberty, but that primal, insinuating Swan Lake Theme has never once failed me as transport from here to there, my favorite itinerary. I’ve been as moved by it as lobby music in the Bangkok hotel where my health club is as I’ve been more literally moved by it at Babylon Sauna, where the music at the end of Act II is apposite and in a contagious kind of way. I wasn’t exactly vouchsafed a rich Swan Lake life, but then my first summer away from home, in St. Louis, I was able to take my visiting family to an outdoor festival performance of the complete ballet, with live orchestra, and Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn in the leads. Had fam paid closer attention to my response, a certain revelation a decade later might not have been such a surprise. Being a music critic has been a buffer from overexposure to Swan Lake, if there is such a thing, allowing me to wade back in at my own discretion. My latest dip has been into the newly released DVD of the Covent Garden Lake in what’s promised as its last video release (Opus Arte) in the long-running, drapery-weighted Anthony Dowell production. I sought

it for the same reason the Royal Ballet and Opus Arte did, to preserve Natalia Osipova’s exultant, charged OdetteOdile. I’ve learned that Osipova has her detractors; we’ll call them bitches. Surely they don’t dispute that hers is as advanced a technique as any we’ve seen, and poetic in essence. In every step she takes, every move she makes, and every breath she takes (apologies to Sting and Police) there’s a degree of extension, yielding freedom and exaltation in movement itself, allowed very few mortals, and usually no more than one to an age. Many a swan dancer has done that wavy thing with the arms, but when Osipova does it, you could rightly wonder if there are bones in hers. It’s not the illusion of fluidity; it’s fluidity. As with singers, there are dancers who make it look hard and dancers who make it look easy, and Osipova is in that charmed second class. You never worry for her, so fall deeply into her dancing, and she rewards you with the otherworldly. It doesn’t ooze emotion, it embodies it, and no other Swan Queen in my experience has emerged so rich and complex a creature. I’ve not seen the array of competing videos of this august production, so I didn’t mind sitting through it, though I found the miming – its claim to a certain kind of historical

authenticity – a dull affair, and the endless swags of heavy drapery get oppressive. Boris Gruzin leads the diligent ROH Orchestra in one of those squarish readings that we’re told dancers need. It sent me back to the Mariinski Ballet, with its rightful claims to being the “original” Swan Lake, Petipa’s choreography still hanging on for dear

life. The Decca CD set of the complete ballet left me cold, thinking conductor Valery Gergiev also too limited by the constraints of dance music. But going back to the Decca DVD after the Royal Ballet’s, I was swept up in Gergiev’s penetrating way with the piece, and the great yields of what might be seen as his autocratic way of “making the dancers work,” particularly with

some challengingly slow tempos. But their dancing is the more artistic for it, notably that of Ilya Kuznetsov’s fully danced evil Rothbart, leagues beyond his upholstered, miming counterpart in London. For a complete CD set, there’s none better than the 1991 MTT with the London Symphony, which takes the music completely seriously and exalts it. But it all sent me back to Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake for Adventures in Motion Pictures (Warner), which exists in a number of versions, and you want only the 1996 one, with Adam Cooper as the Swan. I was lucky to see it live in Los Angeles, and it’s as life-changing a theatrical experience as I’ve had. The swans, as well as the Prince (Scott Ambler in a devastating enactment of obsession), are men, but this is light years away from a Trockadero spoof. Bourne’s treatment – brilliantly funny in the overstuffed first act – is as unblinking a look at mother incest as anything between Sons and Lovers and Spanking the Monkey. These male swans exude sex, allure, and menace. For that other world, where the assumption is that with sex gay men have it all, and get off easy, this is a corrective view of the emotional stakes, shot through with unspeakable beauty.t

PR E-BROA DWAY ENG AGEMEN T !

A COUS T IC V OICE PR E SEN T S

Lavender Tube

From page 22

aired 1996-2000 and starred the comedian and Phylicia Rashad, who had also co-starred on Cosby Show. On July 9, the AP reported that a statue of Cosby was removed from Disney’s Hollywood Studio theme park. Cosby broke the color barrier on TV, was America’s dad for years and one of the best-known comedians in America for decades. That his legacy will be that of a serial rapist rather than these other things is shocking. But more shocking still is that TV celebrity has such prominence in our culture that for decades Cosby was able to elude any punishment for his crimes against women, and only now, at 77, is being held to any accounting. Marc Lamont Hill, CNN commentator and host of BET News, tweeted his shock over how the Cosby scandal has played out, noting, “Some of y’all would rather believe in an international conspiracy to railroad Cosby than to believe the stories of dozens of women. Crazy.” So for the bad news and the good news, high drama and the low comedy, the sci-fi and the reality shows, you know you really must stay tuned.t

FEATURES MORE THAN 30 SONGS FROM MERMAN’S INCREDIBLE CAREER!

NOW–JULY 19 AT THE GEARY THEATER

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<< DVD

26 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 16-22, 2015

Enter the tiger by David-Elijah Nahmod

irector Wade Gasque’s Tiger Orange (Wolfe, DVD) attracted a good deal of attention on the film festival circuit when it was revealed that co-star Frankie Valenti was former gay porn star Johnny Hazzard. Some wondered if Valenti would excel in a dramatic role. He proves himself up to the challenge. Speaking by phone to the B.A.R., Valenti said that he has not studied acting. Yet he delivers a sensitive and nuanced performance as Todd, a young gay man in search of himself.

“It wasn’t difficult,” Valenti said. “There were parts of it that were parallel to my own life.” The actor is well aware of the fact that his past as Johnny Hazzard will be one of the film’s main points of interest to gay viewers, some of whom might not take him seriously as an actor. “They’ll be intrigued,” he said. “They might expect a train wreck. There has not been a lot of luck with people in my field, so they might not have an open mind.” For himself, Valenti has no regrets. “I’m very grateful to porn,” he said. “If someone brought me back in time, I’d do it all over again.”

Steven Underhill

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He also addressed the recent wave of suicides among former gay porn stars, acknowledging that many in the industry never prepared themselves for life after porn. “We all know it stops,” he said. “Many are left asking, what do I do now? They have no skills, no goals and no self-esteem. I had goals, a good family, and support in and out of the industry.” Valenti currently works as a tour guide and as an artist, dividing his time between Provincetown and Los Angeles, with stops in Florida along the way. He admits that his travel schedule means it’s been awhile since he’s had a decent date. “I am solitary,” he said. “I enjoy being by myself. The sum of my parts does not add up to a relationship.” Yet he expressed an earnest hope that Mr. Right will come along. In Tiger Orange, Valenti co-stars with Mark Strano, who co-wrote the screenplay with Gasque. They play gay brothers Chet (Strano) and Todd (Valenti). Todd, though not effeminate, is flamboyantly gay. He’s a drifter who doesn’t know what to do with his life. After the death of his father, who raised his sons as a single dad, Todd returns home to the semi-closeted, semi-conservative Chet, who now runs the family hardware store in small-town Central California. Old hostilities boil to the surface. Chet resents Todd for not being there during Dad’s illness. He’s embarrassed by the manner in which Todd flaunts himself. Todd is jealous of Chet’s stability. A character-driven story, Tiger Orange is a tale of family and redemption. Strano and Valenti play off each other beautifully. “It’s not a typical gay story,” Valenti said. “There’s something in it for everyone to enjoy. You don’t have to be gay to enjoy it.” And what does the future hold for the talented actor? Will he act again? “I’m confident that things will unfold as they are meant to,” he said.t

Angelique Kidjo

From page 17

It was a predictably joyous occasion, initially hampered by a preconcert traffic jam at Will Call that stretched out the door on Grove and around the corner down Van Ness all the way to Hayes. It made many attendees late for the 7:30 p.m. start. By necessity (and DSH protocol), seating between numbers continued well into the first half of the show, distracting for the audience and nerve-wracking for the hundreds who missed La Kidjo’s breathtaking entrance. After an introductory set by the SFS conducted by Edwin Outwater in selections from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Kidjo entered from stage left in a gorgeous African-patterned gown complete with matching traditional head-tie. Starting with her own smoky arrangement of “Summertime,” the remarkable citizen of the world launched a concert that ultimately proved her ease with everything from samba to jazz and dance music. The crowd demographic was every bit as wide-ranging. Hipsters young and old of every color, more than a few elder statesmen and women, plus a great number of LGBT fans joined together in sing-alongs when asked to, and even stood in unison gleefully rocking with the irresistible beat when Kidjo made a tour of the main floor. The Philip Glass premiere certainly drew a fair number to the Hall on its own, and Ifè: Three Yorùbá Songs ended the concert’s first half most impressively for devotees of the genius composer. Still called a minimalist after 50 amazingly prolific years, but more accurately described as a writer of “music with repetitive structures,” Glass’ richly evocative song cycle written for Kidjo couldn’t have proved a better example of both musicians’ cosmopolitan philosophies. Ifè was a Yorùbá kingdom thought by its people to be where the world was created. Three legends are told in the songs lasting about 20 minutes. The orchestral texture is typically dense, and also just as naturally transparent. The moods range from mysterious to exultant – perfect for Kidjo, and the use of a full symphonic backing adds color and excitement. Individual players and

Larry Williamson

Edwin Outwater conducted the San Francisco Symphony.

full sections of the orchestra twine around the words and often duet with the singer. It is gorgeous music that demands a recording. The woman from Benin, by way of Paris and now Brooklyn, has found a way to fuse her message of love with every conceivable kind of music, and a full Western symphony doesn’t sound the least bit out of place behind her magnificent voice. The second half of the program was mostly devoted to African songs, with some French thrown in as well. Still accompanied by Outwater and the SFS, Kidjo was also backed by guitarist Dominic James. His charming and unassuming manner still supplied a strong touch to the overall sound. There was also some delightful interplay between the singer and the conductor. At one point, after her costume change during intermission, Kidjo took her headwear off to reveal a short blonde natural haircut. She proceeded to tie the red wrap above the equally red face of Edwin Outwater. He was a good sport, and he looked great, to the thunderous approval of the audience. It was that kind of a night, and it seemed clear that after three decades, Angélique Kidjo’s message is still gaining momentum. Her shouts for freedom and universal respect certainly shook the rafters at Davies Hall.t

Model behavior

Your assic world

NIGHTLIFE

SPIRITS

DINING

Shooting Stars

SOCIETY

ROMANCE

LEATHER

PERSONALS Vol. 45 • No. 29 • July 16-22, 2015

Cabure Bonugli/Shot in the City

www.ebar.com V www.bartabsf.com

On the Tab

July 16–23, 2015 F

ab fun awaits at cabaret venues, neighborhood bars, outdoor concerts and beat-filled nightclubs. Among the new nightclub shows, Champagne White and the Temple of Poon, the eagerly-awaited sequel to the hilarious hit comedy Shit & Champagne. Listings begin on page 28 >>

Sun 19

Nam Le Pham

Daytime Realness @ El Rio

Spirited

funand

shenanigans by Donna Sachet

s we finally begin to recover from one of the busiest and most successful Pride weeks in history, we are struck by the many people who had a hand in the many events we all enjoyed. Please take the time to thank the organizers, staff, and volunteers of those events, most importantly the SF Pride organization. Never take for granted the weeks and months of preparation that go into the hours of enjoyment See page 31 >> so many of us find.

Khmera Rouge and a bevy of hunks at the June ShangriLa at The Endup.

{ THIRD OF THREE SECTIONS } Spring and summer mean later sunsets and later hours at the Asian Art Museum. We’re open ‘til 9 PM on Thursdays and for just $5 after 5 PM, you can spend an evening in our beautiful building enjoying the galleries, special exhibitions, fun talks, lively gatherings and intimate hangs with artists. On first Thursdays, there are even cash bars, DJs and more. For details, visit www.asianart.org/thursdays

AT THE ASIAN ART MUSEUM

$5 AFTER 5PM

<< On the Tab

28 • Bay Area Reporter • July 16-22, 2015

Funny Fun @ Club 21, Oakland

Rachel Sage @ Dolores Park Cafe

Thu 16

LGBT comedy night hosted by Dan Mires. $10. 8pm. 2111 Franklin St. Oakland. (510) 268-9425. www.club21oakland.com

Grace Towers hosts the weekly gogotastic night of sexy dudes shakin’ their bulges and getting wet in their undies for $100 prize (contest at midnight), and dance beats spun by DJ DAMnation. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Gym Class @ Hi Tops

The award-winning singer-songwriter performs at the scenic café. 7pm10pm. 501 Dolores St. 621-2936. www.rachelsage.com www.doloresparkcafe.com

On the Tab

From page 28

Bulge @ Powerhouse

Denise Perrier @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The Bay Area vocalist performs her show Bessie, Dinah and Me, a revue of songs popularized by Bessie Smith, Dinah Washington and Perrier. $25$40. 8pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.ticketweb.com

Fuego @ The Watergarden, San Jose Weekly event, with Latin music, halfoff locker fees and Latin men, at the South Bay private men’s bath house. $8-$39. Reg hours 24/7. 18+. 1010 The Alameda. (408) 275-1215. www.thewatergarden.com

Enjoy cheap/free whiskey shots from jock-strapped hotties and sexy sports videos at the popular sports bar. 10pm-2am. 2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

Fri 17

Homo Thursdays @ Qbar Franko DJs the weekly mash-up/ pop music night. No cover. 2 for 1 well drinks, 9pm-2am. 456 Castro St. www.qbarsf.com

Rita Rudner @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The veteran comic, who tosses out scathing barbs with a sweet edge, performs at the classy downtown cabaret. $35-$50. ($20 food/drink min.) 8pm. Also July 18, 7pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.ritarudner.com www.ticketweb.com

Karaoke Night @ Club BnB, Oakland Sing your heart out at the free lively night. 8pm-2am. 2120 Broadway. (510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Karaoke Night @ The Stud

Rock Fag @ Hole in the Wall

“Sing Til It Hurts” the new weekly night with hostess Sister Flora (Floozy) Goodthyme. 8pm; happy hour drinks til 10pm. 10pm-2am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Enjoy hard rock and punk music from DJ Don Baird at the wonderfully divey SoMa bar. 12pm-2am. 1369 Folsom St. 431-4695. www.hitws.com

The Monster Show @ The Edge

Mica Sigourney and pals’ weekly offbeat drag performance night. 10pm2am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

The weekly drag show continues, with gogo guys and hilarious fun. $5. 9pm2am. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

My So-Called Night @ Beaux 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

Some Thing @ The Stud 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

Nightlife @ California Academy of Sciences Themed event nights at the fascinating nature museum, with DJed dancing, cocktails, fish, frogs, food and fun. July 16: How-To Nightlife, DJ King Most, bow-tie making, “How to Talk to Aliens,” and more. $10-$12. 6pm-10pm, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. 379-8000. www.calacademy.org

Drink specials, Top 40, gogo studs and no cover. 9pm-2am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.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 with local and touring bands. 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. $4. 10pm-2am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.com

Xcess Thursdays @ The Café Frisco Robbie and Persia’s dance and pop music night gets the weekend started, with gogo guys and gals, plus drink specials and guest DJs. No cover. 9pm-2am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Champagne White and the Temple of Poon @ Oasis

The saucy women’s burlesque revue’s weekend show; different musical guests each week. Also Wednesday nights. $10-$20. 7:30pm. 314 11th St. www.redhotsburlesque.com www.beatboxsf.com

Jay Brannan @ Bottom of the Hill

Thirsty Thursdays @ The Cafe

Thu 16

Red Hots Burlesque @ Beatbox

Fri 17

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

Comedy Noir @ Balancoire

Swagger Like Us @ Oasis Queer hip hop with DJs Boy_Friend, DavO and host Kelly Lovemonster. $10. 10pm-2am. 298 11th St. at Folsom. 795-3180. www.sfoasis.com

Valerie Branch hosts a night of faux queen and queer comedy. $5. 8pm. 2565 Mission St. www.balancoiresf.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

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

Jay Brannan @ Bottom of the Hill The gay folk-rock singer-guitarist returns for a (most probably sold out) show. Debbie Neigher and Shawn Alpay open. 9:30pm. 1233 17th St. at Missouri. www.jaybrannan.com www.bottomofthehill.com

Latin Explosion @ Club 21, Oakland Lulu, Jacki, and Vicki cohost the festive gogo-filled dance club that features Latin pop dance hits with DJs Speedy Douglas Romero and Fabricio; no cover before 10pm. $6-$12. 9pm4am. 2111 Franklin St., Oakland. (510) 268-9425. www.club21oakland.com

Fri 17 Rita Rudner @ Feinstein’s

Sat 18

Manimal @ Beaux

Beer Bust @ Hole in the Wall Saloon

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

Beer only $8 until you bust. 4pm-8pm. 1369 Folsom St. 431-4695. www.hitws.com

Midnight Show @ Divas

Beer Bust @ SF Eagle

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

The classic leather bar’s most popular Sunday daytime event now also takes place on Saturdays. 3pm-6pm. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

See page 29 >>

Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi The musical comedy revue celebrates its 40th year with an ever-changing lineup of political and pop culture icons, all in gigantic wigs. $25-$160. 678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd (Green St.). 421-4222. www.beachblanketbabylon.com

Berlin’s Best @ Hotel Rex Society Cabaret presents a night of music by Irving Berlin, with Jill Gould, Danielle Debow, and Christoper M. Nelson. Cocktails and small plates available. $25-$45. 8pm. 562 Sutter St. www.societycabaret.com

Fri 17 Rachel Sage @ Dolores Park Café

On the Tab>>

July 16-22, 2015 • Bay Area Reporter • 29

Beer Bust @ Lone Star Saloon The ursine crowd converges for beer and fun. 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. 3pm-6pm. Now also on Saturdays! 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Big Top @ Beaux

Sat 18 Electric Arcade @ Mighty

On the Tab

Linda Kosut @ Hotel Rex

From page 28

La Bota Loca @ Club 21, Oakland DJed tunes, gogo hotties, drag shows, drink specials, all at Oakland’s premiere Latin nightclub and weekly cowboy night. $10-$15. Dancing 9pm-4am. 2111 Franklin St. (510) 268-9425. www.club21oakland.com

Club Rimshot @ Club BNB, Oakland Get groovin’ at the weekly hip hop and R&B night at their new location. $8-$15. 9pm to 4am. 2120 Broadway. (510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Electric Arcade @ Mighty GlamCocks’ video game-themed dance night includes an array of DJs, and costume-friendly fun with the gay Burning Man camp. $20. 10pm-3am. 119 Utah St. www.facebook.com/GlamCocks

Furries in the Wild @ Oakland Hills Free daytime dance party for fursuit lovers, under redwood trees, with a scenic view of the bay. Food, drinks provided (and BYO) changing tents and DJed music. 12pm-6pm. Near Woodminster Ampitheatre at Joaquin Miller Road, Oakland. Directions: www.frolicparty.com

Society Cabaret presents the awardwinning vocalist with the Mike Greensill Trio, with Jukebox Cabaret, where the audience requests songs. Cocktails and small plates available. $25-$45. 8pm. 562 Sutter St. www.societycabaret.com

Mascara @ Castro Country Club The monthly drag show at the LGBT sober space is hosted by Somoa That, with DJ Tweaka Turner. 10:30pm. 4058 18th St. 552-6102. www.castrocountryclub.org

Mother @ Oasis Heklina’s weekly drag show night at the fabulous renovated SoMa nightclub; plus DJ MC2 and guests. July 18: Dragimation with Kylie Minono and a night of drag cartoons characters. $10-$15. 10pm-2am. 298 11th St. at Folsom. 795-3180. www.sfoasis.com

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

Joshua J.’s homo disco circus night, with guest DJs and performers, hotty gogo guys and drink specials. $5-$10. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.BeauxSF.com

Brunch @ Hi Tops Enjoy crunchy sandwiches and mimosas, among other menu items, at the popular sports bar. 2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

Daytime Realness @ El Rio Beach Party Palooza features dragsters U-Phoria, Little Lulu, Bearonce Growles, Mahlae Balenciaga, Ebony Jett and hostess Heklina, DJs Carnita, Stanley Frank, Robin Simmon, Elaine Denham, Kenneth Kemp, and savory BBQ (while it lasts). $8-$10. 2pm-8pm. 3158 Mission St. www.elriosf.com

Disco Daddy @ SF Eagle DJ Bus Station John’s pure disco T-dance will get you shakin’ your groove thang. $5. 7pm-12am. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

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

Jock @ The Lookout Enjoy the weekly jock-ular fun, with DJed dance music at sports team fundraisers. 12pm-1am. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

See page 30 >>

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

Sugar @ The Cafe

Gameboi SF @ Rickshaw Stop Asain, Gaysian guys and gals and friends monthly dance party. $12-$15. 9:30pm-2am. 155 Fell St. at Van Ness. www.rickshawstop.com

Global Float @ Union Square Silent dance party (tune in with earplugs/headphones) simulcast around the world. Join thousands of dancers downtown. Free. 7:30pm10pm. 333 Post St. www.facebook. com/events/685943161511975

Karen Hirst, Tom Shaw @ Martuni’s Summer in the City, a concert with the accomplished singer and pianist. $10. 7pm. 4 Valencia St.

Dance, drink, cruise at the Castro club. 9pm-2am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

You Betta Work Comedy Fiesta @ Brainwash Café Standup comedy with John Nalty, Cheryl White, Robert Parra and several others; third Saturdays. 8pm. 1122 Folsom St. www.brainwash.com

Sun 19

Afternoon Delight @ The New Parish, Oakland Groovy daytime patio dance party with DJs Justime, Ken Vulsion, and Prince Wolf. $10. 3pm-8pm. 1743 San Pablo Ave., Oakland. (510) 444-7474. www.thenewparish.com

OFFICIAL FRIDAY NIGHT OPENING PARTY

OFFICIAL SATURDAY NIGHT DANCE PARTY

OFFICIAL T-DANCE & CLOSING PARTY

play

SUNDAY JULY 26, 2015 • 11AM - 6:30PM DORE ALLEY & FOLSOM STREET, BETWEEN 9TH & 11TH

P R E S E NT I NG

P R E SE N T I N G L I Q U O R

T EQU I LA

Sat 18 Furries in the Wild @ Oakland Hills

PREMIER

S U P P O R T I NG

C HA R T E R / W E B SI T E

MEDIA The

gloss

<< On the Tab

30 • Bay Area Reporter • July 16-22, 2015

Sat 18 Gameboi @ Rickshaw Stop

No No Bingo @ Virgil’s Sea Room Mica Sigourney and Tom Temprano cohost the wacky weekly game night at the cool Mission bar. 8pm. 3152 Mission St. www.virgilssf.com

Opulence @ Beaux

On the Tab

Katya Presents @ Martuni’s Our beloved countess Katya SmirnoffSkyy is joined in concert with Mz. Michelle Elaine Ianiro, with Tom Shaw at the piano. $11. 7pm. 4 Valencia St.

Liquid Brunch @ Beaux No cover, no food, just drinks (Mimosas, Bloody Marys, etc.) and music. 2pm-9pm. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Morning After BBQ, Drag Swap @ Oasis New weekly barbeque brunch on the newly opened rooftop deck, with Mimosas and Bloody Mary cocktails. 11am-3pm. Also, Drag Swap fundraiser for Family Jewels (a Burning Man art project); bring or find drag items. 2pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom. 795-3180. www.sfoasis.com

Sunday Brunch, Xtravaganza @ Balancoire Weekly live music shows with various acts, along with brunch, mimosas, champagne and more, at the stylish nightclub and restaurant; shows at 12:30pm, 1:30pm and 2:45pm. After that, T-Dance drag shows at 7pm, 10pm and 11pm. 2565 Mission St. at 21st. 920-0577. www.balancoiresf.com

Sunday Brunch @ Thee Parkside Enjoy $12 bottomless mimosas from 10am-3pm at the fun punk rock bar. 1600 17th St. 252-1330. www.theeparkside.com

Sunday’s a Drag @ Starlight Room Donna Sachet hosts the weekly fabulous brunch and drag show. $45. 11am, show at noon; 1:30pm, show at 2:30pm. 450 Powell St. in Union Square. 395-8595. www.starlightroomsf.com

Mon 20 Beat It @ Oasis

80s music party, with black light, cheap beer and acid-wash jeans welcome. No cover. 8pm-2am. 298 11th St. at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com

Cock and Bull Mondays @ Hole in the Wall Saloon Specials on drinks made with Cock and Bull ginger ale (Jack and Cock, Russian Mule, and more). 8pmclosing. 1369 Folsom St. 431-4695. www.hitws.com

Gaymer Meetup @ Brewcade The weekly LGBT video game enthusiast night include 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

Hysteria @ Oasis Irene Tu and Jessica Sele cohost the new comedy open mic night for women and queers. No cover. 6pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com

Irish Dance Night @ Starry Plough, Berkeley Weekly dance lessons and live music at the pub-restaurant, hosted by John Slaymaker. $5. 7pm. 3101 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. www.thestarryplough.com

Karaoke @ The Lookout Paul K hosts the amateur singing night. 8pm-2am. 3600 16th St. at Market. www.lookoutsf.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

Mash Up Mondays @ Club BnB, Oakland Weekly Karaoke and open mic night. 9pm-2am. 2120 Broadway. (510) 7597340. www.club-bnb.com

Monday Musicals @ 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

Name That Beat @ Toad Hall BeBe Sweetbriar hosts a weekly musical trivia challenge and drag show. 8:30-11:30pm. 4146 18th St. at Castro. www.toadhallbar.com

Underwear Night @ Club OMG

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

Weekly underwear night includes free clothes check, and drink specials; different hosts each week. $3. 10pm2am. Preceded by Open Mic Comedy, 7pm, no cover. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Ink & Metal @ Powerhouse Show off your tattoos and piercings at the weekly cruisy SoMa bar night. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Piano Bar 101 @ Martuni’s

Meow Mix @ The Stud

Booty Call @ QBar

Sing-along night with talented locals, and charming accompanist Joe Wicht (aka Trauma Flintstone). 9pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market. www.dragatmartunis.com

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

Juanita More! and her weekly intimate –yet packed– dance party. $10-$15. 9pm-2am. 456 Castro St. www.qbarsf.com

Bondage a GoGo @ Cat Club

Underwear Night @ 440

Naked Night @ Nob Hill Theatre Participatory strip and stripper night. $10. 9pm. 729 Bush St. at Powell. 3976758. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

The (mostly straight) kinky weekly dance night, where fetish gear is welcome; DJs Damon and Tomas Diablo play electro, goth, industrial, etc. 9:30pm-2:30am. 1190 Folsom St. www.bondage-a-go-go.com

Retro Night @ 440 Castro

Bottoms Up Bingo @ Hi Tops

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

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

Tue 21 From page 29

Gaymer Night @ Eagle

New weekly dance night, with Jocques, DJs Tori, Twistmix and Andre. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

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

13 Licks @ Qbar

the “lezzie queer dance party” brings out the femmes and butches. 9pm2am. 456 Castro St. 864-2877. www.qbarsf.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

Showdown @ Folsom Foundry Weekly game night for board and electronic gamers at the warehouse multi-purpose nightclub. 21+. 6pm12am. 1425 Folsom St. www.showdownesports.com

Wed 22

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

Bombshell Betty & Her Burlesqueteers @ Elbo Room The weekly burlesque show of women dancers shaking their bonbons includes live music. $10. 9pm. 647 Valencia St. 552-7788. www.elbo.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

Dengue Fever @ Sweetwater Music Hall, Mill Valley The fun Cambodian rock band returns for a stop along their world tour, with music from their latest CD, The Deepest Lake. $17-$20. 19 Corte Madera Ave., Mill Valley. www.denguefevermusic.com

Sat 18 Linda Kosut @ Hotel Rex

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

Gay Skate Night @ Church on 8 Wheels LGBT night at the former Sacred Heart Church-turned disco roller skate party space, hosted by John D. Miles, the “Godfather of Skate.” Actually, every night is gay-friendly, including Saturday’s Black Rock night (Burning Man garb encouraged). 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

Switch @ Q Bar Weekly women’s night at the stylish intimate bar. 9pm-2am. 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

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

Tue 21 Dengue Fever @ Sweetwater Music Hall

Dream Queens Revue @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge Classic drag show at the intimate historic gay bar, with Collette LeGrande, Ruby Slippers, Sophilya Leggz, Bobby Ashton, Sheena Rose, Kipper, and Joie de Vivre. No cover. 9:30-11:30pm. 133 Turk St. 441-2922. www.dreamqueensrevue.com

Follies @ Oasis Holotta Tymes hosts the new weekly variety show with female impersonation acts, and barbeque in the front Fez Room. $20. 7pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com

Homo Hump Day @ Various Bars The weekly roving pop-up gayvasion of notable and welcoming straight bars. www.popupgaybar.com

Miss Kitty’s Trivia Night @ Wild Side West 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

Man Francisco @ Oasis

Mahlae Balenciaga and DJ Kidd Sysko’s weekly drag and dance night, 2014’s last of the year. 9pm-1am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

New weekly all-male striptease revue with a storyline of San Francisco’s history, from the Gold Rush to the tech boom, performed by sexy local hunks. Weekly. $20. 9pm. Thru July. 298 11th St. at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com

Epic Karaoke @ White Horse, Oakland

Open Mic/Comedy @ SF Eagle

Drag Mondays @ The Cafe

Mondays and Tuesdays popular weekly sing-along night. No cover. 8:30pm-1am. 6551 Telegraph Ave, (510) 652-3820. www.whitehorsebar.com

Kollin Holts hosts the weekly comedy and open mic talent night. 6pm-8pm. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

See page 34 >>

Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 16-22, 2015 • Bay Area Reporter • 31

Top: Donna Sachet, Bottom: Darwin Bell

Top: The Imperial Court’s Special K event at Beaux. Bottom: Donna Sachet hosts an event at the Midnight Sun.

Spirited Fun

From page 27

And for those already talking about how we can abbreviate the Pride Parade or limit the participation, we say that thinking is totally wrong. We’ve come so far after so much effort; do we really want to use words like “limit” and “abbreviate” when our celebration provides such indescribable inspiration for so many across the globe? With the monumental Supreme Court decision on the Friday before the parade, of course this Pride exploded in numbers, but let’s not over-react. Sure, there is always room for improvement, but our Pride celebration is the product of a long line of historical events, organizations, and individuals; trying to limit it would be an insult to all that work. If you have ideas about the future of Pride, become a member, go to the monthly meetings, and join the

leadership that manages this mammoth undertaking. They will welcome your involvement. Special K Saturdays at Beaux have become a successful monthly event for the current Imperial Court of San Francisco, regularly providing on average around $1000 a month for local charitable organizations, while hosting a spirited afternoon of entertainment, jello shots, beer bust, and other shenanigans. Last Saturday was no exception as Reigning Emperor Kevin Lisle and Reigning Empress Khmera Rouge surrounded themselves with personal friends, court supporters, and curious passers-by and raised $1300 to be distributed to their designated charities at next year’s Imperial Coronation. Among the crowd were CoCo Butter, Nic Hunter, Eva Sensitiva, Piper Angelique, John Brosnan & Chad McLaughlin, Gary Virginia, and Lu Conrad. They also recog-

nized International Stoli Bartender Competition winner Matthew Mellow, who proudly showed the trophy he brought back from Key West. Special K Saturdays at Beaux occur every second Saturday of the month from 4-7PM. After that benefit, we headed to The Edge for Walter Vandernald’s birthday party, hosted by Cory Vaughn. The bar was packed and specially selected male dancers quickly elevated the event to a frenzied pitch! Among the many attendees were several barely recognizable Ducals, having just completed their annual Turn-About Show. Also announced as the new Royal Daddy and Daddy’s Boy were Eric Lopez and Nate Cotton. Inspired to go further, we joined a small group headed to The End Up for Shangrila, now happening every second and fourth Saturday of the month. There we caught up with the dashing Michael Daniels, enjoyed a quick dating game skillfully staged by our Reigning Empress, and then danced a bit to the music of DJ Luke Allen. We love the new seating area inside and continue to relish the spacious patio space with outdoor seating and fresh air. After a brief absence from The End Up, we can assure you, we’ll be back. Coming up this Saturday is a beer bust at Toad Hall, 3-7PM, with the SF Gay Men’s Chorus, fresh from their successful Elton John concert. Come meet these singing studs, hear of their ambitious upcoming plans, and support an important SF institution. The following Sunday, July 26 is Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation’s annual Help is on the Way XXI: Hollywood Glam, 7:30PM, Palace of Fine Arts, benefiting SF AIDS Foundation and Meals on Wheels. Confirmed performers include Loretta Devine, Kimberley Locke, Jai Rodriguez, Susan Anton, Paula West, Carole Cook, and Sony Holland, with more still to be announced. There are also rumors of a runway fashion show of vintage Hollywood costumes that will leave you breathless. As you may note, REAF has slightly altered its name to reflect its expanded mission, continuing to address AIDS, but also aiding organizations addressing issues like hunger and disenfranchised youth. This annual event always sells out and as one who has attended since their beginning, we wholeheartedly encourage you to come. From a sparkling cocktail hour and silent auction to spectacular performances and a reception with the entertainers afterwards, it will be an evening you will long remember.t

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Stoli Bartender winner Matthew Mellow.

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Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

32 • Bay Area Reporter • July 16-22, 2015

Model behavior

Krissy Eliot

The Upper Room at Kink.com’s Armory.

by Krissy Eliot

efore moving to the Bay Area, my instincts told me that sex classes featuring naked demo models would mostly be for young creepos and old swingers who just wanna watch, go home and jerk off. But the word on the street is that these workshops can be informative and even academic affairs. I wondered if the San Francisco natives were so sexually progressive that they could see a hot nude girl and actually pay attention to erudite teacher commentary. So I decided to investigate: by being a hot nude girl. I did two separate demo modeling sessions: one with professional dominatrix Eve Minax, and one with sex educator Charlie Glickman. Minax’s class, Adding Kink and Toys, was part of Kink University’s 50 Skills of Grey workshop series. The environment was comfy but also perturbing, since it was taking place on the upper floor of The Armory where you can find paintings of men choking on dicks and women trapped in cages. The activity for this class was forced masturbation (an oxymoron, in my opinion), so I was going to be masturbating while Minax bossed me around. Before the class, Minax had given me a Ben Wa ball to put inside my vagina (it’s an insertable toy that women use to strengthen pelvic floor muscles). I struggled to cram it in, but my vagina wouldn’t open up enough. When the workshop began and I found myself spread-eagled and naked on a bed in front of 35 people, Minax said, “It’ll fit,” and then proceeded to shove the ball into my crotch like a cork into a wine bottle. This was a short, yet apparently captivating tutorial, since many of the audience members leaned over each other’s chairs to get a better look at my labia (for science). Minax commanded that I use sex toys on myself and said I couldn’t stop masturbating for the duration of the 90 minute workshop. I was not allowed to have orgasms unless the members of the class gave me permission. I never imagined students could be so cruel, or eager to participate. I also never had a ball gag in my mouth before, but Minax commanded her slave, aptly named “Ham,” to strap one onto my face. When Minax saw that it wasn’t fastened to her liking, she rightfully took on the role of the punishing dominatrix and proceeded to pull it so tightly that my tongue was smashed into the back of my mouth. A few audience members

cheered. Minax then ordered Ham to shove a butt plug into my ass for the first time ever. It was bracing. Where were the notepads and pencils for this lesson? I tried to ignore the men who had left their seats to stand closer to the table where I masturbated (their hands in their pockets). Minax was teaching, but it seemed most eyes (and ears) were focused on the hot, nude me. An audience member said I couldn’t have an orgasm until I drooled. So I tried to dribble spit onto myself while cramming a dildo into my crotch, which I could imagine was very educational for the men who were inching ever closer to me. A woman in the front said I couldn’t have an orgasm until I kissed her boot. So I crawled on the floor, pressed my lips to her shoe and then hobbled back to the bed, butt plug in tow. I realized then that my dignity would not be making an appearance that day.

Krissy Eliot

Top: Charlie Glickman, author of The Ultimate Guide to Prostate Pleasure. Bottom: Our brave columnist pre-model session.

A few weeks later, I went to Charlie Glickman’s “Awesome Anal Sex” class, convinced that it would be another purely entertaining (even crude) affair. But the environment was more intimate and cozy, and took place in a hippie-esque room in Oakland with pillows and blankets on the floor.

I was getting over a bad bug and had a cough like a chain-smoking 80-year-old. Matters weren’t improved when I discovered there was a cat on the premises — to which I am very allergic — so I took a Sudafed and Benadryl. For the first 30 minutes, Glickman shared butt-anatomy wisdom with the class while I struggled to not to pass out from the decongestants. I plopped down in a chair behind the crowd while the students sat cross-legged on the floor and took notes. It reminded me of when I was in college (mostly because I was drowsy and sitting in the back). When it was time for me to take the stage, I sleepily stripped down in front of everyone and lay down on a mattress on the floor. Glickman scooted close, put on gloves and prepared to finger my butthole. Glickman wrote the book, The Ultimate Guide to Prostate Pleasure, and had already taken me through a private anal fingering sesh before, so I trusted that I was in good hands (literally). Glickman took his time and showed the audience his expert techniques while I prayed that I wouldn’t release a mortifying fart. Glickman told the audience what he was doing inside my butt, and to my surprise, most of them had furrowed, thoughtful brows, and not horny, wide eyes. I had an orgasm, which was then followed by a horrible cough attack. Glickman had the privilege of having my asshole rapidly open and close around his fingers with each cough, which I can only imagine felt like having a toothless woman ferociously gum him. Unlike the Kink demo, people were asking clinical questions about rectums and fingering speed, and remained seated. At the end of the demonstration, several people thanked me for sharing my naked body with them, and some 20-yearold chick nodded and looked at me with an expression that said, “Aw, yeah, get it, girl!” And I think I do get it now, sort of. I was right: demo modeling classes are for creepos and old swingers who wanna jerk off. But they’re also for people who want to learn, or at least pretend to learn, until they can go home and jerk off.t Charlie Glickman’s upcoming workshop info: www.makesexeasy.com Twitter: @charlieglickman Eve Minax’s class info: www.eveminax.com Twitter: @eveminax Contact Krissy: thekrissyeliot@gmail.com and www.krissyeliot.com

Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 16-22, 2015 • Bay Area Reporter • 33

Your assic world

Dominic Ford

Topher Dimaggio cuddles his baby, Camerson Marshall, in Power Fuck.

by John F. Karr

guy I met invited me over to his place. But when he mentioned he had a 3D TV, my desire to, ahem, socialize with him took a back seat to my burning desire to see that TV. Within seconds of seeing it, I knew I had to own one. And soon, I did. Set me back quite a bit, but it’s state of the art, and big. Really big. Turns out I was a size queen, after all. When guys find out I have a 3D TV, they immediately ask if I have any 3D porn. Until a week or so ago, I had to say no. But now I have a

couple. Too bad they’re a mixed bag. Dominic Ford released the industry’s first 3D title, Whorrey Potter and the Sorcerer’s Balls, in 2010. I saw it at the time, and found it virtually non-viewable. You can search the review at www.ebar.com It’s in the April 29, 2010 issue. It’s much easier, though, to go to my personal blog/archive at KarrnalKnowledge. com, and click on April 2010 in the right hand column. The flimsy little cardboard glasses that Ford provided were insufficient to the job, as was Ford’s technology at the time. The process

Dominic Ford

Top: Bad boy Trent Diesel and Ricky Martinez—two bi boys banging it up, in Facials, Vol. 1. Bottom: Phillip Aubrey’s glad to meet up with John Magnum and his raging boner, in Power Fuck.

exhibited every flaw a 3D movie can have. What about the content of the movie? As the disc also included a 2D version, I asked if you’d want to see the movie that way. My answer: “Definitely not.” Meanwhile, Ford persisted. I sampled his two-hour release from 2011, Power Fuck. It’s still got those cardboard glasses, and it’s not technically much better than Whorrey Potter. Its dim picture lacks clarity, it’s riddled with artifacts, and there’s ghosting and blurring of rapid motions galore. Which is too bad, because several of its five scenes are alright, even if the quality of its image even in 2D isn’t competitive. Most of the movie’s stars have left the scene, but a few aren’t forgotten. I always enjoy Colby Keller, who gives himself an energetic Reverse Cowboy atop Spencer Reed. The sex is okay, but the editing here and in other scenes leaves its progression inorganic. I’m always boned for Cameron Marshall, who appears with his then boyfriend, Topher Dimaggio, who repeatedly calls him, “baby,” and confers some sort of ownership by repeatedly labeling him, “my baby.” Marshall survives this diminishment, but I wonder how long the guy’s affair survived. Their coupling is professional. You’d never guess they were lovers if you hadn’t been told beforehand. Still, Marshall shoots excitingly; ah, to be young and excited. Both Dayton O’Connor with Shane Frost, and Devon Hunter with Rusty Stevens, are proficient. Phillip Aubry with John Magnum are a good deal better. Dimpled Aubrey is disarmingly sexy, and Magnum’s extra thick boner lives up to Aubrey’s description. It’s the living embodiment of Raging Boner. Even so, with its bad 3D and run of the mill sex, Power Fuck, is not a movie I’d rush to. I don’t find this stuff competitive. Skip a few years, to 2014, and Ford’s got his act together, mostly (we’ll get to that). The 3D of Facials Volume 1 is fully up to par. Those cardboard glasses are gone; I tried a pair, and they don’t even work. The pair that came with my TV worked fine, as did the ones I brought home from the movie theatre. You’ll need a couple moments to adjust to watching sex in 3D. When a guy is on his back getting fucked, his flailing foot can punch out of the screen, threatening to kick you, and at first you’ll involuntarily flinch or want to duck those flying elbows during cocksucking. But the added depth is swell, providing greater realism and a fuller sense of bodies and cocks. I was delighted to rank 3D dicks right up there with dinosaurs and natural disasters. Here’s that “mostly” part. The disc I previewed lacks a Menu, so you can only navigate with the Skip button. And once you get to a scene of choice, what the fuck, you can only watch it in real time—there’s no Forward Scan function. I can’t believe Ford issued a disc with these limitations, and I’m hoping it’ll turn out mine is defective. Should you watch, there are some rewards. Topher Dimaggio is fine with Orlando Dawson, and Trent Diesel, with his Jack Nicholson eyebrows signaling nasty intent, works his bad-boy urgency upon Ricky Martinez. When asked during an interview, both guys say the identify as bi, with Martinez piping up, “I’m a big bottom bi!” Beefy Parker London isn’t asked how he identifies; he does his big guy thing to little guy twink, Jaden Ellis. The last scene features taut, compact Brock Armstrong and Seth Roberts.t www.Pornteam.com

Dominic Ford

Spencer Reed dominates Colby Keller, in Power Fuck.

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

34 • Bay Area Reporter • July 16-22, 2015

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On the Tab

Best in Show @ Beatbox

Pussy Party @ Beaux Weekly women’s happy hour, with allwomen music and live performances, 2 for 1 drinks, and no cover. 5pm-9am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

So You Think You Can Gogo? @ Toad Hall The weekly dancing competition for gogo wannabes. 9pm. cash prizes, $2 well drinks (2 for 1 happy hour til 9pm). Show at 9pm. 4146 18th St. www.toadhallbar.com

Playpen Collective’s first annual Pup contest, a new pre-Up Your Alley street fair event, with proceeds going to Wagz Pack’s Service Pups. Canine kink welcome. $10-$15. 7pm-11pm. 314 11th St. www.beatboxsf.com

Big Talk @ DNA Lounge The alt-rock band performs. Picture Atlantic and The Trims open. $15 and up. 8:30pm. 375 11th St. www.dnalounge.com

Bulge @ Powerhouse Grace Towers hosts the weekly gogotastic night of sexy dudes shakin’ their bulges and getting wet in their undies for $100 prize (with a contest at midnight), and dance beats spun by DJ DAMnation. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Circle Jerk @ Nob Hill Theatre

The Monster Show @ The Edge

Max Cameron (who performs onstage July 24 & 25) leads a very interactive session downstairs at the historic strip joint. $10. 9pm. 729 Bush St. at Powell. 397-6758. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

The dearly missed Cookie Dough’s weekly drag show continues, with themed events and cute gogo guys. $5. 9pm-2am. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Funny Fun @ Club 21, Oakland Weekly LGBT and straight comedy night hosted by Dan Mires. $10. 8pm. 2111 Franklin St. Oakland. (510) 2689425. www.club21oakland.com

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

Karaoke Night @ Club BnB, Oakland Sing your heart out at the free lively night. 8pm-2am. 2120 Broadway. (510) 7597340. www.club-bnb.com

Way Back @ Midnight Sun Weekly screenings of vintage music videos and retro drink prices. Check out the new expanded front window lounge. 9pm-2am. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

Karaoke Night @ Club OMG Dana leads the weekly amateur singing night. 8pm. No cover. 43 6th St. 8966473. www.clubomgsf.com

Wooden Nickel Wednesday @ 440

Literary Speakeasy @ Martuni’s

Buy a drink and get a wooden nickle good for another. 12pm-2am. 440 Castro St. 621-8732. www.the440.com

The Russian River bar’s country music night attracts cowboys and those who like to ride ‘em. 8pm-1am. 16220 Main St., Guerneville. (707) 869-0206. www.queersteer.com

From page 30

Wrangler Wednesday @ Rainbow Cattle Company, Guerneville

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Thu 23 Mark Abramson at Literary Speakeasy @ Martuni’s

The new monthly reading series at the intimate martini bar is hosted by James J. Siegel (Guy Writers), with Mark Abramson ( Sex, Drugs & Disco ), July Westhale (poet and Fullbright nominee), Elizabeth Creely (California environmentalist and essayist) and Natalia Rose (musician with the band Raven Marcus). 7pm8:30pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market. www.facebook. com/LiterarySpeakeasy

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Nightlife @ California Academy of Sciences

Thu 23

Themed event nights at the fascinating nature Morgan James @ Feinstein’s museum, with DJed dancing, cocktails, fish, frogs, food and fun. July 23: Dinosaur Nightlife, Thursday Night Live @ Eagle with Slayers Club performing live, Live bands- usually, rock, punk and Jurassic Park-themed demos, exhibits always good- perform at the famed and fossil fun. $10-$12. 6pmleather bar. 8:30pm first band. 398 10pm, 55 Music Concourse Drive, 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com Golden Gate Park. 379-8000. www. calacademy.org Tubesteak Connection

Thirsty Thursdays @ The Cafe Drink specials, Top 40, gogo studs and no cover, 2 for 1 cocktails until 10:30pm. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.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

@ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge

Eleventh anniversary year of the retro disco night with a fun diverse crowd, and disco master DJ Bus Station John. $4. 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

Shooting Stars

July 16-22, 2015 • Bay Area Reporter • 35

photos by Steven Underhill Qbar

rom businessmen to club kids, Qbar attracts a diverse crowd. With its various nights – retro tunes, women’s night, and the always popular Wednesday night Booty Call, this intimate Castro club provides big time fun. 456 Castro Street. www.qbarsf.com More event 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

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