February 10, 2011 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

‘A Victor Victoria Valentine’ with star Lesley Ann Warren at Castro.

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SF health dept. delivers that message on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

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Valentine’s Day spectacle

– ut e s. in al ko nl on ec r o ers Ch rte p po nd Re , a a s re fied y A ssi Ba cla he ts, s t ar It’ s, w ne

Uniting against HIV/AIDS

BAYAREAREPORTER

Vol. 40

. No. 6 . 10 February 2011

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

Wiener tackles intractable problems

SFPD probes Castro fires

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by Matthew S. Bajko n office little more than a month, Supervisor Scott Wiener is already tackling some of the city’s more intractable problems.

He is pushing transit officials to improve service on Muni’s J- Supervisor Church line, long Scott Wiener a point of contention with commuters in the Castro and Noe Valley. He has questioned if historic preservationists are hampering develop-

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Courtesy Scott Wiener

an Francisco arson inspectors are continuing to investigate three suspicious fires that were started in the largely gay Castro area last week, while police say nothing so far indicates a hate crime is involved.

“There are so many things that it could be,” including pyromania, said Mission Station Captain Greg Corrales. “There’s really nothing to indicate that there’s a reason that the Castro neighborhood was selected” at this time, he said.

“We’re intent on catching the guy,” added Corrales. “This is a very dangerous situation,

Lydia Gonzales

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Pastry chef and foodie favorite Yigit Pura shows off some of his gold-dusted chocolate desserts. Pura doesn’t have a date for Valentine’s Day, but is enjoying his celebrity star turn since winning Top Chef Just Desserts last fall. For more on Pura, see story on page 9.

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by Seth Hemmelgarn

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Giuliano works to take SFAF to ‘next level’

by Seth Hemmelgarn or a man who doesn’t like to cook, the last 16 years at the helm of a social service agency that prepares and delivers meals to critically ill homebound clients, seniors, and those living with HIV/AIDS Tom Nolan might seem like a mismatch.

But Tom Nolan, who announced this week that he’s stepping down from Project Open Hand early next year, has enjoyed taking the agency – which started in 1985 when Ruth Brinker made meals for

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ust over a month since he started in the job, San Francisco AIDS Foundation CEO Neil Giuliano said he’s “really excited” about his new position and discussed upcoming events such as the AIDS LifeCycle. He also talked about how the agency is faring financially.

This is the first time Giuliano, who is openly gay, has led an HIV/AIDS agency, and he said it’s an “honor” to join the foundation in its 29th year and help move SFAF toward “the next level of effectiveness and success” in its mission. Giuliano is HIV-negative.

That mission includes ending the HIV epidemic in San Francisco. Giuliano repeatedly referred to the foundation’s three goals: reducing new HIV infections in the city by 50 percent, ensuring all of the city’s residents know their HIV status, and making sure all San Franciscans living with HIV have access to proper care.

Giuliano, 54, joined SFAF in December, bringing a high profile to the city’s largest HIV/AIDS service organization. He was mayor of Tempe, Arizona for 10 years, beginning in 1994. After that, he served as president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and was based in New York City.

He was asked about his political philosophy; while he was mayor, Giuliano was a Republican.

He has since switched political parties and is now

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Jane Philomen Cleland

by Seth Hemmelgarn

Neil Giuliano is settling into his job as CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

a Democrat.

“I went all the way, as my friends say,” he laughed during an interview last week at SFAF’s new offices on Market Street.

Like many others in the field, he’s concerned about the state budget crisis. Among other moves, in January, Governor Jerry Brown proposed increasing the share of cost for clients in the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which thou-

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sands of people rely on for lifesaving medications.

Giuliano said he’s been meeting with staff from other organizations and SFAF has “a significant level of influence” to “help rethink some of the things the governor’s proposing.”

He’s concerned that “if the co-pay issue is not resolved, people are just going to drop out” of ADAP, and while that might result in reduced expenses for ADAP, assisting those people could lead to increased costs in other programs.

“I think we’re getting that message through,” said Giuliano.

He said the importance of testing is one of the biggest messages that people need to hear. He said he’s “not an alarmist,” but “people have got to know their status.” He noted SFAF would have “a lot of opportunity” in the coming months to get its message out.

June will bring the 10th anniversary of the AIDS LifeCycle, which the foundation operates with the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.

This year, Giuliano himself will be riding for the first time.

June 5, the day the 545-mile ride begins, is also the 30th anniversary of the AIDS epidemic.

That was the day in 1981 when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first reported on the disease that became known as AIDS. The events could also present fundraising op-

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Nolan to leave J Open Hand

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 10 February 2011

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Triumphant return for Kilimanjaro’s gay climber

by Matt Baume was livid,” said Jody Cole. “I felt kicked in the stomach.” Speaking at a reception Monday, February 7, Cole was referring to the string of LGBT youth suicides that hit the nation last fall.

Enraged by the crisis, she was inspired to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to raise awareness and funds for Equality California’s antibullying initiatives. Cole pledged to raise one dollar for every foot that she climbed of the 19,340-foot inactive volcano.

This week’s reception at the new Citizen Cake on Fillmore Street welcomed Cole back to California after she reached the summit on January 15.

Though Cole, 48, has led numerous African safaris and climbed Kilimanjaro several years ago, the trip required extensive physical preparation. She began training in August, logging long hours on a treadmill with a heavy backpack. Even the most prepared climbers face the risk of altitude sickness, pulmonary and cerebral edema, and heart attack.

At one point during the climb, Cole spotted an unlucky climber’s grave marker on a distant peak.

But the journey also required that she confront challenges in Mendocino County, where she lives.

“It’s forced me to take down the last barriers to being open about being gay,” she told the Bay Area Reporter.

Cole approached her neighbors with fundraising requests, drawing donations from individuals who had never before given money to LGBT causes.

She raised close to $14,000 at the time she reached the summit. Monday’s event was also to raise funds to meet her goal of $19,340.

Jody Cole, left, talks about her climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro during a welcome home party at Citizen Cake Monday.

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tion’s gala this Saturday at City Hall.

Cole is on the board of the organization’s education affiliate, the Equality California Institute.

Kors reminded the crowd that EQCA is currently working to pass two bills that address education.

One, sponsored by state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), would ensure that the history of LGBT civil rights is taught alongside those of other minority groups.

“In the handful of schools that do this, bullying is reduced by 70 percent,” Kors said.

Another bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), would strengthen schools’ antibullying mandates.

Despite conquering the world’s highest freestanding mountain, Cole still feels that her work on behalf of young people is far from over.

“I’m going to commit to going to a high school in Mendocino County to see what I can do,” she said.▼

“I live in a very heterosexual world up there, and they all relate to having kids,” she said.

Cole said that the support of her neighbors, colleagues, family, and friends helped carry her to the summit. Her boots were signed by supporters and carried the names of suicide victims.

“The day we summited, it was foggy and I was dizzy,” and she was unsure how much farther she could walk, she said. “But I put my feet out in front of me and saw the signatures and thought, ‘I can’t not do it.’ Seven hours later, I was over the top of the crater.”

A crowd of 50 well-wishers, including City Attorney and mayoral candidate Dennis Herrera and former state Senator Carole Migden, celebrated Cole’s achievement.

Andrea Shorter, EQCA’s deputy marriage and coalition director, expressed her awe. “Now that is dedication, right there,” she said.

EQCA’s outgoing Executive Director Geoff Kors surprised Cole by presenting her with an Equality Award, in advance of the organiza-

Visit http://bit.ly/coleclimbs to contribute to Cole’s fund.

Consultants brought in to Lyon-Martin onsultants have stepped up their review of cash-strapped Lyon-Martin Health Services, the San Francisco-based clinic that provides health care to women and transgender people regardless of their ability to pay.

The clinic continues to see patients, although it is not accepting new ones.

The board of Lyon-Martin Health Services abruptly announced in late January that it was going to close the clinic in days due to it being more than $500,000 in debt. The board had made no plans for what would happen to patients. Clinic officials said that they could stay open if $250,000 was raised in the next month.

As of Friday, February 4, supporters of Lyon-Martin had raised about $243,000, according to Dr. Dawn Harbatkin, the clinic’s medical director and interim executive director.

She said that $42,000 of that figure is in pledges, and $50,000 of the total amount is being processed. The clinic is still hoping to reach a total of $500,000.

It’s still unclear where the clinic’s approximately 2,500 patients would go if it closes.

Harbatkin said external consultants from HFS Consulting would perform an assessment that should help the clinic see “if we really can make a go of this.” She said the clinic’s “hopeful” that the assessment will be completed within the next one to two weeks.

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Dr. Dawn Harbatkin

“We’re moving on this as quickly as we can,” she said.

Harbatkin said since September, HFS has been helping to look at its billing issues. Lyon-Martin’s debt includes money that had not been billed to Medi-Cal and Medicare for mental health services for two years.

She said the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium, of which Lyon-Martin is a partner, is sponsoring bringing the consultants to LyonMartin using funding sources that include a grant from Blue Shield and a city community behavioral health services contract. She said she didn’t know how much HFS is being paid.

Asked about the information from Harbatkin, Richard Hodgson, the consortium’s vice president of policy and planning, said he was deferring to her. Richard A. Gianello,

HFS’s president, did not respond to an interview request.

In regards to a transition plan, Harbatkin said that a consultant’s been hired to help put the plan together.

“I don’t have a better sense yet of where patients will go if we do need to close, but that’s in process,” she said. However, she said, “I think we have to guarantee that everyone will have a place to go.”

“In a lot of ways, we’re waiting for this assessment to happen before we move forward with longer term planning,” said Harbatkin. She said they’re waiting for the assessment to see whether the clinic will stay open, and what it would look like if it does stay open.

Billing explained Harbatkin, who became interim director after the resignation of former Executive Director Teri McGinnis in November, also gave more explanation on Lyon-Martin’s billing troubles.

“Mental health is the smallest portion of what we do,” said Harbatkin. She said the clinic has roughly 8,000 visits for medical services and only 1,000 to 2,000 of those are for mental health.

“The rules around mental health billing for Medi-Cal are complex and constantly changing,” she said, and those rules are hard to decipher even with consultants’ assistance. She said, for example, that a recent legal ruling has made it unclear whether MediCal can be billed for only two psy-

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Jane Philomen Cleland

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Advocates rally for African American HIV/AIDS awareness in San Francisco

by Matt Baume t a City Hall rally on Monday, February 7 for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, Vincent Fuqua, a health educator with the Department of Public Health, appealed to the African American community to unite against HIV. “All of us are one,” he said. “It’s unity that brings us together and helps us fight health disparity.”

The DPH kicked off the week with a rally and march to focus attention on the disproportionate rate of HIV/AIDS infection among African Americans.

According to a report released last year by the DPH’s AIDS Office, of African American men who have sex with men in San Francisco, 32 percent are believed to be living with HIV. Other sexually transmitted diseases, such as Chlamydia and gonorrhea, are also higher among African American men.

In addition, the 2004 HIV Prevention Plan developed by the HIV Prevention Planning Council estimated that African Americans made up 8 percent of San Francisco’s population, but represented 15 percent of all people living with AIDS. The infection rate can be traced to a variety of factors, such as varying rates of infection within different social networks. In addition, the social stigma that some groups attach to HIV can lead to risky behavior, such as withholding information

People attending a news conference for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day leave San Francisco City Hall en route to the Western Addition Monday evening.

health care and housing instability.

Jonathan Bent, a young African American man living with HIV, spoke about his diagnosis as a teen.

Though initially devastated, he pursued educational opportunities that helped him learn how to maintain his health. “I made a promise to myself that I would not let HIV/AIDS take me,” he said.

DPH officials called for an inclusive approach to combating new infections.

“All of us are potential partners with each other,” said Dr. Susan

from partners and avoiding treatment.

African American men tend to test late in their HIV infection, leading to a reduced life span, according to the DPH report.

But other causes are far more difficult to pin down, and relate to what the National Minority AIDS Council called “a complex set of social, individual, and environmental factors.”

Individual issues such as isolation or drug abuse are seen as contributing factors, as are macro-economic problems including limited access to

www.ebar.com

DPH plugs female condoms for gay men

by Matthew S. Bajko an Francisco’s Department of Public Health is launching the nation’s first social marketing campaign aimed at educating gay and bisexual men how to use female condoms during anal sex.

It is a departure from the official stance of the federal Food and Drug Administration, which for nearly two decades has declined to promote the use of the female condom in such a manner.

The new campaign will launch on Valentine’s Day Monday, February 14. It coincides with the city’s official roll out of the newly redesigned female condoms, which have been dubbed FC2. Last year the manufacturer of female condoms, the Female Health Company, re-designed it utilizing thinner material made from synthetic nitrile (used for surgical gloves) and improved its design, subsequently increasing sensation.

The condoms are also cheaper and have already been officially introduced by other cities. But San Francisco is the first city to design a social marketing campaign for the FC2 that includes gay men.

“The female condom has been out since the 1990s and we have been offering the old one at City Clinic for some time now. Gay men ask for it more often than women do,” said Jacqueline McCright, the community-based STD services manager at DPH. “It protects against STDs and HIV when having anal sex.”

Usage of the condom, though, is not as widespread as it could be among gay men. Thus local health officials decided to create special posters aimed at educating men who have sex with men how to effectively use them. Scott Metzger, the same artist who drew the cartoons for the city’s Healthy Penis campaign, creat-

Courtesy Female Health Company

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The new FC2 female condom

ed the female condom illustrations.

“Because you don’t necessarily know how to use it, we have made special arrangements to have an illustrator draw out how to use it for anal sex,” said McCright.

If using a female condom during anal sex, there is no need for the “top” or insertive sex partner to also wear a male condom. The biggest issue is getting used to inserting the female condom into the anus of the “bottom” or receptive sex partner.

“You can have your partner help you put it in or do it yourself,” said McCright.

The new posters will be distributed to local businesses, gay bars and sex clubs starting on Monday. The campaign will also appear on Muni buses next week.

At noon Monday in Civic Center Plaza health officials and community leaders will begin handing out lovers’ packs filled with chocolates, mints and female condoms. The free giveaways will also be handed out that day at Powell and Market streets; San Francisco State; Dolores Park; Palou and Third streets; and at Castro and 18th streets. ▼ For more information, go to www.Fc2SF.org.

Matt Baume

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Philip, director of STD prevention and control. “We’re not just talking about disease, but a healthy sexual life, healthy family life, and healthy communities.”

She added, “There are reasons for

hope. For the first time, we have a national HIV strategy.” She was referring to a White House plan released in July 2010 to lower infections nationally by 25 percent and improve access to care by 2015.

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, whose district includes the Western Addition and Fillmore, connected the fight against AIDS to the city’s dwindling African American population. The U.S. Census estimates that African Americans comprised 6.7 percent of the city’s population in 2009.

“The African American exodus couldn’t be more shameful,” he said.

“It is critical that we regroup in Black History Month. I see this as an opportunity ... to make sure the stats go in a different direction.”

For its part, the DPH will continue to fund programs that directly address HIV/AIDS in vulnerable populations.

Fuqua remains optimistic. “Our goal is to reduce infection by 50 percent in the next five years,” he told the Bay Area Reporter. “And we’re going to be on target to do it.”▼

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 10 February 2011

OPEN

Volume 41, Number 6 10 February 2011 eBAR.com PUBLISHER Thomas E. Horn Bob Ross (Founder, 1971 – 2003) N E W S E D I TO R Cynthia Laird A R T S E D I TO R Roberto Friedman ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko Seth Hemmelgarn Jim Provenzano CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dan Aiello • Tavo Amador • Matt Baume • Erin Blackwell Roger Brigham • Scott Brogan • Victoria A. Brownworth Philip Campbell • Chuck Colbert • Richard Dodds Raymond Flournoy • Brian Gougherty David Guarino • Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell Robert Julian • John F. Karr • Lisa Keen Matthew Kennedy • David Lamble • Michael McDonagh Paul Parish • Lois Pearlman • Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota Bob Roehr • Donna Sachet • Adam Sandel Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro • Gwendolyn Smith Robert Sokol • Ed Walsh • Sura Wood

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Night and day high staff turnover. Additionally, Smith said fter months of dreary headlines about that the board began planning for a successor various LGBT nonprofits that can’t manto Nolan about two years ago. In recent months, age their money, the news this week that that plan has been put into action, which will Project Open Hand Executive Director Tom culminate in hiring a new executive director Nolan will leave the agency at the end of later this year. Most importantly, Project the year is worth noting. Nolan, who Open Hand has a three-month operathas led Open Hand for 16 years, said ing reserve in the bank. that he’s at a point in his life where he Collaborating with similar agencies is wants to do something different. He something Project Open Hand has done is not stepping down, he and board for a number of years. By working with Chair Laura Smith told us, due to any fiGlide United Methodist Church’s food nancial problems. programs, the San Francisco Food That has not been the case for the Bank, and others, all mutually benAcademy of Friends, the San Franfrom reduced costs and bulk cisco Pride Committee, or LyonE DITORIAL efited purchases. When one is threatened Martin Health Services. Executive with budget cuts, all rally to supdirectors at all of these organizations port and stave them off. It’s not easy operating a have resigned recently; and coincidentally, all food program; food is hard to manage and must the organizations are now experiencing severe financial difficulties. AOF, as it prepares for its Oscar viewing party and gala later this month, still owes thousands of dollars to last year’s beneficiaries. SF Pride owes thousands of dollars to beverage partners from last year’s festival.

Lyon-Martin is in week three of its desperate attempt to remain open and staff and board have no plan in place for the 2,000 or so patients if it is forced to close its doors. Meanwhile, community members are rallying to raise money to keep the clinic open, but there has been no update from the board about whether the effort and goal are realistic.

Project Open Hand should be the envy of many social service agencies, and nonprofit executives could learn a thing or two from the way it has operated during Nolan’s tenure. The agency delivers meals to thousands of clients who are critically homebound, living with HIV/AIDS, or elderly. Nolan said the agency has met its fundraising targets; the 25th anniversary campaign last year raised $1.8 million above the organization’s operating budget.

In talking with Nolan and Smith, some themes emerged: stability, collaboration, and devotion to mission.

As for stability, the agency does not have

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comply with health regulations for cooking and storage, among other considerations.

Nolan said that he has always run the agency with an eye on its mission: providing groceries and delivering meals to the clients. It was a big deal for the agency when it expanded beyond serving PWAs more than a decade ago – as well as controversial – but Project Open Hand was successful because it communicated with stakeholders and provided a viable plan.

It hasn’t been a perfect ride – Nolan mentioned a couple of budget crises that had occurred and resulted in some staff layoffs and consolidation of duties. But that was a necessary decision to remain true to the mission of providing food to people who need it. All in all, Nolan’s adept management has put Project Open Hand ahead of the curve and in sound shape as it awaits a new leader.▼

Kors took risks, improved LGBTs’ lives

by Kate Kendell hen I moved to San Francisco to begin working for the National Center for Lesbian Rights in 1994, most of the political advocacy in California was devoted to stopping bad bills in the legislature, getting more money and resources targeted to HIV/AIDS care and prevention, and making sure that our elected officials saw and heard from lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. All of these were very important achievements, but we lacked the structure to make real and long-lasting gains.

California’s same-sex couples did not have access to virtually any of about 400 state rights and benefits enjoyed by straight couples. Employment protections were limited for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people and unheard of for our transgender brothers and sisters, who could easily be fired from their jobs, evicted from their homes, and refused public accommodations.

And with more than 60 percent of Californians opposing marriage equality, the prospects for justice for our community seemed bleak.

But in 2002, we gained a fierce and effective advocate. Geoff Kors, the executive director of Equality California, built political bridges where there had been gaping holes, worked relentlessly at the state Capitol to try to reach across partisan aisles, won support for dozens of pieces of legislation that have touched the lives of every LGBT Californian, and transformed the state into the nation’s leading trailblazer for LGBT equality.

Geoff, who leaves Equality California next month after nine years, is one of the most accomplished political strategists and legislative advocates in our nation’s LGBT equality movement. He and his talented team diligently worked for our rights G UEST and protections, earning Equality California respect and the reputation as one of the most effective political advocacy organizations in the country.

Geoff and I first met in the mid-1990s, when he was a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. At that time he had a shock of curly brown hair. When I saw Geoff again a few short years later here in San Francisco with a head of gray hair, I worried that he had been working far too hard. That was surely true, even if not the reason for his

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Rick Gerharter

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FORUM

Before all the results were in on Election Night 2008, Kate Kendell and Geoff Kors addressed the crowd that had gathered for the No on 8 campaign.

prematurely gray hair. After he took the helm of Equality California, I watched on countless occasions his commitment to reach policy and law makers in Sacramento with the stories and struggles of real LGBT people, holding those elected and appointed officials accountable when they ignored or minimized our lives and our experience.

Many times, I have awakened to find e-mails or texts from Geoff at 2 a.m., 3 a.m., and 4 a.m., suggesting new strategies or tactics to win greater protections for some of the most vulnerable in our community, including LGBT elders, immigrants, youth, and those with O PINION HIV/AIDS. On a number of occasions, I remember telling Geoff, “That would never happen,” in response to some idea or initiative he suggested.

In 2004 he told me that now-Senator Mark Leno wanted to introduce a marriage bill. This was at precisely the time when then-Mayor Gavin Newsom and the City and County of San Francisco were issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Such a move seemed awfully risky and provocative. Mark and Geoff went ahead, with my reluctant concurrence. A few short months later in 2005, California made

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history as the first state to pass legislation in favor of the freedom to marry for same-sex couples, despite the governor’s eventual veto of the bill. The passage of this legislation helped NCLR win our lawsuit at the California Supreme Court challenging the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage and paved the way for other states, like Vermont and New Hampshire, to follow suit.

Time and again, Geoff and Equality California helped fair-minded individuals get elected, and his relationship with those elected officials elevated their voices and helped them become champions for our equality and visibility. We have been blessed in California with dozens of elected officials who care about LGBT issues and listen to the myriad needs of our community. In case after case, Equality California is our voice, and our elected officials listen.

The greatest test of leadership is seen when the going gets rough. Proposition 8 was the California LGBT equality movement’s toughest battle, with leaders from almost every LGBT and ally organization in the state working to defeat it. But no one did more to raise money for the campaign than Geoff. After Election Day, Geoff and Equality California took the

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10 February 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

LETTERS

Mixed feelings on honor walk

mostly the result of ordinary people taking risks when it was dangerous to their careers and lives do so.

As I’m sure you are aware, this is not a new idea, but The posturing politicians came later. how about a “Walk of Hope” instead of fame? I have mixed feeling on this.

Arthur Evans As a longtime resident of the Castro, I have witnessed San Francisco all the changes. I first lived on Sanchez and 17th in 1967 before Harvey Milk was around. I have always considered ‘Best of’ category insensitive the Castro my village. The Castro attracted Harvey Milk I am writing in regards to your “Best of the Gays” readand the influx of gay men into the Castro started long beers poll. In the arts section where the ballot details best fore him. Not to discredit Harvey in any way, he was our clubs, you have made a listing for “Best Club for Trannies.” great hope. But the Castro has succumbed to the contrasts I would have expected that the staff at the Bay Area Reof gentrification and urban decay, the bad economy, all the porter would know and understand the negative hiswonderful gay businesses that were once part tory of the word “tranny” and how insulting it of the village are boarded up or turned into is to many trans people and not have used it. I smoke shops and porno stores, etc, run by firmly request this word be deleted from your straight people. Twin Peaks bar is the only online poll and further publication of the original iconic gay establishment still operpoll, or swiftly change the line to “Best club ating. The Human Rights Campaign is selling for Trans people” or something similar withT-shirts in Harvey’s old camera shop; I guess out the use of the word “tranny.” the Trevor Project justifies that. The GLBT Historical Society Museum is charging $5 to M AILSTROM Jamie Wolfe show the world our GLBT history, like a cirSan Francisco cus sideshow, it should be free admission.

Don’t get me wrong, they did a beautiful job on the mu[Editor’s note: The word has been seum, but they run it like a business for profit, they were replaced in the online poll.] entrusted to archive our history, not make money from it.

I realize the museum needs money to operate, they did Building our institutions have a large endowment in the early years, when Willy I read with interest Brian Basinger’s piece in the JanuWalker was alive. I am sure there is a better business model ary 27 B.A.R. [“New model needed for nonprofit executive the historical society could adopt. director compensation,” Guest Opinion, January 27]. I agree I love my village, but what would a “walk of fame” do that executive compensation has drained social service reto improve the Castro [“Castro LGBT walk of fame skips sources in the LGBT communities. However, while six figover Harvey Milk, other out LGBT politicians,” February 2 ures is a bit rich, an executive director usually has a masblog post]? We still have the Castro Theatre, which is like ter’s degree or Ph.D. and at current university tuition rates, the village cathedral, and all the wonderful gay events that that is steep. For example at San Francisco State Universihave happened there, the Castro Theatre stands as a monty the current budget for an in-state undergraduate stuument to fame. Rather than a Walk of Fame, I see a “Walk dent is $23,312 a year (see www.sfsu.edu/~bulletin/curof Hope,” remembering all those that died of AIDS, the rent/finaid.htm). The budget of a graduate student is even survivors, those murdered or served to better the lives of greater. Thus, a manager with a master’s degree has probGLBT people around the world, they are the people that ably spent $150,000 over six years and probably owes should be remembered and celebrated. about that much in student loans. A Ph.D. has probably At 67, I still rock out to Sylvester; I miss seeing him at spent eight years in school and thus probably has spent the Elephant Walk many years ago. and owes $200,000. The executive director and other professionals in service organizations have to eat, sleep, and Ron Williams live in one of the most expensive cost of living cities/areas San Francisco in the U.S. (San Francisco metropolitan area) and service Reverse commuting a huge mound of college debt. To not compensate people for their education, training, and the expense of getting Regarding the article about mayoral candidate Joanna the knowledge and expertise will eventually cause the Rees’s candidate night and her comment about reverse LGBT communities to eat their own seed corn, if you will. commuting [“Rees kicks off mayoral speaker series in SF,” Another factor that has drained LGBT service organiFebruary 3]: it is true that today 25 percent of employed zation coffers in recent years has been the incredible exSan Franciscans work out of the city but 15 years ago 20 pense of reactionary battles not of our communities’ percent did. (Twenty years ago I wrote a column for the choosing. For example, Proposition 8. Case in point: Some San Francisco Chronicle analyzing reverse commuting allege that 2008 financial troubles in San Jose at the Dethen.) The primary explanation for this behavior is not Frank LGBT Center were caused by people donating to No that San Francisco doesn’t create enough jobs but that on 8 then not having money to donate to existing LGBT many people who are hired at good jobs around the Bay service organizations almost caused the DeFrank to close.

Area don’t want to live in the suburbs. This is particularly Whether this is true or not, the point here is that the LGBT true of LGBT employees who find social and cultural communities need to stop looking to external issues and affinity in San Francisco and not in Menlo Park or Novastop serving external agendas thrust upon us and spend to. This behavior will continue as long as the Bay Area reour time, money, and resources to build our own institumains a source of good jobs. tions and service organizations through service and volIt is commendable that Ms Rees is campaigning in unteering and make compensation commensurate with LGBT venues and is concerned about the economy, but education and experience so that LGBT students of today she needs to do more home work before going “prime will be the LGBT leaders of tomorrow. time.”

As Chuck Foerster said in a letter to the editor in the James W. Haas B.A.R. published on December 16, 2010 (“Sit back for two San Francisco years”) in reference to our LGBT battles set by others and in Lyon-Martin is a wake up call reference to our opponents: “Let’s sit back and watch them fall on their faces. We’ll get our way in the end.” In this conI moved to San Francisco for the health care. I knew text to paraphrase from Foerster’s letter, let’s put our time that as a sex worker and trans person there wasn’t anyand money into building our own institutions and services where else in the country that I could be as sure of getting and let the Rush Limbaugh’s and Mormons (our oppocompetent health care as the gay city by the bay. nents) make fools of themselves and fall on their faces on I have watched and been part of a public health finantheir dime, not our dime, while we spend our dimes on our cial roller coaster for the past three years. First a women’s institutions and services and people and students. choice clinic closed quietly, then New Leaf shut its doors, transitioning many of its clients to Lyon-Martin Health Loren Meissner Jr. Services. Now here we are with Lyon-Martin itself in real San Francisco danger of disappearing from our lives.

Last Sunday would have been Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday – the man who did not acknowledge AIDS until five years into the epidemic. In the 1980s queers stepped up and took care of each other. Now we must do the same.

Send letters to the Bay Area Reporter, 395 Ninth It is foolhardy to count on health departments and city ofStreet, San Francisco, CA 94103. Letters must be ficials to prioritize LGBTQ services and many of us can’t signed, and include an address and daytime phone live here without them. We cannot afford to stand idly by number for verification purposes only. Unsigned letters to see what happens without community intervention. will not be published. E-mail letters are accepted at I know it’s hard to give your money to something that c.laird@ebar.com. Please put “letter to the editor” in has failed once before, to put faith in an organization turnthe subject line, and also include an address and phone ing completely around to developing good business pracnumber. Letters may be edited for space. tices. But this has been a wake up call. Not only for LyonMartin, which is working hard to sort its finances right now, but also to the queers and trans people of San Francisco who are fighting to keep it open and are investing in the future of our community. We all need to be a part of that.

Cyd Nova San Francisco

Where was Jane Kim when we needed her?

When Supervisor Jane Kim refuses to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at meetings of the Board of Supervisors, she cites discrimination against gay people as part of her decision [“Kim cites LGBT rights for pledge silence,” February 3].

Over the past 40 years, I have been arrested nine times in actions of peaceful disobedience on behalf of justice for gay people. I never saw Jane Kim at any of those actions.

The progress that we have witnessed in our lifetimes is

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BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 10 February 2011

BUSINES S

NEWS

New stores bloom in the Castro A

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Shawn Higgins, co-owner of D&H Sustainable Jewelers, suggests a sparkly gift idea for Valentine’s Day.

Sui Generis thrives

In the midst of the sluggish economy, vintage fashion retailer Sui Generis is bucking the trend by expanding its flagship B RIEFS men’s store and opening a second store focused on women’s apparel.

On February 12, co-owners and life partners Miguel Lopez and Gabriel Yanez are re-launching their men’s boutique a few doors down at 2231 Market Street. This space most recently housed the campaign headquarters for Rafael Mandelman’s Board of Supervisors run.

The new space is more than double the size of the current store, and allows Sui Generis to carry more consignment merchandise, including an expanded formalwear section. Additionally, the new store will feature a rotation of mini-boutiques devoted to new designers.

With the relocation of the men’s store, the current location at 2265 will

be renovated to focus on women’s apparel and accessories. The target date for the reopening of the women’s consignment store is February 19.

For more information on consigning items through Sui Generis, visit www.suigenerisconsignment.com.

After the abrupt closing of Delano’s IGA, Castro residents worried about how long the large grocery space would remain empty. On January 27, those worries were relieved when Mollie Stone’s Markets announced that 4201 18th Street would become its third store in San Francisco, and its ninth location in the Bay Area.

Mollie Stone’s has already begun renovations on the building in preparation for a March opening. In an email to the Bay Area Reporter, coowner David Bennett described the changes that Mollie Stone’s has for the space. “[We are] cleaning, adding many more products to create a much larger selection, increasing and upgrading deli, cheese, meat, poultry and seafood products, and adding new produce displays. Because we believe having produce visible as our customers walk in, there has to be some remodeling in the entry of our store. [A]nd we will have a new look up front with a new housewares department,” Bennett said.

In anticipation of the new store’s opening, Mollie Stone’s is hosting a job fair on Saturday, February 12 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the new Castro location.

While Bennett would not comment on whether Mollie Stone’s intends to rehire the staff of Delano’s, he

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re you looking for a gift for your special someone for Valentine’s Day? Spring has arrived early and has brought a bouquet of new stores to the Castro District to help you express your love through jewelry, clothing, a night at the movies, chocolate, or ... groceries!

There’s something at every price point.

On January 15, D&H Sustainable Jewelers (2323 Market Street) opened its doors to B USINESS its showcase of jewelry made almost entirely with reclaimed metals and vintage stones.

The brainchild of co-owners Lindsay Daunell and Shawn Higgins, D&H carries only pieces handmade by artisans, most of whom are local to the San Francisco Bay Area. The store also works with customers to design unique jewelry pieces, and then connects the customer with jewelry artists who can bring those creations to life.

Higgins says that the hot item leading up to this Valentine’s Day (Monday, February 14), is commitment rings. Higgins himself is married to artist Robert Franco, whose works decorate the walls of D&H. Eventually the Market Street store will feature a workshop onsite to fa-

Mollie Stone’s coming to the Castro

cilitate the custom jewelry work. Also planned is a wine bar in the back, which will feature local wines from sustainably-operated vineyards. The target launch date for the wine bar is mid-March.

For more information about custom jewelry design and D&H’s commitment to sustainability, visit www.dnhjewelers.com.

Steven Kasapi

by Raymond Flournoy

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by Gwendolyn Ann Smith t this year’s Creating Change conference, a new report came out from the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which hosted the confab. The report,

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titled “Injustice at Every Turn,” includes responses from nearly 6,500 people. A press release touts it as, “the first large-scale national study of discrimination against transgender and gender non-conforming Americans, and paints a more complete picture than any prior research to date.”

What did this study tell us? Among

other things, we learned that 41 percent of those who participated has attempted suicide, compared to a mere 16 percent of the general population.

Survey participants were twice as likely to be unemployed when compared to the general population. Half had faced harassment in the workplace, and one in four had their employment terminated due to their gender expression or identity.

One in five had been homeless as a result of their gender identity or exwhatever bills reach our elected bodpression, with 19 percent being reies. Yet I find it hard to be all that exfused a home and 11 percent having cited about it, given this same data been evicted over issues of gender was discussed in 2010 at the Creating identity or expression.

Change conference.

Police mistreatment was reported More than this, however, I know by 22 percent of those surveyed, and that I don’t much need a survey put that 19 percent were refused health on by a pair of organizations to tell care. Also, we learned that poverty me what my eyes see. I know what it is was rampant among those surveyed. like to face the loss of employment It’s pretty big stuff – but I have to due to one’s transgender status. I admit, I felt an extreme sense of déjà know what it is like to face harassment vu as I read this report. in the workplace. I know what it is like You see, in February 2010, at the to find housing difficult to atCreating Change conference, a retain due to one’s gender export came out from NCTE and pression or identity. the Task Force. The report was More than just me, based on a preliminary study however, I know from the and included responses from other transgender and gennearly 6,500 people. der variant friends and assoIt, too, was a groundciates I’ve had over breaking study, unthe years that my covering just how T RANSMISSIONS experiences – and bad discrimination other examples of was for transgender discrimination – people. It told us that are typical. We often live in poverty. half had faced harassment in the Health care is a dicey proposition. workplace, and one in four had their Suicide attempts are highly common employment terminated due to their – and harassment and violence even gender expression or identity. It told more so. You honestly do not need a us about homelessness, and healthstudy to know this. care, and poverty, and – yes, just So here it is, February 2011. This about the same thing as I just got study is done and published, and the done telling you. findings discussed last year are final.

So this year’s groundbreaking Now that we have this data to back study is last year’s groundbreaking up what we already knew, I find mystudy. Just, you know, with the final self with one big question: what are numbers. Which also seem to be we going to do with it? pretty close to the preliminary numAre these numbers just for bandybers. ing about at a high-priced convenNow I think it’s great that the tion where those most directly afstudy is finished and published. It’s fected by discrimination and harassgood, hard data that can be used any ment are not present, just to be retime you need good, hard data. It can gurgitated endlessly so we know that, be reduced to great little sound bites gosh, it’s really bad out there? and put on the air the next time Or perhaps these numbers make someone is attempting to make sure good PR, and have now gotten two transgender people are included in

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Christine Smith

The groundhog survey

boosts here at the beginning of the year, allowing for an influx in media coverage and fundraising dollars for the organizations that funded it?

Certainly it gives them the ability to say, “we’re doing something for you,” even if that something is simply number crunching a survey for a year or so.

Rather, I want to see these numbers – as well as the long-ingrained community knowledge behind them – turn into something useful.

First, let’s put to rest any notions that transgender people don’t have it bad. We already knew this, here’s the numbers to back it up, so enough already.

Let’s use these numbers when we fight for inclusion in bills such as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The next time transgender and gender-variant people are cut out of ENDA – and you know they will be – point out that maybe it is those who are already adequately served who should be cut out first, in deference to those most directly affected by employment discrimination.

Let’s use the money that would go into surveys and such and turn it instead to helping our community: whether it is funding employment workshops and homeless shelters among the grassroots, or doing whatever it takes to get our protections codified into law at all levels of government.

We don’t need to waste our time and money on next year’s groundbreaking survey results at Creating Change 2012. Enough discussion: it’s action time.▼ Gwen Smith puts far more weight on deeds, not words. She can be found online at www.gwensmith.com.

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10 February 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

7

POLITIC S

Gay lawmakers eye South Bay Assembly seat

Campos pushes special day for gay hero Out San Francisco Supervisor David Campos would like the city to posthumously honor gay hero Oliver Sipple with his own day this fall.

Sipple, a gay disabled vet, is credited with saving the life of President Gerald Ford during a visit to San Francisco. On September 22, 1975, while Ford was exitN OTEBOOK ing the St. Francis Hotel in Union Square, Sara Jane Moore pulled out a gun with the intent to assassinate the president.

Instead, Sipple lunged at Moore and was able to divert her aim and save the president’s life. He was outed by Harvey Milk, at the time a gay activist, to newspaper columnist Herb Caen. The revelation caused a media frenzy and led to Sipple’s estrangement from his parents for some time.

While Ford, who died in 2006, never thanked Sipple in person, he did send him a letter. Later in life Sipple fell into drinking heavily and was said to be suicidal. He was found dead in his Tenderloin apartment on February 2, 1989.

While Milk, who would go on to become San Francisco’s first openly gay elected politician only to be assassinated while in office, has been honored many times by the city, Sipple has not been given the same recognition. One unsuccessful idea

Ken Yeager is exploring an Assembly run next year.

was to have the federal legislation repealing the military’s ban against openly gay or lesbian service members be named after Sipple.

Over the last year San Francisco resident Allen Jones, a gay black man, has pushed to see Sipple be given credit for his bravery. He has been working with Campos’s office on designating September 22, 2011 Oliver W. Sipple Day in the city and county of San Francisco.

Campos introduced a resolution seeking the honor for Sipple at this week’s board meeting. It refers to Sipple as “a gay American veteran and hero” who deserves credit for his “special contributions” to San Francisco.

Less love for singles from SF Zoo Patrick Hand, a gay man who has been a San Francisco Zoo member for nearly 10 years, recently ended his membership due to a change in the facilities’ policies.

He was shocked to learn during a visit to the zoo last week that anyone buying a $95 family membership now must name the two adults who will receive the free admission perk that comes with it. In the past the zoo did not require people buying that membership level to identify both people using the two free entrance cards, which are good for one year.

Mayor, supe stroll in D9

ayor Ed Lee, right, joined openly gay District 9 Supervisor David Campos and Bernal Business Alliance President Darcy Lee on a merchant walk Saturday, February 5 along Cortland Avenue in Bernal Heights.

The group passed the Wild Side West, a longtime neighborhood lesbian bar.

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Hand said he finds the new policy discriminatory to single people.

As he doesn’t have a partner, he said he couldn’t designate the second zoo card for a specific person.

“You have to list another person now. I said to the woman at the membership window that I am single and I don’t have another person,” said Hand. “There are a lot of single people in this city. I am not going to re-up my membership or support a place that has a discriminatory policy.”

The zoo’s individual membership level, which costs $75, does not allow the person to bring a guest each time they visit. It only provides one guest pass that is good for one free admission to the zoo that anyone can use.

Hand said he was further annoyed when zoo staff told him if he wanted to bring anyone as his guest he could tack on a $50 “Guest of Card” charge in addition to the price of an individual membership. The total $125 charge costs more than the family membership level, which not only comes with the free admission for two named adults but also for five children or grandchildren under the age of 18.

“I know we are all hurting for money,” said Hand, “but that is no reason to milk more money from us or change to a policy that discriminates against single people who have been supporting the zoo for years.”

Zoo spokeswoman Gwendolyn Tornatore said that the zoo instituted the membership policy change last year because too many people were abusing the free entrance perk.

She said zoo staffers even discovered people advertising their zoo membership cards on Craigslist as an incentive for visitors to rent their homes.

“Unfortunately, we had people abusing it. Because of other people’s bad behavior, other people have to pay the price,” she said. “It stands true for everyone. It is true for LGBT couples, straight couples, or any family unit.”

The Oakland Zoo has a similar policy for its family memberships, which also cost $95 and require the two cardholders to be named. Its individual plus membership, which costs $85, also states that the second card for a spouse or another adult

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Rick Gerharter

wo South Bay gay politicians are both eyeing an Assembly seat run in 2012, reviving memories of the nasty 2008 intraLGBT community fight for a San Francisco state Senate seat.

Out Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager informed supporters over the weekend that he had formed an exploratory committee to lay the groundwork for a possible run for the state’s 24th Assembly District seat. The current officeholder, Assemblyman Jim Beall (D-San Jose), will be termed out of office next year.

“I have been strongly encouraged by many to consider running for his Assembly seat. While California is confronting challenges beyond anything we have ever faced before, the coming years also present a period of unparalleled opportunity to shape what will be the new California,” wrote Yeager, a former San Jose city councilman, in the February 5 e-mail. “In addition to working on job creation, health P OLITICAL and wellness, and environmental protection, I know that my 20-year involvement in school, city, and county government will be invaluable in the realignment of local and state government services.”

Evan Low, an out gay man on the Campbell City Council, is also mulling a run for the legislative seat.

Low, who did not respond to interview requests this week, told the San Jose Mercury News last month that Yeager’s entrance into the race would not deter him.

“There’s a lot of time between now and March of 2012” when candidates have to officially declare, Low told the newspaper.

If the two do throw their hats into the race, it would be reminiscent of when Mark Leno, then a state Assemblyman, ousted former state Senator Carole Migden from her 3rd Senate District seat in the June Democratic primary three years ago. The two out politicians had been close colleagues at one time, similar to Yeager and Low’s relationship.

Rather than compete against his political mentor, Low could very well decide to seek Yeager’s supervisor seat, which covers his hometown. Both men’s decisions will be impacted by the decennial redistricting process. How both the Assembly and supervisor district boundaries are redrawn later this year will determine if Yeager and Low still reside in either district and are eligible to run for the seats.

“It is very early, and in my preliminary conversations with current state legislators many have advised me to wait until the new Assembly district boundaries for the 2012 election are in place before making a decision. At the end of this exploratory process, I look forward to sharing my plans with you,” wrote Yeager.

It would appear, though, that Yeager already has a lock on the Assembly seat over Low and any other candidates who jump into the race.

Numerous local leaders have joined his exploratory committee, including Beall and openly gay state Assemblyman Rich Gordon (D-Menlo Park). In total, 18 current and former South Bay officeholders have signed on to help with Yeager’s bid.

“I am grateful to them for their willingness to join me in this endeavor at this early stage,” wrote Yeager.

Yeager and Low aren’t the only potential out Assembly candidates in 2012. Down in Los Angeles, longtime LGBT activist Torie Osborn has already declared her intent to seek the 41st Assembly District seat. She

is planning an official campaign kick-off event in her hometown of Santa Monica on March 10.

The out lesbian was one of the highest-ranking LGBT advisers to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Osborn currently is the senior director of strategic relationship for LA-based agency SCOPE, which stands for Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education.

Back in 1993 she spent six months as executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. She told the Los Angeles Times that her brief tenure was due to her not having the right management skills for the job.

Jane Philomen Cleland

by Matthew S. Bajko

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BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 10 February 2011

INTERNATIONAL

NEWS

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Chaos at Kato’s funeral ven in death, there was no peace for David Kato, the prominent Ugandan activist bashed to death with a hammer in his home January 26 after a tabloid newspaper published his picture and the pictures of other gay people with the caption “Kill Them” – and just 23 days after he won a lawsuit against the newspaper over the article.

At Kato’s funeral, the Anglican official conducting the service, Thomas Musoke, started bashing gays, saying that “admiring a fellow man” is “ungodly,” that even animals can distinguish male from female, and that “gays ... should repent.”

Kato’s gay friends rushed the pulpit and seized the microphone.

Bart DoRity, Scott Bray, and David Then, according to reports, people Waggoner were among about 100 at the funeral who apparently agreed attendees at a memorial for David with the celebrant got into physical Kato, slain Ugandan gay activist. The skirmishes with the gay people. After rainbow flag was lowered to half-mast that, the residents who would have for the event in Harvey Milk Plaza. carried the casket to the cemetery refused to do so, and Kato’s friends had and had been a leading voice in the to do it. fight against the Anti-Homosexuality Meanwhile, in the investigation Bill, which has been before Uganda’s into Kato’s murder, on February 2, Parliament since October 2009. police told local media that a “thief” The legislation would imprison Kato had bailed out of prison, Nsubfor life anyone convicted of uga Enock, confessed to killing “the offense of homosexKato because Kato failed to uality,” punish “aggragive him a car, house, and vated homosexuality” money that Kato purport(repeat offenses, or edly dangled to coerce him having gay sex while into sodomy. being HIV-positive) Numerous gay activists with the death penalty, in Uganda and the U.S. forbid “promotion of said they do not believe the killing was about withheld W OCKNER’ S homosexuality” and incarcerate gay-rights degifts and are worried that W ORLD fenders, and jail indithe homophobic governviduals in positions of ment intends to cover up authority for up to three years if they the true motive for the crime to profail to report within 24 hours the existect itself from foreign criticism and tence of all LGBT people or sympasafeguard foreign aid. thizers known to them.

Kato, believed to be 42, was the adSome U.S. and Ugandan activists vocacy officer for the organization and reporters have blamed U.S. evanSexual Minorities Uganda, or SMUG, gelical visitors to Uganda for inspiring the bill, which, they believe, led to the newspaper article, which, they suspect, led to the murder.

“A March 2009 conference in Kampala ... featured notorious American anti-gay campaigners, who promoted the idea of a sinister global homosexual conspiracy to corrupt Uganda,” said Political Research Associates, a nonprofit that studies the U.S. political right. “Conference speakers advocated parliamentary action to thwart this ‘international gay agenda’ (and) met with Ugandan lawmakers and government officials, some of whom drafted Parliament’s infamous Anti-Homosexuality Bill.”

Val Kalenda, board chair of Freedom and Roam Uganda, said the vis-

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French court upholds same-sex marriage ban France’s Constitutional Court upheld the nation’s same-sex marriage ban January 28.

It said gay and straight couples find themselves in a “different situation” that justifies differing treatment under family law.

Parliament, however, can legalize same-sex marriage if it wants to, the court said.

Polls suggest that nearly 60 percent of French people support letting same-sex couples marry.

The nation has offered civil unions for gay couples for more than a decade, but the unions lack many legal benefits of marriage.

page 11

Queers join Egypt rally

Jane Philomen Cleland

www.ebar.com

itors “planted hatred in Uganda (and) must take responsibility for David’s blood.”

Scott Long, who headed Human Rights Watch’s LGBT Rights Division for several years said, “The foreign Christian leaders who have supported the spread of murderous homophobia in Uganda ... should search their consciences today and beg forgiveness.”

SMUG said that Kato had “been receiving death threats since his face was put on the front page of Rolling Stone magazine, which called for his death and the death of all homosexuals.” (The publication is unrelated to the U.S. magazine.)

The newspaper article said, in part: “The mighty Rolling Stone is glad to reveal some of the most horrible secrets in gay community, which is bent on recruiting at least one million members by 2012. Dishearteningly, gays are after young kids, who are easily brainwashed towards bisexual orientation. ... The leaked pictures of Uganda’s top homosexuals and lesbians have renewed calls for the strengthening of the war against the rampage that threatens the future of our generation by hanging gays. ‘Unless government takes a bold step by hanging dozens of homosexuals, the vice will continue eating up the moral fibre and culture of our great nation,’ ... said a radical church leader who preferred anonymity.”

On February 3 in New York City, more than 100 people walked from Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza near the United Nations to Uganda House demanding a proper investigation of Kato’s murder and that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill be withdrawn from Parliament. That same evening, a similarly sized action took place in San Francisco’s Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro District.

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by Rex Wockner

Rick Gerharter

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ern Nuanez, left, joins Deni Asnis as part of the Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism contingent that, along with an estimated 5,000 others, rallied Saturday, February 5 in San Francisco’s Civic Center. The rally was to support the pro-democracy, anti-Mubarak efforts in Egypt that have transfixed much of the world for more than a week.

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10 February 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

COMMUNITY

9

NEWS

Gay baker’s greatest love is in the kitchen In April he plans to take part in a local fundraiser for the Trevor Project, which runs a hotline for LGBT and questioning youth. And in May he will once again participate in Meals on Wheels of San Francisco’s annual Star Chefs and Vintners Gala.

As for finding someone to love, Pura does have some tricks amid his cache of dessert recipes. After all, as

by Matthew S. Bajko igit Pura, the baby-faced gay pastry chef who sets gay men’s hearts aflutter, may be single and dateless this Valentine’s Day, but he is having a date with destiny.

The San Francisco baker is fast becoming a celebrity both nationally and within local gay and foodie circles following his winning the inaugural season of Bravo’s Top Chef Just Desserts. He is the first out chef to win one of the programs’ cooking competitions.

His local fans are pushing to see him be named a grand marshal of this year’s Pride Parade. And nonprofits, from LGBT rights groups to food pantries, are marshaling his newfound fame to help them fundraise.

“This has been a professional catapult for me. One thing I am very pleased about is I am also able to use this as grounds to do some work within our community,” said Pura during a recent interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “I don’t like the term celebrity but if I can be a role model I would take the responsibility on.”

Out magazine recently named the 30-year-old Pura one of its 100 most eligible gay bachelors and set up a link on its website for guys to ask him out via his Facebook page. Pura will find out Monday if the publication’s readers picked him as one of their 10 most dateable guys.

“I selected Yigit for the 100 Bachelors because he’s talented, well-spoken, intelligent, and – last but not least – adorable,” explained the magazine’s associate editor Noah Michelson.

With all the attention, and several online marriage proposals from his admirers, Pura said he has yet to be hit by Cupid’s arrow. He plans to just grab drinks with friends this Valentine’s Day. “Things happen when they happen,” said Pura, the executive pastry chef for Taste Catering and Event Planning.

He has had a long-term boyfriend in the past, and in December he tweeted about wanting to fall in love again.

“Odd, I know, but sometimes I think life would be a lot SIMPLER if I had a #boyfriend again! Or is the grass just greener on the other side?” wrote Pura.

For now, though, Pura’s main love is cooking and being in the kitchen.

“It’s always been my greatest love, I would say,” said Pura. “I feel very blessed. From a very young age I knew what I wanted to do.”

Pura spent his early years in Ankara, Turkey, and at the age of 4, he began learning how to cook from his mother. The family moved to the Bay Area when Pura was 12, and as he explained in a video he taped for the “It Gets Better” campaign aimed at LGBT youth, it was no picnic.

“I went to a racist high school.

People picked on me because of my racial background and culture. People would make gay jokes,” says Pura in the clip. “In high school I did not have a lot of friends. I knew down the line there had to be some hope and some light.”

It came during his second week of college when Pura kissed his first boy and “it was like rainbows exploded all around me.” The next year he came out to his family, who took some time to accept his being gay but eventually came around to be fully supportive.

“I have a gay sister now, too. My mom is a great gay rights fighter,” says Pura in his video.

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Lydia Gonzales

Yigit Pura, winner of Top Chef Just Desserts, gold-dusts chocolate desserts in the kitchen at Taste Catering.

At the age of 20 Pura turned his attention to his culinary training. He moved to New York and was hired first at Le Cirque 2000 then landed a job at the Four Seasons Hotel. He caught the eye of celebrity chef Daniel Boulud, who hired him to be the pastry sous chef at his restaurant Daniel.

He then was promoted to be the executive pastry chef for Daniel Boulud in Las Vegas. Four years ago he quit to return to San Francisco and was hired by the owners of Taste.

He plans to use the $110,000 cash prize from the TV show – $100,000 for being the winner plus another $10,000 for being picked the fans’ favorite contestant – to open a highend pastry shop in Union Square. He is currently scouting for a location and hopes to greet his first customers in early 2012.

“Recently, someone asked me if I want to be the next Martha Stewart of desserts and I said, ‘No. I want to be myself,’” said Pura, who is partnering with his bosses at Taste to open his sweet shop and will leave his position with the catering company when he does.

After Pura appeared shirtless sporting a defined set of abs on one episode of Top Chef, the Internet was abuzz about his physique. And more pictures of his torso soon surfaced online.

His fit figure isn’t due to Pura being born without a sweet tooth. He readily admits he is a constant consumer of his own confections.

“Probably 70 percent of my diet is based on sugar,” he says. “I would like to say it is effortless, but I exercise six times a week. For me it is not a means to a body; it is more a mental thing. The gym is one and a half hours of quiet time where I can focus.”

Pura is also an avid bicyclist, and before being picked for the Bravo program, he had planned to do the AIDS/LifeCycle ride along California’s coast organized by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center.

“I was training for the AIDS ride last year but couldn’t do it. I had to

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do promotions for the show,” said Pura, who can’t participate this year either because “life is too busy.”

His life has become a whirlwind since winning the bake off. In addition to his work at Taste, Pura is donating his time to help numerous organizations raise money. He is flying down to Orlando next month to take part in the Human Rights Campaign’s Cook 2011 fundraiser.

the saying goes, the fastest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.

“Absolutely,” says Pura when asked if he believes in the proverb.

“Being a pastry chef, it is always an easy way to get people’s attention and admiration. I would like to think my personality does that on its own. But being a talented pastry chef certainly doesn’t hurt I think.”▼

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 10 February 2011

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Snoozeper Bowl ads: Lip-licking bad

by Roger Brigham h, dear. Are we now so accepted, so un-newsworthy that we are becoming un-Super Bowl-ad-target-worthy? Where are the homophobic Super Bowl commercials that accompanied so many of the previous Roman numerals? Licking Doritos dust from another man’s fingers and an isolated woodsman breaking out in the latest women’s fashion: Is that really the best XLV advertisers could muster to stir the watchful ire of LGBT sensibilities?

The biggest hisses for this year’s Super Bowl, which between commercials featured some wonderful reasons for cheeseheads to forget What’s-His-Name, who used to quarterback the Green Bay Packers before Aaron Rodgers took over, were for Christina Aguilera’s botching of the National Anthem. Hey, it may be impossible to sing well, but it’s the anthem and folks care if you really screw it up. (Decades after the event, my mother still steams over a botched rendition by Robert Goulet.

I think she suspects a Canadian conspiracy.) Aguilera should take a bite out of Roseanne Barr’s Snickers.

Hands down the most controversial advertisements this year were the Groupon.com spots, whose exploitation of Tibet, whales, and J OCK rainforests was worthy of the Onion. I have to admit I had never heard of Groupon before. From what I gleaned from these ads, it seems to be a place to get deals from the kinds of operations most local governments divest their investments in because of political sensibilities. Now there’s a business model.

Perhaps it is the gradual spread of same-sex marriage rights, or the fact that the plug is about to be pulled from “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’s” lifesupport, but this year the Super Bowl marketing mavens decided not to ruffle our feathers with homophobic ads (outside of the Groupon ads, the

Courtesy Doritos

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In a Super Bowl ad created in Utah, a man licks Doritos dust from the fingertips of another man.

most offensive thing about them was that they were uniformly boring) but to instead co-opt our sensibilities by invading and upstaging the jock-athon with an episode of Glee. An over-produced Chevy ad eerily reminiscent of the milk ad in the Village People’s “You Can’t Stop the Music” and lead-ins to a post-game Glee episode about getting homophobic football players to join the glee club for a halftime performance of “Thriller” gave Fox Television the perfect counterprogramming to the secondgayest show on television, Starz’ Spartacus.

TALK But enough about Glee.

Let’s talk about sports.

is on Tuesday, February 15. Before the Warriors play the New Orleans Hornets in a 7:30 p.m. game that evening, recreational players will have the opportunity to play an exhibition game on the Oracle Arena floor. Evening entertainment will include Cheer SF and the East Bay Gay Men’s Chorus. Tickets come with commemorative T-shirts and may be purchased by e-mailing info@sfgba.com.

The Warriors held their first LGBT Night last March 11, a rarity in the National Basketball Association.

Interbasket.net reports the Philadelphia 76ers held a Gay and Lesbian Community Night in 2004 and the Toronto Raptors held Rainbow Hoops in 2007. The Los Angeles Clippers held their first LGBT Night earlier this month.

S

LGBT basketball nights This month, the Cal women’s basketball team will hold its third LGBT night and the Golden State Warriors their second.

The Cal women’s LGBT Night is tonight (Thursday, February 10), at Haas Pavilion. The Harvey Milk Civil Right Academy Hip-Hop Club and Cheer SF will perform. Special tickets for the 7:30 p.m. game versus Washington can be ordered from www.calbears.com/tickets, using the special order code “LGBT.” The Golden State Warriors night

Golden Gate Classic bowling The San Francisco Golden Gate Classic Bowling Tournament (www.sfggc2011.org) will be held February 18-20 at Serra Bowling in Daly City. Before the team competition on Friday, February 18, the Waddell Cup, the highest honor bestowed by the Federation of Gay Games, will be presented to Sara Waddell Lewinstein, sports director for Gay Games I and II and the bowling co-chair for Gay Games I.▼

Cupid’s Back party Friday f you’re gay and single, the place to be Friday, February 11 might well be “Cupid’s Back,” the party at Trigger bar that benefits the GLBT Historical Society. Started five years ago by Mark Rhoades, the event has grown from its simple grassroots beginnings at a private home to securing corporate support from PG&E and being held at a larger venue.

“I love this event because Valentine’s Day celebrates love and I feel that gay men and women move to San Francisco to live an open lifestyle but they do it to fall in love,” Rhoades said. “So you can say, love is what brings us here.”

Cupid’s Back takes place from 8 p.m. to midnight at Trigger, 2344 Market Street, and will feature 300 single guys wearing big, heart-shaped name tags to make it easier to mix and mingle. The decor will be red and pink lighting with red tabletops, pillows, and vases full of red roses.

Juanita More will serve as hostess and will be spinning later in the evening. Tickets are $30 in advance online at www.glbthistory.org and include a hosted bar.

“This event is near and dear to my heart,” Rhoades said. “No one should feel lonely on Valentine’s Day.”

I

Damian D Angelo is one of two cupids at the “Cupid’s Back” party Friday.

Valentine’s Day marriage actions Marriage Equality USA and GetEqual will join forces this year in the annual visits to county clerk offices where same-sex couples will request marriage licenses. The actions will not only draw attention to the lack of marriage equality between heterosexual and LGBT Americans, but it will also raise awareness about

the harms and the impact that the inability to marry causes LGBT families.

Locally, actions will take place at San Francisco City Hall from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Elected officials and community leaders will make remarks on the steps of City Hall at noon, then people can proceed to the clerk’s office inside.

In San Jose, people will meet at the Santa Clara County Recorder’s office, 70 West Hedding Street in San Jose from 2 to 3 p.m.

In Contra Costa County, there will be a rally outside the clerk’s office, located at 555 Escobar Street in Martinez. As of Wednesday, the time had yet to be determined, but the event is usually in the late afternoon shortly before the office closes.

MEUSA has engaged in these marriage counter actions since 2001, said Molly McKay, media director.

This year, MEUSA is joined by Get Equal and straight allies in the event, she noted.

“Whether we are married, domestic partners, in a civil union, or legal strangers under our particular state’s law, all same-sex couples are denied the 1,138 federal rights of marriage,” said GetEqual’s Robin McGehee.

For a complete list of planned ac-

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compiled by Cynthia Laird

Nick Aitken

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10 February 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

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NEWS

by Ed Walsh he defendants in the now-infamous 2009 Palm Springs sex sting lost a round in court last week but all are now being offered plea-bargains on reduced charges.

Meanwhile, the most outspoken attorney against the police had his home ransacked last week but authorities don’t know whether there is any connection to the sting case.

On Wednesday, February 2, a judge rejected a defense motion to have the charges dismissed against the sex sting defendants. The defense had argued that the Palm Springs Police Department’s actions were discriminatory because it turned a blind eye to public heterosexual sex and noted that it had never set up a sting operation targeted toward public heterosexual sex. But Riverside County Superior Court Judge David B. Downing ruled that the police showed no discriminatory intent in their actions.

Downing made his ruling after eight days of testimony about the sting and whether it was discriminatory. In June 2009, police used decoy officers to coax men into exposing their genitals in a dark parking lot of a gay resort in the city’s predominately gay Warm Sands neighborhood.

On the night before the hearing began two weeks ago, all 14 current defendants in the case were offered

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World news ▼

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German court blocks trans sterilization requirement Germany’s Constitutional Court ruled January 28 that it is unconstitutional to require transgender people to undergo sterilization or gender-reassignment surgery before they can be legally recognized as a member of the other sex.

Business Briefs ▼

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did note that, “We are proud to be a union operator and proud to say we pay prevailing wages and union benefits. Not only will we be hiring for our new store, but we will be also hiring for our other stores as well.”

A former Delano’s employee contacted by the B.A.R. said that Mollie Stone’s has not been in contact about hiring for the new store.

Castro Theatre welcomes Rufus Wainwright On Friday, February 25, Castro Theatre (429 Castro Street) is hosting the premiere theatrical screening of the documentary We Were Here,

News Briefs

plea-bargains that took the serious penal code 314 sex crime charge off the table. They were all allowed the option of avoiding a trial by pleading guilty to a lesser penal code section 647 charge for lewd conduct in public that would not require the men to register as sex offenders. The penalty would be a small fine and probation.

The 647 charge is routinely used against people for having consensual sex in public places. The more serious 314 charge is commonly used against flashers.

A total of 19 men were arrested on sex charges originally but five of those defendants have since had the charges against them dismissed or were already able to plead out to lesser charges.

The three attorneys for the 14 defendants currently being prosecuted told the Bay Area Reporter that they are in negotiations this week with the Riverside County District Attorney’s office for better deals.

Attorney Roger Tansey, the public defender who is representing six of the defendants, told the B.A.R. that the district attorney’s office is already making a better offer to four of his six clients.

The four are being allowed to plead to a disorderly conduct charge instead of the 647 lewd conduct charge. During the hearing, it was revealed that one of the officers involved in the sting, Sergeant Matt Beard, had simulated

The decision came in the case of a transsexual woman who was denied the right to enter a same-sex civil partnership with her female partner.

The court said such requirements are incompatible with rights to sexual self-determination, physical integrity and privacy.

In response, Berlin’s TransInterQueer called on the German government to immediately bring federal law into line with the ruling.

According to Transgender Europe, a majority of European nations have which chronicles the impact of AIDS on the city of San Francisco. Celebrity guest for the event is out singersongwriter Rufus Wainwright.

The screening benefits Project Inform and the Shanti Project, two San Francisco-based organizations that provide education and support for people living with HIV/AIDS. General admission tickets run $25, and the $100 ticket will also get you into a pre-screening VIP reception.

Tickets are available online at www.shanti.org and www.projectinform.org. For more information on We Were Here, visit www.wewereherefilm.com.

A sweet pick on 18th Street Not quite in time for Valentine’s Day, Five Star Truffles will be relo-

Bayard Rustin LGBT Coalition offers fellow program

▼

The Bayard Rustin LGBT Coalition is accepting applications for five program fellows to participate in a twotions, go to www.requestmarmonth, intensive Bayard Rustin Coaliriage.com. tions Strategies Academy that starts March 5. Applications are due Friday, Church to bless February 18 and are being sought committed relationships from young people ages 16-22.

Unity Church of San Leandro will The coalition, which rebless committed relationships on ceives funding from the Sunday, February 13 at its Horizons Foundation, is 11:11 a.m. service. The church also partnering with the is located at 1420 Santa Maria San Francisco LGBT Street.

Community Center to The Reverend Diana Mcengage more young Daniel said that the couples are people of color in invited to bless their comthe legacy and N EWS B RIEFS mitted relationships, marcoalition organizriages, holy unions, and parting principles that Rustin used during nerships. his life, said Andrea Shorter, director On its website, www.unitysanof the academy and a co-founder and leandro.org, the church, which is past co-chair of the coalition.

LGBT-inclusive, states that it is acceptRustin, a confidant of the Reverend ing of “all people and see everyone as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is perhaps unique expressions of God.” best known for organizing the March

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Ed Walsh

Men in PS sex sting may take plea deals

The Warm Sands neighborhood of Palm Springs was the site of a gay sex sting by police in June 2009.

masturbating behind a pool filter in the course of the sting. The district attorney’s office was apparently concerned about entrapment issues presented with those four men and their interaction with Beard, Tansey said.

Tansey has been in the forefront of speaking out against the police in the sex sting case. Last Friday, February 4, his Palm Springs home was broken into and ransacked during the day while he was at work. His dog, a German shepherd, was locked in a bathroom and may have been pepper sprayed, Tansey said. The attorney said

that nothing was taken but that he doesn’t keep small things like jewelry in his house, which are most valued by burglars seeking an easy getaway.

Tansey said he didn’t know whether the break-in had anything to do with his very public involvement in the highly publicized case.

“It’s getting kind of creepy now,” said Robert Julian Stone, a B.A.R. contributor (writing under the name Robert Julian) and a founding member of the Warm Sands Neighborhood Organization. Stone suspects that because nothing was taken in the bur-

laws similar to Germany’s, which the group said violates international human rights law.

Peter and Hazelmary Bull were found guilty of violating the United Kingdom’s ban on sexual orientation discrimination in public accommodations when they told civil partners Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy that they would not be allowed to sleep together.

In their defense, the Bulls claimed they apply the same policy to unmarried heterosexual couples who seek to check into their lodge.▼

Couple to appeal hotel case A Christian couple in Cornwall, England, who was ordered by the Bristol County Court to pay more than $5,700 in damages to a gay couple to whom they refused to rent a double room at their bed-and-breakfast likely will take their case to the Court of Appeal with backing from the Christian Institute. cating to 4251-A 18th Street in late March. The store was previously located at 411 Divisadero Street.

Five Star Truffles specializes in handmade truffles in a wide assortment of specialty flavors, including cayenne, Earl Grey, and Kahlua. The store fills a void left by the recently shuttered Saratoga Chocolates on 16th Street.

For updates on the opening, visit www.fivestartruffles.com.

Job searching with the center The San Francisco LGBT Community Center (1800 Market Street) has two upcoming events to help with your job search.

On February 17 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., the center’s Transgender Economic Empowerment Initiative

on Washington where King delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech.

For more information on the application process, e-mail Shorter at andreashorter@yahoo.com.

Palestinian queer activists coming to SF Palestinian queer activists will be holding several events in the Bay Area next week as part of a speaking tour that is taking them to six U.S. cities.

The speakers are Abeer Mansour of ASWAT, a gay women’s group, and Sami Shamali of Al-Qaws, which promotes the growth of the Palestinian LGBTQ community in Israel.

On Tuesday, February 15 there will be a public forum at Mission High School, 3750 18th Street (at Dolores) at 7 p.m. in the auditorium. The forum will be moderated by Cherrie Moraga.

Next up, on Wednesday, February 16, Mansour and Shamali will speak at 12:30 p.m. at Colloquium, on the San Francisco State University campus,

Bill Kelley contributed to this report.

has partnered with the image consultants of Beyond Black (www.beyond-black.biz) to host a workshop for transgender job seekers. Entitled “Dress Without Stress for Interview Success,” the program will cover professional attire and confident presentation. To RSVP, contact Clair Farley at clairf @sfcenter.org.

On February 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the center is hosting a free job fair. For additional help with resume preparation, the center is also offering a pre-job fair workshop on February 16, from 2 to 4 p.m. For information on both events, contact David Bach at davidb@sfcenter.org. ▼ Contact Raymond Flournoy at castroshopper@yahoo.com.

1600 Holloway, in the ethnic studies conference room (Ethnic Studies Building 116). Later that same day, at 7 p.m., they will give a talk at Pro Arts, Oakland Arts Gallery, 150 Frank Ogawa Plaza (accessible off Broadway).

Finally, on Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. there will be an afterparty at 2022 with DJ Emancipacion, 2022 Telegraph Avenue in Oakland (between

glary, Tansey’s involvement in the case was the motive for the break-in.

“There’s something really rotten here,” Stone added.

Stone recently met with the head of the Palm Springs Police Officers Association to discuss the case and the fallout the sting caused between the police and the city’s large gay community.

Stone does not condone public sex but he said the cases should be dismissed because of the manner in which the sting was conducted. He said that if police observe people having sex in public, those individuals should be arrested. But he has called gay sex stings a “non-starter” and has noted the historical use of stings to entrap gay men. Stone is also calling for the establishment of a police citizens review board or police commission to independently investigate complaints filed against officers.

Following the public outcry after the sting, Palm Springs city officials said police would no longer conduct gay sex stings. The city says it will fight public sex in Warm Sands through increased patrols and by working with neighbors and resort owners.

Palm Springs Police Chief David Dominguez announced his retirement last month after it was revealed that he called would-be sex sting defendants “filthy mother-fuckers.” The department also has conducted LGBT diversity training for all its employees.▼

Obituaries >> Sukie Lee September 14, 1956 - January 13, 2011

After fighting a courageous three-year battle with cancer, Sukie Lee passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by those she loved.

Sukie moved to the United States from her native South Korea more than 30 years ago.

She worked as a bartender in several North Beach bars before buying her own bar. Sukie bought the Gangway (San Francisco’s oldest gay bar) more than 13 years ago and was immediately embraced by the local gay community for her generous heart and infectious laughter.

Sukie could often be found in her bar, whipping up delicious treats on her hotplate or sitting at the bar surrounded by her many friends.

She leaves behind her daughter Winnie and son Randy and of course, the rest of us.

There will be a celebration of Sukie’s life at the Gangway (841 Larkin Street, between Geary and O’Farrell) Sunday, February 20 at 3pm.

All are invited to celebrate this very special person’s life.

20th and 21st streets).

All events are free and open to the public. All venues are wheelchair accessible. The events are made possible by a wide range of co-sponsors, including Bibi-SF; API Equality, Northern California; the San Francisco LGBT Community Center; the National Center for Lesbian Rights; and Global Exchange.▼

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BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 10 February 2011

COMMUNITY

NEWS

Castro fires which we’re taking very seriously.”

He urged people to report suspicious activity.

“People shouldn’t hesitate to call,” he said. “Sometimes people see something they think is a little odd but are reluctant to call because they don’t want to feel foolish or like they’re being a pest, but that’s not the case at all. If in doubt, we really urge people to give us a call.”

The most recent fire was reported Friday morning, February 4, in front of Eureka Barber Shop and Hair Styling at 4222 18th Street.

Thursday morning, February 3, firefighters responded to a fire at 3620 16th Street and one affecting two buildings at 17th and Hartford streets. Several people were displaced as a result of the 16th Street fire.

“The fire department has been fantastic,” said Brian Kendall, the owner of the building at the corner of Hartford and 17th streets. “What is disturbing with the 16th Street fire is the person tried to light people’s doors on fire and burn them alive.”

District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener, who represents the Castro and other neighborhoods, said, “I know the fire and police departments are working very hard and are highly focused on the Castro arsons.

I am confident in their work.”

Wiener had just come from the scene of an unrelated fire on Twin Peaks before an interview with the Bay Area Reporter Monday morning,

Giuliano ▼

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portunities. SFAF, which has a budget of about $21.5 million, is faring better than many other nonprofit organizations, but it hasn’t been immune to economic troubles.

Giuliano was also asked about the possibility that the San Francisco AIDS Walk, which the foundation runs, would consider increasing the grants it provides to local HIV/AIDS groups that participate. While he did not commit to the idea, he was open to exploring it. The AIDS Walk is a more grassroots event that allows people to sign up as late as the day of the walk. This year marks the 25th anniversary of that fundraiser, which will take place in July. Traditionally,

Open Hand ▼

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PWAs in a church basement kitchen – to the next level.

In a meeting with the Bay Area Reporter on Tuesday, February 8, Nolan, who is openly gay, said he’s approaching 17 years with the agency.

“That’s just like forever,” he said, adding that the work has been “wonderful and continues to be wonderful,” but he’s turning 66 next week,

Rick Gerharter

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Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisor Scott Wiener survey the fire and water damage to 3626 16th Street, home to Michael Winger and Jessica White-Winger, right.

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people who have been convicted of arson and are registered with the state, as well as people who have been arrested for arson in the past but have not been convicted, said O’Leary.

Corrales referred questions about leads and possible motives to arson inspectors. Asked for a still image from the 17th and Hartford video or a copy of the footage, Corrales referred the request to arson inspectors.

Inspector Jim Miranda, with the arson task force, directed questions about the fires to the police department’s media relations unit.

Officer Albie Esparza, a police department spokesman, referred questions about the fires to Lieutenant Mindy Talmadge, a fire department spokeswoman.

Talmadge said she couldn’t provide any additional information.

However, she said investigators couldn’t definitively say that a trash fire Thursday morning at 2155 15th Street was related to the other incidents, but “because of the proximity and time of day, that one is also being taken into account, I believe.”

Anyone with information about the fires can call 911 or (415) 5538090 (by cell) if it’s an emergency.

The non-emergency line is (415) 553-0123.▼

February 7.

“People are very concerned and there is some fear about why this is happening and the fact it is so random and the person is lighting fires in the doorways of people’s homes while they are asleep,” said Wiener. “But we are also seeing people want to help their neighbors and spread the word about it. There has been a very positive response in the community in terms of people coming together.”

Asked about possible suspects,

Park Station Captain Denis F. O’Leary said, “One grainy video showed a male.” He said that video came from 17th and Hartford streets.

He said he didn’t know if any officers have been working as lookouts in people’s houses, but he said when an officer “works a neighborhood and knows people, it would not surprise me if the officer used the relationship to do that.”

As for lookouts in people’s houses, Corrales said, “We’re using a lot of

resources on this,” but he said he couldn’t disclose tactics publicly.

O’Leary said that Park and Mission stations “have combined to create a little joint task force to increase the plainclothes presence in that neighborhood.”

He said, “Our ground zero is 16th and Market.”

Corrales said, “We are devoting a lot of resources to this investigation. ... You can read between the lines.”

In cases like this, police look at

SFAF provides grants to many local nonprofits that take part.

At SFAF, funds from individual contributions, corporations and foundations, and donated goods and services totaled about $3.8 million for 2008, but approximately $3.2 million for 2010. In addition, special events such as the LifeCycle brought in just over $12 million in 2008, but that decreased to about $9 million in 2010.

SFAF reduced expenses from $21.4 million in 2009 to $19 million in 2010. Giuliano’s salary is $249,000.

Asked about the possibility of more cuts, Giuliano said it’s an “opportune time” to look at expenses and programs. He said the foundation would begin planning for the 2011-12 budget in March.

“I’m new, and my eyes are not glossed over with anything,” said Giu-

liano, who added, “It’s always helpful to go in with your eyes wide open.”

However, he said nothing jumped out at him as places where reductions could be made, and “There’s no lack of participation in most of our programs.”

Giuliano indicated fundraising plans haven’t yet been set but said, “We have some ideas; some fun, unique ideas.”

His getting acclimated to his new job has included a meeting with some SFAF clients.

“I felt really good and really happy that they seemed so comfortable with the staff,” said Giuliano. He said the dignity and respect they reported being treated with “has not always been the case” in his 25 to 30 years of public work.

Casey Budesilich, 33, is a client,

volunteer, and advisory board member at Magnet, which merged with SFAF in 2007. He expressed concern about “younger generations of people growing up and taking riskier behaviors because of the assumption that HIV/AIDS is a manageable disease on par with diabetes.”

Budesilich, who is gay, said he hopes Giuliano will “support the foundation to continue to be innovative in facilitating program development that encourages communities to come together to be able to address these issues,” in a way that goes beyond the testing model to helping bring communities together, like Magnet does.

Magnet, the gay health center in the Castro, happens to be one of SFAF’s most popular programs. In 2010, the center had almost 10,000 clinical visits (some of them were repeats), with

more than 4,200 HIV tests.

Other programs include Black Brothers Esteem, which brings together gay, bisexual, and same-gender-loving men to help them advocate for their health and the health of their community; Stonewall, for gay and bi speed users; housing and financial benefits; and syringe exchange services.

and “on a personal level, I’m good for one more thing.”

The agency delivers 2,600 meals a day. It also distributes groceries weekly to about 1,500 people, mostly in San Francisco, but also about 300 in Alameda County. The plan now is for Nolan to stay at the agency until early January 2012 as the transition to a new leader takes place.

Nolan and board President Laura Smith said his departure isn’t related to the organization’s finances.

“There’s extraordinary stability in the agency,” said Nolan.

Project Open Hand’s financial condition appears to be in stark contrast to other LGBT nonprofits in San Francisco that have faced severe financial hardships in recent months, including the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, Academy of Friends, and Lyon-Martin Health Services. New Leaf: Services for Our Community shut its doors last fall.

Nolan, whose salary is $192,000, said Project Open Hand finished the calendar year exceeding all their fundraising targets. The agency’s budget is almost $10 million.

The agency recently raised $1.8 million, which includes some pledges, which will be used for updating the building’s windows, finishing the installation of solar panels on the roof, and updating the fleet of delivery vehicles, among other things.

Nolan said Project Open Hand doesn’t have any debt, and they own their building outright. They also have the equivalent of three months of operating reserve in the bank, he said. Project Open Hand is located in the Sierra Club’s old building on Polk Street. It rents space to Shanti and the Asian Pacific Islander Wellness Center.

“It’s right where so many of the clients live,” Nolan said.

He said he doesn’t yet know what he’ll do next. He does not want to retire and wants to stay in San Francisco. Possibilities that he floated include foundation work, working in

the administration of Governor Jerry Brown, consulting, or teaching. He previously served as a San Mateo County supervisor.

Nolan also chairs the board of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. He said his term there is until 2013.

Project Open Hand sees 100 volunteers a day, some of whom have been doing the work for 25 years.

The agency has 115 people on staff.

Nolan said that one of the things he’s proud of is that “I’ve understood our mission and stuck to it,” despite “vastly changing circumstances.” He said many were “horrified” when the agency expanded its mission to provide nutrition services to people in San Francisco and Alameda County living not only with AIDS, but also with any serious illness. That occurred in the late 1990s. The agency took over the senior meal contracts from the Salvation Army after the Christian organization did not want to comply with San Francisco’s equal benefits ordinance.

When cuts have been needed at the agency during two budget crises, he said, “I eliminated from the top,” preserving the jobs of people such as cooks and drivers.

“Our clients are losing so much from so many sources, and they’re concerned,” said Nolan, who said he understands their worries. “I want us to be the one thing they can count on every single day.”

Smith said Tuesday that the board

would announce the selection of an executive search company and would then begin the process of looking for Nolan’s replacement. Input from clients, staff, volunteers, and others would be sought on selecting the next director, she said.

She said the prospect of trying to find someone to fill Nolan’s shoes was “mind boggling to contemplate.”

Future issues the agency is facing include funding, the aging of the HIV community, and the “senior tsunami” that’s coming as the general population ages, said Smith.

Smith said the next director would ideally be selected by mid to late summer and by early to mid fall that person would start working with Nolan, who would stay until the first or second week of January in order to ensure a smooth transition.

The bottom line is “We want to make sure clients get their meals every day,” said Smith.

Jay Segal, 61, who’s been a Project Open Hand client for over 20 years, said in response to e-mailed questions that the agency “has fed me every day for as long as I can remember. ... You just can’t duplicate a place like this. The volunteers are incredible and everyone is smiling.”

Segal, who is living with HIV/AIDS, said Project Open Hand needs to find another Nolan.

He said the departing director “will be an asset to wherever he goes next, just like he’s been here. We’re friends.”▼

People with information can also call the anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444, text a tip to tip411, or submit a tip at www.sf-police.org.

Mathew S. Bajko contributed to this report.

New CFO The foundation announced this week that it has appointed Jonathan Zimman, 56, as the new chief financial officer and controller.

Most recently, Zimman served as CFO of Posit Science, a leading developer of brain fitness software programs.

His salary at SFAF will be $165,000.▼

▼

10 February 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

COMMUNITY

Politics requires a name.

The California Academy of Sciences, however, offers an individual membership for $99 that allows the person to bring one guest with them.

The guest does not have to be the same person for the duration of the yearlong membership.

The de Young Museum also allows its individual members, who pay $95 per year, to bring the guest of their choosing with them.

The San Francisco Zoo created its “Guest of Card” add-on when it restricted the use of the family membership cards, said Tornatore.

“We wanted to ensure people who are single, married, or have some family relationship have the option where they could bring a guest that doesn’t have to be named,”

Lyon-Martin ▼

page 2

chological visits a month.

Asked about how exactly the twoyear backlog happened, Harbatkin said, “We can’t bill for Medi-Cal unless all the providers are enrolled as Medi-Cal providers. In addition, we don’t want to commit fraud. We need to fully understand the rules of how we bill, so that we do it correctly.”

Harbatkin said, “We were trying to get clarification on what the rules were for mental health billing, and we are still struggling to enroll providers. ... Those two things together prevented us from billing at the time of the services.”

She said that in September, HFS started working with the clinic on its billing issues.

“Being able to afford consultants

Wiener ▼

page 1

ment while also putting the police on notice he intends to champion nightlife interests.

He wants to make it easier for some owners of tenancy-in-commons to convert their units to condos, a proposal opposed by tenants rights groups. At the same time he is floating a proposal aimed at building affordable housing for the city’s firefighters, police officers, teachers and nurses.

“I am always up for a challenge,” said Wiener, one of two gay men on the Board of Supervisors, during an interview this week with the Bay Area Reporter over coffee at Cafe Flore near the heart of the Castro. “I want to address the neighborhood issues that will have the greatest impact.”

In the last week Wiener’s attention has been consumed by a series of frightening fires in the Castro, four of which police believe were deliberately set by an arsonist. He has been helping to find housing for those displaced by the fires and urging city residents to purchase renter’s insurance before they find themselves in similar circumstances.

This week he introduced legislation aimed at easing the city’s rent control laws in order to secure temporary below-market rentals Lor tenants while their apartments are being repaired. Landlords complain that under the current rules, if they offer units to displaced tenants there is nothing to guarantee it will be shortterm. Once they move in, the renters can opt to remain in place.

“The challenge is under our current rent control law there is no such thing as a short term lease,” said Wiener, a former deputy district attorney.

Wiener has been working with tenants advocates and property owner groups on the legislation.

Under the proposal, landlords would be allowed to offer temporary rentals

NEWS

she said.

Compared to the other local attractions, Tornatore said, “I think we are still an affordable option for people.” ▼ Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check www.ebar.com Monday mornings around 10 a.m. for Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion.

This week’s column reports on the gay online gaffe made by City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s mayoral campaign team.

Keep abreast of the latest LGBT political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ twitter.com/politicalnotes.

Got a tip on LGBT politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 861-5019 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.com.

Guest Opinion ▼

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13

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brunt of the blame for the loss, despite the fact that neither he nor his team had a significant role in the campaign’s field or media strategy. We all have regrets about how Prop 8 played out.

One of my regrets is that Geoff was not in greater control of our messaging and field work. Any critique – and there were legitimate criticisms of the campaign operation – was unfortunately directed mainly at Geoff and Equality California. Despite this undeserved blame, Geoff demonstrated an admirable equanimity and simply went back to work.

It’s because of Geoff ’s tenacity and commitment that there are more LGBT rights and protections in California than in any other state, with Equality California setting a national record with a total of 71 sponsored pieces of legislation success-

was something we couldn’t always do,” said Harbatkin.

She said, “People were trying to give us answers” to the clinic’s questions, “we just never got to the place where we had the answers.”

Typically, she’s previously said, “at most you can backbill one year.”

State Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) has been working with the state’s Health and Human Services Agency to try to get a waiver for Lyon-Martin with reimbursements.

“We have received initially some encouraging news from the Department of Health and Human Services that there’s no need for a waiver to obtain payment on invoices or services already provided going back one year,” Leno said Tuesday.

However, he said, “Beyond that the federal government, because we’re talking about Medi-Cal payments, the federal government does-

n’t allow for any payment.”

for a year to two years at rents at or near the rent the tenant was paying for the damaged unit.

“I want to make sure we have housing or apartments for tenants while their buildings are being redone,” said Wiener. “We are going to have earthquakes and a lot of tenants will be displaced.”

Consensus on converting the TIC units will be harder for Wiener to find. Tenant activists have long complained that TICs deplete the city of its rent-controlled housing stock.

Others argue it is an affordable way for many San Franciscans to purchase homes in the city; TIC owners share a mortgage with the rest of the people in their buildings.

They then must enter into a city lottery to win the right to transform the jointly owned units into condos with sole ownership. Because some people can languish in the lottery system for years, TIC owners have long pushed for changes to the rules.

Wiener wants to make it possible for people who bought TICs without evicting people from rent-controlled units to be able to pay a fee to the city designated for affordable housing construction. In return, they would be able to convert their units to condos.

It remains to be seen, though, if Wiener can marshal enough support among his colleagues for the proposal.

“I think we have more support now on the board than in the past,” said Wiener. “I don’t know if we have a majority, but we shall see. I am going to keep working on it.”

In terms of improving the JChurch’s service, it was an issue Wiener’s predecessor in the District 8 seat, Bevan Dufty, also tried to tackle, with some success. But problems remain, and Wiener plans to hold a hearing with transit officials in March or April to address the issues.

“I am working with Muni now to gather information on why the JChurch is not functioning the way it needs to,” said Wiener, who lives in the Castro and is a frequent user of Muni. “We know there are problems specific to the J-Line but there are

also issues system-wide that affect it.”

One of his main areas of focus over the next four years will be on nightlife issues. Wiener, 40, has pledged to leaders in the city’s entertainment industry that he will be a champion for their issues. This month he asked the city controller’s office to examine the economic impact nightlife and entertainment venues have on San Francisco’s budget.

“It’s important that we understand the size and reach of this industry as we consider regulating it,” said Wiener. “Without this information, it’s difficult to make informed decisions and to enact effective policies concerning entertainment and nightlife, which are a key part of San Francisco’s cultural identity.”

He also met with former Police Chief George Gascón, now the city’s district attorney, late last year to voice his opposition to one proposal being considered by the police department that would require any bar or club with a capacity of 100 people or more to install metal detectors and keep a list of all its patrons.

“I told him I would not allow those proposals to go forward,” recalled Wiener. “For one thing, while it may make sense to have those at clubs with a history of violence, it does not make sense to apply those measures across the board at bars like the Cafe or Badlands in the Castro.”

An Ivy-league educated policy wonk and lawyer, Wiener isn’t exactly a late-night party animal. And he is rarely, if ever, out on the dance floor when he does hit the Castro bar scene.

“I still see the A.M. when I go out.

But no, I am not a big dancer,” joked Wiener, whose favorite watering holes include Blackbird, the Pilsner Inn and Moby Dick. “Even though I am not partying quite as much as I did back in the day, it is very important for me to know we still have a vibrant nightlife in the city.”

Apart from attracting tourists the world over, a thriving late-night scene is also important for the countless LGBT youth who flock to San Fran-

Board’s future In a letter e-mailed to Lyon-Martin’s board, the Bay Area Reporter, and others Tuesday on behalf of the clinic’s clients and community supporters, Jackson Bowman, who works with Project HEALTH (Harnessing Education, Advocacy, and Leadership in Trans Health), asked the board to “publicly commit to a course of action to keep the clinic open and avoid bankruptcy” and “provide the community with public weekly updates of the current business, financial and legal status of Lyon-Martin Health Services.”

Project HEALTH is an effort involving Lyon-Martin, the Transgender Law Center, and Equality California. The clinic is named after pioneering lesbians Phyllis Lyon and her wife, the late Del Martin.

fully passing the state legislature since he took over. He’s responsible for getting state legislators to pass the most comprehensive domestic partnership legislation for the first time in the nation without a court order, helping secure the broadest protections for transgender people in the nation, and pushing leaders to pass marriage equality bills twice that would have allowed same-sex couples to marry.

All LGBT Californians and our allies will miss Geoff ’s determination and strategic brilliance. I will miss the comfort of knowing that Geoff is at our side, providing a path to move forward no matter how difficult or complicated an issue may be. I will miss the comfort of knowing that one of the most skilled political minds in the country is tirelessly working to find the outer edge of how to best protect our community. And I will miss having a colleague who is there around the clock to help me always

Lauren Winter, the board’s chair, and Peter Balon, the treasurer, didn’t respond to interview requests for this story.

Several city officials, including Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and David Campos, have expressed doubts about the ability of Lyon-Martin’s board to oversee the clinic’s finances.

“I have not heard that the board is going to be resigning. I do know we are looking for new board members right now,” Harbatkin said.

Balon previously said that in addition to Lyon-Martin’s other debt, the clinic took out a $600,000 loan in 2009. He said that they’ve been paying that off, but a large amount remains.

Vendors owed money ABCO Mechanical Contractors, one of Lyon-Martin’s vendors, has filed a claim against the clinic in San

cisco seeking a safe place to live and be themselves, said Wiener.

“It is so much a part of our cultural reputation as a city and the LGBT community,” he said. “It is important for me to know it is there for people who need it and want it. We need to make sure that nightlife remains strong and available.”

He also sees the entertainment industry as part of the solution for improving the city’s fiscal picture. As city leaders grapple with solving a nearly $400 million budget deficit, Wiener is planning to host town halls throughout his district to solicit advice from constituents on what to cut.

bring my “A” game to this work.

Because Geoff and I are friends, as well as colleagues, I will still enjoy his wicked and quick wit, his penchant for practical jokes, his boundless playfulness (sometimes it is difficult to tell him apart from my kids on this score), and his wise and practical advice. My baby brother, Bruce, died in 2005 and it would not overstate the matter to say that my family’s relationship with Geoff and his fabulous, fun, and generous partner, James Williamson, has made it ever so slightly easier to bear that loss.

Geoff’s accomplishments and impact speak for themselves. His legacy will be lasting. We’ve come so far in such a short amount of time through his visionary leadership, which offers a blueprint for anyone seeking to secure protections and justice for every person in our community.▼ Kate Kendell, Esq. is the executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Francisco Superior Court because the clinic still owes about $4,600 for a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system installation in August.

Mike Trautman, ABCO’s estimator, said in cases like this, the company would usually put a lien on the property, but they’ve known Raymond Moresi, Lyon-Martin’s landlord, for years, and “We didn’t want to put hardship on him.”

Harbatkin said she just learned of the ABCO claim this week. She said the vendor is “one of many” that Lyon-Martin hasn’t paid. She didn’t know the total amount of money that’s owed to Lyon-Martin’s vendors.

“Our landlord has been very supportive of us in these difficult financial times. ... I would be sorry to see him suffer over this,” said Harbatkin.

Moresi couldn’t be reached for comment.▼

He has already met with a number of the city’s LGBT nonprofits to discuss the upcoming budget negotiations. Like his board colleague, District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim, Wiener is hopeful the process will be fairer to community-based organizations.

“I am cautiously optimistic we can avoid the add-back chaos or at least minimize it,” said Wiener. “Mayor Lee has been very clear he will be regularly communicating with the supervisors as he puts together his budget. It will allow us to have more input from the front end and reduce the chaos on the back end.”▼

14

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 10 February 2011

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41 ON-SALE BEER AND WINEEATING PLACE FEB 10,2011 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: XINH BISTRO LOUNGE LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at: 680 8th St., Suite 170,San Francisco, CA 94103-4942. Type of license applied for:

41 ON-SALE BEER AND WINE EATING PLACE JAN 27,FEB 3,10,2011 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTICIOUS BUSINESS NAME: #A-033103100 The following persons have abandoned the use of the ficticious business name known as BASIN, 310 Berry St., San Francisco, CA 94158. This business was conducted by a limited liability company, signed Man Mohan Sahi. The ficticious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/25/10.

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JAN 20,27,FEB 3,10, 2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033220200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as PRESTIGE TRANSPORTATION SOLUTIONS, 600 Persia Ave., San Francisco, CA 94112.This business is conducted by a general partnership, signed Raul Lumbi. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/22/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/22/10.

JAN 20,27,FEB 3,10, 2011 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: GLORIA ECKSTEIN. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at: 142 Minna St., San Francisco, CA 941054125. Type of license applied for:

47 ON-SALE GENERAL EATING PLACE FEB 3,10,17,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033263800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as STANDARD STUDIO LLC.,366 Clementina St. San Francisco, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Michael Dolan. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/12/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/12/11.

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JAN 27,FEB 3,10,17, 2011 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: FRESH & EASY NEIGHBORHOOD MARKET INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at:SWC 3rd St. & Carroll Ave., San Francisco, CA 94124. Type of license applied for:

21 OFF-SALE GENERAL FEB 10,17,24,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033300800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as J.SABATINI & CO.,239 Bright St., San Francisco, CA 94132. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Erica Giacchetti. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/27/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/27/11.

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Portrait of the photographer

Musical valentines

Sondheim re-gendered

‘Robert Mapplethorpe: Portraits,’ document of another time, at San Jose Museum of Art.

From Jennifer Warnes to the Bee Gees & Queensryche.

Theatre Rhino’s ‘Marry Me a Little’ is staged with two men.

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ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT

BAYAREAREPORTER

Vol. 41 . No. 6 . 10 February 2011

▼

Lesley Ann Warren: a Cinderella story ~ by Adam Sandel ~

Lesley Ann Warren with James Garner in Victor Victoria.

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Best Supporting Actress Oscar and Golden Globe nominations.

“It was one of the absolute high points of my career,” she tells me. “I was already in awe of Blake Edwards, and 15 minutes into our meeting he offered me the role. I said yes, and then I read it.”

At the time Norma wasn’t blond, and had no accent or musical number. “I called Blake and asked if I could do it blond with an accent. He sent hair and makeup people over to my house, and we devised the character in my bedroom.”

Halfway through the three-and-a-half month shoot, Edwards had composer Henry Mancini create the “Chicago, Illinois” number to showcase Warren’s musical-comedy chops. But her first viewing of the completed film left the actress in shock.

“When you’re doing a character that’s so broad, you have to jump in 100% and not judge it. When I saw the film for the first time at Blake’s house, everyone was laughing, but I went to my car and cried. I thought it would ruin my career. My agent Ron Meyer took me to the premiere, and it took the laughter of all those people to convince me it was okay.” That Oscar nomination couldn’t have hurt either.

Victor Victoria was the first time Warren worked with Julie Andrews, although their career paths had virtually crossed twice before. At 16, Warren screen-tested for the role of Liesl in The Sound of Music (as did Mia Farrow), but the role went to Charmian Carr.

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OutOscar-nominated from under obscurity live-action & animated shorts ~ by David Lamble ~

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San Rafael, and Camera Cinemas in San Jose.

Nominated Live-Action Shorts I confess to having a secret yen for the overlooked live-action short, filmmaking at its best when the proper notes are struck.

From this year’s batch I would guess the Oscar will go to Britain’s The Confession, for its nuanced look at two adolescent lads’ different takes on sin and guilt. My personal favorite is the emotionally naked God of Love.

The Confession (United Kingdom) “It was an acci-

•••SECOND

Pint-sized charmer Oran Creagh in The Crush.

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here was a time when the Academy Award-nominated Short Films categories produced little more than the quiet rumble of feet padding out to the kitchen and a serious strain on the nation’s plumbing. Practically no one, apart from each filmmaker’s immediate circle, had seen these very real motion pictures. Beginning Friday, the Oscar-nominated live-action shorts and animated shorts will play as separate programs at Landmark’s Lumiere Theatre and Opera Plaza Cinemas in San Francisco, the Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley, the Rafael Film Center in

page 28

OF

TWO

SECTIONS•••

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s soon as I exchange hellos with Lesley Ann Warren, it hits me: “Oh my god, I’m talking to Cinderella!” She’s been beguiling audiences since her 1965 debut in that classic television musical, but she went from iconic ingénue to iconic bimbo in Blake Edwards’ 1982 comedy classic Victor Victoria . On Monday night, Lesley Ann Warren will be at the Castro Theatre for producer Marc Huestis’ Valentine’s Day spectacular A Victor Victoria Valentine, hosted by Miss Coco Peru and featuring the inimitable Matthew Martin.

The cross-dressing musical sex farce starring Julie Andrews and James Garner revitalized Warren’s film career, and her turn as Garner’s blond bombshell girlfriend Norma Cassady earned her

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BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 10 February 2011

OUT

THERE

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Gay culture? You’re soaking in it.

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Courtesy Kino International

s long as Out There has manned the culture desk, we’ve faced continuing questions of what to include in these limited pages. Much as we would like to cover everything, our intimate weekly encounter with you, dear reader, is tender yet brief. We know you have only so much face time for us, and we for you. So what in tarnation makes the cut when it comes time to print?

Of course the appeal O UT of the classic “gangle” (“gay angle,”) for a story to run in the longest continuously circulated paper for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, still holds. We want to cover the gays. Also we want to cover exceptional arts and entertainment in the Bay Area that LGBT people care about, that maybe has no explicitly gay content. Por ejemplo, gays love ballet, though there’s no classic called

Romeo and Stephan. And sometimes a gay reporter can bring a new point of view or take to non-gay material.

Not to blather on, but we were thinking of all this last week as our nocturnal ventures into the rich and varied cultural life of this city dropped us into all kinds of gay situations. It all started when we attended the OUT w/ACT evening of Clybourne Park, part of the series the theater company does to attract LGBT audiences. We enjoyed the Bruce Norris play a lot, and T HERE grooved with wine, munchies and the gay crowd at the afterparty.

There was even a small gangle in the play, though one best left to the theatergoer’s own discovery.

Next night we dropped into the glam opening-night party for the Mostly British Film Festival put on by the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation and the California Film Institute. The fete transpired at British Motor Car Distributors, Elder orangutan Nénette, in a pensive mood, in the film with her name by Nicolas Philibert.

Ltd., on Van Ness, which meant cocktails were served under large chandeliers in the elegant showroom among sparkling Jaguars and Bentleys. Comestibles were veddy, veddy English, tidy piles of cucumber sandwiches with their crusts cut off.

Out There chatted with crack film publicists Karen Larsen and Bill Lanese, exchanged movie talk with Chronicle arts writers Ruthe Stein and Steve Wynn. What do film people chat about at cocktail parties? That night, topics were the still-cresting wave of film fests in the Bay Area (SF IndieFest opened the same night); does anyone ever go to the movies in Stonestown?; and how penny-wise, pounds-foolish are movie theaters that don’t pay to have their showtimes listed in the Chron movie calendar?

We’re looking at thou, Castro Theatre.

Incredibly, though we’d worked with many of Lanese’s associates over the years, and were well-familiar with his letterhead, we’d never met the man in person before, and so were treated afresh to his delightful personality.

“I’d always thought that Roberto Friedman was a grumpy old man!”

“When really all that time, I was a grumpy young man!” Well, not so young anymore.

Not sure why we enjoyed this reception so much, but one thing that may have helped was that we were out of our element, kinda. People actually came up to us and initiated conversation, which was polite and old-fashioned. The background music for once had no backbeat, only the tasteful tinkling of “Greensleeves” on the ivories of a baby grand.

But we were on our way to catch the last screening at the Lumiere of Nénette, a documentary by Nicolas Philibert, the poetic portrait of an orangutan who has spent 40 years in a Parisian zoo. Born in 1969 in the forests of Borneo, Nénette has just turned 40, a venerable age for an orangutan. A resident of the menagerie at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris since 1972, she has spent more time there than any member of their staff.

Patience and civility personified, we think Nénette would make better company as a party guest than many an SF socialite. The doc was shown with Philibert’s short film The Night Falls on the Ménagerie, a quiet study of the faces on captive animals after closing time shoos the homo sapiens the hell out of the zoo.

Culture beat never sleeps. The following night at the War Memorial Opera House, Out There was treated to the San Francisco Ballet season’s first installment of the Nite Out series, SFB’s successful enticement to LGBT audiences. First up this season: the ro-

mantic classic Giselle, in Helgi Tomasson’s choreography after Marius Petipa. We were lucky to see Lorena Feijoo in the title part, and Vitor Luiz as Albrecht, Sofiane Sylve as Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis, Ruben Martin Cintas as Hilarion, and an exceptional corps. The 19th-century ballet really holds up as the vehicle for dancing talent. If ballet is the art-form that exalts beauty and grace in movement, set to music, a sort of physical perfection in artifice, then this company in this piece really brings us there.

The post-performance party afterwards in Dress Circle was fun and gayish. Pepi, who had delighted in the sight of a few Wilis flying over a dryice fog at the top of Act II, brought some new friends our way, and we chatted jocularly with our publisher Tom Horn. All in all, another trés gay evening.

As our work life is in the gay community, our social life is largely in the gay world, and our home life is definitely queer, Out There has grown to love our tribe in all of our awful complexity. And we do mean that in both senses of awful.

When OT was a mere tadpole in high school, all of our friends were girls. They were smarter than the boys, and didn’t seem to want to beat us up.

Then a few jocks befriended us as a sort of mascot, so we learned what a mess their parties could be. But now we socialize with gay folks and straight

▼

by Roberto Friedman

page 19

“My Lady Greensleeves” (1864), oil painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

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10 February 2011z . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

DVD

Liza Minnelli is always game in Lucky Lady.

The rummer stumbles

by John F. Karr ere’s another ostensible bonanza for collectors of obscure Minnelliana. Last month, TCM’s quite unprovoked Liza fest had a whole pile of movies, all in a row, including one or two that might better have been left on the discard pile. Most specifically, A Matter of Time, directed by Vincent Minnelli in 1976, co-starring a laughably miscast Liza and Ingrid Bergman. It was the one I was most avid to see and to record, specifically because of its obscurity. I never miss an Ingrid Bergman musical.

Well, it was intended to be a musical. It lost all its songs but two when the studio wrested the movie from Mr. Minnelli, mangled it with an obfuscating edit, and released it to a universal disregard that was almost physically hurtful to those who knew how good director Minnelli had once been.

It was his last movie, a somber and sorry end to his career.

Also sorry, but in a more enjoyable way, is another Liza obscurity, Lucky Lady, directed in 1976 by Stanley Donen. It followed The Little Prince, led to the musical Movie Movie and two more duds before Donen’s career reached its bedraggled end. 1976 was not a good year for musicals. Now Lucky Lady has returned, released last week on a nicely mastered DVD which features not one but two “making of” documentaries that were filmed during the movie’s production. That was an unusual procedure at the time, but the movie was expected to be a big hit. Hah. Liza is seconded in Lucky Lady by a swell cohort, Burt Reynolds and Gene Hackman, and thirded by still young Robby Benson, dewy-eyed and dear, and then machine-gunned dead.

A tale of Prohibition era rum-runners on the California coast, it’s full of gun

H

Out There ▼

page 18

people, and we’ve learned not to slip pronouns so much. You know it, girl.

Gay moves High school wrestler Preston Hill, who attends high school in Fresno, was cleared last week of assault charges stemming from his use of the wrestling move called a “butt drag” against a younger boy during practice.

Misdemeanor sexual battery charges

fights and maritime battles – action scenes at every turn, with each and every one bringing the action to a halt.

It revives in fitful starts in the dialogue scenes. Well, sometimes. Reynolds oozes his roguish charm, and looks swell with his ass cupped tightly by a succession of sailor pants. Hackman takes the low road, cunningly underplaying. With his eyes shining, he’s mighty cute.

But Liza? She’s just wrong. Too intelligent to be the floozy she’s drawn as; too floozy to be the leader of the gang. Her costumes and especially her wig are horrors. She looks grotesque.

Her buck teeth have never been buckier; she’s a woodchuck made up to look like Shelley Winters. But with her usual always-game energy, she fights the movie’s general waywardness every step of the way.

So it’s not a good movie. Intended as a caper, it turned out to be mostly crawl. Its elements just don’t coalesce.

Liza completists (what a burden that must be) will of course have to have it.

Why was I keen on it? Though Lucky Lady isn’t a musical, Liza sings two Kander and Ebb songs. One typically jolly number is a voiceover for a montage sequence. The other launches the movie, in a seedy club where Liza is a seedy singer who sings a faux-seedy song that seems, to me, an obvious Chicago cut-out. The astringent sentiment of “(Get) While the Getting Is Good” is sheer Velma Kelly. Cabaret aspirants should be aspiring it; drag queens should get their lips synching.

Buy Lucky Lady? Or rent it? There’s no CD of the soundtrack, so if you wanna hear Liza’s songs, you’ll have to hunt down the long out-of-print vinyl. Me, I have to see her sing the number. Though certainly second tier, it’s still Kander and Ebb, a valiant but lonely buoy for their friend Liza’s nautical adventure.▼

were dismissed, and we’re glad of it.

Grapplers may continue butt dragging over the mats with impunity.

Correction of the week, from The New York Times: “A theater review on Saturday about Flipzoids, at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, referred imprecisely to the character Redford. While he courts other men in a public restroom, he is not described in the play as a ‘hustler’ or a ‘male hooker.’” Yes, we see. He’s just a garden-variety slut.

RIPx2: Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! sensation Tura Satana, 72. Last Tango in Paris star Maria Schneider, 58.▼

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BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 10 February 2011

FILM

Lascivious lyricism Busby Berkeley films play the Castro Theatre

by Tavo Amador usby Berkeley was a lyricist of eroticism. He made it explicit that when the camera moves, it has the thrust of the sexual act,” writes David Thomson in The Biographical Dictionary of Film about the famed dance director of 1930s Warner Bros. musicals. Although remembered as escapist entertainment, these films actually have a harder edge, reflecting the grim realities of the Great Depression. Four play the Castro Theatre Feb. 10-11. Jeffrey Spivak, author of Buzz: The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley, will be on stage to answer questions about the movies and Berkeley (1895-1976).

42nd Street (1933), the quintessential backstage musical, has Warner Baxter putting on a show, but temperamental leading lady Bebe Daniels complicates things. She breaks a leg on opening night, so he sends plucky unknown Ruby Keeler (feature film debut) in her place. She stomps her way to stardom. A presoignée Ginger Rogers plays socialclimbing Anytime Annie. “The only time she ever said ‘No,’ she didn’t hear the question.” With George Brent and Dick Powell. The Harry Warren and Al Dubin score includes the famous title tune, “You’re Getting To Be a Habit with Me” and “Shuffle Off to Buffalo.” Mervyn LeRoy directed. In Gold Diggers of 1933, Joan

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Blondell, Ruby Keeler, and Aline MacMahon are determined to get producer Ned Sparks to stage a musical. He’s willing – if he can find a backer in the cash-strapped Depression. After the girls introduce him to songwriter/singer Dick Powell, the show goes on, despite his wealthy family’s disapproval of his profession and romance with Keeler. The Warren/Dubin tunes include “We’re in the Money,” sung, with a verse in Pig Latin, by a revealingly costumed Ginger Rogers. Blondell memorably performs the powerful “Remember My Forgotten Man,” a haunting tribute to homeless veterans of WWI that sadly is still relevant. One slightly salacious Berkeley sequence has chorus girls who are “Pettin’ in the Park” get drenched in rain, then, against a backlit screen, remove their wet clothes. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy. (2/10, matinee and evening performances) In Footlight Parade (1933), James Cagney is a stressed producer of short musical revues that run on stage between films at theatres around the country. His problems include a material-stealing rival. Joan Blondell is his loyal, smart secretary, and Ruby Keeler is a lead-footed chorus girl. Cagney is terrific, out-dancing Keeler while “Waiting for My Shanghai Lil.” Other songs, by Warren/Durbin and Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal, include “By a Waterfall,” which gives Berkeley’s camera

James Cagney is a producer in Busby Berkeley’s Footlight Parade.

Busby Berkeley’s 42nd Street is the quintessential backstage musical.

many opportunities to ogle the scantily clad chorines. Ann Sothern and Dorothy Lamour are among the uncredited beauties. Directed by Lloyd Bacon. Blondell is one of several Dames (34), but she’s the one who blackmails a moralistic millionaire into producing a show starring Keeler and Dick Powell. With ZaSu Pitts. The Warren/Dubin score features “I Only Have Eyes for You,” sung by Powell to Keeler, the witty “When You Were a Smile on Your Mother’s Lips (and a Twinkle in Your Daddy’s Eye),” and the title tune, which again allows Berkeley to re-

joice in female skin. Directed by Ray Enright. (2/11, matinee and evening performances) Warner musicals were never as daring after the enforcement of the Hollywood Production Code in the mid-30s. Keeler retired in 1938, but made a comeback in a 1971 Broadway revival of No, No, Nanette! Powell changed his image playing Philip Marlowe in Murder My Sweet (1944), directed pictures, and became a major producer/star in early television. Blondell, who made 53 films in the 1930s, continued working in movies, theatre, and television

until her 1979 death. She and Powell were married from 1936-44. Rogers grew glamorous, won a Best Actress Oscar, and cemented her legend dancing with Fred Astaire. Cagney, another Oscar winner, became one of the greatest and most versatile stars of classic Hollywood.

Berkeley filmed dance sequences and directed movies until 1954. His most famous post-Warner film was The Gang’s All Here (1943), starring Alice Faye and Carmen Miranda, who sings “The Lady in the Tutti Fruitti Hat” against a backdrop of unmistakably phallic bananas. ▼

by David Lamble wealthy, corrupt family hires a naïve young woman to look after their daughter and cater to their increasingly selfish kinks in The Housemaid, a powerful, erotic thriller from South Korean writer/director Im Sang-soo. When Eun-yi (Jeon Doyoun) arrives at the Goh family’s palatial country home, she thinks she’s landed her dream job. Developing a playful bond with the family’s grade school-age daughter Nami, Eun-yi initially ignores warnings from the autocratic old housekeeper (Yun Yeojong) that the Gohs are a scary lot.

The first signs of trouble arise one night when the family’s well-built, sexually abusive patriarch, Hoon (Le Jung-jae), makes up for a bad night in the sack with his pregnant wife Hae-ra (Seo Woo) by seducing the nanny with a vintage bottle of wine and the demand that she go down on

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him. The seduction is set up for us by a delicious split-screen shot where director Im Sang-soo has Hoon accidentally walk in on the maid as she’s scrubbing down the family’s luxurious bathtub. Shot from behind Hoon, the film allows us into his erotic reverie as he watches his spoiled wife sipping wine in their bedroom while the maid unintentionally performs a sensual undressing wiping the wife’s traces from the tub.

The first 40 minutes of The Housemaid are a delicious up-ending of the proprieties of bourgeois life as the husband uses his lanky torso, the contents of his wine cellar, and his checkbook to keep the women in his life on a tight leash. He indulges his wife’s petty need to dominate lowerstatus women by promising to fulfill her agenda, a big family, without satisfying his sexual appetites. These are indulged with the maid, whose childlike temperament and impetuosity

make sex with her seem a Lolita -like violation. Meanwhile, he keeps the increasingly bitter old housekeeper in line with checks and efforts to assist the career of her adult lawyer son.

Eun-yi is initially taken in by this family’s façade of politeness, as she announces to Nami one night while sitting on the child’s bed, surrounded by her collection of expensive dolls and stuffed animals.

“I love how you’re such a nice girl.

You’re not bad-tempered, you’re polite to me.”

“I learned that from father. He said to treat people politely. It may seem like a sign of respect, but it’s really putting myself first.”

Eun-yi learns the import of Nami’s confession when Daddy saunters half-naked into her bedroom later that night, and uses wine as a tool to exact a specific sex act.

“I’m going to cum. Can I do it inside you?”

IFC Films

Master & servant

Scene from The Housemaid, a powerful erotic thriller from South Korea.

“Please don’t.”

“Then let me cum in your mouth.”

“Yes!” “Not now. Suck it hard when I put it in.”

“What?!”

“Suck it like a straw.”

This consummation between the master and his maid is silently witnessed by the old housekeeper, whose shocked countenance is a preview of the film’s deadly dance of revenge.

As he did so brilliantly in his 2003 feminist thriller A Good Lawyer’s Wife, Im Sang-soo demonstrates how the trappings of upscale Western consumerism – Hoon’s everpresent glasses of red wine, his chilly mastery of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, the family’s heated indoor pool – become implements of destruction in a ferocious struggle for power between the sexes.

We catch the wife, Hae-ra, digesting Simone de Beauvoir’s seminal

feminist manifesto The Second Sex as if it were a manual on war by other means, conspiring with her scheming mom (Park Ji-young) to destroy their maid’s life (including her unborn child by Hoon) as a way of exacting control over the presumptuous behavior of her husband, born to wealth.

Im Sang-soo frames the Gohs’ illicit liaisons against the backdrop of a bleakly beautiful, ice-cold Korean winter. We see Hoon receiving oral sex from the maid through a window where crystal-white snowflakes are falling. It’s as if the purity of the freshly-fallen snow could expunge the evil intent behind the lust.

Trust it to the Koreans to give us an Upstairs/Downstairs, revenge-fueled melodrama that climaxes with a troubled family getting a flaming floor show at their exclusive country hideaway. Laced with hot master/servant sex, this film puts one’s appetite for the New Korean Cinema to an ultimate test.▼

www.bartabsf.com

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10 February 2011z . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

21

PHOTOGRAPHY

Face to face ‘Robert Mapplethorpe: Portraits’ in San Jose

by Sura Wood he 104 subdued, elegant, black & white photographic portraits of famous personages in the San Jose Museum of Art’s latest show offer a stark contrast to the prevailing image of Robert Mapplethorpe, the notorious photographer who shot them.

Though portraiture constituted the bulk of his output, Mapplethorpe, who died 20 years ago at age 42, was infamous for and most identified with his electrifying homoerotic nudes and his pictures of the underground sex scene and its shadowy, after-Midnight players. Could the transgressive, sacrilegious bad boy of modern photography, who scandalized the church and prompted screeds by politicians and scolding in conservative newspaper editorials, be one and the same with the fellow behind these retrained, classically beautiful, exquisitely composed portraits of influential artists, literary lights, dancers, actors, rockers, designers and musicians, like soulmate, poet, muse and former girlfriend Patti Smith?

In Martin Scorsese’s unconventional HBO documentary Public Speaking, humorist Fran Lebowitz pointed out that the AIDS epidemic not only wiped out a tragic number of creative people, but the avid, cultivated audience that both appreciated and patronized the art they produced, especially in New York. In some respects, though perhaps not intentionally, Robert Mapplethorpe: Portraits represents a documentation of the vanished New York cultural scene of the 1970s and 80s. But the work is uncharacteristically staid for an artist known for adventure, even recklessness in life, and boundary-breaking in his art.

Technique as an end in itself inspires admiration, not excitement; it’s as if he took these chilly, detached pictures with one arm tied behind his back.

The exhibition, which divides the subjects into their respective professions, made me want to rush out and revisit SFMOMA’s Exposed (closing April 17, in case you missed it) to get a fix of Mapplethorpe’s thrilling penchant for the subversive. Suffice it to say: if you’re looking for skin, you won’t find it here, with the exception of a topless Sonia Braga. (Mapplethorpe once said there was no difference between photographing a flower, a face or a penis, but the foundation bearing his name reportedly decried that only portraits, and relatively modest ones at that, could be included in this exhibition.)

He began by shooting Polaroids, many of them self-portraits. Five in the exhibition, photographed between 1975 and the year before his death, chart his sexual experimentation and role-playing. Early on, his subjects came from the S&M milieu he haunted, nude studies of his nocturnal couplings with black men, shot late at night or in the wee hours with crude lighting. Later, he made portraits (he didn’t do his own printing) of friends, people he met socially, or individuals whose stories intrigued him, like Melody Danielson, a professional dominatrix he knew before she became the girlfriend of his much younger brother.

But no one was more crucial to Mapplethorpe’s life and the blossoming of his photography than Patti Smith, whose recently published, loving memoir of their relationship, Just Kids, has rekindled interest in the photographer, softened his public persona, and couldn’t be more fortuitous for this show.

Mapplethorpe’s iconic 1975 cover portrait of Smith for her first album, Horses, in which she’s rail-thin, casually dressed in white shirt and black trousers, a black jacket slung nonchalantly over her shoulder, captures her waif-like vulnerability and androgyny. The picture, one of his best and certainly the classiest record jacket

Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation

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Self-portrait (1988), gelatin silver print by Robert Mapplethorpe.

veil that cascades from the brim of her hat, like some weird take on Magritte. In the throes of mutual infatuation, they collaborated on a succession of fantasies (Mapplethorpe made more than 200 images of her) in which she posed in a variety of guises: bride, playgirl, biker chick, flamenco dancer, huntress, circus artist, socialite, beach bunny, young Christian and snake charmer. Many are nudes, but in others she’s elaborately costumed. None, alas, are here.▼

ever, is timeless.

A test in celebrity photography exhibits is this: Would we pay the same attention to a picture if it weren’t of a well-known person, and/or do we learn anything new about them? Not really. Half the fun is that instant of recognition. Say, there’s Glenn Close in profile; Marianne Faithfull photographed at the top of a London stairwell looking older and harder than the flower girl who was Jagger’s angelic main squeeze; the overexposed Yoko Ono, pensive in a paperboy’s cap, her head cocked to expose her bone structure; a smoldering Kathleen Turner, peering at us from half-shadow, her soft, feminine blond hair falling over her face, looking every inch the femme fatale she played a year earlier in Body Heat; and a lean and hungry Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1976, which begs the question: Would you let this man run your state?

Mapplethorpe’s eye for perfection is engaged in the sexy, stirring picture of a young Richard Gere, before success, spirituality and an obsession with control stole his mojo. Posed like a neoclassical god, Gere, shirtless in faded jeans, alternately loose and tight in all the right places, eyes the camera, his body on the diagonal in the field of the shot, his thumb stuck out as if hitchhiking, a nod to his star turn in the remake of Breathless. With his sculpted, muscular arms, buff torso and attitude to burn, one understands why he became a star.

At the back of the show’s catalogue, curator Gordon Baldwin writes briefly about each photograph, but it’s the discussion of pictures that weren’t included that tantalizes, such as those taken of model and bodybuilder Lisa Lyon, who, when she met Mapplethorpe at a New York party in 1979, was sporting a black rubber outfit. In the exhibition’s sole portrait of her, she sits sideways in a black bustier, her face obscured by a black

Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation

Through June 5. More info: (401) 271-2787 or www.SanJoseMuseumofArt.org.

Patti Smith (1975), gelatin silver print by Robert Mapplethorpe.

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BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 10 February 2011

DANCE

by Paul Parish e have a hit on our hands.

The entire floor of the Opera House rose to cheer the ballerina Yuan Yuan Tan at the end of RAkU, a new piece by the company’s Bolshoi-trained Resident Choreographer Yuri Possokhov, which had its world premiere here last Thursday night. I missed the opening but saw the ballet at its third performance Saturday night, when the audience was again swept away. I did not share their response and am withholding judgment until I can see it again. It’s clear that Possokhov has triumphed by creating a new work for the strengths of Tan, whose delicate figure, astonishing flexibility, and enormous tensile strength is contrasted in the most striking terms with a cohort of very muscular men (warriors, a monk, a prince) in a world that looks like a samurai soap opera distilled down to 30 minutes.

The partnering is athletic and physically very exciting. Damian Smith is handsome, sensitive, and

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powerful, the perfect foil for Tan’s astonishing extensions, which open and sweep into spiraling curves almost as frightening as they are beautiful. She epitomizes for SF Ballet the wave of hypermobility in contemporary pointe-work, which fascinates with the wire-drawn contortions achievable by dancers who move from the core of the core and seem to have almost no meat on their bones. Tan’s strength and bravery are set off against the broad-shouldered, thickchested, manly-thighed corps of warriors (whose costumes look more like the Greco-Roman soldiers of Spartacus than they do Samurai), in a hieratic ceremony in which they present her a sword and a casket amidst ritualized moves that include tossing her high overhead and catching her.

The Bolshoi, where Possokhov was a star/protégé of director Yuri Grigorovich 30 years ago, has been a great source of creative energy since the fall of Communism. Possokhov is, along with Alexei Ratmansky, one of the rising choreographers with the deepest, most idiomatic grounding in the classical vocabulary, but you can see him

chafing at the restrictions the Soviets placed on self-expression. Every new ballet he makes seems to be an attempt to forge something meaningful using the old materials in a new way.

Thus he’s created a samurai world using the powerful, deep-thighed, knee-walking steps of Russian folk dance that he grew up with.

RAkU deals with a cultural disaster for Japan, in which a demented monk burned down the Golden Temple of Kyoto, “the most beautiful building in Japan,” which did happen in 1955, and has been fictionalized many times, most notably in a breakout novel by Mishima and in movies.

Mishima’s monk hates himself because of ambitions he despises, family pressures, and, most of all, he is himself ugly and turns that against anything beautiful.

So the piece is obviously about fire and torment, characters being pulled apart by conflicting emotions and by others’ projections onto them. The monk (Pascal Molat) is almost Dostoyevskian in his complexity, and his thoughts and dreams are nearly as real as the world around him. So it makes sense to have the stage flooded with projections, which were designed and stunningly realized by Alexander V. Nichols: they flicker onto free-standing columns and piers, which suggest the architecture of the building but also unfold to disclose visionary creatures, such as the ballerina and her consort. At times the projections devour the characters and the building, especially in the burning.

I admire Possokhov’s artistic integrity and find the ballet impressive, but cryptic. For starters, why is RAkU spelled like that? Why is the Morse code for “I love you” embedded in the score? Certainly the closing moments, in which Tan opens the casket and pours the ashes it contains over herself in a kind of immolation, then

Erik Tomasson

Samurai soap opera

Yuan Yuan Tan and Damian Smith in Yuri Possokhov’s RAkU.

subsides into a solo dance-meditation of Butoh-like writhing, bring the ballet to a stunning conclusion; but I’m left puzzled, disturbed and unsatisfied.

RAkU has marvelous costumes by Mark Zappone, lighting by Christopher Dennis, and gorgeous music composed in collaboration with the choreographer by Shinji Eshima, a member of the SF Ballet orchestra. It is the central work on a triple bill with two masterpieces, Sir Frederick Ashton’s Symphonic Variations (1946) and George Balanchine’s Symphony in C (1947), which are themselves worth the price of admission and were both beautifully danced, especially considering there were wholesale alterations of cast due to illness. The new corps member Nicole Ciapponi distinguished herself with a debut in a role that she learned, according to reports, that afternoon. Sarah Van Patten was especially beautiful in the Ashton, Courtney Elizabeth and Taras Domitro were brilliant in Bizet’s Symphony.

Van Patten and her partner Tiit Helimets were the principal couple in a Wednesday-night showing of Giselle which was one of the very finest your reporter has ever seen. The whole

company rose to the occasion, with fabulous performing by the Wilis, especially Dores Andre and Dana Genshaft as the demi-soloist Wilis; the newcomer Daniel Baker made a tremendous first impression as the blunt peasant whom Giselle does not love, whom the Wilis make dance until he dies. But it was the romantic couple that was so impressive. Helimets danced nobly, downplaying his technique, making each entrechat and jete an address to Giselle; they fell in love before our eyes, through their dancing. This is really romantic, and it makes a ballet that’s 150 years old look brand-new.

Giselle begs to be parodied, to be brought back in other ways; but the real thing abides as well, and last week, we saw it in one of its great manifestations. The soul is at risk in this ballet, the Wilis represent all of us who have had our longings go unfulfilled or mocked, and the corps of SFB know they’ve got a real emotional charge to carry. They’re not just doing the steps, it was life or death, and it was transcendent.

Both Giselle and Program 2 alternate; the run ends this Sunday night with Maria Kochetkova and Joan Boada in Giselle.▼

Heart-shaped boxes

by Gregg Shapiro or the undervalued diva lover: For years, it seemed you couldn’t watch a major Hollywood movie without hearing Jennifer Warnes’ gorgeous voice singing the theme song. This began with the Oscar-winning “It Goes Like It Goes” and continued with Randy Newman’s Oscar-nominated “One More Hour” from Ragtime, the Oscar-winning “Up Where We Belong” from An Officer and a Gentlemen, the Oscar-winning “(I’ve Had) the Time of My Life” from Dirty Dancing, and so on.

Warnes’ own recording career, which began in the late 1960s, yielded hit singles such as “Right Time of the Night” from 1977, and produced a handful of albums, most notably the acclaimed 1986 Famous Blue Raincoat, on which she performed her own interpretations of songs by friend, collaborator and occasional boss (Warnes was a back-up singer) Leonard Cohen.

The Hunter (Impex) (1992) is the latest in a series of remastered and handsomely repackaged 24 karat gold special edition reissues of her albums. The underappreciated disc features Warnes’ exquisite readings of Todd Rundgren’s “Pretending To Care,” The Waterboys’ “The Whole of the Moon,” Donald Fagen’s “Big Noise, New York,” and exceptional originals including “Way Down Deep,” co-written by Cohen, making this an essential part of her canon.

For the apple of your eye: Impressive in its scope as well as its distinc-

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tive packaging, the 17-disc Apple Records Box Set (Apple/EMI) is both a souvenir and a celebration of a specific moment in musical history. The Beatles’ legendary if short-lived label was home to a mind-blowing array of musical acts, reflecting their eclectic tastes in music.

In addition to a double-disc set of rarities and the 21-track single-disc compilation Come and Get It: The Best of Apple Records, you will find

two albums by Mary (“Those Were the Days”) Hopkin, one by a preWarner Bros. James Taylor, one by Doris Troy, four by Badfinger, two by the late Billy Preston and one by the Radha Krishna Temple. An utterly thrilling musical experience is in store for anyone who listens to these recordings.

For the Saturday night feverish: The Bee Gees have been the subject of many box sets in recent years. There was the red “velvet” repackaging of 1969’s groundbreaking Odessa, the

2006 box of 1967-68 studio albums, and a couple of greatest hits compilations.

The four-disc set Mythology (Reprise) takes a different approach from the previous compilations. Each of the four brothers – Barry, Robin, the late Maurice and the late Andy – are represented on their own disc.

Containing Bee Gees tracks that go back to the 1960s, as well as previously unreleased selections, the box does its part in expanding the group’s legacy. The addition of a disc representing Andy’s work, including hit singles such as “Shadow Dancing,” and “I Just Want To Be Your Everything,” highlights the musical contributions of the brothers Gibb, individually and collectively.

For the metal queen: The LGBT community is well-respected and renowned for its wide-ranging artistic tastes, and that includes music, too.

LGBT folks listen to opera and polka music, punk and show tunes, disco and classical, cabaret and salsa, country and hip-hop. So it would make sense that within this varied community there are those who listen to metal and progressive rock.

The expanded, double-disc 20th anniversary edition of Empire (Capitol) by Queensryche would make an ideal Valentine’s Day gift for that special heavy-metal someone. That segment of queer listeners will probably delight in the theatricality of the whole affair, exemplified in “Best I Can,” the Pink Floyd-esque hit single “Silent Lucidity” and the title cut, as well as the “Scarborough Fair” bonus track. The second disc consists of a 1990 Hammersmith Odeon concert.▼

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10 February 2011z . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

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BACKSTAGE

Love & gay marriage: let’s revue V is for…

by Richard Dodds id the ruling come from on high? It’s fun to think so.

When Theatre Rhino’s John Fisher first asked for permission to stage Marry Me a Little with two men rather than the man-woman scenario of the published script, he was greeted with silence. He wrote a second letter, citing the precedence of a 1999 two-man production in Los Angeles that Sondheim had approved.

Six months of more silence before the licensing agent acknowledged that the request was in the pipeline – a pipeline perhaps to Sondheim’s own ears.

“I think they had to ask Sondheim himself, and it just took that long to get a response out of him,” Fisher said. With permission secured for a two-man cast, Fisher went back with a second request. Could he change the pronouns to match the change in gender? “Of course,” said the agent with dispatch. “It wouldn’t make sense if you didn’t.”

While Sondheim wrote all the songs that tell the story in Marry Me a Little, opening this week at the Eureka Theatre, each of the songs was intended to be part of a different story. Cut for various reasons before opening night, the songs were created for Company, Follies, Anyone Can Whistle, A Little Night Music, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and several unproduced musicals.

They were woven together in 1980 by Craig Lucas and Norman Rene, who crafted a tale of a lonely man and woman looking for love.

Kent Taylor

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Eve Ensler is author of The Vagina Monologues and founder of V-Day.

Caleb Draper and Bill Fahrner explore romance and relationships via Stephen Sondheim in Theatre Rhino’s production of Marry Me a Little.

Fisher felt his production could be tweaked in a way that it would also comment on same-sex marriage.

“I’ve been very dedicated to what Lucas and Rene came up with, and I’ve been very loyal in terms of lyrics and music and the accompaniment, but you’re going to see things on stage that don’t seem ruthlessly dedicated.”

Video and other visuals have the two men playing out their budding relationship against the backdrop of the Prop 8 debate. “We have to tell our story through the material we’re given,” Fisher said, “but I see that as a challenge rather than an annoyance.”

And he points out that the original text either had to be modeled around the songs or the songs cho-

sen that would best fit the story. “It’s like a modern production of a Wagner opera that you utilize for a story you want to tell. It’s a collection of songs, and I think that the story we tell with it is as appropriate as the original premise.”

Bill Fahrner and Caleb Draper, both 42nd Street Moon veterans, are playing the two men looking for a place together in the romantic firmament. Dave Dobrusky, often seen at the piano in Moon productions, will be providing the accompaniment for Marry Me a Little.

“The actors have been totally with me on this as we dig into the material,” Fisher said. “We don’t come to this with any preconceived

To Sir with love

by Richard Dodds wo choice actors in roles custom-made for choice actors: reason enough for this citysider to make the trek to distant lands. But in the case of San Jose Rep’s production of The Dresser starring the incredibly accomplished Ken Ruta and James Carpenter, the experience may not justify the excursion – not that one should make a specific correlation between mileage and relative satisfaction. But my reading of the opening-night audience, who presumably are a more proximate demographic, mirrored my own: respect but only intermittent involvement.

But let’s start with respect and admiration. Ronald Harwood’s 1980 play is big in the way that makes it an increasing rarity on Broadway and especially in tight-belted regional theaters. It has a large cast, period costumes of both 1940s and Shakespearean vintage, and a detailed set (by Kent Dorsey) that must make several huge scene changes in short order. The play itself is in what is frequently labeled the “well-made play” genre, and even when first produced 31 years ago, was a bit of throwback.

This is how it should be, considering an old theatrical tradition that Harwood’s script depicts. The year is 1940, the era of the actor-manager in England, in which a well-regarded acting veteran runs his own touring company where he headlines a repertoire of roles in which he has established his reputation. In the case of The Dresser, the actor-manager is identified only as Sir, a self-bestowed honorific, and both he and his company are in decline.

The war has siphoned off most of the young male talent. “I’ve been reduced to old men, cripples, and nancy boys,” he moans from his dressing room in a second-tier provincial town. But of more concern to those around him is his deteriorating mind.

Having to be reminded that King Lear, his signature role, is next on the schedule, he asks his dresser, “How does it start?” The fiercely loyal Norman fends off the doomsayers in the

Kevin Berne

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Ken Ruta, as Sir, prepares for a performance as King Lear as his leading lady (Rachel Harker) and loyal assistant (James Carpenter) look on in The Dresser at San Jose Rep.

company, including Sir’s leading lady/significant other and the nononsense stage manager, who are ready to cancel the performance and, inevitably, Sir’s career. The show, and Sir, must go on, and Norman wheedles, cajoles, and squeezes out one more Lear from the old man.

Highlights of the play, and of director Rick Lombardo’s production, are scenes from that performance as seen from backstage, where actors and stagehands are in very states of panic as Sir precariously pulls it together. It’s kind of like Noises Off with tragic undertones.

But the dressing-room scenes are surprisingly banal, as various characters pop in and out to confront Sir with their various issues. The dialogue just isn’t very interesting, and it begins to feel as if we are watching variations on the same situations over and over in the lengthy play. This absence of dramatic vibrancy is surprising, inasmuch as Harwood based the play on his own experiences as dresser to actor-manager Donald Wolfit.

As Sir, whose role as Lear is a metaphor for his own mental disintegration, Ruta is frequently at one with the tottering but volatile actor. But Carpenter’s fey and pinched performance as Norman, who harbors an unspoken love for Sir, doesn’t develop into something of intensity or empathy. There is able if unflourished work from the large supporting cast, with the strongest characterization coming from Lynne Soffer as the dour stage manager who has also secretly loved Sir over her long service.

The Dresser doesn’t quite rise to the possibilities of its theatrical milieu, whether in its histrionic or human gleanings. But that a theater is offering a full-blown staging of this elaborate, expansive, and expensive play is a cause of considerable admiration, even if coupled with tempered appreciation.▼ The Dresser will run at San Jose Rep through Feb. 20. Tickets are $35$74. Call (408) 367-7255 or go to www.sanjoserep.com.

notions of how it should be done.

That’s what makes me happy as a director, being scared of something, creating my own roadmap, and having people join me on the journey. I feel like we’ve entered into a marriage on this project.”

More info and tickets to Marry Me a Little are available at (800) 838-3006 or www.therhino.org.

Victory, Valentine’s Day, and vaginas. And then there’s violence, violence against women in particular, and V-Day is about ending that. ACT actors, students, and staff will be part of the national 2011 V-Day observances with benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues on Feb. 13 (5:30 p.m.) and Feb. 14 (9:30 p.m.) in ACT’s fifth-floor Garrett Room.

Among the large cast, to be divided between the two performances, are ACT Conservatory Director Melissa Smith, frequent ACT actors Domenique Lozano and Omoze Idehenre, and local performers Sharon Lockwood and Delia MacDougall.

Proceeds from the performances will benefit Spotlight on Women, Girls of Haiti, and SF’s La Casa de las Madres.

Go to www.act-sf.org for more info.

The author of The Vagina Monologues and the founder of V-Day is herself headed to San Francisco. An Evening with Eve Ensler will take place March 2 at the Jewish Community Center as part of the center’s Arts and Idea series. Tickets are available at www.jccsf.org. ▼ Richard Dodds can be reached at BARstage@comcast.net.

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BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 10 February 2011

Textural Rhythms, Saturday

OUT&ABOUT FRI 11 >>

Busby Berkeley Films @ Castro Theatre Enjoy two nights of double feature films featuring the master of classic cinema choreography. Jeffrey Spivak, author of the biography Buzz: The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley will give a talk and sign books each day.

Feb 10, 42nd Street (3:15, 7pm); Gold Diggers of 1933 (1:25, 4:55, 8:55). Feb 11, Footlight Parade (3:10, 7pm) and Dame (1:25, 5pm 9:10pm). $7.50-$10. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com

Sweetheart’s Ball & Underwear Party

Clybourne Park @ American Conservatory Theatre Bruce Norris’ sardonic comedy takes on gentrification and racial tensions in a Chicago suburb. $10-$80. Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat, Sun 2pm. Thru Feb. 20. 415 Geary St. 7492228. www.act-sf.org

Seeds of love ~ by Jim Provenzano ~

ith so much hatred in the world, it’s amazing when love finally conquers all. Sow the seeds of love at any of a diverse array of fun events this week.

Cupid’s Back turns five. The annual singles fundraiser for the GLBT Historical Society, hosted by Mark Rhoades, welcomes a few hundred single guys; open bar (sponsors Ketel One and Don Julio and PG&E). Wear pink or red; cruise, schmooze and booze. $30-$35. Trigger, 2344 Market St. 8pm12am. www.glbthistory.org www.clubtrigger.com Sing out for –or against- romance as the Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco brings Love Bites Off-Broadway, a concert of wry Broadway songs about love done wrong, conducted by new director William Sauerland, to Mission Cultural Center. $15-$30. Friday & Saturday, Feb. 11 & 12. 8pm.

2868 Mission St. at 25th. (800) 838-3006. www.lgcsf.org Feeling hot, hot, hot? Fireside Lounge: Amor Ardiente at The Crucible in Oakland presents an open house at the fire arts studio, with a kissing booth, love poems, fortune readings, aerial performances and demos of blacksmithing, neon, jewelry and enamel arts. Who needs candlelight when you have a blowtorch? $10 (free for memFireside Lounge bers). Saturday, Feb. 12. 6:30pm-9:30pm. 1260 7th St. Oakland. www.thecrucible.org Cool off as you strip down at the Sweetheart’s Ball & Underwear Party at Space 550, Sundance Saloon’s annual dance party with a boots, boxers, briefs and bras dress code. Street clothes are welcome if you’re feeling shy. Free clothes check and dance lessons. $5. Sunday, Feb. 13, 5:30pm-11pm. 550 Barneveld Ave. www.sundancesaloon.org Whether you’re partnered, dating or simply single, it’s fun to laugh at love’s foibles. At Queer Valentine’s Comedy at El Rio, laugh at love as host-producer Lisa Geduldig welcomes LGBT comics David Hawkins, Janine Brito, Bob McIntyre, Loren Kraut, and guest MC Nick Leonard.

Queer Valentine’s $7-$20. Monday, Feb. 14. 8pm. 3158 Comedy with Janine Brito Mission St. at Precita. 522-3737. www.koshercomedy.com www.elriosf.com

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Toy Scary As if Peaches Christ couldn’t get any more fabulous after hosting the Cloris Leachman event last week, the All About Evil writer-director presents Chucky vs. Christ. Along with a screening of Seed of Chucky (the gayest and campiest of the series), enjoy a post-show Q&A with Chucky mastermind Don Mancini and star Jennifer Tilly. Saturday, February 12 at the Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th St. $17-$20. 8pm. www.peacheschrist.com “I cannot wait for their musical number,” said Mancini in an interview last week. “If I had my druthers, we would be doing a movie musical remake of Child’s Play.”

Because fans simply couldn’t get enough of Tilly in Bride of Chucky, she has another role in its sequel. In Seed of Chucky, Tilly gets to play a parody version of herself.

“Don decided that I would play me, in a sort of ‘art imitates life’ setting,” said Tilly. “I thought it was fantastic idea, to Jennifer Tilly and Don Mancini poke fun at myself with some selfwill attend Chucky vs. Christ. deprecating humor.”

For our exclusive double-feature pair of interviews with Mancini and Tilly, go to www.BARtabSF.com ▼

Collapse @ Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Aurora Theatre Company’s production of Allison Moore’s family comedy, set in Minneapolis and inspired by the 2007 Mississippi River Bridge collapse. $10-$55. Tue 7pm. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm. Thru Mar. 6. 2081 Addison St. (510) 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org

Devil-Fish @ Brava Theater Cirque Noveau’s aerial acrobatic circus show loosely based on the Faust legend. $26. 7pm.

Also Feb. 12, 14 7pm. Feb 13, 6pm. Mar 3, 4, 5 at 7pm; Mar 6, 6pm. 2781 24th St. www.cirquenoveau.com

Grand Reopening @ Sui Generis Three-year anniversary party and celebration (at a new location) for the consignment clothing shop, with DJs Josh Cheon and Robot Hustle. 7pm-10pm. 2231 Market St.

Heartbreak House @ Live Oak Theatre, Berkeley Actors Ensemble of Berkeley’s production of George Bernard Shaw’s fancifully comic play set just before World War I, about love, game-playing and illusions. $12-$15. Fri & Sat 8pm. Thru Feb. 19. 1301 Shattuck Ave. (510) 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org

Holly Hughes @ The Marsh Ascerbic solo performer (and famous lesbian) performs her new show Dog and Pony, a blend of autobiography, animal behavior and pure lies. $15-$50. Thu 8pm, Sat 8:30pm, Sun 7pm. thru Feb. 27. 1062 Valencia St. (800) 838-3006. www.themarsh.org

The Love Bug @ Oddball Films Wacky ‘60s and ‘70s short films, dating dos and don’t, Mae West and a horse in drag, and more. $10. 8:30pm. Feb 12, odd Americana shorts. 275 Capp St. 558-8117. www.oddballfilm.com

Loveland @ The Marsh Ann Randolph returns with her solo show about sexually frustrated woman who flies home and faces the greatest love of her life.

Fri 8pm. Sat 5pm. $20-$50. Thru Feb. 26.

1062 Valencia St. at 21st. (800) 838-3006. www.themarsh.org

Michael Franti @ Amoeba Music, Berkeley Cool local rocker (Spearhead) performs new solo music from The Sound of Sunshine, and will sign purchased CDs. 6pm. 2455 Telegraph Ave. (510) 549-1125. www.michaelfranti.com www.amoeba.com

Next to Normal @ Curran Theatre Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical about a family torn apart and trying to put itself together. $30-$99. (limited $30 rush tix available). Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat, Sun at 2pm. 445 Geary St. (888) 746-1799. www.shnsf.com

San Francisco Ballet @ War Memorial Opera House Giselle, Coppelia and mixed programs of new and classic works, thru April. $48-$194.

8pm. (Special LGBT “Nite Out” with afterparties in the Dress Circle Bar Mar. 4 and April 8; 21+). 301 Van Ness Ave. 8652000. www.sfballet.org

What We’re Up Against @ Magic Theatre

Paula West @ The Rrazz Room

World premiere of author, playwright and TV writer Theresa Rebeck’s comedy about sex and sexism in the workplace, confused mall architects, and ducts. 8pm. Tue 7pm; Wed-Sat 8pm. Also Sat & Sun at 2:30pm.

Thru Mar. 6. Fort Mason Center, Bldg. D. Marina Blvd at Buchanan. 441-8822. www.magictheatre.org

Popular local singer performs with The George Mesterhazy quartet on various nights for eight weeks thru Mar. 13. $35-$45.

Mostly at 8pm. Check online schedule. 2drink minimum. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. at Ellis. (800) 380-3095. www.therrazzroom.com

William Blake Sings the Blues @ Actors Theatre of SF World premiere of Keith Phillips’ new play about a professor’s brutal destiny and some fateful events. $26-$38. Wed-Sat 8pm. Thru Mar. 5. 855 Bush St. at Taylor. 345-1287. www.actorstheatresf.org

SAT 12 >>

African American GIs and Germany @ African American Arts Complex Exhibit about the role of African American soldiers in World War II by researchers Maria Hohn and Martin Klimke. Thru April 22. 762 Fulton St. at Webster. www.aacvrgermany.org

Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi Musical comedy revue, now in its 35th year, with an ever-changing lineup of political and pop culture icons, all in gigantic wigs. $25$130. Wed, Thu, Fri at 8pm. Sat 6:30, 9:30pm. Sun 2pm, 5pm. (Beer/wine served; cash only). 678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd (Green St.). 421-4222. www.beachblanketbabylon.com

Cupid’s Song @ Martuni’s Musical tribute to the golden days of the Black Hawk Jazz Club, performed by Recovery Theatre. 6pm-8pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market. www.dragatmartunis.com

Hot Glass, Cold Beer @ Public Glass Watch glassblowers make art, including drinking mugs, while you enjoy beer and music, with special guests Danish & Swedish artists Bjorn Friborg and Fredrik Nielsen. $25. 6pm-10pm. 1750 Armstrong Ave. Free parking. 671-4916. www.PublicGlass.org

Images of Masculinity @ LGBT Center

Pearls Over Shanghai @ The Hypnodrome Thrillpeddlers’ revival of the comic mock operetta by Link Martin and Scrumbly Koldewyn, performed by the gender-bending Cockettes decades ago, and loosely based on the 1926 play The Shanghai Gesture; with an all-star local cast. $30-$35. 18 and over only! Sat 8pm, Sun 7pm. Extended again thru April 9. 575 10th St. at Division. (800) 838-3006. www.thrillpeddlers.com

Pulp Fashion: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave @ Legion of Honor Exhibit of amazing paper costumes by the acclaimed Belgian artist based on classic historical royal garb including Elizabeth I and Marie Antoinette. Frtee-$10. Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. Thru June 5. 100 34th Ave. at Clement St. 750-3600. www.legionofhonor.famsf.org

Same-Sex Salsa @ Magnet Queer Jitterbugs bring free dance lessons and open dancing to the heatlh and cultural events space. 7pm lesson, 8pm dancing. 4122 18th St. at Castro. www.QueerBallroom.com www.magnetsf.org

SF Hiking Club @ Phoenix Lake Join GLBT hikers for a 10-mile hike to scenic Phoenix Lake by Mt. Tam, with daffodils in bloom and small waterfalls. Bring: water, lunch, layers, hat, sunscreen, sturdy boots. Carpool meets 9am at Safeway sign, Market & Dolores. (650) 763-8537. www.sfhiking.com

Silent Films @ Castro Theatre Charlie Chaplin shorts (1pm), L’Argent (3:30) and La Boheme (8pm), three classic film series, with live musical accompaniment. $10-$20. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com

Textural Rhythms @ Museum of the African Diaspora

James Guay, Dr. Gregory Gorman and Anthony Durante present a panel about male body image, and exercises that can help improve self-image and awareness. 1pm2:30pm. Room 300, 1800 Market St. www.sfcenter.org

Constructing the Jazz Tradition, Contemporary African American Quilts, a new exhibit of quilts by the Women of Color Quilters Network that visualize jazz artists. $5-$10.

Wed-Sat 11am-6pm. Sun 12pm-5pm. 685 Mission St. at 3rd. 358-7200. www.moadsf.org

The Laybelline Show @ Castro Country Club

Valen-tiny Idea Night @ Yerba Buena Arts Center

Resident dragster welcomes Baby Karatz, Olivia Hart, Cescilee Petalucci, Serenity Heart and more. $10. 10:30pm. 4058 18th St. www.castrocountryclub.org

Lil Heartbreaker’s Ball @ Li Po Cocktail Lounge

Portland’s synthpop band Lover, singer Dorian Wood, SF DJ Primo Poitino, Jess Curtis’ dance group Gravity, Michelle Tea’s Radar crew all perform at another edition of the popular art parties at the downtown museum. 8:30pm-11:30pm. Free but please RSVP. 701 Mission St. www.ybca.org

It’s a Valentine’s Day disco blowout at an underground Chinatown locale, with DJs Le Ephant, Katie Belway, Dr. Sleep and Sergio Fedasz playing grooves for the happily single or the soon-to-be coupled. 916 Grant Ave. Free before 10pm. $5 after. 8pm-2am. 21+.

982-0072. www.GoBangSF.com

SUN 13 >>

Little Shop of Horrors @ Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, Berkeley

Bill & Joe Wicht cohost a Love Boat night, with singers Dennis Sanchez, Shakey Gibson and Monica Turner, plus Tom Shaw and Joe accompanying. $5. 7pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market. www.dragatmartunis.com

Berkeley Playhouse Teen Company performs the hilarious Alan Mencken-Howard Ashman musical about a carnivorous singing talking alien plant. $10-$20. 2pm & 7pm., Also Feb 13. 2640 College Ave. www.berkeleyplayhouse.org

Mike Daisey @ Berkeley Rep Master storyteller tells tall tales The Last Cargo Cult (natives who worship shipments from overseas) and The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs (computer guru’s precarious trip to China). Thu-Sat 8pm. Wed & Sun 7pm. Thu, Sat, Sun 2pm. $15-$73. Thru Feb. 27. 2025 Addison St. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

Bijou @ Martuni’s

Brian Teare @ SF Center for Psychoanalysis Poet who explores AIDS and the other themes is interviewed by scholar Forrest Hamer. 3:30pm. 2340 Jackson St., 4th floor. www.brianteare.net

Design & Wine 1976 to Now @ SF MOMA Exhibit of the rich culture of wine, with historical artifacts, art, installations designed

by Diller Scofidio and Renfro. Special contests with prizes, including hotel stays in Napa, SF and Sonoma. 151 3rd St. www.sfmoma.org

Treefall @ New Conservatory Theatre San Francisco premiere of Henry Murray’s post-apocalyptic drama set in the Pacific Northwest. Four characters form a makeshift family, and gender and desire shifts in a desperate and strange setting. $15-$36. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru Feb. 27. 25 Van Ness Ave, lower level. 861-8972. www.nctcsf.org

Devil-Fish, Friday

10 February 2011z . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

Martin Freeman @ Visual Aid Exhibit of works by the local creator of funky collage sculptures. Thru Feb. Tue-Fri, 2pm-6pm. 57 Post St. #905. www.visualaid.org

Our Vast Queer Past @ GLBT History Museum New exhibit from the GLBT Historical Society, with a wide array of rare historic items on display. Free for members-$5. Wed-Sat 11am-7pm. Sun 12pm-5pm. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

Palestinian Queer Activists @ Mission High School Public forum about the Palestinian LGBT movement; moderated by Cherrie Moraga.

Free. 7pm. 3750 18th St. at Dolores. Also, Feb. 16 at SF State, 12:30pm. 1600 Holloway. www.araborganizing.org

Particular Voices @ Jewish Community Center

Next to Normal, Friday

Felix d’Eon @ Magnet Exhibit of beautiful homoerotic paintings inspired by Greek, Roman, Aztec and Mexican mythological characters. Exhibit thru Feb. 4122 18th St. Castro. www.felixdeon.com www.magnetsf.org

MON 14 >>

Marga’s Funny Mondays @ The Marsh, Berkeley

Join a two-mile hike through surprisingly floral urban parks. Meet at Rockridge BART station, 11am. www.glshikes.org

Marga Gomez, (“the lesbian Lenny Bruce”: Robin Williams), brings her comic talents, and special guests, to a weekly cabaret show. $10. 8pm. 2120 Allston Way. (800) 8383006. www.margagomez.com www.themarsh.org

Maria Muldaur @ The Rrazz Room

My Sucky Valentine @ Center for Sex & Culture

Pop singer (“Midnight on the Oasis”) performs classic and new songs. $35. 8pm. 2drink minimum. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. at Ellis. (800) 380-3095. www.therrazzroom.com

Irreverent tales of love gone awry; spokenword performances by Thomas S. Roche, Sherilyn Connelly, Charles Gatewood, Carol Queen, Kirk Read, Julia Serano, Simon Sheppard, and horehound stillpoint. $10$20. 8pm. 1519 Mission St. www.sexandculture.org

Gay & Lesbian Sierrans @ Berkeley

Scary Cow Film Fest @ Castro Theatre Indie Film Co-op’s short film festival. Vote and choose which films get further funding.

3pm. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.scarycow.com www.castrotheatre.com

Score @ The Stud Queer Dating Game Show and variety show.

6pm-1am. 399 9th St. at Harrison. www.studsf.com

Scott Capurro @ Café DuNord If Ricky Gervais’ comic stylings at the Golden Globe Awards tickled your fancy, you’ll adore the acidicly hilarious gay comic stylings of Capurro. $16. 21+. 8pm. 2170 Market St. 861-5016. www.cafedunord.com www.scottcapurro.com

Sunday’s a Drag @ Starlight Room Donna Sachet and Harry Denton host the fabulous weekly brunch and drag show. $45.

11am, show at noon; 1:30pm, show at 2:30pm. 450 Powell St. in Union Square.

395-8595. www.harrydenton.com

Teatro Zinzanni @ Pier 29 License to Kiss II is the show at the theatretent-dinner extravaganza with Kevin Kent, twin acrobats Ming and Rui, Vertical Tango rope dance, plus magic, comedy, a fivecourse dinner, and a lot of fun. $117-$145.

Saturday 11:30am “Breve” show $63— $78. Wed-Sat 6pm (Sun 5pm). Pier 29 at Embarcadero Ave. 438-2668. www.teatrozinzanni.com

The Vagina Monologues @ ACT American Conservatory Theatre actors, faculty and staff perform Eve Ensler’s popular play about female sexuality. Proceeds benefit V-Day 2011 and La Casa de les Madres Women’s Shelter. $10. 5:30pm. Also Feb 14, 9:30pm. Garret Room, fifth floor, 415 Geary St. www.act-sf.org

Valentine’s Songs @ Martuni’s Love songs galore, performed by Dennis Sanchez, Shakey Gibson, Monica Turner, Tom Shaw and others. Joe and Bill Wicht host. 7pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market. www.dragatmartunis.com

Valentine Speakeasy @ Slide DJ Page Hodel spins tunes for this older women’s T-dance event, with the Twilight Vixen Revue. $11-$15. 4pm9pm. 430 Mason St. www.bettyslist.com

Popcorn, Blood and Glitter @ Glama-Rama Salon

Local winemakers from San Francisco bring their delicious wines for a benefit tasting night.

Proceeds benefit Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. $50. 2pm-5pm. Marina at Bay St. 626-7500. www.friendssfpl.org

WED 16 >>

Angels in America at 20 @ Museum of Performance & Design

Exhibit documenting the award-winning Tony Kushner drama, with an array of original costumes, props, manuscripts, video clips, photos, designs and audio interviews.

Wed-Sat 12pm-5pm. Thru Mar. 26. 401 Van Ness Ave. 255-4800. www.mpdsf.org

Fight Club, Insomnia @ Castro Theatre

Group exhibit of art celebrating the mad world of Peaches Christ and Midnight Mass. 6pm10pm. 304 Valencia St. 861-4526. Reg hours, Tue-sun 10am-7pm. www.peacheschrist.com www.glamarama.com

David Fincher’s unique and deliciously odd film about paranoia and so much more stars Brad Pitt and Edward Norton (2pm, 7pm).

Robin Williams and Al Pacino star in the unusual thriller (4:35, 9:35). $7.50-$10. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com

Q Comedy @ Martuni’s

Smack Dab @ Magnet

Casey Ley, Tony Koester, Cassandra Gorges, Michael Capozzola and more performers join drag comic Cookie Dough in the monthly laugh night. First Mondays. $5-$16. 8pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market, www.Qcomedy.com

Kirk Read and Larry-bob Roberts host the monthly eclectic, mostly queer reading and performance series. This month features queer Jewish poet Sam Sax. 8pm. sign-up 7:30pm. 4122 18th St. at Castro. www.magnetsf.org

Sex City Tour @ Various Locales Take a fun-filled bus tour of San Francisco’s sexy historic spots; hosted by Betty’s List and led by Dr. Carol Queen, with drinks and mingling to start. $45. 6pm-9pm. Meet at Hotel Adagio, 550 Geary St. 503-1375. www.bettyslist.com

Tango in the Castro @ Sweet Inspiration Jonas Aquino hosts a free same-sex dance lesson night, with DJ Zeycan playing traditional and contemporary tango music. Learn the dance of passion! 7pm-9pm. 2239 Market St. 621-8664. www.sweetinspirationbakery.com

Ten Percent @ Comcast 104 David Perry’s new talk show about LGBT local issues. Mon-Fri 11:30am & 10:30pm, Sat & Sun 10:30pm. www.davidperry.com

Unmentionables @ City Art Group exhibit of work themed around undergarments. 7pm. Wed-Sun, 12pm-9pm. Thru Feb. 27. 828 Valencia St. 970-9900. www.cityartgallery.org

THU 17 >>

Kitka @ St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Oakland

Valentine’s Comedy @ Club Deluxe

Amazing women’s vocal ensemble performs a variety of traditional folk songs and contemporary works. $18-$20. 8pm. 114 Montecito Ave. (510) 444-0323. www.kitka.org

Natasha Muse performs stand-up with gay jokes, and a few other gay comics. $5. 9pm.

1511 Haight St. 21+. www.liveatdeluxe.com

Lars Theurkauff @ Cain Schulte Contemporary Art

Victor/Victoria @ Castro Theatre

U.S. debut of the gay German painter’s contemporary take on male nudes, Impressionism, privacy and voyeurism. 251 Post St. 2nd floor. 543-1550. www.CainSchulte.com

Actress Lesley Ann Warren and Miss Coco Peru appear at a festive screening of the Julie Andrews film about a singer who becomes a hit drag sensation. $25-$60. VIP reception 6pm. Show 8pm. 429 Castro St. 863-0611. www.ticketfly.com www.castrotheatre.com

TUE 15 >> Avenue Q @ Orpheum Theatre

The Tony Award-winning adult musical comedy about urban hand puppets returns. $30$99. Tue-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Sun 7pm. Thru Feb. 27. 1192 Market St. (888) 746-1799. www.shnsf.com

Avenue Q, Tuesday

Word Up Wine Tasting @ Fort Mason Center

Portraits of Gay and Lesbian Jewish Writers, selected portraits from Robert Giard’s twodecade-long projects photographing over 600 gay and lesbian writers. Thru Feb. 27. 3200 California St. 292-1200. www.jccsf.org

McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid @ Castro Theatre Two classic 70s unusual Westerns. McCabe (2:20, 7pm) and Garrett (4:35, 9:15). $7.50-$10. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com

Sizzle @ Femina Potens Women’s sexy reading event, with Tristan Taormina, Michelle Tea and dominatrix Keva I Lee screening a film excerpt about female orgasm. $10 (free for members).

8pm-11pm. 2199 Market St. www.feminapotens.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 www.bartabsf.com

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LEATHER+

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Welcome back, Edge bar

by Scott Brogan ell! Everything I’ve recently written about the Edge Bar has been proven wrong just days after my deadlines – and that’s a good thing. The Edge is back (for several weeks now), having been purchased by the owners of the Q Bar. They have promised that aside from some minor cosmetic alterations, the Edge will remain the Edge. This is evidenced by the fact that they’re proceeding with their plan to bring back Mr. Edge Leather.

Tomorrow night (Feb. 11) the bar will announce who will be appointed Mr. Edge Leather 2011. Be there to support the bar and see the tradition of Mr. Edge Leather continue.

In other bar news, the rumors are unfounded that the SF Eagle (398 12th St.) is closing. In fact, they’re celebrating their 30th Anniversary on Feb. 26 with a big event themed “Back to the Music, Back to the Leather, Back to the Cruising,” beginning at 8 p.m. A guest DJ will play 80s music, there will be fun entertainment and a limited-run 30th anniversary T-shirt. It’s not often that any establishment makes it anywhere near 30 years, so I urge everyone to go and help the bar celebrate. Besides, I doubt you could find such a diverse, festive crowd in one place as on the Eagle’s patio.

It’s contest season, and the Mr. One of my favorite leather men: Mr. SF Leather 2010 Lance Holman.

Powerhouse 2011 contest takes place at the Powerhouse (1347 Folsom) on Fri., Feb. 18 at 9 p.m. See who will liance Weekend, featuring the Mr. SF He’s a tough act to follow! step up to walk in the footsteps of Leather 2011 contest the following Be sure to vote for the 2010 Mr. Powerhouse 2010 Lance Holnight. Go to www.leatheralliance.org.

Leather-Fetish-Motorcycle Commuman. Holman went on to win Mr. nity Awards. To vote, go to SF Leather 2010 and First RunDisturbing news from LA www.surveymonkey.com/s/ ner-Up at International Mr. LEATHER_BALLOT. RememThe Tom of Finland Erotic Art Leather. Holman has been the ber, you can only vote once!

Fair, which has been held in (and enembodiment of what a tiPolls close at Midnight, dorsed by) the City of West Hollytleholder should be, going Feb. 17. The results will be wood since 2003, is no longer weleverywhere he could to revealed at the 45th (can come there. Out of the blue, the Arts support as many causes, you believe it?) annual SF and Cultural Heritage Commission events, and just plain fun Leather Community of the City of West Hollywood rehappenings as he physicalAwards Dinner on Fri., jected a request for endorsement ly could. Not every titleMarch 4 at the Hotel from the Tom of Finland Foundaholder has been as outgoing, supportive, friendly – L EATHER Whitcomb. The event tion to support the fair. The change kicks off the Leather Aland sexy – as Holman. page 27

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Coming up in leather & kink >> Thu., Feb. 10: Underwear Night at the Powerhouse (1347 Folsom), 10 p.m. Wet undie contest and drink specials. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Sun., Feb. 13: PoHo Sundays at the Powerhouse. DJ Keith, Dollar Drafts all day. Go to: www.powerhousesf.com.

Thu., Feb. 10: Edges Wet Munch at Renegades Bar (501 W. Taylor St., San Jose). 7 p.m. Happy hour for the sex-positive and alternative communities: 4-7 p.m. Go to: www.edges.biz or www.renegadesbar.com.

Sun., Feb. 13: Dee’s Meander: An easy walking group for kinksters, at Bestor Art Park (S. 6th St., San Jose). 4 p.m. No cost. Go to: fetlife.com/events/39252.

Thu., Feb. 10: EduKink – Dark Desires: Chocolate Fetish Playshop at the SF Citadel (1277 Mission). 7:3010:30 p.m. Door opens at 7. $20-$25 plus $5 materials fee. Go to: www.EduKink.org or www.sfcitadel.org.

Thu., Feb. 10: Locker Room at Chaps Bar (1225 Folsom). 9 p.m.-close. Wear your jockstraps, sports gear, anything that goes in the locker room, for drink specials.

Go to: www.chapsbarsanfrancisco.com.

Fri., Feb. 11: Truck Wash at Truck (1900 Folsom). 10 p.m.-close. Enjoy the live shower boys and drink specials.

Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Fri., Feb. 11: Rope at Chaps Bar (1225 Folsom). Gogo studs at 10:30 p.m. Tie me up! 9 p.m.-close. Go to: www.chapsbarsanfrancisco.com.

Fri., Feb. 11: Open Play Party at the SF Citadel (1277 Mission). 8 p.m.-1 a.m. $25. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Sat., Feb. 12: Pride Leather Contingent Meeting at the Eagle (398 12th St.). Starts at 2 p.m. Go to: www.sfleather .org.

Sat., Feb. 12: Maestro Stefanos Presents: Valentino’s Cacablanca! at the SF Citadel. Socialize & play at an evening from the golden age of dungeon & entertainment noir. 8-10 p.m. Amenities, entertainment, buffet.

Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Sat., Feb. 12: Back Bar Action at the Eagle Tavern (398 12th St.), back patio and bar open to all gear/fetish/leather. 10 p.m. to close. Go to: www.sfeagle.com.

Sat., Feb. 12: Boot Lickin’ at the Powerhouse, 10 p.m.

Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Sun., Feb. 13: Castrobear presents Sunday Furry Sunday at 440 Castro. 4-10 p.m. Go to: www.castrobear.com.

Sun., Feb. 13: SF Men’s Spanking Party at the Power Exchange (220 Jones St.) This is a male-only event. You must be 18+ with valid ID. 1-6 p.m. Go to: www.voy.com /201188.

Sun., Feb. 13: Forever Folsom Valentine party at the Powerhouse emceed by Ross Dierking and Anna Conda.

Presenting the next phase of the South of Market Map & Game, with Off-Ramp Leathers mini-store, kinky games, spinning by Demetri, and the Febe’s Leather David Statue lookalike contest! 7-10 p.m. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Mon., Feb. 14: Trivia Night with host Casey Ley at Truck. 8-10 p.m. Amazing prizes and ridiculous questions. Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Tue., Feb. 15: Busted at Truck. 9 p.m.-close. $5 beer bust from 9-11 p.m. Great music and the notorious Truck boys. Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Tue., Feb. 15: Skins n Punks at Chaps Bar. Drink specials. Go to: www.chapsbarsanfrancisco.com.

Wed., Feb. 16: Underwear Buddies at Blow Buddies (933 Harrison). Wear your favorite undies and have fun! Doors open 8 p.m.-12 a.m. Play til late. Go to: www.blowbuddies.com.

Wed., Feb. 16: Nipple Play at the Powerhouse (Dore & Folsom) 10 p.m. Go to www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Wed., Feb. 16: Bare Bear, a night at the baths at The Water Garden (1010 Alameda, San Jose). 6-10 p.m. Go to: www.thewatergarden.com.

Wed., Feb. 16: Busted! at Chaps Bar. This week’s edition: Pits! It’s all about sexy, hairy pits and that special scent. Starts at 9 p.m. Go to: www.chapsbarsanfrancisco.com.

Send listings to leather@ebar.com.

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10 February 2011z . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

27

KARRNAL

Holy homosexualizer!

by John F. Karr ecently, I’ve been chewing my cud over the G4P thing. Str8 guys in gay porn. Fascinating.

But perhaps I’ve been reading too much into it.

Porn provides a vision in which we may hear and see ourselves, and learn something about ourselves and our desires. So we don’t want it to be fraudulent. And those str8 guys in porn – some of them are already bi on the way in, or become bi-ish when they’re there. But a whole lot of them are big-time fraud.

On the other hand, listen to Ryan Raz, who is just about the porniest of porn stars, when he blogs, “Porn is just porn.” It’s not truth, it’s not our lives, and it’s only infrequently our sexuality.

What it is, is a world of fantasy sex. So if str8 boys want to be part of that fantasy, well, why not. I don’t care, after all, if they’re str8 – as long as they’re convincing at their task.

Like Reese Rideout. Though he hasn’t given up his girlfriend, he seems to me to be truly enjoying himself in gay sex. He’s seriously into cock play, makes out like a thriller-driller, and gives himself wholeheartedly to his partners. I’ve heaped blessings on his image. Along with a lot of my ball juice.

And then there’s Jeremy Walker.

Oh, oh, oh, he is splendid to see. A vision of masculine beauty. But There’s a coy, nearly insulting pretense hardly gay. that it’s Jeremy’s first time with a guy.

Jeremy doesn’t mean to be frauduJeremy distances himself from gay sex, lent. Just look at his warm and quick with noncommittal cocksmile – the guy means well. But sucking, kisses that just he’s not really cut out for graze Falk’s lips or dodge what he’s doing. In the recent them altogether, and dufour-scene anthology tiful fucking devoid of from Randy Blue Sex true enthusiasm. His with Jeremy Walker, he attempt to compensate demonstrates that too with corny dialogue elicits frequently. I re-ordered laughs as he dully recites, the collection’s scenes “You’re so hot I can bareto watch them in ly contain myself ” in a chronological order, to K ARRNAL flat, mechanical monotoget a sense of his career K NOWLEDGE ne that sounds like the as a homosexualizer (is recorded voice on the that an okay name for phone asking you to say a str8 guy who has gay sex?). In his or choose number one for customer debut solo, from February 2008, he’s service. Kevin’s brilliant orgasm sure skittery, and careens through self-caupstages Jeremy’s. But you know resses without feeling them. But when what? None of this matters – just look he’s been jacking off for a while, I thrill at the guy. They say looks aren’t everyto the look on his face as sex energy fithing. But looks keep me watching Jenally takes over. On the downstroke, remy Walker. his hand flows downward, over and A month later, we find him in the around his balls, cupping them as if collection’s best scene, with Benjamin they’re an extension of his cock. Oh Bradley, the heavenly doll who’d make boy, he’s into it. Str8 or gay, when the anybody perform better. Jeremy’s had jiz starts rising, we all go to outer space. some practice by now, but hasn’t A few months later, his next scene, changed all that much. He’s more aghe’s paired with Kevin Falk, a very hot gressive, crawls all over Benjamin’s dyguy with a model’s chiseled face.

R

Courtesy Randy Blue

Sex performer Jeremy Walker keeps Karr watching.

namite body, sucking Benjamin’s dynamite cock acceptably. But he’s still not believable; cannot connect with men. Still intoning lines of insincere sex talk. Benjamin enjoys (or pretends well to enjoy) Jeremy’s brusque fucking (during which Jeremy’s obliques look fantastic). Benjamin excites himself so much when bouncing lustily on Jeremy’s cock that he cums. Lots.

Jeremy jacks off. Sure, I wish Jeremy could put on a better show, make me Believe. But I’ll settle for just watching him. I especially like him in slo-mo, which makes the muscled swells of his body roll across his partner in warm waves.

A full year later, we find him with Reese Rideout and Ryan. He’s learned to perform every manner of sex act, but performs them by rote. Reese’s big performance style sets the scene’s hot tone, and butch cutie Ryan seconds that emotion. Together, they override Jeremy’s synthetic responses. Their finale is good, largely because Jeremy is once again basically out of sight beneath Ryan, who’s riding his cock.

Ryan and Reese enjoy hearty orgasms.

Jeremy jacks off. So will you. ▼ www.RandyBlue.com

Leather + is due to the Commission’s Chair, Whitney Weston, who reportedly called the event “distasteful,” “offensive to children,” and said that it makes her “uncomfortable.” Really, Ms. Weston? Do you seriously think that children are admitted or even wanted at an “Erotic Art” fair? Would you try to bring the kiddies because you’re that pushy parent who thinks your little darlings should be welcome everywhere? Get real. Not everything in this universe has to be kid-friendly. I’m so very tired of that oh-so-very-tired excuse for censorship. I find a lot of things distasteful for a variety of reasons. What do I do? What any adult would: I stay away. I don’t try to stymie or censor them. The Tom of Finland Foundation is a highly respected international organization. The fair is, and always has been, held in an enclosed auditorium with monitors at the doors to ensure no one under the age of 18 is admitted. There is no fear of anyone entering without knowledge of what the fair is about.

Scott Brogan

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page 26

The party continues at The Edge Bar on 18th & Collingwood.

I think Ms. Weston needs to review the city’s Mission Statement, which states under the heading, “Respect and Support for People,” “We recognize and celebrate the diversity of our community by treating all individuals with respect for their personal dignity and providing a wide array of specialized services. We promote mutual respect, courtesy, and thoughtfulness in all interactions.”

The city voted this past Monday on whether to support the fair, after

my deadline. Regardless of the results, I urge everyone to contact the City Council and let them know that our community will not be censored. The fair isn’t until the end of March, enough time to let them know how we feel. Their e-mail is ccouncil@weho.org. Their address for snail mail: City Council, 8300 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069. Website: www.weho.org. Let’s show Los Angeles that we support them!▼

www.ebar.com

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BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 10 February 2011

BOOKS

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Love’s taboo

by Jim Piechota Best Lesbian Romance 2011 edited by Radclyffe; Cleis Press, $14.95 I Like To Watch - Gay Erotic Stories edited by Christopher Pierce; Cleis Press, $14.95

erkeley-based Cleis Press rolls out a new double-pack of story collections fit for the lover in every reader: one for girls, and one for boys – or whichever sex brings you the most joy.

The girls are up first with Best Lesbian Romance 2011, 17 tales of love, romance, and unbridled desire, all collected by prolific author and editor Radclyffe, a retired surgeon amassing over 35 novels and anthologies to her name. Highlights include Colorado spiritual advisor Theda Hudson’s tender yarn “Hearts and Flowers,” about a female couple on their one-year anniversary; writing teacher Catherine Lundoff’s “Twelfth Night,” which follows actress Tasha, hopelessly romanticizing her fellow players during a stage adaptation of

B

Warren ▼

page 17

Two years later, her Broadway musical debut in 110 in the Shade landed Warren the title role in the televised Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella – which Julie Andrews had starred in eight years before. She was so nervous that she blew the first audition, but Rodgers offered her a second chance.

“They brought me to Richard Rodgers’ apartment, and he sat at the piano with me and had me sing ‘My Funny Valentine.’ We shot 23 hours a day, and he was right next to me the whole time.”

The Cinderella success led Warren to another legendary mentor, Walt Disney, who cast her in the musical films The Happiest Millionaire (1967) and The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968).

“It was a tremendous thrill to be Walt Disney’s protégé,” she says. “He would know the color of the ribbon in

one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces; and Western Massachusetts editor Sacchi Green’s story “The Gift,” of two women in love who find themselves four time zones apart: Lou in Afghanistan, and Meg in Switzerland.

All of the contributions are succinct, well-written, and lushly reflective of the complex desire and compassion classically found in true lesbian partnerships.

Women are a passionate breed indeed, and this sentiment is artfully realized in stories about trampled hearts that find homes; broken spirits renewed with a woman’s touch; the fortune found within the conundrum of lost luggage; and, in Charlotte Dare’s funny and sexy entry “Rebound,” sex with an aging widow from a bingo parlor.

Perhaps most novelistic is editor Radclyffe’s werewolf-inspired tale “When Hearts Run Free,” about a female member of a tightly-knit pack of “Weres” who carefully guides a freshly-bitten mortal to safety. Suffused with the erotic element of forbidden desire and charged with powerful

my hair, and what was being served in the commissary, and what Mickey Mouse was doing that day. Working on that lot was so beautiful and pristine – you felt very protected. It was the last of the studio system experiences.”

Having grown up on 1950s musicals, Warren felt suddenly out of place in the sexual revolutionary 1970s, but soon found her niche in a series of sexy, neurotic roles in television movies, including her Golden Globewinning performance as a rags-toriches call girl in Harold Robbins’ 79 Park Avenue.

Warren also has the singular distinction of having played Miss Scarlett twice: in the 1985 cult classic film Clue, and as Scarlett O’Hara in the ill-fated stage musical Gone With the Wind.

She’s delighted to hear that I was in attendance at the Los Angeles production, which also featured Pernell Roberts as Rhett Butler, a live horse and a locomotive.

“One night I was on stage singing a ballad and the audience started laughing. The horse behind me was reliev-

characterization, the story demands to be developed further into a full-blown literary work.

For those who would rather watch than physically participate, editor Christopher Pierce has compiled plenty of hot-blooded, sweat-soaked voyeurism, featuring some of gay lit’s hottest erotic writers, in I Like To Watch. Martin Delacroix’s “Donkey

ing himself during my big number. So many things went wrong because it was such a spectacle, but I made a lifelong friend of Udana Power, who played Melanie.” The cumbersome production played San Francisco, but never made it to New York.

Warren has continued her flair for comedic neurosis as Will Truman’s father’s mistress on Will & Grace, and as Susan Mayer’s mother on Desperate Housewives. She’s heading into the fourth season as the alcoholic mother on USA Network’s In Plain Sight, and will appear with Ed Asner in CMT’s sitcom Working Class. 45 years after stepping into that pumpkin coach, Lesley Ann Warren is still having a ball.▼

Dude” features a guy who thinks it’s “incredibly sexy” to spy on other men while they’re masturbating – especially when there’s a chance of getting caught. Talented local writer Rob Rosen offers up lots of steam with the story of horny Jeff and majorly hirsute Stefan (“Hot, Buttered Boner”), boys who meet during the week at a movie theatre and grind the day away, until

the scene morphs into a spontaneous three-way. The longest entry in the book forms the effective centerpiece to the collection, and features a man’s fetish and his imagination and the wonderful places it takes him, in Gregory Norris’ wonderfully evocative tale “The Rookie.”

Prolific writer Simon Sheppard contributes “God’s Own Exhibitionist,” about a man who gets off exposing himself in public; the guy in Wayne Mansfield’s story gets hot and bothered at a public swimming pool with plenty of action; and Jeff Mann offers a sex-drenched romp featuring a married sporting-goods store employee and his horned-up “boy,” a situation that turns poignant by the final page.

Pierce’s collection is best digested in small portions so the tales don’t all run together, but it’s a terrific representation of gay male writing talent, especially when focused on the sexual excitement and the inherent hazards of voyeurism.▼

Lesley Ann Warren in her Mission: Impossible days.

A Victor Victoria Valentine with Lesley Ann Warren at the Castro Theatre, SF. Meet & Greet VIP reception, 6 p.m. Gala, 8 p.m. Tickets ($25, $60 for VIP): (415) 863-0611 or www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/2 3377/tfly (type in POOKIE for special access).

Scene from Let’s Pollute.

Scene from Day & Night.

Oscar shorts ▼

page 17

dent.” Two rural English boys, Sam (Lewis Howlett, pitch-perfect as the pessimistic, guilty little sot) and Jacob (Joe Eales, scary good as the pragmatic, “shit happens” little guy), get a harrowing lesson in the psychology behind the Catholic ritual of confession. Faced with the scary prospect of donning the white robe – the long-haired, insolent Jacob rebels against the idea of putting on a dress – and telling a priest their nonexistent sins, the boys decide to dream up something important enough to fess up to. Tanel Toom’s philosophical fable (written by Caroline Bruckner) deliciously delineates the boys’ opposing life philosophies, and notes the crushing guilt inflicted on a young guy concerning two misdeeds that were, in truth, only accidents.

The Crush (Ireland) Eight-yearold Ardal Travis (pint-sized charmer Oran Creagh) has come to a momen-

tous decision: his feelings for his teacher, Ms. Purdy (Olga Wehrty), are worth a duel to the death with her stupid adult boyfriend (Rory Keenan). Michael Creagh commands the adult-cartoon elements of a kid’s Dublin-based fantasy well enough to produce a dash of suspense and a satisfying surprise ending.

God of Love (USA) Curly-haired cutiepie writer/director Luke Matheny puts his fro, crooning abilities and puckish sense of humor to good work in this piece of Gotham-based whimsy about a love-starved singer’s last-ditch efforts to win the affections of a female band member. Matheny scores some salient points on that universal curse, unrequited love, and is good-hearted or savvy enough to include one queer boy in the conga line that surrounds him once he uses his magic “love darts.”

Na Wewe (Belgium) Ivan Goldschmidt fashions the affecting tale of a vanload of strangers waylaid by rebels during the 1994 civil war in Burundi. The Hutu guerillas are

looking for ethnic Tutsis to murder.

Only it’s not so simple to tell who is who in this world of Byzantine tribal identities. There’s a lovely irony about how a Tutsi boy’s love of the band U2 turns out to be a lifesaver.

Wish 143 (United Kingdom) David (Sam Holland), a 15-year-old cancer patient with a tumor the size of a peach set to crush the life out of him, wants to have sex in the worst way. Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite put a sweet spin on David’s one night in paradise. I have to confess I wish the kid had a raunchier, less politically correct last wish, but there you are.

Nominated Animated Shorts This year’s collection is wildly eclectic and imaginative. My prediction for “the

Oscar goes to” is between the frisky Day & Night from the Pixar folks, and the purest example of storytelling from a child’s point of view, The Gruffalo. My own choice would be the British/Australian co-production The Lost Thing, with its outsider’s point of view and witty if resigned adolescent narrator.

Day & Night (USA) Teddy Newton’s spunky look at how the oddest of odd couples overcomes their natural antagonisms and contrary natures to exchange roles is a sunny/moonlight delight.

The Gruffalo (United Kingdom & Germany) Max Lang and Jacob Schuh find a very Dr. Seuss feel for this perceptive look at how kids are

introduced to the idea that it’s a jungle out there.

Let’s Pollute (USA) Brash and pushy like its faux point of view, Geefwee Boedoe’s cheeky short manages to be more than a bratty sixminute PSA. The Lost Thing (Australia & United Kingdom) Andrew Ruhemann and Shaun Tan find their voice in the person of an inquisitive adolescent Aussie slacker-boy with boundless curiosity and a big heart.

Madagascar, A Journey Diary (France) Bastien Dubois’ good-natured, party-down, impressionistic work presents a slice of Africa I’d love to see a lot more of.▼

▼

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alentine’s Day is upon us, and love is in the air! Three very different, relatively short films, all available on DVD, explore various types of love in an everchanging world.

Michael J. Saul’s Crush, a collection of four short stories, is the most intense of the three discs. In the very topical Don’t Ask, Stephen Tyrone Williams and Sean Edwards play Cameron and James, a couple preparing for Cameron’s deployment to Iraq. It’s their last night together.

Love, and a deep sense of loss and longing, is in the air.

Director Saul’s script touches upon an issue that few involved in the battle to repeal DADT have asked: Why would a gay man be willing to risk his life for a country and a military that see him as secondclass? But mostly, Don’t Ask focuses on the deep and unconditional love these two young men feel for each other. When they finally say their inevitable goodbyes, it’s heartbreaking.

The somewhat bizarre Bloodline focuses on the pangs of love at first sight experienced by two high school boys, one of whom turns out to be a vampire. The story focuses on how they come to define their relationship while also dealing with this unexpected bump in the road. Nick Endres, who’s actually in his early 20s, makes for a fetchingly creepy and sexy bloodsucker.

Strokes, the third tale, features Marc Siciliani as a lonely, middleaged artist. He’s had relationships with women and men, all of which ended badly. Though successful in his profession, he’s mad at the world.

Jorge Diaz plays his handsome young intern. Theirs is an adversarial relationship that masks something deeper. They’ve been brought together by fate: each has an important lesson to teach the other.

Crush concludes with Breathe, an emotional piece featuring no dialogue, and narrated by Saul. We see

V

two adolescent boys, Dennis Yeap and Kyle Fain, best friends, whose feeling for each other may run deeper than mere friendship. As Saul’s haunting voice recalls what may be the pain of his own first crush, the boys, who never express their feelings verbally or touch each other, find ways to let each other know how they really feel.

In Desiree Lim’s surprisingly short (50 minutes) but very sweet Floored

by Love, an Asian lesbian couple in Vancouver deals with the harsh realities of coming out to their families. As gay marriage becomes law in Canada, they inform the older generation that they are indeed going to get married: to each other. Meanwhile, in the apartment below, newly out 14-yearold Jesse (Trenton Millar) struggles to define another kind of love: does he want to live with his Mom and cool, accepting stepdad, or with his gay sperm donor Dad, an actor who’s more interested in his next role than in the son who clearly needs him?

With charm and good humor, Lim’s film illustrates that love and family are not always where you expect to find them.

Bill Humphreys’ Just Say Love also finds love in unexpected places.

Matthew Jaeger and Robert Mammana, both jaw-droppingly beautiful, become “friends with benefits, no strings attached.”

Guy (Jaeger) yearns for love, but takes what he can get.

It’s clear from the outset that he genuinely loves Doug (Mammana).

Doug, who not only identifies as straight but also has a girlfriend and a baby on the way, keeps his distance.

In a series of short scenes, the film follows their on-again, off-again relationship over the course of about a year. Doug learns to let his guard down and accept this new, unexpected love that fate dropped in his lap.

Just Say Love was originally a twocharacter theatre piece, and the film doesn’t alter that. Guy and Doug are the only characters we see during the film’s 77 minutes. The film is shot on an indoor stage, with incomplete, flyaway sets. It’s a filmed record of the play as theatre audiences might have seen it. And it works. The two men have a chemistry that’s undeniable.

Though some of the dialogue is a bit stagey, the acting and personal growth of the characters are rooted in the real world.▼

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