February 23, 2017 edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Bay Area Reporter

Milo loses book deal, job

ARTS

When We Rise

BARchive: Hustlers

The

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Since 1971, the newspaper of record for the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ community

Vol. 47 • No. 08 • February 23-March 1, 2017

CA PrEP program delayed by Seth Hemmelgarn

roblems with California’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program are leading to the delayed launch of a program that would help people statewide get access to PrEP. California DepartCourtesy SFAF ment of Public Health officials have said the Courtney trouble with ADAP, Mulhern-Pearson which is supposed to help thousands of people get the care they need to stay alive, started after the agency switched to new contractors last July. CDPH spokespeople have said the agency’s still trying to resolve the issues. Courtney Mulhern-Pearson, director of state and local affairs at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, said some clients have reported being turned away by their pharmacies or even being dropped from ADAP because of the glitches. A.J. Boggs, the new contractor that oversees ADAP’s enrollment system, “doesn’t appear to be able to fulfill the terms of that contract. ... That’s where the biggest problems have been,” Mulhern-Pearson said recently. The problems are extending to helping HIVnegative people get on PrEP, a prevention tool that’s seen as a key element in local and state Getting to Zero initiatives to stop the spread of HIV, because so much staff time at the state level is being devoted to the ADAP issues. The San Francisco AIDS Foundation is part of the California HIV Alliance, which also includes the San Francisco health department, Project Inform, and other agencies. The alliance recently secured $1 million from the state general fund to create an affordability program that would cover PrEP-related copays and similar costs incurred by people in California whose annual incomes are below 500 percent of the federal poverty level. Since public and private health insurance and other assistance programs generally cover medication costs, the PrEP program would mostly cover costs such as screening for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, lab costs, and counseling, advocates said in their proposal. “PrEP is a key component of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy as well as California’s response to the HIV epidemic,” the proposal said. “However, PrEP use among Californians at-risk for HIV remains extremely low and cost is one of the primary barriers to PrEP access.” Mulhern-Pearson said advocates had been told the program would start this spring, but officials are now indicating that won’t happen. “They have not given us a new date,” she said. See page 9 >>

Gay park superintendent returns to Bay Area

by Matthew S. Bajko

Craig Kenkel, the interim superintendent of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, stands next to the new interactive information table at the new Presidio visitor center.

ooking over a large-scale model of the Presidio near the entrance to the new visitor center for the former army base turned national park, Craig Kenkel pointed to the Batteries-to-Bluffs trail as one of his favorite places in the park. “It is a fairly recent trail, and we have created new lookouts as well,” said Kenkel, 57, a gay

man who in December became the interim superintendent of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. “If you look at the map, everything west of Lincoln Boulevard, the park service manages.” The trail offers bird’s-eye views of the Pacific Ocean and leads down to both Baker Beach and Marshall’s Beach, which for decades has See page 14 >>

SF Pride GM noms announced by Charlie Wagner

n award-winning author, a black songstylist, a trans dance company founder, and a gay nightlife impresario are among the 10 individuals who have been nominated for San Francisco Pride community grand marshal. The San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee announced its slate of nominees Monday and opened public voting this week. Community grand marshals are “local heroes who have contributed greatly to the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ community or to society at large,” according to the committee. Public voting closes Tuesday, March 7 at noon for the 10 individuals and five nonprofit organizations on the ballot. Some grand marshals are chosen by the general public, some by the Pride membership (open to all), and some by the SF Pride Board of Directors. “A Celebration of Diversity” is this year’s Pride theme. “Our theme of inclusion, and the significant anniversary of the Summer of Love, could not come at a more critical time,” George Ridgely, SF Pride executive director, said in a news release. “Pride events play a crucial role in increasing LGBT visibility and amplifying our voices during a time of struggle as well as celebrate our lives and progress.”

Marcy Adelman

Judy Appel

Blackberri

Chris Carnes

Billy Curtis

Sean Dorsey

Jewelle Gomez

Amy Sueyoshi

Tom Temprano

Alex U. Inn

Individual nominees

The 10 individual nominees hail from around the Bay Area. Psychotherapist Marcy Adelman, Ph.D., is a pioneer in the field of lesbian and gay aging. In 1998, Adelman and her late partner, Jeannette Gurevich, founded Openhouse to address housing and service needs of LGBT elders after noticing that many seniors looking for housing encountered service providers who did not know how to welcome LGBT elders and assure their safety, according to SF Pride’s news release. Some LGBT seniors had to go back in

the closet to obtain housing or services. Adelman continues to work to increase LGBT elder visibility and advocate for quality elder care and policies. The first phase of Openhouse’s affordable senior housing opened late last year. Judy Appel has spent the last 30 years as an activist, attorney, parent, and advocate for LGBTQ families. For 11 years she led the California LGBTQ family movement as the executive director of Our Family Coalition, bringing visibility and voice to LGBTQ families See page 14 >>

{ FIRST OF THREE SECTIONS }

The polls are now open! VOTE NOW FOR YOUR FAVORITE PLACES, PEOPLE AND THINGS TO DO IN SAN FRANCISCO AND THE BAY AREA. BE ENTERED TO WIN ONE OF SEVERAL PRIZES.

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VOTE TO WIN

ONE OF SEVERAL VALUABLE PRIZES JUST FOR VOTING FOR YOUR FAVORITE PLACES, PEOPLE AND THINGS TO DO IN SAN FRANCISCO AND THE BAY AREA.

GRAND PRIZE: New Order at the Greek Theatre, Berkeley – Apr. 21, 2017. Win a pair of tickets to the legendary English band’s tour featuring their electronic dance music classics! SECOND PRIZE: San Francisco Ballet’s “Cinderella” – Apr. 28, 2017. Win a pair of tickets to the acclaimed production of “Cinderella,” choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, music by Sergei Prokofiev. THIRD PRIZE: $100 Gift Certificate to La Mediterrenee, a longtime local favorite for Mediterranean cuisine. AND MORE PRIZES!

hank you for taking time to complete this survey by the Bay Area Reporter. Your opinion and answers are important to us. For this seventh annual readers’ poll we’re including nominees for each category, along with a write-in designation if you think another business or individual should be nominated. This year’s nominees are a mix of previous winners and new entries. The survey should only take 10-15 minutes of your time. Your identity and answers are completely confidential and will be used only to contact winners of a random drawing for several valuable prizes. You must complete at least 75 percent of the survey to qualify for the prize drawings. One survey per person/email allowed and must be submitted by midnight (Pacific Time) March 2, 2017. Survey results will be published in the April 6 issue of the B.A.R. If you have any questions about the survey, please contact our office at (415) 861-5019. Best Modern Dance Company

ARTS & CULTURE Best Art Museum

 Asian Art Museum  Contemporary Jewish Museum  de Young Museum  GLBT History Museum  Legion of Honor  Museum of Craft and Design  Museum of the African Diaspora  Oakland Museum of California  San Jose Museum of Art  SFMOMA  Walt Disney Family Museum ✎

Best Ballet Dance Company  Alonzo King Lines Ballet  Ballet San Jose  Diablo Ballet  Oakland Ballet  Post:ballet  San Francisco Ballet  Smuin Ballet ✎

Best Choral Group

 Chanticleer  East Bay Gay Men’s Chorus  Lesbian/Gay Chorus of SF  Rainbow Women’s Chorus (San Jose)  SF Gay Men’s Chorus ✎

 AXIS Dance Co.  Jess Curtis/Gravity  Joe Goode Performance Group  Katie Faulkner/little seismic  Keith Hennessy/Circo Zero  ODC Dance  Sean Dorsey Dance ✎

Best Nature or Science Museum

 California Academy of Sciences  Exploratorium  SF Botanical Gardens  SF Conservatory of Flowers ✎

Best Small Music Venue  Martuni’s  Thee Parkside  Rickshaw Stop  El Rio  SF Eagle ✎

Best Theatre Company

 American Conservatory Theater  Aurora Theatre  Berkeley Repertory Theatre Curran Theatre  New Conservatory Theatre Center  Ray of Light Theatre  SHN  Theatre Rhinoceros ✎

Best Classical Venue

 Davies Symphony Hall  Herbst Theatre, Veteran’s Building  War Memorial Opera House  Old First Church  SF Conservatory of Music ✎

Best Live Music Venue  The Chapel  The Fillmore  Great American Music Hall  Masonic Hall  Regency Center  Slim’s  The Warfield ✎

COMMUNITY Best LGBT Event

 Castro Street Fair  Folsom Street Fair  Oakland Pride  San Francisco Dyke March  San Francisco Pride ✎

Best LGBT Fundraiser

 AIDS Walk SF  Dining Out for Life  Equality California SF Gala  Give Out Day  Horizons Annual Gala & Casino Night ✎

Best Health-Related Nonprofit

 Mission Neighborhood Health Center  Positive Resource Center  St. James Infirmary  UCSF Alliance Health Project  Women Organized to Respond to Life-Threatening Disease ✎

Best HIV/AIDS Nonprofit

 AIDS/HIV Nightline  AIDS Legal Referral Panel  Bay Area Young Positives  National AIDS Memorial Grove  Positive Resource Center  San Francisco AIDS Foundation  Shanti ✎

Best Bar/Nightclub to Meet Transgender People

Best Sports Bar

 Asia SF  Aunt Charlie’s Lounge  Divas  Oasis ✎

 440 Castro  The Edge  Lookout  Hi Tops  Pilsner Inn ✎

Best Beer Selection

Best SoMa Bar/Nightclub

 440 Castro  Brewcade  Pilsner Inn  Toronado  SF Eagle ✎

Best Cabaret Venue  Bay Area Cabaret at the Venetian Room  Feinstein’s at the Nikko  Hotel Rex  Martuni’s  Oasis  The Starlight Room ✎

Best Castro Bar/Nightclub

 Club OMG  Hole in the Wall  Lone Star Saloon  Oasis  Powerhouse  SF Eagle  The Stud ✎

Best Stray (Straight/Gay) Bar  Blackbird  EndUp  New Parish, Oakland  Slate  The Uptown, Oakland  Wild Side West ✎

 440 Castro  Badlands  Beaux  The Cafe  The Edge  Last Call  Lookout  Midnight Sun  Moby Dick  Qbar  Toad Hall ✎

Best Wine Bar

 Golden Gate Wrestling Club  SF Fog Rugby Club  SF FrontRunners  SF Gay Basketball Association  SF Gay Softball League  SF Pool Association  SF Tsunami Water Polo  SF Tsunami Aquatics ✎

Best Dance Floor

 Ain’t Mama’s Drag at Balancoire  Femme at Balancoire  Glamazone at The Café  Mahogany Mondays at Midnight Sun  The Monster Show at The Edge  Mother at Oasis  Sex, Drags & Rock n Roll at Midnight Sun  Sunday’s a Drag at The Starlight Room ✎

NIGHTLIFE

Best East Bay Bar

Best LGBT Nonprofit

 Castro Country Club  Cheer San Francisco  Genders and Sexualities Alliance Network  GLBT Historical Society  Rainbow Community Center (Contra Costa County) ✎

Best LGBT Sports League

BARS

Best Bar/Nightclub to Meet Men

 1015 Folsom  The Cafe  City Nights  Club 6  DNA Lounge  EndUp  F8  Oasis  Space 550 ✎

 Club BnB  Club 21  Port Bar  Turf Club  White Horse Bar ✎

 The Café  440 Castro  Hole in the Wall  Lone Star Saloon  SF Eagle  Powerhouse ✎

Best Mixed Drink

Best Bar/Nightclub to Meet Women

Best Neighborhood Bar

 El Rio  Qbar  Rickshaw Stop  Virgil’s Sea Room  Wild Side West  Club BnB, Oakland  The White Horse Inn, Oakland ✎

 Blackbird  Club OMG  Driftwood  Martuni’s  Twin Peaks ✎

 The Cinch  El Rio  Twin Peaks  Pilsner Inn  Virgil’s Sea Room  Wild Side West  Trax ✎

 Blush  City Club  Press Club  Swirl ✎

NIGHTLIFE EVENTS

Best Drag Show

Best Comedy Night

 Comedy Night at the SF Eagle  Comedy Returns at El Rio  Funny Fun at Club 21, Oakland  Hella Gay Comedy at various venues  Hysteria at Martuni’s ✎

Best Game Night

 Bottoms Up Bingo at Hi Tops  Gaymers at Brewcade  Gaymer Night at SF Eagle  Trivia Night at Harvey’s  Miss Kitty’s Trivia Night at Wild Side West ✎

Best (non-contest) Leather Event at a Bar  BLUF at SF Eagle  Code at The Edge  Daddy at The Powerhouse  Lick It at the Powerhouse ✎

Best Monthly Nightlife Event

 Afternoon Delight at New Parish  Beatpig at The Powerhouse  Boy Division at Cat Club  Cockblock at Rickshaw Stop  Comedy Returns at El Rio  Disco Daddy at Eagle  Gameboi at Rickshaw Stop  Go Bang! at The Stud  Polyglamorous at Oasis  Swagger Like Us at Oasis  Uhaul at Oasis ✎

Best Nightlife Event (non-weekly/nonmonthly)

 Bearracuda (various venues)  Comfort & Joy (various venues)  Daytime Realness at El Rio  Hard French at El Rio  House Party at The Powerhouse  ShangriLa at The EndUp ✎

Best Stage Show in a Bar/Nightclub

 Above and Beyond the Valley of the Ultra Showgirls at Oasis  Baloney at Oasis  Buffy the Vampire Slayer Live at Oasis  Dandy at Oasis  The Facts of Life at Oasis  Matthew Martin at Oasis  Red Hots Burlesque at The Stud  Star Trek Live at Oasis ✎

Best Theme Night

 Cubcake at The Lone Star Saloon  Gym Class at Hi Tops  Mazel Top at Oasis  Onesie Parties at Lookout  Pound Puppy at the SF Eagle ✎

Best Unusual Nightlife Event

 After Dark at The Exporatorium  BAAAHS guerrilla parties  Frolic at SF Eagle (formerly The Stud)  Nightlife at the California Academy of Sciences  Nightlife at the de Young  Opening parties at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts ✎

Best Weekly Nightlife Event

 Bandit at Lone Star Saloon  Beer Bust at SF Eagle  Beer Bust at Lone Star Saloon  Gayface at El Rio  The Monster Show at The Edge  Mother at Oasis  Musical Mondays at The Edge  Pretty in Ink at Powerhouse  Sundance Saloon at Space 550  Underwear Night at Club OMG ✎

Best Women’s Event

 Cockblock at Rickshaw Stop  Girl Scout at Port Bar Oakland  Mango at El Rio  Pussy Party at Beaux  Ships in the Night at New Parish, Oakland  Switch at Qbar  Uhaul at Oasis ✎

PEOPLE

Best Bartender

 Andy Anderson, 440 Castro  Michael Breshears, Lookout  Charlie Evans, Lone Star Saloon  Jeffrey Green at Twin Peaks Tavern  Aaron Isaac Joshua at Qbar  Erick Lopez, The Edge  Michael Tempesta, Midnight Sun  Steve Dalton, SF Eagle  Robbie Cheah, Oasis ✎

Best Cabaret Performer (Female)  Leanne Borghesi  Connie Champagne  Sony Holland  Paula West  Veronica Klaus  Wesla Whitfield ✎

Best Cabaret Performer (Male)  Jason Brock  Brian Kent  Barry Lloyd  Russ Lorenson  Joe Wicht ✎

Best Cabaret Performer (Drag)  Vanessa Bousay  Honey Mahogany  Katya Smirnoff-Skyy  Matthew Martin ✎

Best Comic (Female or Trans)  Marga Gomez  Lisa Geduldig  Natasha Muse  Marilyn Pittman  Karen Ripley  Irene Tu  Gina Yashere ✎

Best Host/MC

Best Comic (Male)  Yuri Kagan  Justin Lucas  Nick Leonard  Ronn Vigh  Sampson McCormick  Jesus U. Betta Work ✎

Best DJ (Male)

 Gehno Sanchez Aviance  Marke Bieschke  DAMnation  Hawthorne  Jason Kendig  MC2  Bus Station John  David Harness  Justime  Mark O’Brien ✎

Best DJ (Female or Trans)  Balthazar  Carrie on Disco  G Star  Jenna Riot  Lady Ryan  Lady Shar  Najee Renee  Page Hodel  Olga T  Ms. Jackson  Siobhan Aluvalot ✎

 Double Duchess  The Klipptones  Maria Konner  Tom Shaw Trio  Xavier Toscano  Whoa Nellies  Joe Wicht  Veronica Klaus ✎

Email Address:

 Alchemist  Azucar Lounge  Bar Crudo  Dosa  Farralon  Hi Tops  Nopa  Picaro Tapas ✎

Best Bar Menu

Best Nightlife Photographer

 Cabure Bonugli/Shot in the City  Fabian Echevarria/FBFE  Gareth Gooch  Marques Daniels  Georg Lester  Lydia Gonzales  Uel Renteria  Rich Stadmiller  Steven Underhill  Tom Schmidt/Dot ✎

DINING

 Bar Tartine  Bender’s  Harvey’s  Hi Tops  Lookout  Tempest  Trick Dog ✎

Best Food Delivery App  Caviar  Munchery  Eat24  GrubHub ✎

SERVICES & SHOPPING  Chevrolet  Honda  Lexus  Toyota  Volkswagon ✎

 Crepevine  Moulin Rouge  Orphan Andy’s  Plow  Stacks ✎

Best Bank

 Bank of America  SF Federal Credit Union  Sterling Bank and Trust  Technology Credit Union  Wells Fargo ✎

Best Brunch

 Adrian & Mysterious D  BAAAHS  Hard French  Honey Soundsystem  Go Bang!  Bootie Mashup ✎

Best Drag King

 Clammy Faye  Arty Fishal  Fudgie Frottage  Leigh Crow  Alex U. Inn  Mason Dixon Jars  Kegel Kater  Kit Tapata  Chester Vanderbox ✎

 Breakfast at Tiffany’s  Dottie’s  Hazel’s Kitchen  Kate’s Kitchen  Squat & Gobble ✎

Best Barbershop

Best Lunch

 Daddy’s Barbershop  Glama-Rama  Joe’s Barbershop  Louie’s Barbershop  Male Image ✎

 Basil  Café Flore  Farm: Table  Harvey’s  Super Duper  Toast ✎

Best Bicycle Shop

 Box Dog Bikes  Freewheel Bike Shop  Market Street Bikes  Mission Bicycle Company  Valencia Cyclery ✎

Best Dinner

Best Drag Queen  D’Arcy Drollinger  Glamamore  Trangela Lansbury  Heklina  Honey Mahogany  Joie de Vivre  Landa Lakes  Mutha Chucka  Peaches Christ  Peggy L’Eggs  Juanita More!  Donna Persona  Rahni NothingMore  Raya Light  Sister Roma  Phatima Rude  Donna Sachet  Bebe Sweetbriar  Grace Towers  U-Phoria ✎

Best Faux Queen  Alotta Boutté  Fauxnique  Hoku Mamma ✎

 Cala  Canela  Chow  Delfina  Finn Town  Firewood Café  Little Gem  Marlowe  Saison ✎

Best Bookstore

 Aardvark  Alley Cat Books  Books Inc. Opera Plaza  Booksmith  Dog Eared Books  Green Apple ✎

Best Coffee Shop  Blue Bottle  La Boulange  Coffee Bar  Dolores Park Café  Four Barrel  Philz  Peet’s  Spike’s ✎

Best Dentist

 Financial District Dental Care  Opera Plaza Dentistry  Michael Perona, DDS  University of the Pacific ✎

 Claudio Boser  Jim Collins  Josh Colwell  Connor Hochleutner  Eric Osborn  Simon Palczynski  Andrew Slade  Michael Tempesta  Ilie Valeri  Ty Vincent ✎

 La Luna  Sift  Sweet Inspirations  Tartine Bakery  Tout Sweet ✎

Best Gogo Gal

 Lucy Dorado  Jella Gogo  Chloe Rainwater ✎

 Bi-Rite Creamery  Cream  Easy Breezy  Humphry Slocombe  Mitchell’s Ice Cream ✎

ZIP:

 Bernal Heights Dog Park  Corona Heights Dog Park  Duboce Park  Ocean Beach small dog run (weekly)  Point Isabel (Richmond) ✎

Best Grocery Store (Chain)  Molly Stone’s Markets  Safeway  Trader Joe’s  Whole Foods ✎

Best Outdoor Patio  Bar Agricole  Café Flore  Catch  Fable  Foreign Cinema  Magic Flute  Starbelly  Stable  Sycamore  Zazie  Zeitgeist ✎

 24-Hour Fitness  Fitness SF - Castro  Lifted  SF CrossFit  SoulCycle - Castro ✎

Best Health Care Provider

 Brown & Toland  CPMC/Sutter Health  Kaiser  UCSF ✎

Best Medical Marijuana Dispensary  Apothecarium  Green Cross  Green Door  Medithrive  Shambhala MCC  Sparc ✎

Best Place to Pamper Your Pets

 Best in Show  Bernal Beast  Doggie Day Spaw  George  Noe Valley Pet Company  Mudpuppy’s Tub and Scrub  VIP Pet Grooming/ VIP Scrub Tub ✎  High Tail  Pet Camp  Mission: Cats  Wag (Oakland)  Wag (San Francisco) ✎

Best Realtor

 Michael Ackerman (Zephyr Real Estate)  Oliver Burgelman (Zephyr Real Estate)  George Langford (Zephyr Real Estate)  Pat Patricelli (Vanguard Properties)  Rachel Swan (Vanguard Properties) ✎

Best Retirement Community

 Fountaingrove Lodge  San Francisco Towers  The Sequoias – San Francisco ✎

Best Thrift Store

 Community Thrift  Goodwill  Out of the Closet (AIDS Healthcare Foundation) ✎

Best Veterinarian

 Mission Pet Hospital  San Francisco Veterinary House Calls  Seven Hills Veterinary Hospital  VCA San Francisco Vet Specialists  VetPronto ✎

Best Vintage Clothing/ Consignment Shop  Buffalo Exchange  Crossroads Trading Co.  Sui Generis  Wasteland ✎

Best Dog Park

Best Dessert

Best Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt

Best Gogo Guy

Best Gym

Best Pet Hotel

Best Automaker

Name: Country:

Best Happy Hour Bites

Best Breakfast

Best DJ Duo/Group

State:

 DNA Pizza  Flour + Water  Grubstake  It’s Tops  Lori’s Diner  Orphan Andy’s  The View ✎

Best Band/Musician

Enter Your Information to Qualify for the Prize Drawings City/Town:

Best Late Night Restaurant

 Peaches Christ  Heklina  Lance Holman  Maria Konner  Gina LaDivinia  Honey Mahogany  Pollo del Mar  Juanita More!  Mark Paladini  Donna Sachet  Sister Roma  Grace Towers  Tweaka Turner ✎

Best Grocery Store (Independent)  Bi-Rite Market  Golden Produce/ Golden Natural Foods  Good Life Grocery  Gus’s Market  Rainbow Grocery ✎

SEX

Best Place to Buy Sex Toys

 Folsom Gulch  Good Vibrations  Rock Hard  Mr S Leather  Does Your Mother Know ✎

Best Place to Meet an Online Date/Hookup  Blow Buddies  SF Eagle  Beck’s Motor Lodge ✎

WEDDINGS & DESTINATIONS Best Beach

 Black Sands  Ocean Beach  Marshall’s Beach  Muir Beach  Stinson Beach ✎

Best Caterer

 J Jardine  Molto Benne Catering  Taste Catering ✎

Best Domestic Getaway

 Las Vegas  New York City  Palm Springs  Seattle  Washington, D.C. ✎

Best Local Getaway  Carmel-Monterey  Healdsburg  Napa  Santa Cruz  Sonoma  Reno-Tahoe  Russian River ✎

Best Honeymoon Destination  Hawaii  Key West  Provincetown  Puerto Vallarta ✎

Best Place to Buy Rings  D&H Sustainable Jewelers  Gallery of Jewels  Love & Luxe  Shane Co.  Tiffany & Co. ✎

Best Wedding Photographer

 Jane Philomen Cleland  Rick Gerharter  Gareth Gooch  Georg Lester  Steven Underhill ✎

Best Wedding Reception Venue

 Bently Reserve  City Club of San Francisco  Terra Gallery  W Hotel ✎

Best Wedding Venue  Cal Academy of Sciences  de Young Museum  Julia Morgan Ballroom  Legion of Honor  SF City Hall ✎

Best Dating App  Dandy  Grindr  Growlr  Hornet  Jack’d  Manhunt  Scruff ✎

Best Sex Venue

 Alchemy  442 Natoma  Blow Buddies  The Citadel  Eros  Nob Hill Theatre  Steamworks, Berkeley  Watergarden, San Jose ✎

MAIL IN THIS BALLOT OR VOTE ONLINE AT

EBAR.COM/BESTIES2017 Mail to Besties, 44 Gough St. #204, San Francisco, CA 94103. Bay Area Reporter staff are not eligible for prize drawings. Survey results will be published in the April 6 issue.

<< Community News

4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • February 23-March 1, 2017

SF saw drop in syphilis cases in 2016, rise in other STDs by Matthew S. Bajko

or the first time since 2007, San Francisco last year saw a decline in cases of early syphilis, according to preliminary year-end data for 2016. Yet the city also reported doubledigit increases in both chlamydia and gonorrhea cases, based on the early totals from the health department’s monthly sexually transmitted disease report issued February 16. The final numbers won’t be known until later this year. The initial report showed that, compared to 2015, early syphilis declined moderately from 1,205 to 1,139 cases in 2016. Total syphilis cases also decreased from 1,394 in 2015 to 1,340 last year. Those numbers still marked significant increases in the venereal disease from 2007, when there were 202 reported cases. The decline in syphilis rates was seen across all races except Asians/ Pacific Islanders, who had a rate increase of 16.5 percent (98 early syphilis cases in 2015, 114 in 2016),

Rick Gerharter

Dr. Susan Philip

according to the report. STD prevention officials suggested that the modest 3.9 percent reduction in the total number of reported syphilis cases among adults may reflect a biannual cyclical fluctuation in syphilis morbidity. “The levels may go up and down slightly every couple of

years, but it is early and we are looking into what that means,” said Deputy Health Officer Dr. Susan Philip, the director of disease prevention and control in the health department’s Population Health Division. “We are going to look more closely before we say we have made the turn on syphilis. We don’t want to declare victory just yet, there is still a lot of work ahead of us.” As for chlamydia cases, they increased by 11.8 percent (from 7,233 to 8,086 cases) between 2015 and 2016, with a steeper increase of 19.2 percent in male rectal infections (from 1,773 to 2,113 cases). There was also a 7.8 percent increase of cases among women aged 15 to 25. Gonorrhea increased by 21.9 percent last year, from 4,263 to 5,196 cases. Cases among women aged 15 to 24 increased 32 percent from 146 in 2015 to 193 in 2016. Rectal gonorrhea cases among men increased almost as steeply in 2016 as in 2015, by 24.1 percent, from 1,135 to 1,409 cases, noted the report.

Hispanics, at 25 percent, accounted for the biggest increase in rates of chlamydia, while whites, at nearly 26 percent, had the highest increase in gonorrhea rates last year. Overall rates of STDs in the city have been on the rise for more than a decade. Health officials are unsure of the exact reasons for the increases, though a main factor has been sexual practices that eschew the use of condoms. Last year the health department rolled out a social marketing campaign encouraging gay and bisexual men in particular to use condoms in order to prevent themselves from contracting STDs. Gay and bi men who are sexually active should also get tested for STDs every three months. Health officials have also been advising gay and bisexual men using PrEP to remain HIV-negative not to forgo condoms because the drug does not protect them from STDs. But a study released during last week’s Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections is calling that advice

into question. It suggested that PrEP usage by gay and bi men who routinely get screened for STDs could lead to significant reductions in some sexually transmitted infections, even when condoms aren’t used. The modeling study, from researchers at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, determined that chlamydia infections would fall by 40 percent and gonorrhea infections by 42 percent over the next decade in the U.S. if 40 percent of PrEP-eligible men who have sex with men started taking the once-a-day pill of Truvada and were tested for STDs biannually. The researchers determined the STD decreases would occur even with a 40 percent reduction in condom use. “Clinicians have a critical role to perform the recommended STI screening and treatment, as incidence could increase if PrEP is delivered without those services,” wrote lead author Samuel Jenness, Ph.D., an assistant professor of epidemiology at Emory.t

Docs show city familiar with Ghost Ship site by Seth Hemmelgarn

O Michael Nugent

A fire at the Ghost Ship warehouse last December killed 36 people.

akland officials recently revealed documents related to the Ghost Ship fire that show police and others were familiar with what the warehouse was being used for long before 36 people were killed there in December. The city released more than 600 pages of records in early February after media outlets, including the Bay Area Reporter, filed requests for records related to the building. The

blaze that erupted there killed at least three transgender people. Since the fire, many have raised questions about the safety of the building, which reportedly was crammed with pianos, rugs, artwork, and other objects, and had no sprinklers and limited exits. It doesn’t appear city agencies had done much to address the hazards. The Oakland Police Department reported that from 2007 through December 1, 2016 – the day before the fire – the agency had received 18

calls for service to the warehouse, which is at 1305 31st Avenue. (Records from other addresses associated with the warehouse were also included in the release.) A March 1, 2015 incident report said that someone flagged down an officer at 1:37 a.m. to report “that she had just left an illegal rave” at the site. The person said she and several friends had gone there for a party. After paying $25 apiece to get in, “she saw that alcoholic beverages

were being sold inside the location. [She] also saw that people were selling and using a wide variety of drugs, to include marijuana and ecstasy.” The officer reported that when he went to the warehouse, he “observed several subjects loitering by the front door. As soon as I drove to the front of the building, all the subjects ran inside and closed the door behind them. I exited my patrol car and I See page 11 >>

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6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • February 23-March 1, 2017

Volume 47, Number 8 Feb 23-March 1, 2017 www.ebar.com PUBLISHER Michael M. Yamashita Thomas E. Horn, Publisher Emeritus (2013) Publisher (2003 – 2013) Bob Ross, Founder (1971 – 2003) NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird ARTS EDITOR Roberto Friedman BARTAB EDITOR & EVENTS LISTINGS EDITOR Jim Provenzano ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko • Seth Hemmelgarn CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ray Aguilera • Tavo Amador • Race Bannon Erin Blackwell • Roger Brigham Brian Bromberger • Victoria A. Brownworth Brent Calderwood • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Belo Cipriani Richard Dodds • Michael Flanagan Jim Gladstone • David Guarino Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell • John F. Karr Lisa Keen • Matthew Kennedy • Joshua Klipp David Lamble • Max Leger Michael McDonagh • David-Elijah Nahmod Paul Parish • Sean Piverger • Lois Pearlman Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota • Bob Roehr Donna Sachet • Adam Sandel • Khaled Sayed Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith • Sari Staver • Jim Stewart Sean Timberlake • Andre Torrez • Ronn Vigh Ed Walsh • Cornelius Washington Sura Wood ART DIRECTION Max Leger PRODUCTION/DESIGN Ernesto Sopprani PHOTOGRAPHERS Jane Philomen Cleland • FBFE Rick Gerharter • Gareth Gooch Jose Guzman-Colon Rudy K. Lawidjaja • Georg Lester • Dan Lloyd Jo-Lynn Otto • Rich Stadtmiller Steven Underhil • Dallis Willard • Bill Wilson ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS Paul Berge • Christine Smith ADVERTISING/ADMINISTRATION Colleen Small Bogitini VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVERTISING Scott Wazlowski – 415.829.8937 NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863

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Progress on trans jail policy

an Francisco Sheriff Vicki Hennessy deserves kudos for her work to implement the department’s new policy that would significantly change the way deputies interact with and house female trans inmates in jails. This policy was first proposed nearly two years ago by thenSheriff Ross Mirkarimi, who was in a contentious re-election race against Hennessy. We endorsed her after she reassured us that she would support the policy if elected. Since assuming office she has worked diligently on the many issues that first must be addressed before the policy can be finalized, with the ultimate goal of housing trans women who have not had surgery in the women’s jail unit. As we reported last week, Hennessy recently sent a letter to new District 8 Supervisor Jeff Sheehy in response to his request for a status report. The letter specifies the necessary groundwork required and Hennessy’s ideas for realizing the new policy. Broadly speaking, the sheriff needs buy-in from the deputies, and that includes changing work rules through the collective bargaining process, which is a lengthy one. Hennessy has also proposed purchasing full body scanners that she said will “obviate the need for strip searches where warranted to prevent the introduction of contraband into the jail environment.” Female deputies, in particular, are reluctant to conduct strip searches of trans women. A positive sign is that the deputy sheriffs association seems to be more open to the new policy. During the election, Eugene Cerbone, a gay man who’s head of the San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs Association, had been critical of the plan and some of his previous comments were transphobic. (The association supported Hennessy over Mirkarimi in the 2015 election.) Now,

however, he is much more measured, telling us in an email last week, “The issues that we have has to do with state law. No one believes that people shouldn’t be treated respectfully, and professionally.” That’s progress. Hennessy has also instituted gender awareness training for the staff, and just over 400 employees have completed it. The goal, she said, is to have all department personnel complete training by June 30. (New employees receive the training as part of their orientation, she noted.) Another big improvement, scheduled to start March 1, are new field arrest cards for the sheriff ’s office and San Francisco Police Department. The card was developed with the cooperation of SFPD, the sheriff said, and, for the first time, will document a person’s gender identity, their booking name and an “also known as” name, and their choice of gender of staff person if they need to be searched. The cards also indicate which name the inmate prefers while in custody. This will alleviate misgendering by both police and sheriff ’s deputies. The national Prison Rape Elimination Act sets forth standards for housing trans and

intersex inmates, and Hennessy is using it as her guide in preparation for the jail housing policy. Already, she has moved most trans prisoners to another area of County Jail #2, rather than County Jail #4, where they had been housed when she took office. They were receiving little programming and “had to walk the entire mainline and be subjected to taunts of other prisoners,” she wrote. While they are still housed in a men’s facility, trans inmates are in a re-entry pod that has been modified to provide them with their own housing unit, including a shower, segregated from men’s housing, she said. They have more light and freedom of movement than before, she added. Trans advocates want this housing policy implemented sooner, and it’s frustrating that it will likely be later this year, or next, before it’s complete. But revising union work rules and securing funding for equipment takes time, as does working with other institutions like the police department. By every measure, Hennessy has been up to the task. She has instituted a stop-gap measure to provide better service for some trans women inmates now, she has a plan to deal with strip searches, and she has worked with SFPD to develop documents that will treat trans arrestees with more respect. Progress has been slow, but changes are in motion. The Board of Supervisors must approve her request for the body scanners – about $100,000 each – in the 2017-2018 budget. The police department must utilize the new field arrest cards so that the information can be handed over to the sheriff’s department once a trans person arrives at a jail. We must also acknowledge Sheehy’s work in following up on the policy. He told us he’s committed to making sure there’s money in the budget for the scanners. Hennessy is also working to secure state grants for jail renovations. Overall, progress has been made, and we’re confident the sheriff will achieve a better trans jail housing policy.t

California has HIV criminalization laws that are not good for public health

by Shannon Weber

midst fear, and with limited medical information about HIV, in 1988 California passed laws criminalizing the behavior of people living with HIV. These HIV criminalization laws have been counterproductive for individuals and public health – creating deep mistrust of public health systems. Decades of HIV criminalization have reinforced, if not created, HIV-related stigma. Mistrust and stigma become disincentives for people to choose to get an HIV test, disclose their HIV status, and to engage in HIV prevention services or HIV care. This is bad for individual health, for California, and for public health. We have an opportunity to do better. At our HIVE clinic, the HIV specialty prenatal care clinic based at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, the ripple effects from HIV criminalization laws take several forms. For example, there are pregnant women who fear accepting a routine HIV test because they are concerned about retaliation from a sexual partner. They may also be concerned about how an HIV diagnosis might affect their housing or work. A woman living with HIV may be afraid to disclose her status to her partner for fear of retribution or, too often, violence. When HIV status can be used as coercion, the threat of legal activity (whether or not it is followed through with) is real. These real consequences push people and their stories underground where they are overshadowed by fear. This fear is too often paralyzing, keeping people living with HIV from staying engaged in care. This is not good for people, not good for California, and not good for public health. Current California law is not based in fact. We now know people living with HIV who are diagnosed and linked to care can live normal, healthy lives. In fact, the best thing each one of us can do is know our HIV status. Our laws should support such proactive behavior – it’s good public health. We know HIV treatment also works as prevention. Data from two large clinical trials is

All of these interventions begin clear – people living with HIV with knowing your HIV status. If who have an undetectable viral our current California laws crimiload do not transmit HIV to their nalize an HIV diagnosis, where sexual partners. The Prevention does one begin? The reality is, as Access Campaign aims to popuHIV science has advanced, our larize the adage “undetectable = California HIV criminalization uninfectious,” demanding the laws have become increasingly, media and medical providers acif not embarrassingly, obsolete. curately depict the science of HIV The only role these outdated laws transmission. HIV is not a risk if it serve is to further marginalize is treated; HIV is not a crime. people. HIV criminalization laws The power of “treatment as prevention” (commonly referred Shannon Weber, MSW have disproportionately impacted communities of color, women, to as “TasP” in the HIV educaand women of trans experience tion field) was first evident in who have been targeted for prosecution. Imour perinatal HIV work. Did you know all San portantly, PrEP and HIV treatment are less Franciscan babies born since 2004 have been frequently used by women, including women free of HIV? Yes, all! In fact, the Centers for of trans experience, and people of color in CaliDisease Control and Prevention has proposed fornia partly because they have more concerns a plan to eliminate perinatal HIV transmission about stigma and criminalization. This is counin the U.S. This is the power of HIV medicaterintuitive to good public health. tions to both keep the mom healthy and preIn our clinics, where we carefully base our vent HIV transmission to her infant. work on the most current evidence, we confiHIV treatment works. HIV treatment also dently tell people living with HIV and affected works as prevention. Our laws should accuby HIV, “You can have the sex life you want. rately reflect the science behind HIV transmisYou can have the family you want.” California sion. This is good public health. laws should reflect the same science. It’s good In addition to advances in HIV treatment, public health. HIV prevention methods have expanded with On February 6, state Senator Scott Wiener the 2012 Federal Drug Administration ap(D-San Francisco) and Assemblyman Todd proval of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Gloria (D-San Diego) introduced SB 239 This one-pill-once-a-day method puts HIV (http://www.eqca.org/hivdecrim/) – historic prevention in the hands of HIV-negative legislation aimed to modernize California’s people. PrEP is a game changer in HIV preoutdated HIV criminalization laws, putting vention, radically shifting our conversations HIV on par with other communicable diseases with one another and within public health. and requiring an intended transmission for In addition to male and female condoms, prosecution. testing for sexually transmitted infecThe proposed legislative updates are good tions, HIV testing, and partnernews for those of us who live or love with HIV. ship agreements, PrEP provides It’s also good news for public health. It’s good an additional and powerful tool news for California, where we pride ourselves for user-controlled HIV prevenon innovation based in science and inclusion. tion. PrEP dramatically shifts the It’s time for California’s outdated laws to public health landscape and the catch up with the science. responsibility for HIV prevenHIV is not a crime.t tion. This shift puts us on track for ending HIV transmission in cities such as San Francisco and Shannon Weber, MSW is director of HIVE New York where PrEP access has been mas(www.HIVEonline.org) and founder of http://www.PleasePrEPMe.org. sively scaled up.

Politics>>

February 23-March 1, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

Democrats set to elect new national leader Saturday

by Matthew S. Bajko

he Democratic Party is set to make history this weekend when its leaders gather in Atlanta for their winter meeting and elect their first Muslim, Latino, or gay national chairman. Whoever becomes the new chair of the Democratic National Committee, they will come into the leadership post at a time when the party has been decimated at the state level, finding itself completely out of power in 24 statehouses across the country. And they will be the face of the opposition to Republican President Donald Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress, where Republicans have gerrymandered their way to the House majority and have less Senate seats to defend in the mid-year elections next year than Democrats. The DNC has been without a permanent chairmanship since last summer, due to the resignation of Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz just as the Democratic National Convention was getting underway. Her decision was prompted by leaked emails that showed her favoring the party’s presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, over Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) in their primary race. Longtime party leader Donna Brazile stepped in as chair on an interim basis. Among the leading candidates for the chairmanship role is Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, who in 2007 became the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress. A favorite of the party’s progressive camp, with strong backing from Sanders, Ellison has said he would resign from his House seat in order to devote himself full-time as DNC chair. In an interview in January, gay Congressman Mark Pocan (DWisconsin), the first vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told the Bay Area Reporter that Ellison would be able to excite the grassroots, similar to the support Sanders generated during the party’s presidential primary race last year. “If you take that movement and put it into the Democratic Party, it is exactly what the party needs right now,” said Pocan. Last Saturday Raymond Buckley, a gay man who chairs the New Hampshire Democratic Party, withdrew from the chairmanship race. In an open letter to Democrats that he posted online, Buckley endorsed Ellison, writing that he is the right person to strengthen the party from the ground up at the state level. “Simply put, he offers Democrats the best opportunity to right the ship. His plan, in fact, shares many

Barry Schneider Attorney at Law AP

DNC Chair candidate Keith Ellison

of the same ideas and principles as my own,” wrote Buckley, currently the DNC’s vice chair and the first out person to serve in such a position for a national party. “Working together, I know we can all rebuild the DNC and support state parties by investing in all 50 states, Democrats Abroad, and the territories, providing support and resources to help state parties succeed, and organizing in every county across this great country.” Also mounting a strong challenge is former Labor Secretary Tom Perez, who is of Dominican descent and grew up in Buffalo, New York. He is seen as the more moderate candidate and earlier this month won the endorsements of former Vice President Joe Biden and former Attorney General Eric Holder. “I think the DNC chair needs to be someone who knows how to take the fight to Donald Trump, knows how to win fights, knows how to talk to every stakeholder in our big tent and has a proven track record as a turnaround specialist,” Perez told D.C. LGBT newspaper the Washington Blade in an interview last week. “The DNC is suffering from a crisis of confidence, a crisis of relevance, and it’s a complex organization, and it needs a leader who can turn it around.” Perez recently boasted he was closing in on the 224 votes needed to clinch the chairmanship, saying he had 180 pledged backers among the 447 members of the DNC who will select the new chair. The Hill newspaper reported on Tuesday, however, that its survey of 240 DNC members showed Ellison with more widespread support. It counted 105 supporters for Ellison and just 57 for Perez among

the people who responded to its questionnaire. Among the other candidates in the race, gay South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg has been gaining traction in recent weeks, picking up the endorsement of former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, who sought the party’s presidential nomination last year, as well as five former DNC national chairs, including David Wilhelm, Joe Andrew, and Howard Dean. “We have a long way to go as a country on civil rights, from hate crimes to discrimination in the workplace. We can’t assume just because there are a few LGBT elected officials in office, or because we now have marriage equality, that everything is going to be ok,” said Buttigieg last week during a Huffington Post Live moderated conversation he took part in with Buckley and Aisha C. Moodie-Mills, president and CEO of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, whose aim is to elect LGBT people to public office. For more information about the DNC chair race, and the candidates running for the position, visit https://future.democrats.org/.

Former Labor Secretary Tom Perez

• Divorce w/emphasis on Real Estate & Business Divisions • Domestic Partnerships, Support & Custody • Probate and Wills www.SchneiderLawSF.com

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Correction

Last week’s Political Notebook incorrectly reported that California Democratic Party chairman John Burton had endorsed Eric Bauman in the race to succeed him when his term expires at the state party’s convention in May. He has yet to endorse either of the candidates running to become chair. The online version of the column has been corrected.t Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check http:// www.ebar.com Monday mornings at noon for Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion. The column will return Monday, February 27. Keep abreast of the latest LGBT political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/politicalnotes. Got a tip on LGBT politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 8298836 or e-mail: m.bajko@ebar. com.

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8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • February 23-March 1, 2017

San Juan, Puerto Rico beckons with sultry Caribbean sites by Matthew S. Bajko

uerto Rico is having a bout of Cuba envy. With American tourists now able to more easily visit the communist nation roughly 760 miles as the crow flies to its northeast, the unincorporated U.S. territory finds itself facing new competition for Caribbean vacationers. A record 4 million U.S. travelers visited Cuba in 2016, a 13 percent increase from 2015. The allure of seeing a country forbidden for most Americans to step foot in over the last 50 years, however, has yet to put a major dent in travel to Puerto Rico, as tourism officials there have mounted a strong campaign of their own to keep visitors coming back. According to the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, 10 million people passed through its airports last year, even with a drumbeat of press reports about its faltering economy and concerns about an outbreak of the Zika virus. The roughly 3,500 square mile island expects to welcome 1.6 million cruise ship passengers over the next two years, an increase from the 1.5 million who arrived in 2015.

<< Travel

Control and Prevention does recommend visitors protect themselves from being bit and either use a condom or abstain from sex while on the island. As of October, when it last updated its travel advisory for Puerto Rico, the agency also recommends that pregnant women not travel there.

Old town San Juan

Housed in a former 364-year-old Carmelite convent, the 58-room Hotel El Convento (100 Calle del Christo) is situated in the heart of Old San Juan on the Plaza de la Catedral, a small public park across the street from the Catedral de San Juan Bautista. Built in 1524, it is the second oldest cathedral in the western hemisphere and contains the tomb of Spanish exMatthew plorer Ponce de Leon. Matthew S. S. Bajko Bajko Free to visit, the Catholic Visitors can see the Bermuda Triangle from San Felipe del Morro Fortress in old town San Juan. church is a good starting place for a walking tour of the former colonial settlement, After exploring the fort’s seenjoy spectacular sunset views from (1348 José M. Raffucci Morales), a now a National Historic Landmark cret staircases and passageways, the roof terrace as you soak in the daytime farmer’s market that beDistrict. Be on the lookout walk along the Paseo del Morro, plunge pool and Jacuzzi before comes an outdoor living room at for the feral cats lounging a walkway built along the water’s heading out to dinner. Take a dip night crowded with residents and in courtyards, as they are edge that is popular with local again after a night out, as both are tourists alike. There, housed in a taken care of by residents. joggers and populated by iguanas. accessible 24 hours. pink building, you will find Jose EnA few feet south of It will lead you to the Puerta de rique (176 Calle Duffaut), a highly the church is Calle San Lounge seaside near San Juan, a red gate that was once regarded Latin American restaurant. Francisco, a narrow street the gay district the main entrance into the walled A less expensive option is the lined with shops and eatAcross the El Boquerón, the bay -off city. fritters served up at La Alcapureries that runs east to west that divides Old San Juan from the Walk through the gate and turn ria Quema (251 Calle Duffaut.) along the small island city’s mainland, is right down Calle Clara Lair, as at Around the corner is El Patio de Lila reached from the mainthe Condado disthe end of the narrow (1360 Calle Robert), a small karaoke land by several bridges. trict, home to the street is La Fortaleza, bar popular with gay locals who will Its western terminus is 485-room La Cononce part of the grab a drink and mingle on the sidethe Plaza de Colon, ancha Resort (1077 town’s fortifications walk early on in the evening. other public open space Ashford Avenue), and now home to its across the street from built in the 1950s but governor. The day I visboth the Antiguo Casino recently renovated in ited local security officers and the Castillo San Crisa retro-chic design. Its two main were protecting its entrances due to tobal, the largest Spanbuildings wrap around several a local protest over the former ocish fort built in the New outdoor pools, while behind the cupant’s fiscal policies. World. property is a narrow sandy beach Around the corner is the Parque First opened in 1783, Matthew S. Bajko whose gay section is just a few feet Las Palmas, a spit of a park with the fortification is now to the east. views of the harbor populated by A bartender poses at Circo Bar, one of the part of the San Juan NaNext door, on the other side of pigeons that nest in its mossed bigger gay clubs in San Juan, Puerto Rico. tional Historic Site. In the oceanfront plaza Parque La covered stone walls. Nearby are nuJanuary Randy Lavasseur, Ventana al Mar, aka the “Window merous places to grab a bite to eat The main draw for Americans to formerly the chief ranger at the to the Sea,” is the more upscale as well as stores for shopping. Pop pick Puerto Rico over Cuba, its boostBay Area’s Golden Gate National Condado Vanderbilt (1055 Ashinto Spicy Caribbee (154 Calle Del ers point out, is that no passport is Recreation Area, became the new ford Avenue), originally built in Santo Cristo) to sample an array of needed and there are no customs superintendent of the national 1919 by Frederick William Vanderspices, jams, and hot sauces. controls to worry about at the airport. park site, which envelops the hisbilt. Turned into a 108-room luxuTo delve deeper into the history English is widely spoken and the istoric settlement on three sides of ry resort, the property features two of San Juan’s old town, sign up for land’s currency is the U.S. dollar. the island. Matthew S. Bajko seaside pools, with one reserved a guided tour with Tomás Correa With flight times of nine hours The national park also includes for adults only. Muñiz. For 90 minutes he will drive A feral calico cat rests next to a or more from the West Coast, where the San Felipe del Morro Fortress at After being pampered at its onyou around the area in an open bike in old town San Juan. Mexican resort towns are far more the northeastern end of the island. site spa with a massage, and then air cart while pointing out various accessible, it is no surprise Puerto From the courtyards of the 16than alfresco lunch at the hotel’s historic sites and retelling Puerto Rico draws heavily from the East century citadel one can look out Tacos & Tequila Patron outdoor Rico’s colonial past. (For reservaMany of San Juan’s gay nightCoast. Yet Californians shouldn’t at the Atlantic Ocean and find one restaurant, I spent the rest of the tions call 787-552-5151; the tours life venues are also in the Santurce let the lengthy travel requirements of the endpoints of the Bermuda day avoiding the heat in the hotel’s had been priced $25 per person.) neighborhood and within walking deter them from visiting Puerto Triangle. infinity pool perched over a rocky Back at the Hotel El Convento distance of the mercado. Don’t Rico, which is Spanish for “rich shore below. expect a crowd, though, until well port” and forms one of the tips of If you are lookpast midnight. At one of the bigger the Bermuda Triangle. ing for a unique day clubs, Circo Bar (650 Calle ConLGBT travelers will find a partrip, plan a visit to dado), the dance floor doesn’t even ticularly warm welcome in the the El Yunque Naopen until 1 a.m. capital city of San Juan, as I did tional Forest, about The nearby Scandalo the Club during a four-night stay in late Oc25 miles southwest (613 Calle Condado) presents tober. The sister properties Hotel of San Juan. At close drag shows or male strippers deEl Convento, in the heart of Old to 29,000 acres and pending on the night. Close by San Juan, and La Concha Resort, operated by the U.S. is the gay bar SX (1204 Ponce de situated on the ocean in the trendy Forest Service, it Leon), which also features male Condado district, invited a number is the sole tropical strip shows. of writers from LGBT publications rainforest in the naMost of the bars are a mere fiveto experience a fall sojourn in the tional forest system minute cab ride – the easiest way Caribbean. and home to tropito hail a ride is to ask a doorman Coming from foggy San Francal birds such as the at the club – or a 15-minute walk cisco, the heat of Puerto Rico was Puerto Rican parback to La Concha. t quite an adjustment, as the yearrot. Plan a visit at round temperature on the island https://www.fs.usda. For more information about the hovers between 70 and 80 degrees. gov/main/elyunque/ hotels, visit elconvento.com, Even with breezes coming off the home. laconcharesort.com, or condadoocean, it remained hot once the vanderbilt.com. Matthew S. Bajko To dine with the sun set for the night. locals back in town, For general tourist information The view from La Concha Resort looks out at the nearby Condado district in San As for mosquitoes, there wasn’t about Puerto Rico, visit welcome. head to La Plaza del Juan, Puerto Rico. one to be seen during the trip. topuertorico.org. Mercado de Santurce Nonetheless, the Centers for Disease

Community News>>

t Supes panel tables housing subsidy funding plan

February 23-March 1, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 9

by David-Elijah Nahmod

proposal to provide rental subsidies to low-income LGBTQ seniors and disabled San Franciscans was tabled at a February 16 meeting of the San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee, while another plan to offer legal assistance to undocumented immigrants was continued. District 1 Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer held a rally outside City Hall prior to the 10 a.m. committee meeting. A spirited crowd of 200 people representing both issues participated. At issue for the housing subsidies is about $2.5 million that the supervisors approved but that Mayor Ed Lee chose not to fund because the money would have come from a sales tax measure that was rejected by voters last fall. Fewer’s proposal identified a funding source: taking salary savings from unfilled city positions. Cancer patient Patricia Hayashi, 62, spoke in favor of housing subsidies. Hayashi, who is currently homeless, said that she was told that she could not begin her chemo treatments until she was housed. “I don’t want to die on the street,” she said. The Coalition on Homelessness was critical of the mayor’s office. “The mayor has cut two boardfunded housing subsidies midyear because of lost increase to the sales tax,” said Jackie Evans of the

PrEP program

From page 1

The problems with ADAP are “taking valuable staff time away from other projects,” specifically in the Office of AIDS, she’s also said. There have been “multiple conversations” where officials have told advocates that staff have all been tasked with fixing the current system, Mulhern-Pearson said. Referring to the contractors the state’s currently doing business with on ADAP, she said, “I don’t know how they would be able to extend the contracts and administer” the PrEP program. Clarke Anderson, A.J. Boggs’ CEO, has previously declined to answer questions from the Bay Area Reporter. The request for $1 million in state funding was based on existing PrEP assisºtance programs in Colorado, New York, and Washington. The money, which would cover the first year of California’s program, would come from rebate funds generated by ADAP. There aren’t specific estimates of what the actual costs would be or how many people would be covered. “The idea was to get the program up and running,” Mulhern-Pearson said, and “then see how many people applied.” “We are just really anxious to have this program up and running,” she said. “It’s really hard to get calls from clients and not be able to direct them anywhere,” and “to see that be a barrier to someone starting PrEP is really frustrating.” Advocates hope “the state can move quickly,” she said. Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), a PrEP advocate who’s spoken publicly about his use of the prevention method, is planning to talk about the situation to CPDH Director Dr. Karen Smith. Referring to the PrEP program, Wiener told the B.A.R. that he and others are “frustrated” by the delay. “We want to get that program going,” he said. “The money is there. So we just need to get it moving.” Wiener had been set to meet with Smith last week, but the appointment had to be rescheduled, and a new date hadn’t been set as of Friday. CDPH Spokespeople didn't provide comment for this story.t

Rick Gerharter

Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer spoke about her legislation to fully fund rental subsidies for families, seniors and, people with disabilities during a February 16 rally outside City Hall.

Coalition on Homelessness. “These subsidies were not funded with anticipated sales tax. This funding would serve 155 households. More than 67 percent of homeless San Franciscans have a disability-related health condition. About a third of homeless people identify as members of the LGBT community.” The crowd applauded as Evans called for the funds to be restored. At the budget committee meeting, Supervisors Malia Cohen, Katy Tang, and Norman Yee listened to testimony from people who were supporting both issues, including immigrants,

housing activists, attorneys, and people in need of housing. Fewer’s funding proposal for the senior, disabled, and family subsidies got tabled, or killed in committee. Cohen and Tang voted against reinstating the subsidies, while Yee voted in favor. Fewer expressed her disappointment at the tabling of the subsidy funding, “considering the great need and the incredibly compelling testimony from people who are directly impacted.” “But I am appreciative of the

dedication and commitment of the community and advocates for securing this funding to begin with and for sharing their stories with myself and my colleagues,” she told the Bay Area Reporter. Housing advocates were also disappointed. “While we were hopeful of a continuance until March when Supervisor Jeff Sheehy and Supervisor Jane Kim join the budget committee, this procedural maneuver was designed to create a barrier to a more receptive committee,” said Brian Basinger of Q Foundation, a nonprofit that provides rental subsidies to low-income LGBTQ seniors and disabled people. Sheehy, who is gay and HIV-positive, and Kim have expressed support for the subsidy reinstatement. “The Homeless Emergency Services Providers Association and our allies will strategize over the next few days on our options,” Basinger said. “In the meantime, I will be taking Supervisor Cohen at her word that we will work together in next year’s budget process to address the housing needs of Certificate of Preference Holders and other senior and disabled tenants in need of rental assistance in order to stay or become housed. “If the Board of Supervisors chooses not to take this back up in March, it means at least eight more months with scores of senior and

disabled people needlessly getting evicted and becoming homeless just because the city refused to allocate the funding,” he added. The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Immigrants

On the issue of funding for immigrant legal defense, speakers included San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi. “We’re here to make history,” Adachi said at the rally. “We’re here to be the first West Coast city to provide representation to immigrants.” Adachi noted the country’s long history of making newcomers feel unwelcome and of trying to force them to leave the country. “It happened to the Irish,” he said. “It happened to the Italians and to the Chinese. It happened to me personally.” Adachi shared that the U.S. detained his own grandparents in a Japanese internment camp during World War II in the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. “The tradition in this country of not providing due process is unacceptable,” Adachi added, noting that 67 percent of detained undocumented immigrants have no legal representation. The immigrant legal defense proposal was continued until the committee’s March 2 meeting.t

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<< Community News

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • February 23-March 1, 2017

Merced LGBT community center closes by Seth Hemmelgarn

he LGBT community center in Merced, California, has closed. Backers said there wasn’t enough money or volunteers to meet the center’s needs. “We are very proud of the collaborative work that we have accomplished in Merced as the first-ever LGBT community center over the last two years, raising awareness and recognition, and providing resources and service to the LGBT Community,” Chris Jarvis, president of Gay Central Valley, said in a message to supporters just before the center closed February 1. “However, operating a full-time community center is an expensive and staff intensive venture.” The average cost of running the center, which opened in the Central Valley city of about 80,000 people in 2014, had been approximately $1,200 a month, “just to keep the doors open and the lights on,” Jarvis said. “That does not include the price of events, infrastructure,” and other expenses. Most of the monthly costs were

Seth Hemmelgarn

Gay Central Valley President Chris Jarvis

rent, insurance, and utilities. He said that organizers concluded that money “would be better spent by closing the physical space and reformulating our efforts in a different direction.” Merced Full Spectrum, which operated the center after it opened in 2014, was a project of Gay Central

Valley. The Merced LGBTQ Alliance took over the center in 2015, Jarvis said. Alejandro Carrillo, the Merced alliance’s advocacy chair, said in an email, “During the time we had the center open, we were able to provide a safe space for LGBTQ+ individuals to come together in an environment headed by them. We have a huge need for funding and just people wanting to volunteer with the center. ... While the center was opened, I saw a great need to continue to serve LGBTQ youth in Merced County. Through our youth program, I heard stories of youth being saved from committing suicide and having success in obtaining employment.” In response to emailed questions, Jarvis said, “There was definitely interest in the center, but it all comes down to funding. It’s very expensive to run the center, and a lease requires we have a year’s worth of funding in place ahead of time.” The center had hosted groups for youth, seniors, transgender people, and others. Gay Central Valley, which oversees an LGBT center in

Fresno, and the Merced LGBTQ Alliance would continue their efforts in Merced, he said. “There is disappointment but Merced LGBTQ Alliance remains an active group and will continue work in Merced through social and support groups and an annual Pride event, Pride in the Park, that started last year and is the first-ever Pride event in Merced,” Jarvis said. “We are also working on a scholarship program.” He added that everybody who worked for the center was a volunteer, and “finding a continual and dedicated group of people can be difficult.” The Merced LGBTQ Alliance had been “constantly fundraising through events and individual and group donations,” Jarvis said, and California Rural Legal Assistance and the California Endowment had both supported the center. Lisa Cisneros, the LGBT program director for California Rural Legal Assistance, said she didn’t know why the center had closed, but it had previously shut down in 2015. CRLA offered a $5,000 grant to help

the center “reopen immediately,” Cisneros said. “I didn’t realize they were on the verge of closing” again, she said. “It’s unfortunate, because we certainly would have tried to help them.” “My hope is that they can keep moving forward to make a positive difference for all the LGBTQ individuals and families living there,” she said. “There is definitely a significant population there.” Brian Mimura, who’s a California Endowment program manager and leads the Building Healthy Communities Initiative in Merced, couldn’t say in an interview Friday exactly how much money his organization had contributed. “I’m certainly hoping to see the center come back,” Mimura said. With events like Pride in the Park, the “first Pride event in the community’s history,” he said, the center “had some really great successes in Merced.” Like others, Mimura also pointed to the opportunity the center provided for young LGBTs who don’t have “that same safe space where they know they are welcomed in Merced.”t

Point Foundation offers comm. college scholarships compiled by Cynthia Laird

o help LGBTQ students transfer to a four-year degree program, the Point Foundation has announced that its application process for community college scholarships opens March 1.

Students selected for the program will receive up to a $3,700 financial award, opportunities to network with the Point community, and the opportunity to attend the foundation’s Community College Transfer Symposium in Los Angeles.

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“Affordability is only one of the roadblocks to a college degree,” Jorge Valencia, executive director and CEO of the Point Foundation, said in a news release. “LGBTQ students, particularly those from lowincome families, immigrants, and people of color often feel alone as they try to navigate a path to higher education. Point’s goal is to provide LGBTQ students practical guidance and the emotional support that comes from knowing people want them to succeed and are here to help.” The foundation launched its community college scholarship in 2016 with support from Wells Fargo. The 2017 class of Point community college scholarship recipients will be announced in June for Pride Month. It will also announce in June its 2017 class of Point Foundation Scholars, a program of multifaceted support for LGBTQ students completing four-year and/or advanced degree programs. The deadline to apply is May 1. For more information and the application, visit pointfoundation. org/communitycollege.

LGBTQ Black History Month celebration

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An evening celebrating the lives of black LGBTIQQ people will be held Friday, February 24 from 6 to 9 p.m. at SOMArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan Street in San Francisco. Presented by the San Francisco Department of Public Health, the event, dubbed “Generations: Black LGBTIQQ History Experiences” will feature entertainment, art, food, music, and raffle prizes. Free STD/HIV testing will also be available. Numerous other community groups are co-sponsoring Generations, including the AfroSolo

Theatre Company, the Bayard Rustin LGBT Coalition, programs of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, New Conservatory Theatre Center, and the AIDS Legal Referral Panel. There is no cost to attend. For free tickets, visit generations2017.eventbrite.com.

Gender identity documents clinic

Taja’s Coalition will provide a gender identity documents clinic Friday, February 24 from 3 to 6 p.m. at St. James Infirmary, 234 Eddy Street in San Francisco. According to a Facebook listing, the clinic is for trans people who need to acquire gender-affirming documentation such as a name and gender change through the courts, birth certificate changes, and passports. Groups such as the Transgender, Gender Variant, and Intersex Justice Project, St. James Infirmary, and Red Light Legal will provide legal support, document support, scholarships to help with fees, notaries, advance directives, and legal advice for sex workers. Taja’s Coalition is named for Taja Gabrielle de Jesus, 36, a trans woman who was found murdered in February 2015 in the city’s Bayview district. The body of a suspect in her death, James Hayes, 49, was found hanging in a storage unit a few blocks away from her apartment just after her killing.

Benefit for Grayson elder confab

Facing uncertainty in the age of President Donald Trump, this year’s sixth annual Howard Grayson

LGBTQ community college students can soon apply for a Point Foundation scholarship.

LGBT Elder Life Conference is more important than ever, organizers said, and they will hold a Salsa Sunday fundraiser and celebration Sunday, February 26 from 3 to 8 p.m. at El Rio, 3158 Mission Street (near Precita). Sue Englander, conference convener, said in a news release that this year’s conference, scheduled for May 20, will address the threat to “the very rights we are getting used to.” “Have our victories turned to ashes? Are we running from this challenge?” Englander asked. “No. Howard Grayson would not have and neither will we.” Grayson was a black LGBT labor activist who died in 2011, alone in a hospital. The Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club decided to honor Grayson’s work with a yearly gathering for LGBT elders. This year’s conference responds to the avalanche of hazards to LGBT seniors and the broader community, Englander noted. “These perils target specific segments of the Bay Area population but, in the end, affect us all: immigrants, people of color, free speech advocates, home owners, stewards of the environment, city government, nonprofit funding ... Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act ...,” she said.t

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Community News>>

February 23-March 1, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11

Commonwealth Club to honor former US tech officer by Sari Staver

espite deep roots in the California tech world and a job she loved in the Bay Area, Megan Smith didn’t hesitate to pack her bags for Washington, D.C. when she was offered a job as the government’s chief technology officer in September 2014. “I realized the amazing opportunity” that I was offered and was “honored” to take the job, Smith said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter a couple of weeks after she said goodbye to the Obamas. In her two and a half years in the nation’s capital, Smith, a lesbian, served as an assistant to the president, focusing on technology policy, data, and innovation. At the time she accepted the job, President Barack Obama said in a statement, “Megan has spent her career leading talented teams and taking cutting-edge technology and innovation initiatives from concept to design to deployment. I am confident that in her new role as America’s chief technology officer, she will put her long record of leadership and exceptional skills to work on behalf of the American people.” Now working freelance as a consultant on a number of projects, Smith hasn’t made any career decisions, or even decided whether she’ll stay on the East Coast or return to California. “I’m so busy” with projects, she said, “that I haven’t really taken the time” to think about all the options. She frequently visits San Francisco and will be returning next

Ghost Ship

From page 4

could hear music coming from inside the building. I banged on the front door and announced myself as a police officer,” but nobody opened the door. He had to bang “several times” before someone came out. “I know from previous contacts” with Derick Almena, who leased the building, “that the facility does not have a cabaret permit and is supposed to be an art studio,” the officer wrote. He said that he advised the man who came out of the building “that I knew there was an illegal rave at the facility and that he had to shut

Courtesy Commonwealth Club

Megan Smith

month to accept an award from the Commonwealth Club as one of five people being honored at the organization’s 29th annual Distinguished Citizen Gala Friday, March 3 at the Fairmont Hotel. “Now more than ever, it is important to support the Commonwealth Club,” said Gloria C. Duffy, Ph.D., president and CEO. “Every day our thought-provoking, nonpartisan programming serves as a catalyst for the brightest ideas of today. We are thrilled to celebrate these distinguished citizens, each of whom has shaped our future in the Bay Area and beyond. “Our annual gala is a celebration of these distinguished citizens as well as an opportunity to gather our community and our devoted network of supporters,” Duffy added. In addition to Smith, the Commonwealth Club is also honoring it down.” After the man tried to close the door on him, the officer waited “until several dozen patrons left the facility,” he reported, adding that people there told him “that they had to tear down the lighting and remove the sound equipment.” The officer also wrote that about 20 minutes later, Almena called police “to say that there were several subjects inside his warehouse refusing to leave. Police responded and stood by while everyone left the warehouse.” A separate document says that at 2:35 a.m. the same day, someone reported there were “15 people barricaded inside the business. ... The

John R. Farmer, Lata Krishnan, Alex Macgillivray, and Bernard J. Tyson. Asked which aspects of her government job she most enjoyed, Smith didn’t hesitate. “The people, definitely the people,” she said. Having teamed with exceptionally accomplished people as she worked her way up the corporate ladder at Apple and Google, Smith said her co-workers in the Obama administration were “some of the brightest, most talented and dedicated people” she’d ever met. “I’m talking rock star talent,” Smith added. In her role as the CTO of the U.S., Smith led a team that was “embedded” in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, along with the president’s science adviser, John Holdren, Ph.D., she said. The CTO’s role was to advise the president and his team about how to harness technology, innovation, and data on behalf of the American people, Smith explained. Early on, the team focused a lot on technology policy and ways to bring technical expertise to people doing policy work. The kinds of topics that Smith worked on included copyright, big data, privacy, patent reform, and open government, she said. “These are obviously very complex issues,” she added. Smith, 52, a longtime evangelist for diversity in technology, continued her work on giving women and minorities more opportunities and visibility. In computer science, she said, less than 20 percent of the workforce are women, she estimates, in part a result of “unconscious bias.”

During her time with the government, Smith said she was working on programs to help raise the visibility of women and minorities working in technology, in terms of making sure they were represented on panels at conferences and informed of opportunities to advance their careers. Smith pointed to a study that indicated when people are applying for a job, if the job lists 10 characteristics, men will apply if they have at least three of the characteristics, on average, while women would apply if they had at least seven, on average. “There is a set of people with their hands up and a set of people without their hands up,” said Smith. “We must encourage the women to put their hands up.”

owners are holding people inside.” The document, which lists the space as a 24-hour art studio, said the owner eventually allowed people to leave. In a report from that afternoon, an officer said that someone at the site “requested that I stand by while he conducted a walk through ... to gather his belongings.” Someone who was “the renter” at the warehouse “gave permission for us to conduct the walk through,” indicating that police were familiar with the inside of the building. As part of the massive release of records, the Oakland Fire Department reported that it received two

emergency medical service calls in June and September 2015 and one in June 2016. The department indicated it had not inspected the building in several years. According to records from the city’s planning department, there had been seven code enforcement complaints from September 2004 to November 2016 for residential use, debris, inoperable vehicles, parking, rodents, and other problems. For 2004 to 2016, there are records of 34 code enforcement inspections. In January, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf issued an executive order outlining new inspection protocols meant to improve the safety

Prior tech work

Before her stint in Washington, Smith was a vice president at Google, first leading new business development, where she managed early stage partnerships, pilot explorations, and technology licensing across the company’s global engineering and product teams. She later served on the leadership team at Google X, where she co-created the company’s “SolveForX” innovation community project as well as its “Women Techmakers” tech diversity initiative. Smith previously served as CEO of the now-defunct PlanetOut, which was a leading LGBT online community in the early days of the web. She was part of designing early smartphone technologies at General

Magic, and worked on multimedia products at Apple Japan. Smith has served on the boards of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international, nonprofit that works with women leaders in the areas of economic empowerment, women’s political participation, and human rights. She was also a member of the USAID Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid and an adviser to the Joan Ganz Cooney center and the Malala Fund, which she cofounded. Over the years, Smith has contributed to a wide range of engineering projects, including an awardwinning bicycle lock, space station construction program, and solar cook stoves. She holds bachelor’s and graduate degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT, where she completed her master’s thesis work at the MIT Media Lab. Smith married Kara Swisher, a San Francisco-based technology journalist and founder of Recode, in 2008 just before the passage of Proposition 8 (the couple also had a ceremony in 1999). They are now separated. The women are raising two sons, ages 14 and 11. “They moved with me to Washington, D.C. to be part of the adventure,” said Smith. “Kara and I get along really, really well.” t Tickets to the gala are $500. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit support.commonwealthclub.org/ gala-registration.

of warehouses and other buildings “that have been converted to non-permitted use while avoiding displacement of vulnerable communities,” a news release from her office said. Among other steps, city officials have also said that they’re looking at new regulations involving areas such as monitoring of illegal events and fire inspections. It was reported this month that Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed has been out on leave for several weeks. The city’s Ghost Ship documents are available at http://bit. ly/2mcOsdb. t

<< LGBT History

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • February 23-March 1, 2017

Trans archive would be a first for Bay Area by Sari Staver

said that the history of marginalized communities is “elusive, imperiled, and best preserved by the community itself.” Davis has also served two terms on the board of directors of the GLBT Historical Society, one as secretary. The society is serving as the archive’s fiscal sponsor. “It’s been a joy working with Ms. Bob on this project,” Terry Beswick, historical society executive director, wrote in an email. “She has been involved with the GLBT Historical Society for many years, so it was a natural fit for us. Of course, we are always interested in collecting transgender materials in our own archives, but I really wanted to support this project because it will be transgender-specific space, organized and operated. And we’ll obviously be making referrals and collaborating back and forth.” Beswick pointed to the dearth of trans archives. “There are a few other transgender-specific archives, in Houston and Victoria [British Columbia], and each has unique collections and a regional focus,” Beswick added. “I think it will be great to have a transgender-specific archives available to researchers in the San Francisco Bay Area.” Beswick also said that the LLTA will serve a vital role in preserving trans history. “I think there is such power in that history, in the telling of the individual stories, the personal journeys of self-discovery, coming out, and the courageous claiming of sexual and gender identity,” he wrote. “The power is in the specificity of the story, and yet there are lessons to be learned that transcend the specific identity of the story’s subject.” Other archivists chimed in their support of the project on the

fundraising campaign to preserve an extensive archive of transgender history has been launched by a Bay Area activist who has collected hundreds of publications and thousands of photographs from around the world, some over 100 years old. In January, Ms. Bob Davis launched an Indiegogo.com campaign, hoping to raise $25,000 to enable her to sort and preserve the collection, now in storage in 70 cartons. At press time, $1,999 has been raised, most of it during the first week of the campaign. Davis said there are a number of “competing” transgenderrelated fundraising efforts on now and hopes to supplement individual donations with grants. Davis, 69, a transgender woman, said in an interview that the goal of the Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive, or LLTA, is to “increase the understanding of transgender people and encourage new scholarship by making historical materials available to students, scholars, and the public.” The archive, which will be housed in Vallejo, is named in honor of northern California transgender pioneer Louise Lawrence, who began living full-time as a woman in 1942, first in Berkeley, and then San Francisco. She, along with Virginia Prince and others, published the first incarnation of Transvestia in 1952. Lawrence’s address book was the initial subscription list and she was instrumental in developing the trans community’s connection to pioneering sex researchers such as Alfred Kinsey and Harry Benjamin, according to Davis. Davis, who has been an instructor in the music department at City College of San Francisco since 1976,

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ColumbariuM

fundraising website. Aaron Devor, Ph.D., chair in transgender studies and founder and academic director of the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria in Canada, called Davis’ collection “a treasure trove.” “The collections are both varied and deep. The materials are meticulously cared for, and most carefully organized. Anyone who uses the Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive will be pleasantly and continuously delighted. Even more so if you have the opportunity to benefit from Ms. Bob’s vast knowledge of the field,” wrote Devor. Dallas Denny, founder of the National Transgender Library and Archive, housed in the Labadie Collection at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, said, “The depth and breadth of the material is astonishing, ranging from autographed books to support group newsletters to slick magazines to rare publicity shots from the turn of the century onward. Even better, she has become an expert at deciphering and finding meaning in early material. She and her library are treasures and must be protected at all costs.”

Favorites

Of the thousands of items in her collection, Davis said she has two favorites – a 100-year-old “tiny little photograph” of a man dressed in women’s Victorian clothing where someone apparently took a pin and scratched off some of the photo to make the man’s waistline look more feminine. Davis bought the photo at the Treasure Island Flea Market for $2, she said. The man who sold it to Davis didn’t realize it was a photograph of a man, and said he tried to scare his daughter by telling her the picture was of her grandmother. Davis’ other favorite is a 1920sera photograph, probably shot with a simple camera like a Brownie, of two women, one in drag in a man’s suit, with her finger under the other woman’s chin, staring into her eyes. “It’s such a hot picture,” Davis said. Davis said that she’s been collecting one thing or another since her

Ms. Bob Davis

The Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive’s collection includes crossdressing photographs going back to the mid-19th century. This trio is from a 1904 upstate New York’s all-male home talent show. Though other cast members appear in both men’s and women’s clothing, the girl on the right only wants to be seen as a woman, and a glamorous woman, too. She appears in five different outfits with matching hats and one matching long coat.

childhood in Philadelphia. In fourth grade, Davis took an interest in turtles and had seven at one time. She also collected newspaper clippings about comedians, stamps, seashells, Mad magazines, and Davy Crockett ephemera, including a coonskin cap. As an adult, Davis collected music books and, in particular, written material and photographs from the “Three Penny Opera.” Raising money for historical projects is a challenge, Davis conceded. Historical archives are “important to a small group of people,” and often don’t have the same appeal as direct service projects, she noted. “For over 35 years I have been fascinated by the history of my trans community, the people who formed it and those who preceded it,” Davis said. “The first transgender magazine I bought was the premiere issue of Female Mimics International in 1979. By the early 1990s I had accumulated a rich trove of transgender history, information that many in the community wanted to see.” Davis said she shared her

information by writing history columns for trans community publications such as Lady Like and Transgender Community News. Many of the articles can be found at the Transgender Forum archive, tgforum.com. “I have presented lectures on trans history at conferences such as the second International Congress on Crossdressing, Sex and Gender, California Dreamin’, and Fantasia Fair (2014),” Davis said. “By 2000, scholars of transgender history had begun requesting access to my archive because of its depth and the rarity of its holdings.” She said the next logical step was creating LLTA, “a communitybased institution that will make this important collection available to scholars and the public.”t To donate, visit indiegogo.com/ projects/the-louise-lawrencetransgender-archives-lgbt#/. Perks for donations begin at the $15 level, which yields an LLTA sticker, with additional gifts for larger donations. All donations are tax deductible.

Drop in new infections, PrEP failure top news at HIV confab by Liz Highleyman

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he number of new HIV infections in the United States fell by nearly 20 percent in recent years, researchers reported at the 2017 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections last week in Seattle. Attendees also heard about a third PrEP failure and drugs to prevent sexually transmitted infections among PrEP users. After remaining stable at around 50,000 per year since the mid-1990s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the number of annual HIV infections fell from around 45,700 in 2008 to around 37,600 in 2014 – an overall drop of 18 percent. “The nation’s new high-impact approach to HIV prevention is working,” said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. “These data reflect the success of collective prevention and treatment efforts at national, state, and local levels.” But all groups did not benefit equally. New infections dropped by 36 percent among heterosexual men

Liz Highleyman

PrEP researcher Dr. JeanMichel Molina

and women (from 13,400 to 8,600) and by 56 percent among people who inject drugs (from 3,900 to 1,700). But annual HIV incidence remained stable among gay and bisexual men – the only group that did not see a decline – as increases and decreases in different subgroups balanced out. Sonia Singh from the CDC presented a breakdown of HIV rates for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men – a group that makes up approximately 2 percent

of the U.S. population but accounts for two-thirds of people newly diagnosed with HIV. Gay and bi men in the 35-44 year age group saw a 26 percent decline in new infections (from 5,800 to 4,300), while those age 13-24 saw an 18 percent decline (from 9,400 to 7,700). But those in the 25-34 age group experienced a 35 percent increase (from 7,200 to 9,700). There were also disparities by race and ethnicity. New infections decreased by 18 percent among white gay and bi men (from 9,000 to 7,400) and stayed the same among black gay men (at 10,100), but increased 20 percent among Latino gay men (from 6,100 to 7,300). The researchers estimated that 15 percent of all people living with HIV, and 17 percent of gay and bi men, had undiagnosed infection. Younger gay men were most likely to be undiagnosed, reaching about half in the 13-24 age group. Another study looked at statelevel data, showing that new HIV infections decreased substantially, by at least 2 percent, in seven states – Georgia, Illinois, New York, See page 15 >>

Community News>>

February 23-March 1, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 13

Milo melts down; rain cancels protests by Liz Highleyman

are implicitly saying that everything else that Yiannopoulos has done up until this point – his long history of blatant racism, misogyny, and transphobia, and his penchant for doxxing, harassing, and intimidating marginalized individuals online and during his talks – all of that is a-okay,” trans author Julia Serano wrote in a blog post.

eavy rains led to cancellation or sparse attendance at Bay Area protests over Presidents Day weekend, including a planned rally in the Castro during the premiere of ABC’s “When We Rise” television series and a “Not My President” protest at Justin Herman Plaza. The biggest news this week was the downfall of gay provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos after an old video surfaced in which he appeared to speak approvingly of sex between teenagers and older men. Apparently, there are still things that can’t be said in Donald Trump’s America. Simon and Schuster announced that it was canceling publication of his planned book entitled “Dangerous,” the American Conservative Union disinvited him from speaking at its upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference, and he resigned under pressure from his senior editor position at Breitbart News. Yiannopoulos did not condone pedophilia, strictly defined as sex with pre-pubescent children, but he did say that there was a homosexual tradition of “coming of age” relationships between adolescent boys and adult men, acknowledging that he himself had such a relationship with a Catholic priest at age 13. The comments outraged many in the LGBT community, which has fought a pervasive stereotype that gay men are sexual predators of youth.

Quick recap

Gay provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos lost his book deal, a speaking gig, and his job in about 24 hours.

The outrage was equally vociferous among Yiannopoulos’ “alt-right” supporters, who previously upheld his right to free speech when he attacked transgender people, women, immigrants, and people of color. (The alt-right movement is built on white nationalism.) As previously reported, Yiannopoulos made news in the Bay Area when his February 1 talk at UC Berkeley was canceled after an unruly protest made it impossible for the event to go forward. “[B]y drawing the line there, the American Conservative Union, Simon and Schuster ... and others

This week Trump directed the Department of Homeland Security to more aggressively enforce immigration laws, which is expected to increase the number of arrests and speed deportation of unauthorized immigrants, including those with no criminal history. On February 16 many Bay Area businesses – including a number of restaurants in San Francisco’s largely Latino Mission neighborhood – participated in “A Day Without Immigrants,” a nationwide action intended to show how important immigrants are to the economy. As the Bay Area Reporter went to press on Wednesday, the San Francisco Public Defender’s office held a public forum on “Resisting Mass Deportation” to address how the city can help immigrants fight deportation. In light of the crackdown, more actions in support of immigrants are likely in the days ahead. In other news, White House press secretary Sean Spicer indicated on Tuesday that the administration is not inclined to defend the rights of transgender people, saying the issue

Experts discuss violence against LGBTs in the Americas

by Heather Cassell

panel of LGBT human rights experts in the Americas recently gathered in San Francisco to discuss the state of LGBT rights throughout North, Central, and South America. The meeting was a part of a series of discussions about LGBT human rights that the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights and the Organization of American States held at Stanford University and San Francisco January 25-27. Experts talked about “Human Rights Under the Next Administration” and addressed “The Future of the Inter-American Human Rights System” at a Spanish-language event at Stanford. LGBT human rights experts discussed issues raised in the IACHR LGBT Unit’s report, “Violence against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Persons in the Americas,” which was released in English and Portuguese. The first edition of the 283-page report detailing atrocities afflicting the LGBT community in the Americas was published in Spanish in 2015.

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Bay Reporter.indd 1

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<< From the Cover

14 • BAY AREA REPORTER • February 23-March 1, 2017

SF Pride

From page 1

with children. She is currently the executive director of the California School-Based Health Alliance, working to improve the health and academic success of children by advancing school health services. Appel was the first open lesbian to serve on the Berkeley school board and she was re-elected in 2016. Songstylist and songmaker Blackberri is an artivist. A poet, writer, photographer, health educator, and community activist, Blackberri, who uses one name, has performed music and collaborated in many films directed by Marlon Riggs including the much-lauded “Tongues Untied,” “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” (“No Regret”), and also appeared in Nancy and Peter Adair’s “Word is Out.” He recorded the soundtrack for the Haight Ashbury Radio Collective’s history of San Francisco, “Knowing at the Gateway of Gold,” which aired on KPFA in Berkeley. Chris Carnes is an activist and fundraiser whose work extends over four decades, from being on the board of the old Cable Car Awards to being on the board of Equality California, where she secured AT&T as the first major corporate sponsor. Carnes was also an early board member of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center and has built on her expertise, contacts, and donor base to continue her fundraising. Honored in 2010 by the GLBT Historical Society as one of 25 people, “who made our history ... creating the community we live in today,” Billy Curtis is another longtime activist. In 1999, Curtis was hired as UC Berkeley’s first full-time director for LGBT resources and he is currently the director of the university’s Gender Equity Resource

Gay superintendent

From page 1

been a popular nude sunbathing spot for gay men. When a reporter pointed out that fact, Kenkel merely smiled. Asked about the vote last fall to legalize recreational adult use of marijuana in California, Kenkel said it hasn’t caused much concern among local national park staff. But he emphasized that, despite the state action, possessing marijuana on federal lands such as the GGNRA is still against the law. “If you are caught using marijuana on federal property, most likely you will be cited,” he warned. Hale Nathan Sargent, a gay man who is the spokesman for the GGNRA, suggested park users download the NPS GGNRA App – new versions of the iOS and Android app were released in October – so they know when the trails they are on cross between federal and state or local parklands. Park staff is more concerned about people bringing drones into the federal parks, said Kenkel, as their usage is not allowed in the GGNRA, a sprawling parkland that includes numerous properties in San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin counties and is one of the most visited urban parks in the national park system. “The park is a no drone zone,” he said.

New visitor center is state-of-the-art

The majority of the Presidio is overseen by the Presidio Trust, which has been working closely with both the National Park Service and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy on upgraded offerings for visitors since the decommissioning of the military installation in 1994. The trio of agencies will officially unveil on Thursday (February 23) the $5 million William Penn Mott Jr. Presidio Visitor Center at 210 Lincoln Boulevard, located in a

Center. In both positions, Curtis has advanced campus resources for LGBT students, faculty, and staff and has advocated for trans-inclusive health benefits, facilities, and athletic policies. Sean Dorsey, transgender dancer, activist, and community organizer, is the artistic director of Sean Dorsey Dance and the nation’s first out transgender modern dance choreographer. Dorsey’s newest show, “The Missing Generation,” celebrates the voices of longtime transgender and LGBTQ survivors of the early AIDS epidemic and features voices and life stories recorded in oral history interviews. Dorsey is also the founder and artistic director of the nonprofit Fresh Meat Productions, which supports LGBTQ artists. “I felt very humbled and surprised and deeply honored,” Dorsey told the Bay Area Reporter in an email. “I am thinking of this as an opportunity to be very vocal about the profoundly anti-immigrant and anti-LGBT regime we are fighting against.” Dorsey added that his partner, Shawna Virago, was the first-ever trans grand marshal in 2002. Author Jewelle Gomez has written eight books including the Lambda Literary Award-winning “The Gilda Stories,” which reimagined vampires from a lesbian feminist perspective. “Waiting for Giovanni,” Gomez’s play about an imagined moment of indecision in the life of gay author and activist James Baldwin, premiered at San Francisco’s New Conservatory Theatre Center in 2011. Gomez was on the founding board of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, now known simply as GLAAD, and with her spouse, Diane Sabin, was one of 12 couples who sued for equal marriage rights. Gomez said she was thrilled with

the nomination. “After the years my generation spent in the shadows I love doing anything where I get to represent the queer people of San Francisco,” Gomez wrote in an email to the B.A.R. “Especially if it involves riding in a convertible car!” An educator, activist and leading scholar in queer Asian American history, Amy Sueyoshi is an associate dean at San Francisco State University where she started the Queer Ethnic Studies Initiative. As a founding curator of the GLBT History Museum, Sueyoshi initiated the Dragon Fruit Project, an oral history project that explores queer Asian Pacific Islanders and their experiences. She authored “Queer Compulsions,” the first monograph on queer JapaneseAmerican history, and she implemented the Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women and Transgender community scholarship. Tom Temprano is an activist, small business owner and, as of January, a member of the San Francisco City College Board of Trustees. A gay man, he is a past president of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club and an outspoken advocate of LGBTQ nightlife, working as a DJ and community leader to ensure queer spaces thrive in SF. His queer dance party “Hard French” has raised over $60,000 for organizations and causes. Temprano told the B.A.R. that he is “completely honored and surprised to get this nomination at age 30,” and suggested that “so much vibrancy and activism comes through LGBT nightlife.” Alex U. Inn (Carmen Alex Morrison) is an advocate for justice and equality and was “sainted” by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Inn

has also won 32 gold medals at the Gay Games. Inn has been a critical force in the LGBT center, the MyNameIs Coalition, SF Pride’s Nectar/ Women’s Stage, the Unleash Dance Party for Women, and the Committee for Queer Justice. Inn also founded Momma’s Boyz, a troupe of hip-hop activist drag kings.

The building represents both the past and the future for the Presidio, noted Kenkel, who encouraged people to begin their day at the center to find out about special events taking place in the park and other activities offered. “First and foremost the visitor Rick Gerharter center celebrates the past by rehabbing Craig Kenkel, the interim superintendent this building. And it of the Golden Gate National Recreation is also a way for us Area, points to the new interactive map of to connect with the the parkland at the new William Penn Mott next generation of Jr. Presidio Visitor Center. park visitors,” said Kenkel. “People can former guardhouse in the park’s Main plan their day in both the Presidio Post area. and the GGNRA. This is one of the “We are delighted to launch this park system’s best designed and new gateway to the Presidio, which technologically advanced visitor serves to welcome the broader pubcenters today.” lic to the park,” stated Presidio Trust An enclosed observation area in Chief Executive Officer Jean S. Frathe rear of the center provides views ser. “Now everyone from the Bay onto the under-construction PresiArea and beyond can easily discover dio Tunnel Tops project, which will the Presidio’s free resources – history, result in 14 acres of new parkland spectacular vistas, wild open spaces, built over the freeway entrance to trails, and opportunities for play.” the Golden Gate Bridge. It is expectWith the state-of-the-art faciled to open in 2019 in time to mark ity having soft opened earlier this the Presidio’s 25th anniversary as a month, Kenkel recently met there national park. with the Bay Area Reporter to offer a “The entire area from here to the sneak peak and to discuss his workbay is going to be really improved. It ing again in the Bay Area, where he will be a great resource for the city has spent the bulk of his career with and for visitors,” said Kenkel. “We are the Park Service. expanding this area of the Presidio in Lines embedded in the floor of a way I think will be very exciting.” the visitor center’s rear room outline where the jails used to be in the Long history with the parks guardhouse. An interactive multiKenkel began working for the namedia table activated by touch brings tional parks in 1983 while an archiup various historical events, people, tectural student at Iowa State Uniand places associated with the park. versity and was assigned in 1988 to (Included is a photo of Kenkel, the Park Service’s Western Regional though he is not identified, with Office in San Francisco. House Minority Leader Nancy PeSent in 1992 to the Park Service’s losi (D-San Francisco), who advoMidwest Regional Office, Kenkel in cated for the transformation of the 2005 transferred to the GGNRA as Presidio into parkland and is schedchief of its cultural resources diviuled to speak at the 10:30 a.m. ribsion and was then named in 2009 bon-cutting ceremony Thursday.)

as its deputy superintendent. A year later he was promoted to superintendent of the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park, where he remained until 2014, when he became the superintendent of Cuyahoga Valley National Park in northeast Ohio along the Cuyahoga River between Cleveland and Akron. Referring to the 33,000-acre park, founded in 1974, as the “Golden Gate of the Midwest,” Kenkel noted that it is one of the oldest recreation areas operated by the park system. It is gearing up to mark the 50th anniversary, in 2019, of the Cuyahoga River’s polluted waters catching fire and igniting the modern environmental movement. By then the park hopes to have completely rehabilitated the waterway. “It is pastoral, very beautiful countryside,” Kenkel said of Cuyahoga’s location. “It was formerly agricultural land, and 10 years ago, the park brought organic farms back. It was the catalyst for the farm-to-table movement in northeast Ohio.” His assignment there, added Kenkel, has been “very delightful,” with one highlight his arriving in time to work with the host committee for the 2014 Gay Games on providing sites for competitions and recreational opportunities for the athletes, their families, and friends. Last August Christine S. Lehnertz, a lesbian, was reassigned from her job as the GGNRA superintendent to oversee the Grand Canyon due to the early retirement of the former jobholder following reports of rampant sexual harassment among its staff. When Kenkel saw an internal advertisement for someone to oversee the GGNRA for roughly the first 100 days of 2017 until Lehnertz’s successor was named, he jumped at the chance to come back and see old friends and be closer to his partner, who did not move with him to Ohio. (He asked that his partner’s name not be published.) “I get to escape the Ohio winter,” he noted.

Organizational grand marshal

Several nonprofits were nominated for organizational grand marshal. The mission of El/La Para TransLatinas is to “work to build a world where transgender Latinas feel they deserve to protect, love and develop themselves. El/La has been serving transgender Latinas since 2006 and currently offers five programs: a safe space; health, life issues, and cultural education; case management and mental health support; leadership development; and street and bar outreach. HealthRight 360 is a family of integrated health programs that provides compassionate care and treatment to over 38,000 individuals a year through more than 70 distinct and culturally sensitive programs in 13 California counties. In San Francisco, those programs include Walden House, which serves clients with mental health and substance use disorder issues, and Lyon-Martin Health Services, a primary and preventive care clinic serving women, lesbians and transgender people. Founded in 1977, the National Center for Lesbian Rights is a national legal organization committed to advancing the civil and human rights of LGBT people and their families through litigation, policy, and public education. In June 2015, NCLR won one of the biggest LGBTQ legal victories in American history as it was involved in the U.S.

Supreme Court decision, Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Founded in 2002 from a merger of two older organizations, Our Family Coalition advances equality for LGBTQ parents and caregivers, and prospective parents, though direct support, parent and community education, and statewide advocacy. OFC’s theory of change states, “We cultivate communitybased leadership among LGBTQ families and strong partnerships with our allies in California, to advance social justice and make our nation a more respectful and inclusive place for all.” For nearly 40 years, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus has served as an international standard bearer for a powerful mix of musical excellence and activism. Founded in 1978, it was the first choral organization to proclaim its orientation in its name and is credited with helping start the LGBT choral movement that now spans the entire globe. It continues to inspire other arts-based LGBTQ community organizations through its performances and involvements in human rights, community activism, and inclusiveness. The SF Pride Committee anticipates record participation this year and encourages groups and organizations to register early to participate in the parade and celebration (register.sfpride.org). The SF Pride Celebration is scheduled for June 24-25 with the parade itself on Sunday, June 25. To vote for grand marshal, visit sfpride.org/grand-marshals or make an appointment to stop by the SF Pride office, 30 Pearl Street, 4th floor. To schedule an appointment, email info@sfpride.org. Each person is eligible to vote for one individual and one organization. t He may not be returning to the Midwest if he is hired for the GGNRA superintendent position. With his partner opting to remain in San Francisco, Kenkel is among those who applied for the job on a permanent basis, and an announcement could be made any day. He would be one of two out permanent superintendent of a local park. Since 2009 Naomi Torres, a lesbian, has been the superintendent of the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail. Whoever is hired for the job faces a looming fight over restricting off-leash dog access to numerous GGNRA sites. A proposal released in January was put on hold due to dog advocate groups releasing thousands of internal emails sent by park staff that raised questions about the planning process for the new dog access rules. Citing the ongoing investigation into the emails, and pending litigation over the plan, Kenkel declined to comment about the issue. No matter if he remains in the Bay Area or returns to Cuyahoga, Kenkel is a rising star in the Park Service’s senior ranks. He was given a work assignment for the last half of 2016 at the Department of the Interior, gaining insight into the internal workings of the federal agency, and by the beginning of March expects to complete a special training for Park Service executive position candidates. His being selected for the GGNRA position “is not so important,” said Kenkel, adding that his “primary goal” is to identify what are the top priorities the next superintendent will need to address and to ensure the transition goes smoothly. “If I am selected or not, I am glad I was able to come here and help.” A community day grand-opening celebration, with special events and tours, will be held at the Presidio visitor center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, February 25. For a full schedule, visit http://bit. ly/2lM1pNC t

t <<

Community News>>

HIV confab

From page 12

Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas – and Washington, D.C. States in the southeast continued to bear the brunt of the epidemic, accounting for half of all new infections. The researchers suggested that declines in new HIV infections were largely due to more HIV-positive people taking effective antiretroviral treatment that suppresses viral load, since undetectable virus is essentially untransmittable. Increased use of PrEP may also have played a role, especially for gay men. But Truvada (tenofovir/ emtricitabine) was not approved for HIV prevention until 2012 and PrEP only started to be widely used in late 2013.

PrEP news at CROI

As was true in recent years, PrEP accounted for some of the biggest news at the conference. Doctors from Amsterdam reported the third known case of a person becoming infected with HIV while regularly taking PrEP. The first case, from Toronto, was reported at last year’s CROI, and a second case in New York City was reported at the HIV Research for Prevention conference last fall.

Out in the World

From page 13

as the IACHR and OAS continue to work under President Donald Trump’s administration. “This report is particularly relevant today in the hemisphere. It’s particularly relevant in this country. It is particularly relevant in a moment for all of us who defend human rights, all of us who believe in human rights,” said Cavallaro, who is a professor at Stanford Law School and is the founding director of the school’s International Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic. He was elected to lead IACHR in 2013. “All of us who believe in the core principle in human dignity have reason to believe that the challenges ahead will be quite significant,” he said. However, Cavallaro stated the recent grassroots political movement protesting Trump’s January 27 immigration and travel ban executive orders and progress toward LGBT rights by some countries gave him hope.

Probing LGBT rights in the Americas

“Some countries have made significant progress in recent years in recognizing the rights of LGBTI persons, but there are still very high rates of violence in all countries in the hemisphere,” said Cavallaro. The in-depth report represents a decade – 2005 through 2015 – of testimony by LGBT activists and civil society and community leaders from the 35-member OAS states at more than 37 IACHR human rights meetings. The report also included information from a survey of government officials and civil society organizations about LGBT issues and examination of some 30 cases brought to the commission within a 15-month period to learn about violence, Eguiguren said at the San Francisco meeting. Eguiguren said he didn’t find the information “very promising.” The report highlights physical violence against LGBT people throughout the Americas. It particularly examines differently bodied individuals, countries’ laws and discrimination policies, and how violence against LGBT people is

But the case reported last week was different from the other two because the man acquired an HIV strain that was not resistant to the drugs in Truvada. In the previous cases the men were infected with highly drug-resistant viruses. Extensive testing showed that the 50-year-old man had drug levels that would be expected to prevent HIV. He started antiretroviral therapy after testing positive and achieved viral suppression. Noting that the man had frequent condomless anal sex with multiple partners, Dr. Godelieve de Bree, who is involved in his care, speculated that HIV may infect the gut but PrEP prevents it from getting into the bloodstream and reaching the lymph nodes. “It is perhaps just a matter of statistics that very occasionally, one infection slips through,” she told http://www.Aidsmap.com. Despite these three cases, PrEP remains highly effective. “PrEP use is preventing thousands of infections worldwide, including hundreds of infections in the San Francisco Bay Area,” Dr. Robert Grant, from the UCSF Gladstone Institutes, told the Bay Area Reporter. “The good news is that HIV transmission during PrEP use is extremely rare and all three people are doing well on therapy with

formed and carried out either by silence or active discrimination and prejudice, he said. Additionally, Eguiguren noted that the transgender and intersex communities are particularly in danger as their members make up a majority of the physical abuse and homicide cases in every country throughout the Americas. Montano, the LGBTI Justice Clinic-El Salvador founder and an immigration attorney at the AIDS Legal Referral Panel in San Francisco, said her organization’s research and subsequent report also uncovered similar findings to the IACHR report. Many of the queer asylum seekers she works with have fled their home countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East to escape persecution, incarceration, violence, and threats to their lives, she said. “Basically, it’s the same story,” said Montano, who turned her focus on El Salvador, where her family originated. “I realized what a dismal situation it was for the LGBT community,” she said about her initial experience living and working with the local LGBT El Salvadorian leaders about four years ago. She noted that at the time there was a serial killer or multiple serial killers murdering transgender women – four transgender women alone were murdered while she was traveling back to San Francisco, she said. Through research she and other activists have been able to document 169 murders of LGBT people in El Salvador as of last year, but she said local activists believe the figure is closer to 500. Nearly all of the homicides have gone uninvestigated, she told the audience. “The leadership, they take a lot of risk in identifying themselves, being public about who they are, and organizing. A lot of the community still lives in the closet,” said Montano about LGBT El Salvadorian activists who participated in a 2013 conference and some El Salvadorian transgender women who testified in Washington, D.C. about their situation. Those initial murders so affected Montano that she’s spent years working on developing legal services, legislative reform and policy implementation, and grassroots organizing

February 23-March 1, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 15

an undetectable viral load.” Another study presented at the conference showed that taking the antibiotic doxycycline after condomless sex could reduce the risk of acquiring some sexually transmitted infections. In a sub-study of the French Ipergay PrEP trial, half of participants were randomly assigned to take doxycycline as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) after possible exposure to STIs, while the other half did not. Those in the doxycycline group were instructed to take a pill up to 72 hours after each potential risky episode. Researcher Dr. Jean-Michel Molina reported that the men who took doxycycline saw a 70 percent drop in the number of chlamydia infections and a 73 percent decline in syphilis cases, but there was no decrease in gonorrhea. A drawback of preventive STI treatment is that increased use of antibiotics could promote development of drug-resistant bacteria. Gonorrhea is already likely to be resistant to doxycycline, which may explain why the drug did not decrease this infection in the study. Thus, the implications of this study are not yet clear. “More research is needed before this strategy can be recommended,” Grant said.t

with local activists and researchers from UC Berkeley to create a report, she told the audience. There have been some fleeting signs of hope in El Salvador, Montano noted. The country’s former first lady, Vanda Pignato, created an LGBT helpline, but it faltered due to lack of resources. During a recent election, transgender women were allowed to identify as their chosen gender to cast ballots.

Pressing forward

In spite of the difficult realities of LGBT people in the Americas, the report also documents the progress that has been made. Eguiguren also stressed the importance of the conclusions and recommendations to address hardline, anti-LGBT faith leaders and religious communities, respect diversity, and adopt new laws. Lee agreed, stating that Canada prides its diversity and it makes the country stronger. He noted that in spite of Canada’s progress the country still has a lot to learn. He also told the audience that Canada’s leaders prefer to lead by example, while acknowledging that the LGBT issue is “difficult for many countries.” “We know one size does not fit all,” he said. Rao, the HRC policy adviser, took a different perspective. He said that the San Francisco Human Rights Commission examined the types of violence afflicting the city’s LGBT community and those affecting subcommunities, such as queer refugee and immigrant communities and transgender women of color. By examining the community through this micro lens, the SF HRC learned more about San Francisco’s LGBT community. The resulting report enabled the commission to address weak areas and to better understand the communities’ needs in order to provide more effective services, he said. Stevenson, the OAS official, talked about the importance of democracies in the Americas and that people “must stand up and speak about the core principles and work together” for democracy when necessary. Lee agreed, adding that Canada is also actively working with the IACHR, OAS, and the United Nations, along with LGBT experts in Canada and the U.S., co-sponsoring several resolutions and working on multilateral levels to combat homophobia.t

Legal Notices>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-17-552745 In the matter of the application of: CARLOS MAX BRAN, 1100 GOUGH ST #18D, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner CARLOS MAX BRAN, is requesting that the name CARLOS MAX BRAN; AKA CHARLES MAX BRAN; AKA MAX CHARLES BRAN, be changed to CHARLES MAX BRAN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 30th of March 2017 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

FEBRUARY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037453500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TABOUN, 203 PARNASSUS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SALIM I. QARU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/01/04. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/31/17.

FEBRUARY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037451300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HERBS AND SPICE, 2211 NEWCOMB AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RAMONA ADDISON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/31/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/31/17.

FEBRUARY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037450500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LIFE GATE ACUPUNCTURE, 2460 MISSION ST #212, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KARA LEANNE ROMANKO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/15/03. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/31/17.

FEBRUARY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037449400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AI BEAUTE SKIN SPA, 1149 POWELL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed AINA CHEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/31/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/31/17.

FEBRUARY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037448000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SG ADVISORS, 4150 17TH ST #33, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SCOTT ARTHUR GORDON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/16/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/30/17.

FEBRUARY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037441500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BELLATIQUE, 924 GEARY ST #50, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed FEROZ CHAUHAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/25/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/25/17.

FEBRUARY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037443500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CREATE INTERIOR DESIGN, 181 FRANKLIN ST #6, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JAMES E. BROWN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/24/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/26/17.

FEBRUARY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037447400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ALEXANDER SIGNING SERVICE, 16 MUSEUM WAY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed BRETT D. ALEXANDER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/23/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/30/17.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037443900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HOME CAFE, 2018 CLEMENT STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed 1ST, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/26/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/26/17.

FEBRUARY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037438900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BUSINESS BRA’S, 1415 7TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed MELANIE GARCIA & TRISHA HEIGL. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/24/17.

FEBRUARY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037445400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: P C PLUMBING, 235 WESTLAKE CENTER #382, DALY CITY, CA 94015. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed A AND M REMODELING LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/26/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/27/17.

FEBRUARY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037457800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: D. HUDSON GOLFWEAR, 3636 BRODERICK ST #5, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JEFFREY CHANG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/01/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/03/17.

FEB 09, 16, 23, MAR 02, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037459700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NCI REAL ESTATE, 2267 37TH AVE. SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed PABLO JOSE WONG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/06/17.

FEB 09, 16, 23, MAR 02, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037460800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: VIV TAX SERVICES, 1790 FULTON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed TAI TRAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/06/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/06/17.

FEB 09, 16, 23, MAR 02, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037460400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: 421 E. 18TH STREET PROPERTY PARTNERSHIP, 4804 MISSION ST #222, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed NASEEF MUSLEH; NAJEEB SHIHADEH; MICHEL MUSLEH. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/06/17.

FEB 09, 16, 23, MAR 02, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037453700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BLINKS + BROWS SAN FRANCISCO, 1901 VAN NESS AVE #A, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed BLINKS + BROWS LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/10/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/01/17.

FEB 09, 16, 23, MAR 02, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037452900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DISTRICT COFFEE, 199 NEW MONTGOMERY ST #A, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed 199M LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/31/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/31/17.

FEB 09, 16, 23, MAR 02, 2017 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-17-552777

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: RCB SECURITY INC, 1307 EVANS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed RCB SECURITY INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/31/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/31/17.

In the matter of the application of: MANUEL DE JESUS BOTEO OCHOA, C/O GERVY JHON TESORO (SBN 298501), 1630 TARAVAL ST #B, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner MANUEL DE JESUS BOTEO OCHOA, is requesting that the name MANUEL DE JESUS BOTEO OCHOA, be changed to MANUEL DE JESUS BOTEO DIAZ. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 13th of April 2017 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

FEBRUARY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017

FEB 16, 23, MAR 02, 09, 2017

FEBRUARY 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037451200

Serving the LGBTQ communities since 1971

16 • BAY AREA REPORTER • February 23-March 1, 2017

Legal Notices>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037425400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GUERRERO FOOD MARKET, 1546 GUERRERO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ROBERTO M. DAGUMAN JR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/17/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/17/17.

FEB 09, 16, 23, MAR 02, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037462900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JULY MOON, 1142 BUCHANAN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed THERMOND WELLS JR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/07/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/07/17.

FEB 16, 23, MAR 02, 09, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037468900

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037458100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MASTER PAINTING & DECORATING, 1325 EVANS AVE #B, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ASHLEY RHODES. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/02/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/03/17.

FEB 16, 23, MAR 02, 09, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037462700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AVAYA WELLNESS, 350 TOWNSEND ST #275, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed TIRTHA MENDAKE WANIGASEKARA-MOHOTTI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/07/17.

FEB 16, 23, MAR 02, 09, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037429100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SUCCESS CONSTRUCTION SF, 1887 25TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed PAK S. WAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/12/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/13/17.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FEST GEGEN, 28 SECOND ST #300, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed JASON CHASE BEAHM & KELSEY ROSE TRUJILLO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/16/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/17/17.

FEB 16, 23, MAR 02, 09, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037461500

FEB 16, 23, MAR 02, 09, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037463800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: IRWELL ELECTRIC, 106 FAIR OAKS ST #3, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed NEIL ANTHONY HALSALL. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/07/17.

FEB 16, 23, MAR 02, 09, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037465400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TUNNEL RECORDS AND BEACH GOODS, 3614 TARAVAL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed BEN WINTROUB & ANDREA CHRISTINE DE FRANCISCO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/08/17.

FEB 16, 23, MAR 02, 09, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037448800

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-036577800

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: HAI FENG TRADITION CHINESE MED; HAI FENG CHINESE HERBAL, 1818 NORIEGA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by LIANG ZHUSHEN. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/15/15.

FEB 16, 23, MAR 02, 09, 2017 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-17-552788

In the matter of the application of: GOLEE ABRISHAMI CASTLEBERRY, 10 LUNADO WAY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94127, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner GOLEE ABRISHAMI CASTLEBERRY, is requesting that the name GOLEE ABRISHAMI CASTLEBERRY, be changed to GOLEE FARSHBAF ABRISHAMI. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 18th of April 2017 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

FEB 23, MAR 02, 09, 16, 2017 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-17-552779

In the matter of the application of: AARON BARBER, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner AARON BARBER, is requesting that the name AARON BARBER AKA AARON MICHAEL BARBER, be changed to ELEMENT ELEFTHERIOS ECLIPSE. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 11th of April 2017 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

FEB 23, MAR 02, 09, 16, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037477600

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037448200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BE KIND, 890 BUSH ST #301, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed VICTORIA RAYLES. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/19/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/30/17.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TAQUERIA ZORRO, 308 COLUMBUS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SF NICE LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/11/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/17/17.

FEB 23, MAR 02, 09, 16, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037470700

FEB 23, MAR 02, 09, 16, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037461600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DRESS YOU UP, 1815 BROADWAY ST #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARIA CHRISTINA MANALO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/14/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/14/17.

FEB 23, MAR 02, 09, 16, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037469100

FEB 23, MAR 02, 09, 16, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037476900

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE POP AGENCY, 2010 CHESTNUT ST #105, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed GREENSENSE MEDIA INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/16/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/17/17.

FEB 23, MAR 02, 09, 16, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037474800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LOGOPEDA SPEECH THERAPY, 1768 PAGE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ALINA MIHAL. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/17/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/17/17.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: OM INDIAN CUISINE, 1668 HAIGHT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed A & A RESTAURANT GROUP INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/16/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/16/17.

FEB 16, 23, MAR 02, 09, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037465700

FEB 16, 23, MAR 02, 09, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037436100

FEB 23, MAR 02, 09, 16, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037466000

FEB 23, MAR 02, 09, 16, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037465600

FEB 16, 23, MAR 02, 09, 2017

FEB 23, MAR 02, 09, 16, 2017 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-037155800

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: OM INDIAN CUISINE, 1668 HAIGHT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by AJAY RAJ KHADKA. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/29/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BERNHARDT REMODELING LLC, 1542 MCKINNON AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed BERNHARDT REMODELING LLC. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/31/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/31/17.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PACHINO PIZZERIA, 318 KEARNY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed AMERICAN WEST VENTURES LLC. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/20/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/20/17.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: OPEN ACCESS, 475 CONNECTICUT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed OPEN ACCESS, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/07/17.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: 6DAYS PRODUCTIONS, 686 11TH AVE #12, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed MARIO MARE & TAE HO YOON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/17/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/13/17.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BALLADARES EXECUTIVE TRANSPORTATION, 901 HOLYOKE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed NORMAN A. BALLADARES. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/01/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/09/17.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: E & H 24 HRS ROAD SERVICES, 682 GROVE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ELIAS HAGOS WOLDEZGHI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/09/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/09/17.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037477000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ELEMENT D, 55 DUBOCE AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed NICHOLAS SETIAWAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/09/17.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MARUFUKU RAMEN, 1581 WEBSTER #235, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed EK FOOD SERVICES, INC. (CA) The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/23/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/09/17.

FEB 23, MAR 02, 09, 16, 2017

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May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be adored, glorified, loved and preserved throughout the world now and forever. Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us. St. Jude, worker of miracles, pray for us. St. Jude, helper of the hopeless, pray for us. Say prayer nine time a day for nine days. Thank you Jesus and St. Jude for prayers answered. Publication must be promised. B.K.

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Out &About

Shooting gallery

O&A

Vol. 47 • No. 8 • February 23-March 1, 2017

www.ebar.com/arts

Queer history comes alive by David-Elijah Nahmod

Scene from the new ABC miniseries When We Rise.

Erik Tomasson

ABC-TV

he LGBT community’s most eagerly awaited television event comes to small screens with the Feb. 27 premiere of When We Rise, an all-star docudrama about the early days of San Francisco’s equality movement. The eight-hour miniseries will air over the course of four nights on ABC. Based in part on longtime activist Cleve Jones’ same-named memoir and in part on a screenplay by Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black, When We Rise recalls the birth of the local community’s first gay activist organizations. The story spans decades of LGBT history and includes the assassinations of Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone in 1978, the AIDS epidemic of the following decade, and beyond. See page 21 >>

San Francisco Ballet’s Frankenstein, a co-production with London’s Royal Ballet, had its West Coast premiere.

Monster mash

Magical mystery tour

by Paul Parish

by Sura Wood

t was a dark and stormy night inside the Opera House, with rain streaking across the scrim as the orphan girl knocked at the door of the Frankenstein mansion. If you’ve never read the book but only know The Rocky Horror Picture Show, you’ll know that electricity is going to be in the air, and indeed it was. See page 26

ow can you have a show about the counterculture that’s short on sex, drugs and rock & roll? The answer is: with difficulty. But that’s not all that’s missing from Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia, a much-anticipated, major new exhibition now at BAMPFA. See page 26 >>

Courtesy of David Miller, from the estate of Clay Geerdes

“Cockettes Go Shopping” (1972), digital print by Clay Geerdes

{ SECOND OF THREE SECTIONS } 2017 Season

MAR 07 – 18

Infinite Worlds

Program 04

Must-See Balanchine

BUY TICKETS TODAY sfballet.org Yuan Yuan Tan and Anthony Vincent in Balanchine’s Stravinsky Violin Concerto // Choreography by George Balanchine © The Balanchine Trust // © Erik Tomasson

<< Out There

18 • BAY AREA REPORTER • February 23-March 1, 2017 2pub-BBB_BAR_Jan2017.pdf

12/7/16

10:09 AM

Short but not slight

Courtesy the filmmaker

Scene from director Robert Valley’s Pear Brandy and Cigarettes, part of Oscar-nominated shorts programs.

by Roberto Friedman

CMY

ut There goes to the screenings of Academy Award-nominated short films that show at Landmark Theatres during Oscar season every year. These shorts are always at least interesting, and a helpful reminder that there’s nothing inherent in the medium of film that dictates it be feature-length. Also that there are far more stories to tell besides comic-book superheroes and romantic comedies. The 2017 slate of Oscar-nominated live action short films offers many delights. In Sing (dir. Kristof Deak, Hungary), a children’s choir summons passive resistance when some of their members are unfairly silenced. This reminder of the importance of collective action could not be more timely for present-day Americans living during the regime of the stub-fingered vulgarian. Silent Nights (dir. Aske Bang, Denmark) and Ennemis Interieurs (dir. Selim Aazzazi, France) are up-to-the-moment examinations of how Westerners deal with political refugees and immigrants applying for citizenship. The Danish example of acceptance is con-

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“Gomez is a real storyteller, maybe one of our best” BAY AREA REPORTER

WORLD PREMIERE

By Jewelle Gomez Directed by Arturo Catricala

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MARC H 3 – APR I L 2

Courtesy the filmmaker

Jane Birkin in Swiss director Timo von Gunten’s La Femme et la TGV.

trasted with the French framework of suspicion. Timecode (dir. Juanjo Gimenez Pena, Spain) is a succinct reminder of the powerful remedy of artistic endeavor – in this case, expressive dance – in combating a soul-deadening job. But by a fair length our favorite of the five contenders for the Oscar, La Femme et la TGV (dir. Timo von Gunten, Switzerland), is a fanciful tale that plays like a fable but is based on a true story. The talents of the great English actress Jane Birkin, as an eccentric Swiss matron, are not wasted. The Oscar-nominated animated short films 2017 are more of a mixed bag. Borrowed Time (dirs. Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj, USA) and Pearl (dir. Patrick Osborne, USA) are both memory pieces, to more or less nostalgic effect, set in, respectively, the Old West and present-day America. Piper (dir. Alan Barillaro, USA) is a Pixar production, technically quite dazzling but sweetly sentimental, about a baby bird who overcomes his

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fear of the ocean. This one depends on your aesthetic. If you’re the sort who cries, “Cu-ute!” over baby animals, it’s for you. Blind Vaysha (dir. Theodore Ushev, Canada) is a folkloric tale illustrated in the style of woodcut imagery, compelling and authenticfeeling. The longest and most substantial animated nominee, Pear Brandy and Cigarettes (dir. Robert Valley, Canada and UK), is a firstperson narration about a troubled friendship. The Landmark screening takes note of the short’s violence, language, sex, and drug use, pointing out that it’s not appropriate for children. But for adults who have seen the effects of drug abuse, alcoholism or other selfdestructive behaviors in their own or their friends’ lives, the tragic true story will ring some bells. It’s our choice for the gleaming statuette. The Head Vanishes, Asteria and Happy End are additional short films that fill out the animated fare. Both shorts programs are worth a longer look.t

On the web

his week, find Victoria A. Brownworth’s Lavender Tube column, “Open mic at the POTUS presser,” online at ebar.com.t

Film>>

February 23-March 1, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 19

Acting Oscars & diversity: a history by Tavo Amador

enzel Washington (Fences), Ruth Negga (Loving), Mahershala Ali (Moonlight), Viola Davis (Fences), Naomi Harris (Moonlight) and Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures) garnered Oscar acting nominations for performances in 2016’s films, a record for black actors. Lion’s Dev Patel, an ethnic East Indian, has also been nominated. Following is a summary of black, Hispanic, and Far East Asian actor/ actress winners and nominees. A decade after Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to win (Best Supporting Actress, 1939’s Gone With the Wind), Jose Ferrer would be the first Hispanic nominated (Best Supporting Actor, 1948’s Joan of Arc). In 1950, he was the first Hispanic Best Actor winner (Cyrano de Bergerac). He earned another Best Actor nomination as Toulouse-Lautrec (1952’s Moulin Rouge). That year, Mexico’s Anthony Quinn was the first Latino Best Supporting Actor winner (Viva Zapata!). He would win again in that category as Paul Gauguin in 1956’s Lust for Life. In 1954, Dorothy Dandridge became the first African-American nominated for Best Actress (Carmen Jones), and Katy Jurado was the first Hispanic actress nominated, in the Best Supporting slot (Broken Lance). Sessue Hayakawa became the first Japanese nominee, as Best Supporting Actor (1957’s The Bridge on the River Kwai). Sidney Poitier was the first black Best Actor nominee (1958’s The Defiant Ones). 1959’s Imitation of Life garnered two Best Supporting Actress nominations: for Hispanic Susan Kohner and AfricanAmerican Juanita Moore. Rita Moreno became the first Latina Best Supporting Actress winner (1961’s West Side Story). Poitier was the first black named Best Actor (1963’s Lilies of the Field), defeating Quinn’s Zorba the Greek. Two years later, Japan’s Mako was up for Best Supporting Actor (The Sand Pebbles). Beah Richards earned a Supporting Actress nod in 1967’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? In 1970, Chief Dan George became the first Native American nominee, as Best Supporting Actor (Little Big Man). Paul Winfield and Cicely Tyson were nominated for lead roles for 1972’s Sounder. Diahann Carroll would garner a Best Actress nod (Claudine, 1974), but seven years passed until African-American Harold E. Rollins, Jr. was nominated as Best Supporting Actor (Ragtime, 1981). Next year, Louis Gosset, Jr. collected the Best Supporting Actor Oscar (An Officer and a Gentleman). In 1983, Alfre Woodard was a Best Supporting Actress nominee (Cross Creek). 1984 marked a first: Cambodian Haing S. Nor won Best Supporting Actor (The Killing Fields), beating Japanese-American Pat Morita (The Karate Kid). 1985 saw Whoopi Goldberg nominated for Best Actress in The Color Purple, and Margaret Avery and Oprah Winfrey nominated for Best Supporting Actress in that film. But 1986 saw only one black nominee, Dexter Gordon for Best Actor (Round Midnight). Next year, Morgan Freeman (Street Smart) and Denzel Washington (Cry Freedom) were nominated for Best Supporting Actor, while Argentina’s Norma Aleandro was a Best Supporting Actress nominee (Gaby: A True Story). James Edward Olmos was a Best Actor nominee for 1988’s Stand and Deliver. In 1989, Freeman was up for Best Actor (Driving Miss Daisy), while Washington won the Best Supporting prize (Glory). The 1990s opened with Cuban Andy Garcia and Native American Graham Greene nominated for Best Supporting Actor in The Godfather

III and Dances with Wolves, respectively. Goldberg collected the Best Supporting Actress Oscar (Ghost). Washington was nominated for Best Actor as Malcolm X, and Jaye Davidson for Best Supporting Actor for The Crying Game (1992). Next year, Angela Bassett earned a Best Actress nod as Tina Turner (What’s Love Got To Do with It?), and Rosie Perez got a Best Supporting nomination (Fearless). In 1994, Freeman was a Best Actor nominee (The Shawshank Redemption), and Pulp Fiction’s Samuel L. Jackson was among those nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Cuba Gooding, Jr. collected that prize for 1996’s Jerry Maguire. The decade ended with a Best Actor nomination for Washington (Hurricane) and a Best Supporting Actor nod for The Green Mile’s Michael Clark Duncan. Spain’s Javier Bardem was a 2000 Best Actor nominee (Before Night Falls), while Traffic’s Benicio del Toro won the Best Supporting Actor award. Washington was 2001’s Best Actor (Training Day). Next year, Salma Hayek was up for Best Actress as Frida, and Queen Latifah received a nod in the supporting category (Chicago). 2003 saw Del Toro (21 Grams), Djiman Houson (In

Courtesy Paramount

Courtesy Focus Features

Left: Denzel Washington is nominated for Best Actor in Fences. Right: Ruth Negga is nominated for Best Actress in Loving.

America) and Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai) nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Next year, Jamie Foxx was the Best Actor (Ray), beating Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda, while Freeman finally won Best Supporting Actor (Million Dollar Baby), beating Foxx (Collateral). Catalina Sandino Moreno was a Best Actress nominee for Maria Full

of Grace, while Hotel Rwanda’s Sophie Okonedo was nominated in the Best Supporting category. In 2006, Forrest Whitaker’s King of Scotland crowned him Best Actor, edging out Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness). Hounsou in Blood Diamond and Dreamgirls’ Eddie Murphy were Best Supporting Actor nominees, while Jennifer Hudson won Best

Supporting Actress (Dreamgirls), defeating Japan’s Rinko Kikuchi and Adriana Barraza, both for Babel. Next year, Bardem was the Best Supporting Actor (No Country for Old Men) while Ruby Dee was a supporting actress nominee (American Gangster). Penelope Cruz won that prize in 2008 (Vicki Christina Barcelona), edging out Viola Davis (Doubt). In 2009, Freeman was a Best Actor nominee (Invictus), Gabourey Sidibe was a Best Actress nominee (Precious), which earned Mo’Nique the supporting Oscar over Cruz (Nine). Bardem would garner another Best Actor nod (Biutiful, 2010). 2011 saw The Help’s Davis earning a Best Actress nomination and Octavia Spencer winning Best Supporting. Washington got another Best Actor nod for 2012’s Flight, and Quvenzhane Wallis was a Best Actress nominee (Beasts of the Southern Wild). 2013 saw 12 Years a Slave’s Chiwetel Ejiofor among the Best Actor nominees, while Lupita Nyong’o won Best Supporting Actress for that movie. Barkhad Abdi was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Captain Phillips. Then no nominations for blacks, Hispanics, or Far East Asians until this year.t

<< Out&About

20 • BAY AREA REPORTER • February 23-March 1, 2017

Out &About

O&A

Fri 24

13th Floor, Twisted Oak @ ODC Theater Double bill of physical dance theater works by the two local companies. $15-$45. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 5pm. Thru March 4. 3153 17th St. www.odcdance.org

Blast Theater Festival @ Ashby Theatre, Berkeley Festival of dance and theatre arts. $10-$20. Thru Feb. 26. 1901 Ashby Ave. www.shotgunplayers.org

Thu 23 Don’t Feel: The Death of Dahmer (Fri 24) @ Z Space, part of Mumuration Festival

Killer queens by Jim Provenzano

njoy arts with a dark and nasty twist this week; a musical drag parody of a Hitchcock film, a gay cannibal drama and a campy cannibal musical. See more listings, including museums on www.ebar.com. For nightlife events, see On the Tab listings.

Thu 23

Beartoonist of San Francisco @ GLBT History Museum Beartoonist of San Francisco: Sketching an Emerging Subculture, featuring art work by bear cartoonist Fran Frisch. $5. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

Billy Elliot @ Berkeley Playhouse Local production of the (10 Tonywinning) musical, with music by Elton John, based on the film about a poor British boy who aspires to become a ballet dancer. $22-$40. Note earlier curtain times (7pm or 1pm). Thru Mar. 25. Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave., Berkeley. www.berkeleyplayhouse.org

Bootycandy @ Brava Theatre Center Robert O’Hara’s semi-autobiographical subversive comedy about growing up Black and gay in America. Thru March 5. 2781 24th St. www.brava.org

The Christians @ SF Playhouse

Fool for Love @ Magic Theatre New production of Sam Shepard’s capitivating drama about two straight lovers digging into their past in a run-down hotel room. $75-$90. Tue 7pm. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2:30pm. Thru March 5. 2 Marina Blvd., Bldg D. www.magictheatre.org

John @ Strand Theatre American Conservatory Theatre’s production of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker’s drama about a couple’s increasingly strange stay at a bed and breakfast in historic Gettysburg; co-starring Georgia Engel ( The Mary Tyler Moore Show ). $20-$105. Tue-Sat 7:30pm. Wed & Sat 1pm. Thru April 23. (Out with A.C.T. night Mar. 15). 1127 Market St. 749-2228. www.act-sf.org

Mincing Words @ The Marsh Tom Ammiano’s comic solo show about his life in California politics. $20-$100. Thursdays at 7:30pm thru March 9. 1062 Valencia St. www.themarsh.org

Murmuration Festival @ Z Space

Lucas Hnath’s Off-Broadway hit unflinching look at faith in America, staged with a live choir, gets a West Coast premiere. $20-$125. Tue-Thu 7pm. Fri 7 Sat 8pm. Sat 3pm, Sun 2pm. Thru March 11. 450 Post St., 2nd floor. www.sfplayhouse.org

Short solo plays by Kevin Rolston, Dazié Greg-Sykes, Rotimi Agbabiaka, Evan Johnston ( Don’t Feel: The Death of Dahmer) some with gay themes, in repertory, thru March 12. $20 each; $80 for all shows. Various times/ dates. 450 Florida St. (866) 811-4111. www.zspace.org/murmuration

Classic & New Films @ Castro Theatre

The Real Thing @ Aurora Theatre, Berkeley

Feb 23-25: Lesbians Who Tech. Feb 25: Some Kind of Wonderful (7:30) and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (9:20). Feb 26: The Power and the Glory (2:45, 6:30) and Citizen Kane (4:15, 8pm). Feb 28: Hidden Figures (3:30, 6pm, 8:30). March 1: The Big Sleep (7pm) and Farewell, My Lovely (9:10). March 2: Delicatessen (7pm) and The Tenant (8:55). $11-$16. 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

Tom Stoppard’s Tony-winning play about a straight couple’s problems of infidelity and fiction vs. reality. Thru March 5. 2081 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 843-4822. auroratheatre.org

Daughter of a Garbageman @ The Marsh KGO host and stand-up comic Maureen Langan’s solo show about her family life, and the endurance of working class people. $20-$100. Thu 8pm. Sat 5pm. Thru March 25. 1062 Valencia St. www.themarsh.org

Eat, Pray, Laugh! @ The Marsh Berkeley Katie Rubin’s solo show about a Jewish princess’ search for an Indian guru. $20-$100. Thu 8pm, Sat 8:30pm. Thru March 11. 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. www.themarsh.org

Silence: The Musical @ Victoria Theatre Cloud 9 Theatricals and Ray of Light Theatre present the Bay Area premiere of Jon Kaplan, Al Kaplan and Hunter Bell’s acclaimed unauthorized musical parody of the film/book Silence of the Lambs. $35-$45. Thu-Sat 8pm (Some Saturdays 7pm and/or 10pm). Thru March 18. 2961 16th St. 863-7576. www.silencethemusicalsf.com

Daniel’s Husband @ New Conservatory Theatre Center West Coast premiere of Michael McKeever’s drama about a gay couple’s disagreeement over marriage. $25-$50. Wed-Sat 8pm Sun 2pm. Thru Feb. 26. 25 Van Ness Ave., lower level. www.nctcsf.org

Flim-Flam @ Eureka Theatre World premiere of John Fisher’s new comedy about three actors who hit the road in search of roles. $15-$40. WedSat 8pm. Sat 3pm. Thru March 18. 215 Jackson St. www.TheRhino.org

Hand to God @ Berkeley Repertory Robert Askins’ dark comedy about a hand puppet that speaks to a young man in a far-right religious church. $29-$89. Tue, Thu-Sat 8pm. Wed & Sun 7pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru March 19. 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

Hedda Gabler @ Exit on Taylor Cutting Ball theatre company’s production of Paul Walsh’s translation of Henrik Ibsen’s historic pre-feminist drama. $15-$45. Thu 7pm, Fri & Sat 8pm, Sun 5pm. Thru Feb. 26. 277 Taylor St. www.cuttingball.com

Lynn Hershman Leeson: Civic Radar @ YBCA New retrospective exhibit of the Bay Area artist known for videos, installations and feminist themes. Free/$15. Thru May 21. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. www.ybca.org

Misfit Cabaret @ Great Star Theatre This new unusual cabaret show takes on a Grimm fairy tale theme, with Kat Robichaud (a finalist on The Voice ), Jordan Nathan, Eliza Rickman, Johnny Rockitt, Shadow Circus Creature Theater, Hollow Eve, Bo Vixxen and other talents. $20-$250 (VIP tables). 8pm. Also Feb 24, March 3 & 4. 636 Jackson St. www.eventbrite.com

The Real Americans @ The Marsh Berkeley Dan Hoyle’s solo show depicting the rifts between real people left and right, blue state and red, with a postelection update. $25-$100. Thu & Fri 8pm. Sat 5pm. Thru Feb. 25. 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. www.themarsh.org

The Source @ Taube Atrium Theater Composer Ted Hearne and librettist Mark Doten’s acclaimed multimedia oratorio about Chelsea Manning. $35. Feb 24-26, March 1-3, various times. Veterans Building, 4th floor, 401 Van Ness Ave. www.sfoperalab.com

Sat 25

Assassins @ Alcazar Theatre Stephen Sondheim’s five Tony-winning musical about historic political killers is performed by Bay Area Musicals. $35$65. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sat 2pm. Thru Mar. 18. 650 Geary St. www.bamsf.org

Black Choreographers Festival @ Dance Mission Theater SF/ Malonga Casquelourd Center, Oakland New and repertory works by African American dance-makers Byb Chanel Bibene, Gregory Dawson, Ibrahima Diouf, and others. $10-$30. Thru Feb. 26. 1428 Alice St., Oakland; 3316 24th St. SF. www.bcfhereandnow.com

Black Lives Masquerade @ Zaccho Dance Theatre Site-specific multi-locale street and venue performance about police brutality and injustice. 3pm, 1777 Yosemite Ave., with a procession to Bayview Opera House, 4705 3rd St. www.somarts.org/gsdmbayview

Monet: The Early Years @ Legion of Honor New exhibit of paintings by the master Impressionist; thru May 29. Also, The Future of the Past: Mummies and Medicine, thru August 2018. Also, World in a Book, A Princely Pursuit and other exhibits. Free/$15. Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. Lincoln Park, 100 34th Ave. 750-3600. www.famsf.org

Kitka @ St. Cyprians Church The amazing women’s folk vocal ensemble performs with Iranian singer Mahsa Vahdat in concerts of songs from Iran, Armenia, Georgia, and the Balkans. $25-$30. 8pm. 2097 Turk St. Also, Feb 25 & 26 (2pm, $53-$100) vocal workshops in Persian singing with Vahdat, Silk Road House, 1944 University Ave. (800) 838-3006. www.Kitka.org www.noevalleymusicseries.com

Vinyl Riot @ Thrillhouse Records Group exhibit of historic punk music art by Eddie Valentine, Heriberto Martinez Jr., Jennifer Phan, Abigail Munoz, Tommy Becker, Brian Weiss and Solis. Thru Mar. 4. 3422 Mission St. www.innovativemammalsolis.com

Sun 26

Academy of Friends @ Midway

Mon 27 Not Alone @ SF Arts Commission Gallery

Not Alone: Exploring Bonds Between and With Members of the Armed Forces, an expansive group exhibition featuring works by local and national artists and veteran artists. 6pm-8pm. Thru March 4. War Memorial Veterans Bldg. 401 Van Ness Ave. www.sfartscommission.org/gallery

Unearthed @ California Academy of Sciences Exhibits and planetarium shows with various live, interactive and installed exhibits about animals, plants and the earth; new exhibit, From Stone Age to Space Age, showcases minerals through time. Special events each week, with adult nightlife parties many Thursday nights. $20-$35. Mon-Sat 9:30am-5pm. Sun 11am-5pm. 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. 379-8000. calacademy.org

Tue 28

David King @ IS Fine Art and Design The local multimedia artist’s captivating new and recent collages and drawings. 3848 24th St. at Church. www.davidkingcollage.com www.IanStallings.com

Kim Lembo @ Bazaar Café The singer-songwriter’s Tuesday residency thru February includes special music guests. 7pm-9:30pm. 5927 California St. www.kimlembomusic.com www.bazaarcafe.com

Nocturnes & Noir @ Harvey Milk Photo Center Exhibit of nighttime photos. Thru April 2. 50 Scott St. www.harveymilkphotocenter.com

Wed 1

Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia @ Berkeley Art Museum/ Pacific Film Archive New large-scale multimedia exhibit about 1960s-1970s counterculture. Thru May 21. Free-$12. 2625 Durant Ave., Berkeley. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu

Jason Mecier @ Dolores Park Café

The original annual Oscar-viewing gala party, with food, drinks, festive fun; cocktail or formal/festive attire. $300-$750. 5pm-11pm. 900 Marin St. www.academyoffriends.org

The popular gay collage artist known for celebrity portraits unveils his latest collection Real Housewives of Macaroni, at the café. 501 Dolores St. www.jasonmecier.com www.doloresparkcafe.com

A Billion Buddhas @ Asian Art Museum

Marlon James @ Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley

A Billion Buddhas: The Awakened Cosmos of Himalyan Buddhism (thru April 9). Other exhibits include Worshipping Women: Power and Devotion in Indian Painting (thru Mar. 26). Free-$25. Tue-Sun 10am-5pm. 200 Larkin St. 581-3500. www.asianart.org

OutLook Video @ Channel 29 The weekly LGBT TV show, with updates on current events. 9:30pm. www.outlookvideo.org

Cal Performances presents a talk with the Booker Prize-winning author. $5. 8pm. Bancroft Way at Dana, UC Berkeley campus. www.calperformances.org

Thu 2

Matthew Morrison @ Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek Broadway musical theatre star and Glee’s favorite teacher performs his new cabaret concert. $72-$102. 8pm. 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek. www.lesherartscenter.org

Psycho: The Musical @ Oasis Pandora Boxx stars in the L.A. production of a drag parody of the famous Hitchcock film; with special guest star Katya Smirnoff-Skyy. $25$35. 8pm. March 3 & 4, 7pm. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

A Thousand Splendid Suns @ Geary Theater American Conservatory Theatre presents the world premiere of Ursula Rani Sarma’s theatrical adaptation (with live music) of Khaled Hosseini’s best-selling novel set in war-torn modern Kabul. $25-$100. Tue-Sat 8pm (or 7pm). Sun 7pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru Feb. 26. 415 Geary St. 7492228. www.act-sf.org

Wed 1 Marlon James @ Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley

Sampson McCormick @ Port Bar, Oakland The award-winning gay comic brings “Comic Relief From the Grief” to the new LGBT bar. $15. 7pm. 2023 Broadway, Oakland. www.sampsoncomedy.com

Theatre>>

February 23-March 1, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 21

American psychos by Richard Dodds

here had never seemed a right time to produce Assassins. The initial production of the Stephen Sondheim-John Weidman musical opened off-Broadway in 1991, in the midst of the First Gulf War – you remember: the good one, the one to liberate Kuwait, the one that brought back patriotic yellow ribbons, the one that we actually won – and a song-and-dance show about real-life folks who have tried and sometimes succeeded to snuff out POTUS was out of sort with the times and didn’t run long. But 13 years later, it felt right to give Assassins another try, this time on Broadway, and rehearsals were set to begin on Sept. 17, 2001. Since one of the would-be assassins in the musical planned to highjack a 747 and crash it into the White House while Richard Nixon was at home, the timing was, to say the least, awkward, and the production was postponed. It finally got its shot at Broadway in 2004 – in the midst of the Second Gulf War, but “Mission Accomplished” had already been declared – and critics and audiences were able to appreciate its artistry. But let’s face it. Assassins is always going to have a queasy edge, even in these sweetly copacetic times, but maybe enough years have passed since the last would-be assassin took shot in 1981 in a love letter to Jodie Foster that more distancing appreciation is possible. This is the kind of musical that needs a preface, and with that out of the way, we can move on to Bay Area Musicals’ current staging of Assassins at the Alcazar Theatre, and the news is extraordinarily good. Director Daren A.C. Carollo and his company hit all the right notes in a musical of multi-levels of moral ambiguity and unexpected humor, providing context for the culprits’ motives while never exculpating their actions. Carollo’s set nicely fills the wide Alcazar stage, alternately suggesting a carnival and a grim frame of industrial girders. Sondheim’s songs often suggest the eras in which the crimes are taking place, from American folk to gospel to vaudeville to Top 40s pop. A kind of ringmaster, known as the Proprietor and played in creepy,

When We Rise

From page 17

Australian film star Guy Pearce stars as the older Cleve Jones, with Austin P. Mackenzie appearing as the younger Cleve. Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg plays Pat Norman, an African American lesbian who ran for Board of Supervisors during the 1980s, while Rosie O’Donnell appears as Del Martin, who co-founded Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian organization in US history. Glee’s Kevin McHale will be seen as Bobbi Campbell, an AIDS activist who appeared on the cover of Newsweek in 1983, the year before he died. Michael K. Williams will play Ken Jones, an organizer for the African American gay community, while Carrie Preston will essay the role of lesbian activist Sally Gearhart, a close ally of Harvey Milk’s. “It’s very important to remind ourselves how hard-won equality is, and how easily dismantled it can be,” co-star Rachel Griffiths told the B.A.R., speaking from her home in Australia. The actress portrays Diane Jones, a nurse at SF General Hospital who treated early AIDS patients. “She was one of the first nurses at the AIDS ward,” Griffiths said of her character. “Her courage was going to work. Not everyone changes the world via megaphone. Some change the world quietly.”

“People will hate me,” Oswald demurs. “But they’ll hate you with a passion,” is Booth’s convincing reply. Along the way we also meet anarchist Leon Czolgosz (played with frazzled intensity by DC Scarpelli), who takes out William McKinley; dyspeptic Giuseppe Zangara (the always-moaning Terrence McLaughlin), who fires at FDR; John Hinckley (a convincingly shlubby Zac Schuman), who sings a Carpenters-like ballad to his beloved Jodie Foster in a duet with Kelli Schultz as bewitched hippie Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, whose own ardor is for Courtesy Bay Area Musicals Charles Manson. Peter Budinger, as Charles Guiteau, The musical also struts his way to the gallows in vaudeville turns Schultz’s Fromfashion for assassinating President me and Jessica Fisher’s James Garfield in Bay Area Musicals’ ditsy housewife Sara production of Assassins. Moore into a kind of comic duo since they both took aim mime-faced fashion by Eric Neiat Gerald Ford just 17 days apart. man, introduces us to the gallery of The ingratiating and most chilling scoundrels before they play out their performance is provided by Sage deeds in songs that, in their minds, Georgevitch-Castellanos as an inrationally explain their motives. nocent, Huck Finn-type balladeer Some of these figures have faded through most of the show before into the murk of history, such as transforming into the dead-eyed depressed and unemployed SamLee Harvey Oswald near the end. uel Byck (convincingly played as a This masterful production bencrusty misanthrope by John Brown) efits from Matthew McCoy’s approwho was going to aim a 747 at the priately roughhewn choreography, White House, or lawyer Charles Brooke Jennings’ costumes that Guiteau (a stately Peter Budinger), draw on decades of fashions, Ryan who murdered James Garfield when Weible’s evocative lighting, and a he didn’t get appointed ambassador sharp eight-piece orchestra led by to France. His ascent up the stairs Jon Gallo. After a somewhat rocky to the gallows becomes a strutting start last season, Bay Area Musicals vaudeville number. has shown a steady improvement, And then, of course, there are the culminating with a first-rate proBig Two: John Wilkes Booth and Lee duction of Assassins. And in other Harvey Oswald. As Booth, a charisgood news, the musical hasn’t had matic Derrick Silva sings in defense to add any new characters since its of his assassination of Lincoln in debut in 1991.t patriotic terms while a balladeer offers less savory explanations. Silva, as Assassins will run through March Booth, then appears nearly a century 19 at the Alcazar Theatre. Tickets later at the Texas School Book Deposare $35-$65. Call (415) 340-2207 or itory to help goad Lee Harvey Oswald go to bamsf.org. into assassinating John F. Kennedy. At a time when the world was afraid to touch people with AIDS, Jones embraced them. “This was a time when hospital orderlies wouldn’t take food into patients’ rooms,” Griffiths said. “It was hysteria.” “We’ve been coasting,” Griffiths said of the past few years. “We are now waking up to the ramifications of being politically complacent. Hopefully this production will inspire people to stand up.” “It’s important to tell LGBT stories,” writer Dustin Lance Black, who also directed one episode, told the B.A.R. “This is a story where we don’t die at the end. We’re now at the stage where we can be presented as whole human beings and survive. It’s a message we can send to our kids.” Black feels that the stories in When We Rise take on greater meaning in the current political climate. “I would give anything in this world for this to be less necessary,” he said. “The words of division coming from our federal government are taking their toll on our youth. Those stoking fear have blood on their hands.” Black hopes that When We Rise will open the hearts and minds in conservative parts of the country. “I wrote it for all our country and all its peoples. I’m very proud of the work we’ve done in the writer’s room. We speak a language that both Americas will understand.” Milk director Gus Van Sant di-

rected the first episode of When We Rise. “It’s sort of avant-garde to say that this will play on ABC,” he said. “It will be seen across America, not just on HBO or Netflix. On a more mainstream channel it will go to places it couldn’t otherwise go.” Van Sant feels that the series, which spans across four decades, will be thrilling for viewers. “Watching the characters evolve over the years is one of the series’ strengths,” he said. “People in San Francisco will recognize their stories and issues. People in small towns may react in a smaller way.” Historical incidents from New York City will be mentioned, such as the Stonewall Riots, but the series will remain primarily in San Francisco. “Cleve goes to an ACT UP meeting in New York,” he said. “We’ll also see some of the characters’ hometown pasts.” Black hopes that seeing When We Rise will bring people from different communities together. “Communities of diversity must come together. Not just LGBTs, all communities. If we are divided, if we are only interested in our own issues we could lose our rights. Together we are unstoppable.”t When We Rise premiere: Mon., 2/27; Parts II & III: Wed., 3/1; Parts IV & V: Thurs., 3/2; Parts VI & VII: Fri., 3/3.

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<< Theatre

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • February 23-March 1, 2017

Queer kaleidoscope by Richard Dodds

n the world of Bootycandy, the Bible contains the psalms of RuPaul and the wisdom of Cicely Tyson. The play also references child molestation, hygiene for keeping your dick from falling off, post-rape suicide, a fire-and-brimstone pastor who prefers drag, a baby saddled with the name Genitalia, and a game of truth-or-dare that results in a penis being plopped on a barroom table. In other words, we’re in a tilt-a-whirl world that defies predictability. Yet predictably, it’s an uneven ride that bumps and twists its way to an ultimately satisfying conclusion at Brava Theater Center. Bootycandy is made up of 11 scenes of near and distant connections that vary in tone, but contain the discernable through-line of playwright Robert O’Hara’s often oblique and indirect exploration of what it means to be black and gay in America. Many of the pieces stem from some part of O’Hara’s experiences as a boy, teenager, and adult – but he adds that these tales were born out of the “infancy” of any incident. The short pieces written over a long period were not meant to be a whole, and a loose connective tissue being unfurled across the play includes a meta-theatrical device that

Courtesy Brava Theater Center

Kehinde Koyejo and Indiia Wilmott plays sisters debating the wisdom of naming a baby Genitalia in Robert O’Hara’s Bootycandy at Brava Theater Center.

even mocks the play itself. Although he does not figure into every scene, the primary recurring character is Sutter, skillfully played by AeJay Mitchell at various points in his life. Inklings that Sutter may be gay come early on, and his nononsense mother (fiercely played by Indiia Wilmott in middle age, and as just fiercely by Kehinde Koyejo as a young mother) tries to straighten him out. “You can’t do no more musicals because you have to go wrestle

or bounce a ball. I don’t give a damn what kind of ball it is, but you will be spending this coming summer with balls in your face.” A vaguely engaged stepfather pipes in, “You need to start bending your knees when you pick stuff up.” Knee articulation and being denied a role in The Wiz do not make Sutter straight. Later we meet him in a series of bars where he’s trying to negotiate the parameters of his sexual relationship with a married

straight man (the versatile Aaron Wilson, convincing in several later personas as well). In these scenes, O’Hara displays a keen ear for dialogue that can say a lot in just a word or two, and what is said travels from the light amusement of bi-curious flirtation to the melancholy of eventual solitude. O’Hara leavens the more somber scenes with interludes of broad humor, but still with an edge if you look for it. In a conversation, a sister is trying to convince her sibling not to name her daughter Genitalia. The borderline absurd conversation is written in a vernacular that would be impossible to transcribe upon hearing, and probably seem racially insensitive as well, so here I will turn to O’Hara’s script: “You need ta take a lil time out and think about what it means to be putting all that on a lil chile who don’t know nuthin n can’t tell you ta go ta hell fo naming it that, I’ll call you a bit you still going ta the bingo?” Another high-comic moment starts promisingly before turning into something of an obvious cliche. A preacher is excoriating his congregation on the matter of rumors, especially those suggesting that male members of the choir “have been seen giving each other knowing looks” that seem a prelude

to homosexual behavior. Before long, the pastor is in full drag, ranting on the need to allow for full self-expression. This piece is largely saved by Rotimi Agakabiaka’s fiery performance as the preacher. Agakabiaka’s best scene comes at the end, when he plays Sutter’s grandmother, now confined to a nursing home. This is a canny, demanding woman who has perhaps rewritten her own history, but who knows how to get what she wants now, and Agakabiaka takes the character to the hilt. Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe has directed the West Coast premiere of Bootycandy smoothly, moving through the changing scenes and capturing the distinct flavors in each. In one scene at a symposium among black playwrights, Sutter tells the gathering, “I think the audience should choke. After you’ve choked on something and you’ve struggled to get it down your throat, you can feel its presence in the space it went through.” Either purposefully or in misapprehension, O’Hara overstates the asphyxiating power of Bootycandy. It may shock or surprise, but I swallowed just fine.t Bootycandy will run at Brava Theater Center through Mar. 5. Tickets are $30. Go to brava.org.

John Adams, birthday boy

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merican composer John Adams turns 70 this month. The transplanted New Englander, longtime California resident and citizen of the world is back in the city for a birthday celebration with the San Francisco Symphony. He is also finishing his score for the San Francisco Opera-commissioned Girls of the Golden West with frequent

composer-conductor looked on the following week as conductor Grant Gershon and director Elkhanah Pulitzer presented the first SFS performances of his fiercely challenging The Gospel According to the Other Mary (2012). This week violinist Leila Josefowicz joins Michael Tilson Thomas for a concert that balances selections from Romeo and Juliet with Adams’ Scheherazade.2. It’s touted as “a Grammy Award-winning evening”: MTT won for the Prokofiev, Josefowicz was nominated for Scheherazade.2, and Adams has bagged five of the awards himself. He also got a Pulitzer in 2003 for On the Transmigration of Souls, but who’s counting? In the complicated world of contemporary classical music, Adams continues to find crossover appeal. While his works usually elicit the gamut of critical response, he still delights and shocks listeners with each new composition. The recent SoundBox menu showed Adams’ generosity to new writers. Andrew Norman’s chamber work Try, conducted by Adams in its 2011 premiere, pleased the crowd and signaled an interesting new voice, but the two-piano performance of Hallelujah Junction featuring Orli Shaham and Molly Morkoski, selections from John’s Book of Alleged Dances, and the concert-closing Ragamarole (after more than four decades of neglect), with pianist Robin Sutherland tickling the ivories, supplied the best energy of the night. The Gospel According to the Other Mary, with a libretto compiled by Peter Sellars from texts and poems of feminist writers and social activists, shows Adams at his most inventive and uncompromising. It is a long and tough experience, filled with gut-wrenching emotion and passages of almost hallucinatory elation, unafraid to test the listener’s concentration or understanding. This ST at full-tilt15THmaturity, and it | is Adams Catering provides serious proof of his edgy intellectual evolution. Always admired for skills in orchestration and a natu16TH ST ral feeling for seductive rhythms and tunes, The Other Mary shows Adams in a much starker light. No one expects a17THPassion oratoST rio to be an easy ride, and judging ET

collaborator director-librettist Peter Sellars, set for a world premiere in the 2017-18 season. Two weeks of SFS concerts, currently in progress, feature relatively late compositions, so fans and admirers will have to wait for a retrospective. Adams is still too busy to spend much time looking back. Getting things started with a SoundBox Emergent program that he curated and hosted himself, the

M AR K

by Philip Campbell

Stefan Cohen

Mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor sang the title role of John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary in its San Francisco Symphony debut.

by the number of people who bailed at intermission and the slow stream of attendees leaving throughout the performance, many listeners just couldn’t handle it. I understand. There are a few longueurs in the score, and it is quite an endurance test, but for all who remained to the end, it had the very effect I suspect was intended. Uneasy catharsis and a halting sense of solace are actually a pretty big result. We stumbled back into the night with renewed faith in the power of music to provoke and reward, and further awe at the sheer integrity of Adams’ genius. Elkhanah Pulitzer’s (we know her best from SF Opera Lab) staging was minimalist as an early Adams score, and she made telling points with indelible character groupings and a scenic economy of means. That bare lightbulb in Act II was a literally brilliant idea. Seth Reiser’s lighting and Christine Crook (costume designer) and Sibilla Carini (associate costume designer) helped to create a compelling atmosphere. Ragnar Bohlin’s SFS Chorus was magnificent in important contributions requiring a dauntingly wide range of expression. From start to finish, they provided an electric charge of theatricality. A trio of countertenors reminiscent of the Adams/Sellars Nativity oratorio El Nino, Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings and Nathan Med-

ley delivered the text with an ethereal purity that was also amazingly enunciated. The supertitles were helpful throughout the night, but they were mainly needed to explain the action rather than display the words. As the sisters Mary (conflated with Mary Magdalene) and Martha, transported to a modern shelter for women, mezzo-sopranos Kelley O’Connor and Tamara Mumford displayed not only strong vocal technique and acting skills, but also remarkable stamina. Tenor Jay Hunter Morris as Lazarus, their brother, was a little more effortful, but his singing in the exquisite Passover scene (evidence of Adams’ ability with an almost pop idiom) was affecting, and he was never less than a powerful presence. The orchestra and conductor Grant Gershon were wonderful in the orchestral interludes, and the percussion punctuating the narrative was exciting. The use of cimbalom (hammered dulcimer) and the klezmer wail of the clarinet spiced the texture with a haunting blend of ancient and modern sounds. Scheherazade.2 is also a feminist take on an old story: the legendary dream-weaver faces the perils of a male-dominant culture. Adams gives her a voice both seductive and defiant. Violinist Leila Josefowicz is just the woman to take the part. (SFS, 2/22-25)t

Film>>

February 23-March 1, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

Musical Best Pictures through the ages by Matthew Kennedy

f La La Land takes the Best Picture award at the Academy Awards on Feb. 26 as expected, it will be the 11th musical to do so. The simple romance between an actress and pianist in present-day LA racked up an untenable 14 nominations. Two of the best, Meet Me in St. Louis and Singin’ in the Rain, weren’t even nominated. Two other great ones, Wizard of Oz and Cabaret, didn’t pick up the Best Picture award for good reasons – see Gone with the Wind and The Godfather. While Academy choices of Best Picture musicals may not all fondly endure, most offer more sonic pleasure than the insipid little ditties of La La Land. Broadway Melody (1929) is as creaky as creaky can be, but it is essential viewing for the committed student of film musicals. As the second Best Picture winner, it was the first talkie and first musical so honored. Its merits are hard to decipher today, though Bessie Love’s performance avoids the pervading rigor mortis. The thrill of movie sound and singing was brand-new, and director Harry Beaumont’s camera is surprisingly fluid for the time. The backstage story wasn’t fresh even then, but Broadway Melody became the template for many later musical retreads. The Great Ziegfeld (1936) is an over-baked, half-risen MGM soufflé, aided by showcases for Fanny Brice and Ray Bolger and the welcome presence of William Powell and Myrna Loy. It’s most remembered for its magnum production numbers. “A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody” still dazzles for the very reason it wasn’t created by software, but rather was the result of an army of technicians, musicians, craftspeople, and artists working at the capacity of their powers at

the mightiest studio of them all. Luise Rainer’s brief and mannered performance as Ziegfeld’s first wife also won an Oscar, demonstrating MGM’s get-out-the-vote prowess. Going My Way (1944) continued the Academy’s tradition of questionable Best Picture musicals. As drippy as vanilla ice cream at a Fourth of July picnic, Going My Way is an Oscar oddity. Scene-stealer Barry Fitzgerald was nominated twice for the same performance in both the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor categories. He won for the latter, while a warbling Bing Crosby in the same film took Best Actor. War-weary audiences loved the sentimental tale of lovable Irish Catholic priests, and it became one of the biggest moneymakers of the 1940s. The fact that it beat Double Indemnity and Gaslight for Best Picture looks scandalous today. La La Land owes plenty to An American in Paris (1951), from its wistful lovers yearning for creative fulfillment, to its painterly set-pieces, dream ballet, and use of music to interrupt the movie’s tenuous hold on realism. Though An American in Paris is unfavorably compared to actor-choreographer Gene Kelly’s subsequent masterpiece Singin’ in the Rain, it remains a worthy Best Picture choice, from its peerless treatment of George Gershwin’s melodies (“I Got Rhythm” and “Our Love is Here to Stay” are fairly irresistible), to director Vincente Minnelli’s innovative use of color, and the unsurpassed extended ballet that closes the film. A recent Tony-winning Broadway reworking suggests the film has legs. Gigi (1958) is an original screen musical made when such things were on the endangered species list. A velvety beautiful film, Gigi had the finest pedigree of the day. Starring Leslie Caron and Maurice Cheva-

lier, it was produced by MGM from a novella by Colette, directed by Minnelli, composed by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, and designed by Cecil Beaton. Gigi’s reputation suffers from the notion that its story of a courtesan in training exploits women. But its titular pupil winds up with exactly whom and what she wants, and gets there with a lilting score and some of the most sumptuous Parisian location filming you’ll ever see. As original screen musicals disappeared, Broadway adaptations came to dominate the genre in the 1960s. West Side Story (1961), for all its musical and choreographic brilliance, was not a stage hit of the highest order, lasting just 732 performances. The film, however, did terrific business and won 10 Oscars, the most of any musical before or since. Stars Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer did rudimentary dancing, and their singing was canned, but everyone around them crackles with an electric energy inspired by Leonard Bernstein’s great score. More than any other winner, My Fair Lady (1964) reveals the hazards of a Broadway-to-Hollywood adaptation. The Lerner-and-Loewe smash was transferred with such reverence it looks like a stage recreation on expensive sets. Every note of its sacred score is preserved, as is every squint from its priggish

anti-hero Henry Higgins, played by originator Rex Harrison. Choosing Audrey Hepburn over stage star Julie Andrews for Eliza Doolittle was the most obvious gesture by Warner Bros. that this Lady had “gone Hollywood.” Ensuing box-office was spectacular. After winning an Oscar the previous year for her screen debut in Mary Poppins, Andrews went on to star in the most popular musical of all time. Adjusted for inflation, The Sound of Music (1965) remains the third all-time biggest box-office. Something about Andrews’ crystalline voice, the Austrian Alps, nuns, Nazis, and children needing new

play clothes combined so effectively that Hollywood has yet to reformulate its success, despite many attempts. The British-made Oliver! (1968), then as now, elicits mixed reactions. Its score is boisterous (“Consider Yourself ”), delicate (“Where is Love?”), or torchy (“As Long As He Needs Me”), but something about its lovablehateful villains, fetid Dickensian setting, child abuse, and murder competes with the film’s strained upbeat spirit. Oliver! appeared when gargantuan, overpriced musicals were losing big bucks, and it would be the last musical to win Best Picture for 34 long years. The most recent musical winner, Chicago (2002), solved the supposed problem of people busting out in song by staging numbers in the leading lady’s fermenting imagination. With its rat-a-tat razzle-dazzle, quick edits, nourish lighting, and absence of slut-shaming, Chicago is the most Bob Fossesque musical Bob Fosse didn’t make. He directed the stage original, but died before it landed on the big screen. Will La La Land take its place among these winners? I bet yes. It’s winning awards right and left, and everybody’s green-lighting musicals again. When a genre is perceived as reborn because of one film, the industry love runneth over. Even more, Hollywood loves itself and the myths it spins.t

First three days of March

by David Lamble

he Castro Theatre begins its March programming on Wednesday with The Big Sleep (1946). Humphrey Bogart’s second great private eye (Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe) is caught between the demands of an aging mogul and two mismatched daughters (Lauren Bacall and Marsha Vickers). The film that virtually defines film noir, this 1946 release gave Humphrey Bogart his second crack at the world-weary, cynical but totally honest private eye Marlowe, capable of witty one-liners. “She tried to sit in my lap while I was standing up.” Farewell My Lovely (1975) Robert Mitchum is the best thing going for this third film version of a Raymond Chandler novel that was too

well-written to be entirely ruined. (both 3/1) Delicatessen (1991) Jean-Pierre Jeunet provides an oddball take on cannibalism that’s (sorry for this) not for all tastes. The color scheme matches its icky artistic intent. The Tenant (1976) Roman Polanski helms this odd terror cult piece about an unlucky soul who moves into the room once rented by a woman who took her life. (both 3/2) Reservoir Dogs (1992) One-time Southland video clerk Quentin Tarrantino made a huge splash with this hyper hip, extremely bloody bankheist noir that re-invented an old genre for the 90s. As with the greatest pop art, there’s something to please or offend virtually anyone. The piece starts out with an aging gangster (Lawrence Tierney) assigning code names to a random group of hoods. The names are color-coded like a suburban housing tract: Mr. Pink, Mr. White, Mr. Brown. Predictably, some of the wannabe thieves are offended by their new nicknames. The names are just the beginning of the fun. A serious crime-film geek since his teens, Tarrantino uses his encyclopedic knowledge of rock-nroll to find exhilerating ways to pump up the violence. His casting seriously good actors (Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel) against type both cuts across and increases our expectations of what these guys will deliver as serious goons, especially once the job goes bad and the survivors are left to point fingers and guns at those they suspect may have betrayed them to the cops. (3/3)t

We are the future of the LGBT community. “The world still has its challenges but things are getting better. From the way we first met on line to marriage equality to our daughter’s upcoming Quinceañera our life together is more fulfilling every day. We keep up with events and entertainment on EDGE, because that’s where we see our future at its brightest.” The people depicted here are models. Their image is being used for illustrative purposes only.

<< DVD

24 • BAY AREA REPORTER • February 23-March 1, 2017

Erotic round trip by Brian Bromberger

yon. The catch is that he must role-play someone named Brandon and ask no questions. Jonathan is paying him double his nightly rate plus $1,000 and all expenses paid. He instructs him to be rough around the edges and temperamental. They make several stops on the way, all at specific motels and restaurants Jonathan has visited with the real Brandon. Adam tries to discover who Brandon was as he becomes emotionally involved with Jonathan. Jonathan is quiet, stoic, and manipulative, yet it becomes clear he is emotionally stuck with whatever happened to Brandon, obsessed with reenacting past experiences. Adam is willing to mold himself in Brandon’s

here have been many films about gay prostitutes, yet few have been memorable. Hustlers seem unattainable to most of us, men out of our league. If a relationship is forged, can one ever be sure of being loved for one’s self rather than one’s credit card? This ambivalence is shown in Retake, a love story about a prostitute and a businessman just released on DVD (Breaking Glass Pictures). Retake livens up this tired category because we are never sure where the movie is taking us. Retake keeps the audience engaged as we root for these two damaged souls. Jonathan (Tuc Watkins) is a lonely, middle-aged businessman from Seattle who flies into San Francisco and hires young hustler Adam (Devon Graye) to accompany him on a road trip to the Grand Can-

image, adopting the same hairstyle and wearing his clothes. But he tires of all the pretense, resenting the accomplice role as he pieces together Jonathan’s agenda. Yet both characters are reluctant to take off their masks and reveal their true selves, since neither are who they claim to be. Jonathan accuses Adam of “being a different person with each guy you fuck.” Adam admits that starting over is all he has ever done, since he doesn’t know who he is. Can this couple get beyond the role-playing, and open themselves to new possibilities? To his credit, writer/director Nick Corporon in his debut fulllength feature has mixed multiple genres. A hybrid gay Pretty Woman meets Vertigo, Retake plays with our expectations. The Route 66 imagery (cinematography by Collin Brazie) adds to the edgy ambience. The theme of men running away from themselves, trying on different personalities, has obvi-

ous gay affinities. Essentially this is a two-person movie, and both actors rise to the occasion. Watkins has the harder task of getting us to empathize with someone who is evasive, as opposed to the more likable, sexy character portrayed by Graye. Still, their sexual chemistry works. A moonlit skinny-dipping scene will delight viewers. The movie poses the question of what is true happiness. If we are willing to let go of the past, what do we have left? What if we desire happiness, yet feel we don’t deserve it? Retake bites off more than it can chew. It wants to be unpredictable and profound, but this alchemy occurs only sporadically. Still, this is a clever retake of the road-buddy genre, and Corporon fulfills the promise he showed in his short features Last Call and Barbie Boy. One senses he has a great movie in him. Even though Retake is not that, it is a significant step on the path of a maturing cinema craftsman.t

Barrio story by David Lamble

t’s hard to believe it’s been a halfdozen years since the tough little trans drama Gun Hill Road debuted at San Francisco’s Frameline 35. It ignites with an eruption of convict-onconvict violence and stays the course. It’s a queer youth gender drama that stays with you all through the tale of a female-identified transgender teen whose life is thrown into turmoil upon the release from prison of her macho daddy. We see an inmate stabbing another prisoner before Daddy is hauled away by the guards and tossed into solitary. The next time we see Enrique Michael Rodriguez (a ferocious turn from Esai Morales), he’s headed for his family’s apartment in the heart of a sprawling Puerto Rican ghetto, three stops from the end of the #5 line in the Bronx. Enrique expects to step

right back into his patriarchal role as husband and Papi to a brood that includes a beautiful teenage boy, Michael (Harmony Santana), and a hardworking wife. But his family has other ideas, rejecting his casual cursing and presumption that he’s still the boss of them. Gun Hill Road offers a combustible mix of drama that’s part Raging Bull, part Harvey Fierstein’s pioneering Torch Song Trilogy. “I told you not to curse in front of the fucking kids, you fucking fuck,” screams Papi’s long-suffering wife. But the biggest rebuke to Papi comes from his beloved, one-timebaseball-loving son, Michael. “You can’t just come in here and try to be Papi now.” Michael has turned 16 and, unbeknownst to Enrique, is calling himself Vanessa, using the girl’s bathroom at school, starting female hormones and performing a daring

series of poetry raps. It’s a tribute to director Rashaad Ernesto Green that the tension never lets up. We realize Enrique is a human volcano who will not brook his namesake turning into Daddy’s little girl. Michael/Vanessa only nominally acknowledges Enrique’s return, spurning his offer of Yankee tickets and keeping his Pop from seeing how he dresses at school and on his frisky dates with an aspiring artist. Standout moments: when Enrique cuts Vanessa’s beautiful hair, and sequences where Vanessa tries in vain to negotiate a sexual relationship of respect and equality with a lover who treats her as trade. Gun Hill Road will have you tense right to the end, worrying about the fate of a beautiful teen forever awaiting a tsunami of macho violence. Today, nearly a life-cycle after its original LGBT film-festival run, GHR remains a powerful reminder

of how far the gender revolution has come, and how far there is to go. Director Green gives us parallel views of lives on a collision course. The film is enhanced by its authentic South Bronx setting and a large supporting cast who feel ripped right from life. Warning for scenes of emotional and physical violence. The DVD comes with two extra features: the trailer and a 16-minute interview with writer-director Green, who discusses the story’s background, the shooting location, and other technical aspects of the film.t

Mourning in America by Tim Pfaff

eorge Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo (Random House), which was published on Valentine’s Day less than a week before Presidents’ Day, falls like manna from heaven on those in need of a President to love. If, like me, you’ve discovered that reruns of The West Wing don’t have the juju they once did, this new, ingeniously conceived, deeply entertaining yet emotionally compelling novel may be the salve your soul craves. The first novel by a longtime master of genre-testing, form-bursting short fiction, Lincoln in the Bardo imagines the early-term Abraham Lincoln struggling with the outbreak of the Civil War while mourning the sudden death of his 11-yearold son Willie. In earthly time, it’s a small slice of life, but Saunders populates his tale with scores of individuals – some historical, others the products of his fecund imagination, some living, some dead, many in-between – who tell the story with such prismatic richness that you’re lifted out of ordinary time into the fullness of soul time. A half-dozen of these characters are pivotal to the story, and the second one we hear from, on the third page, is Roger Bevins III, an ordinary gay man in 19th-century America, which makes him anything but ordinary. But what’s most

extraordinary is that he takes his place in the cast of principals with no more special treatment than the rest. The impact of his inclusion, by a straight-identified author, is enormous. All the infinite ways there are to be gay mix meaningfully with roger bevins iii. (Historical sources and their authors are capitalized in standard academic style; tellingly, the fictional characters, including the great President and his son, are identified in lower case.) Nothing about the prose is ordinary. It looks and reads something like a play script, though the speeches are upside-down. They’re mostly short paragraphs, at their most expansive no longer than a couple pages, but the speaker, or source, is identified in small type beneath. Some texts are excerpts from historical sources (some of which the author has altered to fit his narrative scheme), but most are dialogue: Saunders’ characters interacting imaginatively, feverishly, with one another. This is not intimidating hyper-text the reader has to sweat. Within a few pages you’re in the swing of it, and the pithiness of the entries compels you along. Saunders has done the work; you get the transformative drama.

The bardo is the Tibetan Buddhist name for the “place” or spiritual state of a human between physical death and whatever comes next. So Lincoln, whose assassination is only adumbrated in the later pages, is not the one in the bardo but rather, the living man who goes into the bardo, here a Georgetown cemetery where the recently de-

ceased Willie (who is in the bardo) is interred (until, historically, his body is exhumed to be buried with his father in Springfield, IL). The plot revolves around who gets out of the bardo (roughly signifying the acceptance of death and the willingness to move on, the putative goal) and who doesn’t. I’m not telling. The depiction of Lincoln, in itself no naive Valentine, is of a man devastated by grief suddenly called to experience the deaths of the legions of other boys in the bloody war only beginning to become a death mill – the sons, brothers, lovers and comrades of his fellow Americans. His desire to remain with Willie, and Willie with him, is the fulcrum of the story, emotionally grounding its otherwise wild excursions into the varieties of human experience. Minor characters include a 19th-century American panoply: slaves and their masters in perpetual struggle, freemen and outlaws, people of the cloth, people of the trough (including a pedophile, the Vermonter, who’s not a gay character), people with voices so keen your mind reels with their cacophony. Lincoln’s visits to their bardo snap them all back to life, and into actions ranging from the

expected quarrels to the sometimes forced inhabiting of each other’s “body-forms.” There are no ordinary evenings in Georgetown. For reasons beyond carnality but not without admiration, roger bevins iii is best buddies with hans vollman, a printer whose most notable asset, then and now, is an enormous penis, which makes numerous appearances in various degrees of tumescence, all of them comical precisely in the way the most serious matters this book pursues are presented in comic terms. It’s this comedic distance that permits Saunders extravagances of intimacy among and with his characters, none of whom you will want to escape from your personal bardo. Gay readers will get Roger. A refugee from a marriage “in the previous place” that yielded children, Roger’s version of fate entails falling for a man named Gilbert, getting his heart broken by him, and in the bardo, seeing the sweetness of it all. His big-dicked friend hans vollman confides in us one of Roger-in-thebardo’s fantasies (“future-forms”): “[on a voyage] he had been fucked and fucked well by a Brazilian engineer, who had taught him much and given him much pleasure (and now mr. bevins knew that that life was for him, whether it be good or not in God’s eyes).” This utterly remarkable novel is good in God’s eyes.t

Books>>

February 23-March 1, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 25

Gender fluidity by Jim Piechota

Balls: A Memoir by Chris Edwards, Greenleaf Book Group Press, $24.95 This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel, Flatiron Books, $25.99

s the subject of transgenderism continues to splash across electronic media, the literary world has also been keeping up to speed on this provocative, controversial, and essential issue. Caitlyn Jenner has a memoir coming out this spring, though she has retreated somewhat from the spotlight since coming out publicly in 2015, and the 2016 cancellation of her reality television series I Am Cait due to low ratings. For interested readers and those considering or already on the journey, thankfully there continues to be no shortage of reading material on gender transition, told from a variety of perspectives in both fiction and nonfiction forms. Transgender Boston-area public speaker Chris Edwards has produced Balls, a powerful memoir with a message of hope and encouragement. His book describes some of the 28 surgeries he received

to become the man he is today, including several harrowing chapters detailing urination issues he experienced with a fabricated penis created from his own biology. Now that he could “pee standing up,” chronic nervousness and shyness were overshadowed by more urgent physical hurdles as more genital adjustments needed to be made. But that is just one example of Edwards’ ability to turn a physical challenge into a re-

flective moment, and a reminder of what the journey means for a transgendered person. “My gender identity is not defined by what’s between my legs,” he writes. Edwards retraces his life growing up in the Boston suburbs and becoming increasingly frustrated with the gender confusion he felt. Upon his college graduation, he realized he “couldn’t continue pretending to be a girl much longer; keeping

up my act was exhausting.” While medical experts threw out terms like “gender dysphoria” and his parents wondered if he wasn’t “just gay,” Edwards knew the odyssey toward realizing his full self, physically and mentally, would be a somewhat solitary one – in the beginning, at least. With a conversational tone and plenty of wit and crisp honesty, the Armenian author lays bare the intimate details of his transition from Kristin to Chris, taking readers on an arduous journey through endless therapy sessions, the physical pain and resultant glee from the many surgical and microsurgical alterations (such as phalloplasty) he endured (“from 2002 to 2007, I had surgery 22 times”), the psychological trials of becoming a man, of coming out to friends and family (and former collegiate classmates), the author’s intelligent explanation of the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity, and his emergence as a courageous, empowering transgender community

advocate. Though the book relies perhaps too heavily on the physical aspects of gender transition and less on the inner psychological experience, Edward’s memoir is a breezily written, accessible, and compelling journal of personal change, identity, and rebirth. Novelist Laurie Frankel’s This Is How It Always Is concerns the modern Walsh-Adams family, who have a full house with five boys, the youngest of whom, quirky Claude, begins to struggle with his young identity at age 3, when he decides he wants to be female. Much discussion ensues between parents and Claude’s older brothers, all of whom Frankel paints with precision and depth. Claude becomes “Poppy” in school, and this change brings safety, solidarity, honesty, and identity to the surface. A relocation to Seattle does little to alleviate the tension, which boils over once Poppy is outed. If Frankel’s well-written, thoughtful domestic drama seems to be crafted from an experienced hand, it was. The author herself is bringing up a transgendered child, born male, who is now in second grade, and who loves her mother’s new book!t

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<< Fine Arts

26 • BAY AREA REPORTER • February 23-March 1, 2017

Hippie Modernism

From page 17

Organized by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis with about 80 pieces added to pay homage to the movement’s Berkeley/San Francisco epicenter, its arrival coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love. Watch for a host of celebrations around town to reach saturation level in the coming months. It also comes at a political moment when people, hungry for the idealism, activism and progressive thinking of that era, are nostalgic for its rallying cries: the prizing of social justice, economic, racial and gender equality, environmental consciousness and, of course, free love. The curatorial premise is that the exhibition’s cultural artifacts –

geodesic domes, photographs of handmade houses and performance groups with agendas, the Whole Earth Catalogue, silkscreen prints protesting the Vietnam War, assorted nutty inventions – are expressions of potent, sometimes way-out intellectual ideas that infiltrated the art, architecture and design of the day. If only they had pulled it off. With few exceptions, the concept, however intriguing, and the tenor of the times aren’t communicated in the galleries, making this struggle for Utopia more sociology thesis than art exhibition, For a show that purports to be about resistance, it’s peculiarly bloodless, with little or none of the thrust and parry and roiling conflict that defined the time, gave it its disruptive energy, and made it the decade that just won’t die.

Courtesy BAMPFA

Scene from director Steven Arnold’s Luminous Procuress.

Frankenstein

From page 17

The house was packed for the West Coast premiere of San Francisco Ballet’s spectacular Frankenstein (a co-production with London’s Royal Ballet). We paid our dues as the long first act filled in more story points than we needed, but by the third act the show had found its stride and moved to a powerful climax that left me with a strong sympathy for the outcast. I kept hearing the lines of Blake’s poem, “I’ll be like him, and he will then love me.” The whole audience, 3,000 people, rose to their feet and cheered like mad, loudest for Vitor Luiz, who’d played the monster. We all felt the pity of it, the loneliness of a person brought into the world and given no help with the big questions: “Who am I? Where am I? What’s going on? What should I do?” But these questions only emerged at the end, when he came into his own as a character. Along the way, the big question was, “O my God, what have I done?” Worst of all was when Victor Frankenstein realizes that yes, in his operating room he has brought a creature to life, but he’s never thought about his responsibilities. Mary Shelley’s story is 200 years old this year, and though it’s become a folk tale, it began life as the product of the most ardent liberal spirits of that age. Shelley was the daughter of polit-

ical revolutionaries, William Godwin and Mary Wallstonecraft (author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman), and her fable has a solid intellectual foundation in the most progressive thought of that day. In fact, it’s completely up-to-date. Frankenstein deals with issues that bring the mind to a halt: When does life begin? What does it mean to be human? What are the responsibilities of human beings to each other, and of those who create life to the newly born? Of course, it’s also a fantasy of scientific experimenting gone too far. It could not be Frankenstein without an operating theater, students, a ferocious professor, and a Rube Goldberg contraption that’s hella fun to watch as the gases bubble, the electricity sparks. The galvanizing process that makes dead men’s limbs unite to animate a new person has a visual impact as big as that of Jurassic Park, and in the designs of John MacFarlane, this production has achieved it, especially in the desolation his fantastic backdrops evoke. We got a taste of the total-theater craftsmanship that the Royal Ballet is been famous for. They’ve always used the look of the show to set the tone for how you’re to understand it. The neo-Romantic music is by Lowell Liebermann, who’s learned from Prokofiev, Bellini and others how to tell a story, and when to slow down and dwell on emotions. The choreographer Liam Scarlett delivers in broad strokes a meditation

For those who were there or on the fringes, HM may resonate as a trip down memory lane, but younger visitors may justifiably wonder what all the fuss was about. The exhibition, a surprisingly strait-jacketed affair that’s not as provocative as it should be, won’t clue them in or turn them on. Still, there are incidental rewards, like getting lost in a beautiful collection of acid-trippy Bay Area psychedelic posters. With the flourishing of the local rock scene in the late 1960s, posters created by gifted artists became a cottage industry. Shops were exclusively devoted to selling them, and freelance vendors hawked them on the street. Their otherworldly, Freudian dreamscapes and neon colors promoted bands such as Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jefferson Airplane, the Chambers Brothers, and Vanilla Fudge, though the ostensible subject matter was hardly the point. The cavernous galleries on the main floor tend to swallow exhibits, leaving visitors to roam and perhaps stumble upon finds, like the zany, futuristic contraptions whose visionary inventors, one surmises, must have had a pharmacological assist. Haus-Rucker-Co, a Vienna-based design collective influenced by the space race and what then passed for high-tech, melded space-age gadgetry with psychedelic phantasm and doomsday predictions. Their “Mind Expander 2” (1968), a two-seater fabricated from black Plexiglas and equipped with a transparent fuchsia hood and a helmet with electronic gizmos attached, is tailor-made for a zonked-out magical mystery tour. “Electric Skin 1,” a Kool-Aid-pink jumpsuit with metallic appliqués that emits sparks when touched, and “Roomscaper” (1968), a tall, oblong, vinyl plastic tube that has a woman’s index-finger screen-printed on the outside, and is anchored in an illuminated base shaped like a flower pot, hail from the same brain trust. Cobbled together from IBM castoffs, plywood and circuitry, USCO’s “Triple Diffraction Hex” (1965) is housed in a box of the sort used for a traveling puppet theater, embossed with stars and numerals, and topped with a brass eagle. Wait for the three hexagons, fastened to the front, to rev up and whirl, accompanied by colored strobe lights; then repeat. The anarchic spirit of the late 1960s and early 70s, a period of self-reinvention when one could be

Courtesy of Debra Bauer

Angels of Light: Portrait of Debra Bauer and Rodney Price, early 1970s.

whatever one wanted to be with no rules, no class division, no judgment, found its apex – and an entertaining vehicle – in the Cockettes and Angels of Light. Established in 1969 in the Haight-Ashbury by George Harris (a.k.a. Hibiscus), the Cockettes specialized in gender-bending, “acid-drag” pageantry, a clarion call for sexual liberation fueled by a liberal infusion of LSD. Their playful insanity, outrageous costumes, glittery gold makeup, and hymns to glorious excess endeared them to raucous audiences attending their late-night performances at the Palace Theater. In 1971, Harris, along with other members, formed Angels of Light, a commune-based group that pooled resources for tacky spectaculars that envisioned a world they hoped would come to be. The antics of both troupes are documented in photographs displayed in “Creative Identity,” a too-small section that also contains a Lyla Montez costume with lace-crested tiara and plenty of tulle for the Angels’ 1974 production Whatusi in San Francisco. The cross-dressing Cockettes are prominently featured in the newly restored 16mm film Luminous Procuress (1971), directed by Salvador Dali protégé Steven Arnold. Shot in the Mission District, the story recounts the erotic adventures of

Erik Tomasson

San Francisco Ballet dancer Vitor Luiz in choreographer Liam Scarlett’s Frankenstein.

of what it is to be human. When he took his bow, Scarlett got the biggest roar of applause of the night. The best choreography comes in the poignant duets for Victor (Joseph Walsh) and his fiancé (Frances Chung). Again and again, she has to rescue him from despair. The thought of what he’s done paralyzes Victor, and he becomes stricken with remorse. She draws him out, and the dancing is made of her forcing him, gently, to partner her, to support her. The technique of the ballet becomes a conduit for powerful feeling as she makes him come out to meet her and gives his life back to him.

The last act is a single ballroom scene. Dancing at their wedding, with wonderful, sweeping dances for the corps de ballet, it is really a picture of Victor’s mind, with fascinating interventions of people who’ve died already, and by the real monster who’s still alive and seeking contact with him. The more powerfully he’s rejected, the more viciously he retaliates. After Victor pulls out his Derringer and shoots himself, nobody is left alive onstage but the monster he created, who’s now got nobody left in this world who knows him. It’s hard to judge the piece upon only one sighting. The transitions

two naive hippie dudes who happen upon a mystical mansion, where they enter a transformational realm ruled by Pandora, the procuress of the title (think Virgil in Dante’s Divine Comedy) who acts as their guide, introducing them to a garden of delights unconstrained by gender or desire. It has its world premiere as part of Cinema and Counterculture (1964-74), an adjunct film series that successfully captures some of the chaos, euphoria and political turmoil of the decade. The program includes Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point, a view of the American counterculture from abroad, shot in Death Valley and LA with a pair of young, desperately beautiful, alienated lovers at its center – the photogenic male lead had recently been released from prison – as well as portraits of various Black Panthers, and Peter Watkins’ Punishment Park, a faux, cinema verite depiction of the U.S. veering into totalitarian rule, a prospect less far-fetched than it once seemed. (Through May 21.)t Luminous Procuress screens April 21, 7:30 p.m., followed by an onstage conversation between former BAMPFA film curator Steve Seid and Rumi Missabu, an original member of the Cockettes. Info: bampfa.org.

from storytelling to dancing are awkward and puzzling. The whole thing needs editing. Scarlett is young at this, and has overflowed with ideas, some of which aren’t necessary. In particular, the Act I brothel scene, where the med students go blow off steam, adds nothing except wonderful opportunities for the corps dancers to dance. Victor’s friend (Angelo Greco) is peculiarly silly, and nobody gives him any respect. Why? Still, these problems do not matter much, and the parts that are good are very good indeed. The best thing is that the dancers have given themselves to the project completely. They are profoundly invested, and seem to have been dancing these roles all their lives. All deserve praise, especially the child dancer Max Behrman-Rosenberg, who plays Victor Frankenstein’s little brother, perfect in the role. The housekeeper (Anita Paciotti) and her daughter (Sasha de Sola) are a necessary part of the story, but the mother’s harshness never feels fully explained. Among the fellow students, barmaids, townsfolk, Sean Bennett, Diego Cruz, Isabella DeVivo, Benjamin Freemantle, Stephen Morse, Miles Thatcher, Henry Sidford, and Lonnie Weeks all stood out, especially Francisco Mungamba. The dancers made the show, as so often they do. What a great ensemblerepertory company they are.t

Psycho: The Musical

On the Town

On the Tab Vol. 47 • No. 08 • February 23-March 1, 2017

www.ebar.com ✶ www.bartabsf.com

The Golden Age of Hustlers Blaine Dixon

The decline of male street trade and their bars by Michael Flanagan

“W

hen the bridal parties started coming in, the hustlers disappeared.” It was an offhand comment that Joe Mattheisen, manager of Aunt Charlie’s made when I was working on an article about the bar. What about the history of hustlers in town? See page 29 >>

A young man in the window of Nito Burrito, circa late 1970s, from Blaine Dixon’s book Polk Gulch.

Blake Morgan The singer-songwriter on his campaign to respect musicians rights by Jim Gladstone

“S

potify says they can’t turn a profit because they have to pay artists too much. But the owner of Spotify is worth $310 million,” says singer-songwriter Blake Morgan with a derisive laugh. “I mean, let’s be honest,” says Morgan, who performs at The Lost Church on Saturday night. “If musicians know how to do anything, its how to count!” See page 28 >> Blake Morgan

{ THIRD OF THREE SECTIONS }

Tickets are available at LiveNation.com and select Walmart locations. To charge by phone (800) 745-3000. Limit 8 tickets per person. All dates, acts and ticket prices are subject to change without notice. All tickets are subject to applicable service charges.

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

28 • BAY AREA REPORTER • February 23-March 1, 2017

Blake Morgan

From page 27

Since 2013, when his heated email exchange with Pandora CEO Tim Westergrin over performers’ royalties was shared in the Huffington Post and went viral (huff. to/2kRzXto), Morgan has become at least as well known for his activism on behalf of other musicians as for his own recorded music. But Morgan’s subsequent founding of the #IRespectMusic campaign, public speaking at music industry events, and extensive lobbying of congress in support of the “Fair Play Fair Pay Act” and “Songwriters Equity Act” are natural out-

growths of a personal ethos that’s been integral to Morgan’s career since early on. After graduating the Berklee School of Music and playing in a variety of bands, the Manhattan native signed a seven-album solo contract with legendary producer Phil Ramone’s label at Sony Records. After releasing the well-reviewed 1997 Anger’s Candy and touring as an opener for Joan Jett and Matchbox 20, Morgan grew leery of major label business practices and leveraged a loophole to exit his contract. In the aftermath, he founded Engine Company Records, a label for his own output as well as artists he nurtures and produces (among

EXPLORE THE GAY WORLD

them James McCartney and singersongwriter Janita, who joins him for Saturday night’s concert). Since the beginning, a hallmark of the company’s collegial and successful operations (Now the vertically integrated ECR Music group, it consists of multiple labels, along with a recording studio, publishing arm and other artist services) is that its artists own their master recordings. Morgan’s sense of artistic community and empowerment dates back to his own childhood. His parents –Robin Morgan, the feminist writer and one-time Ms. Magazine editor, and gay activist Kenneth Pitchford– had an active social circle of artists and intellectuals who surrounded and inspired Morgan during his youth. Morgan’s godmother was the late Lesley Gore, whose final album, Ever Since, he produced. While Morgan hasn’t released a new album of his own reedy-voiced rock since 2013’s Diamonds In The Dark, he’s played and produced on close to a dozen albums by ECR artists with whom he feels a close kinship. He’s also had a weekly residency at Manhattan’s Rockwood Music Hall which has sold out for a remarkable run of 14 months. “I don’t feel like I have to switch between activist mode and singersongwriter mode and keep these things separate. My performance at Chico State [tomorrow night] is part of an artists’ rights rally put together by the students there. And I did a lecture via Skype for students at Seattle University, and now they’re planning on turning out for my show there. “I’m lucky enough to have built an initial fan base back when I had that major label debut. But over the last couple years, I feel like my activism has really woken up my old fans and new people have been coming out as well. I’ve gotten attention for musicians’ rights, so a lot of music makers come to my shows. I get approached after by so many people who are just happy to feel connected to a community of people who treat musicians with dignity and believe that being a musician can be a profession like any other. On my tax returns every year, I fill in ‘musician’ as my occupation, and nothing could make me prouder.” And yet, the larger music industry has aspects that are less respectable. “The companies we talk about when we talk about music these days aren’t music companies,” Morgan explains. “It’s a case of the new boss being worse than the old boss. At least the major record labels were in the music business. Pandora and Spotify don’t make music and

both photos: Jim Herrington

Blake Morgan

they’ve led musicians to an economic apocalypse.” Morgan points out that filmmakers and actors aren’t angry at distribution systems in the way musicians are. “That’s because Netflix and Hulu and others are paying people to make new material. They’re investing in the art and the artists.” “These [music] con men are offering the oldest con in the book: We shouldn’t have to pay you because we’ll get you exposure. These apocalypse drivers then tell us we’re asking to move things backwards, not forwards; that we’re anti-technology, anti-innovation. I don’t know a single musician who doesn’t like tech. Music is technology. A piano is a pretty incredible piece of technology. And American musicians don’t need a lecture from technologists about innovation: Jazz, blues, hiphop– that’s American innovation at its best.” As furious as Morgan is about today’s commercial music distribution networks, he is also saddened by the level of discussion about music among everyday listeners. “Did the music move you? Did it

Blake Morgan’s #IRespectMusic campaign goes viral.

make you smile, or get angry? Those are discussions people aren’t having. Do you remember when Nirvana’s Nevermind came out? There was a huge shared experience, culturally. This music came out in the face of Poison and Motley Crue and everyone was like, ‘What the hell’s going on? The rules have changed.’” Blake sees signs of change for musicians’ rights, but also less conversation about the music itself. “Everyone is caught up in the apparatus,” he says. “Talking about how Chance the Rapper is only making Coloring Book available for streaming, or how Adele refused to make her album available for streaming isn’t talking about music. It’s all nonartistic conversation. Its not about our shared experience. What people share now is pictures of their food.”t Blake Morgan performs with Janita and The Singer and The Songwriter, on Saturday, February 25 at The Lost Church, 65 Capp Street. Tickets $10 in advance, $15 day of show. facebook.com/TheBlakeMorgan thelostchurch.com