July 12, 2012 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

3

Trans woman faces prison

12

DOMA developments

17

Marie Antoinette lives

The

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Vol. 42 • No. 28 • July 12-18, 2012

Nightlife ‘war’ shows signs of a detente AIDS talk N ignores gays

by Matthew S. Bajko

analysis by Bob Roehr

I

magine two senior HIV/AIDS administrators delivering prepared speeches on the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program that assists countries hardest hit by the epidemic and not uttering the word “gay,” or even the more clinical term “men who have sex with men.”

It would be disappointing but not Bob Roehr surprising during the George W. Bush Ambassador administration. It is Eric Goosby disheartening when it is the Obama administration in 2012.

But that’s what happened when Ambassador Eric Goosby, U.S. global AIDS coordinator, and Nils Daulaire, director of the Office of Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, delivered remarks this week.

The occasion was the July 10 unveiling in Washington, D.C. of the 278-page issue of the journal Health Affairs. It focuses on evaluations of PEPFAR, perhaps the only shining legacy of the Bush presidency.

Neither the speeches the two men gave nor the papers they contributed to the journal mentioned the group hardest hit by HIV on all continents.

It can’t be out of ignorance. Goosby did his medical training at UCSF and has spent his career alternating between Washington and San Francisco dealing with HIV. He knows better.

Instead of a balanced discussion that included all of the major groups affected by the HIV epidemic, Goosby focused on advances made in prevention and treating women and children.

In the bad old days, say 25 years ago, they were the “innocent victims” of the disease while, to many, gay men were not so innocent, they had brought the infection on themselves. What progress has been made; from being demonized to being ignored, despite the fact that gay men were and remain disproportionately affected by HIV in nearly every country in the world.

Even while that six-hour briefing continued to roll on, a mile away at the National Press Club a handful of AIDS advocates tried to draw a little attention to the still-festering domestic AIDS situation ahead of the International AIDS Conference.

The Obama administration wants to believe See page 13 >>

ightlife denizens and club owners have long been pitted against San Francisco police and homeowners in what some have dubbed a “war on fun” that has raged on since the dot-com boom in the late 1990s.

Lately, there have been signs of a detente in the long-running battle. While no one is yet ready to say the “war” is over, it appears to have entered into a cooling off period.

“I think a lot of inroads have been made, but still, a lot more could be done,” said Tom Temprano, a gay club promoter and DJ who moderated a recent discussion about entertainment issues held by the city’s two main LGBT Democratic clubs. “There are still hurdles prohibitive to the nightlife industry. You can’t say we are in the clear and everything is roses.”

There are signals that City Hall is beginning to see the entertainment industry as an important economic driver rather than a nuisance in need of being reigned in. In March a City Controller’s report found that the “other 9 to 5” economy generated $4.2 billion in spending in 2010 and at least $55 million in tax revenue.

Gay District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener, who called for the first-of-its-kind fiscal study, has now requested that the controller examine the financial impacts generated by the city’s numerous street fairs. Like with the

Rick Gerharter

The dance floor was hopping at the combined clubs of Stallion and Rocket Collective, held on a recent Saturday at Rebel bar on Market Street.

earlier study, the one devoted to open-air festivals is aimed at giving city leaders a better understanding of how policy decisions may impact the outdoor events.

“Street fairs are running into issues where, at some point, the fees get so high that they are

losing money and at risk of going away,” said Wiener. “Showing the economic contributions specifically of streets fairs is valuable in allowing us to view a complete picture.”

The city’s 2012-2013 fiscal year budget, set to See page 13 >>

City College feels the heat after stinging report I

by Chris Carson

Rafael Mandelman speaks at a town hall meeting Monday, July 9 about the threatened closure of City College as Supervisor Eric Mar listens.

t was not a hot night. But before speakers began to address the crowd packed into the Rainbow Room at the LGBT Community Center Monday for an emergency town hall meeting on the fate of City College of San Francisco, one man in the front row stood up, sweat soaking the back of his gray polo shirt.

No question, for CCSF, the heat is on.

Its future as an accredited community college, the largest of all accredited colleges in California with about 90,000 students, many of them part of the LGBT community, has been in question since early June, after the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges issued a blistering report saying CCSF would need to “show cause why its accreditation should not be terminated” by October 15, according to a report sent to interim Chancellor Pamila Fisher on July 2, or lose its accreditation.

That’s a loss that many fear could close CC

SF’s doors for good.

“The report was enormously alarming,” said gay city resident Rafael Mandelman, a community center board member, but, he added, “a terrible outcome of this report is if they succeed in convincing us that we should become less San Francisco in our approach to City College.”

The report, highlighting that City College is poorly run, aimed to have the school meet a few of the eligibility requirements for state accred-

{ FIRST OF TWO SECTIONS }

ited colleges. Among them, to document a funding base and plan for how to bring in future financial resources, conduct audits, and bring in an administrative staff with “appropriate experience to support necessary services for an institution of its size, mission, and purpose,” the ACCJC report said.

Angela Thomas, a Services Employees International Union representative for CCSF classified faculty, saw the ACCJC report as more of a wake-up call, and urged supporters to see it that Rick Gerharter way too.

“You guys, we have to be real here,” she said.

“This college is going to have to take a serious, serious look at how we do things.”

The ACCJC report listed “leadership weaknesses at all levels,” as well as financial issues. City College has nine campuses in San Francisco and at least 100 “instructional sites.”

Thomas reminded everyone that it is completely within the rights of the ACCJC to “take our acSee page 6 >>

<< Community News

2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 12-18, 2012

▼

Hennessy fills sheriff ’s spot

by Seth Hemmelgarn

A

s elected San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi fights his suspension by Mayor Ed Lee, Sheriff Vicki Hennessy has been filling the top job.

Nobody knows how long Hennessy, 59, will be sheriff but she said, “I’m working very hard to keep the department going forward, and doing the day-to-day work of the department and trying to plan for the future as much as possible.”

Assisting Hennessy is Undersheriff Ellen Brin, an out lesbian who joined the department in 1986.

The future of the department’s leadership is uncertain. Mirkarimi, who represented District 5 on the Board of Supervisors for seven years before being elected to the sheriff ’s post last November, pleaded guilty in March to a misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment. The charge stemmed from a December 31, 2011 incident in which Mirkarimi allegedly bruised the arm of his wife, Eliana Lopez, who’s defended her husband in the press.

Lee suspended Mirkarimi without pay on grounds of official misconduct in March. He’s asked that Mirkarimi be removed from his job and has transmitted charges to the city’s Ethics Commission and the Board of Supervisors. Lee appointed Hennessy to serve as interim sheriff.

Mirkarimi is trying to hold on to his job. The next Ethics Commission hearing is set for Wednesday, July 18. Ethics Commission Executive Director John St. Croix said, “I expect we’ll finish sometime in August.”

‘Nontraditional job’ Hennessy, who spoke to the Bay Area Reporter this spring and declined to discuss Mirkarimi, started work at the sheriff ’s department December 24, 1975. She said she’d been looking for “a nontraditional job.”

At the time, the department “actively recruited people from every community, including the LGBT community, and today, our department reflects that diversity,” Hennessy, who is straight, said.

Brin, who’s 53 and who became undersheriff in February, said, “We have LGBTs throughout the ranks.”

When Brin joined the department more than 25 years ago, the agency was recruiting in the gay community at bars and other venues. Brin talked to several people and thought, “This might be a good fit.”

She was right.

“Every day I feel very lucky,” Brin

courtesy SF Sheriff’s Department

Jane Philomen Cleland

Interim Sheriff Vicki Hennessy

Undersheriff Ellen Brin

said in an interview this spring. “It was a fantastic opportunity. It’s a great department.”

She said, “I’ve been out since day one,” and LGBT staff have “always been treated very fairly in this department, and I credit a lot of that to Sheriff Michael Hennessey.” Hennessey retired in 2011 after 32 years in office.

Theresa Sparks, a transgender woman who was formerly president of the city’s Police Commission and now serves as executive director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, said in an earlier interview that the sheriff ’s office has “done a good job” of addressing treatment of transgender inmates, and she hasn’t heard of a lot of issues today, but monitoring of the situation needs to continue.

Sparks said she didn’t know much about Hennessy, but she called the department veteran “an approachable person” and “a very good choice.”

Hennessy, who had retired from the sheriff ’s department in 2010, said she’s not concentrating on the next election, and she hadn’t made any decisions as to whether she’d run for the sheriff ’s post.

Transgender inmates Hennessy said department staff ’s attitude toward LGBT inmates is “just like their attitude toward any other inmates.”

The department’s treatment of transgender inmates has been questioned over the years, but Brin said the agency is “very, very sensitive” to that population.

“One of our main mandates is to keep everybody safe that’s in our custody,” said Hennessy.

Vulnerability, which may be determined by factors such as age and criminal history, is among the factors used to select where inmates are housed.

In guidelines issued in 2003 and last revised in 2010, sheriff ’s department policy is “to manage transgender prisoners in a respectful manner and to provide for their safety in the jails while affording them reasonable access to jail services.”

The rules cover topics including name and pronoun usage, searches, and housing assignments.

“Transgender prisoners should be housed with other transgender prisoners of the same gender identity or with prisoners of the same anatomical gender,” the guidelines say.

A transgender person who identifies as female but has male genitalia wouldn’t be placed with the general male population against her will, and the same is true for female-tomale transgender people, according to department staff.

Population figures The sheriff ’s department, which has a budget of about $174 million, has about 880 sworn staff and approximately 125 civilian personnel.

One area of particular importance lately has been realignment. In 2011, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 109, which aims to send some California prisoners to county jails.

Brin said they haven’t seen the population increases they were expecting as a result of the law, and the process has been “going really well for us.” However, there has been a rise in parole violators. Previously, when someone violated their parole, they typically would have returned to state prison, “but now they’re staying in our custody,” she said.

Still, over the last 20 months, the average daily jail population as of late June had dropped from about 1,900 to around 1,550.

“We don’t know why that is,” Brin said of the declines, but “it’s definitely good news.”▼

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July 12-18, 2012 â&#x20AC;˘ BAY AREA REPORTER â&#x20AC;˘ 3

SF trans woman faces life in prison A

transgender San Francisco woman with a criminal history stretching back more than 20 years could be sentenced to life in prison after being charged in a November 2011 home burglary.

Felipe Valdez-Tejera, 51, was on parole when she allegedly entered the home of a sleeping Russian Hill couple, whose baby was about three months old and also in the residence.

In late June, she pleaded not guilty in San Francisco Superior Court to felony charges of first-degree residential burglary, and receiving or buying stolen property.

She has denied all allegations in the case.

Valdez-Tejera has been convicted of similar crimes three times before, which would make this her fourth strike. Under Californiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s three strikes law, she could have already been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Deputy Public Defender Sangeeta Sinha said after years of physical abuse and drug addiction, Valdez-Tejera, whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s originally from Cuba, is finally seeking help and should get a chance at treatment.

Most recent incident According to the police report, an officer responded to the alleged burglary at about 3 a.m. November 17.

The 32-year-old victim reported that he was awakened by his wifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s scream, saw Valdez-Tejera, and chased her out of the house, which is in the 1400 block of Green Street. When he got outside, she had a brown shoulder bag that held two laptops, according to the police report. She and the victim eventually ran toward responding police and Valdez-Tejera was soon taken into custody.

Sinha is hoping Valdez-Tejera will be permitted to enter treatment rather than go to prison. For that to happen, sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d have to be granted probation. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s never had an option of treatment while sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been incarcerated,â&#x20AC;?

Sinha said.

Sinha provided a copy of a May 14 letter from Haight Ashbury Free Clinics-Walden House, a local agency that provides substance abuse treatment and other services, saying that Valdez-Tejera has been accepted into its residential program. The letter says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Walden House is a six months to variable length program.â&#x20AC;? A Walden House staffer didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t verify that the agency had submitted the letter. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Neither I nor Felipe is naive enough to believe she wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a state prison sentence suspended over her head as an incentive to comply with probation, and as punishment if she did not,â&#x20AC;? said Sinha, who said that seeking Walden House was ValdezTejeraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s idea.

Sinha acknowledged that ValdezTejera has had years to get help. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think before we as a justice system are going to, in essence, wash our hands of someone and throw them away in the prison system, I think we have an obligation to try to offer services or a program,â&#x20AC;? she said.

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Tragedyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Sinha said Valdez-Tejera â&#x20AC;&#x153;has seen much tragedy in her life,â&#x20AC;? and sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;a person to whom life has been very cruel.â&#x20AC;?

Courtesy SF Public Defenderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office

Felipe Valdez-Tejera

In an interview Monday, July 9, in San Francisco County jail, where she is being held without bail, ValdezTejera said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not evil,â&#x20AC;? and talked about her past.

As a boy in Cuba, she put on make-up and was attracted to men.

She described mistreatment, including physical abuse, by her family, and she indicated that her mother told her that she wished sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d never given birth to her. Sinha said Valdez-Tejera was arrested when she was 15 and spent several years in prison because of her sexual orientation.

Sinha said that in 1980, ValdezTejera became part of the Mariel boatlift, during which thousands of people, including inmates whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d been released from prisons and mental institutions, were allowed to leave Cuba.

Sinha said the description of Valdezâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life in Cuba was self-reported and records were unavailable.

Valdez-Tejera moved to Minnesota, began the process of changing her gender, and married a man who physically abused her and stabbed her, said Sinha.

She had engaged in self-mutilation since she was 12, and was also hospitalized for psychiatric treatment, said Sinha. Valdez-Tejera said sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d attempted suicide three times, and she pulled back her left sleeve to reveal numerous pale white scars. She said sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d also been raped four times in her life.

Valdez-Tejera moved permanently to San Francisco in 1986. She soon started building a list of criminal cases, according to information provided

by Sinha.

In 1987, she was sentenced to probation and 11 days in jail for a misdemeanor petty theft conviction. Several other convictions followed, including three felony convictions for first-degree burglary. Most recently, in 2005, she was sentenced to eight years in state prison.

In Mondayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interview, ValdezTejera said that sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d also prostituted herself and worked in pornography.

Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been working on her still rough English, and frequently responded to questions with Sinhaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s help. Sinha prohibited questions about the current case.

When she was asked about why she should have a chance now, ValdezTejera talked about using too many drugs. She said sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d used speed, crack, heroin, and pills.

She said she wants to stop her crim-

inal activity, and sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;too oldâ&#x20AC;? to still be going in and out of jail.

But Valdez-Tejeraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hopes of receiving probation and a suspended sentence in her current case could prove difficult. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is definitely not a probation case,â&#x20AC;? said Alex Bastian, a spokesman for the district attorneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Based on the totality of circumstances, that type of disposition for this case is inappropriate.â&#x20AC;?

Bastian said he couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t comment on how Valdez-Tejera has gone this long without being sentenced to life in prison.

But as to not giving Valdez-Tejera a chance as she finally seeks treatment, Bastian said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;She has had numerous chances in life to get her act together.â&#x20AC;?

The next hearing in the case is set for Monday, July 16 for a pre-trial conference. August 24 has been scheduled as the date for jury trial.â&#x2013;ź

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4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 12-18, 2012

Volume 42, Number 28 July 12-18, 2012 www.ebar.com

▼

Cooper comes out O

in the East Bay is busy censoring reading materials for advanced placement high school English classes. According to an article in the Oakland Tribune, the board nixed out lesbian Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina, a semiautobiographical novel about horrific childhood abuse. Last year the board voted to forbid Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Angels in America, which is about AIDS. Apparently, some school board members feel the subject matter is too graphic for “vulnerable children.”

But deeper in the article the board president suggests that Angels in America does not portray Mormons positively and might offend some students.

So here is a school board that has determined that two literary works contain mature themes that are too advanced for high school students to handle, even as these very students have most likely been exposed to more violence on television, in the movies, and in video games – not to mention real life episodes.

Here’s a news flash for the Fremont board members who voted against these books being taught: today’s high school students don’t need to be protected from highly regarded works of literature. Teacher Teri Hu should be commended for trying to teach her students difficult subjects that will be challenging and meaningful. Censorship should be avoided in any school, especially in the Bay Area.▼

GENERAL MANAGER Michael M. Yamashita

ccasionally we’re asked about the importance of LGBT media: given how coverage of LGBT issues have improved in mainstream outlets, are LGBT publications still relevant to the gay community? As long as discrimination and challenges exist gay papers and magazines will continue to be a vital resource for the community. For the most part, reporters and editors are community members themselves, and bring an awareness to LGBT issues that straight reporters don’t always possess. The Bay Area Reporter strives to adhere to the same professional, journalistic standards as our mainstream counterparts, as do many other LGBT periodicals. Just as important is the fact that LGBT journalists can cover any issue – gay or otherwise – in a professional manner.

Which is why we are glad that CNN anchor Anderson Cooper came out last week. It was not a big shock: most people either thought he was already out or suspected he was gay. But it’s important for mainstream America to see an out professional deliver the news, talk to people on his daytime show, and report stories for CBS’ venerable newsmagazine 60 Minutes. Howard Kurtz, the media critic who hosts CNN’s Reliable Sources, isn’t so sure it’s important. “Why do we need to know if someone is gay?” he posed on his Sunday show.

It’s necessary for the same reasons that we have gay entertainers, gay authors, gay politicians, gay judges, and yes, gay reporters. We do not expect anyone to be all-gay all the time, but the general public needs to know we exist in all facets of life.

Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank, who recently married his partner, rose to become one of the most powerful politicians on Capitol Hill – but it wasn’t because he’s gay. It was due to his expertise in banking and finance issues and his talent for crafting legislation. Same for Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin; the Wisconsin Democrat is an important voice for LGBT rights but also on broader issues like health care.

Every time a public figure opens that closet door, more Americans will get a glimpse of the real person. Not too long ago it would have been unfathomable and quite risky for a celebrity like Ellen DeGeneres to be an out lesbian who is loved by her studio audience of mostly straight women and able to stand up for equal rights. Just as other minorities have earned positions of power and influence, out LGBT people are equally accom-

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PUBLISHER Thomas E. Horn Bob Ross (Founder, 1971 – 2003) NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird ARTS EDITOR Roberto Friedman ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko Seth Hemmelgarn Jim Provenzano CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dan Aiello • Tavo Amador • Erin Blackwell Roger Brigham • Scott Brogan Victoria A. Brownworth • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Chuck Colbert Richard Dodds • David Duran Raymond Flournoy • David Guarino Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell John F. Karr • Matthew Kennedy David Lamble • Michael McDonagh David-Elijah Nahmod • Elliot Owen Paul Parish • Lois Pearlman • Tim Pfaff Jim Piechota • Bob Roehr • Donna Sachet Adam Sandel • Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith • Ed Walsh • Sura Wood

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plished. And by being open and authentic, these out leaders send a message to young people who may be exploring their sexual orientation or gender identity that it’s okay to be out, and it’s possible to be successful and contribute to society in whatever way they choose.

The other neat thing about Cooper’s coming out was how unremarkable it was. No preplanned interview with a major outlet or publication, just his matter-of-fact answer to an email from gay blogger Andrew Sullivan, who was seeking a response from Cooper on the latest trend of celebrities coming out more matter-of-factly.

In his note, Cooper pointed out that he has long been out to friends and family, and didn’t really think it was anyone’s business. But, he added, he does find value in standing up and being counted.

Cooper also said that he is not an activist, which is appropriate given that he is a journalist. Some public figures don’t want to be labeled “gay activist” and that’s their right. People shouldn’t assume that because someone is LGBT that they are pushing an agenda.

Kudos to Cooper for coming out on his own terms.

Censorship in Fremont The Fremont Unified School District board

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s we march to the front lines in our fight for equality under the law, a question I have found that many of us don’t realize to ask of ourselves before it’s almost too late has been, “Am I ready to sacrifice large chunks of my private life and turn them over to the public domain?” Because in today’s 24-hour news cycle, we are the story.

Five years ago I created a blog that wound up chronicling my life experience as a young HIVpositive man living in urban San Francisco. I had no grandiose aspirations to reach a large audience, it began innocently enough more as a daily writing exercise and as an avenue for me to process the dating scene, health concerns, and medical advances that went along with being a responsible poz guy.

The letters began to arrive almost immediately, I’d say. My blog went viral among San Francisco’s nonprofit agencies, club kids, and young politicos. Soon I was getting media requests for quotes on everything from then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed cuts to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program to being asked my opinion of the media campaigns various groups were using to target LGBT youth. By the time I had a chance to catch my breath, the proverbial ship had sailed, as they say.

It has been a few years since I shut down my now-defunct blog, but I now find myself in the extraordinary position of being a national spokesperson for the Greater Than AIDS campaign. My image has been used on billboards, on bus shelters, in print media, and now there’s even a commercial on television that begins with me saying, “Hi, I’m Jason ...” and where I go on to describe what it was like being diagnosed with full blown AIDS at the age of 25.

Jane Philomen Cleland

Jason Villalobos

Having a memorable turn on The Oprah Winfrey Show two years ago probably didn’t help me in maintaining anything close to a low profile, because after that I learned what it was like to experience people stopping me in the grocery store to comment on everything from friends they’d lost to the disease to their own fears over seroconverting to asking my advice on medical procedures that I was in no way qualified to offer commentary on. It was at once emotionally overwhelming, stress inducing, and at times caused me a certain amount of anxiety over the fear of not saying the right thing.

In this day and age of Google, once you go public there is no going back. Just last week I walked into a job interview and the man who would have been my direct supervisor said to me, “So it is you! You have HIV. Are you okay?

Can you work?” Apparently he had Googled my name and read all about me in profiles on various news outlets, watched several of my speeches on YouTube, and seen god knows what else a laptop, a cup of coffee, and a bit of patience will allow.

Let’s forget for a moment that he broke every Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy law known to man in asking me about my medical condition in a workplace setting. Instead let’s focus on the reality I share with many emerging activists in our community, and this works across the board no matter what your cause is, be it the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the struggle for marriage equality, or to the young teens battling high school administrations across our great country to take their same-sex date to prom: we are now the story.

The level of exposure that has come with fighting a public battle for HIV/AIDS education has been at times unsettling, but I wouldn’t take it back for the world. In the last five years I have grown into my role as a public advocate and I’ve found now after speaking to thousands of people in small groups, at press conferences, or one on one across the desk from a major policy maker, I enjoy having a voice.

This life certainly is not for everyone, but after reviewing a quick Google search of myself in preparation for this written piece, you know, there’s nothing out there that I’m ashamed of or regret having said out loud – I only wish that I insisted on a few better pictures. Don’t forget, once it’s out there you can rarely go back and hit the delete button, so mean what you say, say what you mean, and always speak from the heart.

You’ll do great, I’m sure.▼ Jason Villalobos lives in San Francisco.

▼

Letters >>

July 12-18, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 5

Catholic group’s closet mentality?

I am responding to your recent article titled “Oakland bishop seeks loyalty oath from gay Berkeley Catholic group,” by Chuck Colbert [July 5].

While I want to understand this situation in charity my patience is getting pretty slim with this nonsense on both sides. The refusal to address the issue of homophobia publicly I find very disturbing even among the elite educated class of our faith community. The struggles of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, as well as those who may be questioning their sexuality, are who we should be focusing on in our ministry, and not who is a good or bad Catholic. With ministry comes responsibility this is the state of mind that needs to be portrayed by the Catholic Association for Lesbian and Gay Ministry.

In my opinion it’s a conundrum. On the one hand CALGM wants to promote the integrity of ministry to the LGBT community, yet at the same time they are afraid to be visible on their support for LGBT rights. CALGM seems to be okay with a closet mentality on this issue, and unable to challenge homophobia in the name of dialogue. I find this both disturbing and somewhat unethical for a religious body to engage in. How often have we heard the cosmic wave of applause to the bishop’s letter “Always our Children” while overlooking the very fabric of homophobia this letter is rooted in.

I am not trying to be nasty, and I hope that I am not coming across like that. But there does seem to be either some hypocrisy or delusion going on. I believe that CALGM is given reasonable people the feeling that they have something to hide. Or that they are ashamed of something in the face of the bishop’s challenge.

The bishop clearly wants them to promote a closet mentality, and in my opinion they are trying to accommodate that. I believe that to be wrong. We Catholics have to challenge ourselves on this. No wonder we are losing so many LGBT Catholics.

Joe Murray, Executive Director Rainbow Sash Movement (LGBT Catholics) Chicago, Illinois

SFPD’s condom policy I am looking forward to the SFPD’s bulletin on condoms being released to the public [“Suhr to issue bulletin on condoms,” July 5]. Until then, I’m wondering what exactly Chief Greg Suhr is trying to convey when he states in cases of sexual assault used condoms are collected and taken as evidence, when at issue is the practice of taking used condoms into evidence on suspicion of prostitution. That’s like reminding me to take my umbrella, because every year it rains. But beyond that, persons who commit crimes of violence ordinarily can’t muster up enough respect for their victims anyway, to take into consideration safer sex practices. What I am interested in is how many times transgender women suspected of prostituting themselves have been victimized by a peace officer, dangling the dripping evidence before her eyes, coercing her into admitting “We have the evidence right here,” as he gently pushes her into the car that will give her a ride, paid for by San Francisco taxpayers, to county jail. Yes, this is what our tax dollars are used for.

With regard to this statement: “Sometimes when we make a vice case,” a person might have 15 condoms, a sign that they are prepared to have more sex “than I could have in an evening,” I am sorry to hear the chief is having performance issues, but I might be able to help: Next time when you make a vice case, and find 15 condoms on a person, why not hold yourself to the truth, and tell us what else you find – couple of socks, underwear, T-shirts, toothbrush, and handcuffs, in this big ass backpack? That’s because this is not an overnight bag, the things your officers have so neatly laid out on the sidewalk in the commission of an authorized search, are that person’s life. She’s a hero, surviving on the streets of San Francisco, committed to practicing safer sex, any time of day, 24/7, 365 days in any given year. She is deserving of our respect – hope this helps you gain a deeper understanding,

Chief Suhr, and keep up the good fight. You are doing great!

Heinz Voss San Francisco

Former health official’s hypocrisy Jeffrey Klausner’s recent letter deploring the use of city resources to crack down on massage parlors shows what a hypocrite he truly is [Mailstrom, June 28].

Klausner feigns concern about using “precious city resources to conduct a witch hunt,” but had no problem doing the same thing during his horrible and homo-stigmatizing tenure as the city’s chief for STD control and prevention when he investigated sexual behavior between adult men in backroom bars.

He complained to the state alcohol control agency about the My Place bar and effectively shut it down, after whipping up panic about beers, queers, and oral sex. Now Klausner wants to criticize the SF Police Department as if he’s some concerned citizen who never wasted municipal resources. Give me a break.

He is the same bureaucrat who whipped up fear and loathing over questionable syphilis rates among gay men.

Klausner’s own shame-based practice of stereotyping gay men as wanton spreaders of STDs saw him pressure the FDA to add warnings to Viagra packet inserts, which are already two miles long and carry an HIV and STD alert.

I hope Klausner is never again given a health department job having anything to do with sex and gay men.

Todd Swindell San Francisco

See classic SF Pride parades online Regarding Daniel Petelin’s letter: “2012 Pride Parade disaster” [Mailstrom, June 28], he writes, “Why does the Pride Parade have 20-minute or 30-minute gaps between individual participants?” and “I remember in the 1980s many bars had floats, dancers, marching bands,” and “All we are seeing are people marching in the parade. Where are the floats, bands, dancers?”

Thanks to my very good friend, Ron Williams, my Super Eight mm film (38 minutes with a cast of thousands) Gay Pride Parades, 1970-1980, is currently at home on YouTube (10,000 hits and growing). That’s quite a crowd.

Gay Pride Parades, 1970-1980 was submitted to the 2012 LGBT Film Festival, but was not a selection. To see it, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgEbgSvBIEg. Charles E. Roseberry San Francisco

Mirkarimi case a threat to democracy I recently saw a T-shirt that said, “Democracy is not a spectator sport.” It is time for San Francisco residents to speak up. The process involving suspended Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi is a travesty and a threat to the democracy we hold dear. As citizens, we need to act to retrieve some sense of justice in our system.

This is bigger than Mirkarimi. Even if people don’t completely relate to him as a person, it is the process that has gone awry and needs to be addressed. People must speak up against a system that can remove a man from his job and family and put him on public display, all the while ridiculing and humiliating him. This goes against all precedent; past officials have gone so far as to commit patricide without losing their jobs. The disparate treatment in this case smacks of political motives from City Hall. We have the right to expect cases to receive equal treatment under the law.

Citizens need to express their concerns in letters to the editor of various newspapers and, most certainly, to the Board of Supervisors since it will wield the ultimate power to retain or remove Mirkarimi. If we don’t speak up, this can happen again and again. Silence will perpetuate such tactics.

Who will be next?

Vivian Imperiale San Francscio

Openhouse seeks LGBT senior artists compiled by Cynthia Laird

O

penhouse, the agency providing services to LGBT seniors in San Francisco, has announced that applications are now being accepted for its second annual “When I Grow Up: A Lifetime of Perspective by LGBT Seniors” fall art show.

The show seeks art in any medium – painting, photography, etc. – and at all experience levels. The art must be original. There will be limited space for sculpture.

Last year’s show featured over 50 LGBT artists aged 60 and over.

Applicants are allowed to submit up to three pieces. The application

fee is sliding scale $3-$10 per entry, although no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Artists whose works are selected will be notified by September 10.

Artists are allowed to sell their work, and the LGBT Community Center, which is hosting the exhibit, will receive a commission based on the sale price. Artists are responsible for selling their work and submitting a receipt to Openhouse noting the resultant commission to the LGBT center.

The deadline for applications is August 31. The art show will open September 22. Applications are available online at www.openhouse-

sf.org (click on the “When I Grow Up” box on the right side of the home page) or by calling (415) 296-8995.

Space available at Queer Camp Queer Camp 2012 is coming to the Santa Cruz Mountains next month and organizers at the Diversity Center in Santa Cruz said that about 15 spaces are still available for youth aged 12-17.

Queer Camp is a safe place for LGBT youth and allies to gather, talk, share, and forge new friendships. Organizers noted that the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains location provides a wonderful setting for capture the flag, nature hikes, tie-dye, s’mores, and more.

See page 13 >>

<< Business News

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 12-18, 2012

▼

Making the Castro more colorful careers and their lives.

The workshop takes place from 8:30 to 11 a.m. at the New York Life office, 425 Market Street, Suite 1600.

Admission is free and a continental breakfast will be provided. RSVP to maria@swirlradio.com. The first 20 to RSVP will get a Swirl gift bag.

by Raymond Flournoy

B

ryan Roberts Salon and Color Bar (561 Castro Street) had a second reason for partying on Pride weekend, as the salon and spa celebrated its first year in business. The salon, which occupies the second floor space above the Wells Fargo branch, welcomed the public with a Wheel of Fortune game, cupcakes, and champagne.

The salon is the creation of Bryan McKay and Robert Lee, life partners for over 13 years. McKay had previously worked as a stylist at Notorious for Hair, the salon that occupied the space from 1982 to 2011. When the opportunity arose to take over the salon, the pair began the six-month process of completely overhauling the space and creating their own vision for the business.

“If you saw this space before, you wouldn’t recognize it now,” said Lee, who handles the operations and marketing side of the business.

The centerpiece of the space is the color bar, where clients can change their hair color while they enjoy a glass of wine or champagne.

“The inspiration for this came from the fact that Aveda coloring doesn’t require heat, so you can just sit and relax at the bar while the staff handles your coloring,” said Lee. “Then once we had the idea of the bar, that inspired a theme for the entire salon. Each room has a name which plays off that theme, like the bubble room with our hair washing stations.”

In addition to beautifying the world one head at a time, the salon has committed to a variety of fundraising and community service programs. During the past year, the salon has given $1,400 to the Clean Water Fund (http://www.cleanwaterfund.org), as well as contributions to the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital (http://www.ucsfbenioffchildrens. org). On Earth Day, the entire staff participated in a Castro cleanup.

“We were walking around with garbage bags picking up trash. We actually didn’t get as far as we thought we would because the Castro is pretty dirty,” joked manager Stephanie Pickering.

The salon currently employs a staff of eight, but is in the process of hiring for additional positions.

Antique gallery opens Also on Pride weekend, the San Francisco Antique and Design Mall opened its new storefront at 538 Castro Street.

<<

City College

From page 1

creditation away if we don’t prove we have addressed their concerns.”

She urged students not to cancel classes they have enrolled in or send their transcripts off to other colleges because, “we are about correcting what is wrong.”

Many at the meeting who spoke out when the floor was opened to public comment or offered questions to the panel – which included District 1 Supervisor Eric Mar, CCSF Professor Alisa Messer, and student Trustee William Walker – thought what needed to be corrected was funding.

CCSF Board of Trustees President John Rizzo addressed the audience, saying, “We’ve been on an austerity budget for three years now. Over $40 million was cut from our budget alone, let alone all the other community colleges.”

As a result, Walker explained, CCSF

Networking event for women

Steven Kasapi

Robert McKay puts the finishing touches on Bryan Lee as they prepare for the first anniversary celebration of their Bryan Roberts Salon and Color Bar, while salon mascot Cozmo offers critiques.

The antique gallery is owned by business partners Randy Markins and Michael G. Matonick, both out gay men. The two are in the process of shutting down the business’ previous location on Utah Street near the design district, and dividing the wares between the new Castro store and a second location at 1122 Howard Street.

Markins describes the Castro location as a high-end boutique environment, whereas the Howard Street location is dedicated to secondhand furniture.

The Castro boutique is actually a collective of 12 independent dealers, each of whom rent display space for his or her merchandise. The various sellers specialize in a variety of antiques and collectibles, ranging from glassware and decorative pieces to pop culture items and vintage clothing. The dealer Gypsy Wear Vintage, which specializes in vintage shirts, especially excites Markins.

Although the Castro location is at capacity, the Howard Street location has openings for new vendors.

On July 24, the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a “speed networking” event for businesswomen. Facilitated by Debra Monroe of Monroe Personnel Service (http://www.temptime.com), the session aims to connect each participant with 20 other businesswomen in a series of rapid-fire, four-minute networking conversations.

The event costs $25 for chamber members and $35 for non-members, and will takes place from 5 to 7 p.m.

To register, visit events.sfchamber. com/eventdetail.aspx?EventID=2018 or contact Nadia Chan at (415) 3528803 for more information.

Supervisors graded for job creation

Michelle Sinhbandith, better known to her listeners on Swirl Radio (www.swirlradio.com) as Michelle Meow, is putting together an event for women in business on Tuesday, July 17. Titled “What Smart Business Women Need to Know About Winning in Business,” the workshop by Swirl talk show host Simma the Inclusionist will look at how women can facilitate and take control of their

Last week the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce released its midyear “Paychecks and Pink Slips” scorecard for the 11 members of the Board of Supervisors on what the chamber calls their “performance ... in growing the economy, creating jobs and improving government efficiency.” The final score is based on each supervisor’s votes on a variety of issues that the chamber considers of importance to the business community.

Among the three LGBT board members, Supervisor Scott Wiener scored the highest with a 90 percent rating, differing with the chamber on only one issue: classifying financial institutions as formula retail for permitting purposes, a move that the chamber opposed.

Christina Olague was close behind with a score of 80 percent. She parted with the chamber on classifying banks as formula retail and her support of the ranked-choice voting system.

Supervisor David Campos brought up the rear for the entire board, scoring 56 percent. He disagreed with the chamber on the financial institution and ranked-choice issues, as well as with his opposition to the 8 Washington development project and on legislation clarifying the landmark designation process.

The board’s overall grade was a B-, the same as the chamber’s 2011 yearend scorecard.

To see the full scorecard visit www. sfchamber.com/12-scorecard_midyear.pdf. ▼

has only 1 percent of its total budget, which nears $200 million, in reserve, instead of the ACCJC preferred 20 percent.

Lawrence Wong, the college board’s openly gay trustee, expressed confidence in an email Tuesday that City College will meet the accreditation issues.

“I am confident that we will meet the recommendations of the accrediting commission,” Wong said.

“CCSF has a big heart and in the past has tried to be all things to all people in serving our diverse communities. Unfortunately with continuing state budget cuts to community colleges we will now have to tighten our belts.”

Wong said the district has several weeks to come up with a plan.

“We have until October 15, 2012 to craft a plan of action and must show

by March 15, 2013 that we are making progress in bringing our programming and operations into line with

our diminishing resources,” Wong added. “CCSF has always and will always be a beacon of hope for all who want to better their lives through education – this I promise.”

At the start of Monday’s meeting Mar said, “We have tremendous resources here,” and stressed what was discussed would be used as a starting point toward solving the problems facing CCSF. One solution offered was for city voters to pass a $79 parcel tax on the November ballot. If passed, the measure could generate roughly $15 to $16 million for the college.

Messer added that passage of Governor Jerry Brown’s School and Safety Protection Act, which raises income taxes on those making more than $250,000 by 3 percent, and increases the state sales tax by one quarter of 1 percent, could send an additional $1.5 million to CCSF. “Chump change,” one man whispered to himself, “chump change.”▼

Women in business event

▼

Politics >>

July 12-18, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

Lesbian lawmaker looks to make history in Oregon

by Matthew S. Bajko

A street named Vicki

L

esbian Oregon state Representative Tina Kotek could make history this year by becoming the first lesbian speaker of any statehouse in the United States.

It is widely expected that the Democrats will be the majority party in the Beaver State’s lower legislative chamber following the November election.

The 60-member house is currently evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.

At least half a dozen seats are up for grabs in this year’s races, with Democrats hopeful of picking up three to four seats currently held by Republicans.

Kotek, 45, represents Portland’s northeastern neighborhoods and is currently the only out member of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. Hailing from the predominantly Democratic District 44, which she has represented since 2006, she is all but assured of being re-elected this fall.

Kotek was in the Bay Area this week to attend the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee’s Western Leadership conference. The gettogether at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay wraps up tonight (Thursday, July 12).

She met with a dozen donors in San Francisco Tuesday, July 10 at a fundraiser co-hosted by former Oregonian Rebecca Orr, Equality California’s spokeswoman who worked with Kotek in Portland.

“Why I am here is to make some new friends and raise a little money,” said Kotek, currently serving as the House Democratic Caucus Leader.

In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Kotek said she hopes her becoming speaker will encourage more LGBT people to enter politics and inspire LGBT youth.

“It sends a message that you can do this too,” said Kotek, a Pennsylvania native who takes inspiration from the late gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk. “There are a lot of talented people who happen to be gay or lesbian that want to run for office.”

She also hopes to lead an effort in 2014 to repeal Oregon’s constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage.

“We can change that and it will help to have a Democratic leader to push that,” she said.

So far Kotek is the only declared Democrat seeking to be named speaker. The current Democratic cospeaker, Representative Arnie Roblan, is running for a state Senate seat this year, leaving the high-level post up for grabs.

When her party’s House caucus meets in late November, it is expected it will elect Kotek to the position.

Then the full House will vote for its new speaker at the start of the 2013 legislative session Monday, February 4.

Should Kotek emerge victorious, she will become Oregon’s first out speaker and only the fourth openly LGBT top-ranking leader of any statehouse in the country.

Rick Gerharter

Oregon state Representative Tina Kotek

Two gay men, including California Assemblyman John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles), have been speakers of a lower legislative chamber, while the late gay Minnesota state Senator Allan Spear was a longtime president of his Senate body.

Compromise reached Castro bank branch

on

After District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener brought together Castro leaders and officials with Bank of the West Monday, July 9, a compromise was reached regarding the bank’s plan to open a branch on upper Market Street.

A division of Bank BNP Paribas, Bank of the West wants to open a neighborhood-serving branch in the new mixed-use development going up at the corner of 16th, Market and Noe streets. Its moving into such a high-profile intersection, however, caused consternation from some residents.

Several neighborhood associations opposed seeing it take over the entire 4,484 square foot space. A proposal by the bank and developer Angus McCarthy to set aside a portion of the ground floor for a smaller retail space met objections due to its entrance being on the less visible Noe Street side.

According to Terry Asten Bennett, president of the Castro merchant group that voted in June to support Bank of the West’s permit application, the retail space will now be built in such a way that it can be divided into three separate storefronts.

Bank of the West will move into a larger space with an entrance on 16th Street. The bank will, in turn, lease out the remaining 1,500 square foot space, said Bennett, who took part in the meeting.

“It was specifically agreed that they will not be title companies, doctor’s offices or insurance agents,” she told the B.A.R., adding that all agreed the retailers “must be businesses that will activate the space.”

The Planning Commission is expected to sign off on the bank’s application at its July 19 meeting.

A proposal is being floated to name a San Francisco street, or possibly a city building, after the late Vicki Marlane, a transgender drag performer who long held court at Aunt Charlie’s Lounge. Ms. Marlane died last July due to AIDS complications at the age of 76.

Members of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club’s political action committee voted last week to find a proper way to honor Ms. Marlane. The club’s president, Glendon Hyde, who also goes by his drag name Anna Conda, said the idea is still in the concept phase and he has yet to officially ask any of the Board of Supervisors members to sign on.

“I have not sent out my search yet.

The PAC should take it to the general and then write up a proposal. I am just shopping the idea casually,” Hyde told the B.A.R. “Jane Kim’s office seemed like they would be interested in talking.”

An aide for Kim, who represents District 6 in which Aunt Charlie’s is located, said the supervisor’s office is supportive of the idea and willing to work with Milk Club members on it.

Perhaps the stretch of Turk Street between Jones and Taylor, home to Aunt Charlie’s, could be renamed Vicki Marlane Way. Born Donald Sterger in Crookston, Minnesota, Ms. Marlane spent time as a circus performer before traveling the country perfecting her drag act. She moved to San Francisco in 1966 and later participated in the city’s first Pride parade.

After undergoing sex reassignment surgery in the 1980s, Ms. Marlane moved to San Diego. She eventually returned to the Bay Area and started a popular drag revue show at Aunt Charlie’s called “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” The success of those shows led to weekly Friday and Saturday night engagements dubbed “The Hot Boxxx Girls.” Ms. Marlane’s dance moves garnered her the nickname “the lady with the liquid spine.”

Only three other LGBT icons have streets named after them in San Francisco. A portion of 16th Street in front of the Castro’s public library is named after drag performer and political trailblazer Jose Sarria, while a block of Myrtle Street off Van Ness Avenue near City Hall is named for lesbian author Alice B. Toklas, who was born nearby.

In North Beach Adler Alley, which connects Grant and Columbus Avenues, was renamed after Jack Kerouac, the bisexual Beat Generation writer.▼ Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check www.ebar.com Monday mornings at noon for Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion.

This week’s column looked at the races for Oakland City Council seats.

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 12-18, 2012

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 12-18, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 9

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 12-18, 2012

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 12-18, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11

<< National News

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 12-18, 2012

▼

Justice Department asks for court review of DOMA

by Chuck Colbert

I

ebar.com

n an unexpected move that may well expedite the U.S. Supreme Court’s consideration of the Defense of Marriage Act, the Obama administration, last week, through the Department of Justice, asked the high court to review a pair of cases challenging DOMA’s constitutionality.

The first case is Golinski v. Office of Personnel Management, a San Francisco case that is currently before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Although briefing of Golinksi continues, with oral arguments scheduled for the week of September 10, DOJ has asked the Supreme Court to take up the case anyway.

Earlier this year in a win for gay rights, the 9th Circuit ruled on February 22 that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional, finding the 1996 law “violates [the plaintiff’s] right to equal protection.”

In his opinion, Judge Jeffrey White found that Section 3 could not pass either the “rational basis” or “heightened scrutiny” test. The latter is the more rigorous legal analysis.

The case dates from 2008 when lesbian attorney Karen Golinski, then a 19-year employee of the 9th Circuit, applied for health care benefits for her wife, but was denied the request.

Initially White dismissed the suit on procedural grounds, but invited Golinski to amend her January 2010 complaint to challenge DOMA Section 3’s constitutionality. She did so on April 14 of that year.

Even before the district court ruling, moreover, Attorney General Eric Holder announced on February 23, 2011 that DOJ would no longer defend DOMA, but would continue to enforce it.

Lambda Legal Defense and Educa-

Jane Philomen Cleland

Karen Golinski

tion Fund brought the Golinski case.

And in response to DOJ’s request for Supreme Court review, Lambda Legal staff attorney Tara Borelli issued a statement.

“This development highlights the desire by all, the government included, to resolve this issue quickly,” she said. “DOMA’s days are numbered.”

Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, through its Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, has hired an attorney to defend the law in court.

The second case is Massachusetts v. Department of Health and Human Services, currently in the 1st Circuit where a three-member appellate panel of judges upheld a lower court ruling, which found Section 3 to be unconstitutional on the less rigorous legal analysis of rational basis.

On June 29, BLAG asked the Supreme Court to review Massachusetts.

(Both the attorney general of the state and Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders filed separate suits that were upheld in both district and appeals court findings.)

If the Supreme Court takes up either case (Golinski or Massachusetts) or both in its October conference, oral arguments could take place this fall. Right now the court is in summer recess.

In its filings DOJ said it is seeking Supreme Court review so that the constitutional “question may be settled authoritatively.”

DOJ and Lambda Legal argue that heightened scrutiny applies. As DOJ explains in its filings, “Because the denial of federal benefits to same-sex couples who are legally married under their state’s laws bears no substantial relationship to any important governmental purpose that motivated Section 3’s enactment.”

DOJ also points to Section 3’s failure even on the lesser legal analysis of rational basis “because Section 3 is not rationally related to any conceivable legitimate interest of the federal government.”

Altogether, DOJ argues, “This case squarely raises important questions about the Constitution’s equal protection guarantee as it applies to a federal distinction among persons who are legally married under their state’s laws on the basis of sexual orientation.”

This week, in yet another DOMA development, 132 House members filed a friend of the court or amicus brief in the Golinski case. The brief argues that heightened scrutiny applies insofar as gay men and lesbians as a minority group lack sufficient political power to gain favorable treatment by lawmakers.

Additionally, the brief states that gay men and lesbians are, historically, a disfavored minority. Consequently, they are often targeted legislatively on the basis of stereotypes and bias.

Therefore, laws like DOMA, singling out gay men and lesbians for harm, warrant judicial skepticism and more rigorous legal analysis and review.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-New York), Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland), and Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn (D-South Carolina), among others, took the lead in filing the brief, which highlights that House members are not of one mind on DOMA’s constitutionality.

Joining House leadership in signing onto the brief are openly gay Democratic Representatives Barney Frank (Massachusetts), Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin), Jared Polis (Colorado), and David Cicilline (Rhode Island).▼

▼ <<

Community News>>

AIDS talk

From page 1

that health reform in the shape of the surviving Affordable Care Act will take care of everything.

AIDS advocates hope it will help address many of their concerns, but major provisions won’t take effect until 2014 and evaluating their effectiveness will take even longer. One still has to get from here to there, and even with expanded Medicaid coverage there will still be a need for HIVspecific support programs.

HIV in the U.S. remains “an epidemic of the marginalized ... of discrimination and neglect,” said Cornelius Baker with the National Black

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Nightlife ‘war’

From page 1

be passed later this month, is expected to include funding for the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development to hire a staffer focused on assisting the entertainment industry. Mayor Ed Lee initially proposed the new position be part-time, but at Wiener’s urging, made it full-time.

“Given that nightlife is a $4.2 billion economic sector in San Francisco, a full-time economic development position is more than warranted and will pay for itself many times over,” Wiener told the B.A.R. During the June forum Wiener said the debate on nightlife issues is often one-sided.

“At City Hall we don’t hear balanced opinion on nightlife. We hear a lot of opposition and we don’t hear enough support,” he said.

Leaders of the Alice B. Toklas and Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic clubs, in a letter sent to city officials in June, not only called for the street fair study and funding for the mayor’s office staffer, but also requested funding for the Entertainment Commission to hire a staffer to enforce permit violations.

“This work can only be done if the commission has the enforcement tools it needs to do its job,” stated the letter. “City leaders have been calling

<<

News Briefs

From page 5

The cost for the camp, which takes place August 2-5, is sliding scale from zero to $250. It costs about $250 per camper, organizers said, so people are asked to donate as much as possible, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Additionally, adult counselors are needed. Those 21 and over are welcome to apply. For interview information or questions about Queer Camp, email queercamp@ diversitycenter.org or call (831) 4255422. For camp registration, visit www.diversitycenter.org/youth.

Pacific Center announces Suitcase Clinic The Pacific Center in Berkeley has announced a new collaboration to provide free medical care to the LGBTQI community.

July 12-18, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 13

Men’s Advocacy Coalition. “It is still largely a disease of white, black, and Latino gay men who comprise more than a majority of the cases despite being only 2 percent of the American population.”

The perception is that science has solved the problems, he said. “There is a low perception of risk,” he noted, despite the fact that 50,000 new infections a year occur in the U.S. And while the problem continues to grow, funding for AIDS education continues to shrink.

“We have a population that is becoming increasingly ignorant about the epidemic,” he added.

Julie Scofield, executive director of the National Alliance of State and

Territorial AIDS Directors, said the goals of the national AIDS strategy, unveiled two years ago, “cannot be achieved without significant increases in funding for critical HIV/AIDS discretionary programs.”

At least $190 million is needed for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program.

Only 4 percent of total HIV domestic spending goes toward prevention, a number that would have to double “to make a big difference in the epidemic in the U.S.,” Johns Hopkins University HIV researcher David Holtgrave told a congressional hearing in 2009.

Scofield called on Congress “to meet and exceed the president’s budget” for HIV programs. But she fears the sequestration process of an auto-

matic slashing of appropriations to non-defense spending that will take effect in January if Congress does not agree to specific substantial cuts toward balancing the budget.

Ronald Johnson, with AIDS United, called on all political and private actors “to end the acrimonious battles over healthcare reform and move toward full implementation” of the ACA. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation continues to act independently of most other advocacy groups. It held a Washington news conference on July 9 chastising President Barack Obama for being “MIA – missing in action” for not having yet committed to speak at the International AIDS Conference

set to open in the capital on July 22.

The group has criticized the administration for lagging on AIDS education, needle exchange, and other programs, as well as not devoting adequate resources to the epidemic.

AHF spokesman Tom Myers said, “It may be better if the president not attend the conference if he is coming without any concrete proposals to fix these problems.”

Earlier in the month White House staff met with a number of AIDS advocates about what Obama might say in a speech to the conference. A participant who did not want to be identified said the staff seemed to be more concerned with spin than with offering anything new.▼

for more effective enforcement of bars and venues that are not following permit regulations, and so it is important to add this full-time position to the budget for the Entertainment Commission.”

Laura Hahn, who in March became executive director of the California Music and Culture Association, a local lobbying group for the nightlife industry, believes there has been a sea change in terms of how the city views entertainment venues. Her group now meets monthly with police officials to address security concerns and other issues involving nightclubs and other late-night businesses.

Rather than an antagonistic relationship, Hahn believes the industry and police are finding ways to work together.

“We do have a lot of support within the police department. I think our monthly meetings with the police department are a real testament to that,” she said.

Club OMG!, it plans to operate as a lounge most days and as the country’s first weekly gay South Asian club Saturday nights.

Co-owner Rakesh Modi, a former co-chair of the LGBT South Asian group Trikone, could not be reached for comment for this article.

In response to a San Francisco Bay Guardian article in March about the nightlife economic study, Modi posted a comment online expressing his frustrations about “getting push back” from city officials and police in trying to reenergize a space that has been a bar for 40 years.

“Not all bars are places of problems. Not all businesses are run badly,” wrote Modi, who eventually received his city permits and is now waiting for a liquor license to be approved. “There need to be checks and balances in place to weed out the problem businesses. But, an entire industry cannot be blacklisted because of a few bad apples. San Francisco needs to once again reclaim its lost fame of having a vibrant and fun and safe nightlife.”

In an emailed response to questions on how the police decide to oppose permit requests, Sergeant Michael Andraychak wrote that applications are assessed on “a case by case basis” and investigators take into account crime statistics for the business’s location and within a 500-foot radius.

The “primary concern,” wrote An-

draychak, is ensuring public safety.

“With respect to the 6th Street Corridor, there is a significant demand for police services already in this area and the department is in the process of opening a police substation to more adequately respond to those needs,” he wrote.

Nathan Purkiss, a former supervisor aide who worked on the legislation establishing the city’s Entertainment Commission, said during the June forum that what is not readily understood about LGBT nightspots, in particular, is how they play a critical role in fostering community.

“These are not just places to drink,” he said. “We are losing

spaces because we have a systemic bias against establishments like this.

They are not just businesses, these are cultural institutions.”

Since the start of the year there has been a palpable change in the dialogue and conversation around nightlife issues in the city, Temprano said.

“There is less of this war rhetoric and more speaking about nightlife for what it actually is. It is an economic vehicle and a cultural vehicle,” he said. “We are seeing a shift away from war rhetoric and use of that term and a battle mentality. We have a long ways to go before we can officially declare that war over.”▼

Continued resistance Nightclub operators continue to face resistance from the police, however, particularly when they seek the necessary permits from various city agencies. The gay owners of a new venue at 43 6th Street had to fight police objections to open what is billed as the city’s first nightlife spot aimed at the South Asian community. Called The center is partnering with UC Berkeley’s Suitcase Clinic organization to begin offering a free drop-in medical clinic on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month; the next clinic is scheduled for Saturday, July 14, from 12:30 to 3 p.m. at the Pacific Center, 2712 Telegraph Avenue.

Leslie Ewing, executive director of the Pacific Center, said that the effort has been spearheaded by second-year UC Berkeley and UCSF joint medical program students Katharine Burmaster and Nicholas Orozco, in response to the health disparities impacting the local queer community and the lack of medical education around LGBTQI health needs.

The clinic will be staffed by medical students, undergraduates, and physicians from the community, all of whom have generously agreed to volunteer their time. The clinic is funded in part by the Bay Area Albert Schweitzer Fellowship program and

will honor the late professor Dr. Kevin Mack of the UC Berkeley-UCSF joint medical program. Mack, who was openly gay, was killed in a vehicle accident on July 14, 2011 when the UCSF shuttle he was riding in collided with a big-rig truck.

For information about the LGBTQI Suitcase Clinic, email lgbtqi@ suitcaseclinic.org or visit www.suitcaseclinic.org.▼

of dancing and food, his hard work, friendliness, and his passion for living fully were widely recognized. He is survived by his sister, brother, both parents, and many cousins – along with many friends. His funeral was held at Duggan’s Funeral Home on June 13 from 2 until 6 p.m. before his body was sent to Brazil, where his parents and family held another funeral. Kleysson was 35 years old. May he rest now in peace.

of several textbooks and standards manuals, Chris held a master’s degree in information systems and pursued significant graduate study in medical informatics at the University of Utah. He recently retired as director of health information services and privacy officer designee at San Francisco General Medical Center after over 40 years of public service in hospitals and health profession educational settings.

He is survived by a brother who lives here in the San Francisco Bay Area; an aunt who lives in Reno, Nevada; and the many friends and colleagues whose lives he touched with his very unique personality. Chris will be remembered during a gathering at Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, 133 Turk Street in San Francisco on Sunday, July 22 from 4 to 6 p.m.

On the web Online content this week includes the Bay Area Reporter’s online columns, Political Notes and Wedding Bell Blues; the Jock Talk, Transmissions, and Out in the World columns; and articles about a candidate forum for Oakland City Council candidates and the announced merger of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and Outserve. www.ebar.com.

Obituaries >> Kleysson Santos de Oliveira May 24, 1977 – June 5, 2012

Kleysson died early Tuesday morning June 5, 2012 at his home near Lake Merced in San Francisco of medical complications due to respiratory infection. He was born in Goiania, Brazil but after visiting the United States, and initially moving to the Bay Area with his family, he received asylum status in 2008 and made San Francisco his home. Kleysson took language classes at City College of San Francisco, worked in several restaurants, but made many friends while delivering pizzas at Escape From New York Pizza and driving taxi cabs. His smile, love

Chris Elliott 1950 – 2012

Chris Elliott, MS, RHIA, lost his battle with multiple cancers earlier this month at the age of 62. The author

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

14 • Bay Area Reporter • July 12-18, 2012

Classifieds

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Legal Notices>>

The

Legal Notices>> TO:

ALL PATIENTS AND FORMER PATIENTS OF GOLDEN GATE COMMUNITY HEALTH, formerly known as PLANNED PARENTHOOD GOLDEN GATE Re:

Golden Gate Community Health, Case No. 11-31703 DM U. S. Bankruptcy Court, N.D.CA

YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that Golden Gate Community Health, formerly known as

Planned Parenthood Golden Gate (collectively “GGCH”) ceased its operations on February 28, 2011 and filed for bankruptcy on May 2, 2011. GGCH operated health centers at the following locations: (a) 815 Eddy Street, San Francisco, CA; (b) 2211 Palm Avenue, San Mateo, CA; (c) 2 H Street, San Rafael, CA; (d) 482 West MacArthur Boulevard, Oakland, CA; (e) Eastmont Mall, 7200 Bancroft Avenue, Suite 210, Oakland, CA; (f) 1370 Medical Center Drive, Rohnert Park, CA; (g) 1866 B Street, Hayward, CA; (h) 1230 Hopkins Avenue, Redwood City, CA; (i) Good Samaritan Health Center, 1294 Potrero Avenue, San Francisco, CA; and (j) Novato Youth Center, 1767 Grant Avenue, Novato, CA .

IF YOU WERE a GGCH PATIENT, you or your current health care provider may request a copy of your medical records by submitting a written request for your medical records. You may download an Authorization for Release of Medical Records (“ARMR”) from GGCH at www.ggch2012.com. Please submit the completed, signed ARMR to GGCH–Patient Records at: GGCH–Patient Records 2370 Market Street, PMB 502 San Francisco, CA 94114 -orFax: (415) 373-4466 -orEmail: ggch2012@gmail.com Please read and fill out the form carefully. If you have any questions, please contact us via email at ggch2012@gmail.com or telephone (415) 518-5716.

IF YOU DO NOT REQUEST A COPY OF YOUR PATIENT RECORDS ON OR BEFORE AUGUST 31, 2013, GGCH will request that the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the California Department of Health and Human Services take possession of your medical records. However, these agencies are not obligated to do so and you should not assume that they will. If these agencies decline to take possession of and responsibility for the records, the patient medical records will be destroyed, pursuant to Order of the Bankruptcy Court.

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF california, county of san francisco file CNC12-548715 In the matter of the application of: KEITH BERNDT KOLLER for change of name, having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner KEITH BERNDT KOLLER is requesting that his/her name be changed to KEITH TOURNE KOLLER. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Rm. 514 on the 31st of July 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034406000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Y & G CO, 2554 34th Ave., SF, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Bo Yang Yu. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/13/12.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/13/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034406700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GREENSURGE, 11 Brush Pl. #1, SF, CA 94103.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Sergio Novoa. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/14/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034402300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GOLDEN GATE BASS CAMP SAN FRANCISCO, 2315 42nd Ave., SF, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Clarence R. Duke. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/12/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/12/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034383300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BENNETT MAINTENANCE SERVICES, 1470 Fillmore St., SF, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Teresa Bennett. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/01/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034411900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SALON VILLAGE, 1538 Pacific Ave., SF, CA 94109.

This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Prudential Consultants Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/18/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034411500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PUGH CONSULTING; SOURCE GAP CONSULTING; INSIGHT JUNCTION CONSULTING; GAP JUNCTION CONSULTING; 3 Bayside Village Pl. #219, SF, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Kimberly J. Pugh. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/15/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/15/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034408000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DIGITAL VICTROLA, 1610 Sutter St. #305, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Eric Wayne. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/14/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/14/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034416200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EMPIRE ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION INC., 3801 3rd St. #616, SF, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Empire Engineering & Construction Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/05/05. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/20/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034404000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ZENMARK VERBAL DESIGN, 25 Maiden Lane #300, SF, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Zenmark Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/07. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/13/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034411700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LOLINDA, 2518 Mission St., SF, CA 94110.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Bernarda LLC (CA). 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 06/18/12.

June 21, 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 06/18/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: AMERICAN CUPCAKE LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 1919 Union St., SF, CA 94123-4204. Type of license applied for

41 - On-sale GENERAL Eating place June 28, JULY 5, 12, 2012

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034424400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: REVERSE METHOD, 3111 24th St., SF, CA 94110.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Sean Conrad. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/22/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/25/12.

June 28, JULY 5, 12, 19, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034427600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: A TOUCH OF THE SPECIFIC, 211 Sutter St. #502, SF, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Kathryn Elizabeth Woodford. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/26/12.

June 28, JULY 5, 12, 19, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034420300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ENCORE.ORG, 114 Sansome St. #850, SF, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a corporation non-profit 501(c)3, and is signed Civic Ventures (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/18/12.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/21/12.

June 28, JULY 5, 12, 19, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034414100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STERLING GRAPHICS, 375 Alabama St. #227, SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Sterling Graphics Collective, Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/01/12.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/19/12.

June 28, JULY 5, 12, 19, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034417600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MILSAL MCCAULL, 2678 California St., SF, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Milsal McCaull (CA).

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/20/12.

June 28, JULY 5, 12, 19, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034418700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: T FACTORY, 47 Julian St., SF, CA 94103.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed TFactory LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/21/12.

June 28, JULY 5, 12, 19, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034418600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE ARMORY CLUB, 1799 Mission St., SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Julian Holdings LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/21/12.

June 28, JULY 5, 12, 19, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034424100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FLYING CRANES, 777 Florida St. #301, SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Burness C. Broussard.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/20/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/22/12.

June 28, JULY 5, 12, 19, 2012 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE A-025058700 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: MINA’S TAILOR STUDIO, 2031 Union St. #5, SF, CA 94123. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by Merry M. Yong.

The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/30/01.

June 28, july 5, 12, 19, 2012

notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 06/26/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: GDL SFO, INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 165 Jefferson St., SF, CA 941331234. Type of license applied for

42 - On-sale GENERAL PUBLIC PREMISES July 5, 12, 19, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 06/25/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: T&M RESTAURANT ENTERPRISES INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 798 Sutter St., SF, CA 94109-6417.

Type of license applied for

41 - On-sale BEER & WINE – EATING PLACE July 5, 12, 19, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034439500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SYN2, 45 Rio Court, SF, CA 94127. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Serdar Yeralan. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/02/12.

JULY 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034416100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PHOTOJIMSF. 1878 Market St. #201, SF, CA 94102.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Jim James. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/19/12.

JULY 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034435000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EASY-RENTAL, 1779 35th Ave., SF, CA 94122.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed John Feely. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/29/12.

JULY 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034427500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EDEN CAFE, 47 Franklin St., SF, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Su Yan Cai. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/26/12.

JULY 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034433700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EARTH TU FACE, LLC, 36 Calhoun Terrace, SF, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Earth Tu Face LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/19/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/28/12.

JULY 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034429300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EAST WISH CONSTRUCTION, 74 Waterville, SF, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a husband & wife, and is signed Changxiong Zuo & Yanyan Zhuo. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/27/12.

JULY 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034432500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MEXICOB, 4036 25th St., SF, CA 94114.

This business is conducted by a husband & wife, and is signed Rafael Trickett-Robles & Timothy Trickett-Robles. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/28/12.

JULY 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE A-034221700 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: EDEN CAFE, 47 Franklin St., SF, CA 94102. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by Angela Chang. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/23/11.

JULY 5, 12,19, 26, 2012

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Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE A-031751400 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: STUDIO VOXPOP, 555 Arguello Blvd. #303, SF, CA 94118.

This business was conducted by an individual and signed by Justin Thomas Akers. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/05/09.

JULY 5, 12,19, 26, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 07/03/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: VALLEY BAR INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 4054 24th St., SF, CA 94114-3716. Type of license applied for

48 - ON-SALE GENERAL PUBLIC PREMISES July 12, 2012 notice of application FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF alcOholic beverage LICENSE Dated 07/05/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: JOE BUCK’S LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 1600 Dolores St., SF, CA 94110-4907. Type of license applied for

48 - ON-SALE GENERAL PUBLIC PREMISES JULY 5, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 06/29/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: JAMES ROBERT ATTON, MATILDE PALOMA MUELA. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 428 11th St., SF, CA 94103-4316.

Type of license applied for

41 - ON-SALE BEER & WINE - EATING PLACE July 12, 19, 26, 2012 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF california, county of san francisco file CNC12-548755 In the matter of the application of: QI QI CHIN for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner QI QI CHIN is requesting that his/ her name be changed to QIQI JUNE CHIN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 6th of September 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JULY 12, 19, 26, August 2, 2012 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF california, county of san francisco file CNC12-548780 In the matter of the application of: YESSENIA ZHOU ZHANG for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner YESSENIA ZHOU ZHANG is requesting that his/her name be changed to YESSENIA CHAIU. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept.

514 on the 18th of September 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JULY 12, 19, 26, August 2, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034424000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: T.V. EYE, 1512 Broderick St., SF, CA 94115.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Daniel Paul Sneddon. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/21/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/22/12.

JULY 12, 19, 26, August 2, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034419500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ALAN LIMOUSINE, 1950 Montecito Ave., Mountain View, CA 94043. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Hisham Adel. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/21/12.

JULY 12, 19, 26, August 2, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034426600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CREEK SIDE HOME IMPROVEMENT, 300 Channel St. #23, SF, CA 94158. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Gregory L. Hall. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/25/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/25/12.

JULY 12, 19, 26, August 2, 2012

t

Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 12-18, 2012 • Bay Area Reporter • 15

Legal Notices>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034441200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MYRIAD HARBOR, 146 Dore St., SF, CA 94103.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Rachael Yu. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/02/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/02/12.

JULY 12, 19, 26, August 2, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034421100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PING AND MING 306, 56 Tucker Ave., SF, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Rui Wen Zheng. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/21/12.

JULY 12, 19, 26, August 2, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034436900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SUPER NAILS & SPA, 3251 20th Ave. #234, SF, CA 94132. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed Anh Ngoc Thi Nguyen & Daniel Nguyen. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/29/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/29/12.

JULY 12, 19, 26, August 2, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034443300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LEFT ANGLE RECORDS, 743 Wisconsin St. #Y, SF, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed Anna-K. Karney & William P. Ortiz. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/02/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/03/12.

Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE A-032766700

EAGLE M & oving

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: PING AND MING 306, 613 La Salle Ave., SF, CA 94124.

This business was conducted by an individual and signed by Rui Ming Zheng. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/10/10.

S tor age , I nc .

Gay Owned and Operated Local & Long Distance Moves All Over SF & The Bay Area

JULY 12, 19, 26, August 2, 2012 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE A-031806700

415.404.7400 888.670.0840 www.EagleMovingAndStorage.com

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: MAX CAB, 2121 Evans St. #A, SF, CA 94124. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by Steven B. Gee. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/26/09.

PRE-ARRANGED FUNERALS Pre-arranged cemetery & funeral services. Affordable payment plans. Call 415-713-8842

JULY 12, 19, 26, August 2, 2012 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE A-032512800

E23-26

Did you know Tom Burdick(1950-1993)?

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: SUPER NAILS & SPA, 3251 20th Ave. #234, SF, CA 94132. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by Christine Nguyen.

The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/22/10.

No obituary was written, but he deserves to be remembered.

Seeking friends’ descriptions / memories of Tom plus a picture as an adult (with Bob?) to complete his life story.

E-mail: orygunwolf@yahoo.com

JULY 12, 19, 26, August 2, 2012

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JULY 12, 19, 26, August 2, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034440100

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www.ebar.com/arts

Vol. 42 • No. 28 • July 12-18, 2012

Virginie Ledoyen, left, stars as Gabrielle de Polignac and Diane Kruger, right, stars as Marie Antoinette in Benoit Jacquot’s historical drama Farewell, My Queen.

Carole Bethuel, courtesy of Cohen Media Group

O

ne of the supreme ironies of history is that the French Revolution, which overthrew the monarchy and created the first modern totalitarian state, guaranteed the undying fame of Marie Antoinette (1755-93), the last Queen of France. She was and remains a polarizing, often misunderstood figure. Farewell, My Queen, a superb French film opening on July 13 at the Embarcadero Center Cinema, gives a riveting account of what she faced in the three days following the July 14, 1789 storming of the Bastille.

‘Farewell, My Queen’ portrays Marie Antoinette

by Tavo Amador Only six weeks earlier, the queen had been at the bedside of her dying older son.

A Hapsburg Archduchess raised in Vienna, Marie Antoinette’s sketchy education left her illprepared for life at the French court. Her remarkable, ruthless mother, the Empress Maria-There-

sa, used her children as pawns in a complex game of diplomatic chess. Marie Antoinette’s marriage in 1770 to the future Louis XVI was Maria-Theresa’s most brilliant achievement in that sphere. The Empress charged her daughter with one overriding objective: to advance the interests of the Haps-

burgs. Alas, the union in France was unpopular from the beginning.

The film, based on Chantal Thomas’ novel, is presented from the perspective of Lea, the queen’s reader (Sidonie Laborde), and focuses on the relationship between Marie Antoinette (an impressive Diane Kruger) and her favorite, Gabrielle, Duchess de Polignac (the lovely Virginie Ledoyen). Among many things, the Grub Street press labeled the queen another Messalina, with countless See page 28 >>

What’s up in the galleries this summer?

by Sura Wood

E

ven as the fog surges into the city, things are heating up at local galleries, where there’s no such thing as summer vacation. Here is a quartet of exhibitions around town worth taking a look at.

In Sin and Redemption, a new group show at SFMOMA Artists Gallery, the museum’s nonprofit off-shoot that promotes Bay Area art, two dozen artists grapple with the meaning of existence and the promise of transformation.

It’s a big-tent concept that, by necessity, assembles an eclectic assortment of artworks in a variety of media from photography, sculpture and painting like “Voluptuous Deconstruction,” in which Kara Maria applied a rainbow of color to a digitally manipulated print, distorting and deconstructing a pornographic image of a woman using a vibrator, to the installations of David Best, a sculptor See page 29 >>

Courtesy the artist

Cristo al Rojo Vivo (2012) by Victor Cartagena, part of Sin and Redemption at SFMOMA Artists Gallery.

{ SECOND OF TWO SECTIONS }

<< Out There

18 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 12-18, 2012

▼

Summer book quiz

by Roberto Friedman

I

t’s time for our annual perky little puzzler, in which we provide passages from six recently released books, and you guess which book they came from. Each book listed below furnishes at least one passage, and two books give up two passages each. Answers can be found at the bottom of the column.

A. Buy It Now – Lessons from eBay by Michele White (Duke University Press).

B. My Extraordinary Ordinary Life by Sissy Spacek (with Maryanne Vollers) (Hyperion).

C. My Germany – A Jewish Writer Returns to the World His Parents Escaped by Lev Raphael (with a new coda) (Terrace Books).

D. Outlaw Marriages – The Hidden Histories of Fifteen Extraordinary Same-Sex Couples by Rodger Streitmatter (Beacon).

E. Subtle Bodies – A Fantasia on Voice, History and Rene Crevel by

Peter Dubé (Lethe Press).

F. Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That? and Other Reflections on Being Human by Jesse Bering (Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

1. “Deep, deep in the night, we made our way to the gay clubs and the challenging laughter of their painted entertainers and equally costumed patrons. My first glimpse of that world is seared into me. My first sights, first sounds: a rouged young man in the arms of a soldier, thighs pressed together, their hands shameless.”

2. “Jack and I drifted through the first leg of our honeymoon in blissful innocence, untouched by the events erupting around us. I only remember hearing gunfire one time, while we were lying on the beach enjoying the sun. On the news that night we learned that troops had been landing just down the beach from us. We had no idea we were in the middle of an invasion, right there in our

bathing suits.”

3. “Many questions about gay self-labels and their relation to development, social behavior, genes, and neurological substrates remain to be answered; indeed, they remain to be asked. That many gay men go one step further and use secondary self-labels, such as ‘service top’ and ‘power bottom,’ reveals even further complexity. For the right scientist, there’s a lifetime of hard work just waiting to be had.”

4. “A lonely 22-year-old serviceman had been fellating himself since the age of 12. He was driven mad ‘by the fact that he could physically incorporate only the glans, and wanted to incorporate more.’

Honestly, it must have been so – oh, what’s the word I’m looking for, it’s right on the tip of my tongue – frustrating for this poor soldier.”

5. “Though my parents didn’t approve, I sometimes watched Combat, a World War II TV show, when I was a kid because all the other boys in my class loved the show. They also had G.I. Joe dolls, which I wanted, and I suppose that’s the compromise my parents made.

I couldn’t have a soldier doll, but I could watch Combat.”

6. “From the moment [James] Baldwin set eyes on [Lucien] Happersberger in a seedy Parisian bar in 1949, he was smitten. At least part of the appeal was physical, as the Swiss lad – six feet two inches tall, slender, and good-looking – was much more attractive than Baldwin, who stood five feet six inches tall and was as skinny as a scarecrow, his dominant physical features being his protruding eyes and heavy eyelids that had earned him the disparaging boyhood nickname of ‘Frog Eyes.’”

7. “Gay listings appear in such varied categories as ‘Art,’ ‘Photographic Images,’ ‘DVDs & Movies,’ ‘Books,’ ‘Sporting Goods’ (mostly socks and briefs), ‘Men’s Clothing’ (typically thongs and briefs), ‘Home & Garden’ (bookends depicting attractive men), ‘Toys & Hobbies’ (Teletubbies’ Tinky Winky and Star Trek’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard), ‘Coins’ (medals with images of men) and ‘eBay Motors’ (chaps and other leather items.)”

8. “We were invited to join the hunt club and started attending some of their events. One of the most interesting was a buffet dinner of game meat in its various forms, from braised venison to Brunswick stew to roasted

partridge, sometimes served with shotgun pellets. “’It’s perfectly all right to spit them on your plate,’ Winkie told us. ‘Even the Queen of England does it.’”

Back to Asia Out There returned to the Asian Art Museum last week for a more thorough perusal of its current exhibit Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past than we were able to pursue at its press preview in May. At that event, we were looking at some of the contemporary art on display when we were summoned by museum staffers to Civic Center Plaza, where we were made to wait beside Breathing Flower, Korean artist Choi Jeong Hwa’s 24-foot kinetic sculpture of a lotus flower, for SF’s possibly prevaricating mayor, who was running late, to make hay with a photo opportunity.

This time we were not called upon to be pawns for the political machine, and could take our time with the exhibits. We were especially captivated by Singaporean artist Herman Chong’s installation Calendars (2020-2096), 1,001 calendar pages filled with Chong’s photographs of empty Asian spaces, public and private; Japanese American artist Hiroshi Sugimoto’s series Five-Elements, seven crystal pagodas referencing a Buddhist cosmology; and Thai filmmaker Apichatpong “Joe” Weerasethakul’s short wonder Phantoms of Nabua, in which a group of teenage boys in the Northeast Thai city kick around a football (soccer ball) while it’s engulfed in flames. Soon the teens set fire to a makeshift movie screen as well. Perhaps this haunting and poetic film gave the exhibition its title?

On Thurs., Aug. 9, at 6:30 p.m., the Asian Art Museum’s assistant curator of contemporary art Alli-

son Harding and exhibition design manager Kelly Bennett will discuss their experience installing Phantoms of Asia. Unusually for a special exhibition, parts of it are interspersed upstairs with the permanent collection. More info at www.asianart.org.

She’s a creep In 2008, singer-songwriter/actress Carrie Manolakos joined the Broadway cast of Mamma Mia, but it was her performance of Radiohead’s classic song “Creep” that garnered the attention of Yoshi’s San Francisco artistic director Eric Hanson. Ever since “Creep,” performed live at Le Poisson Rouge, was posted on YouTube in April this year, Manolakos’ number of views continues to rise. She will appear at Yoshi’s Jazz Club & Japanese Restaurant, 1330 Filmore St., SF, on Tues. July 17, at 8 p.m. Tickets ($20) and more info: (415) 655-5600 or www.yoshis.com/sanfrancisco.

Clue in the July 4 New York Times crossword puzzle: “Place where opposites don’t attract.” The answer: “Gay bar.”▼ Answers to the Summer Book Quiz: 1. E; 2. B; 3. F; 4. F; 5. C; 6. D; 7. A; 8. B.

ebar.com

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Theatre >>

July 12-18, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 19

My fair (and desanitized) lady

by Richard Dodds

A

couple of weeks ago, Backstage looked at three summer productions that offer stabbing (Marat/Sade), slashing (Sweeney Todd), and slicing (Hedwig and the Angry Inch). Where, you might ask, are those musicals that once sent us back into the summer night with a buoyant step and a song to hum? We have one of those for you this week, the one with a heroine who wishes she could have danced all night, but this is San Francisco, where yin always needs its yang, and a few blocks away a new musical theater piece promises, in the first line of its press release, “dance numbers of disembowelment and incest.” Not in three-four waltz time, presumably, but you never know.

Of course, the referenced waltz is from the score of My Fair Lady that SF Playhouse is presenting in its small downtown theater in a chamber-scaled version. The second production will be unknown to most readers, for not only does it emerge from Kinderdeutsch Projekts, a multi-nation troupe never before seen on the West Coast, it is also the world premiere for Arctic Hysteria, which is set in a kingdom of artificial snow and imagined Eskimos.

SF Playhouse, which often displays an offbeat bent veering from Martin McDonagh’s A Behanding in Spokane to Tennessee Williams’ A Period of Adjustment, is now presenting an unconventional interpretation of a conventional musical.

“By stripping the show to its core,” reports SF Playhouse, “and casting much younger actors as Higgins and Pickering, as well as a streettough Eliza, our production aims to stir more romantic heat, while desanitizing our misconceptions of what was a very gritty London of 1912.”

James Hosking

Lauren English

Johnny Moreno and Monique Hafen play a language professor and his protege in a reconceived version of My Fair Lady at SF Playhouse.

Johnny Moreno and Monique Hafen are playing speech professor Harold Higgins and his protege Eliza Doolittle, with Charles Dean as Eliza’s father Alfred Doolittle, and Richard Frederick as Higgins’ cohort Col. Pickering. Bill English is directing the 11-member cast, which will be accompanied by two pianos as it sings the Lerner and Loewe score. Following its July 14 opening, the production will continue through Sept.

29. Tickets at www.sfplayhouse.org.

Arctic Hysteria, running July 26-Aug. 4 at Bindlestiff Studio, is named for a condition associated with the northernmost Inuit societies. In the Kinderdeutsch production, an aging warrior queen goes mad as her daughters renounce

their inheritance of the polar realm.

The Berlin-based company uses comedy, horror, movement, sound, and song to tell the story bilingually in English and German. Or as Kinderdeutsch describes it: “Part musical, part Bgrade incest porn, part disastrous sparkle-pop music video.”

San Francisco writer Abi Basch has provided the text for her fourth collaboration with Kinderdeutsch. The international creative team also includes director Else Marie Laukvik (Oslo), set designer Sue Rees (London), costume designer Irina Kruzhilina (Moscow), and composer Paula Matthusen (New York). The cast includes Thorsten Bihegue and Stefanie Fielder from Berlin, Lindsey Murray from London, and San

Arctic Hysteria is a multinational collaboration set in an imaginary polar kingdom having its world premiere at Bindlestiff Studio.

Francisco’s Molly Shaiken.

SF’s Climate Theater helped develop Arctic Hysteria in 2010, and its official debut at Bindlestiff is being produced locally by SNAP (Some New Arts Project). More info and tickets are available at www.kinderdeutsch.org.

Playwright platform Since its creation in 1976, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival has been the cornerstone program of the Playwrights Foundation. The 35th annual festival will feature six new plays, chosen from more than 500 submissions, which will have staged readings July 20-29 at Thick House Theater. The festival is not intentionally constructed around a theme, but according to Artistic Director Amy Mueller, a theme has emerged from the selections. “It’s about a shift in consciousness in our culture, in every sector, as a result of

advanced technology,” she said.

The playwrights and their plays are: Gordon Dahlquist’s Tea Party, a play about American politics in the near future; Aditi Kapil’s Brahman/i, the comically rendered tale of an intersex teen untethered to a gender or a culture; George Brant’s Grounded, a look at a wife and mother who is also a pilot assigned to the Air Force’s drone program; Aaron Loeb’s Ideation, a play about management consultants pulled into a mysterious security deal of unthinkable dimensions; Lauren Yee’s Samsara, which follows the consequences of surrogate parenthood; and Christopher Chen’s The Hundred Hours Project, a metatheatrical play about the making of a play about Mao Zedong.

Each play will have two performances over the course of the festival. A full schedule is available at www.playwrightsfoundation.org.

Secret society It’s 1956, and the mission of the Susan B. Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein is so clandestine that not even all its members realize they belong to a lesbian organization. That’s the setup for Five Lesbians Eating Quiche, having its West Coast premiere at the Phoenix Theatre after a 2010 debut at a sketch fest that led to a popular full production at Chicago’s New Colony Theater.

Authors Andrew Hobgood and Evan Linder are artistic directors at New Colony, and Jennifer Welch is directing the comedy’s SF debut under the aegis of Tides Theatre. Larissa Archer, Caitlin Evenson, Susan Shay, Sophia LaPaglia, and Karina Wolf play the title characters, who must deal with the Red Scare and Hbomb fears in addition to quiches and queer longings. Five Lesbians will run through July 28. Tickets available at www.tidestheatre.org. ▼

<< Music

20 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 12-18, 2012

▼

Joyce DiDonato triple play

by Tim Pfaff

C

an’t wait until fall to see Joyce DiDonato sing Romeo in San Francisco Opera’s production of Bellini’s The Capulets and the Montagues (as the company’s calling it, though it’s being sung in Italian)?

Don’t have to. The American mezzo, quite possibly the only singer today about whom there may be universal audience and critical agreement – dat she da man – appears in three recent recordings that show her artistic range.

The one that finds her on her most familiar, bel canto, turf – playing the pants part of Isolier, the count’s page (and rival in love for his countess) in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory (Virgin Classics) – is one you may have caught as part of the Metropolitan Opera’s national-wide HD transmissions. That should only whet your appetite to see it again, since it’s hard to imagine a better production (Bartlett Sher) of this goofy but musically rich late Rossini opera.

Mind-boggling as it is to contemplate, DiDonato has Rossini-singing colleagues today as good as she is, and two of them, her frequent partner Juan Diego Florez (Count Ory) and a singer as stylistically versatile as DiDonato, Diana Damrau (Countess Adele), share the stage with her, and their fizzy chemistry drives all three to vocal heights they might not have been able to scale on their own.

It’s amazing how rock-solid their bel canto remains through a physically exuberant (but not overgagged) production. The three-ina-bed scene late in the second act elicits nimble and genuinely funny physical comedy from all three

as they chucka-chucka their way through some music of far more than formulaic intricacy and sheer beauty. It’s everyone’s win that Rossini larded this late comedy for Paris with generous helpings of music from his earlier Il Viaggio a Reims, one of his most breathlessly scintillating scores. Maurizio Benini conducts with the appropriate verve.

Still, the jewel is Massenet’s Cendrillon, in the Laurent Pelly production that originated at Santa Fe Opera (with DiDonato) but here is recorded live a year ago at its firstever performance at London’s Royal Opera Covent Garden (Virgin Classics). (Gutsy SF Opera did it wickedly well in 1982.) So far, DiDonato’s ventures outside the Handel-bel canto repertoire have proved both wise and brilliant, and Lucette (Cinderella) takes her into lyric soprano territory she made it clear was hers

for the taking with roles as different as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier and the title role in Handel’s Alcina.

Predictably, she’s radiant, but more than that she brings depth (but not baggage) to a part that can be knitted wholly out of spun sugar. It’s hard not to think that her own story, from childhood in Prairie Village, Kansas (the simple truth) to becoming an uncontested favorite on the world’s top opera stages, informs her feeling for the ill-treated step-daughter, whose long first scene, about being humble as a cricket, reaches right across the proscenium and out through your TV screen to grab you (not at all violently). It’s the core humility and genuineness of feeling of her Cendrillon – by all accounts true reflections of this down-to-earth ensemble singer with a funny bone that makes her a natural for com-

edy – that makes her audience cheer her on.

This time it’s Alice Coote who wears the pants as Prince Charming in the royal couple to be, which Coote, singing splendidly, as always pulls off with an eerie level of androgyny and a voice ideally matched to entwine with DiDonato’s. Ewa Podles’ over-the-top Big Bad Mama and Eglise Gutierrez’s Fairy, safely covering the two extremes of the female vocal range, head a fine cast splendidly conducted by Bertrand de Billy.

For the first opera by a living gay composer, Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking has had a lot of live runs.

Since its wildly successful world premiere in San Francisco in 2000 (modestly erasing the fiasco of Andre Previn’s new The Streetcar Named Desire the previous season), recorded by Erato, it’s been revived in numerous productions on three

continents. If there were a role for her in Heggie’s Moby-Dick, opening just after her Romeo, trust that she’d have it, and sing it.

DiDonato first sang DMW’s central role of Sister Helen Prejean at New York City Opera in 2002 and now emerges as the single finest element in a second sound-only recording (Virgin Classics) of live performances of a Houston Grand Opera production of 2011. Because she can do so much with a single phrase, we hear her character’s own spiritual progress through the agonizing process of being a killer’s spiritual advisor. But by the time she sings, “I want the last thing you see in this world to be a face of love. I will be the face of love for you,” the transformation is real, and felt.

In 10 years of conducting this opera, Patrick Summers, too, has amplified its power.▼

Keyboard queens

by Gregg Shapiro

W

ith her 1996 major-label debut Tidal, Fiona Apple grabbed the spotlight away from reigning piano princess Tori Amos, slammed it to the ground, stomped on it, shook it and turned it into a kaleidoscope. Even though she has gone on to release only three more studio discs in the 16 years since, including her new one The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do (Clean Slate/Epic), the world of the piano/vocal singer/ songwriter has never been the same.

The seven years between Extraordinary Machine and The Idler Wheel is Apple’s longest stretch, although not her longest title. That honor belongs to 1999’s acclaimed When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He’ll Win the Whole Thing ’Fore He Enters the Ring There’s No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might So When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won’t Matter, Cuz You’ll Know That You’re Right.

If Apple sounded wise beyond her 19 (or so) years on Tidal, then imagine what a few more years have done not only to her distinctive voice, but also to her already considerable songwriting skills. On opener “Every Single Night,” she tinkles and twinkles and chants, while she alternates between recitation and wail on the revved up “Daredevil.” The dark and moody “Valentine” is unexpectedly catchy. The dusty waltz of “Jonathan” finds Apple using her “little

fist”” to tug on his hi “forest-chest,” “f h ” and Left Alone rolls out an irresistible boogie-woogie. There’s nothing regrettable about either “Regret” or “Anything We Want,” both of which make fascinating use of percussion.

But it’s the album closer, the steamy “Hot Knife,” with its sharp wordplay and unique production, that makes this platter sizzle.

By the time the more prolific Regina Spektor arrived with her 2004 major-label debut Soviet Kitsch, Tori Amos’s once-vivid star had begun to dim, and Fiona Apple had become the official touchstone for pianobased female singer/songwriters.

But as different as Apple was from Amos, that’s how dissimilar Spektor was from Apple. Take “Sailor Song,” on which Spektor can be heard singing “Mary Anne’s a bitch” over and over, as an example. But it was on 2006’s Begin to Hope, her most accessible and pleasing recording, that

S k became b f ll fledged d d star.

Spektor a full-fl What We Saw from the Cheap Seats (Sire) comes closest to capturing the same energy, although it falls short from achieving the same masterpiece status. The luminous “Small Town Moon” sets the radiant tone. But you have to get through “Oh Marcello” and “Don’t Leave Me,” both of which quote liberally from pop music history, before you get to the exquisite tearjerkers “Firewood” and “How.” Both songs reveal a refreshing level of maturity in Spektor’s considerable talents.

The exhilarating “All the Rowboats,” which deserves to be a hit single, is a perfect example of Spektor’s unusual perspective. That unique viewpoint is also on display in “Ballad of a Politician.” The aptly named “Open” takes an unusual turn in the middle, incorporating See page 29 >>

▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 12-18, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 21

DVD >>

Seen & heard on the drums

by Gregg Shapiro

P

atty Schemel, the subject of P. David Ebersole’s doc Hit So Hard (Well Go USA), may not be a household name, but she deserves to be. A drummer with a reputation for being one of the hardesthitting musicians in her profession, Schemel has been playing the drums since the age of 11. Keeping the beat in a variety of bands, Schemel is perhaps best known for her tumultuous tenure in the band Hole, led

by Courtney Love Cobain (as she is identified in the film).

An out lesbian, Schemel documented her own experiences in Hole, and the vintage film footage enhances what is already a gripping story. Schemel, who came out in a 1995 Rolling Stone interview, somehow found a way to balance her musical career and role in Hole, playing Lollapalooza and a multitude of festivals, recording albums and living the rock-star life. Of course, such a life can also have a negative effect.

Kurt Cobain’s suicide was followed soon after by Hole bass player Kristen Pfaff ’s drug overdose. In and out of rehab, Schemel hit rock bottom when she quit Hole, and ended up strung out and living on the streets.

Ebersole makes especially good use of interviews in Hit So Hard.

Subjects range from Schemel’s mother, who tells a touching story about Patty’s coming out; her brother Larry, with whom Patty is close in age and shared a series of substance abuse issues; Love Cobain, who comes off as crazy and as self-absorbed as you might expect; Hole band members Eric Erlandson and Melissa Auf Der Mar; female musicians such as Go-Go’s drummer Gina Schock, Bangles drummer Debi Peterson and Veruca Salt’s Nina Gordon; writer Sarah Vowell;

Courtesy Variance Wells/Well Go USA

Drummer Patty Schemel strikes a pose for Hit So Hard, now on DVD.

out musicians including Imperial Teen’s Roddy Bottum, Phranc, Luscious Jackson drummer Kate Schellenbach and Fanny drummer Alice de Buhr, among others.

With all the drama in her story, the greatest impact of Hit So Hard turns out to be that Schemel, six years sober at the time the doc was completed, has found a happy ending. Happily running the Dog Rocker Dog Care business, married to her girlfriend with whom she is a proud parent (with sperm donated by brother Larry), Schemel continues

Batman (Adam West) and Robin the Boy Wonder (Burt Ward) on the 1960s TV series Batman.

TV >>

Why ME TV might appeal

by David-Elijah Nahmod

F

or many young, closeted LGBT viewers, watching “My Brother’s Keeper,” a groundbreaking 1973 episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, was an epiphany. At a time when we had little if any presence on the tube, MTM dared to set up gal pal Rhoda (Valerie Harper) on a date with Phyllis’ (Cloris Leachman) visiting brother.

They become fast friends, though it was obviously platonic.

“What’s wrong with my brother?” inquires an insulted Phyllis. “He’s handsome, charming, witty –” “He’s gay,” interjects Rhoda. As Phyllis nearly collapses from shock, Rhoda repeats loudly, “He’s gay, Phyllis. He’s gay!” It was one of many envelope-pushing moments on a classic

show that broke the traditional sitcom mold and spoke to its viewers on a deep and personal level.

For gay Bay Area resident Len Handeland, a diehard fan of classic television, shows like Mary Tyler Moore and That Girl were pivotal viewing. “The characters of Ann Marie [That Girl] and Mary Richards [MTM] went against the grain of society,” Handeland said in a phone interview. “We’re going to do what’s best for ourselves, they proclaimed. We’re going to ignore the pressure to conform.”

MTM and That Girl are two of the more than 50 classic TV series on the schedule of ME TV (Memorable Entertainment Television), a national, digital broadcast network. Launched in Chicago in 2005, ME went national See page 28 >>

to perform and is also actively nurturing the next generation of female drummers via various enterprises.

Blu-ray bonus features include audio commentary by the director and Schemel, previously unseen rare footage, and much more.

Photographer Kurt Markus and his son Ian co-directed John Mellencamp: It’s About You (MPI), a doc about singer/songwriter Mellencamp’s 2009 concert tour with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. The film also includes considerable footage of Mellencamp’s Memphis record-

ing sessions at Sun Studios under the direction of T-Bone Burnett.

Kurt, who has known Mellencamp for more than 20 years, provides running commentary through which we learn as much (if not more) about the photog as we do about Mellencamp. It’s an unusual approach to documentary filmmaking to say the least, and comes off as antagonistic at times. But Mellencamp fans will find plenty to their liking, particularly in the Sun Studio scenes. The Blu-ray contains minimal special features.

Perhaps the most annoying boy band since Menudo (sorry, Ricky Martin), teen TV talent-show band One Direction is being shoved down our throats at an alarming rate. The latest product in their empire is the DVD Up All Night: The Live Tour (Columbia/SYCO). Consisting of music videos (including “What Makes You Beautiful”), a “revealing” behind-the-scenes look at life on tour, and concert footage, the DVD goes a long way in reinforcing that these boys are in desperate need of a curfew.▼

<< Film

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 12-18, 2012

▼

From Proust to Bukowski

by David Lamble

T

he protagonist of the seductive time-travel romance Bonsai removes all suspense from the proceedings by practically shouting at the very beginning of his tale, “Emily is dead, Julio lives, the rest is fiction.”

The film kicks off with a shaggyhaired Chilean college boy, Julio (Diego Noguera), scarred by art. Embarrassed by his college professor’s inquiry about whether he’s ever read In Search of Lost Time, Julio brings a copy to the beach, whereupon he falls asleep with the paperback book covering his nipples. Later that night, after a party, he explains the odd white

BARTABSF.COM

patch of skin on his chest to a girl named Emily (Natalia Galgani).

“Proust.”

“You’ve never read him before?”

“Not the last volume.”

“Did you finish it or fall asleep before the end?”

“I finished it. And you, did you read it?”

“Of course, a long time ago, during a summer at Maicolpue.”

“I’ve never been there.”

“It’s horrible, windy and nothing to do, the perfect place to read Proust.”

“Did you enjoy it?”

“I told you it was horrible.”

“No, Proust.”

“It was a very important experience in my life as a reader.”

The important moments in Julio and Emily’s doomed life together will revolve around their bedtime ritual of reading aloud from a great book before sex or sleep. Director Cristian Jimenez makes it perfectly clear that neither is an especially deep or even interesting person: we see Emily infuriate her student friends by playing loud music during their study sessions; later she tries to get drunk on non-alcoholic beer.

Julio, who for the longest time impersonates a narcoleptic nerd who’s mistaken the literature department for soccer practice or a dance rave, suddenly acquires unexpected depth, becoming in some ways a more accomplished liar, in the film’s eightyear flash-forward, where we observe him auditioning to transcribe a great writer’s novel in progress from the older gentlemen’s handwritten notebooks. Over lunch, the writer informs the now bearded but seemingly still quite callow young man about the pivotal moment in his latest story.

“Look, this is a very personal novel.

The main character hears on the radio that his first girlfriend has died. That’s when it all begins.”

After joyfully informing his current girlfriend about his coup, Julio loses the job when the great man finds a cheaper typist. But Julio now possesses the germ of an idea for a book of his own, a novel he will finish while claiming to his lover that it is the great man’s book.

Part of the joys of taking in Bonsai (the title derives from Alejandro Zambra’s novella, and from the name for the odd plant Julio and Emily attempt to grow as a symbol of their love) is a Proust-like delight the filmmakers feel for the tiniest, most ordinary details of their story: the dirt smearing the windows of the jitney that carries Julio to the beach; the flotsam swirling in the tide that laps almost to his feet as he snoozes under Proust; the rain pouring outside the upstairs window as Julio and Emily swap lies; the specific texture of the blue-lined

Scene from director Cristian Jimenez’s Bonsai.

Lukas Haas in director Adam Sherman’s Crazy Eyes.

notebooks into which Julio will pour his purloined novel, concerning a love sweeter in memory than during the moments he was actually living it.

Lead Diego Noguera manages to morph from a beautiful if seemingly empty-headed kid possessing only the flimsiest carnal drives to a manlyappearing dissembler who attempts to hang onto his current lover by pretending to copy down an older, wiser man’s recollections of an impossibly perfect first and best love.

Director Jimenez buries his Proustian allusions in a contemporaryfeeling story that bears the superficial DNA of a Latin American slacker-kid deadpan comedy, complete with hip soundtrack and even a Ramones Tshirt. For those familiar with Chile’s anguished recent history, a fable about how precious things can suddenly disappear or turn up inexplicably dead will carry special weight as you leave the San Francisco Film Society’s lovely little theatre at 1746 Post Street.

Crazy Eyes This tarnished love story is more reflective of the crazed urban dystopia of Charles Bukowski than the childhood reveries of Marcel Proust.

Remember the first time you saw Peter Weir’s Witness, and experienced the brutal murder of an undercover Philadelphia cop as observed by a cute little Amish boy, who then must hide from the killers in a seedy train-station men’s room? Over the years, actor Lukas Haas has given us more than one excruciating glimpse of innocence defiled: as in his witty take on the drug kingpin barely out of high school in Ryan Johnson’s incendiary homage to a Dashiell Hammett-worthy sleuth in Brick. Haas’ “Pin” dispatches minions to deadly missions while still living with his apple juice and home-baked cookies-dispensing Mom. In Adam Sherman’s Crazy Eyes, Haas’ dissipated, rich playboy is on a never-ending bender: 24/7, Zach’s world spins through cycles at a posh if dangerous singles bar tended by his parasite pal, Dan (Jake Busey), with moments at home with a revolving gaggle of party-down girl-

friends, and occasional time-outs with his estranged, money-grubbing ex-wife and his potty-mouthed five-year-old son.

Haas seamlessly plays what could have been the champion of all-time shit-heel characters by walking him through a kind of moral car wash, whereby after every 24-hour session in his bachelor-boy mosh-pit he awakens from an insane ingestion of liquor and sex as if it were all happening for the first time. It helps that Haas has beefed up his normally waif-like torso to the point that the nonstop partying appears to have had the same effect on his character as a Gold’s Gym membership has on more ordinary citizens.

The title refers to Zach’s one glaring weakness, for a flirty but erotically elusive hometown girl he dubs “Crazy Eyes” (Madeline Zima, from Showtime’s Californication). The gimmick here is, of course, he’s hot for the girl as long as she has sense enough not to give in.

Writer/director Sherman has demonstrated a taste for taking modern urban decadence to new heights or lows with his hippies-gone-mad commune film, Happiness Runs. Those expecting these brazenly self-destructive characters to head for rehab by the third act will be disappointed, but not bored. While not up to the Oscarworthy standards of The Lost Weekend or The Days of Wine and Roses (there were moments where a dollop of Mancini would have been welcome), Crazy Eyes delivers a punchin-the-face authenticity along with some pretty brutal pit-stops: a couple of savage bar fights and an almost nonstop river of projectile vomit.

Sherman and Haas spare us moralizing or navel-gazing about whether this beastie-boy womanizer is secretly homo or ever likely to reform before his boyish countenance comes to resemble Bukowski’s pig man. Haas is the main reason for our staying at this raunchiest of parties, the one time this once sweet Amish boy gets the lead while jerking ours.

(Opens Friday.)▼

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Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 12-18, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

Film >>

Spider-Man wants to rock your world

by David Lamble

A

s I slink down into my wellpadded seat halfway up the steep slope of the San Francisco Metreon’s IMAX theatre – with a pair of cool, almost fashionista 3D glasses inserted over my Cokebottle lenses – I have to admit I’m rooting for the new boy in red and blue spandex, Andrew Garfield, to knock one out of the park in The Amazing Spider-Man. Staring out at us summer movie fans starving for mindless pleasure, young Garfield puts an Anthony Perkins-worthy quizzical half-smile on the most prominent neck muscles since Audrey Hepburn.

Early on in newbie director Marc Welch’s second feature (he’s credited with the hit Joseph Gordon-Leavitt time-shifting romance (500) Days of Summer), it’s clear there’s a new sheriff over the nighttime Gotham skies, a boy actor doing more of his own stunts and honing his own snarky humor. I admit to a bittersweet regret that the covert romance that seemed to be blooming between Tobey Maguire and James Franco in Spider-Man films 2 & 3 will never reach an altar or even a good clinch.

But the fabulous screenwriting team of James Vanderbilt (Zodiac) and the legendary Alvin Sargent (Ordinary People, Spider-Man 2 & 3) has given this Spidey humor that’s less flashy and more geared to comicbook geeks. For instance, as Garfield’s Spider-Man swoops down on a squad of hapless Manhattan cops, he almost courts their scornful incredulity: “No one seems to grasp the concept of the mask!”

Meanwhile Spidey’s adult foes are a bit stodgier, less theatrically witty, as evidenced by veteran Denis Leary as the hard-ass NYPD Captain Stacy asking aloud why his cops

can’t “stop and frisk” this taunting teen vigilante: “Thirty-eight of New York’s finest can’t stop one guy in leotards!”

As I wrote in my review of Andrew Garfield’s screen debut “as a newly freed child murderer aching to make good on a fragile second chance” in the 2007 British moral thriller Boy A, “the LA-born, British-raised actor is uniquely suited to play severely compromised boy/ men, forever on the edge of rage or tears. Garfield projects a desperate if weary idealism inside a sinewy torso that cries out for mothering by partners of all persuasions.” Odd as it might seem after years of Tobey Maguire’s pluckier, almost whimsical Spidey, a newly rebooted SpiderMan is well-served by an actor who can move you to tears for mostly the right reasons.

No fan of Garfield’s galvanic turns in The Red Riding Trilogy, The Social Network or on the New York stage as the iconic Biff in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman should be surprised that this product of Britain’s rigorous non-method theatre should also possess an ability to deliver a spontaneous personal testimonial on the desperate need he had to don the mask in front of hard-to-fool comic book fanatics, as reported in the Summer 2012 cover story of VMAN magazine, with Garfield trading Spandex for Gucci as a sleek, sexy cover boy.

“I needed Spidey in my life as a kid, and he gave me hope. Peter Parker has inspired me to feel stronger. He made me, Andrew, braver.

He reassured me that by doing the right thing it’s worth it, it’s worth the struggle, it’s worth the pain, it’s worth even the tears and the bruises and the blood. He saved my life.”

Wow! Where does a cynical, Godless, foul-mouthed, black humor-

Books>>

L.A. noir

by Jim Piechota Basement of Wolves by Daniel Allen Cox; Arsenal Pulp Press, $15.95

M

ontreal-based writer Daniel Allen Cox’s third novel Basement of Wolves (after 2008’s Shuck, about a feisty gay porn star in New York, and the pyromaniacal Krakow Melt, two years later) ushers him into the literary realm of writers, not unlike Dennis Cooper, who tread fearlessly along the fringes of normalcy to deliver hardscrabble stories and their equally scabby characters, all unafraid of getting their hands dirty.

Here, we are introduced to Michael-David, an arrogant, justturned-40 actor in Los Angeles who knows that the timer on his recognizable Hollywood fame is quickly tick-tocking to its end. The book opens with our hero celebrating that once-in-alifetime casting call, but his younger scene partner at the audition (a chap he calls “Pinchable Cheeks”) steals

the part away for himself. Dissed, dejected, and desperate for a movie role – any movie role – MichaelDavid accepts the lead in budding director (and twitchy Scientologist) Chris Culpepper’s art film about a boy living on his father’s farm raising wolves. After the boy is adopted

into the pack and flees for freedom, he lives life “as a wolf teaches him priorities that he can then apply to any life circumstance.” If Culpepper takes his new wolf film as seriously See page 27 >>

Andrew Garfield dons the Spandex suit in The Amazing Spider-Man.

inclined queer critic go from there?

Seriously though, like young Garfield, most of us have a less ironic core that can be reached at times by filmmakers who are clearly treating us like adventure-loving homo sapiens rather than as saps or morons.

Ordinary Spidey In the beastly hot North Texas summer of 1980, I alternated readings of Paul Bowles’ novel of en-

nui-tinged innocents lost in North Africa, The Sheltering Sky, with 12 viewings (at dollar-movie prices) of the Alvin Sargent-penned screenplay (based on Judith Guest’s novel) for then-novice director Robert Redford’s Best Picture Oscar treatment of Ordinary People. The Oscar-blessed Timothy Hutton – at 19, the age the 28-year-old Garfield is feigning as Peter Parker – excelled at depicting a desperately depressed

high school boy, suicidal after surviving a boating accident that claims his older brother. Hutton shined as the smart kid who turns his back on wise-guy jock values and finds his adult grounding in the arms of a once-clueless dad.

The Spidey arc has always boiled down to a nervy/smart kid in search of a lost dad. In the Vanderbilt/Sargent reboot of the Spandex boy’s origin myth, a young Peter Parker is left by his panicky parents in the care of an old-fashioned uncle and aunt (Martin Sheen and Sally Field).

Peter finds the missing link to his dead scientist dad in his late father’s colleague, Dr. Curt Connors, a slightly sardonic turn from the Welsh-born Rhys Ifans, who winds up drinking his own formula for regrowing limbs, morphing into the maniacal tragic villain, The Lizard.

The real stunts, rather than digital high jinks, pay off in the early Spidey/Lizard jousts, but let’s face it, all the Spider-Man films get sort of lost in space with climatic fights geared mostly to boys 14 and under.

While Field is surprisingly good as Peter’s no-nonsense aunt, Garfield is really the whole story of why serious movie buffs should take in this remarkable rebirth of my favorite action-hero series. As I wrote in my admiring review of the David Fincher/ Aaron Sorkin-devised Facebook origin-myth story The Social Network, “Andrew Garfield is particularly able, as the punching-bag ex-best friend, to give us an empathetic surrogate for other victims of computer hedgefund capitalism.”

Whether standing up for lost boys in search of a soulful hero or the rest of us wilting under corporate capitalism, after a mere half-dozen quality films, Garfield is a believable hero for our conflicted times.▼

<< Out&About

24 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 12-18, 2012

Sweeney Todd

6:30, 9:30pm. Sun 2pm, 5pm. (Beer/wine served; cash only). 678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd (Green St.). 421-4222. www.beachblanketbabylon.com

DJ Drama Bin Laden and Cajun food! 2nd Thursdays. 8pm-12am. 3158 Mission St. www.elriosf.com

Julia Ross @ The Commonwealth Club

Fabulous @ Creativity Explored

Author of The Diet Cure and The Mood Cure discusses low-calorie dieting, eating disorders and the faulty appetite chemistry that incurs eating disorders. $7-$20. 6pm. 595 Market St. www.commonwealthclub.org

Group exhibit of paintings and works in other media that show off LGBT Pride from a developmentally disabled perspective. Thru Aug. 1. 3245 16th St. at Guerrero. www.creativityexplored.org

Kim Nalley @ The Rrazz Room Accomplished singer performs her cabaret act. $32-$37.50. 8pm. Wed-Sat 8pm Sun 7pm thru July 20. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Silent Film Festival @ Castro Theatre

Eat the Rich

by Jim Provenzano

F

ois gras may be banned from California restaurants, but you can still dine on some rich –if not slightly gruesome– servings of theatre, music, visual art, and a delicious dastardly combination platter thereof.

Even better, the shows are reasonably priced, so you won’t need to dig into your Cayman Islands bank account to buy tickets.

Sweeney Todd @ Eureka Theatre Ray of Light Theatre’s new production of the deliciously grisly Stephen Sondheim musical about The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is performed with a live on-stage orchestra. $25-$36. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. (Special Goth costume night July 28 with a post-show party; $30.) Thru Aug. 11. 215 Jackson St. at Battery. 690-7658. www.rayoflighttheatre.com

Enron @ Exit Theatre Open Tab theatre company’s production of the U.K. West End hit combines the documentary facts of The Smartest Guys in the Room with the performance style of Avenue Q ; yes, there are puppets. $25. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru Aug. 17.

156 Eddy St. www.enron2012.com

Farewell, My Queen @ Embarcadero Center Cinema Benoît Jacquot’s visually sumptuous film dramatizes the decadent last days of Marie Antoinette’s life, and the collapse of the French aristocracy. $8.25-$10.50. Opens July 13. Various times. One Embarcadero Center, Promenade Level. 267-4893. www.landmarktheatres.com

Les Misérables @ Orpheum Theatre The 25th anniversary touring production of Boublil & Schönberg’s legendary award-winning music, based on the Victor Hugo novel about the French Revolution, returns in a new re-designed production. $30-$150.

Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat Sun 2pm.

Thru Aug. 26. 1192 Market St. at 8th. www.shnsf.com

Les Miserables

Thrillpeddlers and Marc Huestis’ production of The Persecution and Assassination of JeanPaul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, Peter Weiss’ strange drama about 1700s French counter-revolutionary assassination. $20-$38. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 7pm. 2781 24th St. 863-0611. www.thrillpeddlers.com

Cindy Sherman @ de Young Museum

Dan Nicoletta

The new exhibit of 150 photos by the artist who poses as different fascinating and obscure characters includes her impersonations of wealthy arts patrons. Thru Oct. 8. Special members’ preview party Friday, July 13, with Ann Magnuson and DJ Bus Station John.

7pm-10pm. Also, The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, and other exhibits. Regular hours/tix: $6-$20. Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, Golden Gate Park. 750-3600. www.famsf.org

King John @ Forest Meadows Ampitheatre, San Rafael

King John

Fathom Events’ big-screen simulcast presents the classic Gene Kelly/Debbie Reynolds musical, including behind-the-scenes footage and an interview by TCM host Robert Osborne with Reynolds. $12-$15. 7pm. 85 West Portal Ave. Also screening statewide in other theatres. www.FathomEvents.com

Fri 13>> 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche @ Phoenix Theatre Tides Theatre’s production of Evan Lindor and Andrew Hobgood’s comic play about a 1950s women’s social group’s McCarthy-era secrets. $20-$38. Thu-Sat 8pm. Also extra Sat at 10pm. Thru July 28. 414 Mason St. #601. 336-3533. www.tidestheatre.org

Emotional Creature @ Berkeley Repertory Theatre Eve Ensler’s new play about the secret lives of girls, from the Tony Award-winning playwright ( The Vagina Monologues). $15-$73. Tue, Thu-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sun 7pm.

Also Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru July 15. 2015 Addison St. at Shattuck. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

Festival Del Sole @ Sonoma Wineries

Marat/Sade @ Brava Theatre

Marat/Sade

Singing in the Rain @ Cinarts Empire 3

If you like the HBO series Game of Thrones, check out Marin Shakespeare Company’s production of The Bard’s action-packed royal drama. $20-$35.

Season tickets $45-$75. Dinner and pre-show talk $35. Fri-Sun 8pm. Some Sun matinees 4pm. Thru Aug. 12. 890 Belle Avenue, Dominican University of California, San Rafael. 499-4488. www.marinshakespeare.org

Thu 12>> Ballroom With a Twist @ Marines Memorial Theatre Dancing With the Star ’s Louis van Amstel’s new ballroom dancing stage show features DWTS’s Anna Trebunskaya, Jonathan Robert, Peta Murgatroyd, Dmitry Chaplin, plus performers from So You Think You Can Dance and American Idol’s David Hernadez and Gina Glocksen (Different performer line-up some nights). $49-$79.

Thu-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Sun 6pm.

Ten-day festival of wine, performing arts and more, with outdoor concerts of classical music, ballet, yoga, wine-tastings and gourmet dinners. July 14, The 24 Hour Plays stars Michael Keaton, Chris Noth, Dennis Haysbert, Minnie Driver and Hugh Dancy who write, rehearse and perform a series of plays in 24 hours. $197 per day. Full festival discount passes. Thru July 22. Various Sonoma venues. www.FestivalDelSole.org

Fiddler on the Roof @ Woodminster Ampitheater, Oakland The classic musical about Russian Jewish villagers facing oppression and the loss of tradition gets staged as part of the 46th season at the popular outdoor theatre venue. $27-$56.

Thu-Sun 8pm. Thru July 22. 330 Joaquin Miller Road/Park, www.woodminster.com

Jovelyn Richards

Fri 13 Stripping Down the Story @ The Garage Jovelyn Richards’ solo show, set in 1930s Harlem, shares the life of an innovative independent society woman who became stripper. $10-$20. July 13 & 14. 8pm. 715 Bryant St. www.715bryant.com

San Francisco Symphony @ Davies Hall San Francisco Symphony performs “Russian Favorites,” works by Shostakovich, Borodin and Tchaikovsky; featuring violinist Karen Gomyo. July 14: an all-Beethoven program featuring pianist Gilles Vonsattel. July 19: American Music works by Copland, Gershwin and Bernstein. Each concert $15-$72.

7:30pm. 201 Van Ness Ave. 864-6000. www.sfsymphony.org

The Scottsboro Boys @ ACT The true story of nine African American men unjustly accused of a crime is given a sardonic yet rousing musical adaptation (which won 12 Tony nominations) with the songs of John Kander and Fred Ebb, and book by David Thompson; directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman. $20-$95. Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat & Sun also 2pm. Some 7pm Sun shows.

Thru July 15. 415 American Conservatory Theatre, Geary St. 749-2228. www.act-sf.org

Sat 14>> Adrian Arias @ Galeria de la Raza New exhibit of works by the multi-media artis who’s created the futuristic tale of an island-continent made of floating trash that’s washed ashore in California circa 2086, and the altered books, totems and art works that fill it. Opening reception 8pm. Thru Aug 4.

2857 24th St. 826-8009. www.bt-thelostlibrary.blogspot.com

Man Ray/Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism @ Legion of Honor Photographs, paintings, drawings and manuscripts that explore the creative interaction between gay artists Man Ray and Lee Miller, two giants of European Surrealism.

Also, Marcel Duchamp: The Book and the Box. Free-$10. Thru Oct. 14. Tue-Sat 9:30am5:15pm. Lincoln Park at 100 34th Avenue (at Clement Street). www.famsf.org

Modern English @ Café Du Nord British pop band (“Stop the World and Melt With You”) sings past hits and new music. Sid Luscious and The Pants open. $15. 9pm. 2170 Market St. 861-5016. www.cafedunord.com

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

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

Opus Q @ Berkeley City Club Men’s a cappella ensemble performs “Songs for the Soul,” a concert of gospel, freedom spirituals, jazz and blues. $15. 7:30pm. Also July 15, 5pm. 2315 Durant Ave. Berkeley. www.opus-q.org

Quetzal @ La Peña Cultural Center, Berkeley LA Chicano band that mixes traditional and contemporary music performs live. $15-$18.

8pm. 3015 Shattuck Ave. (510) 849-2568. www.lapena.org

Sophie B. Hawkins @ Yoshi’s Pop-folk singer-songwriter performs new and favorite songs. $18-$22. 8pm & 10pm.

1330 Fillmore St. 655-5600. www.yoshis.com

AXIS Dance Company @ Yerba Buena Gardens

Texas Rose CW Dance @ Lake Merritt Dance Center

Innovative physically integrated dance company (with wheelchair and non-wheelchair-using dancers) performs in various area throughout the Gardens. Free. 1pm, 1:50pm, 2:40pm. Part of the Yerba Buena Gardens Arts Festival, which features a different performing arts group Thu-Sat (some Sundays).

Thru Sept. Mission St. at Third. 543-1718. www.ybgf.org

Queer women and their trans pals two-step and line-dance, with a buffet to boot! $5$10. 6:30-11pm. 200 Grand Ave., 2nd floor., Oakland. www.texasrosedance.com

Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi Musical comedy revue, now in its 35th year, with an ever-changing lineup of political and pop culture icons, all in gigantic wigs.

Reg: $25-$130. Wed, Thu, Fri at 8pm. Sat

Truffaldino Says No @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley Shotgun Players’ new production of Ken Slattery’s comic farce about an ambitious servant that combines Commedia Dell’arte and sitcom ribaldry. $18-$25. Wed & Thu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 5pm. Thru July 29.

1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org

Jip: His Story @ The Marsh Katherine Paterson’s youth musical about an 1850s Vermont boy whose life is changed by a community’s racism and class prejudice. $8-$50. Thu-sun various times. Thru July 15.

1062 Valencia St. at 22nd. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Rene Capone @ Live Art Gallery

Exhibit of watercolor paintings by the talented local artist, whose work includes mythical, homoerotic and fantasy imagery in lush colors. Thru July 15. 151 Potrero Ave. at 15th St. www.renecapone.com

Risk Is This @ Exit Theatre 609 Sutter St. 2nd fl. www.marinesmemorialtheatre.com

Comedy Bodega @ Esta Nocha The weekly LGBT and indie comic stand-up night. This week, Marga Gomez, Kaseem Bentley, Caitlin Gill, Wonder Dave, Eloisa Bravo, and Steve Lee. 8pm-9:30pm. 3079 16th St. at Mission. www.comedybodega.com

Go Deep @ El Rio Man on man lube wrestling in the pit (an inflatable mini-pool), porn guys, drag queens, clowns, Boylesque performances,

Cutting Ball Theater’s New Experimental Plays Festival, works by Christopher Chen, Anthony Clarvoe, Paul Walsh and Rob Melrose. Free-$20-$50. Fri-Sat 8pm.

277 Taylor St. Thru July 14. 525-1205. www.cuttingball.com

Salomania @ Aurora Theatre, Berkeley

Aurora Theatre Company’s production of acclaimed Bay Area playwright Mark Jackson’s play about Maud Allan, the San Francisco dancer-actress who performed a notorious Dance of the Seven Veils. $34-$55. Tue 7pm.

Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm. Thru July 29.

2081 Addison St. (510) 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org

Sat 14 Myth @ Modern Eden Gallery Opening reception for an international group exhibit of paintings that visualize ancient and recent mythological characters and stories. 6pm-10pm. Thru Aug. 5. Wed-Sun 11am-7pm. 403 Francisco St/. 956-3303. www.ModernEden.com

David Camisa

Enron

17th annual festival of classic silent films, this year including the spectaular Wings, the epic The Loves of Pharoah, Douglas Fairbanks in The Mark of Zorro, Louise Brooks in Pandora’s Box, plus melodramas and a collection of Felix the Cat cartoons. Each film is accompanied by live music and sound effects performed by organists, pianists and multi-piece bands. $13-$42 (parties and opening/closing nights tickets). Full festival pass:$180-$215. Thru July 15. 429 Castro St. www.silentfilm.org

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Out&About >>

July 12-18, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 25

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory @ Julia Morgan Theatre, Berkeley

Francisco Sewing & Quilting Collaborative.

David also interviews Eric Jansen, host of NPR station KALW’s Out in the Bay. Mon-Fri 11:30am & 10:30pm. Sat & Sun 10:30pm. www.comcasthometown.com

Local singer-musician Vernon Bush stars in Berkeley Playhouse’s musical stage adaptation of the Roald Dahl book (a new script adapted with permissions from the Dahl estate), with songs from the original film adapatation, about a boy who wins a visit to a mysterious candy factory. $17$35. Thu 7pm. Sat 2pm. Sun 12pm, 5pm.

Thru Aug 19. 2640 College Ave. (510) 8458542. www.berkeleyplayhouse.org

Tue 17>> Clayton Bryant @ The Rrazz Room Pop, rock, soul singer perfoms classic tunes. $25. 8pm. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Sun 15>>

Jesse Bering @ GLBT History Museum

Reflections of My Mind, an exhibit of evocative nature photographs by the local artist, at the LGBT sober space. Exhibit thru August. 4058 18th St. www.castrocountryclub.org

Michael Feinstein @ Davies Hall Prolific pianist-singer performs classic hits with his Big Band. $30-$100. 7:30pm.

201 Van Ness Ave. 864-6000. www.sfsymphony.org

OutLook Video @ Channel 29 LGBT monthly news show, this time with segments on Sacramento and Stockholm Pride events, and filmmakers and politicians. 5pm. Also different times through East Bay, and online streaming. www.outlookvideo.com

SF Hiking Club @ Marin Headlands Join GLBT hikers for an 8-mile hike in the Marin Headlands. Explore beautiful Oakwood Valley, then up to the top of the Miwok Trail with stunning views in all directions, Wolf Ridge Trail, and completing the loop up the Tennessee Valley back to the start. Spectacular wilderness a few miles from San Francisco. Bring water, lunch, sturdy hiking boots, layers, hat, sunscreen. (510) 985-0804. www.sfhiking.com

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

Sat 14 Rupa & The April Fishes @ Osher Marin Jewish Community Center The San Francisco band with a gorgeous lead singer and a unique international sound performs as part of the center’s outdoor Summer Nights concert series. $5$20. (picnic table rental extra).

Saturday, July 14. 200 N. San Pedro Rd., San Rafael. 444-8087. www.marinjcc.org

Mon 16>> Damon McLay @ Magnet Exhibit of the artist’s expressive personal photographs. 8pm-10pm. Thru July.

4122 18th St. www.magnetsf.org

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

Ten Percent @ Comcast 104 David Perry’s talk show about LGBT people and issues. This week, Perry talks with Linda Hannawalt, founder of the San

Hilary Hulteen

Brett Thomas @ Castro Country Club

Stubbornly Queer: Sexual Reorientation Attempts Through the Lens of History, a lecture/discussion by the author of Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That? 7pm. Also, exhibits of LGBT ephemera and AIDS Direct Action in San Francisco, 1985–1990, focuses on AIDS activist photojournalism. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

Megan McCain & Michael Ian Black @ Castro Theatre The ascerbic comic and the self-appointed “pundit” daughter of Republican failed presidential candidate John McCain engage in a duo discussion to promote their book, America, You Sexy Bitch. $7-$45. 7pm.

429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

Radically Gay: The Life of Harry Hay @ SF Public Library New exhibition that celebrates the remarkable life and work of activist Harry Hay, who laid the foundation for the modern lesbian and gay rights movement. Thru July 29.

Jewitt Gallery, lower level, 100 Larkin St. 557-4400. www.sfpl.org

Wed 18>> Candlelight Flow Yoga @ LGBT Center David Clark leads various yoga poses and practices, plus meditation and breathing exercises. Bring your own mat and water bottle, etc. $10. 7pm-8:30pm. 1800 Market St. www.4dbliss.com

Dark Shadows @ Castro Theatre Tim Burton’s 70s-campy film version of the 1960s-70s gothic soap opera stars Johnny Depp and some amazing set designs. $7.50$10. 2:30, 4:45, 7pm, 9:15. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com

Janka Nabay and the Bubu Gang @ Rickshaw Stop African singer performs the catchy poptraditional music with his band. Cash Pony opens. $10-$12. 8pm. 155 Fell st. at Van Ness. www.rickshawstop.com

Origami Ghosts @ Hemlock Tavern Seattle band with a whimsical pop sound performs music from their new LP/CD; on a shared bill with Upstairs Downstairs and the Myronics. $6. 9pm. 1131 Polk St. www.hemlocktavern.com

Chuck Palahniuk

P

Steven Saylor

Page Turners

rolific gay authors, storytellers of all stripe, and local scribes impersonating famous ones fill up our literary book for the week:

Steven Saylor @ Books Inc. Prolific local gay author, whose Roman novels are international bestsellers, reads from and discusses his latest, The Seven Wonders. Thursday, July 12. 7pm. 2275 Market St. www.stevensaylor.com www.booksinc.net

Chuck Palahniuk @ The Castro Theatre Popular author of Fight Club, Invisible Monsters Remix and other bestsellers discusses his work with novelist and book critic Tom Barbash. $25-$70 (higher tickets includes book, priority seating and reception). Monday, July 16. 7pm. 429 Castro St. www.commonwealthclub.org www.castrotheatre.com

Porchlight Storytelling @ Verdi Club Shine on You Crazy Diamond: Stories from the First Ten Years of Porchlight, a twonight event with literary folks and storytellers Beth Lisick, Arline Klatte, Anthony Bedard, Eric Shea, Jack Boulware Anna Seregina and Kelly Beardsley. $20-$30. 8pm.

July 12 & 13. 2424 Mariposa St. 861-9199. www.verdiclub.net

Smack Dab @ Magnet Short story writer Eric Sasson is the featured reader at the eclectic, mostly queerthemed open mic cohosted by Kirk Read and Larry-bob Robert. Sign-ups 7:30pm.

Event 8pm. Wednesday, July 18. 4122 18th St. www.magnetsf.org

Password @ CellSpace Litquake’s literary speakeasy reading with a vintage Algonquin Round Table flair features Robin Ekiss as Tallulah Bankhead, Issac Fitzgerald as Robert Benchley, Eddie Muller as Dashiell Hammett, Sarah Fran Wisby as Dorothy Parker, Joshua Mohr as Sinclair Lewis, and Alia Volz MCing as Louise Brooks. No-host bar of gin and vidka cocktails, plus jazz pianist J. Raoul Brody and chanteuse Laurie Amat. Vintage attire suggested. $15-$18.

Thursday, July 19. 8pm. 2050 Bryant St. www.litquake.org

Sugar Pie de Santo, Kim Nalley @ The Rrazz Room The two outstanding singers perform a tribute to the late, great Etta James. $40. 8pm.

2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Thu 19>> Box of Rain @ SF Arts Commission Gallery Gay author-playwright Kevin Killian’s onenight presentation of a work made in collaboration with San Francisco Poets Theatre and Matt Gordon. Free. 7pm. 401 Van Ness ave. 554-6080. www.sfartscommission.org

Fauxgirls @ Infusion Lounge The classy drag revue (3rd Thursdays) has moved to a new location, and celebrates its 11th year; Victoria Secret, Alexandria, Chanel, Maria Garza, Mini Minerva, Kipper, Daffney Deluxe and Ruby LeBrowne; dinner seating at 7pm. Show at 8pm. No cover. 124 Ellis St. 421-8700. www.fauxgirls.com

Jewish Film Festival @ Various Cinemas Festival of films about the Middle East, Israel and Jewish-Americans, at theatre in SF, Oakland, Palo Alto and San Rafael. Thru Aug 6. Opening night at the Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St. www.sfjff.org

To submit event listings, email jim@ebar.com.

Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication.

www.ebar.com

<< Leather+

26 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 12-18, 2012

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Steam heat

by Scott Brogan

W

hen I say “Steam Heat,” I’m not talking about the Bob Fosse-choreographed number from The Pajama Game. Nope, I’m referring to Michael Brandon’s monthly event “Steamworks at the Edge.”

Any event at the Edge (4149 Collingwood in the Castro) is sure to be fun. They have some of the best bartenders around. That fact, coupled with the friendly neighborhood bar feel, makes for a great time.

I hadn’t been to this particular event yet even though I’ve promoted it in the calendar for quite some time. There’s no reason for my not going other than simple conflicts of interest. I was happy to finally be able to go this past Saturday, although I don’t think it was actually the “Steamworks at the Edge” event.

I have it on my calendar for the first Saturday of each month, but it might have been postponed due to the holiday weekend. It didn’t matter, though, because I still had a great time. The go-go boys were sexier than usual, the crowd was festive, and the bartenders were sweetly flirty. That’s what I like about most of the bars in San Francisco; even if an event is postponed, you can bet you’ll still have fun. I missed seeing Michael, but no problem, there’s always next month.

After hanging out at the Edge, my husband and I proceeded to the Powerhouse (Dore & Folsom). They were featuring a “Boots Fundraiser” for the AIDS Foundation. They raised over $1k. That’s a good amount considering it was raised solely from the suggested admission donation and Jell-O shots. The event was in full swing when we got there, with a lot of diverse people having a ball. The go-go boys were hot here as well, although I think the Edge had the edge with the hotter group. Not that I’d kick any of them out of bed for eating crackers, mind you. I like this trend of most events featuring go-go boys.

Homobiles: When we left the Powerhouse, we managed to catch a ride via Homobiles. Never heard of them? Well, to quote their card,

Scott Brogan

Sebastian works the crowd at the Edge last Saturday night.

Homobiles is “not a cab company.

Homobiles is a noncommercial dispatch-only transportation service run entirely by volunteers.” They’re a 24/7 queer ride service “committed to providing secure and reliable transit to the SF Bay Area LGFTIQQ community and its allies.” They run on donations only, not metered fares. All the volunteers use their own vehicles. This is a great service for our community. They help ensure that everyone gets home safely. All you need to do is text them at (415) 574-5023. Be sure to text your name, pickup address & destination, and the number of passengers. It’s as simple as that.

Making the connection: This

month’s installment of “Making the Connection,” hosted by Mr. SF Leather 2012 Jesse Vanciel, focused on leather family archetypes. The panel consisted of members from two polyamorous leather families: Mike Gerle, Keith Sattelmaier, and yapper represented their extended family, while Steve Gaines, Richard and rob represented theirs. Each family consists of additional members that were not present.

It’s tricky to explain to outsiders what a leather family is. There isn’t one catch-all definition because each family is different from the other. One might have a Master with a few slaves. Another might have a Dom, a sub, and subs for the sub, or maybe subs for both the Dom and the alpha sub. Or maybe it’s a Daddy with a few boys, or a few Daddies See page 27 >>

Coming up in leather and kink Thu., Jul. 12: Koktail Club Happy Hour at Kok Bar (1225 Folsom). Hamisi doing Hammy Time until 10 p.m. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

gear, $10 if not. 3-7 p.m. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Thu., Jul. 12: Underwear Night at The Powerhouse.

Strip down for drink specials. 10 p.m.-close.

Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Sun., Jul. 15: Poker Run for the Golden Gate Guards, 10 a.m. at the Castro Country Club (4058 18th St.).

Go to: www.ggguards.org.

Fri., Jul. 13: Fridays Underwear at Kok Bar. Boxers, jockstraps, undies and nasty fun! Drink specials! 10 p.m.-close. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Mon., Jul. 16: Flogger Works at the SF Citadel (181 Eddy St.), 8 p.m. $10. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org/ calendar/.

Fri., Jul. 13: Lick It at The Powerhouse. Lance Holman hosts, go-go guys, raffles, and bootblacks. $5 cover for the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund. 10 p.m.-close.

Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Tue., Jul. 17: Busted at Truck. $5 beer bust. 9-11 p.m.

Go to: www.trucksf.com

Fri., Jul. 13: Truck Wash at Truck (1900 Folsom).

10 p.m.-close. Live shower boys, drink specials!

Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Sat., Jul. 14: Leather Beer Bust at Kok Bar. $5 Rolling Rock, $3 all other beer and well koktails. 5-9 p.m.

Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Sat., Jul. 14: All Beef Saturday Nights at The Lone Star (1354 Harrison). 9 p.m.-close. Go to: www.facebook. com/lonestarsf.

Sat., Jul. 14: Black Saturday, When the Cat’s Away.

Party w/Mr. Powerhouse 2012 Brent Ganetta. Hot demos drink specials for those dressed in gear.

Go to: www.powerhouse.com.

Sat., Jul. 14: Stallion Saturdays at Rebel Bar (1760 Market). Revolving DJs, afterhours fun! 9 p.m.-4 a.m.

Go to: www.stallionsaturdays.com.

Sun., Jul. 15: Truck Bust Sundays at Truck. $1 beer bust. 4-8 p.m. Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Sun., Jul. 15: Jockstrap Beer Bust at Kok Bar. $8 if in

Sun., Jul. 15: PoHo Sundays at The Powerhouse. Dollar drafts all day! Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Tue., Jul. 17: Safeword: 12-Step Kink Recovery Group at the SF Citadel. 6:30 p.m. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org/ calendar/.

Tue., Jul. 17: Thank You for Being Such a Pain: Ethics, Leadership and Working with Difficult People, with Deborah Isadora Wade at the SF Citadel. 8 p.m. $20.

Go to: www.sfcitadel.org/calendar/.

Tue., Jul. 17: Ink & Metal at The Powerhouse.

9 p.m.-close. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Tue., Jul. 17: Kok Block at Kok Bar. Happy hour prices all night. Pool tournament, 7-10 p.m.

Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Wed., Jul. 18: Golden Shower Buddies at Blow Buddies (933 Harrison), a male-only club. Doors open 8 p.m.12 a.m. Play till late. Go to: www.blowbuddies.com.

Wed., Jul. 18: Nipple Play at The Powerhouse. Show off your nips for drink specials. 10 p.m.-close.

Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com for details.

Wed., Jul. 18: Bare Bear, a Night at the Baths at The Water Garden (1010 The Alameda, San Jose). 6-10 p.m.

Go to: www.thewatergarden.com.

▼

Karrnal>>

July 12-18, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 27

Amateur hour

by John F. Karr

I

t doesn’t help that the two paunchy, middle-aged, halfdrunk guys making Redneck Romeos are both named Joe. One, who converses with the performers and sometimes appears on screen when he just can’t resist getting his mouth on their dicks, must be producer/ director Joe Schmoe. The other is listed on the packaging as Black Joe. He’s not addressed that way in the film, and as the pair banter, the multiplicity of Joes is confusing.

Black Joe makes a guest appearance in one scene when he delivers a blowjob. Otherwise, he manages the videography, such as it is.

“Such as it is,” huh? It can be fairly good, but mostly, it’s mighty shaky.

Which is right in line with the image, which is out of focus, and the sound, which is out of synch. And the lights, which reflect glaringly off the bed’s headboard. And the telephone, which rings loudly in every scene. All this certainly justifies the producer’s tagline, printed big at the top of the box, “As Amateur As It Gets.”

On the back cover, after synopsizing the contents, there’s an emphatic reminder.

“Remember, it’s as amateur as it gets! And then some!” Don’t say you weren’t warned.

It’s not that Joe Schmoe is incompetent. He’s merely lax with the standards of filmmaking. Or perhaps, unconcerned. Which is theoretically a good thing. Joe’s in it for the sex. If I think the sort of sex he films isn’t worth it, at least the guy’s got a compelling urge greater than coming up with more product. What he wants is a cocktail and some cock. From guys who are

Fuzzy screengrab of Chris reflects fuzzy focus of Joe Schmoe’s Redneck Romeos.

certifiably str8.

They’re a little ill at ease, a little wary. Not just because they’ve never been filmed having sex (such as it is), but probably because the way Mr. Schmoe stands them up against a wall for their interview reminds them of when their mug shot was taken. The first guy’s a 25-year-old construction worker whose job keeps his body nicely toned. He’s got an average dick and loose balls.

You’ll believe him when he says it’s the first time he’s been sucked off by a guy. Joe then gives him Vaseline to jack off with. Might as well hand him mucilage. Hasn’t Joe ever heard of Albolene? Whatever, the guy’s nervous and cums really quick.

Guy #2 is bear-ish, and doesn’t get to jack off. Joe starts right in suckin’ the guy, whose abruptly arriving orgasm is invisible to us, with his cock buried in Joe’s mouth.

Embarrassed, he dresses quickly, si-

lently, and skedaddles.

Finally, our forbearance is rewarded when we meet Chris, a 24-yearold, ginger-haired, heavily tattooed, married bi-guy, with a flat stomach and trimmed bush. He’s at ease, looking right in the camera. Even when he’s bent over, showing us his cute ass and dangling balls, he looks right back through his legs. He drops a nice load down Black Joe’s throat, and admits it’s the first time he’s been sucked off by a black guy.

Then there’s a 45-minute scene that I found boring and which I couldn’t take my eyes off. It’s not sexy. Instead, it sure is sociological.

Chris said he was bi; I’d call it heteroflexible. When, or how, does a basically str8 dude realize his cockhunger? Well, maybe when you’re a teenager in prison, as Chris was.

Maybe, like Chris, you get a regrettable tattoo. And maybe you get a taste for dick. I can grok that (RIP, Mr. Heinlein). These days, Chris has a girlfriend who likes watching him do it with a guy (lucky guy, that Chris, having a chick enabler).

In this encounter, a three-way with Guy #2 and a piece of attractive str8 trade who smokes a cigarette throughout and never reciprocates, Chris doesn’t wanna kiss or fuck. He just really needs to suck some cock.

First, he blows the trade. He doesn’t give a str8 guy’s sorta BJ, but an experienced bi-guy’s. Joe Schmoe tries to horn in, but Chris won’t give up the dick. And then he’s sucking everybody in the room. Whenever he’s interrupted, he hones right back in on the nearest cock soon as he can.

His need, and the way he works it, along with his trashy redneck good looks, make for pretty good reality porn. What I wanna know is where Chris told his girlfriend he was going the day he made the film.▼ www.Pornteam.com

Scott Brogan

Panel at last Sunday’s ‘Making the Connection’ discussion hosted by Mr. SF Leather 2012 Jesse Vanciel.

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Leather +

From page 26

with a few boys. Every successful family unit that I have ever met did not start out with every member in place. Each grew organically from two people. I don’t think you can simply start a leather family with every member in place right off the

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L.A. noir

From page 23

as he cultivates his awkward cuckolding fetish, the Southern California art community is about to experience a boon of sorts.

The film, which unsurprisingly unfolds as a disjointed work-inprogress, unnerves Michael-David.

Mere days after signing on to star in it, he realizes the project isn’t just “a bad movie that caved in to public hunger for violence and revenge.

We were destroying me.” With that disaster well underway and undermining his floundering acting career, he turns to an online sex chat

bat. There’s no growth period.

There are many dynamics to deal with in leather families. The most important factor in making them work is communication. As discussed by the panel, there are bound to be jealousies that pop up. These jealousies are usually based on insecurities, envy, and fear. I believe it was Gerle who mentioned he looks

at these jealousies as an opportunity to learn and grow. More people mean more channels of communication.

Each family I’ve known is successful. I believe this is due to the fact that, in addition to communication, they also love and trust each other.

And that, I believe, is what it’s about in any relationship, of any kind.▼

site to sooth his big bruised Hollywood ego. But bad turns to worse when Jared, aka “str8sk8rdude,” becomes the psycho trick from hell and forces Michael-David to abandon his work on the film altogether and retreat to a grubby downtown L.A. hotel. There, he meets Tim, another sketchy boy with a skateboard and a toxic chemical obsession, and it’s all downhill from there – for the plot, that is.

The prose and Cox’s gift of description hit notes worthy of several rereads. For example, when Tim’s masturbation scene hits its money shot, the boy’s “smile is killer. It’s all boyish pride: look what I made”; hooking up,

for Michael-David, might be equated with “a tub of ice cream and a bag of chips after a shitty day at work.”

Inspired by the author’s interest in the blurred lines between the public and private lives of celebrities, his new novel shores up those differences while descriptively exposing the raw, grimy, not-sopretty underbelly of contemporary Los Angeles. Combining themes of paranoia, loneliness, hubris, and how establishing emotional connections to others can become an obsession, Cox takes L.A. fiction to new heights (and lows) in this intriguing slice of dark, enticingly gritty fringe fiction. ▼

www.ebar.com

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

28 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 12-18, 2012

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DVD >>

Michael Jackson lives

by David Lamble

I

n Harmony Korine’s Mister Lonely, now out on DVD, a depressed Michael Jackson impersonator (Diego Luna), dancing for spare Euros from bemused Parisians, has his spirits lifted through a chance encounter with a lovely Marilyn Monroe impersonator (Samantha Morton).

Michael, who speaks hardly a word of French, has no Parisian friends, and depends on the charity of his shrink to grab the occasional gig performing for seniors approaching dementia, is thrilled by Marilyn’s attention. He’s intrigued and a bit scared by her proposition that they run away to join her friends, who all live full-time as somebody

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Farewell, My Queen

From page 17

male lovers (including her younger brother-in-law.) She was also accused of lesbian affairs with her most intimate friends, the Princesse de Lamballe and Madame de Polignac.

Lea’s task is to amuse her majesty by reading to her. Tensions at Versailles were high on the evening of July 14, which made her challenge greater than normal. The queen is gracious, distracted, self-centered, and worried about the future. She and the king’s two brothers, along with most members of the court, urge Louis XVI to flee to Metz in northeastern France, near the border with the Austrian Netherlands. “Metz is not Paris,” she says, certain the royal family will be safe there. (She was likely right.) The king, in today’s terms, was passiveaggressive. He had a horror of bloodshed and stubbornly refused to leave Versailles. (His brothers, the Comptes de Provence and Artois, had no such compunctions. They survived the Revolution and, after the fall of Napoleon, reigned as Louis XVIII and

else, in a castle in the Scottish Highlands.

“It’s a place where everyone is famous and no one ages, a place that we create and build ourselves.

There’s going to be nowhere like it on earth. Do you wanna come?” But of course!

Arriving in Scotland, Michael is welcomed warmly by all the gang, except for Marilyn’s hubby, who’s jealous bordering on paranoid.

The brilliant Denis Lavant riffs off Charlie Chaplin’s turn as a Hitler impersonator in The Great Dictator, becoming a rather scary Chaplin, and setting in motion a heartfelt third-act calamity.

Written with his brother Avi, Mister Lonely is Harmony Korine’s most conventional and most

Charles X, respectively.)

The awestruck Lea is dismayed by the way Madame de Polignac treats Her Majesty. Gabrielle, confident of the queen’s affection, doesn’t immediately respond to Marie-Antoinette’s summons. When she does, the queen urges her to leave – aware that she is despised by the mob. Gabrielle barely protests. Lea, who believes the queen’s courtesies towards her are an indication of deep affection, is given a shock of reality when told that she, too, must depart – disguised as Madame de Polignac, while the Duchess and the Duke pretend to be servants. Ever faithful, Lea agrees. Grief-stricken, the queen and her favorite kiss, caress, swear eternal friendship, and say good-bye. Lea acts her part effectively, and the de Polignacs escape.

Kruger captures Marie Antoinette’s admired regal bearing, her pride in her birth and in being queen, and her unshakable sense of entitlement. Yet she also reveals the frightened wife and mother facing unprecedented dangers with determination and, ultimately, great courage. Laborde effectively conveys the adoration a simple

magical movie. Its themes – how to cope with the isolation that pervades modern life, how to find yourself by losing yourself in a borrowed persona, the peril of worshiping false gods or investing too much hope in delusional transcendent moments – are drawn from his earlier, more profane films Kids, Gummo, and Julien DonkeyBoy. Like a spy who’s come in from some cold place within, Korine gives us an age-appropriate couple who never consummate, but whose love still shapes the story all the way to a most bittersweet ending.

Special features include the short The Making of Mr. Lonely and deleted scenes.▼ www.IFCFilms.com

Carole Bethuel, courtesy of Cohen Media Group

Diane Kruger stars as Marie Antoinette in Benoit Jacquot’s historical drama Farewell, My Queen.

girl would feel for a monarch, defending her against every accusation, even agreeing to risk her life to please Her Majesty. Had the de Polignacs been recognized while fleeing, she would have been arrested and killed. The scenes of her impersonating Gabrielle are delightful. The charismatic Ledoyen doesn’t shy away from showing Madame de Polignac’s grasping, opportunistic nature, yet makes it easy to see why she captivated the queen.

(Madame de Polignac died in Vienna in 1793, shortly after learning that the queen had been guillotined.)

Benoit Jacquot’s swift direction is suspenseful. The insular world of the court, with nobles often living in cramped apartments in the palace – the price they gladly paid for proximity to the king – is accurately recreated. The script, which Jacquot wrote with Gilles Taurand, is sympathetic

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ME TV

From page 21

in 2010 and quickly expanded across the USA. The network is available in the Bay Area over the air on channel 20.2, and on Comcast channel 196.

Every day and night, classic TV fans can tune into chestnuts such as The Twilight Zone, the original Star Trek (which launched the career of gay icon George Takei) The Honeymooners, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and many others.

On Saturday nights, ME airs the campy 1960s Batman series, in which the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder were portrayed by handsome Adam West and cute Burt Ward.

The appeal of this show to gay men is obvious, according to Handeland.

“Two men dressed in tight-fitting clothing, living in close proximity to each other, is erotic and sexually suggestive,” he observed. “An older man and his ‘ward.’ We never really understood what a ‘ward’ was.” Some classic TV fans argue that Batman may have been bisexual. “There was a lot of sexual tension between Batman and Julie Newmar’s Catwoman, who

towards the queen, but doesn’t canonize her. The Versailles locations are glorious. The costumes, by Christian Gasc and Valerie Ranchoux, are appropriately lavish. Roman Winding’s cinematography captures candle-lit rooms, filled with elegant, gleaming ormolu-mounted furnishings.

Marie-Antoinette’s infatuation with Gabrielle de Polignac is beyond dispute, but it’s unlikely that their relationship was physical. Romantic, intimate friendships between women were commonplace among the ruling classes, and were expressed in language identical to that used with lovers. If the queen was ever unfaithful to Louis XVI, it was with handsome Swedish Count Axel von Fersen.

His desperate attempts to save the royal family resulted in the tragic 1792 Flight to Varennes.

Being labeled a tribade, the 18th-

was very much like a drag queen,” said Handeland.

Dobie Gillis, which ME airs weekdays at 5:30 a.m., is worth setting your DVR for. It’s another series that broke new ground when it first aired 50 years ago. Dwayne Hickman stars as the nerdy, lovesick Dobie, who chases after girls who don’t want him. The show had fast-paced, wry dialogue. Future Gilligan’s Island star Bob Denver was seen as Maynard G. Krebs, TV’s first bona fide beatnik.

Maynard’s aversion to work, his disrespect for authority and his fondness for smoke-filled coffeehouses made him unlike any other character on early-60s TV. A future lesbian icon was featured in the Dobie Gillis cast. Young Shelia James stole many scenes when she played the overbearing Zelda, determined to get her claws into Dobie.

Years later, James resurfaced as Shelia Kuehl. An out lesbian, Kuehl was elected to the California State Assembly in 1994, the first openly gay person to serve in the state legislature. After three terms in office, she was elected to the State Senate in 2000.

Other shows on the ME schedule

Carole Bethuel, courtesy of Cohen Media Group

Diane Kruger stars as Marie Antoinette in Benoit Jacquot’s historical drama Farewell, My Queen.

century French word for lesbian, would make the queen a gay icon.

She fascinated the iconoclastic, openly homosexual Jean Genet, for example, who wrote that she was one of four historical women who interested him – the others were the Virgin Mary, Joan of Arc, and Madame Curie.

Farewell, My Queen is vastly superior to Sofia Coppola’s disappointing Marie-Antoinette (2006) with Kirsten Dunst, or MGM’s extravagant 1938 version, starring Norma Shearer.

Anyone interested in how unforeseen circumstances shape lives and create legends will relish this movie. After watching it, audiences familiar and unfamiliar with Marie Antoinette’s life will feel as though they witnessed actual events as they unfolded. In French, with English subtitles.▼

that could appeal to a LGBT viewership include new acquisitions Green Acres and The Mothers in Law. In the former, the late Eva Gabor is wonderfully over-the-top as Lisa, a glamorous Eastern European woman living on a farm with her husband (Eddie Albert).

Lisa’s attempt to maintain her cosmopolitan identity amidst “country bumpkins” makes for grand humor.

The Mothers in Law stars Eve Arden, an old-school Hollywood dame, and Kaye Ballard, a tough-as-nails Broadway trouper, whose children have married. These meddlesome Moms get themselves caught up in hilariously outrageous situations. Both women play their roles with larger-than-life gusto – it’s high camp at its best.

And set your DVR for Honey West, which ME TV airs on Sunday mornings at 3 a.m. Beautiful Anne Francis will have you cheering as the independent, sexy female private who needs no man to save her. Honey knows martial arts and has no compunction about using a gun. Honey West was filmed in gloriously noirish black-and-white.▼ For more information, go to www.metvnetwork.com.

▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 12-18, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 29

Music >>

At least he didn’t call it ‘Frisco’

by Ralph E. Shaffer

E

arlier this year, San Francisco celebrated the 50th anniversary of the day singer Tony Bennett left his heart in “San FRAN cis co.” Surprisingly, almost no-one raised the question of Bennett’s obvious mispronunciation of the city’s name in his rendition. Nor was there mention of the controversy, a minor one admittedly, that arose in 1962 when his Grammy-winning recording of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” was released.

Purists pronounce the name as San Fran CIS co. Even before Bennett sang his way into the city’s everlasting adulation with that piece, critics objected to other songs that mangled the city’s name.

A quarter-century ago, thenSan Francisco Supervisor Quentin Kopp championed the 1936 title song from the Clark Gable/Jeanette MacDonald film about the earthquake. But the composers wrote it so that the CIS in the name is on a downward movement of the music instead of on an upswing. MacDonald belts out “SAN FRAN cis CO,” not “San Fran CIS co.” Somehow that didn’t bother Kopp, and he led a successful movement to have it named the official city song.

Then there was that Alice Faye

<<

Does Tony Bennett have to answer for mispronouncing the city’s name in “I Left My Heart in San Francisco?”

lar song about the city written in the 1960s had this line: “If you are going to SAN FRAN cis-co, be sure to wear flowers in your hair.” That decade also brought a TV commercial about a local product that was indeed “the San Fran CIS-CO treat.”

After a century and a half of undesirable nicknames and mispronunciations of the city’s name, San Franciscans seem to have acquiesced. But there was one last effort to halt the degradation of the name.

After Bennett included the song in a performance at a local hotel, he recorded “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” and it became his signature song. There was discussion at the time about the pronunciation of the city’s name. Reports indicated that the inflection would be scored to fit the traditional pronunciation.

Bennett may even have sung it correctly in that initial live concert. But his recording, his performances on YouTube, and renditions by other singers do not conform to the true pronunciation.

Is there any song, other than some obscure and unsung opus, in which the melody is written so that the city’s name is not mispronounced?

“San Fran CIS co” may not be musically doable. But surely there are budding composers and lyricists out there who can give it a try.▼

Summer galleries

From page 17

known for his funky art cars. Best’s contribution is an altar forged from recycled wood destined to be set ablaze during this summer’s Burning Man Festival. Visitors are invited to attach emotional messages to the structure, which, as the annual rite dictates, will be reduced to smoke and ashes after the conflagration.

The ritual of confession, which comports with the exhibition’s quasi-religious theme, surfaces in several works: an audio-based piece, “Radio With Sin Us,” inspired by the idea of penance and those ubiquitous secular outlets for compulsive self-disclosure, daytime TV talkfests; and Victor Cartagena’s “Confesiones y Hostias,” which offers a communion host (part of the Holy Eucharist sacrament) if participants agree to publicly admit their sins, courtesy of a microphone and loudspeakers. The gallery director, when asked to elaborate on the show’s title, quoted Kierkegaard before citing the following nugget from George Bernard Shaw: “You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul.”

You’ve been warned. July 14-Aug. 23 @ SFMOMA Artists Gallery. www. sfmoma.org/artistsgallery.

Gary Ruddell, New Work In the increasingly virtual world of human relationships in the age of Facebook, Ruddell’s canvases depict impermanence and tenuous, personto-person connections. Ruddell, who has called his paintings “visual statements about coming together,” generates tension in his works with realistic human figures that teeter on the brink as they merge with the abstract space surrounding them;

<<

ditty in the early 1940s. Hollywood turned out a flock of films about aspiring singers, nightclub owners, and songwriters of the early 20th century. The title of this one, set in this city, really irritated San Franciscans: “Hello, Frisco, Hello.” That was also the title of a song Faye sang in the film. That riled some residents years before Herb Caen joined the protest with a volume entitled Don’t Call It Frisco. Rumor has it that one theater owner, when posting the film title on his marquee, changed it to “Hello, San Francisco, Hello.” There wasn’t much he could do about the lyrics that Faye sang, however. Not to worry, because contract conditions prevented Faye from recording the song.

“Frisco” has had a long tradition of use. Young men headed west in the Gold Rush sang about getting to “Frisco” in one of the most popular miners’ songs. In the late 1950s, the touring company of The Music Man came to town. The barbershop quartet in the cast carried the name “Frisco Four.” Maybe they were from Frisco, Texas, or laid-off trainmen from the Frisco line. A decade later, Tom Paxton’s anthem for another generation, “I can’t help but wonder where I’m headed,” has “Frisco Bay” as a possible destination.

Perhaps the second-most popu-

Keyboard queens

From page 20

vocal tricks that would make Yoko Ono proud, while closing track “Jessica” features producer Mike Elizondo on acoustic guitar, illuminating another aspect of Spektor’s versatility.

Produced by Mark Ronson, Rufus Wainwright’s soulful Out of the Game (Decca) is a far cry from his soul-baring and mournful All Days are Night: Songs for Lulu. Easily Wainwright’s most potentially and consis-

Courtesy the artist

Study For You and Me (2012), oil on panel by Gary Ruddell, at Dolby Chadwick Gallery.

they take flight free of gravitational pull; reach for each other, arms outstretched like trapeze artists, transitioning in mid-air and engulfed in flames; walk on intersecting tightropes, dressed in white top hats and tails; jump chasms in a single bound, or balance precariously on planks, rolling logs and high wires, demonstrating that life is the ultimate high-wire act. July 14-Sept. 1 @ Dolby Chadwick Gallery, SF. When Artists Attack the King: Honoré Daumier and La Carica-

ture, 1830-1835 The 19th-century caricaturist Honoré Daumier, along with his compatriots at the Parisian journal La Caricature, were subjected to prison terms and fines, and were sued for their satiric portraits of King Louis-Philippe I of France, a tyrant who rose to power after the 1830 revolution. In some of the 50 prints here, the king, a figure ripe for ridicule, is portrayed as a bulbous pear. Drawing well, it seems, was the best revenge. The artists employed visual puns and savage wit to lam-

tently commercial album since 2001’s Poses or Release the Stars, Out of the Game finds the gay singer/songwriter at the very top of his game. Wainwright’s sense of humor is on exhibit throughout, beginning with the title track, on which he makes witty observations about the behavior of gay men younger than his own 39 years.

Name-dropper “Rashida” effortlessly updates vintage soul, Rufus-style, complete with wailing-diva backing vocals. The retro R&B vibe continues on the sexy “Barbara” as well as the

swirling “Bitter Tears,” and the full-on funk of “Perfect Man” deserves to be remixed for club play.

To Ronson’s credit, Wainwright doesn’t get lost in the shuffle. On the contrary, he is very definitely the central focus all the way through the disc.

Playing less piano and more guitar than usual, the Rufus we have all come to know and love can be heard loud and clear on “Welcome to the Ball,” “Respectable Dive,” “Sometimes You Need” and the amazing and utterly gay “Montauk.” ▼

Courtesy the artist

Man on a Wire (2012), oil on panel by Gary Ruddell, at Dolby Chadwick Gallery.

poon the July Monarchy’s ministers, who censored the press and were responsible for the rampant inequities that afflicted French society. Their tone was anything but respectful; government officials are depicted as marionettes, and the slaughter of a working-class family by the military after a riot is presented in graphic terms, with no attempt to spare the delicate feelings of readers or the powers-that-be. A superior draftsman, Daumier’s technical virtuosity is displayed in the over 4,000 lithographs he produced, as well as sculptures and paintings he created before he went blind. Aug. 1-Nov. 11 @ Cantor Arts Center, Stanford. www.museum.stanford.edu Be sure to check out two cartoon exhibitions that epitomize emptyminded, popcorn movie fun – is there any other kind? For Avengers Assemble!, Earth’s mightiest heroes unite to thwart a common enemy.

The show features characters from Marvel Comics’ stable of immensely popular, lucrative properties whose ranks include Captain America, Iron

Man, Thor, Ant-Man, The Wasp, Hawkeye, Black Widow and The Incredible Hulk, and the work of seminal artists who dreamt them up over five decades of superhero history.

“Through the years,” the legend goes, “their roster has prospered, changing many times, but their glory has never been denied!”

In the real world, Mussolini had a soft spot for animals – humans, not so much – so it stands to reason that in a galaxy far, far way, Darth Vader might be a doting father, black death mask and heavy breathing notwithstanding.

In cartoonist Jeffrey Brown’s amusing fantasy of growing up with the Dark Lord of the Sith, being Darth Vader’s son has its privileges. When Dad isn’t busy annihilating the Milky Way, there are life lessons imparted during light saber practice, a visit to the Death Star on “Take Your Child to Work Day,” and a summoning of the Force to raid the cookie jar, practical skills no kid should be without.

Darth Vader and Son, through Aug. 5; Avengers Assemble!, through Oct. 7 @ Cartoon Art Museum, SF.▼

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30 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 12-18, 2012

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’ve never liked seeing people wrap themselves up in the flag for their own self-advantage. But that was before I saw former gay Israeli soldier Eliad Cohen turn his impressive build into a carnal flagpole for the blue-and-white Star of David flag of the Jewish state, on a website devoted to “Naked Israeli Soldiers.”

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