July 7, 2011 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

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LGBT refugees face hurdles

Leno bill heads to governor

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Barbara Eden in SF

The

www.ebar.com

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

DOJ comes out swinging against DOMA

Dispute pits LGBT seniors vs. low-income renters

by Lisa Keen

by Matthew S. Bajko

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nti-gay laws should be subjected to heightened review, the federal Department of Justice said in a brief filed last week in a California challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act. The DOJ on July 1 recommended a federal appeals court in California dismiss a motion promoted by the House of Jane Philomen Cleland Representatives to dismiss a challenge Karen Golinski to DOMA. The argument came in Golinski v. Office of Personnel Management, a case filed See page 16 >>

Friends, family mourn slain SF man

by Seth Hemmelgarn

L

ast Friday, friends and family of Freddy Canul-Arguello sat silently in a small, dark room at Mission Presbyterian Church.

Canul-Arguello’s light blue casket, decorated with flowers, could be seen through the open doors leading to the sanctuary.

The 23-year-old gay man had sometimes Freddy Canulattended the church. Arguello His burned body See page 14 >> was found in San

Vol. 41 • No. 27 • July 7-13, 2011

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Alex Benshimol, left, and Doug Gentry are shown on their wedding day last July in Connecticut.

fight has erupted over an infill development project near the northern boundary of the city’s Castro District that is pitting affordable housing for LGBT seniors against units for low-income renters.

Community groups, city officials, and the project’s developers have been meeting for months to try to forge a deal that would fund Openhouse’s LGBT senior housing project, and still result in having 49 below-market-rate units among the 330 market-rate housing units built on site.

The project in question, located at 55 Laguna, was home to the former UC Berkeley Extension campus and lies a block away from the LGBT Community Center. It is one of the last available See page 8 >>

Courtesy Doug Gentry

by Seth Hemmelgarn

A

same-sex, binational California couple is set for a hearing before an immigration judge in San Francisco next week and is trying to stay together.

Doug Gentry, 53, a U.S. citizen, and his husband, Alex Benshimol, 47, have been together for six years. They were married in Connecticut in July 2010.

“We really don’t have a second plan,” Benshimol said. “We just want to stay together.”

He added, “I don’t have anything in Venezuela. ... No job, no house, nothing.”

He also said he would be in danger if he returned to his native country. “It’s a very difficult situation right now for gay people” there, Benshimol said.

“We’ve built our lives here,” Gentry added. The men own a business, as well as a home. Plus, Gentry has two adult children in their 20s from a previous marriage.

Gentry lives full time in Cathedral City, which is near Palm Springs. Benshimol has been spending more time in San Francisco because the couple is hoping to expand their business – Alex’s Pet Grooming – into the city, where they hope to eventually move.

Couple’s history Benshimol came to the United States in the late 1990s from Venezuela and

overstayed a tourist visa. The couple met five years into Benshimol’s 10-year visa, which expired in 2009.

Gentry filed a marriage-based green card petition for Benshimol in July 2010, but it was denied because of the Defense of Marriage Act, according to www.stopthedeportations.blogspot.com, which describes the couple’s case. They submitted the petition again in June, citing federal developments related to same-sex binational couples, the site says.

Because of DOMA, the United States does not legally recognize gay and lesbian couples and their children as families.

But there have been some developments with DOMA. In February, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Department of Justice would no longer defend Section 3 of DOMA because it considers it unconstitutional. Section 3 states that the U.S. government will not, for federal purposes, recognize any samesex marriage.

The DOJ had also indicated it would continue to enforce DOMA until or unless the courts determined the law was unconstitutional. But some attorneys in the immigration field have questioned whether the Holder announcement might apply to immigration courts.

In May, Holder vacated a deportation ruling against a gay man, suggesting that his relationship with a New Jersey man

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See page 17 >>

Complaint filed over Pink Sat. incident

by Seth Hemmelgarn

A

gay San Francisco man has filed a complaint against police after he was beaten on Pink Saturday, June 25, by partygoers and then taken away in handcuffs by officers.

Castro resident Sean Ray was not arrested. According to a certificate of release he provided, Ray was detained for a total of about 40 minutes.

Courtesy Sean Ray Ray, 42, said he Sean Ray hadn’t attended the unofficial street party that night, but it appears he couldn’t avoid it.

He had been at a barbeque during the day and stopped by his building on Market Street near Castro Street for a change of clothes before See page 16 >>

<< Community News

2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 7-13, 2011

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Face Value receives Ford Foundation grant

by Heather Cassell

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rmed with a two-year grant from the Ford Foundation, the Face Value project is on a mission to change the way Americans think and feel about LGBT people.

The grant, said Julie R. Davis, executive director of the project, “really demonstrates a real forward thinking approach on the part of the Ford [Foundation].”

The San Francisco-based Face Value, a project of the Tides Foundation, received the $730,000 grant last October. It was one of six awardees of the two-year grants designed to examine children and sexuality.

“This is a major undertaking for Face Value to both support political work and cultural attitudes toward queer people,” said Amanda Decetise, a nonprofit consultant who worked with Davis and the advisory committee to craft the proposal. “It’s a beautiful thing and particularly around the fact that it’s about children. It’s very timely given the bullying that’s been going on over the last several months.”

Face Value will examine the “harms children” argument that antigay opponents have successfully used in political and social campaigns for the past 30 years, said Davis.

Face Value is affiliated with Harvard University’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. The project plans to get to the heart of anti-gay attacks using interdisciplinary indepth research to produce revamped educational materials and messages to aid organizations with eradicating homophobia.

For the first time ever a consortium of leading academics, researchers, communications strategists, and select communitybased organizations convened in April at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in Boston to launch the project.

The Ford Foundation grant is really looking at how we move beyond this “harms children trigger,” said Davis. The foundation, which has a long history of funding groundbreaking sexuality research, really got the connection between sexuality, children, and LGBT individuals and the need to shift public perception in a revolutionary way, noted Davis.

“We know [due to] over 30 years experience that the issue of children is a winner for our opposition,” that when children enter the conversation “people will instantly go to this place of anxiety and fear and completely shift how they are reacting to an issue or to actual people they know in their lives that are gay and lesbian,” said Davis.

The Ford Foundation sees “tremendous potential for this project to help break down stereotypes and contribute new knowledge based on rigorous research to public dialogue and understanding about sexuality,” wrote Rocio L. Cordoba, program officer for sexuality and reproductive health and rights at the foundation, in an email.

“Our work in this area is motivated by a belief that deeper understanding of human sexuality is essential to healthy social relationships and strengthens our ability to promote the right of all people to sexual health and well being,” Cordoba added.

Re-visioning the future The mission of Face Value is to “figure out how we can move the culture, to move the attitudes about us as people so that our lived experiences change,” said Davis, knowing it’s an impossible goal for LGBT individuals to have a personal

Jane Philomen Cleland

Julie Davis, executive director of Face Value, is working to change opinions about LGBTs.

impact on more than 308 million Americans.

Davis wants to find the “underlying” barriers, attitudes, and beliefs that make people “incredibly uncomfortable” about the normalization of queer people and find the trigger points to “actually tip those feelings,” she said. It’s her goal to create, enhance, and reshape “positive associations with LGBT people” to use with new communication models that work as effectively as a “personal connection,” that will speak to a diverse range of individuals and communities.

Born out of 2008’s Proposition 8 battle, Face Value is Davis’s hope for the future of LGBT individuals.

Davis, then the northern California manager for the No on 8 campaign, and her colleague, Anne C. Marks, came to a revelation during the fight to save same-sex marriage in California. Prop 8 was passed by voters and amended the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage. That law is now being challenged in federal court.

After years of activism and making key observations during the Prop 8 battle, Davis said, “I really came to understand that we’ve reached this threshold.”

Davis was the founder of Basic Rights Oregon and the campaign organizer behind that state’s successful No on 13 campaign in 1994 to defeat a proposed law prohibiting laws protecting gays.

“We’ve reached this feeling of what we could accomplish in terms of shifting public attitudes by simply changing laws and policies,” said Davis. That feeling compelled her to “take a step back” and take another look at the state of the LGBT movement. While she values the “incredible” legal and legislative advancements in LGBT rights, Davis believes that “laws alone will not help us achieve the cultural transformation that we need,” she said.

Marks added that working on the ground outside of Los Angeles and San Francisco’s queer centers she learned that simply living life remained a challenge for many queer individuals, no matter what rights were gained, including marriage equality.

“It became clear to me that we as a community [view] marriage is very important, but it’s not the most important thing equality-wise for most queer people,” said Marks, who recalled the uptick in antigay violence during the campaign.

Living life and being safe, which isn’t “available to many folks,” was much more important, she said.

Marks continues her work at Face Value as an advisory board member and is now executive director of Youth Alive, a youth anti-violence and leadership development

organization.

People continue to live in fear of coming out, violence against them on the streets for being queer, and more, Davis agreed, saying, “tolerance is not enough.”

It is time to begin “changing attitudes of us as people, not changing attitudes about laws or protections that we might need,” Davis said, pointing out that the No on 8 campaign clarified for her how sophisticated people were about LGBT individuals’ legal rights.

“They could distinguish between what domestic partnerships were and what civil union is and argue themselves’ out of why it was okay for them not to support marriage because they supported these other two things,” Davis said.

Davis and Marks, both out, veteran activists, began to plant the seed of Face Value.

The women raised an initial $100,000 from individual donors to aid the first two years of work that involved combining a variety of perspectives and experimentation of findings. The women interviewed more than 30 stakeholders, worked with initial cognitive linguistic experts, convened national opinion researchers with more than 20 years experience working on LGBT issues, and acquired new sources of funding beyond the usual LGBT funding pool.

Their goal was to get to the heart of “changing attitudes and beliefs about LGBT individuals;” to identify key elements of the opposition’s language patterns in anti-LGBT messages; to gain knowledge from their perspective and experience; and to leverage the donations to acquire mainstream funding.

Their mission was accomplished with the Ford Foundation grant.

Changing face The next phase of the project was launched this spring with a think tank session that tackled deep-seated issues about children, sexuality, and public opinions about children’s contact with LGBT individuals. It was the first of many discussions that will take place over the next two years.

Harvard hosted the meeting a week after a controversial conference Social Transformation, dubbed the “Hate Conference” by Truth Wins Out, an organization that defends the LGBT community “against antigay misinformation campaigns.

TWO spoke out against Social Transformation, spearheaded by a group that called itself the Seven Mountains program, by mobilizing constituents and placing an ad in the Harvard Crimson, according to a TWO news release.

Similar to TWO’s work to “turn information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality,” according to its website, Cordoba and Davis hope that Face Value’s work will yield important insights that will be a new antidote to anti-LGBT groups’ “punch,” in the form of educational tools organizations could use to “actually shift the public discourse,” said Davis.

Carolyn Laub, executive director of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, one of Face Value’s 15 partner organizations, is excited about the project’s work. Laub spoke at a recent convening about her nearly 15 years experience with GSA Network’s ongoing battles over LGBT inclusion in schools and queer student safety issues. She believes the end results of Face Value’s work with the Ford Foundation will aid organizations like GSA Network with its short and long term educational campaigns toward “cultural change,” she said.▼

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<< Community News>>

July 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 3

SF couples plan New York weddings

by Matthew S. Bajko

B

ack in 2008 Joe Gallagher proposed to his partner of two years, Michael McAllister, while he lay in a hospital bed with a collapsed lung.

“He was sedated, so I was pretty sure he would say yes,” joked Gallagher, 50, the owner of Joe’s Barbershop in the Castro.

Unable to marry before the passage that November of Proposition 8, California’s same-sex marriage ban, the men have been in a perpetual state of engagement ever since. The idea of eloping to one of the five states that allow same-sex couples to wed has come up, but never seemed appealing enough for the men to truly consider it.

“We had talked about other states but the conversations have not gotten very far,” said McAllister, 40, a writer and marketing consultant.

“We thought of going maybe to Cape Cod or even Iowa because I am from Minnesota.”

It appeared they would have to postpone their wedding plans until the day Prop 8 was either thrown out by the country’s courts or through a repeal effort at the polls. That is until Empire State lawmakers last month passed a law granting the right to wed to same-sex couples.

The San Francisco couple is heading to New York this summer to finally say their vows. Now celebrating their fifth anniversary, they are no longer willing to postpone their wedding day until same-sex marriage is once again allowed in the Golden State.

“I am tired of waiting,” said Gallagher of watching the legal

Rick Gerharter

Mike McAllister, left, and Joe Gallagher, making plans to get married in New York next month, do a walk through at the Swedish American Hall.

challenge against Prop 8 slog its way through the federal courts. “This court case could happen this year or take three more years. Enough. I know whom I want to marry. I want to spend the rest of my life with him.”

Same-sex marriage will become law in New York July 24, and many California couples are expected to head to the Big Apple to say, “I do.” A mixture of impatience and personal attachments to New York will be principal factors for some, while more practical reasons will play a role in the decisions of others.

One San Francisco couple is making plans to marry on Long Island at the end of August in hopes it could prove to be legally beneficial. One of the men is living here illegally.

Pointing to the recent dismissal of

deportation proceedings in the case of a Venezuelan man who married his boyfriend in Connecticut last year, the local binational couple is hopeful their New York wedding will provide them the same legal protections.

“It doesn’t mean every binational couple should run to get married.

But being a legally married couple now holds sway with immigration courts,” said Chris, 48, who asked that his last name not be used because of his foreign-born partner’s being in the country illegally.

The partner, a German citizen, first attended Duke and then graduate school at UCSF. When his student visa expired he couldn’t obtain a green card due to his being HIV-positive. With Chris also HIVSee page 16 >>

Vargas to address Commonwealth Club compiled by Cynthia Laird

J

ose Antonio Vargas, the openly gay reporter who recently came out as an undocumented immigrant, will speak at the Commonwealth Club Monday, July 11.

Vargas, who at one time wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle, will be in conversation with Phil Bronstein, the editor at large for Hearst Newspapers and the former editor at the Chronicle.

The program begins at 6:30 p.m. followed by a reception, at the club’s downtown offices, 595 Market Street, second floor, in San Francisco.

Vargas’s first-person account of leaving his parents behind to be raised by grandparents in the Bay Area, then building a life in the public eye as a journalist while hiding his secret was published in the June 26 New York Times magazine.

His story has raised awareness of the long-stalled immigration reform efforts but Vargas has come under some criticism from his former employers at the Chronicle and Washington Post, who said he should have told them the truth.

Vargas shared a Pulitzer Prize at the Post for his coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre.

He is now focusing on a new project, Define American, which aims to stimulate a national discussion on immigration.

Tickets for Monday’s program,

Jose Antonio Vargas

presented by the Inforum division, are free for club members, $20 for non-members, and $7 for students (with valid ID). To purchase tickets or for more information, call (415) 597-6705 or register at www.commonwealthclub.org.

Attorney at club’s LGBT forum The Commonwealth Club’s LGBT member forum will host attorney and author Frederick Hertz Tuesday, July 12. A reception begins at 5:30 p.m. followed by the program at 6.

Hertz has authored several books on lesbian and gay partnership law. His latest, the second edition of Making It Legal: A Guide to Same-Sex Marriage, Domestic

Partnerships, and Civil Unions (Nolo Press, 2011) updates the changing legal landscape for samesex couples.

Hertz will talk about the various court challenges under way in the fight for marriage equality, as well as recent developments such as the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York state.

The program takes place at the club’s offices, 595 Market Street, second floor. Tickets are $8 for members, $20 for non-members, and $7 for students (with valid ID).

More information is available at the website listed above.

CBD flower basket benefit; Sunday music The Castro Community Benefit District has announced two events this weekend.

On Friday, July 8, the happy hour (5 to 7 p.m.) at Trigger, 2344 Market Street, will benefit the flower baskets on Castro Street. A $25 donation gets patrons champagne, appetizers, and two drink tickets. The CBD plans to hang 14 baskets around the business district.

On Sunday, July 10 music returns to the Castro. From 1 to 2 p.m. in Jane Warner Plaza (17th and Castro streets), T Mambo will be the featured performer.

On a related note, the CBD’s next board meeting will be Thursday, July 14 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at 501 Castro Street, second floor (above Bank of America).

For more information about the CBD, visit www.castrocbd.org.▼

<< Open Forum

4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 7-13, 2011

Volume 41, Number 27 July 7-13, 2011 www.ebar.com 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 • Matt Baume Erin Blackwell • Roger Brigham Scott Brogan • Victoria A. Brownworth Philip Campbell • Heather Cassell Chuck Colbert • Richard Dodds Raymond Flournoy • David Guarino Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell John F. Karr • Lisa Keen • Matthew Kennedy David Lamble Michael McDonagh Paul Parish • Lois Pearlman Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota • Bob Roehr Donna Sachet • Adam Sandel • Jason Serinus Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith Ed Walsh • Sura Wood

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Obama should state the obvious I

n 1996 Illinois state Senate candidate Barack Obama supported same-sex marriage, but now he says that as president he supports civil unions. Last week his Justice Department issued a brief in a federal lawsuit that documented the mistreatment of gay people and was a powerful critique of the hideous Defense of Marriage Act. However, also last week in contrast, the president dodged questions about marriage equality at his news conference. And last month, on the eve of the marriage equality vote in New York state, the president raised about $750,000 from LGBTs at a New York City campaign fundraiser but did not come out in support of same-sex marriage.

The charade should end. The president should “evolve already” and publicly state that he supports marriage equality now.

At the moment there should be little political risk if the president were to “evolve” his position. Republican opponents already believe he supports marriage equality; and lots of other Americans do, too. And in the midst of debt ceiling debates, the still-high unemployment rate, continuing anger over health care reform, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (plus military action in Libya), Obama coming out in favor of same-sex marriage would be, for many, a jolt of good news.

Public opinion polls released this year show a slight majority of Americans support same-sex marriage.

LGBT activists and bloggers are fed up with Obama’s silence on marriage. Even LGBTs with the $1,250 to attend the New York fundraiser seemed to have had enough of the

President Barack Obama

president’s non-answers. It was reported that at times during his remarks Obama received only “tepid” applause from those in the room.

The president has out LGBTs in his administration, many of whom are ineligible for benefits because of DOMA. As he begins his reelection campaign, the president needs to solidify support among his base, and that includes the LGBT community, from whom he received strong financial support in the 2008 campaign.

If the president harbors any lingering doubts about marriage equality, the Justice Department’s July 1 brief ought to dispel them.

Back in February, DOJ announced that it would no longer defend DOMA, but, according to

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which brought the current case, Golinski v.

Office of Personnel Management, the July 1 brief “is the first legal filing in the country in which [DOJ] has fully argued to a court that DOMA is unconstitutional.” In the filing, the DOJ asked that Karen Golinski’s claim not be dismissed.

House Republicans, on the other hand, are still trying to defend DOMA in several federal lawsuits.

The brief is powerful and acknowledged past discrimination by the federal government. “The federal government has played a significant and regrettable role in the history of discrimination against gay and lesbian individuals,” it stated.

Lambda Legal noted that the brief also provides evidence that passage of DOMA in 1996 was motivated by prejudice against gay people.

The Justice Department, after sidestepping the DOMA issue for the first year and a half of the Obama administration, has concluded that the act is unconstitutional.

At the New York fundraiser, Obama said, “traditionally, marriage has been decided by the states.” That’s an odd position coming from someone whose parents could not legally wed in many states due to laws banning interracial marriage.

Rather than parse language and dance around states’ rights, the president, a former constitutional law professor, knows better and should lead the country on the issue. And by publicly supporting same-sex marriage, Obama would have an opportunity to be on the right side of history.

Same-sex couples deserve equal marriage rights. The president knows it and he should say it.▼

55 Laguna – the time is now

by Ray Rudolph and MJ Isabel

P

utting in place the housing and services necessary to age with dignity and grace is a vital need for today’s LGBT seniors and the wave of baby boomers to follow. It should be a priority for our community and our many allies, especially in San Francisco.

We are poised finally to move forward on creating LGBT-welcoming senior housing in this wonderful city we call home. We cannot and should not let this opportunity pass by.

After years of community involvement and three years of delay following the economic meltdown, Openhouse is ready to design and build its first LGBT-welcoming senior community at 55 Laguna Street. Appropriately, this first community will be targeted at those most in need – low-income seniors.

Openhouse plans to build 109 belowmarket-rate (BMR) apartments, which will all be rented to people 55 and over who are lowincome. The building will also include onsite services and a senior community center.

Residents and LGBT seniors across the city will have a central place to get the help they need to live independent and healthy lives. That is, if the 55 Laguna development goes forward.

The Openhouse housing is part of a larger multi-family rental development at 55 Laguna.

The larger development must and should include low-income family housing. We all want and need more affordable housing for everyone in San Francisco. But how many low-income residents will ultimately live at 55 Laguna is entirely dependent on how many BMR units the Mayor’s Office of Housing (MOH) can financially support. As many of these units as possible should be built, without putting low-income seniors at risk. No other developments dedicated to serving the seniors in our community exist in San Francisco. We have to start taking care of ourselves as we age. The solution being devised by all the stakeholders working together should be developed quickly and supported by the entire community, even if that solution is not perfect.

The Openhouse senior housing and the larger multi-family development are inextricably linked. Because of how the project was approved in 2008, one cannot proceed without the other. Putting one at risk puts the other at risk and killing the whole project is not in anyone’s best interest. Hundreds of low-income seniors and families stand to

Rick Gerharter

Openhouse volunteers Ray Rudolph and MJ Isabel, with her dog URADiva, stand in front of the former UC Extension location that is the future home of affordable housing for seniors.

benefit from the completion of the 55 Laguna development. It must proceed.

Openhouse will use city funds to leverage millions of dollars in corporate investments and federal housing funds to benefit a particularly vulnerable population.

It is a very efficient use of local dollars and it’s about time.

Thousands of LGBT people come to San Francisco to find personal freedom and acceptance. Today more than 25,000 LGBT people over 55 live here. As older adults with increasing needs, the pioneers of this migration were (and continue to be) forced “back into the closet” in order to receive quality care and move into residential facilities. They are being forced to relocate and leave dear friends behind. Largely without children, and many without partners, LGBT seniors depend on Openhouse and will need 55 Laguna as the hub of a strong community network.

One LGBT senior living with HIV wrote to the Planning Commission that he was forced to leave San Francisco at age 62 because he

could not find any affordable housing after being displaced from his rent-controlled apartment. “Had a program like the 55 Laguna project existed four years ago, I might not now be in this depressing, untenable situation,” he wrote. A lesbian elder, now living in subsidized housing in the North Bay, wrote that she desperately misses her community of friends, contacts, and medical support. “Since I don’t know how much longer I will be able to ... drive to San Francisco, I need the exact kind of housing that Openhouse will sponsor,” she said.

For those LGBT seniors who stay in San Francisco, many are forced to move into single room occupancy hotels. A system in which LGBT seniors retreat to the closet, return to the shadows, and are no longer fully integrated into the larger social fabric of San Francisco is intolerable. Not here, not today, not ever.

The 55 Laguna development replaces a virtually abandoned site with a vibrant mixedincome, diverse community in the heart of Hayes Valley, less than a block from the LGBT Community Center. The development includes a community garden, a new park, and community space for youth, all of which will be open to the public.

A solution that will allow the Openhouse project to move forward and support multifamily BMR units will surely be the product of a good faith effort by all the stakeholders. We urge them to arrive at a middle ground quickly so that the project can move forward without forcing seniors and families who desperately need affordable housing to wait longer than they already have. The 55 Laguna project goes once again before the Planning Commission on August 4. Please urge the commission to move 55 Laguna forward without delay. We further urge the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association, the LGBT community, the affordable housing community, the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors to line up behind a plan that moves us forward.

Leaving LGBT seniors out in the cold, not to mention leaving an already dilapidated site to rot for another 10 years, is not an acceptable outcome. We have waited long enough. ▼ Ray Rudolph is a 22-year resident of Hayes Valley and Openhouse volunteer.

MJ Isabel moved to San Francisco from Chicago 16 years ago. She lives in a studio apartment in the Tenderloin with her Tibetan Terrier service dog, “URADiva.”

Isabel is a politically active community organizer, college student, and former social worker. She describes herself as a very determined African American lesbian.

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Politics >>

July 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 5

Gay men vie for entertainment post

by Matthew S. Bajko

T

hree gay men are among the six applicants vying for a seat on the city’s Entertainment Commission as nightlife issues continue to be a flashpoint in San Francisco.

Incumbent commissioner, Jim Meko, is seeking a third four-year term on the nightlife oversight body.

Those looking to replace him as one of two neighborhood representatives on the seven-person panel include Glendon Hyde, whose drag persona is Anna Conda, and attorney D. Gill Sperlein.

Meko and Hyde both ran against each other in last year’s race for the board’s District 6 seat. The winner, Jane Kim, has been pushing to see Hyde gain a city commission post.

As it happens, Kim chairs the Board of Supervisors’ Rules Committee, which will take up the appointment at its meeting today (Thursday, July 7).

The committee’s other two members are Supervisors Sean Elsbernd and Mark Farrell, both of whom are more moderate than the progressive Kim. That could bode well for Meko, who has been a vocal voice for homeowners and people who live next door to entertainment venues.

At the same time, he has supported efforts to ensure that South of Market does not lose its international reputation as a hub for the leather community.

“Representing neighborhood concerns on the EC is not glamorous.

The [Bay] Guardian once described me as ‘grumpy.’ Well, if a venue has been keeping families awake at night, if it’s been attracting a crowd that defaces your property or, God forbid, if innocent victims are injured or killed, that merits more than a frown,” wrote Meko on his Facebook wall last week.

Asked about his being criticized for not being a more forceful advocate for nightlife interests, Meko said that is not his role to play on the commission.

“You do understand the purpose of this seat is to represent the interests of neighborhood associations? I know some people are talking about this as the community seat, but that is not

Rick Gerharter

Entertainment Commissioner Jim Meko is seeking reappointment.

the way the charter was written,” said Meko, who chairs the Western SOMA Citizens Planning Task Force. “The whole thing is to keep peace between neighborhoods and the nightclubs. I think I have done a good job of doing that.”

For the past month Hyde has mounted a very public campaign to secure the seat, starting a Facebook page to drum up support and enlisting the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, on whose board he sits, to press its members to contact supervisors and ask them to vote for Hyde.

In an interview Tuesday, Hyde said his pursuit of the seat is not directed at removing Meko from the commission.

“I really admire Jim and respect him a lot,” said Hyde, who had lunch with Meko recently and joined the zoning task force he chairs. “I have never said it is time to get Jim off the Entertainment Commission. I don’t know if it is or not; that is up to the Rules Committee.”

Hyde dismisses the argument that because he performs in drag and once ran a club night at a Polk Street gay bar that he does not fit the criteria to be a community representative on the panel. He points to his serving on the board of the United Playaz and finance committee of the Shi Yu-Lang YMCA as just two examples of his

What happened to Pride?

I have been to many Prides. The Dyke March was full of people simultaneously getting stoned and inebriated.

I am sure there was some E, C, and anti-anxiety drugs thrown in the mix. However, the biggest downer was the $1 pink portable toilets. The free Porta Potties were at the other end of the Dolores Park and I almost had an accident making the long trek. Some people were so angry they were urinating on the sides of the pink portables. I think maybe the Dyke March should reconsider a corporate sponsor – what about Anchor Steam, Olivia, ESPN? What about a paid meet and greet with Dykes on Bikes?

What about a documentary about Dykes on Bikes that becomes a part of the LGBT film festival? Better yet, legalize pot and let a grower be a sponsor. Almost everyone at Dolores Park smokes it already.

Pride at Civic Center was no better. Many people were already smoking pot pipes and downing bottles of vodka at 12:30 in the afternoon. Most of the crowd was there to get fucked up, not to celebrate LGBT rights. Some LGBTs were so politically correct they sounded like liberal fascists. Not to confuse anyone, I’ve been a supporter of marriage equality for 10 years, and marched in a total of 11 LGBT parades and I’m straight. I support civil rights. I don’t support “getting under the influence” in the name of Pride. Ironically enough, all the convention goers of the medical marijuana event at Concourse Exhibition Center were lucid, intelligent, and could talk in full sentences.

My stereotypes of stoners were immediately blown away as many of these attendees had already smoked joints.

You know something’s wrong with Pride when it’s full

community work.

“There has been much push back sighting [sic] the fact that I have worked in clubs and there for [sic] can not be a community leader,” wrote Hyde on his Facebook page.

“I think this is an example of what happens when you are a Drag Queen quite frankly. People look at you and believe that you can not be taken serious...ly or that perhaps I will not be able to make decisions that will be fair.”

Following his supervisor bid Hyde said he continues to want to serve the city in some public capacity and believes he would be a good fit for the Entertainment Commission.

His ideas include pressing for 24hour BART service to get clubgoers out of their cars and requiring entertainment venues give back to their neighborhoods.

Hyde also sees expanding the entertainment industry as one way to help solve the city’s fiscal situation.

“New liquor licenses and entertainment licenses should come with community benefits attached to them,” he said. “I think entertainment has a lot of answers to the city’s problems that haven’t been looked at. With the good neighbor policy it is time to start to explore how to use entertainment to be a guiding force in the future of our city’s development.”

Sperlein owns his own law office based in the Castro and is on the board of directors of the Free Speech Coalition. A Corona Heights resident, he used to live nearby club 1015 Folsom and believes he has a strong understanding of the issues he would handle on the commission.

“I think what it highlights is the importance for neighbors to have a voice,” said Sperlein, who has the support of gay Supervisor Scott Wiener. “We don’t want to live in a city without nightlife but where entertainment is handled in a responsible way so we have options.”

Having experienced what happened when a murder occurred near 1015 Folsom, Sperlein said he would bring unique insight on how to address similar incidents.

“The murders happen here and there and can often be a single person who has nothing to do with the club, except they were close to the club,” he See page 8 >>

of “poly-users” and devoid of people who make LGBT fun. Better luck, next year.

Denise Jameson San Francisco

A very successful Pride Brunch It is with great pride that we announce that the 13th annual Pride Brunch on June 25 raised more than $31,000 in net proceeds for Positive Resource Center. This substantial increase over last year’s $17,000 was due in large part to our new presenting sponsor Wells Fargo, new sponsor ErosTek/ Eric Forbes, continuing sponsor Sterling Bank and Trust/Seligman Foundation, and numerous hosts.

Many thanks to the superb staff at the Hotel Whitcomb, the Dixieland Dykes+3 band, raffle and auction donors, and the many volunteers who helped pull off this labor of love. The grand marshals’ words were again the highlight of the event, and we thank state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) for attending with certificates of recognition for the honorees.

We’d also like to thank our auction chair Patrick Rylee for his tremendous work including a substantial donation from supporter Bob Majors. And what’s a party without the generous support of Stolichnaya, Sailor Jerry, and Barefoot Winery? Event photos for viewing and purchase are available at www.camargophoto.com thanks to Rick Camargo.

Thank you, San Francisco, for supporting this 13-year tradition that has netted more than $200,000 for PRC. The benefits counseling and employment services PRC provides to people living with HIV/AIDS are more than worthy of our community’s support.

Gary Virginia and Donna Sachet San Francisco

<< Community News

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 7-13, 2011

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Center fundraiser leaves

by Seth Hemmelgarn

T

ebar.com

he San Francisco LGBT Community Center is seeing a key staffer depart, as it readies for its 10th anniversary next year.

Friday, July 8 will be the last day for Gayle Roberts, who has served as development director since 2008.

Roberts announced on her Facebook page shortly after Pride weekend that she was quitting.

Roberts, long shy when it comes to speaking with the press, did not respond to interview requests.

Executive Director Rebecca Rolfe said that Roberts had been at the center for three years and “wanted some opportunities to do different things, including traveling.”

“I think she was just ready for a change in her life,” Rolfe said.

Roberto Ordenana, who has been the center’s community development director, will replace Roberts, beginning in August.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity to really grow the amount of people making an investment [in] the work of the LGBT center,”

Rick Gerharter

Gayle Roberts, whose last day is Friday, with Roberto Ordenana, who will take over her position as development director starting next month.

Ordenana, 33, said. His salary will be $80,000.

Rolfe said the center won’t hire anyone to fill the community development position.

“I think it’s clear we have an important place in the community. I think people really see us as an anchor institution” that still has “tremendous potential for additional growth,” Rolfe said.

In other staffing news, Beck, who goes by one name and is the center’s youth programs coordinator, is leaving the center to go to graduate school in Germany, Rolfe said. Beck wasn’t available for comment for this story.

Rolfe said the center would hire a new youth services coordinator. She wouldn’t disclose what Beck’s salary had been, but she said the position would be for 20 hours a week and pay $16 an hour.

Ideas for the center’s future include work with youth. Rolfe said they’re exploring the idea of opening a dedicated youth space.

The organization already offers a youth meal night, but it would like to

make the dedicated space available to community partners such as Larkin Street Youth Services and others. She said the center would like to have something in place by the fall.

Other upcoming plans include rolling out a new website and introducing some new community programming, Rolfe said.

Emphasizing that they were still in the idea phase, Rolfe said possibilities include having community members work with the center to create programming for others in areas such as civic affairs and arts and culture.

“We want to offer more opportunities for people to engage,” she said. The goals are to “put on programming for the community and raise funds for the center,” she said.

The center has been looking for others to help fill space at its building.

Rolfe said they’re evaluating one proposal for the fourth floor of the center. She said that proposal was from Gus Murad, who owns the popular Mission neighborhood bar and restaurant Medjool.

See page 14 >>

▼

Community News >>

July 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

Leno education bill heads to governor

by Rex Wockner

A

bill by out state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) that would require schools teach about the historical contributions of LGBT people is headed to the desk of Governor Jerry Brown after it passed the Assembly Tuesday, July 5.

The Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful Education Act, or SB 48, amends the state Education Code to require that schools teach about LGBT people’s role in – and contributions to – the economic, political, and social development of California and the U.S. Brown has not addressed whether he supports the bill.

The FAIR Act, as it is known, also prohibits classroom instruction and school-sponsored activities that promote a discriminatory bias on the basis of sexual orientation, and requires that social-sciences textbooks and other social-sciences instructional material used in California adhere to the bill’s requirements.

Tuesday’s Assembly vote was 49-25, with one Republican, Nathan Fletcher of San Diego, joining Democrats in voting yes. It passed the Senate 23-14 on April 14.

Republican lawmakers who objected to the bill claimed it would promote a “homosexual agenda,” according to media reports.

The FAIR Act requires “schools to fairly and accurately portray the LGBT civil rights movement and the historic contributions of the diverse LGBT community in social-science instruction,” said a statement from Equality California, which sponsored the bill.

“The struggle of the multicultural and multiethnic LGBT community in California is one of the greatest stories yet to be told,” said new EQCA Executive Director Roland Palencia. “It is time for history to accurately depict our community’s contributions.”

Rex Wockner

State Senator Mark Leno

In a statement, Carolyn Laub, executive director of Gay-Straight Alliance Network, called the bill “a victory not only for the LGBT youth in California who have been fighting to be heard in Sacramento and represented in their history classes, but also for all California youth who deserve to learn a fair and accurate account of California and U.S. history.”

According to Leno, the bill rights a longstanding wrong.

“We are selectively censoring history when we exclude LGBT Americans or any other group of people from our textbooks and instructional materials,” he said in a statement. “We can’t tell our youth that it’s okay to be yourself and expect them to treat their peers with dignity and respect when we deliberately deny them accurate information about the historical contributions of Americans who happened to be LGBT.” Palencia, whose first day at EQCA was Tuesday, said the organization has met with Brown’s office about the measure.

“We have had two meetings with the governor’s office to date, and will continue communicating the importance of the FAIR Education Act and get our community to voice their support for his signature,” Palencia said.▼

<< Community News

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 7-13, 2011

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Dispute From page 1

large parcels near the heart of the city’s gayborhood.

Housing activists, while supportive of the units for seniors, are loath to lose the affordable apartments that could be rented by people living with HIV, LGBT youth, or low-income queers.

Yet Wood Partners, which has taken over as the lead developer of the project, and the Mayor’s Office of Housing have proposed that the company, rather than build the affordable housing on-site, pay a $17 million in lieu of fee that would be used to help pay for Openhouse’s 110-units of affordable senior housing, estimated to cost upwards of $60 million.

The proposal reneges on the deal hammered out in 2008 that led to city approval of the project and would need to be approved by the Planning Commission. A hearing is tentatively scheduled for August 4.

“We want Openhouse to happen. But the idea of pitting one group of people against another is problematic,” said Tommi Avicolli Mecca, a queer activist and the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco’s counseling program director. “Those 49 units could go to HIV-positive people. It is the last block of affordable housing we will get in the Castro in a long time.”

Openhouse officials are just as concerned that their project could be fatally jeopardized if a deal isn’t struck before September, when they hope to finalize their lease with UC and move ahead with the design phase for their building.

“The Planning Commission really needs to happen on August 4 in order to keep the timeline moving along. If that doesn’t happen that can certainly possibly delay our negotiations with UC,” said Seth Kilbourn, Openhouse’s executive director. “It causes a lot of problems for Wood Partners keeping their process moving along. Delay on this is not good for the long-term prospects of the project.”

When the jettisoning of the on-site affordable rental units was first proposed, Openhouse, which has teamed with Mercy Housing

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▼

Political Notebook From page 5

said. “The ongoing problems – like noise, traffic and public urination – happen week after week. Ultimately, you want to create a level of respect between the neighbors and nightclub owners and hopefully the patrons as well.”

The others who have applied include Shelly Tatum, a concert and special events consultant; Lolita Sweet, who works for the city’s Public Utilities Commission and owns Bay Limousine Service; and government affairs consultant Chris Hyland.

The Rules Committee meets at 1:30 p.m. today in Room 263 at City Hall. The full board is expected to take up the appointment at its July 19 meeting.

Vacant buildings at 55 Laguna, the former UC Berkeley Extension facility. The site is slated for residential and senior housing.

Rick Gerharter

California to build its project, did not object. Instead, the agency sided with the proposed fee change and sent out an action alert in May asking supporters to contact planning commissioners and urge them to back the fee proposal.

“The $17 million fee takes the place of building multifamily units on the site that would be affordable to lowincome renters. But the fee does make the Openhouse project possible,” wrote Kilbourn.

He later added, in bold italic type for emphasis, that, “Without the fee, Openhouse can’t build the housing that LGBT seniors and their friends so urgently need. As a result, the project could die or be delayed indefinitely.”

The alert was the first time many community leaders learned that changes to the original deal were being proposed.

“Starting in December certain parties to that deal started going behind everybody’s back, including Openhouse, trying to change the terms of the deal. They were trying to screw the community out of $88 million in rent savings,” said AIDS Housing Alliance director Brian Basinger, referring to the reduced price of the 49 rental units.

While Kilbourn stopped short of issuing a formal apology for not notifying the community sooner about the proposed changes to the development deal, he did tell the Bay Area Reporter that Openhouse now regrets that decision.

“Yes, we absolutely should have brought this idea to the community sooner than we did. Regretfully,

we didn’t bring the idea to the community and we should have once the Mayor’s Office of Housing sent the letter to planning,” said Kilbourn.

“I do regret that it unfolded the way it did.”

Dariush Khan, deputy director of the mayor’s housing office, could not be reached for comment by press time Wednesday. Frank Middleton, Wood Partners’ San Francisco office director, did not respond to an interview request.

In late April Middleton told the San Francisco Business Times that “the project’s overall vision remains intact and reflects years of community interest.”

D.A. adjusts to life on the campaign trail

to repeal the death penalty as well as change California’s three-strikes-law.

He still stumbles, though, with his pronoun usage when pitching his platform.

“I keep using ‘we’ but it really is ‘I.’ My consultants keep telling me that, ‘Now you are a candidate you have to talk about you,’” said Gascón.

Two questions Gascón won’t be answering between now and November are who he is backing in the mayor’s and sheriff’s races. Asked if he planned to make endorsements in those contests, Gascón said he will remain neutral.

He does believe the police department is “absolutely” ready to be led by a gay man or lesbian, should the next mayor opt to seek a new police chief. He pointed to his number two person in his command staff when he was chief, assistant chief Denise Schmitt, as a prime candidate.

“This time it didn’t work out that way. But yes, I strongly believe there are qualified [LGBT] people in the police department who could be chief,” said Gascón.

Police Chief Greg Suhr, who succeeded Gascón, named three lesbians, including Schmitt, to his command staff. In a recent interview with the B.A.R., Suhr also pledged to recruit and promote more out officers.

Based on his experience working with the city’s cops, Gascón said homophobic attitudes are increasingly a thing of the past.

“A lot of issues that were present a generation or so ago are not quite as prevalent. I don’t think people are going to say I won’t work under a gay or lesbian person,” said Gascón.▼

Dialing for dollars has never been part of District Attorney George Gascón’s career, until now.

The former police chief of San Francisco and Mesa, Arizona, as well as a high-ranking official in the Los Angeles Police Department, Gascón never had to raise money to finance a political campaign until this year when he was the surprise pick to replace Kamala Harris as San Francisco’s D.A. Harris resigned after being elected California’s attorney general.

“What I really dislike is raising funds. To me it is a very painful experience,” Gascón said during a recent editorial board meeting with the Bay Area Reporter.

With two high-profile opponents gunning for his job – David Onek, a senior fellow at the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice, and Alameda County prosecutor Sharmin Bock – Gascón doesn’t have the luxury of eschewing the hunt for donations.

A bevy of local LGBT leaders, including Supervisor Scott Wiener and Treasurer Jose Cisneros, pitched in last Thursday, June 30 to help Gascón raise money and bolster his numbers in his next campaign finance report due August 1. The deadline for the reporting period was by midnight that night.

What Gascón has enjoyed, so far, is meeting the public and taking part in candidate debates.

“I like the exposure to sell my ideas and thoughts,” he said.

Those ideas run the gamut from calling for a statewide referendum

Housing market collapsed Openhouse has spent decades pushing to see an assisted living center for LGBT seniors built in the city. At first a market-rate project, it switched to being affordable housing at the insistence of housing activists like Basinger and Avicolli Mecca.

In exchange for Openhouse changing focus, the Mayor’s Office of Housing promised it would secure funding to help pay for the project.

While no dollar amounts or funding streams were specified, it was believed the money would come from in-lieu payments the housing office collected from developers of other projects eschewing on-site below-market-rate units.

Then the housing market collapsed, and the funding dried up.

A change instituted under former See page 17 >>

▼

Community News >>

July 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 9

Jewish LGBT organizations stake claim in SF

by Heather Cassell

S

an Francisco’s Jewish LGBT community is filled with pride this year as it appears that the city by the Bay is emerging as a hub of LGBT Jewish leadership nationally and internationally.

Keshet opened its new office doors June 1 and in May A Wider Bridge was named an UpStarter by UpStart Bay Area.

UpStart is a social justice Jewish entrepreneurial organization for innovative and new Jewish groups that was founded by former Bureau of Jewish Education director Toby Rubin in 2006. Similar to venture incubators, it provides a variety of organizational development opportunities, professional training, and support with a unique Jewish perspective and purpose.

Both organizations are housed with a number of other nonprofit Jewish organizations in UpStart’s San Francisco office.

“We are at a really exciting moment for LGBT inclusion and equality in the Jewish community,” wrote Idit Klein, executive director of Keshet, in an email interview.

Klein pointed to the recent ordination of the first openly gay rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary, the flagship seminary of the Conservative movement, and the outpouring of support from the Jewish community for a pledge to end homophobic bullying that the organization circulated last fall.

“It’s vitally important for us to be in the Bay Area – some of the most vibrant, creative, dynamic queer Jewish culture and community life is here,” Klein added. “By having a presence in the area, we can help strengthen and build on this energy at this key time.”

San Francisco is the home of the third largest metropolitan Jewish community in the U.S. There are approximately 36,000 queer Jews in the Bay Area, according to the LGBT Alliance Study published in 2010 by the Jewish LGBT Alliance of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties. It only makes sense that LGBT Jewish organizations congregate in the heart of the “gay mecca,” queer Jewish leaders expressed.

Keshet is a national organization that provides support, training, and resources to ensure that LGBT Jews are fully include “in all parts of the Jewish community,” according to its website.

Lisa Finkelstein, director of JCF’s LGBT Alliance, sees Keshet’s presence in the Bay Area as a sign that the queer Jewish community is thriving and only is going to grow stronger to “create a healthier sustainable community.”

Rebecca Weiner, education director of Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, agreed.

“It symbolizes that we’ve really created an infrastructure in the Jewish LGBT world” that provides an opportunity for real “measurable impacts in terms of inclusion and addressing homophobia and really educating,” said Weiner, a 25-year educator.

The two organizations join a network of established queer Jewish institutions that include: the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center, Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, Jewish LGBT Alliance of the JCF, and Nehirim.

Keshet’s new office steps into the

Courtesy Keshet

Sasha T. Goldberg is director of the new Bay Area office of Keshet.

place of Jewish Mosaic’s former satellite San Francisco office, which closed when Boston-based Keshet and the former Denver-based Jewish Mosaic merged in June 2010.

The new office is headed by out lesbian Sasha T. Goldberg, 30, the former associate director of Nehirim, a queer Jewish culture and spirituality organization that hosts retreats and other programs.

Goldberg, who took the position in May, has lived in the Bay Area for more than a decade after moving from Chicago. She earned her master’s degree in Judaism from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and was a consultant to educators on LGBT issues.

Building bridges Arthur Slepian, executive director of A Wider Bridge, understands bridges. The organization that works to bring queer Jews in North America and Israel together to learn from each other and build relationships became the first to be accepted into the UpStart program, according to both organizations’ leadership. It is also the only LGBT program selected by the committee out of the competitive process this year, Rubin pointed out.

“I’m really proud that we have been selected,” said Slepian, who has orchestrated bringing queer Israeli Orthodox and youth leaders to tour the U.S. and spoke to more than 1,000 individuals during the past year. He said he looks forward to taking the opportunity to build upon creating “opportunities for organizations in the U.S. and Israel to work together.”

Slepian is currently planning an LGBT trip to Israel later this year with several other organizations.

Additionally, the organization is planning a series of programs for college campuses, Slepian said.

“Our organization is about education, engagement, and experience. That’s what really we are trying to bring to LGBT Jews and the broader LGBT community in terms of being able to connect with Israel [either for] the first time or to strengthen the connections that one might already have,” said Slepian.

The three other organizations that were selected by UpStart: Amir, the Kitchen, and Urban Adamah.

The organizations already started working with six UpStart alumni organizations and alongside each other for the next three years on their respective projects.▼ For more information, visit www.keshetonline.org, www.awiderbridge.org, or www.upstartbayarea.org.

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 7-13, 2011

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 7-13, 2011

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 13

<< Community News

14 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 7-13, 2011

<<

www.ebar.com

▼

Slain SF man From page 1

Francisco’s Buena Vista Park almost a month ago.

In the room where the mourners were gathering on July 1, a collection of photos showed moments from Canul-Arguello’s life. A sign in Spanish above the pictures read, when translated to English, “Jesus said: I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me shall live even though he dies.”

“I miss talking to him,” said Eduardo Leon, 25, a friend, tearing up as he spoke. “He didn’t deserve to die like that.”

Canul-Arguello’s body was discovered Friday, June 10.

San Francisco police homicide inspectors are asking for the public’s help in finding who killed CanulArguello.

Inspector Robert Velarde said in an interview Tuesday, July 5, that police don’t have any leads, and they “haven’t received one phone call.” He said he couldn’t say anything about how Canul-Arguello had died, or about the circumstances that had led up to his death.

The last time that Leon saw Canul-Arguello was at the Castro neighborhood’s Cafe bar, just hours before he died. He said he saw him around 11:30 p.m., Thursday, June 9, or midnight. His friend had been dancing and “seemed very happy,”

Rick Gerharter

Castro Community on Patrol volunteer Greg Carey, center, passed out fliers last Saturday on Castro Street asking for information about the murder of Freddy Canul-Arguello. Fellow volunteer David Serrano, left, assisted by passing out safety whistles. CCOP passed out 1,600 small fliers over the weekend.

he said.

Leon doesn’t have any idea what could have happened to his friend.

However, “I’m not even going out anymore. I’m scared. I feel like I’m not safe,” he said, as tears flowed from his eyes.

Javier Perez, 29, who described himself as Canul-Arguello’s best friend, indicated that recent weeks have been scary for him, too, and said the killing has “traumatized me.”

Velarde previously said CanulArguello was last seen alive at 3 a.m.

Friday, June 10 in the area of 18th and

Castro streets, just hours before his body was found in the park.

“Sometimes people don’t think they have anything to add, but sometimes what they have to say is important,” Velarde said, in asking people to come forward if they have information.

Canul-Arguello’s family is hoping for help, too.

Before family and friends gathered at church last Friday, Canul-Arguello’s brother Ivan Canul-Arguello, 27, stood in the small room that the two had shared in the Tenderloin neighborhood. The younger man’s stuffed leopard and tiger still sat on the top mattress of the bunk bed they’d split. They’d moved to San Francisco from Mexico four years ago.

The brothers had even previously gone to the LGBT Pride celebration together, but the older Canul-Arguello didn’t go this year “because my brother’s not here,” he said.

“I think people are crazy to hate gays,” Canul-Arguello said.

Canul-Arguello expected that his brother’s body would be flown to Mexico, where their parents still live, this week. He said once police find who killed his brother, he’d return to Mexico, too.

Police are asking anyone with information regarding this case to call inspectors Robert Velarde or Daniel Dedet at (415) 553-1145 (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays), after hours at (415) 553-1071, or the anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444. To text-atip, dial TIP411. The case number is 110467285.▼

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Center From page 6

Rolfe said she didn’t know how likely it would be for the proposal to succeed.

“It’s a complicated proposal, so we’re having to sort through the feasibility of it,” she said. She expects a decision to be reached in about a month.

Rolfe said Murad has also made a proposal for the downstairs space, “but it would be a different function from upstairs.” She said that’s part of the ongoing negotiations and most likely wouldn’t be an eatery.

“Everything is still totally up in the air,” she said.

PJ Johnston, a spokesman for Murad, referred questions to Rolfe.

Finances Like many other nonprofits, the center has seen financial challenges.

Among other things, it had to go to the city for a $157,000 loan last year.

But Rolfe said last week that the center expects to finish the fiscal year that just ended with a surplus of about $100,000. The year’s budget was $2.1 million. The previous year it had a deficit of $71,000, she said.

“We continue to be really careful with our expenses,” she said, and officials “really work hard at fundraising.” Among other funding sources, the center received a bequest of $210,000. The center’s annual Pride season party netted about $30,000, Rolfe said.▼

▼

National News>>

July 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 15

It’s often a long road for LGBT refugees

by Tony K. LeTigre

L

GBT refugees often face a host of obstacles when they leave their home countries, from trying to find work to coming out, a panel told attendees at a recent conference.

The Organization for Asylum, Refuge, and Migration held its second annual lecture series, “Hidden Topics in LGBTI Asylum and Refugee Law,” last month at UC Hastings College of Law. ORAM, founded in 2008 and based in San Francisco, is the first international non-governmental organization that provides free legal assistance exclusively to refugees of sexual and gender-based violence.

During the four-hour conference on June 24, a panel of advocates and legal experts discussed the host of obstacles – legal, cultural, and psychological – faced by LGBT refugees and their would-be benefactors.

“This issue has blazed forward really quickly. Very few people are going to tell you that torturing some people is okay,” said ORAM founder and Executive Director Neil Grungras in his overview.

Torture is not too strong a word for what LGBT and intersex refugees sometimes experience in some parts of the world. ORAM’s clients are people who leave their culture and everything they know to seek shelter in a foreign country, Grungras explained, because they have no choice: the compatriots they would normally turn to for protection – family, friends, neighbors, churches – are in their case often the source of violence and persecution.

“State actors are sometimes part of the threat, but more often it’s that state actors don’t step in to stop the persecution,” Grungras explained.

There are currently 75 nations that criminalize same-sex relations, and seven that apply the death

Jane Philomen Cleland

ORAM Executive Director Neil Grungras spoke of the challenges many refugees face at a recent gathering in San Francisco.

penalty for consensual same-sex conduct. More than two thirds of African countries have laws criminalizing homosexuality. In Iran, an estimated 4,000 LGBT individuals – or individuals perceived to be LGBT – have been executed since 1978.

“Many of us, in other parts of the world, our existence is a crime,” said Kaveh Gilman, a young Iranian man who sought refuge in Turkey before winning passage to the U.S. thanks to ORAM. “I left my country because as a gay person you could be killed by a family member and your death could be justified as an honor killing.”

Gilman, who now works for ORAM, said that his eight months in Turkey were a hard lesson in what it means to be a gay refugee.

“Being a foreigner was added to the danger of being a sexual minority. Lesbian workers have been subjected to sexual violence, raped by their bosses. There is no work permit in Turkey. You have to

Vicki Marlane dies

by Cynthia Laird

L

ongtime transgender performer Vicki Marlane died Tuesday, July 5 at a San Francisco hospital. She was 76.

There was no cause of death reported, but Ms. Marlane’s friends are in the process of gathering information.

Ms. Marlane, known as “The Lady with the Liquid Spine” performed her unique shows for years at Aunt Charlie’s Lounge.

The Bay Area Reporter will have a more formal obituary in next week’s paper.▼

Rick Gerharter

Vicki Marlane

work under the table for less than minimum wage,” he said.

Grungras described the thorny process of applying for refugee status from the adjudicator’s standpoint.

“There is no official documentation that a person is LGBT. You have to interview them.

And a key problem is that many of them do not come out as gay during the interview. They may not want to reveal their sexual identity, or they may not even be aware of it yet,” he said. “It is difficult enough to have an hour and a half, sitting across from someone who is desperate for their life, trying to get the information you need, without having to coax someone through the coming out process.”

In other instances, it is the adjudicators and asylum operators who lack a frame of reference for dealing with LGBT refugees, and deny applicants for arbitrary and absurd reasons – like a man in Egypt whose gayness was doubted because he wasn’t wearing makeup, or an Afghani applicant turned down because he didn’t know who Oscar Wilde was.

See page 17 >>

ebar.com

<< Community News

16 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 7-13, 2011

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Complaint From page 1

heading out again at about 10:30 p.m., he said.

Ray estimated there were seven people in the vestibule of his building, drinking. There was one woman and several men “crowded in there,” he said.

“They weren’t Castro kids. They didn’t seem gay at all. ... They weren’t the usual people that would be there for Pink Saturday,” he said.

They weren’t very thuggish looking,” he added, meaning they wore “baggy” jeans and they were

<<

New York weddings From page 3

positive and severely sick at the time, he said it was not possible for him to move to Europe with his partner, who is now 51 years old.

“Picking up and moving to Germany was not an option. We tried everything we could think of to get him a green card,” said Chris.

“My intent wasn’t to break the law.

My intent was survival.”

Having the man he loved by his side as he struggled with his health “was a part of that. I needed that rock in my life,” said Chris.

Together now 17 years, the couple is in a registered domestic partnership with the state of California since both men have valid state driver’s licenses. They were also able to marry back in 2004 in San Francisco but opted not to do so in 2008 since they feared their second marriage would also be invalidated as their first one had been.

“In hindsight, we wish we had,” said Chris.

The men have yet to make final arrangements to head back east as they are waiting to see what the rules will be for non-resident same-

<<

ebar.com

DOJ From page 1

by Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund in which the DOJ initially tried to dismiss the case itself.

Jennifer Pizer, legal director of the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law and a former Lambda attorney, noted that, “while this step is fully consistent with the position taken back in February, it was not at all assumed that the administration would participate actively in the pending DOMA cases.”

Pizer was referring to Attorney General Eric Holder’s letter earlier this year that indicated a section of DOMA is unconstitutional.

“The Obama administration is putting very welcome additional flesh on the important bones of Attorney General Holder’s February letter to [House Speaker] John Boehner explaining why the Administration won’t defend DOMA any longer,” said Pizer.

Pizer said the DOJ brief “gives a detailed and immensely persuasive examination of why anti-gay laws should be subjected to rigorous constitutional review, including with a very substantial documenting of the systematic mistreatment of gay people by government, the religious and other legally improper reasons for that mistreatment, and further reinforcement of the point that the needs of children are served by equal treatment of all married parents, rather than federal discrimination against some of them.”

Holder, on February 23, sent a letter to Boehner (R-Ohio), alerting him that the administration considers Section 3 of DOMA to be unconstitutional. Section 3 states that the federal government will not, for any federal purposes, recognize any same-sex marriage. Holder’s letter said the administration would

▼

“young, hip-hop looking kids.”

Ray said he pushed his way through to get to the door of his building.

“I told them I had to get in there.

They said they didn’t care,” he said.

He said the woman wouldn’t move and pushed back at him with her hands, so he pushed her away from the door with his hands. Ray explained that up until that point, he’d been trying to elbow his way through the crowd, rather than putting his hands on anyone.

He said he was then punched and kicked by several people. He said he tried to hit back, but he didn’t know

if he landed any blows.

Ray said they were yelling, but “they weren’t yelling faggot or anything like that.” He said, “I just kept screaming, ‘I live here!’”

He said when police arrived, the others scattered, and he was left on the ground with a bloody shirt, and cuts to his head and lips. He told the police that he lived there and had just been beaten up.

The police helped him up and asked him if he was drinking. He said he’d had three or four drinks during the day, but he wasn’t drunk.

sex couples wishing to marry in New York. According to the New York City Clerk’s office, couples wishing to marry must present photo identification, which could be a valid driver’s license. It also states that couples that obtain a marriage license must wait 24 hours before they can marry, unless they petition for a waiver of the time constraint.

Gallagher and McAllister are shooting for an August 17 wedding date. They plan to exchange vows along the Brooklyn Promenade.

“It is where Cher is walking down the boardwalk in Moonstruck,” said Gallagher, who is originally from Philadelphia and lived in New York City for 11 years prior to moving to San Francisco in 1998.

While McAllister also has ties to the Big Apple – he attended Columbia University – the couple plans to throw a ceremony with family and friends back in San Francisco.

“What is really important to me is we want to have a more traditional type of wedding,” said McAllister last week before touring the Swedish American Hall nearby his partner’s Market Street barbershop. “It will be the same in everything but the legality of it.”

“Mike wanted to have a big wedding party here,” added Gallagher. “It was not that important to me, but the more I thought about it, I realized it is really important that everybody sees it and witnesses it.”

Not every couple headed to New York is doing so to marry. Spouses Sharon Papo, 32, and Amber Weiss, 34, plan to be in Manhattan with their 10-month-old son, Skyler, for the first New York weddings to shower the newlyweds with the same love (and flowers) they received when the San Francisco couple married at City Hall three years ago on June 17.

“When we got married in 2008 we were blown away ... by the overwhelming show of love from strangers who showed up to celebrate us and our marriage,” said Papo, who has been with Weiss eight years. “I remember people gave us roses, chocolate, cookies, and affection.”

The women plan to wear the same wedding dresses they wore to their private commitment ceremony they had in 2005 when they became domestic partners.

“We are just paying it forward and want our son to be there on this historic day,” said Papo.▼

not defend it beyond the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. (The 1st Circuit, noted Holder, has said that laws treating people differently on the basis of sexual orientation should be examined using the lowest level of judicial scrutiny – rational basis – under which almost any reason can pass muster.)

Holder’s letter said the administration believes laws disfavoring persons based on sexual orientation should have to pass the most stringent judicial review – heightened scrutiny. And it said the administration would argue so in two cases challenging DOMA in the 2nd Circuit.

The Golinski case is in the 9th Circuit. And although the DOJ acknowledged that the 9th Circuit, like the 1st, has previously held that rational basis review is appropriate for sexual orientation, “we respectfully submit that this decision no longer withstands scrutiny.”

To justify its argument, the DOJ noted that, in 2003 with Lawrence v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws prohibiting private consensual sex between same-sex partners. And it says “gay and lesbian individuals” fit the bill as a longoppressed minority – or suspect class. It has been frequently targeted by discrimination, it is a class with limited political power, and it is a class defined by an immutable trait that bears no relationship to the individuals’ ability to contribute to and participate in society.

The brief argues that there is no justification for DOMA’s treating same-sex couples differently and that the record surrounding the law “evidences the kind of animus and stereotype-based type thinking that the Equal Protection Clause is designed to guard against.”

Signing the July 1 DOJ brief were Michael Hertz, a deputy assistant

attorney general; Melinda Haag, a U.S. attorney; and Arthur Goldberg, assistant branch director.

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said the brief “represents real leadership from the Obama administration and further hastens the day in which we will leave this odious law in the dustbin of history.”

The brief, which typically takes weeks, if not months, to complete, was filed as President Barack Obama was coming under increasing pressure from the LGBT community and the media to speak out in favor of same-sex marriages and marriage equality laws.

In Golinski v. OPM, Karen Golinski, an employee of the 9th Circuit federal appeals court, is suing to obtain health coverage for her spouse. The federal court provides such benefits to the spouses of straight employees and was prepared to offer them to Golinski. But the Office of Personnel Management, headed by openly gay appointee John Berry, instructed the court’s insurance company, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, to deny the claim, citing DOMA. DOMA, enacted in 1996, prohibits any federal entity from recognizing a marriage license granted to a same-sex couple.

In March, a federal district court judge granted the DOJ’s initial request that Golinski’s lawsuit be dismissed, agreeing that OPM had a duty to enforce DOMA that trumped the 9th Circuit’s agreement to provide benefits to Golinski.

Lambda Legal has filed an amended complaint and the DOJ brief was submitted to that pending litigation in the U.S. District Court for Northern California.

The House’s Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group has filed a motion to intervene in the Golinski case to defend DOMA.▼

See page 17 >>

â&#x2013;ź <<

Community News >>

CA couple

From page 1

might qualify him to be considered as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;spouseâ&#x20AC;? under immigration laws.

Gentry and Benshimol have been working with immigration attorney Lavi Soloway. Another couple Soloway assisted recently is safe after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed a motion with an immigration judge to close their deportation case. Soloway

<<

Complaint From page 16

They put him in handcuffs and walked him down Market Street toward a van, without telling him why or where they were taking him, despite him screaming to be told, he said.

Ray doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know the officers names. He was taken to Mission Station and handcuffed to a bench for about an hour, he said. He also said that he told officers he needed to go to an emergency room, but nobody offered medical assistance or said anything to him. They also wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let him call friends, he claims.

He said he didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get to San Francisco General Hospital until 11:30 p.m. The next day, he went to California Pacific Medical CenterDavies, his usual hospital. His injuries included a black eye, a cut on his head, and a sprained knee.

Ray filed a complaint with the Office of Citizen Complaints on Wednesday, June 29, a copy of which he provided to the Bay Area Reporter.

He said the police were never â&#x20AC;&#x153;rudeâ&#x20AC;? or â&#x20AC;&#x153;disrespectful,â&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t

<<

LGBT refugees From page 15

Emilia Bardini, director of the San Francisco Asylum Office, described the bureaucratic hurdles that refugees and asylum seekers face, such as meeting the one-year deadline to file, and compiling the evidence required to satisfy the legal definition of persecution. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Discrimination by itself is not usually enough, but cumulatively it can be,â&#x20AC;? Bardini said.

Bardini said that of the 3,000-plus asylum cases that her office handles each year, 90 percent are male, and an estimated 5 percent to 10 percent are LGBT or intersex.

Anne Tamar-Mattis, executive director of Advocates for Informed Choice â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the only nonprofit organization in the U.S. dedicated to legal advocacy for intersex people â&#x20AC;&#x201C; described intersex as a set of medical conditions that should not be confused with transsexualism or gender dysphoria.

<<

Dispute From page 8

Mayor Gavin Newsom, that pushed back requiring developers to pay the fees upfront to when their projects were finished, further exacerbated the housing officeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s budget issues.

Kilbourn said the reason Openhouse didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t raise objections about the in-lieu fee proposal was because it believed the mayorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s housing office when it said there was no other money to pay for the project. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We were taking what the Mayorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office of Housing said at face value,â&#x20AC;? said Kilbourn. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If they have no money and this is the only option we have, we decided we will move forward because Openhouse is important.â&#x20AC;?

The agency also believed that using the $17 million as leverage to secure the rest of the financing it

had requested that motion, which a judge in New Jersey granted.

Soloway said Tuesday, July 5 that in the California coupleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s situation, they would request this week that the government file a motion to administratively close the case, exercising prosecutorial discretion.

He said the goal is to resolve the case July 13, but thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a possibility â&#x20AC;&#x153;it would be ongoing for a while.â&#x20AC;?

At the hearing, scheduled for that day, he said, they would â&#x20AC;&#x153;press on with our request for administrative

manhandle me at all ... I know they were just doing their jobs.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;They just didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t give me medical care, and they handcuffed me,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Mission Station Captain Greg Corrales said in an email to the B.A.R. that the officers involved wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be allowed to discuss the incident because of the OCC investigation.

He said the best person to talk to about the case was Lieutenant Mike Stasko, also of Mission Station.

However, in a phone interview, Corrales said he thinks Rayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perceptions â&#x20AC;&#x153;are skewed by alcohol.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m confident the OCC will conduct a thorough investigation,â&#x20AC;?

Corrales said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find the officers conducted themselves properly.â&#x20AC;?

Stasko, who was on Castro Street that night and not in the station, doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe Rayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s account, but he emphasized the incident is still under investigation. He said Ray was released to an ambulance at 11 p.m., 18 minutes after heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d been brought in to the station as an assault suspect.

He said Ray was intoxicated, based on officersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; observations,

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Many intersex people do not consider themselves to be gay, queer, or trans,â&#x20AC;? Tamar-Mattis said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yet they face persecution from the same quarters, and LGBTs are the only community with resources that is reaching out to help them. The bottom line is: Add the I, and put your money where your mouth is.â&#x20AC;?

ORAM director of advocacy Rachel Levitan presented preliminary findings from a groundbreaking global study assessing the attitudes of NGOs toward queer and trans refugees. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We sent a survey to more than 1,400 NGOs that serve refugees all over the world,â&#x20AC;? Levitan said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As of May 1 we had a response rate of 30 percent to 35 percent, which we consider very good for a survey of this type. Although of course we do wonder what is going on with the other 65 to 70 percent.â&#x20AC;?

Among the more interesting preliminary findings was that faithbased and religious organizations were as willing to provide refuge

needs for its project is an â&#x20AC;&#x153;incredibly efficient use of scarce local dollars,â&#x20AC;? said Kilbourn. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is a massive investment that will ultimately benefit the LGBT community,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This Openhouse project is incredibly urgent and critical for the LGBT senior community, which is a voice that really has not been heard enough of in this whole discussion.

It is really important for us, between now and August 4, to make sure the voices of the LGBT senior community, who have waited for years for this housing to be built, be heard.â&#x20AC;?

It remains unclear if a deal will be reached in time that is acceptable to all parties involved. Some options being discussed include raising how much renters would be charged for the 49 affordable units or securing a bridge loan to pay for the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contribution to Openhouse that the

July 7-13, 2011 â&#x20AC;˘ BAY AREA REPORTER â&#x20AC;˘ 17

closure of the case.â&#x20AC;? He noted Gentry has a pending green card application and said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe any deportation proceeding should go forward until that kind of petition has been resolved.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re breaking new ground with each one of these cases, so itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impossible to predict what the outcome will be,â&#x20AC;? Soloway said.

Gentry said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not asking for more than everyone else has. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not asking for special rights. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re asking for equal rights.â&#x20AC;?â&#x2013;ź

but he couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say â&#x20AC;&#x153;how under the influence he was.â&#x20AC;? Stasko indicated the police report wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t yet available.

Staff at San Francisco General Hospital werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t immediately able to provide information about Ray. After the incident, Ray eventually shared his account with Police Chief Greg Suhr through email.

Suhr responded to Rayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s message in an email that said he was â&#x20AC;&#x153;saddenedâ&#x20AC;? by Rayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s story.

He added, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have been to more Pink Saturdays than I can remember and I too noticed that the flavor of the crowd the last two years was decidedly different. It gave me an anxious feeling ... and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m never anxious.â&#x20AC;?

Suhr confirmed to the B.A.R. that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d sent the email, but police spokesman Lieutenant Troy Dangerfield said Suhr wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t available for a phone interview.

In response to emailed questions, Dangerfield wrote that police were prohibited from talking about the case until the OCCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s findings are turned over to the departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s internal affairs unit..â&#x2013;ź A longer version of this story online at ebar.com

as secular ones; that people with a personal connection to an LGBT person are strikingly more willing to help; and that services are provided for persecuted refugees most often on the basis of political opinion and race or ethnicity, least often on the basis of sexual orientation, health status, and gender identity.

Even when applicants are granted refuge in the U.S., they often live in isolation. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We know that many refugees in the U.S. are living in poverty, out of contact with their country of origin, their family or religious community,â&#x20AC;?

Grungras said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And sadly, in many cases, they are not supported by the LGBT community either.â&#x20AC;?

To counter this isolation, ORAM maintains an â&#x20AC;&#x153;Adopt-a-Refugeeâ&#x20AC;? program, and this year it introduced the first-ever U.S. resettlement project for LGBT refugees, centered in the Bay Area.â&#x2013;ź For more information, visit www.oraminternational.org.

mayorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s housing office would pay back later.

Another meeting with interested parties to hammer out a compromise is scheduled to take place this afternoon (Thursday, July 7). â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think that everybody is on the same page to figure out how to put the BMRs back on-site,â&#x20AC;? said Kilbourn. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are all working toward the same goal here.â&#x20AC;?

Basinger said he remains hopeful a solution can be found that all sides will accept. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think everyone is committed to this and coming up with a solution.

It is going to happen,â&#x20AC;? he said.â&#x2013;ź

On the web Online content this week includes the Wocknerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s World column. www.ebar.com.

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STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE# CNC-11-547820 In the matter of the application of JILL MARIE CONNER KAUFMAN for change of name. The application of JILL MARIE CONNER KAUFMAN for change of name having been ďŹ led in Court, and it appearing from said application that JILL MARIE CONNER KAUFMAN ďŹ led an application proposing that his/her name be changed to JILL CONNER KAUFMAN Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 218 on the 16th of AUGUST, 2011 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JUN16,23,30,JUL 7, 2011 STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE# CNC-11-547814 In the matter of the application of LE VAN NGUYEN for change of name. The application of LE VAN NGUYEN for change of name having been ďŹ led in Court, and it appearing from said application that LE VAN NGUYEN ďŹ led an application proposing that his/her name be changed to TONY VAN NGUYEN LEE Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 218 on the 11th of AUGUST, 2011 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JUN16,23,30,JUL 7, 2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033612300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as PLUMFILE LLC, 566 S.Van Ness Ave.,#25, San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Jennifer Wolf.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 02/01/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/07/11.

JUN16,23,30,JUL 7, 2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033616900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as COMMUNICATION RESOURCES, 20 Quickstep Lane,#3,San Francisco, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Whitney Wong.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 05/09/91. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/08/11.

JUN16,23,30,JUL 7, 2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033624300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as KARNEY MUSIC AND SOUNDS, 743 Wisconsin St.,Apt. Y,San Francisco, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Anna K. Karney.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 06/13/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/13/11.

JUN16,23,30,JUL 7, 2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033619000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as HEAVENLY ART STORE, 4350 Kirkham St.,Suite 202,San Francisco, CA 94122-2952. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Sukilena Quin.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 05/04/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/09/11.

JUN16,23,30,JUL 7, 2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033579900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as BANCARELLA, 350 Powell St.,San Francisco, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Gary Rulli.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/20/11.

JUN16,23,30,JUL 7, 2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033628900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as BRUNCH DRUNK LOVE, 2389 Mission St.,San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Jonathan Panday.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/15/11.

JUN 23,30,JUL 7,14, 2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033631200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as CICILâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S, 101 Spear St., Suite B-5, San Francisco, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a husband & wife, signed Juan Carlos Prado.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 06/16/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/16/11.

JUN 23,30,JUL 7,14, 2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033619600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as KURAYA, 2425 California St.,San Francisco, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a general partnership, signed Jin Li.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 06/09/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/09/11.

JUN 23,30,JUL 7,14, 2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033619500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as KURAYA, 2345 Harrison St.,San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a general partnership, signed Jin Li.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 06/09/11.The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/09/11.

JUN 23,30,JUL 7,14, 2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033599800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as CUSTOMIZED HEALTH SOLUTIONS, 1454A Union St.,San Francisco, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an idividual, signed Kathryn Heath.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/01/11.

JUN 23,30,JUL 7,14, 2011

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18 • Bay Area Reporter • July 7-13, 2011

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as HOUSE 530, 530 Valencia St.,San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Krittiya Meeriyagerd.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/17/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/17/11.

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as PENGUINS ON HENRY,45 Henry St.,#1,San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by state or local registered domestic partners, signed David Geoffrey Stafford.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 06/27/11.

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as NUKA, 1345 Bush St., San Francisco, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Jean-Luc Kayigire.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/10/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/15/11.

PATRICK MCMAHON

BANKRUPTCY ATTORNEY We file Chapter 7 & Chapter 13 for individuals & small businesses who face: • WAGE GARNISHMENT • CREDITOR HARASSMENT • FORECLOSURE • TAXES • REPOSSESSION • STUDENT LOANS • GOVERNMENT DEBTS

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as CAFE BUNN MI, 417 Clement St.,San Francisco, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Peter Lee.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 06/21/11.

jun 30,jul 7,14,21, 2011 statement file A-033653600

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as BROTHER CONSTRUCTION, 1485 Bayshore Blvc.,#128,San Francisco, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, signed John H.A. Lee.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/28/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/28/11.

jun 30,jul 7,14,21, 2011 statement file A-033662400

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PATRICK MCMAHON

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jun 30,jul 7,14,21, 2011 statement file A-033657400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as MUDPUPPY’S, 536 Castro St.,San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Daniel Bergerac.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 6/29/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/29/11.

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as Q-CUTS, 4035 18TH St.,San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a general partnership, signed Thomas Karabin.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/01/11.

jun 30,jul 7,14,21, 2011

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SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT NOTICE TO PROPOSERS GENERAL INFORMATION The SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT (“District”), 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, California, is advertising for proposals to provide for Small Business Support Services In Support of BART’s Warm Springs Extension Project, RFP No. 6M8048, on or about July 1, 2011, with proposals due by 2:00 P.M. local time, Tuesday, August 9, 2011.

DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES TO BE PROVIDED The District is soliciting for the professional services of a consulting firm or a joint venture (“CONSULTANT”) to provide Small Business Support Services to provide on-going support to first or second tier small business subcontractors to the lead business entity (“Design-Builder”) that enters into Contract No. 02EE-120, Design-Build of Line, Track, Station, and Systems for the Warm Springs Extension (“LTSS Contract”) with the District. The CONSULTANT will provide assistance to those small business subcontractors that are currently listed or are added to the Design-Builder’s team during LTSS Contract execution to ensure successful subcontract performance. The services being procured hereunder involve support to construction-related activities only.

The selected CONSULTANT shall provide qualified staff members as described briefly herein who are familiar with providing assistance and advocacy for small business firms to accomplish the tasks as described further in the Scope of Services as provided for in the RFP. The selected CONSULTANT shall provide to the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District qualified staff members with the following skill sets: 1) Small Business Coordinator, 2) Construction/Contract Specialist, 3) Estimator/Scheduler, 4) Accounting/ Finance Specialist; 5) Labor Compliance Specialist. The aforementioned services will be on an as-needed, intermittent – on call basis. It is not anticipated that any staff will be required to support the Scope of Services on a continuous, full-time basis over the entire duration of the proposed Agreement.

The Scope of Services and other pertinent requirements of the project are described in complete detail in BART RFP No. 6M8048.

Estimated Cost and Time of Performance: The District intends to make one (1) Agreement award as a result of this RFP. It is estimated that the projected Agreement awarded under this RFP shall not exceed the amount of One Million Dollars ($1,000,000.00); however, there is no guaranteed minimum level of compensation as further detailed in the RFP No. 6M8048.

The term of the Agreement entered into pursuant to this RFP will be for four (4) years, subject to termination and the limit on compensation as provided for in the Agreement.

A Pre-Proposal Meeting will be held on Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 2:00 P.M., local time, at BART’s Offices, located at 300 Lakeside Drive, 15th Floor – Main Conference Room # 1500,Oakland, California 94612. At the Pre-Proposal Meeting the District’s Non-Discrimination Program for Subcontracting will be explained. All questions regarding Minority Business Enterprise / Women Business Enterprise (MBE/WBE) participation should be directed to: Ms. Linda WellsGrogan, Office of Civil Rights at: (510) 464-6195, FAX (510) 464-7587. Prospective proposers are requested to make every effort to attend this only scheduled Pre-Proposal Meeting, and to confirm their attendance by contacting the District’s Contract Administrator, Mr. Ron Coffey, at telephone number (510)-287-4775, prior to the date of the Pre-Proposal Meeting.

Proposal Due Date: Proposals must be received by 2:00 P.M., local time, Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at the address listed in the RFP. Submission of a proposal shall constitute a firm offer to the District for one hundred and eighty (180) calendar days from date of proposal submission WHERE TO OBTAIN OR SEE RFP DOCUMENTS (Available on or after July 1, 2011) Copies of the RFP may be obtained: A PDF version of the RFP will be sent to all firms on the Interested Parties List at time of advertisement; or, (1) By E-mail request to the District’s Contract Administrator, Ron Coffey, at rcoffey@bart.gov.

(2) By arranging pickup at the above address. Call the District’s Contract Administrator at (510) 287-4775 prior to pickup of the RFP. (3) By attending the Pre-Proposal Meeting and obtaining the RFP at the meeting.

Dated at Oakland, California this 28th day of June, 2011. /s/ Kenneth A. Duron Kenneth A. Duron, District Secretary San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District 7/7/11 • CNS-2129900# BAY AREA REPORTER

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Vol. 41 • No. 27 • July 7-13, 2011

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Out of the bottle & back to the city ‘I Dream of Jeannie’s Barbara Eden comes home to San Francisco

by Adam Sandel

S

he spent five seasons living amid pink and gold plush pillows inside a magic bottle on TV’s I Dream of Jeannie, but Barbara Eden is a San Francisco girl at heart. She returns to the city she once called home on Sunday, July 10, for I Dream of Barbara Eden, a gala tribute event at the Castro Theatre.

When asked what she remembers most about growing up in San Francisco, a flood of memories comes back to her. “I remember the fog horns. The fog was very comforting,” she says. Eden attended Redding Grammar School on Polk, and learned to roller-skate on the hills while living on Bush.

Although she was crowned Miss San Francisco in 1951, her first award came much earlier. “I won first prize in a Halloween contest on Polk Street dressed as Bo Peep,” she says. “I was five.”

Eden attended Sunday school at Grace Cathedral (where she would marry her current husband, Jon Eicholtz, in 1991). “My parents would wait across the street in the park for me with my

Barbara Eden unbound.

See page 37 >>

Politics in the name of the Prophet

by David Lamble

O

n June 24, my buddies Claude, Wayne and I left the Castro Theatre for our Market Street abode to join Claude’s husband David in lifting a glass of California bubbly in celebration of our old stomping grounds, New York, and its adoption of samesex marriage. The euphoria of the moment was followed, for me, by a flashback to my living-room office, where, a year and a week earlier, a small Mormon family sat on my couch to discuss how their lives had been upended by the passage of California Proposition 8. This family – Mom, son and son’s handsome hubby – are the poster folks for an engrossing and well-documented, if profoundly disturbing study on how an American religious sect plotted to up-end gay marriage in California.

Watching 8: The Mormon Proposition (newly out on DVD) again, I was struck by how insidiously the church and its leaders succeeded in concealing the extent of their

involvement in the campaign. A Mormon training film shows two surfer dudes strolling up the beach in wet suits – it plays like an outtake from Bruce Brown’s surfing classic The Endless Summer, but these dirty blondes had more on their minds than catching the next wave.

“So why do you care about who marries who, or whatever?”

“I don’t know, this whole Proposition 8 thing seems like it could be a pretty big deal. There’s got to be more to this same-sex marriage stuff than Hollywood and everyone says. I mean, seriously, think about it: is there anyone in Hollywood that you would trust with anything important?”

Starting with this funny, deadpan-serious pitch that could be right out of the Tony-winning Book of See page 22 >>

{ SECOND OF TWO SECTIONS }

<< DVD

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 7-13, 2011

<<

8: Mormon Prop From page 21

Mormon, this cogent look at the big money and ideologies that fuel hotbutton debates in America today explores the reasons why Mormon Church leaders have targeted our march towards equality for the past several decades. As one cheerful exMormon woman explains: “Gays interrupt the Mormon plan for Heaven, so taking away any sense of humanity or rights that they may deserve is just collateral damage in pursuit of what they believe is critical to their beliefs.”

Director Reed Cowan spends the first hour proving that Mormon dollars accounted for up to 70% of Prop 8’s campaign war chest, and, as one out, former Mormon, Prop 8 opponent explains, we’re talking big bucks here, much of it bundled directly from Mormon congregations in Utah. “We’re talking Obama kind of money.

We’re talking about people we had never heard of before, who had never given to a political campaign, expect Mitt Romney for President.”

The film shifts into high gear with a secret recording of a closed-circuit election-strategy broadcast from

“With Proposition 8, it was no longer an issue we could agree to disagree on, and we had to let them know it hurt us.”

– Spencer Jones top Mormon leaders in which the “wise men” appear like the creepy old baddies from the Matrix movies.

Narrated by Milk’s Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, himself raised Mormon in Texas, the film’s emotional centerpiece is an enthusiastic young male couple with impeccable Mormon credentials: Tyler Barrick and Spencer Jones, whose lineage can be traced back to the 19th century, when the fledging church faced ferocious persecution from fundamentalist Christians.

Tyler and Spencer go from the exuberance of young love sealed with a kiss at San Francisco City Hall nuptials to bitter tears as electionnight returns destroy their dream.

On the record Last year, Tyler Barrick and his husband Spencer Jones sat with Tyler’s mom, Linda Stay, on my couch under a Polaroid blowup of me and my mom, taken by my first boyfriend. They told an emotional tale on how they came to live outside the Mormon family.

Tyler Barrick: My great-greatgreat grandfather was Frederick G. Williams, who was Joseph Smith’s (the founder of the Mormon movement) right-hand man.

Growing up, you hear so much about the pioneers who crossed the Plains, who were persecuted by evangelical

▼

Christians for their practice of plural marriage. You hear that we’re put on this earth to be tested, so our struggles that we go through are always relayed back to our ancestors: what you’re going through is nothing compared to what they went through – if that gives you a little piece of Mormon mind.

Spencer Jones: I’m from a small town in Utah, Tyler’s from a small town in Idaho, and in those communities, 90% Mormon, it’s not just your church, it’s your community. And you’re not just going to a Sabbath-day service, you’re going to the church – Barrick: – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – Jones: And to find yourself gay, something that’s not allowed, is not possible in that framework.

[Addressing Tyler:] I sort of made it work for the first six years before Proposition 8. I knew I loved you, I brought you home on holidays, the family saw you. They didn’t really agree with it, but they didn’t say anything, it was just sort of an uncomfortable issue we didn’t talk about. But with Proposition 8 – in Tyler’s case, extended-family giving money in favor of Proposition 8 – it was no longer an issue we could agree to disagree on, and we had to let them know it hurt us.

Linda Stay: It sounds silly, but I actually picked up the phone in the middle of the night, and heard Tyler talking to a man, and I was shocked, and I hung up the phone.

We had left Idaho and an abusive situation – I had health issues. I dropped to my knees and said, “Please, God, help me say the right thing. Don’t let me screw this up.”

Tyler was my right-hand man, Tyler was my friend, my rock. I thought he was so special, God’s gift to me, and I thought he would grow up and be the Prophet. As I went down the stairs and motioned him to come over to the couch and put my arms around him, I heard myself saying, “It’s okay, I love you.”▼

▼

Theatre >>

July 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

Dancing away from a dead-end life

by Richard Dodds

T

here are basically three kinds of musicals that grab high-octane attention on Broadway these days: Those that explode the traditional form (American Idiot), those that mock the traditional form (Book of Mormon), and those that use the traditional form with expertise. But expertise is an evolving concept.

Damn Yankees and South Pacific were expertly done, and they can be appreciated in revivals because we are aware of the standards that defined their times. Billy Elliot is an expertly assembled musical that honors traditional musical craftsmanship but with enough cutting edges that it slices its way through the demographics that can often limit a musical-comedy audience.

Popular motion pictures can be a way-too-easy source for stage musicals, providing producers with name recognition and built-in goodwill. Billy Elliot certainly has those advantages, but the results don’t feel like a cynical ploy to get a head-start out of the gate. It probably helps that director Stephen Daldry, screenwriter Lee Hall, and choreographer Peter Darling – all of whom had theatrical credits – made their feature film debuts on the 2000 movie Billy Elliot, and are the main creators of the musical version. Oh, there is a newcomer to the team, a big name but not necessarily a big asset.

That would be Elton John.

The pop-rock superstar has had a spotty record as a musical-theater composer. The Lion King, with its best songs already vetted via Disney’s animated original, gave John a solid start on Broadway. Then came the mediocrity of Aida followed by the downright disastrous Lestat. With Billy Elliot, John is on surer ground, offering a varied score that fits the differing situations: folk ballads to Broadway pizzazz, and angry anthems to engaging pop. Hall, who wrote the script, has provided lyrics that further capture the evolving moods.

Director Daldry and writer Hall fairly faithfully followed their screen original, but a few scenes come across with the clunky obviousness of well-worn theatrical devices. But the stage has also allowed them, and choreographer Darling, to break from the usual literalness of movies to enhance the storytelling with new freedom. While the movie could create an ironic statement by intercutting scenes of little girls in white tutus practicing their ballet steps with the turmoil of striking mineworkers slamming up against the police, the musical puts them all together in a magical scene in which tulle and serge can blend together.

The striking miners include the 11-year-old Billy Elliot’s widowed dad and his older brother, who are at war with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s union-busting policies.

J.P. Viernes is one of the five young actors who take turns in the title role of Billy Elliot now at the Orpheum Theatre.

Joan Marcus

Around home, Billy has become almost an afterthought, and he’s sent off to a rundown community center to take boxing lessons. By accident, he gets corralled into a ballet class populated by clumsy girls and presided over by a chain-smoking instructor who obviously missed whatever professional dancing career that might have once sparkled just beyond her reach.

Billy shows promise, the teacher wants to send him off to auditions for a professional ballet academy, and his father predictably hits the roof at the thought of his son going in for an activity best left to “poofs.”

Trajectories start changing both for Billy and the strikers, though in opposite directions, and Billy gets his chance as his father sees the dead end of life in their mining town.

As it should be in a musical about dance as a passionate form of expression, dance creates the most onstage passion. And that the most passionate of all the dancers is a cute talented kid is going to score high marks from any judges.

I cannot promise you that the Billy Elliot you see during the show’s run at the Orpheum will be as cute and talented as J.P. Viernes, who played the title character on opening night.

Five young Billys travel with the show – the first-act curtain number “Angry Dance” can alone explain the multiple casting – and there is no advance schedule of who has the role on any given night. But given the high-tone work exhibited at all levels of the production, I feel you’ll be in safe hands with the Billy you’re dealt.

Speaking of high-tone, this touring production is blessed to have Faith Prince as the dance instructor who discovers Billy. The Tony Awardwinning actress brings a richness and depth to the world-weary character who tries to keep a warm heart mostly out of sight. Rich Hebert as Faith Prince plays a world-weary dance instructor whose daughter (Rachel Mracna) warily eyes a newcomer (Daniel Russell) in the touring edition of Billy Elliot.

Kyle Freeman

Billy’s gruff dad, Jeff Kready as Billy’s angry brother, and Patti Perkins as his occasionally confused but mostly feisty grandmother further bring us into the story.

While there are a bevy of children in the show, only one other role has alternating performers. That’s Billy’s best friend Michael (a charming Griffin Birney on opening night), who loves to cross dress – which turns out to be infectious by the joyful finale – and gets a great razzamatazz tap number with Billy.

It’s undercut by a chorus line of oversized housedresses on hangers with dancers inside manipulating these cloddish, unintentionally nightmarish costumes.

But that’s one of the few lapses in taste to be found amidst an abundance of smartly applied talents. Billy Elliot has something to please just about everyone, except maybe those who quiver with warm nostalgia at the mention of Margaret Thatcher.▼ Billy Elliot will run at the Orpheum Theatre through Sept. 17. Tickets are $35-$200. Call (888) SHN-1799 or go to www.shnsf.com.

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

24 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 7-13, 2011

▼

Out There>>

Running rings around Richard Wagner

by Roberto Friedman

L

ast week Out There attended all four operas of San Francisco Opera’s acclaimed Ring cycle, which came to 17-plus hours spent enraptured in composer Richard Wagner’s musical and fantastic imagination. Before we took the plunge, OT was a Valkyrie virgin. Now we feel like an old Nibelungen hand, fully initiated into the cult.

To be honest, it wasn’t just the time commitment that we had to get over, we had some psychological resistance to overcome. Though his contribution to musical history was immense, Wagner was an awful, ignoble character. In an era where virulent anti-Semitism seems demonstrably on the rise, it feels odd to celebrate the vision of a blind Hebrew-hater. It hardly helps that he was the composer tops on Herr Hitler’s hit parade. But we can’t ignore the artistic accomplishments of the willfully ignorant or heinously hating. To take just one example, the posthumous publication of Christopher Isherwood’s diaries have made clear that he was burdened with an obdurate anti-Semitism fairly typical of his time and class. Yet we’ve always enjoyed his literary works, and we won’t stop doing so now.

So we separate the artwork from the artist. We boned up on the long, elaborate plot of the cycle – why does it remind us of Dungeons and Dragons? – and devoured the international coverage, not the least of which were reviews by Arts & Culture’s Philip Campbell, who attended the first full cycle (we saw the third, final run) and gave us tips on how to approach this cultural immersion. Wagner intended his cycle to be experienced start to finish, and the four operas in this production by director Francesca Zambello – Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung – were presented in SF for the first time as a complete set. Former SF Opera music director

Cleber DeAlencar

The 19-ft.-tall genie bottle built by Phillip Ruise for a number with belly dancers will be part of a Castro Theatre show (see p. 25).

Donald Runnicles led a celebrated cast, including the triumphant Nina Stemme (Brünnhilde), Mark Delavan (Wotan), Stefan Margita (Loge), Jay Hunter Morris (Siegfried in Siegfried), Ian Storey (Siegfried in Götterdämmerung), Gordon Hawkins (Alberich), Larissa Diadkova (Fricka), David Cangelosi (Mime), Anja Kampe (Sieglinde) and Brandon Jovanovich

(Siegmund). Rheingold, Walküre and Siegfried were co-productions with Washington National Opera, and Götterdämmerung is a new SF Opera production premiere.

The operas are dark, so dark, populated by characters who treat each other brutally and shout at each other in German. Bizarrely, it rained cats and dogs all the first day of the third cycle – in late June, in SF! An old

Courtesy San Francisco Opera

San Francisco Opera poster for the 2011 Ring cycle, artwork by Michael Schwab.

Ring hand said that tradition was, rain for Rheingold portended a very dark Ring indeed.

If Rheingold was a little loopy in its storyline, the music was glorious.

Next night, in Walküre, we got love, jealousy, valor, incest, and other human behavior, and we were hooked.

This production of Walküre starts out

looking like Twin Peaks, moves on to Scarface, Godfather, and Wings, and ends up feeling kinda Silence of the Lambs. As for those Valkyries all geared up in Amelia Earhart drag: normally the sight of a squadron of German chicks parachuting into our See page 25 >>

Music >>

Faith in marriage act

by Tim Pfaff

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ike George Orwell’s 1984 – even now, a quarter-century past its scare-by date – Beethoven’s Fidelio of 1814 seems both more timely and more prophetic at its every outing.

The stunning, game-changing, justreleased live recording of opera’s greatest one-off, conducted by Claudio Abbado and taped at last August’s Lucerne Festival (Decca), would have arrived to resonant headlines whenever it appeared.

Every day brings news that recalls one aspect of the story at the heart of Fidelio – the unjust, torturous incarceration of political dissidents.

Yet, as music sage Michael Steinberg pointed out, the opera’s other heart is its delirious exaltation of married love and its power to rescue, heal, and ennoble. Like the opera’s source, all the versions of Fidelio up to the one of 1814 bore the subtitle Or marital love. Throughout the opera, but particularly in its blazing C Major climax, there’s no mistaking Beethoven’s full-throated championship of a love he would never know.

From Handel to Mozart, fortuitous marriages announced as happy endings, in the manner of Jane Austen novels, are an 18thcentury opera commonplace. But there are few great operas between Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria in the 17th century and

Smetana’s Dalibor at the end of the 19th that portray the power of conjugal love throughout. Fine as those two are, Fidelio towers over them. And this new Fidelio – radical in its extremes of tempo, dynamics and feeling, yet ideally balanced due to Abbado’s penetrating, unifying vision of the work – elevates it another step in the ranks of the greatest of operas.

I don’t anticipate many gay couples will be marching down the aisle to “O namenlose Freude” (“O unnamable joy”) – though it’s a pity, because it would work – but the release of this recording, at its best in that marital love story, is a fitting echo of the “I [Heart] New York” sentiment (and promising signs elsewhere) seizing our community and, in ways Beethoven would have appreciated, merging the matter of conjugal love with issues of political justice and freedom.

If that weren’t enough, the set arrives in the nick of time for Ring crazies looking into a harsh, Nina Stemme-less future. The woman who tore up the War Memorial as Bruennhilde is Abbado’s Leonore, and she lays claim to being Hildegarde Behrens’ natural successor in the role. She needn’t worry about getting typecast as the husband-rescuing (or, in Wagner, husband-redeeming) woman, unless she’s also got her eye on either of the plum soprano roles in

Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten.

But maybe now’s the time to point out that, on the evidence of Behrens’ example, Stemme might be wise to keep singing Leonore (and an Aida or two) between the Bruennhildes she’s likely to be booked for throughout the rest of her career.

But in this recording, where her acting in the dialogue is almost better even than her singing, she’s the consummate team player in what turns out to be the consummate team. Fidelio has been well-served on recordings, but this one launches it into a new dimension. It’s like a Rorschach, or a mirror. You don’t just hear something new in it every time, you hear something different in it each time you venture in, and venture is exactly what you do.

It’s easy to allege that too much has been made of Abbado’s scrapes with death from cancer over the last decade and more. But there’s really not a better way of explaining musicmaking as free as his. Abbado’s Fidelio is so true to the work that

you could miss its genius if you didn’t give yourself to it completely.

But if you do, as fully as Abbado, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra/ Lucerne Festival Orchestra, the Arnold Schoenberg Choir and an unbeatable lineup of soloists do, it’s like visiting a land with different gravity and atmospheric gases.

More than any other conductor working, Abbado has taken the insights of the historical performaniacs and fused them with the best of what modern musicians and their very advanced instruments can do. The revelations abound and astound. You start to

p pick up the whirling eenergy – beyond time ssignature, beyond ttempo marks – that ccarries this urgent m music as if on a single b breath.

Time stops as it aalways does, and m must, in the “Mir iist so wunderbar” q quartet, and speeds o out of control (per B Beethoven’s direction ““with a calm rapture, w which nevertheless vverges on madness”) in Florestan’s cabaletta, ““I see a rosy-haloed aangel.” But the wonder is the way music taken to such extremes by these highly advanced musicians also so effortlessly dovetails back in on itself, not just cohering but shuddering with the biology of this protean score.

The pitch of ecstasy tenor Jonas Kaufmann achieves in that music – after opening his big aria with a swell on the word “Gott” that goes from the inaudible to full howl – is in an instant (or an eternity, if you prefer) balanced by the extraordinary breadth and slowness of the orchestral chords at the end of the passage. It’s dizzying, elemental and so deft you almost miss it.

So don’t.▼

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Theatre >>

July 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 25

That’s so Amish!

by Richard Dodds

T

he siblings Sedaris, David and Amy, possess views of society that share off-kilter dimensions that can sometimes overlap and at other times spin off in different directions.

David Sedaris is best known for his essays and short stories that look at everyday experiences through a lens that magnifies life’s little inanities.

Amy Sedaris is best known as a comic actress, as well as a writer, who finds a more slapstick route to exploring an absurd world.

You can see both their imprints on The Book of Liz, a comedy they wrote together a decade ago that is now being revived by Custom Made Theatre Company. Part of the symbiosis that surely assisted the original New York production – Amy Sedaris bringing her innately comical physical presence to the custom-built title character – obviously cannot be repeated in this local production. But Marie O’Donnell, as a renegade from an Amish-like cult, brings an unflagging cheer to the role that wins over the audience with warmth if not abundant mirth.

In fact, The Book of Liz is far less zany, wacky, madcap or whatever synonym you prefer than what you might expect from the Sedaris team. But wait, doesn’t Liz find her humanity while dressed as Mr. Peanut? Isn’t she given refuge by a Ukrainian couple with cockney accents who used to be professional cat-declawers? Doesn’t the sect’s annual Chastity Parade have a float dedicated to the dangers of casual glancing? And isn’t the secret ingredient in Sister Elizabeth’s famous cheeseballs her own beads of sweat that drop into the batter?

Zany, wacky, and madcap elements are certainly in attendance, but the Sedaris team maintains a sedate view of such anomalies.

That is also the tone that director Gabriel A. Ross takes in this fewfrills production that is more often than not awash in a uniformly and atmosphere-sapping bright light.

The lighting limitations – blackouts

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Out There From page 24

world would make us run for the border. But these aviatrixes were all Valhalla-bound, so that was OK. The list of Ring-derivative artwork includes Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Apocalypse Now, and half of modern music. In the press room, the arts editor for a big Chicago paper apprised us of another Ring legacy. She was in town to catch the Ring while with a Vertigo-themed tour group, visiting all its SF locations, such as Carlota’s portrait at the Legion of Honor. She told us that the film’s composer, Bernard Hermann, based his score largely on the music for the Ring. You live, you learn.

Poor Brünnhilde had to spend an eternity asleep on a rock pillow on a set based on a Presidio battery, from the end of Walküre until Siegfried, Act III, and believe us, that’s an eon. Siegfried is a long sitz, but worth it. Starts off Slackers, gets real Fisher King, then goes Transformers in a big way.

At the top of Götterdämmerung, the three Norn sisters recapitulate the whole Story Thus Far, which takes forever. Later, so does Siegfried. Then everyone is horrible and gruesome to each other until ecological devastation is complete. How prescient of the 21st century!

Message in a bottle Producer Marc Huestis has given

Jay Yamada

Marie O’Donnell plays a member of an Amish-like cult who decides to break loose in David and Amy Sedaris’ The Book of Liz at Custom Made Theatre.

that are casual rather than crisp – can also squander energy in the multi-scene play.

But getting away from the zany et cetera ingredients, there are also passages of subtle skewering of human hubris. As the head of a branch of the Squeamish order, the Rev. Tollhouse (a twinkly Stephen Pawley) offers a prayer to God filled with compliments that reflect back more on the prayer-giver than the creator himself. Alcoholic waiters at an Amish-theme restaurant and homosexuals who are the scourges of yard sales figure into the world according to the Sedarises. Allison Page and Tavis Kammet show their versatility as a variety of characters who populate this world.

The Book of Liz was a big hit for

us a sneak peek at the 19-ft.-tall bottle constructed for the Barbara Eden shindig at the Castro Theatre on this coming Sunday (see cover story, girl).

Yikes, we haven’t seen an erectile this big at the Castro since the Gay Video Awards! And the guy Jeremy Weld next to it ain’t bad, either – and haven’t we seen him in those gay video-type movies under another nom de plume? We’re told this bottle was whipped up by a ex-member of the legendary Angels of Light/Cockettes by the name of Phillip Ruise.

Cock on!

Frameline follow-up: Winning!

Frameline 35 has announced the winners of its Juried Awards. Here they are. Frameline35 Outstanding Documentary Feature: Wish Me Away directors Bobbie Birleffi & Beverly Kopf. Honorable Mention for Documentary Feature: Hit So Hard director P. David Ebersole.

Frameline35 Outstanding First Feature: The Evening Dress director Myriam Aziza. Honorable Mention for the First Feature: Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same director Madeleine Olnek. Audience Awards: Frameline35 AT&T Audience Award, Best Documentary: Gen Silent director Stu Maddux. Frameline35 AT&T Audience Award, Best Feature: Tomboy director Céline Sciamma.

Frameline35 AT&T Audience Award, Best Short: BaldGuy (Skalla Mann) director Maria Block.

Congratulations to them all!▼

Custom Made several years ago, but not having seen it, I cannot attest to how this new production stacks up.

But with some sharpening of scenes, and maybe a few technical tweaks, this Liz might be just the ticket for a summer tiptoe through the Sedaris cutups.▼ The Book of Liz will run at the Gough Street Playhouse through Aug. 21. Tickets are $28-$32. Call (510) 207-5774 or go to www.custommade.org.

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<< Music

26 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 7-13, 2011

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Got you covered

by Gregg Shapiro

W

www.ebar.com

ith each subsequent Glee soundtrack, including the newest installment Glee: The Music, Volume 5 (Columbia), the members of the New Directions glee club sound as if they’re more interested in singing solos or duets than performing as a chorus. As has been the case in the past, it’s an inspired mash-up/medley such as a “Thriller/“Heads Will Roll” (originally performed by Michael Jackson and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) pairing that stands above the other selections, including two by Justin Bieber (really?). But when actressturned-singer Gwyneth Paltrow, featured on three (!) songs, including covers of Stevie Nicks’ Fleetwood Mac masterpiece “Landslide” and Prince’s “Kiss,” is the star attraction here, then it might be time to re-evaluate.

CDs featuring choral groups performing pop tunes are nothing new.

From the unexpected success of The Langley Schools Music Project disc to the Young @ Heart Chorus to the a cappella groups heard on Ben Folds’ University A Cappella album, there is something fascinating about hearing all those voices singing well-known rock numbers in unison. The self-titled Atco album by Scala and Kolacny Brothers fits in well. Under the guidance of Kolacny brothers Stijn and Steven, Belgian choir Scala transforms songs by Metallica (“Nothing Else Matters”), Oasis (“Champagne Supernova”), U2 (“With or Without You”), Foo Fighters (“Everlong”), Radiohead (“Creep”) and Kings of Leon (“Use Somebody”) into pleasant choral pieces.

Various-artists movie soundtracks have often been the place to find interesting cover versions of popular songs. Sucker Punch: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (WaterTower) is no exception. The music accompanying the latest from Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) consists of remakes performed by cast members, including Emily Browning (Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” the Smiths’ “Asleep,” the Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind” (with Yoav) and Carla Gugino and Oscar Isaac (Roxy Music’s “Love Is the Drug”), as well as the return of Skunk Anansie (featuring out lead singer Skin) remaking Iggy Pop’s “Search and Destroy” and teaming up with Björk for the Sucker Punch Remix of “Army of Me.” Easily the most legitimate rock musical to hit the stage since Hedwig

and the Angry Inch, American Idiot is based on the award-winning Green Day opus of the same name, and enhanced by songs from the band’s 21st Century Breakdown follow-up.

Green Day’s songs make the transition well, as you can hear on American Idiot: The Original Broadway Cast Recording (Reprise), thanks to a talented cast, including John Gallagher, Jr., Stark Sands, Michael Esper, Mary Faber, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Tony Vincent and Christina Sajous. They strike a balance between the show’s rock roots and theatricality of Broadway.

Don’t expect to hear anything from American Idiot on On Broadway (Masterworks Broadway) by Aussie tenor David Campbell. With the exception of the world premiere recording of “Goodbye” from Catch Me If You Can by Marc Shaiman and

Scott Wittman (of Hairspray fame), Campbell plays it very safe. He does what he can to leave his mark on easily recognizable selections from The Pajama Game (“Hey There”), Company (“Being Alive”), Les Miserables (“Bring Him Home”), Carousel (“You’ll Never Walk Alone”) and Stop the World – I Want To Get Off (“What Kind of Fool Am I?”).

From the sound of things, 30 Rock star and Broadway diva Jane Krakowski wanted to have more fun with the material she selected for her live recording The Laziest Gal in Town (DRG). Recorded before an enthusiastic audience, Krakowski has her way with songs by Cole Porter (title track), Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer and Marve Fisher (“I’m OldFashioned/ Old-Fashioned Girl” medley), Jule Styne (“Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”) and Irving Berlin (“Let’s Face the Music and Dance”).

Cheek to Cheek (DuckHole) by Barbara Cook & Michael Feinstein was recorded live at Feinstein’s at Loews Regency in New York. Cook and Feinstein touch on Porter, Berlin and Mercer. There are also pleasant surprises including the Feinstein original “The World Keeps Changing,” as well as the contemporary cabaret tune “Ever After” by Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich.▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 27

<< TV

28 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 7-13, 2011

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Dog days of summer on the Lavender Tube

by Victoria A. Brownworth

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lame it on TV. It can bring out the worst in people. Summer being the season of reality TV – or at least, there’s a lot more than usual – more people are acting out on the tube, including people you wouldn’t expect.

Like MSNBC political analyst Mark Halperin, who was suspended June 30 mere hours (and a phone call from White House Press Secretary Jay Carney) after he said President Obama had acted like “a bit of a dick” during Obama’s press conference.

To be fair, Halperin had asked Morning Joe talk show host Joe Scarborough if the show was on seven-second delay and Scarborough had said yes, before Halperin uttered the name of our last vice president. (And really, isn’t it possible he meant to refer to Dick Cheney, or Dick Armey, Dick Lugar or any other Republican Dick?) But there was no delay, and it went out over the air, and Carney was on the phone demanding an apology but not, he alleges, Halperin’s suspension.

Carney said Halperin’s words were disrespectful of any president,

and we would agree, even if we also agree with Halperin’s words and think this incident falls directly under the “you thought it, I said it” rubric.

But since MSNBC, the so-called liberal network, has been having a rough time lately, what with Ed Schultz calling conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham a “right-wing slut,” the Powers That Be couldn’t very well just let Halperin coast after Carney made the call.

Halperin offered a “profound” apology to the President and the nation, and like Schultz, looked like he would have given himself a time out even if it weren’t mandated.

Now before we move on to yet another MSNBC pundit, Rachel Maddow, the token lesbian of political talk, we would proffer this about the Halperin debacle: If you don’t want people to think you are “a bit of a dick” or call you out on being “a bit of a dick,” then maybe you should check yourself behaving like “a bit of a dick.” Didn’t we all say that during the previous administration, in which someone was actually called Dick, and rightly so?

We are getting just a tiny bit

MSNBC

Brooke Anderson was a little taken aback and noted, “Wow, Ann, tell us how you really feel.”

Coulter also lit into Sarah Palin, saying, “She should stick to Twitter, something she’s actually good at.” Hmmm. When was Coulter governor of anything, or the first woman VP candidate for the Republican Party? Or a philanthropist who helped save the lives of people with AIDS or children injured by landmines? Or a princess in something other than the video inside her head? Aren’t her 15 minutes up yet? And weren’t her 15 minutes actually taken over by Palin (no wonder Coulter’s bitter), who isn’t afraid to dress her age, and whose books actually sell?

MSNBC political analyst Mark Halperin: was he a bit of a dick?

Face down tired of Obama’s pride in his own homophobia. We would like all those Obamapologists out there to envision this: A white president with pending racial civil rights legislation before him repeatedly being asked about it and repeatedly saying he’s still “evolving” on the issue. What would we call that president? You betcha we would.

Time to move out of the primordial ooze and get up on dry land, Mr. President. Because until that happens, those of us with a sense of self-worth will be referring to you as either the Homophobein-Chief and/or “a bit of a dick,” and you will not get our votes in 2012 no matter who is running against you, because no matter who is running against you, that person will have exactly the same stance you currently hold on the issue of marriage equality.

And while you’re at it, Mr. President, certify the freaking DADT repeal, because in the News You’re Not Seeing, dear readers, on the very day that marriage equality was becoming law in New York State a few hours after the Homophobein-Chief was chuckling over yet another of his evolution comments, discharge papers were being signed for more queer servicemembers. So let’s all stop pretending that DADT is over. It’s just out of the news. But the reality for queer servicemembers is same as it ever was: Shut up and sit down.

And speaking of News You’re Not Seeing, since the wars and anything related only get attention on the tube when it’s some patriotic holiday, it is also now a year and two months since Bradley Manning, queer soldier and whistle blower, has been held without trial in circumstances Amnesty International has called

torture. Over a year. Of torture. For a gay soldier. Our gay soldier.

When Maddow called Obama out on her show the day after his big hilarity over not being for marriage equality even as he was taking queer money for his re-election campaign in New York, she made it clear she has finally poured the Kool-Aid down the drain, at least with regard to Obama on marriage equality.

Immediately, the Schadenfreude hit the fan. Maddow has been a premiere Obamapologist, but being on the distaff end of his bad politics finally got to her, and she blew up.

(Check it out at MSNBC.com.)

Her fans, however, their glasses still brimming, came after her with the same lines she had previously been feeding her audience: that Obama had a plan, and that he needed time, and all the usual excuses people make for someone who is behaving really badly, but you still want to be able to like them, even as they fling euphemistic feces at you.

Speaking of crap and pundits whose day is done, who brought Ann Coulter back to life, and why didn’t they give her a makeover when they did? The former Fox News and Politically Incorrect darling is doing the TV tour again, replete with her “What do you mean I don’t look like a teenager?” long, straight, bleach-blonde hair and black mini-dress. Or what our mother would have referred to as the “mutton-dressed-as-lamb” look.

Coulter, a right-wing slut – or should we say, panderer – before Ingraham could spell thong, is touting her latest factless book about how the “liberals” are dangerous to America. (Memo to “liberal” comedian/pundit Jon Stewart: Please take on Coulter and do to her what you did so fabulously to Chris Wallace and Herman Cain.)

Coulter’s new book targets “the liberal mob.” It’s called Demonic, and she sure looked it when we saw her on, of all things, The Insider, where she was trashing the late Princess Diana, who is still a member of the liberal mob, apparently, even after death. Like most queers, we had great love for Diana because, you know, she did a lot of good things, like run AIDS charity events and visit people with AIDS in hospitals and take her then-very small sons with her. So we’re not inclined to listen to trash talk about her from the likes of the Coultergeist.

Coulter was asked what she thought of a magazine cover with Diana, who would have turned 50 on July 1, aged to look 50 (unlike Coulter herself, who actually is 50) beside Kate Middleton. Coulter, an anorexic narcissist, called “Lady” Diana an “anorexic, bulimic narcissist,” said “Kate Middleton is a really nice girl” and the cover was a travesty because there was no comparison between the two women. The Insider’s bubbly

Lindsay Lohan didn’t waste any time getting herself plastered all over the tabloids the nanosecond her ankle monitor came off a mere three days before she turned 25.

The same day she got sprung, David Letterman’s Top 10 List was the Top 10 Things Lindsay Lohan Will Be Doing This Summer. On the list: “Get drunk and steal some crap.”

Lohan accomplished the first part immediately. Shouldn’t her thuggish lesbian girlfriend Sam Ronson, whom she’s back with, try and keep her off the sauce since that’s what will inevitably send Lohan back to jail? Isn’t there anyone who cares enough about this woman to keep her out of the news and her face off the sidewalk?

Being a young, drunk and disorderly lesbian in Hollywood is not an easy path. Maybe someone should drop some Dan Savage videos on her doorstep, or at the very least take her to a 12-step meeting. We can’t have you as a role model, dear, if you can’t stay sober long enough to be one.

Speaking of role models, do we really have to watch another season of The Real L Word, or as we call it, Lesbians We Wish We Never Knew Existed, in which the lesbian zombie apocalypse takes over Los Angeles at the well-manicured hands of the cutesy Kacy, Romi and bunch of other lezzies who lunch? We’d so like Snooki to visit and start a brawl.

We have yet to figure out what this dreck is doing on a premium cable channel. But maybe Showtime knows something we don’t. Like where these Real Housedykes came from, since even for LA they seem extreme. What was Ilene Chaiken thinking? At least The L Word was fiction – and had Papi.

Speaking of dykes and women not afraid to be 50something, Ellen has a new series of Cover Girl ads out. We just felt like saying that because we heart Ellen, she looks great, she doesn’t say mean stuff about dead people who did nice things for queers, and we get to see her on TV all the time, which is very good for those of us telling kids that It Gets Better because look – there’s Ellen, a dapper dyke in a make-up ad!

Speaking of things getting better and queers on TV, if you are not watching the new season of True Blood, which began last week, what is wrong with you? There is no better drama on the tube this summer. Not. One. And we would add for all those kids out there who can’t make Lindsay Lohan their role model: What about Alan Ball, the show’s creator? What about Sam, who is shifting into yet more shapes this season? What about Lafayette, who is many things to many people and vampires? Gay, maybe gay and toujours gai. We love this show.

(HBO, Sundays.)

We also are really liking but not See page 37 >>

Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 29

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

30 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 7-13, 2011

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Assisted Living, the Musical @ Imperial Palace Rick Compton and Betsy Bennett’s witty musical about senior lives and the joys and woes of aging; Dim Sum banquet with each show. $79.59-$99.50. Sat 12pm. Sun 12 & 5pm.

Thru July 31. 818 Washington st. (888) 8852844. www.assistedlivingthemusical.com

Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi

Fri 8

O&A

by Jim Provenzano

Queercore Bands @ El Rio This week, music by, for and about gays fills our ears, hearts and calendar. Limp Wrist, Brilliant Colors and LA-based Drapetomania play their fast-paced rockin’ post-punk totally gay thrash-tastic music. Bring your earplugs, or let your eardrums bleed. $7. 9pm. 3158 Mission St. 522-3737. www.elriosf.com

Fri 8 >> BAN6 @ Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Enjoy another big blowout party at the opening of Bay Area Now 6, a new exhibit of local artists in diverse media, with drinks, DJ Oooo, and synth-pop quartet Dominant Legs. $12-$15 includes museum admission. 8pm-12am. 701 Mission St. www.ybca.org

Billy Elliot @ Orpheum Theatre Elton John and Lee Hall’s hit Broadway musical adaptation of the wonderful film about a boy who takes up dance lessons; starring Tony Award winner Faith Prince. $35- Tue-Sat 8pm. Sat, Sun & some Wed 2pm. some Sun 7:30pm. Thru Sept. 17.

1192 Market St. at 8th. (888) SHN 1799. www.shnsf.com

Cultural Encounters @ de Young Museum Special evening event with museum access, to see Masterpieces from the Museé National Picasso, Paris, a new exhibit of classic early modern works by the Spanish master painter; with live show by Orchestra Nostalgico. Free/$12. 5pm-8:45.

50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. 750-3600. www.famsf.org

Front Line Theatre @ CounterPulse Dance theatre ensemble performs Rare Earth, a work about a scorched earth future and some unusual discoveries. $15$20. 8pm. Thru July 10. 1310 Mission St. (800) 838-3006. www.counterpulse.org

Frozen Film Fest @ Roxie Theatre Documentaries and comic shorts about the earth and environment, including surfing flicks and animated shorts. $7-$10. Also July 9. 2117 16th St. at Valencia www. roxie.com

Geezer @ The Marsh Veteran clown and actor Geoff Hoyle’s witty solo show about his young life in England and his ruminations on aging. $25-$50. Wed & Thu, 8pm. Sat & Sun 5pm.

Thru July 10 (returns mid-August). 1062 Valencia St. at 22nd. (800) 838-5750. www.themarsh.org

Macbeth @ Forest Meadows Ampitheatre Marin Shakespeare Company performs “the Scottish play.” Pay-what-you-can previews; July 15 opening night is also a full moon! Fri-Sun 8pm. In repertory thru Aug. 14. $20-$75 (season tix). 1475 Acacia Ave., Dominican Universaty, San Rafael. www.marinshakespeare.org

Midnites for Maniacs @ Castro Theatre Enjoy two days and nights of retro classics from the summer of 1984: The Last Starfighter (7:30) Gremlins (9:45) and The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai (12am).

July 9, Cloak & Dagger (23:30), The Karate Kid (4:45), Red Dawn (7:15), The Pope of Greenwich Village (9:45) and Streets of Fire (12am). $12. 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

Marga Gomez @ The Marsh Our fave lesbi-Latina comic tells of her childhood years vs. today, with kids taking over, in Not Getting Any Younger, a Workshop. $15-$50. Thursdays 8pm, Saturdays 8:30pm, Sundays 7pm. Thru July 24. 1062 Valencia St. at 21st. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

OMFG! @ ODC Theater Christopher Winslow and Gavin Geoffrey Dillard’s “Internet Dating Musical” about people facing midlife crises who reinvent themselves online. $15-$18. Fri & Sat 8pm.

Sun 2pm. Thru July 17. 3153 17th St. www.odctheater.org

The Pride @ New Conservatory Theatre West Coast premiere of Alexia Kaye Campbell’s innovative play about two men and a woman caught in a complex love triangle. $24-$40. Wed-Sat 8pm, Sun 2pm thru July 10. 25 Van Ness Ave., lower level.

861-8972. www.nctcsf.org

The Real Americans @ The Marsh Dan Hoyle’s moving and funny solo show, with multiple characters based on Midwesterners on the right and Coasters on the left, asks how a politically divided America can survive. $25-$35. Fri 8pm, Sat 8:30pm. Thru July 24. 1062 Valencia St. at 22nd. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Salty Towers @ Exit Theatre Thunderbird Theatre Company’s madcap farce about Poseiden’s attempt to host an undersea Olympics to bring business to his failing hotel. $15-$25. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 3pm. Thru July 23. 156 Eddy St. 289-6766. www.thunderbirdtheatre.com

Stephen Honicki @ Magnet Opening reception for the photographer’s exhibit of photos with text documenting a metaphoric encounter between men. 8pm. thru July. 4122 18th St. at Castro. www.stevehphotography.com www.magnetsf.org

Tales of the City @ A.C.T. American Conservatory Theatre’s funny and sweet world premiere musical adaptation of Armistead Maupin’s first novels in his popular series, with book by Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q ) and music/lyrics by Jake Shears and John Garden ( Scissor Sisters (ASLinterpeted July 23). Extended thru July 31.

Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat & Sun 2pm. 415 Geary St. 749-2228. www.act-sf.org

A Thin Line @ Visual Aid Works by Daniel Goldstein, David King, David Wojnarowicz and Philip Zimmerman.

Thru Aug 31. 57 Post St. 777-8242. www.visualaid.org

Musical comedy revue, now in its 35th year, with an ever-changing lineup of political and pop culture icons, all in gigantic wigs. $25-$130. Wed, Thu, Fri at 8pm.

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

Community Initiative @ Davies Medical Center Gazebo New monthly meeting for gay men looking to make new friends. 6:30-9pm.

Duboce St. at Castro. (510) 830-8768. www.thecommunityinitiative.org

Country & Western Dance @ Humanist Hall, Oakland Texas Rose queer women and trans/friends dancing, with two-step lessons and open dancing (monthly, 2nd Saturdays) with a buffet. $5-$10. 6:30-11pm. 390 27th St. www.humanisthall.net

Dutch and Flemish Masterworks @ Legion of Honor Famous artists such as Rembrandt, Frans Hals and Hendrick Avercamp are featured in this exhibit of works from the collection of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, who have been called “the most important collectors you’ve never heard of.” Also, Picasso’s Ceramics (thru Oct. 9), Marvelous Menagerie: A Roman Mosaic from Lod, Israel (thru July 24) and a fascinating permanent collection. $7-$11. Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. Thru Oct. 2. 100 34th Ave. at Clement, Lincoln Park. 750-3600. www.famsf.org

Tue 12 Queering the Pitch @ LGBT Center Cellist Justin Dougherty performs a solo concert of works by gay composers Benjamin Britten, Ned Rorem and Robert Muczynski. Free. 7pm. 1800 Market St. www.sfcenter.org

Phyllis Christopher @ Good Vibrations Exhibit of photos by the prolific community documentarian of lesbians. 10am-pm (10pm Fri/Sat). 1620 Polk St. 345-0400. www.goodvibes.com

Teatro Zinzanni @ Pier 29 Joan Baez returns to Teatro in Maestro’s Enchantment, the new show at the theatre-tent-dinner extravaganza, with Ukranian illusionist Yevgeniy Voronin and full cast of talents. $117-$145. Saturday 11:30am “Breve” show $63-$78. Wed-Sat 6pm (Sun 5pm). Thru Oct. 9. Pier 29 at Embarcadero Ave. 438-2668. www.teatrozinzanni.com

Ecosex Manifesto @ Center for Sex & Culture

Dog Adoption @ Marlena’s A Leg Up Rescue brings home-ready dogs of all kinds to this benefit. 1pm-3pm. 488 Hayes St. www.marlenasbarsf.com

Happy Hour @ Energy Talk Radio

Annie Sprinkle and her partner Elizabeth Stephens’ curated group exhibit of ecological erotic art. Thru July 24. 1349 Mission St. at 9th. 902-2071. www.loveartlab.org

Interview show with gay writer Adam Sandel as host. 8pm. www.EnergyTalkRadio.com

Kim Nalley @ The Rrazz Room

New Literary Vanguard @ Brava Theatre

Acclaimed local singer performs her musical tribute to Nina Simone. $35-$37.50.

Wed, Thu, Sat 8pm; Fri & Sun 7pm. Thru July 17. 2-drink min. 21+. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Litquake presents readings by Jesse Ball ( The Curfew ), Adam Levin ( The Instructions ) and Charles Yu ( Third Class Superhero ). $12.50-$15. 7pm. 2781 24th st. 647-2822. www.litquake.org www.brava.org

Metamorphosis @ Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Aurora Theatre Company’s production of Mark Jackson’s absurd and horror-tinged play based on Franz Kafka’s classic book about a salesman’s transformation into a giant insect. $10-$55. Tue 7pm; Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm. Thru July 24. 2081 Addison St. (510) 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org

The Petrified Forest @ Novato Playhouse Local production of Robert E. Sherwood’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1930s drama about down and outs in an Arizona diner, and how an invasion of gangsters change their lives. $15-$24. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 3pm.

Thru July 31. Pacheco Plaza Shopping Center, 484 Ignacio Blvd. Novato. 883-4498. www.novatotheatercompany.org

Fri 8 Miguel Gutierrez @ The Garage Heavens What Have I Done, a solo performance work with guests, is set to soprano opera music, about an artist’s ascension to success. $15. 8pm. Thru July 10. 975 Howard St. www.975howard.com

Sun 10 >> Bali: Art, Ritual, Performance @ Asian Art Museum Expansive exhibit of more than 100 historic art works in exhibits that showcase the practicality of the performing and visual arts in this beautiful culture. Special performances and interactive workshops

Naked Girls Eating @ Center for Sex & Culture Cherry Galette, Carol Queen, Lady Monster, Isis Starr and Ophelia Coeur de Noir read from gastronomic tales of food, feasts and fine dining, with food by Wicked Grounds. $15-$20. 8pm. 1349 Mission St. www.nakedgirlsreading.com

Outside the Lines @ Gallery Route One, Point Reyes Group exhibit of unusual folk and contemporary art. 3pm-5pm. Daily 11am-5pm (closed Tuesdays). Thru Aug. 7. 11101 Highway One. 663-1347. www.galleryrouteone.org

San Francisco Symphony @ Sharon Meadow Free outdoor concert feature conductor Michael Francis, pianist Valentina Listisa, Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, and Beethoven’s Symphony No, 5. 2pm. 320 Bowling Green Drive, Golden Gate Park. www.sfsymphony.org

Seeing Gertrude Stein @ Contemp. Jewish Museum Exhibit of personal artwork, collected work and archival materials showing how the lesbian poet’s life, mostly in Paris, changed over the decades before and after WWII. Free-$10. Thru Sept. 6. 11am-5pm daily (closed Wed), Thu 1pm-8pm. 736 Mission St. 655-7800. www.thecjm.org

Vice Palace @ Hypnodrome Thrillpeddlers brings forth the last Cockettes musical, the saucy 1972 revue of songs and sordid silliness, a very loose Fellini-esque parody of Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death. $30-$35. Fri & Sat 8pm Sun 7pm. 575 10th st. at Bryant/Division.

Thru July 31. www.thrillpeddlers.com

Matt Smith’s comic tale of a man who claims to be the father of six children of his ex-girlfriends. $20-$35. Fri 8pm. Sat 8:30pm. Thru July 23. 2120 Allston Way. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Natasha Muse and sidekick Ryan Cronin welcome other comics at the monthly (2nd Sundays) offbeat talk show format of laughs. $10. 7pm. 855 Bush St. www.natashamuse.com

On-stage interview with the star of the TV show I Dream of Jeannie, highlight reel, Arturo Galster sings, belly dancers, and Eden signs copies of her new autobiography. 6:30pm VIP reception. $25-$45. 8pm.

Special matinee of 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, $6$12.50. 12pm. www.castrotheatre.com

Trevor Allen’s one-man show about the dark side of working as a costumed character at Disneyland, including drugs, sex on rides, and getting kicked in the crotch by kids. $10-$20. Thu-Sun 8pm. Thru July 8.

1834 Euclid Ave., Berkeley. www.impactheatre.com

All My Children @ The Marsh, Berkeley

Comedy Night @ Actors Theatre

I Dream of Barbara Eden @ Castro Theatre

Working for the Mouse @ La Val’s Subterranean

Sat 9 >>

throughout exhibit run. Reg. admission: $7-$17. Reg. hours Tue-Sun 10am-5pm.

Thu til 9pm. Thru Sept. 11. 200 Larkin St. www.asianart.org

SF Hiking Club @ Bass Lake Join LGBT outdoors enthusiasts on a 10mile hike at Point Reyes to Alamere Falls.

Swimming optional. Carpool 8:30am at Safeway sign, Market St. at Dolores. (510) 841-3826. www.sfhiking.com

Thu 14 Cabaret Bastille @ Cell Space Litquake brings Left Bank Bohemia to town, with notable authors reading as historic writers: MC Tara Jepson as Gertude Stein, Alan Black as James Joyce, Alia Volz as Anais Nin, Joshua Mohr (photo) as Henry Miller, and others. Beer, wine, cocktails and absinthe for sale. $13-$15. 8pm-12am. 2050 Bryant St. www.litquake.org

The Steins Collect @ SF MOMA Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian AvanteGarde, an exhibit of pivotal artworks originally collected by lesbian poet Gertrude Stein and her family. 4th floor galleries.

Free -$25. Thru Sept. 6. 11am-5:45pm daily. Closed Wed.; open til 8:45pm Thu. 357-4000. www.sfmoma.org

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Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 31

Quit Smoking Group @ LGBT Center The Last Drag’s helpful LGBT weekly 8-week quit smoking support group returns. Free; registration required. 7pm.

1800 Market St. at Octavia. 339-STOP. www.lastdrag.org

Same-Sex Dancing @ Queer Ballroom Ongoing partner dance lessons and open dancing in a variety of styles; different each night. $15 open dancing to $55 for private lessons. 151 Potrero Ave. at 15th. www.QueerBallroom.com

Thu 14

Our Vast Queer Past @ GLBT History Museum

The Art of Howl @ Cartoon Art Museum Eric Drooker’s fascinating drawings and animation for the film about Allen Ginsberg’s famous poem are exhibited. Enjoy a special reading of the epic poem tonight, with Anna Conda, Supe. Eric Mar, James Tracy, Dean Disaster, Dam Dyke and others.

Proceeds benefit the museum. $5-$100. 7pm. Gen admission Free-$7. Tue-Sun 11am5pm. 655 Mission St. (415) CAR-TOON. www.cartoonart.org

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

395-8595. www.harrydenton.com

Mon 11 >> Barbara Eden @ Books Inc. Star of the TV show I Dream of Jeannie signs copies of her autobiography. 6pm.

2275 Market St. 864-6777. www.booksinc.net

Fundraiser Show @ ODC Theater The renovated theatre bids farewell to its eight-year director Rob Bailis, with performances by Jack Perla, the Mirage Ensemble; Jack Perla and the Music Without Walls Ensemble; Roy Zajac (Santa Rosa Symphony, principal clarinetist); Danny Vaccaro (Broadway performer); Thomas Glenn and Melody Moore (singers from the San Francisco Opera); and actors from OMFG! The Internet Dating Musical. $100$175 (couple). Wine reception 6:30pm.

3153 17th St. www.odctheater.org

Marga’s Funny Mondays @ The Marsh, Berkeley Marga Gomez brings her comic talents and special guests to a weekly cabaret show. $10. 8pm. 2120 Allston Way. (800) 8383006. www.margagomez.com www.themarsh.org

Queer Comedy Night @ El Rio Host Lisa Geduldig welcomes comics David Hawkins, Yayne Abeba and Harmon Leon at a night of gay and lesbian laughs. $7-$20. 8pm. 3158 Mission St. 522-3737. www.koshercomedy.com www.elriosf.com

Suddenly, Last Summer @ Aurora Theatre Aurora Script Club performs a one-night un-staged reading of Tennessee Williams’ 1958 drama. Free. 7:30pm. 2081 Addison St., Berkely. (510) 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org

Moulton, Amy Raymond and others. $15.

7:30pm. Fort Mason Center, Buchanan St. at Marina Blvd. www.linesballet.org

Steven Petrow @ Books Inc. Author of The Complete Gay & Lesbian Manners: The Definitive Guide to LGBT Life discusses his book, which covers everything from dating to weddings, funerals and parenting. 7:30pm. 2275 Market St. 864-6777. www.booksinc.net

What’s Up Doc? @ Red Vic Movie House See the Barbra Streisand & Ryan O’Neal comedy classic, which includes plenty of wacky chases through San Francisco. $7$9. 7:15, 9:20. Also July 13 (add. 2pm).

1727 Haight St. 668-3994. www.redvicmoviehouse.com

Wed 13 >> Basket Contest @ The Edge Back after a five-year hiatus, the naughty bulge contest returns. $10 beer bust, $100 winner prize. Proceeds benefit the AIDS Emergency Fund. 9pm-12am. 4149 18th St. 863-4027. www.edgesf.com

Bill Cunningham: New York @ Castro Theatre Documentary about the famed Manhattan photographer. $10. 7pm. 9pm. 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

Bromance @ Artifact Gallery Unique group exhibit of art celebrating “bromances” between straight, gay and other men by Frank Kozik, Yosiell Lorenzo, Justin Lovato, Jay Howell, Jesse Balmer and Gabe Boscana and Portland friends.

10% of proceeds goes to The Trevor Project. 6pm-9pm. June 26, 2pm-6pm. Thru July 17. 1645 Mission St. 577-1658. www.artifactgallery.net

An Evening With Andy & Jonathan @ Roxie Theater Documentary about comic Jonathan Winters, and a short film with the late comic Andy Kaufman having lunch with pro wrestler Fred Blassie. $7-$10. 2117 16th St. at Valencia www.roxie.com

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

Sun 10

Author and civil rights attorney discusses Same-Sex Marriage and Its Equivalents: Recent Developments and Likely Future Trends. $8-$20. 5:30pm. reception, 6pm. program. 595 Market St. 2nd floor. www.commonwealthclub.org

Billy Goodnick @ Conservatory of Flowers Crimes Against Horticulture: When Bad Taste Meets Power Tools, a funny informative talk, features the gardening expert and TV show host of Garden Wise Guys, with garden photographer-author Saxon Holt. $15. 7pm. 100 JFK Drive, Golden Gate Park. 831-2090. www.conservatoryofflowers.org

Chris Botti, SF Symphony @ Davies Hall Famed jazz trumpet player performs with the symphony. $30-$80. 8pm. Also July 15. 201 Van Ness Ave. 864-6000. www.sfsymphony.org

Kristina Wong @ The Jewish Theatre Comic solo performer tells of her crosscountry quest for ecologically-sound living in Going Green the Wong Way. $12-$15.

8pm. sun 3pm. Thru July 17. 470 Florida St. www.brownpapertickets.com

Not a Genuine Black Man @ The Marsh, Berkeley Brian Copeland’s longrunning autobiographical solo show about racism in San Leandro. $20-$50. 7:30pm. Thru July 14.

(800) 838-3006. www.themarsh.org

Silent Film Festival @ Castro Theatre See an amazing array of rare, classic and astounding silent films by John Ford, F.W. Murneau, early Disney cartoons, others starring Marlene Dietrich, Douglas Fairbanks and Lon Chaney; with live musical accompaniment by various musicians, plus archive panels and talks. $12-$15 single; $175-$200 full pass. Opening night party afterward at McRoskey Mattress Co. Bldg. $25-$30. Various times. Thru July 17. 429 Castro St. www.silentfilm.org

Fashion show with grooming product promoters and cocktails. 6pm VIP Lounge, 9pm fashion show. $40-$100. 301 Battery St. www.stylingthemodernman.com

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

Celebrated local dance company performs a 10-year anniversary concert of works

by Kara Davis, Robert Moses, Charles

Special evening event with museum access, DJ Solomon, cocktails, wine, beer and tasty treats; revolutionary photo booth. Abstract cocktail attire. $55-$85.

8pm-12am. www.artpoint.org Exhibit: Masterpieces from the Museé National Picasso, Paris, a new exhibit of classic early modern works by the Spanish master painter. Free (members)-$25. Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. Wed 9:30am-8:45pm (the Aug). Thru Oct. 9. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. 750-3600. www.famsf.org

Styling the Modern Man @ Bentley Reserve

Funny Tuesdays @ Harvey’s

Lines Ballet @ Cowell Theater

Bastille Day Party, Picasso @ de Young Museum

Michael Stabile hosts a screening of his in-progress documentary about how San Francisco was once a leading area of porn production. More adult films and docs each Thursday thru August. $6-$8.

7:30pm. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. 978-2700. www.ybca.org

Frederick Hertz @ Commonwealth Club

Film of Russian Marinsky Ballet’s performance of the classic ‘village girl finds tragic posthumous love’ stars Natalia Osipova. $13-$15. 12pm & 7:30pm. 835 Market St. www.FathomEvents.com

Thu 14 >>

Smut Capital of America @ YBCA

Tue 12 >>

Giselle in 3D @ Century 9 Cinema

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

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

Sheelah Murphy @ Martuni’s The local chanteuse performs acoustic versions of songs by Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole, Prince, Sting, the Beatles, Queen and more; Jeremy Russo on guitar and Joe Wicht on piano. $7. 7pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market. www.dragatmartunis.com

Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication.

For more bar and nightlife events, go to

www.bartabsf.com

<< Society

32 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 7-13, 2011

▼

It’s a gay, gay world!

by Donna Sachet

D

oes Santa Claus tire of Xmas?

Does Queen Elizabeth get bored with her pageantry? Does this intrepid columnist ever get over the excitement of Pride? No, no, and NO! We started with the ceremonial raising of the Pride flag over City Hall on Wednesday, June 22, gathering in the Mayor’s office and then on his balcony for a brief recognition of the Grand Marshals of the Pride Parade. As we emceed this prestigious event, it was joyous to see so many familiar faces, including Reigning Emperor Frankie and Empress Saybeline, Bevan Dufty, Rafael Mandelman, Jim Haas, Will Whitaker, Marion Abdullah, and Pride’s Brendan Behan and Lisa Williams, not to mention Mayor Ed Lee, President of the Board David Chiu, Supervisors Mark Farrell, Carmen Chu, Jane Kim, Scott Wiener, David Campos, and Malia Cohen, and acting City Administrator Amy Brown. In what other city would the LGBT community attract so much support?

Thursday was the Pride Media Party in the new Velvet Room of the Clift Hotel. If the previous day called for professional decorum, this evening screamed for elegance! Among the crowd were Eddie Shapiro, Audrey Joseph, Richard Sablatura, Lord Martine, Rahn Fudge, Luis Quiroz, Morningstar Vancil, Bill Hemenger, and Adam Sandel, as Celebrity Grand Marshals Olympia Dukakis and Yigit Pura and entertainer Sandra Bernhard delighted all with candid comments and star power. While dressed for the occasion, we headed over to Mark Rhoades and PG&E’s popular Pride Party at the Bentley Reserve, filled to overflowing with

Steven Underhill

Pink masked avengers in the Castro for Pink Saturday.

A-list San Franciscans, including Mark Calvano, Joel Goodrich, Joy Bianchi, Gus & Bahya Murad, Bacca da Silva, Kelly Fabela, Tim Wu, Brandon Miller, Jenny Georges, Karen Caldwell, Todd Barket, Miguel Lopez, Wilkes Bashford, and Carolyne Zinko.

Delicious desserts came from Jennifer Biesty and Tim Nugent of Scala’s Bistro, and money was raised for the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.

The next night was reserved for the 33rd Annual Pride Concert, encompassing the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, Lesbian/Gay Chorus of SF, SF Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, and special guests Golden Gate Men’s Chorus and SF Gay Men’s Chorus Ambassadors. Beyond a glorious evening of musical variety, Trauma Flintstone demonstrated her great versatility as emcee, Alexander Hamilton American Legion Post 448 provided a dignified color guard, and our national heroine Commander Zoe Dunning received special recognition.

We rose bright and early Saturday morning for the 13th Annual Pride Brunch, presented

by Wells Fargo for the first time, honoring the Grand Marshals of the Pride Parade, and benefiting Positive Resource Center. The Hotel Whitcomb ballroom exploded with colorful balloons, gargantuan Pride flags, lively music from Dixieland Dykes +3, generous Stoli vodka and Sailor Jerry rum cocktails and Barefoot bubbly, and over 300 smiling guests, including my cohost Gary Virginia, Walter Leiss, Charlotte Coleman, Peter Fiske, Kent Roger, Steve Adams, Dan Joraanstad & Bob Hermann, Lu Conrad & Jeff Stone, Dave Mohr & Wayne Ross, Mike Proctor & Eric Bernier, Twyman Keene, Mario Torrigino, Kaushik Roy, Stu Smith, Ingu Yun, Joe Seiler, Neil Figurelli, Trish Moran & Dana Miller, celebrity photographer Rick Camargo, and more SF Emperors and Empresses than one finds at some Imperial Coronations! Each Community Grand Marshal shared some personal remarks, Lifetime Achievement Grand Marshal See page 33 >>

Coming up in leather and kink Thu., Jul. 7: Locker Room Thursdays at Kok Bar SF (1225 Folsom). 9 p.m.-close. Free clothes check.

Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Thu., Jul. 7: Underwear Night at The Powerhouse (1347 Folsom). 10 p.m. Wet undie contest and drink specials. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Thu., Jul. 7: Newcomer’s Series Class at the SF Citadel (1227 Mission). 7:30-10:30 p.m. Go to: www. sfcitadel.org.

Fri., Jul. 8: Truck Wash at Truck (1900 Folsom).

10 p.m.-close. Live shower boys and drink specials.

Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Fri., Jul. 8: Michael Brandon presents Edging at The Edge (4149 18th St). 9 p.m.-12 a.m. Sexiest Happy Trail contest, spanking demo, hot go-go dancers, shot specials, and more! Go to: www.edgesf.com.

Fri., Jul. 8: Open Play Party at the SF Citadel. 8 p.m.-1 a.m. $25 plus membership. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Fri., Jul. 8: Cockstar hosted by DJ Gehno Sanchez at Kok Bar SF. 10 p.m.-close. Featuring Pin the Cock on the Star contest at Midnight! Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Sat., Jul. 9: All Beef Saturday Nights at The Lone Star (1354 Harrison). 100% SoMa Beef & Co. 9 p.m.-2 a.m. Go to: www.facebook.com/lonestarsf.

Sat., Jul. 9: Kok Block at Kok Bar SF. 4-9 p.m. $50 pool tournament starts at 6:30 p.m. Go to: www. kokbarsf.com.

Sat., Jul. 9: Open Play Party at the SF Citadel.

8 p.m.-1 a.m. $25 plus membership. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Sun., Jul. 10: Shaft: Beer Bust Benefiting California Community Bootblack 2011 at Kok Bar SF. 5-9 p.m. Come out and support Luna (CA Community Bootblack 2011) and help send her compete at Int’l Community Bootblack 2011. Go to: www.facebook. com/event.php?eid=231030570242159.

Sun., Jul. 10: SF Men’s Spanking Party at The Power Exchange (220 Jones St). This is a male-only event. You must be 18+ with valid ID. 1-6 p.m. Go to: www.voy.com/201188/.

Sun., Jul. 10: Titleholder Beerbust at Renegades Bar (501 W. Taylor, San Jose). 3-6 p.m. Enjoy food, drinks, cigars and Sunday Beerbust. Look it up on Facebook for details.

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

Sun., Jul. 10: PoHo Sundays at The Powerhouse.

DJ Keith, Dollar Drafts all day. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Mon., Jul. 11: Trivia Night with host Casey Ley at Truck. 8-10 p.m. Featuring prizes and ridiculous questions! Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Tue., Jul. 12: Happy Hour Pit Stop hosted by Tod at Kok Bar SF. 6-9 p.m. $1 shot specials on the hour.

Tod loves to bartend in his jock! Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Tue., Jul. 12: Lock and Load: Extreme Tease and Denial through Milking, Forced & Ruined Orgasms and Chastity Training, presented by Minax, at the SF Citadel. 8-10 p.m. $20. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Tue., Jul. 12: Ink & Metal followed by Nasty at The Powerhouse. 9 p.m. Go to: www.powerhousesf.com.

Wed., Jul. 13: Golden Shower Buddies at Blow Buddies. Yellow is the color of the night! This is a male-only club. Doors open 8 p.m.-12 a.m., play til late. Go to: www.blowbuddies.com.

Wed., Jul. 13: Bear Bust Wednesdays at Kok Bar SF. $6 all you can drink Bud Light or Rolling Rock drafts. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Wed., Jul. 13: SoMa’s Men’s Club. Every Wed., the SoMa Clubs (Powerhouse, Truck, Hole in the Wall, Kok Bar SF) have specials for those wearing the Men’s Club dogtags.

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Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 33

DVD>>

European eros

by Ernie Alderete

M

ating Season is as if your favorite Bel Ami pin-ups came to life and performed for you right in your bedroom. Rather than the familiar solo jack-offs, the pinups pair up and get right down to business.

The setting is an old, abandoned, dilapidated building with peeling paint, whole sheets of plaster falling off walls, and beams of natural light cascading in through a window long missing glass and pane. It’s the perfect contrast to the choice, firm bodies, immaculate skin, and fully functioning, not-so-private body parts of these young men in the prime of their sexuality.

One scene has seven guys biking into the open countryside, where they happen upon an old-world, thatch-roofed barn that could double as a set for a Frankenstein or Wolf Man movie. The hay bales form the perfect bed for their multiple-orgasm, high-testosterone extravaganza.

My favorite scene features an open-air outdoor restroom, which looks to me like an old chicken coop, and a flush toilet with an overhead water tank resting against a tree. The gorgeous guy Joey Amis sitting on that commode is excellent! He sits on that toilet as if it were his throne, takes on each of 10 guys who come into that bathroom, and drains each load to lusty completion. I prefer this one-on-one intensity, rather than diluting the chemistry with multiple players at one time. It’s a scorching half-hour that could stand alone without the rest of the feature.

The disjointed, subtitled dialogue doesn’t make much sense to me. It’s as if a non-native English speaker translated the original language as best he could. One guy asks another to “look at my face,” but

<<

the American English translation probably should have been, “Look me in the eyes while you fuck my brains out, daddy.” Yet it makes no difference. You don’t need to understand the lingo – passion crosses all barriers. Arousal is the universal leveler of all obstacles.

All 20 members of the cast appear to be in their 20s, have minimal body hair and virtually no body fat, and are well-hung, clean-cut examples of choice European youth.

The sex is slightly more restrained than in Stateside porn. I would say

it features more kissing and oral sex, and anal intercourse with condoms of course, one-on-one and threeways, but no rimming or anything else even slightly kinky. Despite the translation lag, and the relatively tame cover art, I would rate Mating Season a perfect 10. It’s highly entertaining, immensely arousing, and a title you can play over and over again. Buy this one, you want it in your bag of tricks. Bel Ami Premiere Collection: Mating Season, directed by Marty Stevens, produced

by George Duroy (150 min.)▼

On the Town From page 32

Bishop Yvette Flunder moved us, Celebrity Grand Marshals LaKisha Hoffman and Yigit Pura made us smile with pride, and over $30,000 was raised for PRC. Saturday night, we popped into Patrik Gallineaux’s Diva VIP Party, benefiting Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation, at the End-Up, where Cassandra Cass, Bebe Sweetbriar, Caroline Lund, Xavier Toscano, Gypsy Love, and American Idol competitor LaKisha Jones delivered remarkable performances as cute Stoli boys passed out specialty cocktails. Also attending were Louie Marco, Nazanine Mousavi, Ken Henderson, Milla Sokavitch, Emily Anne Reed, and David Parkcity-Bunny.

Finally, Sunday’s Pride Parade and Celebration enjoyed perfect weather, record-breaking crowds, and a palpable feeling of celebration. If you missed the Parade, it is readily available online at www. sfpridelive.com. If you missed the Main Stage, videos are all over YouTube. If you missed the Celebration, where were you!? From the plaza to the many entertainment stages to City Hall’s Rotunda, this was a day to remember! We wandered from Civic Center over to Juanita More’s infamous Pride Party at the recently refurbished Phoenix Hotel, enjoying great company, splendid performances, and a glimpse at several of the parties going on in individual hotel rooms. Proceeds from this memorable party benefit the Gay Straight Alliance Network. We ended our evening at Fresh at Ruby Skye, dancing to master DJ Manny Lehman and reveling in one of the

Steven Underhill

Pink belles of the ball in the Castro for Pink Saturday.

best Pride Weeks ever.

This Sunday, don’t miss Marc Huestis’ tribute to Barbara Eden, once a Miss San Francisco and widely known as the title character from television’s I Dream of Jeannie,

at the Castro Theatre. The following Sunday is AIDSWalk in Golden Gate Park, continuing to raise millions in the fight against AIDS. If you aren’t walking, support those who are.▼

<< Film

34 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 7-13, 2011

▼

The New York Times’ headquarters in Manhattan.

All the news fit to print

by David Lamble

P

ebar.com

age One: Inside The New York Times, a new documentary from director Andrew Rossi, takes us inside the Gray Lady’s expensive new HQs to explore how this singular American institution is defying the death spiral of the American newspaper industry – or is it? Rossi traces the debate raging within the blogs and the newsroom.

An unlikely star emerges: former drug addict turned irreverent investigative reporter David Carr, whose expletive-undeleted lingo is not exactly fit to print in a family paper. When asked if he’s afraid for his future at the embattled Times, Carr replies, “I’ve been a single parent on welfare, this is nothing.”

As he pursues an investigative piece on the alleged frat-house

atmosphere at a rival chain, he chuckles, “I have a scary voice on the phone, and it definitely scares you to get a call from The New York Times.”

My chat with director Rossi ranged from why the right thinks the Times leans to the left, to why women on the paper’s media desk chose not to appear in the film.

David Lamble: I’ve wondered why the right faults the Times for liberal bias when its sins in the modern era, such as inaccurate reports on weapons of mass destruction, hardly reflect a liberal bias.

Andrew Rossi: The Times has consistently run stories talking about gay marriage in a way that’s clear they support it; and it’s something I support as well, but it’s something that many might view as liberal; that’s a human rights issue that the Times covers as such, not like a culture war issue.

Any regrets?

I wish we had more women in the film; there were 14 journalists on the media desk when I began, two of them were women; I wanted them in the film, I would ask them every couple of weeks; they got so exhausted hearing me ask them to participate. Unfortunately, they didn’t.

The “professional ghost” of disgraced Times reporter Jayson Blair seems to influence your slant on the paper’s commitment to accuracy and earning back reader trust.

One of the taglines that the social action campaign surrounding the film has is, “Consider the source.”

I think that’s relevant on many levels; one of the first things people think about is, “Well, I read things online that I can never be quite sure whether they’re accurate or not.” It’s even relevant to things we read in the Times: The New York Times is not a Bible, not everything there is 100% accurate.

The corrections on Page 2 often exceed the news summary.

And thankfully, those errors are not as stunningly afield as in the Jayson Blair case – or in the Judy Miller case, in the reporting on weapons of mass destruction before Iraq.

It has been written that overturning the Times’ unofficial ban on the word “gay” and extensive coverage of LGBT issues was eased by the death of an important matriarch in the Sulzberger family.

Our sources for the history of the Times were The Trust by Alex Jones and The Kingdom and the Power by Gay Talese. So the things you’re referencing about Iphigenia Sulzberger and her views on gay issues are not something I’ve ever read about. I do know that Adolph Ochs, when he purchased the paper in 1896, part of his distinguishing the paper from others was to be a paper of record, and to really categorize fact, in contrast to the yellow journalism of that era. The family ownership has kept it from “dumbing down,” or becoming a supermarket of sections just to sell ads.

In theatres: Vincent Wants to Sea Tourette’s, anorexia and obsessivecompulsive disorders drive this surprisingly tender German comedy from Ralf Huettner (screenplay by co-star Florian David Fitz). Fitz plays title character Vincent, whose barking drove his late mom to drink, and has him trading insults with his politician dad. Vincent’s commitment to a clinic provides him with oddball new pals: Marie, who refuses to eat, and the too-tidy Alexander. The candid language (Vincent’s frequent outbursts are peppered with the F and C words) and good cast chemistry raise this rambunctious comedy above the average run of caper films involving young folks too sensitive for their own good.▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 35

<< Books

36 • BAY AREA REPORTER • July 7-13, 2011

▼

Far-away places: summer mysteries

by Tavo Amador

Barbara Nadel has written several Istanbul-set mysteries featuring Police Inspector Cetin Ikmen.

In Death by Design (Headline Publishing, $8.99), a young man blows himself up in a factory where illegal immigrants are working under horrendous conditions to manufacture fake brand-name items. Ikmen’s investigation suggests a link to terrorists planning to bomb London’s Underground. Without telling colleagues or family, Ikmen assumes a new identity, is smuggled into Berlin, then to London, and joins the shadowy world of desperate undocumented aliens earning a living any way they can. His mission

i twofold: to expose the is brutal exploitation by the w wealthy of a vulnerable p population, and prevent an a attack on the city. He leaves b behind his alienated wife F Fatima, who cannot forgive h for the death of one of him t their sons, a murderer, drug d dealer, and junkie who was k killed

by Turkish police.

H Handsome Inspector M Mehmet Suleyman, Ikmen’s lo long-time protégé, also u unaware of his colleague’s m mission, is worried. Istanbul, in all its ancient and modern g glory, is superbly evoked, b Nadel takes the reader but in areas unknown to most into to tourists, a world far beyond T Topkapi, the Blue Mosque, th Hippodrome, the Grand the B Bazaar, or the bridge linking E Europe and Asia.

As regularly as the go gondoliers over-charging to tourists for brief rides al along the Grand Canal, D Donna Leon produces a Commissario Guido Br Brunetti mystery set in a decaying Venice. Her la latest, Drawing Conclusions (A (Atlantic Monthly Press, $2 $24), finds Brunetti in investigating the death of a widow in her modest apartment.

Despite some signs of a struggle, the medical examiner rules that she died from a heart attack. Yet Brunetti cannot shake the feeling that more was involved, even if the cause goes back 20 years. As usual, he’s right. His aristocratic, left-wing professor wife Paola is on hand. So are colleagues Inspector Vianello and the brilliant, cryptic, and dazzlingly beautiful Signorina Elettra, who knows how to use modern technology to unearth even the most arcane secrets in an Italy that remains enchanting and frustrating.

All of these will provide readers with welcome escapes, which, after all, is what vacations should do.▼

But even that excess eroticism is shown as another flawed potential “heaven” or “hell.”

Arvin’s descriptions differ from his other work with a mature and rich use of descriptive passages, a nostalgic sensibility that shifts as

the adventurer veers off course, and a colorful contemplation of guilt, shame, sin and redemption. Would that the journey to posthumous nirvana were so colorful. Arvin, who survived near death via brain surgery, may have just given us a preview.▼

A

fter an endless winter, summer has finally arrived, and with it, vacation season. Whether you’re flying to intriguing destinations or sitting poolside, murder mysteries are perfect complements to relaxation.

Historical or contemporary stories in foreign settings may trigger happy memories and suggest future trips.

Frank Tallis’ acclaimed series featuring Vienna psychoanalyst Max Liebermann during the fading years of the Hapsburg Empire captures the excitement of a new profession. In the latest, Vienna Secrets (Random House, $15), two men are found beheaded on church grounds at the opposite ends of the imperial capital. Detective Inspector Oskar Reinhardt is confused. Dr. Lieberman assists him, learning that both victims were virulent anti-Semites. His investigation leads him into a secret urban world involving the Kabbalah and other unusual practices. A fine sense of place and history enriches the wellplotted story.

Fans of the recent British royal wedding will enjoy Rhys Bowen’s A Royal Pain (Berkley Crime, $7.99), featuring Lady Georgina Rannoch, 34th in line to the throne and broke, a victim of the Great Depression.

Her father, the late Duke of Rannoch, left his country and city properties to her half-brother Binky, who, with his humorless wife Fig, is trying to maintain them despite a lack of funds. Georgiana’s mother, a glamorous beauty and former stage star, is descendent from cockneys, but has transformed herself, marrying well and often.

Queen Mary summons Georgie to help in freeing David, HRH the Prince of Wales, from the snare of Mrs. Wallis Warfield Simpson, a woman “but no lady.” She’s asked to

chaperon a minor German princess in hopes that she will tempt David away from the two-time American divorcee. Georgie herself must avoid the Queen’s plans for her marriage to a middle-European prince, Siegfried, who prefers boys.

Things get complicated at a party when the host falls to his death from a terrace. Was it an accident? HRH Prince George and his rumored boyfriend Noel Coward make a brief appearance. Bowen’s wit and knowledge of the English upperclass’ foibles are a delight, providing many laugh-out-loud moments.

London is splendidly evoked.

Ancient Greek cruelties are behind events in the contemporary Assassins

of Athens by Jeffrey Siger (Poisoned Pen Press, $14.95). Inspector Andreas Kaldis is summoned when the sodomized body of a beautiful 21-year-old boy is found in a dumpster behind a gay bar. The dead youth is the son and heir to a rich, social-climbing family with many enemies. As the appealing Kaldis investigates, he learns that nothing is what it seems, and that even the most reputable men don’t hesitate to behave ruthlessly. His search for the truth leads him to the elegant Kolonaki neighborhood and to the seedy environs of Omonia Square, with a brief respite in Mykonos. The chaos and fascination of modern Athens are well portrayed.

Knock-off job

Some enchanted dreaming

by Jim Provenzano Another Enchanted April, Woke Up in a Strange Place, both by Eric Arvin, Dreamspinner Press, $16.99

T

he fiction of author Eric Arvin often guarantees a lighthearted touch, romantic gay intrigue, and at least one affable muscular hunk or two. While Arvin’s novels frequently rely on films and TV as story inspiration, his divergences from the source take on new dimensions.

In one of his two latest works, Arvin maintains that light air, but he goes down a darker and stranger path in another.

If you’ve seen the 1991 film Enchanted April (the adaptation of Elizabeth Von Arnim’s novel about Englishwomen who rent an Italian villa), you know the premise. Friends rent a summer cottage, and surprising romance ensues. What a lark! But instead of setting his story abroad, Arvin sets this villa in Beechwood, a fictional U.S. seaside town not unlike Provincetown, complete with a resident hunky Italian gardener.

That geographic flight of logic is quickly forgotten as the three gay friends, Tony, Jerry and Doug, avoid and eventually confront their various attractions and problems with each other.

Tony’s dealing with a leg injury, soothed by his growing intimacy with Sal the gardener, relieves him of scolding Doug the bodybuilder

that their pal Jerry is desperately in love with him. Indulging in each main character’s self-absorption and denial, Arvin keeps the tone light and the personal relationships mildly catty without going overboard. While not a lot happens early on as the trio settle in, the summer slacking builds up to a Midsummer Night’s Dreamstyle party/orgy, and a few true loves emerge amid the showers, group sex,

again takes his story into an entirely new realm.

Joe is dead. We understand that soon enough, so that’s not a spoiler.

In this phantasmagorical afterlife, his epic journey to revisit his life’s heroes, childhood pals, crushes, romances, and torturers is long but never boring.

Joe is led by an angel of sorts, his guide, through forests and rivers and

“Joe’s phantasmagorial afterlife, his epic journey to revisit his life’s heroes, childhood pals, crushes, romances and torturers is long but never boring.” and mythical, organically-induced inebriation.

Expecting another innocuous comic adventure like some of Arvin’s previous books (the Subsurdity series took Desperate Housewives to an even gayer neighborhood), his latest, Woke Up in a Strange Place, is a departure indeed. While comparisons to the Robin Williams film What Dreams May Come are easy to make, particularly in scenes where the landscape melts like an Impressionist painting, Arvin once

oceans, to meet and hopefully spend eternity or a reincarnation with his one true love; that is, if only he can remember his name and avoid the numerous tortured souls and flying monsters that inhabit this dreamy afterworld.

With nods to The Odyssey and The Lord of the Rings, Woke Up gives the classic hero’s vision quest a gay angle without overdoing it. Well, the frat house full of incredibly muscular, incredibly horny and hung men may be one amusingly overdone scene.

▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

July 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 37

Music>>

Queer dance party

by Gregg Shapiro

Friendz moniker, might take you by surprise. Beginning with “Situation,” a 1960s-pop-influenced number in which Hart spells it out for you, she comes off like a female version of Hunx and his Punx. “Luv Cruizin,” with its “all your records sound the same to me” mantra, is a hypnotic hip-shaker, while “Don’t Make Me Cry” is a new wave tearjerker and reminder of Hart’s ability to wail with the best of them. Kick off your shoes

and dance your ass off to “Something To Believe In,” the electro-fied “Symphony” and the Berlin-esque “Sexual Forestz.”

Led by out frontwoman Maja Ivarsson, The Sounds continue to move in a more dance-oriented direction on Something To Die For (Arnioki/Side One Dummy). “It’s So Easy” has the ring of a tea-dance anthem, perfect propulsion for writhing, sweaty bodies on the dance

floor, as it spills into “Dance with the Devil.” The Sounds’ dance party continues on “Better Off Dead” and “The Best of Me.” As if to not alienate longtime fans, The Sounds still rock out in their fashion on three songs.

On “The Warning,” the second track from Voxbox’s second fulllength disc v.x/b.x (Tonecard Sounds), Nevin S. Hirsch pays tribute to his inspirations. It’s a got a great beat and you can dance to it. “InHuman”

features “26 Human Subjects,” including Zander Mander, Marc Moder and DJ Greg H Haus, sampled and thanked for t their participation.

The best way to describe q queer dance band Xylos’ s style of dance music on their e eponymous 1000x Records d disc is to call it gentle. Not t that dancers won’t potentially find themselves worked up i into a lather, that’s a foregone c conclusion.

But the subtle p pleasure of the disc is the way it ggets your pulse racing without h hitting you over the head with eexcess beats studio trickery.

T There’s something organic ggoing on here, making the urge to move feel like a natural one.

Talk About Body (Iamsound), th the full-length debut disc b

by MEN led by JD Samson (formerly of LeTigre), is an unabashed queer dance party. Like the best of LeTigre, MEN’s songs give you something to think about while you are whipping yourself into a dance-floor frenzy. Just try to resist the discussions that are sure to follow after hearing (and dancing to) “Life’s Half Price,” “Credit Card Babies,” “Take Your Shirt Off,” and the Orange Juice (the band, not the beverage)/Gang of Four tribute “Rip Off.” ▼

and addresses the blurry lines of combat and medicine in an arena that is totally undefined. In one scene, a surgeon has to shoot a snake in the makeshift OR. In another, a micro-organism native to the region (but not to the staff) starts infecting patients. In the most recent episode, a team of women doctors and nurses has to go off-base to treat female patients who cannot be seen by male doctors. All of this while

trying to negotiate who is a friend and who is an enemy. In one scene, the father of a young woman who has been smuggled into the hospital for emergency surgery confronts the female surgeon who tries to explain that she just needed to save his daughter’s life while he talks to her wildly in Pashtun. Then the face of the translator breaks into a smile.

The man is actually very grateful, he thought he would lose his daughter.

There’s some love and lust, of course, just like real life, but CH has also got gritty, real-life war drama going on. Like when a soldier just drops over dead because the percussion injury he received hours earlier didn’t show up as internal bleeding until he was walking dead.

Harrowing. And necessary, since the wars remain news none of us see, or really care to.

Finally, it was with great sadness

(not) that we watched Glenn Beck exit Fox stage (far) right on July 1.

Having barely escaped with his life (or so asserted an angry Coulter) after having been beset by a liberal mob in Bryant Park, Beck managed to hold back the tears as he said that he was leaving Fox with his “soul intact. I will not trade it again.”

Oh. Sometimes the jokes just write themselves. Which is why you just have to stay tuned.▼

A

t the forefront of the gay music scene beginning in the early 1980s, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe (a.k.a. Pet Shop Boys) have helped to define dance music for almost 30 years.

So it’s not all that shocking that the duo (as Tennant and Lowe) would compose a ballet score, as they did for The Most Incredible Thing (EMI/Parlophone). With a stage musical (Closer to Heaven) and a new score for the 1925 silent film Battleship Potemkin already under their belts, a ballet (or something related to dance) would seem to be the next logical step. The orchestrated double-disc set performed by Pet Shop Boys with the Wroclaw Score Orchestra (under the direction of Dominic Wheeler) is an instrumental affair enhanced by a few techno moments. Without having seen the ballet, it’s difficult to say how well the music fit the choreography. But let’s be honest, there’s a choreographer within almost every gay man (and lesbian, for that matter), so feel free to move to the music in whatever way suits you.

If you only know Tami Hart from her early 21st-century Mr. Lady output, then her new disc Social Life (Last Bummer), under the Making

<<

Lavender Tube From page 28

yet in love with ABC’s summer drama Combat Hospital, which is not nearly as sudsy as the promos make it look. This Canadian series is set in, you guessed it, a combat hospital in Kandahar in 2006, in the never-ending war zone of Afghanistan. The show has a superb cast, is unnerving and unsettling,

<<

Barbara Eden From page 21

coveralls, so I could change clothes and play in the sand pile.”

She began singing with local dance bands at age 14 for $10 a night. Years later she headlined in Las Vegas, then returned home to play the Fairmount Venetian Room in the 1970s. “I couldn’t believe that I had once played in the park across the street,” she says. “I followed Peggy Lee into the Fairmount and I couldn’t believe it, since I used to go see her sing there.”

At age 20, Eden set out for Hollywood and lived with an aunt and uncle near Pasadena. She didn’t have one big break so much as a lot of little ones, from guest spots on TV shows to a seven-year contract with Fox and supporting film roles.

But the magical role for which she’s best-known came as a surprise.

“I was a working actress, and I heard they were casting the role,” she says.

“They were testing Miss Greece, Miss Italy, Miss Syria, Miss Israel – all tall, dark women. When my agent told me they wanted to see me, I said, ‘Do they know what I look like?’”

After tea with the show’s creator Sidney Sheldon, Eden got the part.

I Dream of Jeannie was an instant hit, bringing her international fame – and a life-long friendship with her co-star Larry Hagman.

The two have performed on stage together and just returned from a promotional tour in Australia.

The show ran from 1965 to 1970, and created a swirl of controversy – over Eden’s belly-button. “NBC decided they couldn’t show it,” she says. Although she played a magical

Barbara Eden as she appeared in I Dream of Jeannie.

Eden on auditioning for Jeannie: ‘Do they know what I look like?’

genie, “I was living in a house, unmarried, with a man – it was a modesty thing. George Schlatter, who produced Laugh-In, wanted to premiere my navel on his show, but the NBC suits refused.”

This past April, Eden released her memoir, Jeannie Out of the Bottle, in which she recounts the details of two failed marriages (to actor Michael Ansara and to Charles Donald Fegert) and her emotional

the response from fans has been gratifying. “There have been a lot of surprising reactions. A lot of people didn’t know that my son died from drugs – and a lot of other actors have opened up to me about their experiences with drugs.”

Having played an ageless genie, the ageless Eden (she’s 76, but who’s counting?) says she’s looking forward to returning to the city where she grew up. “I’m happy to be home.”▼

breakdown after losing her only son, Matthew Ansara, to drugs.

“I never thought my life was that interesting, or anybody’s business, so it took a long time for me to write it. It was extremely difficult for me emotionally, and reading it aloud over two-and-a-half days while recording the audio book was like re-living it.”

Promoting the book has occupied all of her time since its release, but

I Dream of Barbara Eden, Sun., July 10 at 8 p.m., Castro Theatre, SF, includes an on-stage interview, career highlight reel, Jeannie look-alike contest, special musical guests and autograph book-signing with Barbara Eden.

Tickets: $20-35 at www.ticketfly. com or call (415) 863-0611. Sunday Noon matinee: 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, featuring an appearance by Eden.

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38 • Bay Area Reporter • July 7-13, 2011

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