March 1, 2012 editon of the Bay Area Reporter

Hetch Hetchy plan unveiled

5

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Grindr for Equality

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

59% back marriage equality in CA

by Seth Hemmelgarn

A

Field Poll released this week shows that voter approval of same-sex marriage in California is at 59 percent, the highest level ever recorded during 35 years of polling on the issue in the state, according to the Field Research Corporation.

The poll data, released Wednesday, February 29, show Jane Philomen Cleland that almost three out of five of California’s John Lewis registered voters favor allowing same-sex zcouples to marry and have regular marriage laws apply to them, while 34 percent disapprove. Another 7 percent didn’t express an opinion.

In their report, Field’s Mark DiCamillo and See page 16 >>

EQCA hires interim ED

by Seth Hemmelgarn

E

quality California, the statewide LGBT lobbying group that’s been without an executive director since October, has hired someone to fill the position on an interim basis.

Laurie Hasencamp, 53, started the job Tuesday, February 28. She replaces Roland Palencia, who abruptly left EQCA last fall after only three months Laurie Hasencamp on the job.

“I’ve come out of retirement to help out for about four or five months,” said Hasencamp, who is a straight ally. She said her main goal “would be to run the day-to-day operations of the organization so the staff and board can focus on doing the important programmatic work and strategic planning for the future.”

She also said, “I’ve been a supporter of Equality California for some years. It’s important for California to have an organizaSee page 16 >>

Vol. 42 • No. 09 • March 1-7, 2012

SF LGBT center marks 10th anniversary

by Matthew S. Bajko

A

ngel VanStark boarded a Greyhound bus one Friday last October headed for San Francisco with little more than a dream of a better life.

The 19-year-old southern Californian had had a falling out with his family after disclosing he was gay and headed north to make a fresh start.

“I felt I needed to go somewhere I didn’t know anyone and no one knew me so I could start fresh and rid myself of any possibility of being condemned. I always read in books San Francisco was the place to go,” said VanStark.

En route he used a fellow passenger’s laptop to search for resources for LGBT people in the city and the first thing that popped up was the LGBT Community Center.

“I was looking for a gay shelter to stay in,” recalled VanStark, who spent his first night in town sleeping in Golden Gate Park. “I kind of winged it when I got there.”

That Saturday morning he made his way to the center and learned about Larkin Street Youth Services from the person manning the front desk and the center’s own weekly meal nights for youth on Tuesdays. By early November he had been accepted into one of Larkin’s housing programs.

“I was so blessed to find the LGBT center,”

Rick Gerharter

Angel VanStark regularly attends Youth Meal Night at the LGBT Community Center, as he did Tuesday, February 28.

said VanStark, who now volunteers with its youth program as a way “to repay the city for its kindness.”

Now in its 10th year of operation, the community center sees itself as being a connecting point for the LGBT community in the Bay Area.

“It is a place for people to get information and connect with each other. It is an exciting place for us to sit in the community,” said Rebecca Rolfe, who has been the center’s executive director since 2008 and has worked there for nine years.

See page 15 >>

Academy of Friends ‘reborn’

by Seth Hemmelgarn

T

here may not have been much that was gay about this year’s Oscars but after a rough couple of years, Academy of Friends appears to have rebounded.

The San Francisco-based nonprofit, which is known for its ritzy Academy Awards gala that raises funds for HIV/AIDS organizations, had run into trouble after shortchanging charities that helped it put on the annual event in 2010 and 2011.

But changes made by the board and downsizing of staff, combined with an increase in attendance, seemed to have helped stabilize the event. AOF board Chair Howard Edelman estimated that this year’s party, held Sunday, February 26, would result in at least $50,000 being distributed among this year’s five beneficiaries.

Edelman became board chair in June 2011 and oversaw a scaled down and leaner gala. He noted there had been uncertainty as to whether Academy of Friends would survive.

“It was like Academy of Friends was reborn,” he said in an interview Tuesday, February 28.

“We went from nothing to creating this great event and showing a lot of people that we still exist and we still can do what we need to do.”

This year’s partners are Huckleberry Youth Programs, Maitri, Shanti, Tenderloin Health, and the Women’s HIV Program at UCSF. Edelman said each group would get a check when

Rick Gerharter

The cast of Mamma Mia, now in San Francisco for a limited engagement, performed several numbers for the crowd at the annual Academy of Friends Oscar party.

AOF has its presentation, which he said would be in late April or early May. Edelman estimated that over 1,000 people attended the gala, which was themed “Scandalous” and held at the San Francisco Design Center Galleria.

{ FIRST OF TWO SECTIONS }

There guests mingled and watched the awards on large screens. Aside from veteran actor Christopher Plummer winning best supporting actor for his portrayal as an older man who comes out as gay in the film Beginners, See page 16 >>

<< Community News

2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • March 1-7, 2012

▼

Rich Stadtmiller

Calendar men do it again A

t the Powerhouse on Thursday, February 16, the 13 men of the 2012 Bare Chest Calendar presented a check for $151,687.88 to beneficiaries AIDS Emergency Fund and Positive Resource Center. The funds represent a full year of community fundraising by the all-volunteer team.

Officials at each agency congratulated the men of the 2012 Calendar: Ed Mathews, Michael Rubinstein, Paul Margolis, Brad Harbin, Andy Cross, Seth Watkins, Patrick York, Christopher Humpherys, Stafford Hemmer, Will Swagger,

Robert Weinhold, Philippe Gosselin, and Jay Laude. Now in its 28th year, the Bare Chest Calendar began in 1984 as the Arena Bar Calendar and has grown into one of the city’s largest HIV/AIDS community fundraising projects, raising more than $1 million for AEF and PRC. Contests to select next year’s men are currently under way each Thursday evening at the Powerhouse through March 29. For more information or to consider becoming a 2013 calendar man, go to www.barechest.org.

Police probe death of gay man

by Seth Hemmelgarn

S

an Francisco police are investigating the death of a gay man who was apparently attacked and left to die on a Mission district sidewalk.

Richard Sprague, 47, was found dead in the 100 block of Julian Avenue, between 15th and 16th streets, Sunday, February 19. Police say that he cried out for help but nobody reported finding Sprague until about 7 a.m., hours after the incident appears to have started.

Roland Pouncy, 42, has been arrested in connection with Sprague’s death, but as of Tuesday, February 28, he hadn’t been charged with a homicide.

He pleaded not guilty Friday, February 24 in San Francisco Superior Court to a felony charge of receiving or possessing stolen property.

Dave Nielsen, 59, was Sprague’s partner for almost 20 years. He described Sprague as “fun” and “caring.”

He said that Sprague had left their home near 18th and Dolores streets at about midnight Sunday to buy a pack of cigarettes.

Nielsen said that he fell asleep at about 3 a.m. It was unusual for Sprague not to return home, he said, and when he woke up at approximately 9 a.m., he called friends, several hospitals, and the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s office, but he couldn’t locate Sprague. Finally, he went to the San Francisco Police Department’s Mission Station to file a missing person’s report.

Soon afterward, police came to him and told him that they had found a body, Nielsen said. They then said that they had a person of interest, and they showed Nielsen Sprague’s ATM card, he said.

Nielsen said that he’d never heard of Pouncy before Sprague’s death and he was “1,000 percent sure” that Sprague had never seen Pouncy before Sunday morning.

He said that Sprague was “a wonderful person. Everybody loved him.

He was fun and outgoing, and extremely caring.”

In an interview Wednesday, February 22, San Francisco homicide Inspector John Cagney said that a

Rick Gerharter

An impromptu street memorial for Richard Sprague was set up near the Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist on Julian Street near 15th Street.

person who lives in the area found Sprague and called police around 7 a.m. Sunday.

Cagney said that the official cause of death wasn’t known, but citing an examination performed by medical examiner staff at the scene, he said “preliminary indications” were that it was strangulation.

A medical examiner staffer didn’t provide information to the Bay Area Reporter on how Sprague may have died, and it will likely take months for the office to release its report in the case.

The attack occurred around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, Cagney said. Asked about witnesses, he said that people had seen and heard parts of the incident. People had heard Sprague calling for help, Cagney said, but he declined to provide many more details.

He described the area where Sprague was found as “a tough little block,” and said there’s “a lot of yelling and screaming at night.” Many in the neighborhood have become “desensitized,” Cagney said.

He added that neighbors have been “very cooperative” with police and “seemed like they were very upset” by Sprague’s death.

Asked about people in the neighborhood not coming to Sprague’s aid, Nielsen said somebody should have called police, but “Those people in that neighborhood are so

conditioned to that, to drunks and druggies and street people and so forth,” that he could understand the lack of response.

Further charges uncertain Pouncy was arrested late Sunday morning. Cagney, who didn’t share Pouncy’s name with the B.A.R., said that the arrestee had stolen property from Sprague in his possession.

He wouldn’t say what the item was, but Nielsen said it was Sprague’s ATM card.

He couldn’t say whether Pouncy would be charged with a homicide.

“If the science doesn’t come back the way we hope, we’ll probably have some issues,” Cagney said. He wouldn’t say whether he was referring to DNA evidence. He said police didn’t have information about any other possible suspects.

Cagney said that besides possession of stolen property, Pouncy was also arrested for violating parole. He didn’t know what the previous case had involved.

Deputy Public Defender Stephen Rosen, who’s representing Pouncy, declined to comment for this story.

Stephanie Ong Stillman, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco District Attorney’s office, said Tuesday that there haven’t been any other arrests or charges related to Sprague’s death.

See page 8 >>

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<< Community News

4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • March 1-7, 2012

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Jane Philomen Cleland

Marcus Lovingood and Rose Dawydiak-Rapagnani stood outside San Francisco City Hall February 24 at their first rally to promote their LGBT super PAC for President Barack Obama.

SF residents launch Obama LGBT super PAC

by Matthew S. Bajko

T

wo San Francisco residents have launched an LGBT super PAC with the goal of harnessing the power of social media to help reelect President Barack Obama.

A straight woman and a gay man who work for Silicon Valley companies and tech start-ups formed the political action committee and are calling it the Pride PAC. It is a grassroots twist to the more mainstream super PACs being financed by a handful of wealthy business people backing the Republican candidates. Obama himself recently dropped his objections over the secretive shadow campaign groups to allow his administration officials

and supporters to fund their own super PAC. The Pride PAC is operating separate from the official Obama reelection campaign and Priorities USA, the super PAC founded by former Obama aides.

“I don’t think in American history there has been a super PAC focused on civil rights. It is normally focused on special interests,” said co-founder Rose Dawydiak-Rapagnani, 24, the daughter of retired San Francisco police officers. “As we get closer to the election we want to show how powerful the LGBT community is. We can demonstrate that corporate America doesn’t lead; that is the status quo right now with the super PACs.” See page 16 >>

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

President Barack Obama encouraged a child at a previous White House Easter Egg Roll.

White House, SF group prepare for Easter compiled by Cynthia Laird

W

hile Easter is several weeks away, both the White House and more locally, Tenderloin Tessie’s, are in the midst of planning for holiday events. In the case of Tessie, the nonprofit organization could use help from the community.

First up is the announcement from the White House Visitors office that the lottery to determine participants for this year’s Easter Egg Roll opens today (Thursday, March 1) at 10 a.m. (Eastern). If LGBT families are planning to be in the D.C. area over the holiday, this might be a fun event for the kids. The egg roll, which will be held Monday, April 9, is open to children aged 13 years and younger and their families.

Tickets for the egg roll will be distributed through an online lottery system, allowing guests from across the country to participate in a tra-

dition that dates back to 1878. The lottery closes Monday, March 5 at 10 a.m. (Eastern). Ticketing details are available at www.whitehouse. gov/eastereggroll.

The Easter Egg Roll will feature live music, sports courts, cooking stations, and, of course, Easter egg rolling. Tied in to first lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative to combat childhood obesity, all of the activities will encourage children to lead healthy and active lives.

Closer to home, volunteers with Tenderloin Tessie are planning their Easter dinner event, which will be held Sunday, April 8. Michael Gagne, board president, noted in an email message to supporters that with the closure last year of the Eagle Tavern, the group has lost one of its fundraising venues. He did say that the $4,000 usually made in past years See page 17 >>

▼

Community News >>

March 1-7, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 5

Gay man helms Yosemite dam ballot fight

by Matthew S. Bajko

S

tanding in the verdant Tiltill Valley in Yosemite National Park Mike Marshall surveys the high country meadow in the Sierra and sees what could be.

“This is what Hetch Hetchy Valley used to look like,” said Marshall during a backcountry camping trip last fall.

Marshall is the executive director of Restore Hetch Hetchy, whose goal is to return the valley where San Francisco has stored its drinking water for nearly 100 years back to its natural state.

In an interview this week, Marshall compared the fight over the fate of the reservior, one that was first waged and lost in the early 1900s by the environmentalist John Muir, to the modern day campaign for marriage equality. A gay man, Marshall oversaw the losing battle in 2000 against Proposition 22, the statewide ballot measure that defined marriage as between a man and a woman.

“This particular environmental challenge is really interesting to me in the same way gay marriage was interesting to me over 10 years ago.

The collateral benefit in winning marriage is that it creates a more equal society,” said Marshall. “With the issue here the collateral benefit we would be getting the city of San Francisco is to realize we made a decision 100 years ago that we now understand had negative impacts.

We would now be forward thinking enough to reform the system to accomplish what we need to deliver water and power to our residents and diminish the adverse impacts on our environment.”

On Wednesday, February 29, the nonprofit group submitted a measure with San Francisco elections officials that, if placed on the ballot and passed by voters this fall, would

David Best

O’Shaughnessy Dam on the Tuolumne River in Hetch Hetchy Valley.

force the city’s Public Utilities Commission to drain the Hetch Hetchy reservior in the national park and store the water elsewhere.

According to the measure, a draft of which was shared with journalists Tuesday, it would also require sufficient water resources to increase salmon populations on the lower Tuolumne River, decrease polluted storm water runoff into the San Francisco Bay and allow for the Hetch Hetchy Valley to be returned to the National Park Service and restored as part of Yosemite National Park.

“As a public agency we can’t comment or advocate in any way on a voter initiative,” said SFPUC spokeswoman Alison Kastama.

“At this time we are reviewing it to understand what the initiative is proposing and verify the various facts and make sure we understand them.”

The city would have three years to come up with a plan on how to accomplish the measure’s goals and in 2016 voters would then be asked to adopt a charter amendment that would implement the plan.

“All the studies that have been

Proposal addresses SFPD, FBI work

by Seth Hemmelgarn

T

he San Francisco Board of Supervisors Public Safety Committee today (Thursday, March 1) will discuss a proposal addressing the San Francisco Police Department’s relationship with the FBI. The proposed ordinance, introduced by District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim, is backed by many LGBTs who are concerned about police and federal law enforcement officials investigating gay groups.

The proposal, known as the Safe San Francisco Civil Rights Ordinance, aims to do several things.

Among other provisions, it would amend city code by adding a section to set city policy regarding participation in federal counterterrorism activities, and set parameters for police department participation in the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

The ordinance would also urge the police chief to amend or terminate the current agreement between his agency and the FBI regarding the joint task force, and encourage the Police Commission to direct the police chief to change or kill the agreement.

Concerns are centered on a 2007 memorandum of understanding that the SFPD entered into with the FBI. Documents that accompany Kim’s proposal indicate that agreement, a revision of a 2002 memorandum, could “authorize a variety of intelligence gathering and surveillance activities in circumstances

Rick Gerharter

Supervisor Jane Kim

that are not permitted under California law and San Francisco standards.”

For example, the documents say, FBI guidelines “authorize use of surveillance and informants without suspicion of criminal activity or any factual criminal predicate.”

In an email to the Bay Area Reporter, Eileen Hansen, an out lesbian and community activist, said the “LGBTQ community historically has been the target of intrusive police practices that invaded our privacy and inappropriate intelligence practices historically by the SFPD have targeted LGBTQ activist organizations, among others.”

For example, she said, police spied on unspecified “gay groups” See page 14 >>

done on this have demonstrated that the water system can be reformed and brought up to 21st century standards and San Francisco can once again lead the way on sustainable practices, which it does on many issues but not when it comes to water,” said Marshall.

Backers of the measure have until July 9 to collect 9,702 valid signatures of San Francisco registered voters to place it on the ballot this fall. Marshall said he plans to hire paid signature gatherers with the goal of submitting 14,000 names to city officials for approval.

“It doesn’t impact San Francisco’s water rights. It doesn’t impact water quality,” said Marshall. “It builds up our water supply by potentially increasing our local water resources.”

Opposition Tampering in any way with the Hetch Hetchy system, which not only supplies water to numerous Bay Area cities but also powers San Francisco’s municipal buildings and

transit system, is almost universally opposed by most of the city’s elected leadership and business interests.

In an interview in January with the Bay Area Reporter Mayor Ed Lee doubted city residents would adopt any initiative calling for the replacement of the reservoir.

“I think the people within the boundaries of San Francisco are, in my opinion, quite set on not giving that up. It is too big an asset for the city,” said Lee. This week the business-backed Bay Area Council denounced the ballot measure as an expensive boondoggle.

“This ill-conceived measure would wreak havoc on the Bay Area, degrading water quality for 2.5 million residents and thousands of businesses in San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, and Santa Clara counties, decimating our historic water rights, eliminating a vital source of clean power and dramatically increasing our carbon footprint, at a cost of $10 billion to

ratepayers,” stated Jim Wunderman, the council’s president and CEO. “As we are experiencing one of the driest winters in recent memory, we should be exploring ways to improve our water infrastructure, not tear it down. “ The proposal to restore the Hetch Hetchy Valley has gained backing in recent months outside of the Bay Area. The editorial pages for the major daily newspapers in Sacramento and Los Angeles have called on Congress to hold hearings looking at the unique agreement that San Francisco has to store water in a national park.

It is the only city in the country able to do so, which was allowed due to Congress’ passage of the Raker Act in 1913.

It has also led to some strange bedfellows in the water fight, something the Bay Area Council alluded to in its statement.

“This effort, led by Representative Dan Lungren (R-Sacramento) and Restore Hetch Hetchy, is a dangerous exercise and a bad idea,” stated Wunderman.

In his interview with the B.A.R. Marshall acknowledged that, “Lungren is not a fan of the gay community.” But he added he believes Lungren has gotten behind Restore Hetch Hetchy with the best intentions.

“Allying ourselves with him has not been easy. That said, this is an issue that requires federal intervention,” said Marshall, noting that Lungren has been one of the few elected officials willing to call for federal hearings to look into the issue.

“He cares agreat deal about Yosemite. He met his wife there,” said Marshall. “This is not about poking fun at San Francisco. This was our idea, not his, and he agreed to do it.”▼

<< Open Forum

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • March 1-7, 2012

Volume 42, Number 09 March 1-7, 2012 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 • Erin Blackwell Roger Brigham • Scott Brogan Victoria A. Brownworth • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Chuck Colbert Richard Dodds • David Duran Raymond Flournoy • David Guarino Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell John F. Karr • Lisa Keen • Matthew Kennedy David Lamble • Michael K. Lavers 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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Santorum is in his own world R

ick Santorum, still fighting for the Republican presidential nomination, is a desperate man running from another time and getting tripped up in the process. In fact, Santorum has taken hypocrisy to a new level with his recent mischaracterizations about President Barack Obama’s views on higher education and President John F. Kennedy’s speech on the separation of church and state. Both of these episodes are key to understanding what a Santorum presidency would look like, and why LGBTs in particular should be wary of his candidacy.

Speaking at a Michigan campaign event recently, Santorum said, “President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college.

What a snob.” He added that students would be “taught by some liberal college professor trying to indoctrinate them.” On Sunday’s Meet the Press, Santorum tried to explain his comments.

“Barack Obama is a person of the left,” he said.

“He believes in big government.” But then he went on to say that he, too, wanted “everyone to have the opportunity to go to college or other institution.” So there’s not much difference between Santorum and the president on that issue.

Obama consistently talks about improving lives through higher education, whether it be college, or some other program; he touted green jobs and the necessary training they entail during his State of the Union speech. Santorum himself has an undergraduate degree, a graduate degree, and a law degree. Moderator David Gregory pointed out that the unemployment rate for folks with a college degree is 4 percent, about half the national average, meaning higher education is generally helpful to stay competitive in the job market or improve one’s skills.

Regarding personal faith, however, Santorum is in a league of his own. In 1960, Kennedy, while seeking the presidency, gave a major speech in which he sought to quell Americans’ fears that if elected he would take his orders from the Vati-

can because he was Catholic. In his speech, Kennedy forcefully dispelled any such notion. “I do not speak for my church on public matters and the church doesn’t speak for me,” he said. He also said he believed in the separation of church and state, reinforcing one of this country’s founding principles.

Santorum has a twist on that, too, somehow interpreting Kennedy’s remarks to mean that no person of faith could ever participate in public life or politics. That is not remotely what Kennedy was talking about. Our faith leaders have a long, proud, and important history advancing civil rights, the peace movement, and other social justice causes, as Santorum himself noted. Just last month, LGBT and allied faith leaders led a march from the federal courthouse to San Francisco City Hall after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. Kennedy was saying that he would be an American first, independent of the Vatican and the pope.

Given these views, it was fascinating to watch Santorum’s concession speech in Michigan Tuesday night, when he did a complete reversal and lauded his 93-year-old mother, who earned undergraduate and graduate college degrees and worked all of her life outside the home in the Veterans Administration (a government job if there ever was one). “She was unusual,” Santorum said, in his understated attempt at rebranding his campaign, trying to dig himself out of the rabbit holes of the past week.

We’re not sure whether Santorum actually believes all the crazy things he’s saying. He most definitely would try to impose his morality on the country, whether it is contraception (against it), marriage equality (against it), or a host of other social issues. Santorum idealizes the 1950s, when gays were largely closeted, women generally didn’t work outside the home if they were married and had children, blacks had trouble getting decent jobs, and, of course, the South was segregated. But we have news for Santorum: you can’t go backwards and you can’t continue to be a contrarian on the campaign trail. You’ve got to make sense.▼

LGBTs have a voice in foreign affairs

by Michael Guest

W

hen it comes to the rights of LGBT people abroad, you don’t have to look back very far to see the future.

David Bahati is at it again, reintroducing in Uganda’s parliament legislation that, in extreme cases, would put gay people to death for having same-sex relationships. Bahati’s unamended hate bill already has sailed through a first reading, and although it now has been sent back to committee for further review, volatility in Uganda’s politics underscore that it would be a mistake to assume the bill will remain bottled up.

Uganda is hardly the only place where antigay intolerance and discrimination is on the march. Only last week, Cameroon’s police forces arrested another 10 women, merely on the suspicion that they are lesbians. A newly introduced bill in Liberia would make homosexuality a felony, with prison sentences of up to 10 years. Nigeria’s Senate passed a bill late last year to penalize more severely not only gay relationships, but human rights defenders who work on behalf of gay rights; its lower house appears poised to bring this legislation into law. And in St. Petersburg, Russia, a bill that would sharply circumscribe the freedom of expression for LGBT people has sailed through its third hearing.

Many LGBT rights supporters, in the U.S. and elsewhere, blame homophobic climates abroad on Christian proselytizers such as Scott Lively and Paul Cameron.

Certainly the Pharisaical teachings and dictates of some Christian activists have helped foster anti-LGBT political climates in many areas, including Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean. As a Christian, my own perspective is that ultimately God will judge them for the hatred they’ve introduced into this world. How they are financed, and how they obtain entree to political circles overseas, is nonetheless worth exploring – and thankfully, people like Jeff Sharlet and Kapya Kaoma are doing so with conviction and courage.

But the collision of personal faith and public policy isn’t, of course, just a foreign occurrence.

In our own country, the back-to-the-50s debates we’ve been hearing about contraception,

Rick Gerharter

Former Ambassador Michael Guest

vaginal probes, and forced ultrasounds seem a deep dive into an utterly unrecognizable parallel universe. Planned Parenthood is under renewed attack, as is the right of gay couples to provide families and homes to abandoned children. And it only takes a small sampling of sound bites from the Republican presidential debates to affirm that recent gains in fairness for the American LGBT community are as precarious as they are overdue.

The real problem, here as in Uganda, is political leaders who fail to recognize or stand for fairness and equality in civil life – values at the core of true democratic leadership. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke directly to this point in a landmark December 6 speech on international LGBT rights. In her remarks in Geneva, she said: “Leadership, by definition, means being out in front of your people when it is called for. It means standing up for the dignity of all your citizens and persuading your people to do the same. It also means ensuring that all citizens are treated as equals under your laws. ...”

If distinguishing between personal faith and public policy has been hard in this country, it should come as no surprise that newer democracies often have trouble understanding that

point. But our stumbles at home can’t be allowed to excuse us from confronting the antiLGBT hatred that’s now spewing forth abroad.

The Obama administration clearly understands this point. President Barack Obama recently directed federal foreign affairs agencies to ensure that all USG programs overseas support the fair and equal treatment of LGBT people. He has spoken directly, and publicly, to the problems inherent in Bahati’s Uganda bill. LGBT rights are now covered, with greater consistency and nuance, in our annual human rights reports to the Hill. (Watch for the 2011 version early next month.)

Our ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, has forcefully stood for LGBT rights abroad in UN debates. In public and in private, other U.S. ambassadors have addressed homophobia and transphobia in the context of our human rights policies. And Clinton’s inspirational speech has brought the issue of LGBT human and civil rights squarely into the international diplomatic arena.

The administration, in short, is doing its part to temper the international debate over LGBT rights, and more steps are on the horizon. But we have a role to play, too.

It’s up to us to call out the politicians, at home and abroad, who fail to understand that they are charged with ensuring equality under the law. It’s up to us to educate those outside of our “gay bubbles” as to why they should care when LGBT rights are under attack. We have to insist that the corporations that use our talent, and whose products we buy, anchor fair anti-discrimination policies in every workplace abroad, and train their foreign workers to respect those policies in the workplace. And however we can, we need to offer our support to LGBT organizations and human rights defenders abroad, who work against such adversity.

The year 2012 can be a pivotal one in whether LGBT rights are advanced or eroded, at home and abroad. Our voices and our energy can make a difference.▼ Ambassador (Ret.) Michael Guest, who was the first openly gay Senate-confirmed U.S. ambassador, is senior adviser to the Council for Global Equality. He lives in Sonoma County. For more information, visit www.globalequality.org.

▼

Politics>>

March 1-7, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

Gay man seeks westside SF supervisor seat

by Matthew S. Bajko

A

former journalist who spent 2010 earning a master’s in public administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School is now running to succeed District 7 Supervisor Sean Elsbernd on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Joel Engardio, 39, a gay man who used to write for the SF Weekly and Los Angeles Times, recently won the endorsement of the national Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund.

Engardio said he decided to run for public office because of a lack of common sense at City Hall in terms of decision-making.

“The reason I am running for supervisor is I really believe that San Francisco needs better direction as far as how it innovates and how it uses common sense, which unfortunately has been lacking,” he said. “My goal is to bring more common sense and innovation to City Hall.”

He would be the first out LGBT person elected to the board from the city’s more conservative neighborhoods west of Twin Peaks since the return of district elections in 2000. But Engardio is the first to admit he faces long odds in winning the seat.

“I am the underdog,” Engardio told the Bay Area Reporter during a recent interview.

He is one of five candidates who have already filed papers to succeed Elsbernd, who is barred from seeking a third four-year term due to term limits. Among the contenders is Norman Yee, president of the city’s school board.

Others in the race include Board of Appeals President Michael Garcia and Port Commissioner Francis “FX” Crowley. Businessman Andrew Bley has also filed papers to seek the seat.

While he has yet to endorse a successor, Elsbernd told the B.A.R. this week that he expects to do so.

“Whoever wins this race will be my supervisor, so I will not sit on my hands and not play a role,” he said.

The district stretches from Forest Hills and West Portal southwest toward Ocean Beach and includes the campuses of both City College and San Francisco State University. And while certain pockets four years ago voted overwhelmingly for Proposition 8, the ban against same-sex marriage, other neighborhoods strongly opposed the anti-gay measure.

Elsbernd told the B.A.R. that he doesn’t think sexual orientation will hinder a candidate’s chances in District 7. He strongly refuted some people’s contentions that an LGBT person can’t win in that part of town.

“I think if there are people out there saying an LGBT candidate can’t win in District 7 it is based on pure ignorance and is a stereotype that is not true at all,” he said. “I don’t think sexual orientation is going to impact the race at all.”

Engardio and his partner of nearly five years, Lionel Hsu, live in Golden Gate Heights near the Inner Sunset.

He, too, had heard that District 7 “wasn’t the most gay friendly,” but Engardio said the district’s demographics have been changing.

“There are a lot more gay people and gay couples who live in District 7 than ever before,” he said.

What voters in District 7 are more apt to care about is if a candidate is a native San Franciscan and what ties they have to the district, said Elsbernd.

“If there is a prejudice out there, it is the whole native San Franciscan thing,” said Elsbernd, adding that his constituents also favor fiscal

Jane Philomen Clelandz

District 7 supervisor candidate Joel Engardio

conservatives.

The preference for homegrown candidates is something that Engardio, who grew up in Michigan, is cognizant of and one of the reasons why he started his campaign and fundraising efforts last fall. He had banked $22,000 by the end of 2011, money he is trying to stockpile for the fall campaign.

“I knew that as the underdog I needed to start early and prove to others I am a viable candidate. I feel like I have done that,” said Engardio.

According to his biography on his campaign website, www.engardio. com, Engardio grew up in Saginaw, Michigan and was raised by a single mother and his grandmother.

He graduated from Michigan State University and pursued a career in journalism.

He moved to San Francisco in 1998 and his coverage of Tom Ammiano’s insurgent but ultimately unsuccessful mayoral campaign in 1999 won h i m a local press club award. He later went to work for the ACLU and produced videos on plaintiffs involved in the group’s litigation.

Since returning from Cambridge Engardio has done some consulting work but is now focused fully on his campaign. Last November he went to Houston for a candidate training that the Victory Fund hosted and last month earned the national group’s backing.

“It adds a lot of legitimacy to my campaign,” said Engardio.

He has created an extensive campaign site online and has started posting videos on various issues.

The first two focused on tree maintenance and dogs.

He acknowledges he doesn’t have strong ties to many community groups. Being a journalist also meant that he did not belong to local civic organizations.

“I wasn’t allowed to join these clubs but I have been observing San Francisco from a journalist’s perspective so I am not a stranger to it at all,” he said.

He did join the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club and said he considers himself a moderate politically.

“I am socially quite progressive,” said Engardio. “Where I am moderate is on fiscal responsibility and attention to the budget. I am wanting government to be more efficient and more innovative.”

Right now he is trying to knock on 10,000 doors in the district as he tries to raise his name recognition with voters.

“Voters getting to know me face to face will make all the difference,” he said.

Engardio isn’t the only out supervisor candidate who will be campaigning in the city’s western neighbor-

hoods this year. District 5 Supervisor Christina Olague, a bisexual Latina, represents the Inner Sunset and parts of the UCSF Medical Center campus around Mount Sutro.

They are both watching to see what the final boundaries for supervisor districts will be as a redistricting task force works to meet an early April deadline to produce final maps.

The panel will host a special meeting focused on District 8 at 6 p.m. tonight (Thursday, March 1) at Everett Middle School, 450 Church Street.

Castro merchants set to elect new president A Castro merchant group is set to elect Terry Asten Bennett, whose family has long owned Cliff’s Variety, as its new president this morning (Thursday, March 1).

Asten Bennett is the great-greatgranddaughter of Hilario DeBaca, who opened the general merchandise and hardware store in 1936. She currently works as its general manager.

The Merchants of Upper Market and Castro is expected to vote on a slate of new officers and board members during its March monthly meeting today. Asten Bennett has been a MUMC board member and will succeed Steve Adams, who has been president for several years.

Adams, who works for Sterling Bank and Trust, announced last fall he would step down once his one-year term expired. He will remain on the MUMC board.

Petyr Kane, the owner of clothing stores Citizen and Body who helped bring the recent AIDS quilt display to the LGBT neighborhood, is running to become MUMC’s new vice president. He will succeed Urban Bread owner Tina Roberts.

As president, Asten Bennett said she has no plans to re-address how MUMC handles the rainbow flag flying over the Castro. When the gigantic symbol of LGBT rights is lowered to honor the deceased or temporarily replaced with other LGBT flags has been a flashpoint over the last year.

“The MUMC board as a whole has worked diligently on the flagpole policy over the last year. I have no intention of changing what the board as a whole has agreed to,” she told the B.A.R. Her top priority will be seeing that the Castro is a vibrant business corridor.

“I plan to continue the focus of making the Castro and Upper Market area a vital shopping district that can drive foot-steps to all of our doors. I will assist in anyway possible in ensuring that we can fill vacancies, because I truly believe that empty store fronts are bad for everyone’s business,” she said.

Asten Bennett is married to Richard Bennett Jr. and the couple’s daughter Camille attends the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy in the Castro.▼

<< National News

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • March 1-7, 2012

▼

Out Dallas judge declines to perform marriages

by David-Elijah Nahmod

I’m not going to do it.”

Parker explained that she does pass couples along to other judges so the ceremonies can be completed, and hopes that her actions will teach Texans a lesson about marriage inequality.

Parker, 41, declined an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, saying she was not speaking to the media now. She sent her official statement, which reads in part: “Performing marriage ceremonies is not a duty that I have as the presiding judge of a civil district court. It is a right and privilege invested in me under the Family Code.

I choose not to exercise it, as many other judges do not exercise it. I do not, and would never, impede any person’s right to get married. In fact, when people wander into my courtroom, usually while I’m presiding over other matters, I direct them to the judges in the courthouse who do perform marriage ceremonies. I do this because I believe in the right of people to marry and pursue happiness.”

In 2005, 76 percent of Texas voters approved Proposition 2, which bans not only same-sex marriage but also civil unions. Travis County, which includes the more liberal city of Austin, was the only county in the state where Prop 2 failed to pass. Attempts to overturn Prop 2 through the courts have failed.▼

was found appeared to be outside of an obvious route to buy cigarettes.

Nielsen said the nearest place to buy cigarettes was a gas station about halfway between their home and where Sprague’s body was found.

There were no “obvious indications” that the case was a hate crime, Cagney said.

Sprague, who had psoriatic arthritis and had been struck by a truck in 2008, usually walked with a cane,

Nielsen said, but he hadn’t taken it with him the day he died.

The next hearing in the case is set for Wednesday, March 7 to set a date for a preliminary hearing.

Anyone with information regarding the case may call Cagney directly at (415) 734-3181, call anonymously at (415) 575-4444, or text a tip to 847411 (TIP411). Type “SFPD” and then the tip. The police report number is 120 139 612.▼

D

allas County Judge Tonya Parker, reportedly the first African American lesbian elected official in Texas history, has taken a stand against marriage and will not perform such ceremonies for straight couples until same-sex couples can wed.

As a sitting judge, Parker has the authority to conduct wedding ceremonies, although she has not done so. Parker made the comments at a February 21 meeting of the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas, which was reported by the Dallas Voice.

Parker, a Democrat who was elected in 2010, made it clear that no wedding ceremonies of any kind would be performed in her courtroom.

“I do not perform them because it is not an equal application of the law. Period,” she told the Voice in a follow-up interview.

“I am not going to partially apply the law to one group of people that doesn’t apply to another group of people,” she said at the Stonewall meeting. “And it’s kind of oxymoronic for me to perform ceremonies that can’t be performed for me, so

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Death

From page 2

She said that Pouncy’s in custody on $55,000 bail.

Cagney, who didn’t respond to a request for updates this week, wouldn’t comment specifically last Wednesday on what had precipitated Sprague’s death.

He said that he didn’t think the attack on Sprague was “entirely random,” and “I don’t think he was just walking down the street.”

The place where Sprague’s body

Dallas County Judge Tonya Parker

National News >>

▼ Grindr joins with Courage in marriage equality project

by David Duran

G

rindr, the all-male geosocial app, is branching out. No longer content just to be used by gay and bi men seeking a hook-up, the company has joined forces with the Courage Campaign in a new Grindr for Equality project that will petition the Democratic National Committee to help fund efforts to support marriage equality in various ballot fights this year.

With more than 3 million users, the project hopes to raise awareness for LGBT issues and spark interest among Grindr users, who may not be as politically active.

The Courage Campaign empowers more than 750,000 grassroots and netroots activists to push for progressive change and full equality in California and across the country. As a leading multi-issue advocacy organization, Courage Campaign’s work is supported by thousands of small donations.

“Grindr for Equality is looking to continue our involvement in the political process by tapping into our engaged community in order to update them on GLBT issues on a local, national, and international scale,” said Grinder founder and CEO, Joel Simkhai.

Currently, the Courage Campaign is working to make sure the DNC helps to fight for equal marriage rights on the ballot in 2012. In 2008, the DNC chipped in $25,000 in the unsuccessful effort to defeat Proposition 8, California’s samesex marriage ban.

“It seems like a natural fit for us, since Grindr for Equality used our location-based technology to help overturn Proposition 8 in 2010 and our goal is to continue to raise awareness for GLBT issues and spur action across the globe,” added Simkhai,

Grindr founder and CEO Joel Simkhai

who was referring to the site’s work in getting users to send messages linking to petitions.

Ultimately, a federal judge in August 2010 ruled Prop 8 unconstitutional in a federal lawsuit; an appeals court in early February upheld that decision. The case is now headed to another appeal before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Grindr for Equality plans to use its vast network across the country to mobilize the LGBT community and help raise awareness about the DNC’s extra funds, which they would like to see put toward marriage equality.

Voters in North Carolina and Minnesota will face constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage.

In Washington state, opponents of marriage equality announced plans to file for a ballot referendum on the law signed in February that legalizes same-sex marriage. A similar effort may be launched in Maryland, where a marriage equality bill is expected to be signed this week by Governor Martin O’Malley.

“We plan to utilize our national

reach and mobilize Grindr users to sign a pro-marriage equality petition, which will be delivered to the DNC Chairwoman and Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz,” said Simkhai.

Rick Jacobs, the founder and chair of the Courage Campaign, believes Grindr offers a unique mechanism by which to reach the community and it offers a way to quickly engage them.

“As with most of the American population, most gay people are not politicized. It’s the old Harvey Milkism: if everyone comes out, we win everything,” said Jacobs.

Jacobs believes it is time for the DNC to get more involved, especially since it’s an election year.

“Those of us who want to assure that the president wins re-election want to find every means possible to get out the vote. Having the DNC support these efforts will help us with turnout for the presidential election and make clear that Democrats are fundamentally different than Republicans,” he said.

Although President Barack Obama does not support marriage equality, he did come out against Prop 8 in 2008 and the administration has stopped defending the Defense of Marriage Act in several federal court cases.

Jacobs is a part of the LGBT community who believes that Democrats are generally better for gays than Republicans and that Obama is an incomparably better ally for the LGBT movement versus the other potential Republican candidates.

“It’s time to fund Democratic allies who fund Democrats,” said Jacobs.

Grindr is currently looking for on-the-ground activists all over the world that can send updates on gay rights issues in their respective area.

See page 17 >>

Santorum self-destructs; Romney wins primaries

by Lisa Keen

R

epublican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum’s campaign appears to have begun to self-destruct from the candidate’s increasingly harsh rhetoric and statements on social issues. And Mitt Romney, despite a scandal surrounding a campaign co-chair in Arizona who was outed as gay, rode to victory in Tuesday’s two key Republican primaries – Michigan and Arizona – to resume his previously held position as frontrunner for the Republican nomination.

Romney’s victory speech Tuesday night noted how pundits had begun to count him out following Santorum’s victories in three states earlier in the month. He then turned his attention to President Barack Obama, saying Obama bears the blame for the failed economy because he failed to fix it during his first two years in office when he had a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress. And Romney reiterated some big promises – a 20 percent tax cut for all Americans and the end of the tax on estates.

Jimmy LaSalvia, executive director of the national gay conservative group GOProud, said Romney’s wins were “particularly pivotal given the recent surge by former Senator Rick Santorum.”

“Most Republicans realize Santorum’s decision to use [social] issues as the centerpiece of his campaign is

Associated Press

Mitt Romney and his wife Ann waved to supporters in Michigan Tuesday.

exactly what the Democrats want,” said LaSalvia. “The Democrats want to have an election based on social issues because they can’t defend Obama’s record on jobs and the economy.”

Santorum’s concession speech from Grand Rapids, Michigan, mostly eschewed mention of social issues, focusing instead on economic matters and the president’s health reform law. But he did claim Obama was attempting to “tell you how to exercise your faith.”

In the Michigan primary, which allowed any voter, regardless of party affiliation, to request a ballot

for the Republican primary, Romney took 41 percent of the vote, compared to Santorum’s 38 percent, Ron Paul’s 12 percent, and Newt Gingrich’s 7 percent.

In Arizona, Romney won 48 percent of the vote, compared to Santorum’s 26 percent, Paul’s 16 percent, and Gingrich’s 8 percent.

CNN’s exit polling in Michigan did not ask any questions to discern how many Republican voters were gay or how voters felt about such issues as same-sex marriage. But the exit poll showed that most unmarried voters supported Romney.

See page 16 >>

March 1-7, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 9

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • March 1-7, 2012

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

Read more online at www.ebar.com

March 1-7, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • March 1-7, 2012

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

Read more online at www.ebar.com

March 1-7, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 13

<< The Sports Page

14 • BAY AREA REPORTER • March 1-7, 2012

▼

SF team wins NorCal volleyball tournament

by Roger Brigham

S

an Francisco’s Hyphy topped Pequenos Gigantes of Los Angeles to win the A/AA Mod Division of the 25th annual NorCal Volleyball Classic, hosted February 18-19

by South Bay Volleyball Club in Menlo Park. Thai Iced Tea of San Francisco took the bronze over San Jose’s Namaste.

In the B Division, San Francisco’s Chika Lang! beat COR of San Francisco for the title and San Jose’s Las Hainas finished third over SF’s Balls of Fury. Gazelas of Calmex, Rough Riders of Los Angeles, Black Sheep of Sacramento, and Angry Birds of San Jose took the top four spots in the BB Divison.

Named MVPs in their respective divisions were Saia Reupena of Hyphy, Cesar Enciso of Gazelas, and Phillip Babbock of COR. A total of 52 teams took part in the tournament, which is one of several held throughout the year by members of the North American

Gay Volleyball Association. For information about South Bay Volleyball, visit www.sbvbc.org. For information about NAGVA, visit www. nagva.org.

post from his Twitter page and issued an “apology” that deflected the blame back on those who objected, “Y’all gotta learn to lighten up WHY SO SERIOUS” and “I Apologize ONCE AGAIN for the tweet I sent earlier. Didn’t mean to offend anybody. But I was a lil pissed at some asshole on twitter!”

Now if that doesn’t drip with contrition, I don’t know what does.

When Justin Fontaine of the minor league hockey team Houston Aeros referred in a Twitter comment during the Grammy Awards to the Foo Fighters as the “Foo Faggots,”

he received a two-game suspension from the parent Minnesota Wild.

No word at press time of what punishment if any Butler will receive.

Think these are just tiny and not telling thoughts slipping out through the twitch of idle digits?

Think again: they illustrate an underlying current of macho posturing and belittling of others that run throughout much of elite men’s sports.

Hence the motivational tool chosen recently at Ohio State football under new coach Urban Meyer.

When Jim Tressel was the coach there, the program and school had a reputation for sensitivity and acceptance. But as the Columbus Dispatch reported recently, when the team now perceives a player as loafing in practice, it makes him wear a lavender jersey.

OSU law student Pete Olsen wrote in his brilliant blog Wide Rights, “while being masked as a tool to build a competitive team environment, forcing a player to wear a lavender jersey as punishment is patently homophobic, sexist, misogynistic, etc. It takes a color that is feminine – and regularly associated with either women or the gay community – and assigns it to weakness, lack of commitment, or failure to work hard. It is then used to demean and humiliate, you know, because the color is capable of emasculating even the manliest of men.”

issue is that we don’t really know what investigations are occurring under the MOU, because there is no oversight.”

She said that when it comes to investigations, she and others want the police chief to be able to sign off that there’s reasonable suspicion of criminal or terrorist activity. The ordinance also aims to have the chief report on what he’s signed off on.

Kim said that she’s heard anecdotes, particularly from Muslim, South Asian, and Arab communities, “that this is causing a lot of consternation, and there have been investigations without any reasonable grounds of suspicion” of criminal activity.

The documents that accompany Kim’s proposal say that the “Police Commission and chief have not responded to requests that they explain publicly how officers should handle ... conflicting obligations” related to the 2007 MOU. Police Chief Greg Suhr was sworn in in April 2011, weeks after the SFPD released the previouslyundisclosed 2007 MOU in response to a public records request from the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and Asian Law Caucus. Suhr didn’t respond to an interview request made through SFPD spokesman Officer Albie Esparza.

Gay Supervisor Scott Wiener said the police contact person for the police-FBI issue is Lieutenant Teresa Gracie, an out lesbian who heads the SFPD’s special investigations division. Gracie declined to comment for this story.

Police Commission President Thomas Mazzucco didn’t respond to interview requests. Gay Commissioner Julius Turman declined to comment.

Local FBI spokesman Peter Lee said, “We don’t comment on local legislative matters.”

In an interview, Wiener said that he’d be meeting with the ordinance’s supporters, but “based on what I’ve heard so far, I’m not convinced it’s necessary,” although he’d “keep an open mind.”

Referring to an SFPD general order, he said that the SFPD “already has an operational order in place that limits what police can do” regarding “what’s appropriate or inappropriate” cooperation.

Gay Supervisor David Campos, who didn’t respond to an interview request, and Supervisor John Avalos are co-sponsoring the proposal with Kim. The Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club is one of the groups that has endorsed the proposed ordinance.

Milk Club President Anna Conda, whose real name is Glendon Hyde, said the proposal reflects “the kind of values we would really like to see adopted by the city and county of San Francisco.”

Gay Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), a former supervisor, has also voiced his support.

“It is crucial that we preserve San Francisco’s autonomy and without strong firewalls between local and federal law enforcement efforts, we run the risk of having the role of the

SFPD compromised. ... San Francisco has a long history of safeguarding our fundamental civil rights and liberties, and maintaining our values even under pressure from the federal government,” Ammiano wrote in a February 28 letter to San Francisco supervisors.

In his letter, Ammiano says the 2007 MOU undermines the department general order to which Wiener referred.

Another supporter of Kim’s proposed ordinance is San Francisco’s Arab Resource and Organizing Center.

“I think our fear and part of why we’re organizing around this ordinance is that there’s a lot of secrecy.

This ordinance would help to shed light and bring transparency to investigations that are currently happening,” said Lily Haskell, the center’s program director.

Haskell couldn’t provide specific information on any current probes but said, “There have been substantial community reports of infiltrators at local mosques.” She indicated that it’s not known which agencies the “infiltrators” represent.

The public safety committee meeting is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in Room 250 at City Hall.▼

couldn’t resist. Loved by everyone who met him, Mike will be deeply missed.

He loved his family and friends dearly and we know this will not end with his passing; he will always be with us.

Mike had a knack for talking to people. He would welcome you with a big smile, hearty hello and a compliment, instantly starting up a conversation as if you had known each other for years.

He spent the better part of his life as a bartender, his last position was as lead bartender at the Edge bar, where he quickly developed a loyal following. Many young, and some older,

bartenders have been taught how to be a bartender by Mike so his bartending legacy will live on.

Mike is survived by his father, Curtis McKale, Bisbee, Arizona; brother, Bill McKale, Honolulu, Hawaii; two sons, Bobby McKale, San Francisco, and Michael McKale, West Plains, Missouri; three grandchildren, Elizabeth, Christian, and Michael; partner, Daniel Lopez, San Francisco; and many, many friends.

A celebration of life will be held Sunday, April 1 at 3 p.m. at the Edge, 4149 18th Street in San Francisco.

Rest in peace, our dear friend.

Putting the ‘twit’ in nitwit Note to the NBA, NHL, NFL, et al.: The almost weekly incidences of homophobic slurs on social media, in television and newspaper interviews, and in live game coverage, spewing from the minds and mouths of your 1 percenters, is a pretty good indication that whatever you think you’re doing to curb homophobia in your leagues, it just ain’t working.

The latest (as of press time) to put the third digit of his IQ into question is Houston Texans tackle Rashad Butler, whose digits were twittering to the world his random thoughts as he was watching an NBA game Thursday, February 23.

When he inadvertently referred to Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant as “No. 8” Bryant fans quickly corrected him, noting that Bryant had switched to the No. 24 years back. Snatching defeat from the jaws of inanity, Butler then tweeted, “Like I said, Y’all Faggots knew wat I meant!”

Of course, Butler removed the

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SFPD, FBI

From page 5

during the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco.

Hansen, a former San Francisco Ethics Commissioner, said there have been reforms, “but now that is all being threatened.” Hansen also was an organizer and co-chair of the Coalition Against Surveillance, which was formed in 1993.

In an interview, Kim said, “The

Roger Spinti

Team members played hard in last month’s volleyball tournament.

Olsen also noted the practice violates Title IX, state law, and OSU policy, which states the school will place the well-being of every athlete at the core of every decision and “celebrate a climate of mutual respect and diversity by recognizing each individual’s contribution to the team.”

Rugby official comes out National Rugby League official Matt Cecchin came out to his teammates this month, becoming the first NRL official or player to come out since Ian Roberts in 1995.

“Like a lot of people, I thought to be gay you had to be feminine, you had to go to nightclubs and you had to be in the scene and I was never into that,” Cecchin told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph. “I played sport, I loved rugby league, I liked going to the pub with my mates. It wasn’t until I read Ian’s book (Finding Out) that I started to tick a few boxes.”

Cecchin said he delayed disclosing his sexuality until his son was finished with his scholastic studies.

“I didn’t want to tip his world upside down,” Cecchin said. “As a dad, I would do whatever I could to protect my son. He’s been so good to me about it. It hasn’t made the world of difference to him. I just wanted to do whatever I could to make sure he got through school okay. I think any parent would understand that.”▼

On the web Online content this week includes the Out in the World column and the Bay Area Reporter’s online column, Political Notes. www.ebar.com.

Obituaries >> Michael David McKale April 2, 1961 – February 22, 2012

Michael “Mike” David McKale, who was born April 2, 1961 in Van Nuys, California to Darlene and Curtis McKale, passed away Wednesday, February 22 in San Francisco surrounded by family and friends.

Mike’s warm smile and quick wit made him quite the charmer you

▼

Community News >>

March 1-7, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 15

LGBT Community Center looks to remodel

by Matthew S. Bajko

W

hen supporters of San Francisco’s LGBT Community Center were planning the design of the facility in the late 1990s, the question arose of how to accommodate those people still living in the closet.

The solution was to build a separate entryway to the building at 1800 Market Street from Waller Street, which runs behind it.

But 10 years after the center opened, the backdoor entrance is no longer in use. Now all visitors are required to use the front doors.

“We didn’t experience people who were reluctant to use the front door,” said Rebecca Rolfe, the center’s executive director since 2008.

“When building a building there are lots of theories about how the building is going to be used, but the lived in experience can be different.”

The revised entrance policy is one of the myriad ways in which the original layout for the center no longer meets its current needs. Over the years there have been numerous changes to how the building’s spaces are used, particularly its ground floor space.

“The architecture has been challenging in some ways,” said District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener, who was an early member of the center’s board and helped raise the money to construct it. “I think making changes to improve the functionality of the building is a good thing.”

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For several years a popular cafe operated in the southern end of the lobby, helping to bring some life to the otherwise utilitarian area. The center’s front desk was relocated closer to the front doors to provide it with greater visibility.

And plans have been tossed around over the last two years for changing the center’s large meeting rooms into everything from theater or cabaret spaces to a rooftop restaurant and bar. The plans never advanced past the idea stage, though they have yet to be completely rejected and could resurface at some point.

Since September the center has enlisted the services of a commercial real estate broker to help it market itself to potential commercial tenants. But it is not in any talks with business owners at the moment.

“It is important to find the right tenant,” said Rolfe. “We are still open to bringing in new tenants but we have to make sure they are a good fit.”

What is being seriously proposed this year is a further remodel to the center’s lobby area and the creation of a dedicated space in the building for its youth programs aimed at young people ages 16 to 24.

“We are looking at building youth a dedicated space in the building where we can hold and expand the activities we have for youth,” said Roberto Isaac Ordenana, the center’s director of development.

As part of their 10th anniversary

campaign, the goal of which is to raise $1 million in 2012, center officials are proposing to relocate the building’s third floor cyber center to the ground floor near the elevator banks. The space initially housed the front desk and has been underutilized ever since the last remodel of the area.

Where the cafe used to exist could be closed off and reconfigured into a new meeting room with its own entrance. The rest of the lobby area would be remade to provide more seating and lounge space.

“We want to create more spaces for people to sit, congregate, talk and connect,” said Rolfe.

Another key goal, said Rolfe, is

LGBT center

Rick Gerharter

LGBT Community Center Executive Director Rebecca Rolfe

The new website will also highlight various topics of concern to the LGBT community with the goal of fostering more civic engagement on the issues.

The center received funding from a number of sources, including AT&T, California Pacific Medical Center and the Metta Fund, for the project and partnered with the Academy of Art, whose students over the course of two semesters helped design the new site.

“It will recreate in a virtual way what happens here in the center.

And not just here but throughout the community,” said Rolfe. “It takes what happens in these four walls and makes it more accessible.”

The center is also planning to launch what it is calling Center Circles later this year. The idea is to offer social activities based on certain interests such as food or arts and culture.

“We want to bring people together around common interests,” explained Roberto Isaac Ordenana, the center’s director of development. “We want to bring more people into the center and engage with us.”

held in a reserve account its lender First Republic required it to establish in order to renegotiate the terms of the debt it still owes for the initial construction costs.

It is saving $30,000 in yearly interest payments under the revised terms.

The center expects by 2015, when it is required to pay the city back, to have an outstanding principle of under $2.9 million.

Since 2007 the center has either broken even or carried a surplus in all but one year. In 2010 it ended the fiscal year, which runs from July 1 to June 30, with a $200,000 deficit.

Last year it had a $128,500 surplus and is projecting a similar amount for this year.

“The center’s progress has been terrific overall. There are always ups and downs, but if you look at the financial stability compared to now and 10 years ago when we opened, there has been steady progress to having a financially stable center,” said District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener, who served on the center’s board from 1998 through 2004. “The staff and board have done incredible work in coming up with a financially viable model.”

Over the years Wiener, who served terms as both treasurer and co-chair on the center board, estimated he has donated $5,000 toward the building’s capital campaign. He said no one imagined 10 years ago what role the center would come to play within the city’s LGBT community.

“The center has in some areas been doing even more work than we anticipated such as around economic development and youth programs.

Those were areas we always wanted the center to work in but they have exceeded expectations,” said Wiener.

“The fact that 10 years later, despite all the naysayers and all the hurdles, the center is still alive and around and thriving is a testament to the strength of this community.”

As it marks its 10th anniversary, the center is hoping to re-engage with past donors and board members as well as recruit new supporters.

“We want people to either volunteer or make a contribution of any kind of size, from one dollar to thousands of them. We value every gift,”

said Ordenana.

It will host its annual Soiree gala later this month and is planning a fall reception to thank those who donated to the initial building fund.

“We want to thank them, first of all, for the incredible investment they made and show them the impact it has had on the individuals that use our services,” said Ordenana.

Derek Gordon, 48, and his partner of 24 years Arturo Fernandez, 55, contributed $1,200 to the initial building campaign over 10 years ago and have continued to financially support the center.

“I think we gave because we really believe this is a resource San Francisco needed and frankly, deserved,” said Gordon, a marketing professional who works with tech startups. “We were so impressed by the LA Gay and Lesbian Center and the impact that institution has had on the LA community. We really felt it was a shame San Francisco didn’t have a similar place, a central location where both newcomers and longtime residents alike could intersect and ideally find what they need.”

Despite their having made little use of the center and its programs over the years, Gordon said he is glad they have invested in the facility. More recently Gordon began volunteering his time at the center and has developed a better sense of the role it now serves.

“To see how people use it and get a real benefit from it, I have to admit, I was wonderfully and pleasantly surprised by the numbers,” he said.

“Though the center has had its ups and downs over the last 10 years, there have been more ups than downs and really has created something vital at the end of the day.”

The center is hosting a free public reception to kick-off the 2012 LGBT Soiree celebration from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight (Thursday, March 1) at CPMC’s Davies Campus Archibald/Ehrenberg Rehabilitation Terrain Park. The medical facility is located at 45 Castro Street.

The Soiree takes place at 7 p.m.

Saturday, March 24, at the San Francisco Design Center Galleria, 101 Henry Adams Street. Pre-sale tickets are $95 each, available online at www. soiree10.com, or $125 at the door.▼

Rick Gerharter

The San Francisco LGBT Community Center has enlisted a real estate firm to help market itself to potential tenants.

From page 1

Its mission has steadily evolved over the last decade from being a facility with meeting rooms and event space for rent to providing more direct services. In addition to its youth programs, the center offers everything from childcare and parenting classes to job training and help for first-time homebuyers.

It has formed collaborations with a number of other local LGBT nonprofits and government agencies, the most recent being an expansion of programs for LGBT seniors housed at the center that is overseen by Openhouse.

“We have put a lot of energy into developing direct services,” said Rolfe.

Yet what goes on at the center remains poorly understood within the LGBT community. Except for those accessing its services or attending the numerous meetings that take place at the center, many people are unaware of just what role the center plays.

“Whenever I ask people if they have been to the center, they look at me blankly and say they have no reason to go there. It is interesting to me that people are aware it is there but don’t feel any need to go there,” said Richard Hewetson, who has raised concerns about the building and its purpose since it was first proposed.

It is an issue the center is trying to address this year by improving how it communicates with the public.

“One of the challenges we have is we do a lot of work across a broad spectrum. We are the only LGBT organization in San Francisco that works across the full spectrum of the community and the community needs,” said Rolfe. “The challenge around that is how to effectively communicate that on a broad scope.”

In June the center plans to unveil a revamped website and a mobile app with a new community calendar as one of its main features. The aim is to not only better publicize what is happening at the center but also provide an online source for any LGBT group or agency in the Bay Area to promote what it is doing.

“It will be searchable by content and geography,” said Rolfe.

to the make the ground floor “more welcoming.” The center is working on a design plan and cost estimate, and if the funding can be raised, could start construction work after June, which is Pride Month.

“We are at the very early stages in design. If we start construction in late summer then we could complete it in the fall,” Rolfe said. “We are holding off on final decisions until we know what is the right mix throughout the building.”

Moving the cyber center would allow it to be open for more drop-in hours, added Rolfe, and the number of volunteer-led computer classes potentially could be increased.

The room where the computers

are now could then be used for a new youth space or be rented out to one of several nonprofits that would like to relocate into the building.

The center has been in negotiations with three different agencies about becoming tenants and has been trying to determine how to accommodate them.

The nonprofits “are interested in moving and renting relatively large 1,000 to 1,500 square foot spaces,” said Rolfe, adding that the center is “at capacity” in terms of its current office space configuration.

But she noted that, “We have the ability to move things around in the building.”

Rolfe declined to disclose which agencies the center has been talking to, other than to say it is not the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which has been looking at lease options for its various programs located in the Castro.

Representatives from the three nonprofits declined interview requests made through Rolfe because they have not notified their current landlords that they are looking to move.

“We have been talking for a number of years about the possibility of the center potentially either partnering or merging with other organizations to increase its financial stability and to provide more and more programming in the building,” said Wiener. “I think that is something that should always be considered.

Of course it has to be right fit.”▼

Center officials are also looking at making several structural changes to the building, which is located at 1800 Market Street, later this summer. The facility’s architects incorporated an historic Victorian that local activists fought to preserve into their designs for a more modern-looking structure.

The resulting campus, named after the late porn producer Charles M. Holmes, has presented challenges ever since it opened on how to best utilize the space. One idea center officials are pursuing is creating a designated youth space somewhere in the building. (See story above.)

“I really hope to create a push for that youth space,” said VanStark.

Million-dollar goal The center has set a goal of raising $1 million this year to help cover the costs for any remodels as well as for its operating budget, which is close to $2 million this fiscal year.

Two weeks ago it received a $157,500 loan from the city, which was approved in 2010, that will be

<< Community News

16 • BAY AREA REPORTER • March 1-7, 2012

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Marriage

From page 1

Mervin Field said the current gap between approval and disapproval is “nearly a complete reversal of the findings from the first time the Field Poll began measuring California’s attitudes toward same-sex marriage in 1977.” At that time, they said, 59 percent disapproved and 28 percent were in favor.

The figures come just weeks after the Southern California-based Love Honor Cherish dropped its bid to

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LGBT super PAC

From page 4

An LGBT ally, Dawydiak-Rapagnani is the PAC’s director of social media. In 2008 she was attending college overseas and voted for Obama by absentee ballot.

She is working with fellow cofounder Marcus Lovingood, 26, a gay man who moved to San Francisco in 2010.

Lovingood was an enthusiastic supporter of Obama’s four years ago, and considering the anti-gay

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Academy of Friends

From page 1

there wasn’t much that was gay in the broadcast as many winners were straight and thanked their husbands or wives. The mostly silent film The Artist took home most major awards, including best picture.

In terms of AOF’s fiscal picture, Edelman said that organizers were still reconciling figures and he couldn’t provide estimates of proceeds from individual ticket sales, corporate sponsorships, and other categories. As of January, the budget for the event was $150,000.

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EQCA

From page 1

tion like this.”

Hasencamp, who will be working mainly out of EQCA’s West Hollywood office, said that she plans “to go back into retirement when the board finds the right person” to become permanent executive director.

She said she doesn’t hope to get the job herself.

Her previous experience includes doing interim work around 2003 and 2004 for the Serra Project, a nonprofit that provides housing for homeless people living with AIDS in Los Angeles County. She also worked as USC law school’s development department manager on an interim basis in 2005.

In addition, she’s been a member of the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy Founders and Legal Councils; and the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Edu-

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Primaries

From page 9

In Michigan, Romney won 39 percent of unmarried Republican voters support, compared to 32 percent for Santorum, 21 percent for Paul, 5 percent for Gingrich, and 3 percent committed to no candidate or one of the other candidates on the ballot. In Arizona, the exit poll did not ask voters whether they were married.

Joe Sylvester, chairman of the Michigan Log Cabin Republicans, said the “vast majority” of Log Cabin members in Michigan were supporting Romney, with “a distant second” for Paul.

But in Arizona, the Public Policy Poll asked 515 likely Republican voters just prior to Tuesday, “Are you more concerned with a candidate’s position on economic issues like jobs, spending, taxes, and bailouts, or a candidate’s position on social issues like abortion,

▼

repeal the state’s Proposition 8 samesex marriage ban in 2012. Voters approved the anti-gay measure by a vote of 52 percent to 48 percent in November 2008.

Last fall, the board of the statewide LGBT lobbying group Equality California decided not to pursue repeal of Prop 8 in 2012. The decision was seen as crippling to efforts to undo the anti-gay measure.

EQCA spokeswoman Rebekah Orr said in an interview Wednesday that the new poll “affirms that opinion is moving in our direction.” However,

she said, “It’s important to take it with a grain of salt, because we know voters often have an intellectual position on marriage and an emotional one, and the emotional one, which is often driven by fear and anxiety, tends to be the one that plays out at the ballot.”

She also noted that the figures reflect polling of registered voters, rather than likely voters.

Orr said that her organization hopes that in the coming months, “we’ll see additional polls that continue to reflect similar and growing levels of support.”

John Lewis, who married Stuart Gaffney in 2008 when marriage was legal in the state, said the data show “a tremendous turning point” for marriage equality in California.

Lewis, a spokesman for Marriage Equality USA, said the Field data send “a very strong message” about the work LGBTs have been doing “to speak to the truth of their lives, and that the public is getting it.”

One section of the report compares California voter preferences about allowing same-sex couples to marry and have regular marriage laws apply

to them.

The report shows that there have been large increases in support among conservatives, who went from 20 percent in favor, 72 percent opposed in 2010 to 30 percent in favor, 63 percent opposed in 2012. Political conservatives and Republicans are the only major blocs where majorities are opposed to gays and lesbians marrying, Field officials say.

Another group that saw increased support for marriage equality are 4064 year-olds. In 2010, 46 percent in See page 17 >>

positions the Republican presidential candidates have taken, believes the president is LGBT voters’ best choice this year.

“He has done more for the LGBT community in the last four years than has been done in the past 20 years,” said Lovingood, the founder of FutureLeap, a social marketing and branding company for filmmakers. “We do have a champion in the White House.”

“He is fighting for us and he will continue to do so,” he added.

The pair quietly launched the

Pride PAC online in early February and submitted paperwork to the Federal Election Commission on February 13. As of Tuesday, February 28, more than 1,350 people had liked the PAC’s Facebook page.

The PAC founders would like to reach one million people and raise $1 million by the summer. They have just started fundraising and plan to hire a three-person staff this spring.

“If you are not able to donate, the best donation you can make is by sharing. Share us on Facebook

with your friends and family,” said Lovingood.

Their plans call for a sizeable rally this summer in San Francisco and helping others organize locally in their own communities. But most of their focus will be on producing online ads and web videos backing Obama they hope will then go viral.

“We have already had an incredible response on Facebook without much effort,” said DawydiakRapagnani.

How successful they will be remains an open question. Their first

public event held Friday, February 24 at San Francisco’s City Hall failed to draw a crowd. Ten people showed up, which included a reporter and the PAC founders’ fathers, though they did not expect many people to attend.

In an email afterward Lovingood wrote, “Our rally ended up a great success toward the latter part of the evening and we are very excited for the future of this endeavor.”

For more information about the LGBT super PAC, visit www.pridepac.com.▼

Corporate sponsors and underwriters help pay for the gala, while funds from ticket sales, the auction, and raffle will go to the beneficiaries. Sponsors this year included AT&T, Gold’s Gym, and gaytravelbuddy.com.

AOF has contributed more than $8.5 million to Bay Area HIV and AIDS service organizations since it was founded more than 30 years ago by a group of friends at a private home. It went on to become a lavish affair but the recent recession and continuing economic slowdown saw a drastic decrease in donations.

In recent years AOF didn’t deliver

what partner agencies were expecting. The 11 nonprofits that worked with the agency on the 2010 gala were asked to return for 2011 so AOF could make good on its pledges. All but one of the groups agreed.

AOF had initially said it would distribute a combined $220,000 to the 11 organizations. (The returning groups included the five 2012 partners.)

But in May 2011, AOF representatives told beneficiaries they were backing out of paying what they owed. About $150,000 had remained to be paid.

Since then, AOF’s made some

changes.

The gala, through sales of raffle tickets, tickets, and other underwriting, used to require that beneficiaries raise 25 percent of their pledged grant.

For this year’s gala, AOF asked beneficiaries to provide as much support as they could, but specific requirements weren’t made. The nonprofit hasn’t made specific total dollar commitments to partners, either.

As usual, this year’s money won’t be distributed equally among AOF’s partners.

There are “a lot of different met-

rics” involved, Edelman said. For example, the pool may include funds that have been marked for individual agencies from activities such as raffle ticket sales. Some of the money may be distributed before the check presentation.

Edelman said he didn’t yet know what would happen with funds for Tenderloin Health. The agency has experienced financial trouble and may close down before AOF’s check presentation. Officials connected with Tenderloin Health wouldn’t comment for a story about the nonprofit’s status, but said a statement would be released soon.▼

cation Network National Leadership Council.

In an email blast announcing Hasencamp’s hiring, EQCA officials called her “a tireless advocate for LGBT equality.” The statement was signed by EQCA board President Clarissa Filgioun and EQCA Institute board President Cary Davidson. The institute is EQCA’s educational affiliate.

Hasencamp spoke to the Bay Area Reporter in a conference call with EQCA spokeswoman Rebekah Orr on Tuesday. When Hasencamp was asked what her salary is, Orr interrupted and said, “We don’t share personal salary information.”

Hasencamp herself declined to state the figure.

Orr said the money to pay Hasencamp is coming from the Gill Foundation. A spokesman for the foundation didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.

Around the time Palencia left, EQCA had a budget of roughly $6 million to $6.5 million. Orr said in an email this week that the organization’s current budget hasn’t been finalized.

She also said that the group has 51 paid staff. Forty of those are field staff, some of who work part time, and some who work full time, she said.

EQCA has lost money in recent years, although Orr has recently indicated its financial picture is improving.

Hasencamp said fundraising would be part of her job, but said again, “the main focus is to run the day-to-day operations.”

The past year has been turbulent for EQCA. Former Executive Director Geoff Kors left in March 2011, after nine years with the group.

Palencia took over the job in July, but left shortly thereafter, saying it was a “personal decision that I just want to move on.”

Palencia’s abrupt announcement came a week after the EQCA board voted not to proceed with a ballot initiative to repeal the Proposition 8 same-sex marriage ban in 2012.

EQCA hasn’t campaigned hard to protect the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful Education Act, of which the group was a key sponsor.

The law requires California school students to be taught about LGBTs’ historical contributions. The state’s given anti-gay activists clearance to try to repeal the law, which is also known as Senate Bill 48.

Pushing LGBT-related legislation has been one of EQCA’s core functions, but its work seems to have decreased on that front. Just before Palencia resigned, EQCA had boasted of Governor Jerry Brown signing into law 10 of the 12 bills it had sponsored during the session. The group doesn’t appear to be involved with much new legislation planned for this year.

Asked about what the main challenge is that she sees, Hasencamp said, “I don’t know yet.”

Although EQCA has lacked an executive director for months, several people, including consultant Joan Garry, former executive director of the national Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation; and Alice Kessler, who previously served as EQCA’s government relations director, have been brought in to work with the organization.

Hasencamp said she doesn’t have a trip to San Francisco on the calendar yet, but she does plan to visit.

One reason for Hasencamp to travel north could be the San Francisco Equality Awards, which are planned for Saturday, April 14 at the Fairmont Hotel, 950 Mason Street.

Tickets are $350. Orr said that honorees are being finalized.

For more information about the event, visit eqcaawards.org.▼

birth control, gay marriage, and immigration?”

The vast majority (68 percent) said economic issues, and only 11 percent cited social issues. Twentyone percent were not sure.

Openly gay candidate Fred Karger was on the ballot for only the second time during the primary contest – this time in Michigan. As in New Hampshire, Karger won less than 1 percent of the vote, coming in 10th out of 11 candidates.

Karger will be on the ballot in a few other states: California, North Carolina, Maryland, and Puerto Rico.

A survey by the Public Policy Poll on February 26 found Romney winning all categories of voters in Arizona, even among evangelicals, whom Santorum’s ultra-conservative positions on social issues would seem to have secured. CNN exit polls in Arizona found Romney and Santorum essentially split the evangelical vote and Romney won the larger share of

the Catholic vote, even though Santorum has played up his Catholicism during the campaign.

Support for Santorum began to falter almost as soon as he became a frontrunner with his surprise sweep of contests in three states two weeks ago. The spotlight on Santorum amplified his increasingly bizarre and radical statements. Among other things, Santorum said a baby conceived through rape should be seen as a “gift from God” and that President John F. Kennedy’s speech in support of the separation of church and state made him want to “throw up.” He called Obama a “snob” for saying that he would like to see every person go to college or get some advanced instruction or training.

R. Clarke Cooper, head of the national Log Cabin Republicans, said he thinks Santorum’s rhetoric cost him support.

“Mitt Romney’s victories in Arizona and Michigan reflect a tighten-

ing in the field and rejection of Rick Santorum’s extreme views against gays, women, and education,” said Cooper. “It remains unknown the actual delegate count from tonight, but any hopes by Santorum to take the race all the way to Tampa have been greatly diminished.”

Santorum’s self-inflicted wounds sent Romney’s numbers soaring in Arizona despite a late-hour scandal in the Romney campaign: Its Arizona co-chair, Paul Babeu, was outed as gay by an ex-boyfriend, a Mexican student who alleged that Babeu, a county sheriff, threatened to deport him after their relationship ended and the exboyfriend threatened to out Babeu.

The scandal expanded when Babeu’s sister drew attention to a report indicating Babeu had dated one of his male teenaged students when Babeu worked at a Massachusetts boarding school. He also allegedly disciplined students by forcing them to wear only a sheet. Babeu, who is running for

Congress, acknowledged he was gay but denied any inappropriate behavior at the school. The student Babeu allegedly had a relationship with issued a statement denying that any such relationship took place.

The Los Angeles Times reported that, following the outing, Babeu was greeted quite warmly by his constituency but Babeu resigned as Romney’s co-chair. And the Public Policy Poll found that voter support for Babeu was fairly steady: 30 percent said they had a favorable view of Babeu and 24 percent had an unfavorable view; most (46 percent) were unsure.

Romney now leads the delegate race with 176 toward the 1,144 he needs to secure the nomination.

The next primary contest comes Saturday, March 3, with a caucus in Washington state. It is followed by a 10-state Super Tuesday on March 6, involving contests in Ohio, Georgia, Massachusetts, Virginia, and six other states.▼

▼ <<

Community News >>

Marriage

From page 16

that category favored allowing samesex couples to marry, while 45 percent opposed it. In 2012, 59 percent in that group were in favor, and 34 percent were opposed.

In addition to measuring the issue of same-sex marriage on an approve/ disapprove scale, in recent years the Field organization has also asked the question offering three options to

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Grindr

From page 9

They have already received more than 3,700 responses since its inception.

Simkhai told the Bay Area Reporter, “We’re hoping that users will provide submissions that can be used to broadcast targeted messages across specific areas and mobilize users to sign a petition, attend a rally, or contact a lawmaker to continue to create a presence for the GLBT community.”

So far, the plan has proven to work with some of the initiatives. Grindr for Equality sent a national broadcast message welcoming in-thecloset service members to Grindr with a link to the Servicemembers

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News Briefs

From page 4

could be made up if more volunteers work on Pink Saturday and at June’s LGBT Pride festival.

“Both these events will make us more money with the more people we have,” he noted.

The group has a beverage benefit coming up at the Pilsner Inn, 225 Church Street (at Market) on Sunday, March 4 from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Cost is $10 with food available for $4. There will be a 50/50 cash raffle. There will also be an Easter egg fundraiser running at the Gangway, Cinch, Aunt Charlie’s and Club Deco from March 10-April 8.

People buy an egg for $1 and there is candy or another prize in it.

Gagne is also looking for people to help with the Easter dinner, which will be held from 1 to 4 p.m., and will begin accepting volunteers Monday, March 12. Those interested in helping out can contact Gagne between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. at (415) 584-3252 or email tenderlointessiedinners@yahoo.com.

Women’s Day concert The Community Women’s Orchestra will present its annual International Women’s Day Concert Sunday, March 4 at 5 p.m. at Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, 1330 Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland.

Kathleen McGuire, conductor, said that this year’s concert will include Symphony No. 3 by Florence Price, Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto featuring Deidre Sanders, and Beethoven’s majestic Egmont Overture.

Price (1887-1953) was the first African American woman whose works were recognized and performed by major orchestras in the U.S. Price’s Symphony No. 3 was premiered in 1940 by an ensemble organized to provide work for the large number of unemployed musicians and others during the Depression; it was recorded by the Women’s Philharmonic in 2001.

The Community Women’s Orchestra was founded in 1985 by conductor Nan Washburn and includes female musicians who enjoy a fun, welcoming, and non-competitive music-making environment, promoting the music of women orchestral composers.

Tickets are $15 ($10 senior, $5 under 18, and $5 student rates are available) and can be purchased online at Brown Paper Tickets (no additional fee) or at the door. For more information, visit www.communitywomensorchestra.org.

March 1-7, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 17

voters: allowing same-sex couples to marry, permitting civil unions but not marriage, or not allowing any legal recognition to same-sex couples.

When the question was first posed in 2006, 36 percent of those surveyed were in favor of allowing same-sex couples to marry, 33 percent selected civil unions but not marriage, and 27 percent favored no legal recognition.

The report released this week shows that now, 51 percent favor allowing marriage for same-sex couples, 29

percent opted for civil unions but not marriage, and 15 percent wanted no legal recognition.

The poll is based on a survey completed February 2-18 among a random sample of 1,003 registered voters in California. The questions related to same-sex marriage were asked of a random subsample of 515 voters. The margin of error for the subsample is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

To view the full Field report, visit httpwww.field.com/fieldpollonline.▼

Legal Defense Network’s contribution page, with more than 5,000 user click-throughs after the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Grindr for Equality’s largest effort was more than 57,000 clicks to a petition denouncing St. Petersburg, Russia’s ban on gay propaganda, which would effectively silence the LGBT community in Russia’s second most populated city.

Grindr’s push for equality has mostly been welcomed by its users.

Users are prompted to click a link for more information on topics when they initially sign in to the app. The user is given a choice if they want to learn more about the topic or just continue on to the app.

“I think it’s great that for those of us who are interested in knowing more about what we can do to fight for our equality, we now have direct access to petitions and links via Grindr,” said Christopher Darrens, a Grindr user.

Darrens, 32, doesn’t think there is any problem with putting the issues out on the table for all Grindr users even if the main focus of the meeting site is not intended for political awareness.

For more information on the current petition from the Courage Campaign asking the DNC to contribute towards marriage equality, visit www.couragecampaign.org/ DNCMarriageEquality▼

Marriage equality program at Commonwealth Club

The March 7 service will feature the Reverend Dr. Jay Johnson, on the staff at the Pacific School of Religion. March 14 will feature the Reverend Dr. Penny Nixon, a former senior pastor at Metropolitan Community Church-San Francisco and now the pastor at Congregational Church of San Mateo. On March 21, the Reverend Jane Spahr will be the special guest. Spahr was one of those who was disinvited from Most Holy Redeemer.

Rounding out the series will be out transgender man Justin Tanis, who has a doctorate from the San Francisco Theological Seminary, who will speak March 28, and Bishop Otis Charles, who will speak April 4. Charles was also disinvited from Most Holy Redeemer and is a retired Episcopal bishop.

All services begin at 7 p.m. and take place at New Spirit, on the PSR campus, 1798 Scenic Avenue. The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry is co-sponsoring the series. For more information, visit www.newspiritchurch.org.

The Commonwealth Club will present a panel featuring local leaders discussing marriage equality on Wednesday, March 7 at the club’s San Francisco offices, 595 Market Street. The event takes place in the Gold Room and will start with a networking reception at 5:30 p.m. followed by the program at 6.

Featured speakers will be philanthropist Kathy Levinson, now a cochair of the LGBT National Finance Committee for the Obama re-election campaign, and the Reverend Roland Stringfellow, director of ministerial outreach at the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley. He is also the director of the African American Faith Community Project for California Faith for Equality.

Levinson, former president and COO of E-Trade, will show the documentary I Do. Who Can’t?, a film designed to foster discussions about marriage equality. She will talk about marriage equality as a corporate issue, the Silicon Valley leaders who chose to make the film, and her experiences working in the corporate world.

Stringfellow will talk about his outreach with congregations to create dialogue on the topic of LGBT equality, which he has been involved with for the last three years. He has also become a public face on the issue locally, helping lead faith leaders in a march in San Francisco the day of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision on Proposition 8 and participating in other actions.

Tickets for the program are $20 for non-members, $12 for club members, and $7 for students (with valid ID). For more information, visit www.commonwealthclub. org/events/2012-03-07/i-do-whocant-silicon-valley-leaders-marriage-equality.

Berkeley church hosts Lenten series New Spirit Community Church in Berkeley kicked off its Lenten speaker series this week and upcoming programs include the out gay clergy who were disinvited from Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church during the holiday season.

One of those clergy, the Reverend Roland Stringfellow, began the series February 29. Titled “Sexuality and Spirituality,” speakers will offer short meditations on that topic.

The Wednesday night services will include the music of Taize and Iona and be structured as vespers, or evening prayer.

Tax help for low-income LGBTs The San Francisco LGBT Community Center is offering volunteer income tax assistance by IRS-certified volunteers to help people take advantage of special credits. Tax preparation for registered domestic partners is also offered. Eligible households must have a combined annual income of $50,000 or less.

The tax help is available Wednesday evenings and Saturdays through April 14; upcoming sessions include March 10 (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.), March 14 (5 to 8 p.m.), March 24 (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.), and March 28 (5 to 8 p.m.).

The center is located at 1800 Market Street.

Each person must bring several pieces of information, including ID and birthdates; Social Security cards or a verification letter from the Social Security Administration; wage and earning statements (Form W-2, W-2G, 1099-R) from all employers for 2011; interest and dividend statements from banks (Form 1099); prior year’s federal and state returns if available; bank account and routing numbers for direct deposit, such as a blank check; and total paid for daycare provider and daycare provider’s tax ID number. To file electronically on a married-filing-joint return, both spouses must be present.

Childcare may be available by appointment on Saturdays. Spanish services may be available by appointment. Contact shannonw@ sfcenter.org for more details.▼

Legal Notices>> STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE# CNC-12-548390 In the matter of the application of: WEIXING XIAO for change of name. The application of WEIXING XIAO for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that WEIXING XIAO filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to LANA RUSH. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 514 on the 3rd of April, 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted

FEB 9, 16, 23, MAR 1, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A- 034096500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STANCE LAB, 3542 Anza St., SF, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Wilson Tam. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/01/12.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/01/12.

FEB 9, 16, 23, MAR 1, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A-034102200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: I.P. ESTIMATES, 1300 Sacramento St. #304, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Illario Peppe. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/02/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/02/12.

FEB 9, 16, 23, MAR 1, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A-034098400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SHELTER CO., 701 Florida St., SF, CA 94110.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Kelsey Sheofsky. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/01/12.

FEB 9, 16, 23, MAR 1, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A-034067800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as ALLIANCE COMPUTER’S, 2600 Judah St., SF, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Dzmitry Bychkou. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/23/12.

FEB 9, 16, 23, MAR 1, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A-034046700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ORTIZ TAX AND NOTARY SERVICES, 2517 Mission St. #8, SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Olga Ortiz. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/11/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/11/12.

FEB 9, 16, 23, MAR 1, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A-034068000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as WATERLOO BEVERAGES, 295 Terry Francois St., Shed A, SF, CA 94158. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed John Valeer. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/23/12.

FEB 9, 16, 23, MAR 1, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A-034105700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as WIZARD OF ADS, 335 Grand View Ave. #1, SF, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Herman J. Hobi. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/03/12.

FEB 9, 16, 23, MAR 1, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A-034110900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as CAVALIER, 1035 Post St., SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Jay Jeffers. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/07/12.

FEB 9, 16, 23, MAR 1, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A-034112200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DANTE’S WEIRD FISH, 2193 Mission St., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Peter Hood. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/07/12.

FEB 9, 16, 23, MAR 1, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A-034112300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE PERCH, 2199 Mission St., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Peter Hood. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/07/12.

FEB 9, 16, 23, MAR 1, 2012

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STATEMENT FILE A-034104600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EDWARD MARTINEZ FABRICATIONS, 79 Sharon St., SF, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Edward Martinez.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/31/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/03/12.

FEB 16, 23, MAR 1, 8, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A-034107200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MOTOR ARZT, 1023 Mission St., SF, CA 94103.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Carl Peters. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/06/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/06/12.

FEB 16, 23, MAR 1, 8, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A-034113400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SNAPDOCS, 1369 Hyde St. #26, SF, CA 94109.

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

FEB 16, 23, MAR 1, 8, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A-034113200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: A LINEAGE EDUCATION, 4309 Lincoln Way, SF, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Ali M. Salahshoor. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/07/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/07/12.

FEB 16, 23, MAR 1, 8, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A-034111400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STEVE BOECKELS AND ASSOCIATES, 270 Valencia #503, SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Stephen Boeckels.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/07/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/07/12.

FEB 16, 23, MAR 1, 8, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A-034108400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FIORI DESIGNS BY SARINA, 60 29th St. #630, SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Sarina Safina. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/06/12.

FEB 16, 23, MAR 1, 8, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A-034117600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: KRISHNA HOTEL, 2032 Mission St., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Sailesh Patel. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/24 /12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/08/12.

FEB 16, 23, MAR 1, 8, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A-034121500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: VINYL, 359 Divisadero St., SF, CA 94117.

This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Michael Musleh. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/09/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/09/12.

FEB 16, 23, MAR 1, 8, 2012 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME: A-032932200 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: CARINA MOBILE, 210 Fell St. #4, SF, CA 94102.

This business was conducted by an individual, signed Tim C. DeBenedictis. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/26/10.

FEB 16, 23, MAR 1, 8, 2012 STATEMENT FILE A-034125900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: POISON, 2451 Bay St., SF, CA 94123. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed David Baxter. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/13/12.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/13/12.

FEB 16, 23, MAR 1, 8, 2012 STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE# CNC12-548436 In the matter of the application of: EVELYN ISOBEL EMERSON for change of name. The application of EVELYN ISOBEL EMERSON for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that EVELYN ISOBEL EMERSON filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to EVAN LUTHER EMERSON. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 514 on the 19th of April, 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted

FEB 23, MAR 1, 8, 15, 2012

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

18 • Bay Area Reporter • February 23-29, 2012

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City and County of San Francisco March, 2012 Monthly CONCESSION OPPORTUNITY FOR THE RENTAL CAR CENTER CAFÉ LEASE (A Small Business Set-Aside) San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is preparing to conduct the competitive selection process through a Request for Proposal for a Food and Beverage Lease at the Rental Car Center. An informational conference is scheduled for Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 10:00 a.m., International Terminal – G Side Pre-Security Administration 5th Floor – Conference Room 28R at SFO. This is a time when staff discusses the desired concepts, minimum qualification requirements and addresses any questions relating to the food and beverage lease. Written comments and recommendations will be accepted until 12:00 p.m., Thursday, March 15, 2012.

For more information visit our website at http://www.flysfo.com/web/page/about/b2b/ conces/ or call Sharon Perez, at (650) 821-4500.

NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS (NOFA) The Department of Children, Youth and their Families, First 5 San Francisco and the San Francisco Human Service Agency announce this NOFA of up to $10,441,138 to support neighborhood based and population focused family resource centers in San Francisco.

Grant awards are anticipated to begin July 1, 2012 and are renewable (for up to 2 additional years) pending performance and fund availability. The NOFA document will be available at www.first5sf.org. Interested parties should consult the NOFA document for application instructions, bidder’s conference details, and objectives for these funds. The proposal due date is March 30, 2012.

NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) First 5 San Francisco announces a RFP of up to $160,000 to provide Visual and Performing Arts Curriculum Services to Preschool for All sites. Grant awards are anticipated to begin July 1, 2012 and are renewable (for up to 3 additional years) pending performance and fund availability. A copy of the RFP will be available at www.first5sf. org on or about March 1, 2012 or at First 5 San Francisco’s office at 1390 Market St., Ste. 318. A bidder’s conference will be held on March14, at 9 a.m. at the First 5 San Francisco Office. Proposal deadline is April 13, 2012 at 5 p.m.

SAN FRANCISCO REDISTRICTING TASK FORCE (RDTF) The RDTF must present a final plan outlining the new supervisorial district lines to the Board of Supervisors no later than April 15, 2012. The San Francisco RDTF has been holding meetings in each of the supervisorial districts to maximize public participation in the redistricting process. .

The March 2012 meeting schedule is below. The Task Force urges the people of San Francisco to attend the community meetings. Language interpreters are available at each meeting.

March Schedule: Thursday - Mar 1 6pm D8 Everett Middle School – 450 Church Street Wednesday - Mar 7 6pm Room 406, City Hall Monday - Mar 12 6pm D7 West Portal School – 5 Lenox Way Saturday - Mar 17 10am D5 Ella Hill Hutch Comm. Ctr – 1050 McAllister Street Thursday - Mar 22 6pm D4 United Irish Cultural Center – 2700-45th Avenue Thursday - Mar 29 6pm Room TBD, City Hall Information meeting changes and updates on the TBD locations will be available at sfgov.org/rdtf The City and County of San Francisco encourage public outreach. Articles are translated into several languages to provide better public access. The newspaper makes every effort to translate the articles of general interest correctly. No liability is assumed by the City and County of San Francisco or the newspapers for errors and omissions.

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CARLO’S NOOK, 2919 24th St., SF, CA 94110.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Dean Clark. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/13/12.

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feb 16, 23, MAR 1, 8, 2012 SUMMONS DOMESTIC RELATIONS SUIT IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE STATE OF OREGON FOR THE COUNTY OF LANE In the Matter of the marriage of SHANA L. TUCKER, Petitioner, and ALBERT A. TREJO, Respondent, to ALBERT A. TREJ0, home address 80 Beachside Ct., Daly City, CA 94015, work address 111 Taylor St., San Francisco, CA 94102.

The petitioner has filed a Petition asking for DIVORCE WITH CHILD. If you do not file the appropriate legal paper with the court in the time required (see below), the petitioner may ask the court for a judgment against you that orders the relief requested. NOTICE TO RESPONDENT: READ THESE PAPERS CAREFULLY! You must “appear” in this case or the other side will win automatically. To “appear,” you must file with the Court a legal paper called a “Response” or “Motion.” Response forms may be available through the court located at Lane County Courts, 125 East 8th Ave., Eugene, OR 97401.

This Response must be filed with the court clerk or administrator within thirty (30) days of the date of first publication specified herein: 02/15/12, along with the required filing fee.

It must be in proper form and you must show that the Petitioner’s attorney (or the Petitioner if he/she does not have an attorney) was served with a copy of the “Response” or “Motion.”

The location to file your response is at the court address indicated above.

If you have questions, you should see an attorney immediately. If you need help finding an attorney, you may call the Oregon State Bar’s Lawyer Referral Service online at www.oregonstatebar.org or by calling (503) 684-3763 (in the Portland metropolitan area) or toll free elsewhere in Oregon at (800) 452-7636.

If special accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act is needed, please contact your local court at the address above; telephone number (541) 682-4020.

Certificate of Document Preparation. You are required to truthfully complete this certificate regarding the document you are filing with the court. I selected this document for myself and I completed it without paid assistance, signed SHANA L. TUCKER, 2555 Roosevelt Blvd. #22, Eugene, OR 97402, (541) 232-8150.

FEB 16, 23, MAR 1, 8, 2012 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE# A-033898200

notice of application FOR state of california in and for the county of san francisco file# CNC12-548424 In the matter of the application of: DERA MARIE JONES for change of name. The application of DERA MARIE JONES for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that DERA MARIE JONES filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to ALANNA MARIE FOX. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 514 on the 17th of April, 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted

feb 23, MaR 1, 8, 15, 2012 state of california in and for the county of san francisco file# CNC12-548403 In the matter of the application of: JERRY ALLEN HOFFINE JR. for change of name. The application of JERRY ALLEN HOFFINE JR. for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that JERRY ALLEN HOFFINE JR. filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to JAY ARTHUR BEANAN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 514 on the 10th of April, 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted

feb 23, MaR 1, 8, 15, 2012 state of california in and for the county of san francisco file# CNC-12-548444 In the matter of the application of: CYNTHIA PATRICIA BONORRIS for change of name. The application of CYNTHIA PATRICIA BONORRIS for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that CYNTHIA PATRICIA BONORRIS filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to CYNSA BONORRIS. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 514 on the 24th of April, 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted

feb 23, MaR 1, 8, 15, 2012 statement file# A-034096700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CAMPUS EDUCATION, 40 1st St., 4th Fl., SF, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Ammon Torrence. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/01/12.

feb 23, MAR 1, 8, 15, 2012 statement file# A-034136900

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: FIRST CUT, 813 Clay St., SF, CA 94108. This business was conducted by a general partnership, signed Dong Mei Li. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/20/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: 3-SUM EATS, 360 De Haro St., SF, CA 94103.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Jonathan Panday. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/1612. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/16/12.

feb 23, MAR 1, 8, 15, 2012

feb 23, MAR 1, 8, 15, 2012

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February 23-29, 2012 • Bay Area Reporter • 19

Movers>>

Legal Notices>> statement file# A-034136800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MARKET & RYE, 68 West Portal Ave., SF, CA 94127.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Jonathan Panday. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/16/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/16/12.

feb 23, MAR 1, 8, 15, 2012 statement file# A-034143200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: RECOVER YOUR THOUGHTS, 2730 16th St., SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Leah MacNeil. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/21/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/21/12.

feb 23, MAR 1, 8, 15, 2012 statement file# A-034135900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THOMAS MADE, 1648 Leavenworth St., SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Thomas Li. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/14/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/16/12.

feb 23, MAR 1, 8, 15, 2012 statement file# A-034134800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DE PLACE, 5700 Geary Blvd., SF, CA 94121. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Belinda Yu. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/16/12.

feb 23, MAR 1, 8, 15, 2012 statement file# A-034132400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AES WEB DESIGN, 995 14th St., SF, CA 94114.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Allen Siewert. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/15/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/15/12.

feb 23, MAR 1, 8, 15, 2012 statement file# A-034114900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HOWES TAX, 3892 26th St., SF, CA 94131. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Mark Howe. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/12.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/08/12.

feb 23, MAR 1, 8, 15, 2012 statement file# A-034140800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LIVING AMBIANCE, 2101 20th Ave., SF, CA 94116.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Alycia Moy. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/17/12.

feb 23, MAR 1, 8, 15, 2012 statement file# A-034132700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ST FRANCIS MARKET, 16 West Portal Ave., SF, CA 94127. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Venkata Tangirala. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/19/05. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/15/12.

feb 23, MAR 1, 8, 15, 2012 statement file# A-034078400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CROWN MARKET & LIQUOR, 712 Geary St., SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Ali Mozeb. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/25/12.

feb 23, MAR 1, 8, 15, 2012 statement file# A-034131300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FIRST CUT, 813 Clay St., SF, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed Dong Mei Li. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/14/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/14/12.

notice of application FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF alcoholic beverage LICENSE Dated 02/21/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: PAPAZOTE COLE LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 101 Carl St., SF, CA 94117-3905. Type of license applied

42-On-sale BEER AND WINE-PUBIC PREMISES MAR 1, 2012 statement file A- 034157500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as GYPSY ROSALIE WIGS & VINTAGE, 1215 Polk St., SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Rosalie E. Jacques. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/27/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/27/12.

41-On-sale BEER AND WINE-eating place MAR 1, 2012 statement file A- 034152100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ANNACOLIBRI, 1931 Buchanan St., SF, CA 94115.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Anna Yaya Kelleher. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/23/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/23/12.

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TRU POWER COACHING, 236 West Portal Ave. #131, SF, CA 94127. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Simone Da Rosa.

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R i c k 41 5 . 8 2 1 . 1 7 92

Did you know Tom Burdick(1950-1993)?

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

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

E-mail: orygunwolf@yahoo.com

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4.05.2012 Find out the winners of the Bay Area Reporter’s Annual Readers’ Choice Awards

Read the special issue of the B.A.R. in print or online at ebar.com on April 5, 2012.

Short stuff

25

27

30

Bad cop, no donut

30

Oscar's big night

O&A

Out & A bout

The

Vol. 42 • No. 09 • March 1-7, 2012

www.ebar.com/arts

Survival kit for Aesthetes ‘The Cult of Beauty: Victorian Avant-Garde, 1860-1900’ ~ by Sura Wood ~

A cast aluminum sculpture of “Eros” by Alfred Gilbert shares a gallery with contemporary paintings, all part of The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Garde 1860-1900 exhibit at the Palace of the Legion of Honor.

Rick Gerharter

B

eauty for beauty’s sake is a mantra most of us would gladly live by, but for an unconventional group of close-knit artists, poets, designers, architects and intellectuals who founded the British Aesthetic Movement in the mid-1800s, it was not only a mission but a reaction against the Victorian imperative that art must have a redeeming, morally instructive purpose. One may find it difficult to conceive of the prudish, zipped-up Victorians and the notion of

rebellion in the same sentence, but the arts were, in fact, liberated by these progressives during a period of otherwise formal manners, dress and unforgiving strait-laced rectitude. The Aesthetes, as they were known, prized sensual beauty and were moved by a passion for radiant color. Encompassing the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Art Nouveau and spawning the Arts and Crafts movement, they represented a true avant-garde.

A reflection of a bygone era’s tastes and sen-

sibilities, Cult of Beauty: The Victorian AvantGarde, 1860-1900 is a comprehensive exhibition that’s not as flashy as similarly inclined, decorative arts shows the Legion of Honor has hosted in years past. It includes over 180 prime artworks, furnishings, costumes, tea sets to die for, exquisitely detailed cabinets and ceramics, sensuous paintings which evoke mood rather than depicting stories, and photographs. They were created by the movement’s irreverent progenitors, a cere-

bral bunch that counted Dante Gabriel Rossetti, James McNeill Whistler, Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris, and Christopher Dresser among their ranks. By the late 1870s, the Aesthetes, the epitome of boho chic of the age, became a sensation, and then a fad.

Not that they didn’t have their detractors.

Whistler’s “Nocturne: Blue and Gold – Old Battersea Bridge” (1872-5), a mysterious, indistinct See page 26 >>

We need to talk about Ezra Miller His brilliant career is in high gear at 19 years old

by David Lamble

A

Actor Ezra Miller onstage at last year’s Mill Valley Film Festival.

ctor Ezra Miller is a lanky, darkhaired, one-time child opera singer who, when his voice changed, turned to an equally ferocious vocation.

He became a teen actor specializing in the kind of gritty urban roles that a few generations back fell to John Garfield, and later would be the trademark of De Niro, Hoffman, Nicholson and Pacino. After seeing him as a disturbed prep school boy implicated in the drug deaths of two coeds, as a steak knife-wielding Italian-American brat, as a bi-polar acid wit determined to put a hitch in his half-brother’s wedding plans, and as a gay kid challenging his TV writer dad’s boundaries, I was all set for the

ultimate challenge: to see what this nice Jewish boy could do as a mother-loathing sociopath kid who goes on a Columbinestyle killing spree in an upscale Connecticut high school.

Despite the subject matter of Lynne Ramsay’s family horror story We Need To Talk About Kevin, the articulate 19-yearold Miller is no Anthony Perkins. He’s an upbeat, focused pro who spends time between films as the singer/drummer of the NYC-based band Sons of an Illustrious Father. Imagine a gawky beauty who’s still growing into his adult body, who in style and manner is a feisty mix between the Giants’ indie cool ace pitcher Tim Lincecum

Steven Underhill

{ SECOND OF TWO SECTIONS }

and the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl.

We Need To Talk About Kevin is anything but a star vehicle for Miller, who really doesn’t appear until the second half of the film, or for the two high-wattage performers who play his parents, Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly. Kevin, based on an epistolary novel by Lionel Shriver, in the hands of the brilliant Scottish-born filmmaker Lynne Ramsay is a personal, stylistically surreal story of a mom (Swinton) trying to come to terms with the havoc unleashed on an American town by her own “demon seed.” Throughout this very unsettling trip – which spares us American See page 24 >>

<< Out There

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • March 1-7, 2012

▼

Second coming of Oscar

by Roberto Friedman

W

hen immortal wit and playwright Oscar Wilde visited San Francisco for a lecture tour in March 1882, he was the living, breathing embodiment of the decadent Aesthetic movement. On March 21, to mark the anniversary

of Wilde’s visit 130 years later, Wilde Salomé, a film directed by and starring actor Al Pacino, will make its United States debut at the fabulous Castro Theatre in San Francisco.

Called an “exploratory documentary film,” Wilde Salomé provides an intimate glimpse into the life of playwright, poet, philosopher and

gay martyr Wilde, told from director Pacino’s point of view. Pacino calls the film his most personal project ever, exploring the complexities of Wilde’s play Salomé, Oscar himself, and the birth of a rising star in actress Jessica Chastain, who plays Salomé. We’re promised “a profound vision” that explores religion, literature, politics, violence and sexuality from one of the world’s greatest artists, our own golden Oscar. Among the Wilde Salomé cast, production team, and supporters attending the Castro Theatre event will be leading man Pacino, producer Barry Navidi and playwright Tony Kushner.

“Yes, Pacino and Kushner will both be here for the premiere,” confirmed San Francisco impresario Mark Rhoades, who is producing the event. “It is going to be a real red-carpet, Hollywood-style premiere at the Castro Theatre, sponsored by Banana Republic and Wells Fargo. All the tickets are $25, and the proceeds are going to the GLBT Historical Society. I was very honored that Pacino and the film’s producer Barry Navidi asked me to produce it. I know the best theatre for a debut of a film about Oscar Wilde is none other than our own Castro.

I’m really excited that I’m able to bring Al Pacino to the Castro.”

From writer Lois Foster Rodecape’s account of Wilde’s SF visit in the June 1940 California Historical Society Quarterly: “Young Oscar Wilde had been the center of a maelstrom of scandalous incident and publicity from the moment of his arrival. There was a sudden exaggerated vogue of sunflowers, lilies, and Japanese parasols, all of which were said to evoke Wilde’s enthusiasm.

The costume adopted by young Wilde, which included short breeches, long silk stockings, and a shoulderlength haircut, was hailed with horror and amazed contempt. The slang of the moment included such supposedly Wildean expressions as, ‘Too utterly utter,’ ‘Just too too,’ and ‘Do you yearn?’” Yes, we yearn!

“Wilde stayed at the Palace Hotel, then the largest hotel in the world.

He visited Oakland, made the obligatory tour of Chinatown, visited the Bohemian Club, toured San Jose, and left San Francisco on April 8.”

An official proclamation from Mayor Edwin Lee’s office will mark the film’s premiere date, March

Scene from Wilde Salomé, a film directed by and starring actor Al Pacino that will have its US premiere at the Castro.

Cornelius Washington

Model Adam Killian posed in an homage to cinema, photographed in black & white and hand-colored by Cornelius Washington.

21, as “Oscar Wilde Day” in San Francisco.Red carpet entrances begin at 6 p.m., and Wilde Salomé screens at 7 p.m. Tickets ($25), at www.glbthistory.org/WildeSalome, will benefit the GLBTHS.

Trophy case A very different sort of Oscar, the gaudy gilded one, occupied our attentions last Sunday night as the 84th Annual Academy Awards presentation dragged on for 40,000 hours. We watched them at the Up the Oscars benefit bash in the Roxie Theater, helping to support a terrific nonprofit cinema in our midst.

Movie star Christopher Plummer’s Supporting Actor win for his role as a gay geriatric was the big gay moment this year. So what if his much younger boyfriend in Beginners was on timeshare and too smiley for our tastes? CP as a turned-on sugar daddy deserved the golden boy. But the real relationship in that movie was between the Jack Russell terrier and our secret heart.

Martin Scorsese’s Hugo won a lot of the technical awards, but the thing about Hugo is that as much

as it is a children’s story, it’s also a heartfelt homage to film pioneer Georges Melies, so perhaps all the techie love was apropos. Although it was 3-D, nothing flew out at you gratuitously. It was low-key 3-D. When The Help’s lovely Octavia Spencer took Supporting Actress, she quoted the Teleprompter: “Please wrap up!” This gave our fellow Oscarswatcher Pepi license to parrot the line during every overwrought acceptance speech: “Please wrap up!” But even if the proceedings were, as host Billy Crystal admitted, only “a pony away from a bar mitzvah,” we watched, we drank, we endured. We felt like a celebrity seatfiller at the Flomax Theatre. As The Artist star puppy Uggie would say: “If I had ’em, I’d lick ’em.”

Finally, we share our favorite sound-bite from the past year in Oscar-baiting, courtesy of the NY Times’ Carpetbagger column.

“Rosie O’Donnell on Lars von Trier’s Melancholia: ‘If I had the choice between giving birth to a flaming child on the floor of an igloo, or watching that film again, I would choose the birth of my child.’”▼

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Read more online at www.ebar.com

March 1-7, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

<< Music

24 • BAY AREA REPORTER • March 1-7, 2012

▼

Hearty homecoming

by Philip Campbell

T

he San Francisco Symphony’s jubilant centennial celebration has already proved very impressive in scope, ambition and sheer energy, and there is plenty of party left to come. Major concert programs, guest artists and tantalizing special events still remain before the festivities are officially ended.

Some of the most pleasurable highlights up to now have offered an opportunity to enjoy again the talents of two distinguished former SFS Music Directors. Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt brought the faithful to their feet with a fortnight of concerts in early February, reminding us of our affection for his decade of leadership. Most recently, Edo de Waart returned to the podium at Davies Symphony Hall and jolted us back to an appreciation of his pivotal tenure from 1977 to 1985.

It was de Waart who inaugurated DSH with the orchestra in 1980, organized the SFS Youth Orchestra, started a policy of annual touring, conducted the orchestra’s first na-

tional telecast, secured a recording contract, and perhaps most remarkably, created the legendary New and Unusual Music Series. An early champion of composer John Adams, Edo appointed him the first composer-inresidence of the SFS in 1982. Exciting years filled with accomplishment made up for his relative lack of stage presence (at least by comparison to his predecessor Seiji Ozawa), and his legacy still resonates in the forwardthinking policies of the SFS. The chance to see de Waart for the first time since 1997 brought a lot of familiar faces back for a concert that felt like old home week. Conducting Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3, Organ (which he recorded with the orchestra in 1990), was another nostalgic touch.

The first part of the bill was given to the first SFS performances of Franz Schreker’s Prelude to Act I of Die Gezeichneten (The Stigmatized).

It was a lush rendition of a fascinating piece, clearly a forerunner of the old Hollywood film score tradition (think Korngold and Rosza). With characteristic restraint, de Waart

never let the orchestra wallow in Schreker’s dense sonorities. He maintained a certain delicacy amidst the symphonic grandeur.

He applied the same control in the support given to the evening’s guest soloist Simon Trpceski and his thrilling performance of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor. The pianist supplied all the showmanship required to sell the composer’s challenging score. The Macedonian virtuoso also gave an encore, prepared with concertmaster Alexander Barantschik, Dancing Fantasy by Koco Petrovski, arranged

by Damir Imeri. Trpceski introduced the American premiere with an acknowledgement of his love for accordion music and a shout-out to the Romanian girls he has met in San Francisco. It was unexpected but thoroughly amusing.

With the concluding Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony (Jonathan Dimmock an expert soloist) powerfully lifting the roof of the hall he helped to build, Edo de Waart certainly made the most of his homecoming visit in honor of the centennial.▼

San Francisco Symphony

Former San Francisco Symphony Music Director Edo de Waart.

Fascinating rhythms

by Philip Campbell John Adams: Harmonielehre and Short Ride in a Fast Machine - San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas (SFS Media SACD Recording)

be disappointed. The new release is a smashing achievement in and of itself.

By now it would be hard to imagine any music-lover who is not aware of Harmonielehre and the impact it has had on modern music. Commissioned by the SFS, premiered

T

he San Francisco Symphony’s centennial is more than just an historic event, it’s also a virtual tsunami of marketing and branding. The latest release on the orchestra’s own recording label would be cause for celebration in any case, but the timing does coincide perfectly with the massive round of events and this month’s upcoming American Mavericks festival.

The new disc of SFS commissions Harmonielehre and Short Ride in a Fast Machine, both by John Adams, is already available for pre-release by download from iTunes, and presale orders are being accepted from the Symphony’s e-store. The early opportunities to hear these remarkable performances started on Feb. 15, the composer’s birthday. A general release date for the SACD is set for March 13. We are hardly faulting the SFS for seizing the day. It is precisely the kind of Yankee ingenuity that has kept them in business for 100 years. Fans of Adams, the SFS and MTT will not

<<

Ezra Miller

From page 21

horror films’ patented camp, patronizing irony or gore for gore’s sake – we are trapped inside the head of Eva as this “bad mom” struggles to comprehend how a failure to bond with her “evil” male child could have such hideous consequences.

Fans of Ramsay’s small oeuvre will be glad she’s back after Ratcatcher, a low-key account of a Glasgow slum kid’s guilt following the accidental drowning death of a playmate; and Morvern Callar, the peripatetic adventures of a young woman who wakes up to discover her boyfriend’s dead and decides to claim his unpublished novel as her own. The nearly decade-long gap on Ramsay’s resume resulted from her dropping out of efforts to bring Alice Sebold’s novel Lovely Bones to the screen, a task that

and originally recorded with Music Director Edo de Waart conducting in March 1985 (during the composer’s tenure as composer-in-residence), the score was a runaway success that not only catapulted Adams to international fame, but also generated other estimable recordings (Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and David Robertson conducting the St. Louis Symphony). Harmonielehre broke a

fell to New Zealand’s Peter Jackson.

Kevin proved no walk in the park as the producing company, BBC Films, had to spend time on script development and raise what for the British was a large budget to shoot Stateside.

Unlike previous Columbine-themed films (Gus Van Sant’s Elephant, Ben Coccio’s Zero Day), Kevin spares us the specifics of how the crime was planned. Instead it’s the tale of how a mother and son fail to bond at birth, and the ticking bomb that results.

My conversations with Ezra Miller began in the sun-bathed lobby of a San Rafael motel hours before he was feted as the guest of honor at Kevin’s premiere at the Mill Valley Film Festival. Weeks later, we chatted in detail about Kevin and the dark themes in his first six films. Ezra, shirtless with a black vest, kept brushing back his shoulder-length hair as he corrected Internet bio gaffes.

period of writer’s block for Adams, and the rest is history.

The electrifying performance represented on the new release comes from concerts at Davies Symphony Hall in December 2010. We were wowed at the time and said so in a highly praising review. Hearing it again is a confirmation of all that is wonderful about the score and MTT’s brilliant i interpretation.

The beauty of A Adams’ invention remains endl lessly fascinating, and his gift f haunting melody, dramatic for m momentum and dazzling orc chestration will never grow o old.

The exquisitely balanced r recording captures MTT’s m mastery of detail, and offers t listener some unexpected the r revelations.

If ever there were a modern work that could bear r repeated scrutiny, this is it.

At only 42 minutes of playin time, there did seem to be a ing n need for a make-weight encore, and the disc offers a mere five minutes more with a performance taken from the opening night SFS Gala in September 2011 of Short Ride in a Fast Machine. Curiously, it is less exciting than I recall from that glamorous night, but that is hardly a deal-breaker. As a celebration of the composer’s and the Symphony’s birthdays, and also for the big 27th of Harmonielehre, the latest incarnation is an exhilarating gift to all.▼

David Lamble: You were born in Hoboken?

Ezra Miller: No, that’s not true, I was born in deeper New Jersey, in Bergen County. I went to high school in Hoboken, and entering high school is like a birth or a rite of passage. It’s like the actual death of innocence: here’s your consciousness full-on, it’s on fire, and you are not a child anymore.

You started your professional life as a kid opera singer?

At six, opera was the first art-form I found. To a child, the magical world is the truer world. It was like being taught a religion at an early age. My first production was Robert Wilson and Philip Glass’ White Raven. I auditioned for the child of the earth. The first thing they did was hoist me up in a chair 300 feet in the air, because the See page 26 >>

▼

Theatre >>

March 1-7, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 25

Heirs to the horror show

by Richard Dodds

T

he value of a buried treasure is not only in its contents but also in the labor required to unearth it. There is dramatic treasure, to be sure, in Scorched, Wajdi Mouawad’s mystery play and war horror story, but it can take some heavy lifting to get at it.

The Lebanese-born playwright’s drama has been widely produced around the world both in the original French (his family fled Lebanon when he was 7, to France and later to Montreal) and in Linda Gaboriau’s translation that must have been an arduous assignment given the profligate linguistic styles that Mouawad employs. It’s an odd situation in ACT’s area debut of Scorched, which can be both arrested and arresting.

The civil war that consumed Lebanon from 1975 to 1990 provides the background for a story that unfolds via flashbacks and contemporary scenes. Lebanon is never actually named as the setting, though there is no reason for the anonymity beyond, perhaps, the desire to bring more universality to a story that paints a horrific picture of humankind when consumed by war. Mouawad spares us actual depictions of most of the specific atrocities, relayed in dialogue that can still take your breath away.

David Strathairn, Oscar-nominated for his portrayal of Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck, provides the poster image for the production, suggesting a starturn role. But this is an ensemble production, and his character is there in support of the larger story and to provide an occasional serving of welcome comic relief. Strathairn plays a fussy French-Canadian notary prone to malapropisms who is charged with executing the will of a Lebanese emigre whose last years were spent in mysterious silence.

Their mother’s behavior has infuri-

Kevin Berne

In Scorched at ACT, David Strathairn plays a notary revealing the final bequests of a troubled women to her children, including a cryptically adorned jacket that her daughter (Annie Purcell) examines.

ated her two grown children, to each of whom the notary hands a letter to be delivered in seemingly impossible circumstances. Daughter Janine (Annie Purcell) is to deliver a letter to her father, who she was told was dead. Her twin brother Simon (Babak Tafti) is to deliver a letter to a brother that the siblings never knew existed.

“She had to piss us off right to the very end,” complains Simon, though brother and sister eventually travel to their mother’s homeland in a search that unravels her shocking saga.

The flashbacks follow their mother’s life in her homeland from age 14 to 40 (Marjan Neshat), and at age 60 (Jacqueline Antaramian) when Nawal testifies at a post-war tribunal about the atrocities inflicted upon her and others. The testimony is straightforward speechmaking, which is one of the many ways with words that the playwright employs. He can also be densely stylized, suggesting Greek tragedy, before turning glibly contem-

porary in a following scene. At times, the play feels stuck in neutral as points are repeated in wordy scenes before a return to Strathairn’s accessibly enjoyable character helps clear the fog.

That war is hell is an inevitable message, and the internecine nature of civil war adds a personal level of brutality. Mouawad brings home this latter component when Nawal’s secrets are posthumously revealed, and if they rely on theatrically convenient coincidence, this may gnaw more in retrospect than in the moment.

Directed by Carey Perloff, ACT’s Scorched is a handsomely produced and passionately acted introduction to Mouawad’s complicated world.

Ultimately, the rewards of the play trump the excavation required to achieve them.▼ Scorched will run through March 11 at ACT. Tickets are $22-$100. Call 749-2228 or go to www.act-sf.org.

Homo omnibus set

by Richard Dodds

strongest of the seven with its unlikely combination of the ad things don’t happen Latino snap-queen repartee by to gay people in Eat Our Armando Rey and Jesus FuenShorts 4, at least not the kinds tes and Greek-tragedy lamof bad things that have blightentation from Mary May Osed the past in real life and drakan. Joseph Frank is also the ma. That such issues as AIDS, author-director of this piece, homophobia, entrapment, which provides a double twist ostracization, isolation, and at the last minute to send the self-loathing can be credibly audience home on a high note. omitted from the seven short There are pleasures to be plays that make up the latest had in all the pieces, though assemblage from GuyWriters some are slight and others Theatre Company can only be can be contrived, but which considered a good thing, even have been pulled together with if those issues are still relevant quick-change efficiency by Courtesy GuyWriters for other explorations. producer Rodney “Rhonda” Ian Wolfley, left, plays a narrator unable to But even if Eat Our Shorts 4 control his characters (including Joe Sackett) in Clay. Clay is also the author is a respite from the dramatic 3 Characters in Search of a Date, part of Eat Our of the opening piece, Poolside, plaints of an oppressed people, Shorts 4 at Stage Werx. which is a blithe comedy about its subtitle, Love and Other Diromantic entanglements at sasters, reflects agonies that a gay resort that most lacks a ner) go further and further off topic, don’t need an outside enemy suitable conclusion. the narrator’s smooth demeanor to foment. One of the stated missions James A. Martin’s The Gay Man’s crumbles as he finds he has no conof GuyWriters is to “counter negative Disaster Survival Kit starts off with trol over his wards. Simple but sleek stereotypes with good humor,” which standard butch-nellie banter bedirection is by Wolfley. isn’t quite the same thing as upending tween two partners before getting The second act opens with an stereotypes altogether. less interesting as it gets more seriinspired dose of ditsy farce by playThe seven playlets at Stage Werx ous. Cass Brayton’s Flip the Switch wright-director Joseph Frank. The include a fair share of flamboyant concerns a buff gym trainer’s consetting is a restaurant where a nerdy, queens, sex-fueled men, and bottom/ version from pitcher to catcher, and nattily dressed chap (Nick Brunner) top obsessions, but they are presented Paul Kees’ What Good Friends Are is awaiting the blind date arranged jauntily and without judgment. And For is about a group of friends aghast by a computer-matchup service. The amidst these diversions, there are when one of their members decides date (Aaron Tworek) arrives on a biplaywrights who use their contributhat he is straight. cycle in sandals, shorts, and a tie-dyed tions to play imaginative games with Eat Our Shorts 5 is promised for T-shirt. A mismatch, it would seem, the theatrical form that add creative the fall, and 4 demonstrates that some but the shaggy Jesus (who uses the substantiality to the potpourri. very good writing is coming out of Spanish pronunciation) and the prim In the first act, Nick Brunner riffs GuyWriters. May these edition numLu (short for Lucifer) find they have off Pirandello and other precedents bers continue their increase.▼ a lot in common. Playwright Frank in 3 Characters in Search of a Date. It squeezes considerable fun and twists starts off with interwoven soliloquies Eat Our Shorts 4 will run at Stage from the premise. by three unlucky-in-love characters, Werx through March 10. Tickets The Lamentation of Straight Girls are $15-$20. Call 577- 7633 or go to with a somber narrator (Ian Wolfley) www.brownpapertickets.com/ who Love Sissy Boys, the final piece presiding. But as the trio (Joe Sackevent/215180. in the production, may well be the ett, Tonya Narvaez, and Nick Brun-

B

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<< Fine Art

26 • BAY AREA REPORTER • March 1-7, 2012

<<

Cult of Beauty

From page 21

rendering of a fog-shrouded Thames whose vapors envelop the Battersea Bridge, was one of several works excoriated for its unfinished quality and subject matter by the British art critics who were as dismissive of the Aesthetes as the French salon was of the Impressionists. Whistler was accused of being a phony and sued by John Ruskin; though the artist won the case, the litigation bankrupted him.

One of the movement’s erstwhile proponents was none other than wit, playwright and dandy Oscar Wilde.

Considered something of an art connoisseur, bon vivant and “Aesthetic prophet,” he introduced San Francisco to the movement when he arrived

▼

in the city for a lecture tour in 1882, wearing velvet knee breeches, long Byronic hair and a lily boutonniere. In the spirit of literary shout-outs, there’s “Call, I Follow, I Follow, Let me Die!” (1867), Julia Margaret Cameron’s ethereal, soft-focus photographic portrait of her parlor maid with long wavy hair and a faraway look. It portrays a tragic heroine of Arthurian legend, and takes its title from “Idylls of the King,” a poem by Cameron’s friend Alfred Lord Tennyson, with whom she collaborated on an illustrated edition of his poems.

The collision of multiple mediums in the galleries and room to room can be a little dizzying – in the interest of disclosure, my own taste runs toward clean, sleek lines, exposed surfaces, etc. But if you like lush painting and Rick Gerharter

The painting “Symphony in White No. 1: The White Girl” by James McNeill Whistler dominates one of the galleries in The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Garde 1860-1900 exhibit at the Palace of the Legion of Honor.

ebar.com

meticulously crafted pieces and lots of them layered together, and aren’t suffocated by the compound cacophonous effect, you’ll be in heaven here.

The idea is to give a sense of the prevailing aesthetic of a group of artists whose guiding principle was to bring objects of beauty, once thought to be the sole province of royalty and the rich, into middle-class homes, thereby changing how regular folks felt about their surroundings, and that can’t be bad. If you’re partial to massive sideboards, mantles and exquisite furnishings, this is the show for you. Architect Edward W. Godwin designed the ample, three-sided “Butterfly” cabinet – though cabinet is too mundane a word to adequately describe something this imposing. It makes its substantial presence felt with brass moldings, yellow tiles and oil decoration painted by Whistler, whose house in Chelsea Godwin also designed.

Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s armchair (1884), made of mahogany with cedar and an ebony veneer and inlaid with various woods, ivory and abalone shell, is so strikingly beautiful it must have been difficult for its owner to decide whether to sit in it or stand and admire it from afar. Inspired by the excavations of Pompeii and archaeology, and commissioned for the second president of the Metropolitan in New York, it’s one of the most extraordinary objects on view. Also influenced by antiquity is Albert Moore’s “Midsummer” (1887), a dreamy painting

Rick Gerharter

A richly decorated armchair by Lawrence Alma-Tadema (foreground) is one of many furniture pieces in The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Garde 1860-1900 exhibit at the Palace of the Legion of Honor.

of two barefoot maidens in flaming orange togas fanning a third sleeping woman in a carved wooden throne that’s draped with wreaths of flowers.

Fussy and ornate, at least by modern standards, it’s hard to imagine the patterning and decoration prevalent in the exhibition in today’s spaces; the work is of its time and place. Understanding this, the curators have installed custom-designed, historically accurate wallpapers to set the objects off to best advantage. Upstairs, you’ll find Whistler’s Peacock Room, a fullfledged dark green interior in the Aesthetic mode that was once the dining

room of a London mansion owned by shipping magnate Frederick Leyland.

(The room is permanently installed at the Freer Gallery in Washington, D.C.) Leyland collected Aesthetic paintings by Frederick Leighton, also exhibited in the show, and the ubiquitous Whistler, who transformed this space into a civilized turquoise-andgold jungle. It’s the next best thing to being there.▼

Oddly enough there are hints of Kevin’s themes in your feature debut Afterschool, where your character stumbles upon classmates dying from a drug overdose.

Adolescence is a condition with naturally horrifying side effects.

for his endless supply of rage.

What about Kevin’s sexuality?

We see that scene in which he continues to masturbate as he looks his mother in the eye. I found Kevin to be someone plundering the roots of his sexuality as one of the many outlets

I was proud of your reaction to the news blip about being busted for a small amount of pot in Michigan during the shooting of Perks of a Wallflower.

It’s kind of unfortunate that it had

to be such a publicized act of rebellion when in fact all I was doing was a very harmless substance which I feel uncomfortable even calling a drug. I hate that this sort of thing becomes a way of summing up me as a person, or even what I do for kicks.▼

<<

The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Garde, 1860-1900 shows at the Legion of Honor through June 17.

Ezra Miller

From page 24

child descends down from the sky. I was in the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus. I was an alto-soprano, but I didn’t go castrato, my voice changed, and at 14 I got cast in Afterschool. Then I came out here to do my second job, Californication, which is a funny first reason to be brought to California, for Californication: Welcome to California, kid, come get fucked!

Your reaction to seeing yourself in Kevin?

Even being terrified by my own face, I felt a sense of pride. I was attempting to be horrifying, so it’s good that I feel so wretchedly uncomfortable watching myself. With something like this, you’re sort of shooting blind, so when any of it works it’s sort of a happy miracle.

▼

Film >>

March 1-7, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 27

Woody Harrelson as Officer Dave Brown in Rampart, now playing.

Mean streets

by David Lamble

I

MEDIA NETWORK

n the police procedural Rampart, from the makers of The Messenger, Woody Harrelson builds on his portrait of a career soldier whose job is to deliver the worst possible news to military next of kin, to create a much scarier but recognizable American archetype. He’s the rogue cop from hell whose capacity for inflicting criminal levels of mayhem on the job is exceeded only by the reams of self-justifying bullshit he dispenses to keep the brass off his case.

We’ve seen guys like Officer Dave Brown before, and each time they’ve earned their creators Best Acting honors: Gene Hackman’s charming if racist, nihilist drug cop Popeye Doyle in The French Connection; Denzel Washington’s tour de force effort to recruit a rookie to his twisted street law in Training Day. Israeli-born director Oren Moverman and his screenwriting partner James Ellroy have upped the bad cop sweepstakes by so thoroughly embedding us with Brown that it’s hard to imagine that his methods – a Rodney King-style beating of a felony driving suspect, the brutal murder of a man observed holding up an illegal poker game, and the possible murder of an accused stalker – aren’t precisely what Los Angelinos expect from those entrusted “to protect and serve.”

Part of what makes Rampart so exhilarating for some and so toxic for others is Moverman’s use of the takeno-prisoners, hands-on, pores-open, gonzo filmmaking methods of Mexican auteur Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. In this Dante’s Inferno approach to a corrupt cop’s final descent into folly and madness are slices of Inarritu’s incendiary first feature Amores Perros (Love’s a Bitch) and the more reflective but bleaker world-view of Inarritu’s recent Biutiful. If you were to splice the life arcs of Gael Garcia Bernal’s dog-fighting kid in Amores Perros with Javier Bardem’s dying Barcelona coyote in Biutiful, you’d find the trace elements that make Harrelson’s Brown simultaneously enticing and repellent.

As we enter the story (LA, 1999), Brown is a 24-year LAPD veteran whose cowboy street tactics have made him both a hero on the force and a royal pain in the butt to politicians facing media outrage over revelations of police crimes in the city’s Rampart Division. Brown has learned to milk the clichés clinging to the reputation of a Vietnam vet who applies Green Beret tactics to policing South Central.

His life is filled to overflowing with strong if highly conflicted women.

They are an Assistant DA (Sigourney Weaver) who’s pressing Dave to quit to rescue the dept.’s battered image, a sex-loving defense attorney (Robin Wright) who picks Dave up at a singles bar (“I like sucking cock,”) and

a pair of sisters (Cynthia Nixon and Anne Heche) whom Dave married back to back, each of whom has given him a rebellious daughter.

Brie Larson (TV’s The United States of Tara) plays Dave’s lesbian older daughter who runs into Dad as the canine unit trains pit bulls for crowd control duty. The daughter/ dad repartee contains a whiff of the affection that may have resided in the relationship a decade back.

“I don’t like the idea of you taking the bus down to this jungle.”

“It’s a barrio, Dad.” “How’s school?”

“It’s full of candy-assed fags and dykes like me.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You’re homophobic, chauvinistic, racist and violent.”

Dave is used to controlling his women through a macho brand of profane street jive and anti-charm attack that seems to work with women with Daddy issues or who just can’t resist a bastard in uniform. In an early scene, he’s breaking in a slightly overweight female rookie. Dave spots a weakness in the young officer’s addiction to junk food.

“Eat your French fries.”

“I have a cholesterol problem.”

“Finish those fucking French fries if you want to make probation. Everything you’ve learned up to now at the Academy is bullshit! This is a military occupation. Let’s have some fun!”

How much fun you’ll have with Rampart will depend on how much you enjoy patented James Ellroy characters, the kind that populated his novel LA Confidential. Almost stealing the movie are veteran Ned Beatty’s folksy turn as a retired cop in his 70s who has his fingers in corrupt honey pots, Ben Foster’s comic spin on a wheelchair-bound homeless scam artist known as “the General,” and Ice Cube’s take on a DA investigator determined to bring Dave down.

Fans of the 1988 Dennis Hopperdirected LAPD vs. street gangs film Colors will be unsurprised at how little seems to change on LA’s mean streets.

If anything, the growing threat of Mexico’s drug cartels may make Rampart a preview of coming attractions as the US is drawn into policing cartel-held territories along the border.

Harrelson has ratcheted up his game to where he can deliver the existential character madness that brought Bardem Oscar’s kiss for No Country for Old Men. Rampart is a great vehicle for strong female energy, especially Weaver and post-Sean Penn Robin Wright. The movie gives off the kind of deliciously evil sparks that made Ryan Gosling’s Drive a hit with some queer audiences.

Dave Brown’s final bit of bluster unfolds in a poignant hotel room scene.

As Dave confesses, “Everything you’ve heard about me is true, but I never hurt an innocent person,” his lesbian daughter asks, “What about us?”▼

COAST TO COAST..

EDGE IS THERE! H HERE! JOIN THE CONVERSATION ON ON FACEBOOK: EDGE MEDIA NETWORK DIA NETWO ORK RK AND ON TWITTER: @EDGEontheNet DGE Eonthe eNet et

DC ATLANTA 96AA6H ;>G: >HA6C9 ;I# A6J9:G96A: A6H H ; ;>G: >HA6C9 ;I# A A6J9:G96A: H ADH 6C<:A:H 7DHIDC C:L NDG@ DGA6C9D DHI ID DC C C:L NDG@ D DGA6C9D =>6 8=>86<D EGDK>C8:IDLC H6C 9>:<D H6C DK>C8 8:IDLC H H6C 9 9>:<D H H6C 8D 96AA6H L6H=>C<IDC 98 C:L :C<A6C9 C< <I IDC 9 98 C:L : :C<A6C9 DC 8=>86<D 96AA6H ;>G: >HA6C9 ;I# A6J9:G96A: A6H H ; ;>G: >HA6C9 ; ;I# A A6J9:G96A: DH 6C<:A:H ;I# A6J9:G96A: C:L NDG@ DGA6C9D J9:G G96A: C C:L NDG@ D DGA6C9D GDK>C C8:IDLC A A6H K K:<6H H H6C 6 EGDK>9:C8: EGDK>C8:IDLC A6H K:<6H H6C H:6IIA: ADH 6C<:A:H C:L :C<A6C9;>G: >HA6C9 A: :H C C:L :C<A6C9;>G: >HA6C9 8=>86<D C:L NDG@ ;>G: >HA6C9 ;I# A6J9:G96A: A6H K:<6H @ ;>G G: >HA6C9 ; ;I# A A6J9:G96A: A A6H K K: HA6C9 9 E=>A69:AE=>6 E E6AB H HEG>C<H H H6 C:L NDG@ ;>G: >HA6C9 E=>A69:AE=>6 E6AB HEG>C<H H6C 9 A6H K:<6H DGA6C9D B>6B> H6C ;G6C8>H8D 6C9 9D B B>6B> H6C ; ;G6C8>H8D C 9>:<D E=>A69:AE=>6 C:L :C<A6C9 DGA6C9D E=>A69:AE=>6 =>6 C:L :C<A6C9 DGA6C9D E=>A69: HIDC 8=>86<D H6C ;G6C8>H8D ;>G: >HA6C9 ;I# A6H K:<6H H:6IIA: B>6B> C:L NDG@ DGA6C9D

<< Out&About

28 • BAY AREA REPORTER • March 1-7, 2012

Thu 1>> Bare Chest Calendar SemiFinals @ SF Powerhouse Weekly contest where men strip their shirts off to compete in the annual fundraiser calendar. Thru March. 8pm. 1347 Folsom St. 552-8689. www.barechest.org www.powerhouse-sf.com

Comedy Bodega @ Esta Nocha The new LGBT and indie comic stand-up night’s hosted by “Mr. Gomez” (retired Telemundo extra and associate of comic Marga Gomez). 8pm-9:30pm. 3079 16th St. at Mission. www.comedybodega.com

Audience as Subject @ YBCA Mark Bradford (wild found material sculptures) and Audience as Subject, Part 2, (big photos of fans at soccer matches and rock concerts), plus other exhibits. Thru May 27.

701 Mission St. 978-2787. www.ybca.org

Becky Shaw @ SF Playhouse Gina Gionfriddo’s comic play about straight couples’ blind dates and misadventures. $15-$35. Tue-Thu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm, and Sat 3pm. Thru March 10. 533 Sutter St. www.sfplayhouse.org

Emeli Sandee

A Doctor in Spite of Himself @ Berkeley Repertory

Funny Face, Love Streams @ Castro Theatre

Singing the Golden State

Califortunate

By Jim Provenzano

B

eing a Californian, specifically a Bay Area arts lover with finely tuned gaydar, this week is proving most fortunate.

Want to sing a song of love to the Golden State? Pick from classic and obscure ditties at Singing the Golden State at The Society of California Pioneers, an exhibit of beautiful sheet music and artwork from 1849 -1930s, all with California themes. Curated James M. Keller, the exhibit includes a few subtly gay and historically transgender subjects. $2.50-$5.

Wed-Fri 10am-4pm. First Saturdays 10am-4pm. 300 Fourth St. 957-1849. www.californiapioneers.org/singing_ the_golden_state.html Oh, hey, choreographer pal Todd Eckert. Could you make some new dances, particularly a duet between you and Kai Medeiros, one of the most Heu-Jwyn Chang Shared Space. gorgeous dancers in town? You did?

Thanks. Shared Space 5 at Dance Mission Theater, the fifth annual concert of new and repertory dance works by Eckert and Nol Simonse, will assuredly astound and surprise. $20. Fri & Sat 8pm. March 2 & 3, 8pm. March 4, 7pm. 3316 24th St. at Mission. 2734633. www.sharedspacesf.org Wouldn’t it be great to see a documentary about a great gay composer? Done.

Lou Harrison: A World of Music screens at the Castro Theater March 6, at a benefit premiere before the theatrical release (at the Roxy, March 9) of Eva Soltes’ documentary about the prolific gay 20th-century composer. Proceeds benefit Harrison House Music & Arts in Joshua Tree. $25 film only, 7pm. $125 VIP reception, 5:30pm. 429 Cas- Lou Harrison tro St. (800) 838-3006. www.harrisondocumentary.com www.castrotheatre.com Dear amazing gay director Quentin Lee. Could you please make a movie with some of today’s cutest young actors, and make sure they take their shirts off a lot? You did? Thanks!

The 30th annual Asian American Film Festival (at various theaters) includes films from many countries, including some GLB & T-themed features like Two-Dad Families and Coming Out in a Burmese American Family. The March 8 opening night film, Lee’s White Frog, stars Booboo Stewart White Frog opens the Asian American Film Festival (The Twilight Saga), Joan Chen, B.D. Wong, Tyler Posey (Teen Wolf) and Harry Shum Jr. (Glee). 8pm at the Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St. Closing night feature Prison Dancer is also gay-themed. Special events and parties thru the festival. Thru March 18. $11-$20. www.caamedia.org You’ve read the book, you’ve seen the film. How about the play?

E. M. Forster’s Maurice, Andy Graham and Roger Parsley’s stage adaptation of the pioneering 1914 novel about the romance between an aristocratic Englishman and a working-class groundskeeper, plays now at New Conservatory Theatre Center. $22-$45.

Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru March 25. 25 Van Ness Ave. at Lois Tema Market, lower level. 861-8972.

Maurice www.nctcsf.org

Geezer @ The Marsh, Berkeley Veteran clown Geoff Hoyle’s solo show about a life in the theatre, aging and its problems and joys. Thu & Sat 8pm. Sun 5pm. Thru March 18. 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Karyn White @ The Rrazz Room Grammy nominee performs music from her new CD. $45-$55. 8opm. Also Mar. 2, 8pm; 2 at 7pm & 9:30pm. 2-drink min.

Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 3803095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Mamma Mia! @ Orpheum Theatre The popular ABBA musical returns. $30$100. Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat & Sun 2pm.

Thru March 4. 1192 Market St. (888) SHN 1799. www.shnsf.com/shows/mammamia

Merchants @ Exit Stage Left No Nude Men Productions’ staging of Susan Sobeloff’s drama about an artist and her financial consultant sister’s collaborative and lucrative scheme. $10-$25. Most Fri & Sat 8pm. Thru March 24. www. brownpapertickets.com/event/221334

The Producers @ SF School of the Arts Student production of the wacky musical satire about Broadway show producers who try to intentionally make a flop – about Hitler. $15-$20. March 2 & 3 at 7:30pm. Also March 3 at 2pm. 555 Portola.

695-5720. www.sfsota.org

Queer Comic Artists @ Cartoon Art Museum Exhibit of work by several LGBT comic artists. Free-$7. Thru March 4. Reg hours Tue-Sun 11am-5pm. 655 Mission St. www.cartoonart.org

Soiree Kickoff Reception @ CPMC Davies Campus Reception to promote the LGBT Center’s 10th anniversary gala Soiree 10 (March 24 at the Design Center Galleria), with many local LGBT celebrities and politicians. Free.

6pm-8pm. Archibald/Ehrenberg Rehabilitation Terrain Park at California Pacific Medical Center, Davies Campus, 45 Castro St. www.sfcenter.org

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

Tree City Legends @ Intersection for the Arts Playwright-musician Dennis Kim’s multidisciplinary theater work melds post-hip hop aesthetics, urban folklore, Korean traditional tales, live music, legend, and parable. $20$25. 8pm. Thru March 3. 925 Mission St. 626-3311. www.theintersection.org

Fri 2 >>

Alice Superbrain @ The Garage New dance-theatre work; also The Twin Section featuring Silvia Girardi. $10-$20.

8pm. Also March 3. 975 Howard St. www.975howard.com

Tontlawald @ Exit Theatre Cutting Ball Theater’s production of Eugenie Chan’s theatre-dance play, based on an ancient Estonian fable, about a girl who escapes to a mysterious forest. $10-$50.

Gala opening Feb. 24 ($50). Thu 7:30pm.

Fri & Sat 8pm. Sat 2pm. Sun 5pm. Thru March 11. 277 Taylor St. 525-1205. www.cuttingball.com

True West, Buried Child @ Boxcar Theatre Gritty dramas of battling brothers and family secrets; the first and second of four Sam Shepard plays the company will perform in repertory thru April 26. True West and Buried Child thru April 7. $25$35, or $85-$120 full pass. 505 Natoma St. 967-2227. www.boxcartheatre.org

Vice Palace @ Hypnodrome Theatre

Moliere’s classic comedy –about a man who impersonates a physician to woo his girl–gets a zing-filled contemporary pop culture update in this co-production with Yale Repertory Theatre. $14-$73. Tue, Fri-Sat 8pm. Wed 7pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm.

Thru March 25. 2015 Addison St., Berkeley.

(510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

Double feature of films – the fun Hepburn/ Astaire musical (2:25, 7pm) and the dramatic Cassavetes film (4:25, 9pm), both photographed by Doe Avedon. $10. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com

▼

Fri 2 Emeli Sandée @ Café du Nord Stylish and talented British singer, who’s opened for Coldplay and Alicia Keys, stops through as part of her U.S. mini-tour. $14. 9:30pm.

2170 Market St. 861-5016. www.emelisande.com

Body Awareness @ Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Aurora Theatre company performs Annie Baker’s comic play about a lesbian couple whose lives become unraveled by their new male housemate. $30-$55. Tue 7pm. WedSat 8pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm. Thru March 11.

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

Dandelion Dancetheater @ CounterPulse Innovative company premieres Arthur in Underland, an “atmospheric mystery” about an occult rock band obsession and sexual daring, set in 1980s Berkeley. $13$24. Preview March 2-4 8pm. Runs March 9-18, Fri & Sat 8pm. 1310 Mission St. at 9th. www.dandeliondancetheater.org www.counterpulse.org

Eat Our Shorts 4 @ Stage Werx Love and Other Disasters, Guy Writers’ fourth annual short play series, with seven short gay-themed plays. $15-$20. Thu-Sat 8pm thru March 9. 446 Valencia St. www.guywritersonline.org

Ishi: The Last of the Yahi @ Zellerbach Playhouse, Berkeley Theatre Rhino’s John Fisher wrote and directed this touching drama about the last surviving member of the Yahi tribe. $10-$15. Thru March 11. Fri & Sat 8pm.

Sun 2pm. Bancroft at Telegraph Ave, UC Berkeley campus. (510) 642-8827. www.tdps.berkeley.edu

The Pack A.D. @ Rickshaw Stop Disturbingly good rock duo performs. Elliot Brood and Mwahaha also perform. $10.

9pm. 155 Fell St. www.rickshawstop.com

Planet of the Apes, Beneath the Planet of the Apes @ Castro Theatre Double feature of the first (2:30, 7pm) and second (4:40, 9:10) in the classic quintet of Apes films, starring Charlton Heston and James Franciscus in skimpy loincloths. $10.

429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com

The Real Americans @ the Marsh Dan Hoyle returns with his fascinating multiple-character solo show based on his cross-country trek into America’s red states and liberal cities. $25-$50. Fri 8pm.

Sat 5pm. Sun 2pm. Thru March 18. 1062 Valencia St. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

The darkly comic Cockettes musical, expanded and revised by the talented Scrumbly Koldwyn, returns by popular demand after a successful brief tour to New York City. See the musical update on The Masque of the Red Death, with local talents Leigh Crowe, Flynn DeMarco, L. Ron Hubby, Russell Blackwood, Birdie Bob Wyatt, Joshua Devore, and more. $30-$35.

Fri & Sat 8pm. Thru March 3. 575 10th St. at Bryant/Division. 377-4202. www.thrillpeddlers.com

Sat 3>> Becoming Britney @ The Retrodome, San Jose Comedy musical parody about a certain oft-crazed female pop star, featuring Bay Area fave Leanne Borghesi (Anita Cocktail). $33-$44. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm.

Thru March 11. 1694 Saratoga Ave. (408) 404-7711. www.theretrodome.com

Collected @ Museum of the African Diaspora Subtitled Stories of Acquisition and Reclamation, this new exhibit displays more than 100 objects that help narrate the struggles and contributions of African Americans in California. Free-$12. Thru March 4. 685 Mission St. at 3rd. 358-7200. www.moadsf.org

The Cult of Beauty @ Legion of Honor Subtitled The Victorian Avante-Garde, 1860-1900, this new exhibit focuses on the British Aesthetic Movement; paintings, architecture and decorative arts. Free-$20.

Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. Thru June 17.

Lincoln Park, 100 34th Ave. 750-3620. www.famsf.org

Irvin Mayfield & the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra @ Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley Trumpeter, composer and bandleader leads his ensemble in original works and big band songs by Duke Ellington and Count Basie. $20-$55. 8pm. UC Berkeley campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph. (510) 642-9988. www.calperformances.org

The Pirates of Penzance @ Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, Berkeley Berkeley Playhouse adapts the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta as a post-apocalyptic punk extravaganza; think Terry Gilliam’s Brazil meets Glee. $17-$35. Fri 7pm. Sat 2pm & 7pm. Sun 12pm & 5pm. Thru April 1. 2640 College Ave., Berkeley. (510) 4858542. www.berkeleyplayhouse.org

Scary Cow Film Fest @ Castro Theatre Screenings of funny, odd and unusual short films. $15-$40. 3pm-8pm. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.scarycow.com www.castrotheatre.com

Titus Andronicus @ La Val’s Subterranean, Berkeley Impact Theatre’s up-close production of Shakespeare’s most violent, gory drama.

Prepare to be splattered. No, really.

Don’t wear clothes you don’t want to get fake-bloody. $10-$20. Thu-Sat 8pm. 1834 Euclid Ave. (510) 224-5744. www.impacttheatre.com

Sun 4>>

Three’s Company @ Finn’s Funhouse

California Dreaming @ Contemp. Jewish Museum

D’Arcy Drollinger, Mike Finn, Laurie Bushman and Jane Wiedlin (of the Go-Gos) stage a live performance of two early episodes of the innuendo-laden ‘70s sitcom at the intimate home-theatre. $20. Fri & Sat at 7pm & 9pm. Thru March 3.

814 Grove St, at Fillmore (Alamo Square Park). Limited seating. www.brownpapertickets.com/event/223125

Jewish Life in the Bay Area from the Gold Rush to the Present , an exhibit about the lives of historic Western American Jewish people, from Levi’s jeans and Ginsberg’s Howl to Gump’s and LGBT synagogues; thru Oct. 16. Also, works by Stanley Saitowitz (thru Oct. 16) and Do Not Destroy: Trees, Art and Jewish Thought. Thru May 28. $5-$12. Thu-Tue 11am-5pm. 736 Mission St. 655-7800. www.thecjm.org

▼

Out&About >>

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo @ Castro Theatre Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara costar in the exciting Oscar-nominated thriller. $10.

1pm, 4:30pm, 8pm. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com

Janis Paige @ The Rrazz Room Veterans star of stage, screen and TV performs her musical autobiographical solo show. $35-$40. 5pm. Also Mar. 5, 8pm. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Outlook Video @ Chanel 29 Monthly LGBT news and entertainment show. This month, SAGA North LGBT ski club, Rainbow Wirld Fund’s Tree of Hope, singer Xavier Toscano, and historic footage of then-Gov. Wilson’s AB 101 veto.

5pm and streaming online. www.outlookvideo.org

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

Wolfgang Holzmair @ Hertz Hall, Berkeley Opera baritone’s solo recital of Schubert’s Winterreise, with pianist Russell Ryan. $48. 3pm. Bancroft Way at College Ave. (510) 642-9988. www.calperformances.org

Mon 5>> Omar d'Leon @ Paul Mahder Gallery Exhibit of work by the Nicaraguan neomagic realist painter. Mon-Sat 10am-7pm Sun 1pm-5pm. Thru March. 3378 Sacramento St. www.paulmahdergallery.com

The Glamour the Better @ Glama-Rama Exhibit of paintings and photos by Ciara Bedingfield, Hadley Northrop, and Sean Vallely. Thru April 7. 304 Valencia St. www.glamarama.com

RuPaul’s Drag Race @ Deco Lounge Weekly viewing party of the fab drag queen ‘reality’ show’s new season. 510

March 1-7, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 29

Larkin St. at Turk. 346-2025. www.decosf.com

Tue 6>> All-Stars @ The Garage New dance-performance works with a queer edge by Ri Molnar, Anna Nowicka, Dominika Bednarska and Kai West. $10$20. 8pm. Also March 7. 975 Howard St. www.975howard.com

Beauty and the Beast @ Center for the Performing Arts, San Jose Broadway San Jose presents the touring company of the hit musical based on the Disney animated film. $20-$74.50. TueThu 7:3pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sat 2pm. Sun 1pm & 6pm. Thru March 11. 251 Almaden Blvd. www.broadwaysanjose.com

Brian Dettmer @ Toomey Tourell Gallery Beguiling pop culture collages made entirely out of books. Tue-Fri 11am-5:30pm Sat til 5pm. 49 Geary, 4th floor. Thru March 31.

989-6444. www.toomey-tourell.com

The Drag Show @ Various Channels Stu Smith’s weekly LGBT variety show features local talents, and not just drag artistes.

Channels 29 & 76 on Comcast; 99 on AT&T and 30 on Astound. www.thedragshow.org

Elect to Laugh @ The Marsh Will Durst welcomes comic commentator pals to a new weekly political humor night. $15-$50. 8pm. Thru Nov 6. 1062 Valencia St. at 21st. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Lucie Arnaz @ The Rrazz Room Actress-singer (with a pair of notable parents) performs her show biz-themed cabaret act. $45. 8pm. Thru Mar.11 (all 8pm except Mar 11 at 7pm). 2-drink min.

Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 3803095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

The News @ SOMArts Gallery New monthly experimental performance series with a queer edge; works by Keke Hunt, Samuel Kehl, Jai Arun Ravine, Mica Sigourney, Aurora Switchblade, and Tessa Wills. $5. 7:30pm. 934 Brannan St.at 9th. www.somarts.org

Arthur Tress’ photos

Wed 7>> Author, Author @ SF Public Library Michael Childer’s photographs of prominent authors, screenwriters and playwrights (including several gay writers). Special tour March 7, with a lectureslideshow in Koret Auditorium, 6pm.

100 Larkin St. www.sfpl.org

Garrison Keillor @ Zellerbach Hall Author and host of A Prairie Home Companion performs his solo humor act. $20$70. 8pm. UC Berkeley campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph. (510) 642-9988. www.calperformances.org

I Do. Who Can’t? @ Commonwealth Club Panel discussion about marriage equality, with Kathy Levinson (philanthropist; CoChair, LGBT National Finance Committee for Obama) and Rev. Roland Stringfellow (Director of Ministerial Outreach, Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies). $7-$20.

6pm. 595 Market St., 2nd fl. 507-6700. www.commonwealthclub.org

Manhattan, Welcome to L.A. @ Castro Theatre Two distinctly different films about major cities; Woody Allen’s classic (3pm, 7pm) and Alan Rudolph’s West Coast film (4:55, 8:55). $10. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com

Our Vast Queer Past @ GLBT History Museum See the fascinating exhibit from the GLBT Historical Society, with a wide array of rare historic items on display. New miniexhibit Life & Death in Black & White: AIDS Direct Action in San Francisco, 19851990, includes photos by Jane Philomen Cleland, Patrick Clifton, Marc Geller, Rick Gerharter and Daniel Nicoletta. Free for members-$5. Wed-Sat 11am-7pm.

Sun 12pm-5pm. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

Thu 8>> Anna Antrophy @ Modern Times Bookstore Reading and discussion/signing by the author of Rise of the Videogame Zinesters: How Freaks, Normals, Amateurs, Artists, Dreamers, Drop-Outs, Queers, Housewives, and People Like You are Taking Back an Art Form. 7pm. 2919 24th St. www.mtbs.com

Better This World @ YBCA Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega’s film about activist whose lives are radically changed as they dig deep into hardcore terrorism accusations. $6-$8.

7:30pm. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

701 Mission st. www.ybca.org

Danú @ Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley

Xavier Castellanos’ art

Celtic band performs traditional Irish music. $20-$46. 8pm. UC Berkeley campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph. (510) 642-9988. www.calperformances.org

Ebéne Quartet @ Herbst Theatre

Children of Paradise

Daniel Dallabrida’s art

Pictures perfect H

ere’s a diverse quartet of gay artists exhibiting their paintings, photos and other visual art.

Friday, March 2 is the opening reception for Children of Paradise: Life With the Cockettes at Canessa Gallery, an exhibit of Fayette Hauser’s rarely seen photos of the famed drag theatre collective. 5pm-10pm.

Cockettes film night March 17, 8pm. Closing night party March 30. Exhibit hours Wed 12pm-3pm and by appointment. 708 Montgomery St. 296-9029. www.canessa.org March 2 is also the opening reception for Daniel Dallabrida’s exhibit of ceramic and décollage works depicting themes of AIDS survivors, activism and elders in the gay community. Dallabrida worked for years in the HIV community before studying sculpture in Italy. Reception 8pm-10pm. Exhibit thru March 28 at Magnet, 4122 18th St. 581-1613. www.dallabrida.com www.magnetsf.org Arthur Tress: San Francisco 1964 opens March 3 at the de Young Museum, and the veteran photographer of classic black & white images gives a talk related to his new exhibit of rarely seen prints. Free-$10. Lecture March 3, 2pm in Koret Auditorium, with a book-signing. Exhibit thru June 4, Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. 750-3600. www.famsf.org Gay painter Xavier Castellanos’ exhibit of quaint colorful works continues thru March 31 at at Alliance Francaise, 1345 Bush St. www.xavierart.com – J.P.

San Francisco premiere of the highly praised French music ensemble, who perform string quartet works by Mozart, Borodin and Ravel. $38-$60. 8pm.

401 Van Ness ave. 392-2545. www.sfperformances.org

The Human Form @ Robert Tat Gallery Exhibit of vintage and contemporary photographic prints, including some stunning male and female nudes by James Bidgood, George Platt Lynes, Wilhelm Von Gloeden and others. Tue-Sat 11am-5:30pm.

49 Geary St. #410. 781-1122. www.roberttat.com

Human Rights Watch Film Festival @ YBCA Weekly screenings of films from around the world that focus on human rights abuses and freedoms. $6-$8. Mostly 7:30pm. Thru Mar. 29. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. 978-2787. www.ybca.org

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

Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication.

For more bar and nightlife events, go to www.bartabsf.com

<< Society

30 • BAY AREA REPORTER • March 1-7, 2012

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San Francisco social life

by Donna Sachet ven to this untrained eye, San Francisco Ballet’s recent performance at LGBT NiteOut was incredible, featuring dramatically lit sets, captivating modern music, and unbelievably graceful and expressive dance. Most enthusiastically received was the world premiere of Mark Morris’ Beaux, danced entirely by men, toying with various physical entanglements, and supported by surprisingly contemporary harpsichord passages. During both intermissions and certainly at the reception upstairs afterwards, the high percentage of LGBT audience was obvious, including Tom Horn, Luis Cubba, Ari Kalfayan, Michael Loftis & Erik Nickel, Chris Carnes, Janine Shiota, John Newmeyer, and Philip Mayard.

The next in this LGBT NiteOut series is Friday, March 23, with pieces choreographed by Rudolf Nureyev and Yuri Possokhov, and an Ashley Page world premiere. For both the performance and the company, don’t miss it!

We celebrated Presidents’ Day over brunch at Lime, where hostess Anita Cocktail and DJ Don Lynch kept the mood lively, handsome waiters mixed disco dancing with their service, and everyone savored the southern-themed brunch entrees and bottomless mimosas.

Other diners included K.C. Dare, Drew Cutler, Tommy Taylor, Bebe Sweetbriar, Skye Paterson, and Jorge Chamorro. This monthly series of Rhythm & Biscuits Locals’ Brunches at Lime on Market Street continues on Friday, March 16, preceding St. Patrick’s Day. Last weekend was all about the Imperial Court, starting with local awards and a show at Trigger on Wednesday night. Reigning Emperor Frankie Fernandez and Empress Saybeline recognized many hard-working supporters and invited select performers to dazzle the audience. The following night, Marlena’s bar in Hayes Valley honored the Emperors & Empresses celebrating round-numbered anniversaries, in other words, Empress XLII Chika (five years), Emperor XXX Berlin and Empress XXXVII Barbie Dawn La Choy (10 years), Emperor XXV Jacques Michaels (15 years), and Emperor XX Douglass Stromberg and Empress XXVII Velveeta Mozzarella (20 years).

Tastefully displayed throughout the bar were elements of the Imperial Court’s 46-year history, including crowns, portraits, souvenir pins, certificates of honor, and photographs. History was certainly on display that night!

Friday night was the Jose Honors Awards & Dinner at Hotel Kabuki, attended by over 100 guests from across the continent. Named for and in honor of Jose Sarria, the founder of the International Court System, this award recognizes those who embody the best qualities of this campy but generous community. Queen Mother of the Americas Nicole the Great presided over this elegant formal evening, presenting awards to six individuals, including local Emperor John Carrillo and Grand Duchess Colette LeGrande, and the Imperial Court of All Alaska. In addition, the second-ever International Emperor I Marcus Hernandez Humanitarian Award was given to Lenny Broberg, popular local fundraiser, SF Police officer, and 1992 Mr. San Francisco Leather and International Mr. Leather, for his tireless and ongoing support of so many worthy charitable organizations. At our table were Emperor Brian Benamati & Tony Onorati, Dan Glazer, Biff

E

Steven Underhill

Donna Sachet is on the Oscars beat at the Academy of Friends Gala last Sunday night at the SF Design Center Galleria.

Steven Underhill

Mamma Mia cast members including Ethan Le Phong, left, perform following the Oscars telecast at the Academy of Friends Gala last Sunday night at the SF Design Center Galleria.

Wilson, Rink Foto, and Mr. Gay SF Kit Tapata.

Finally, Saturday’s Imperial Coronation 47, titled Every Day is a Parade, was a sparkling night of pageantry and entertainment at the Design Center. With over 600 people in attendance and over 30 courts represented from Canada, the United States, and Mexico, it was a fittingly festive finale to the Reign of Emperor Frankie & Empress Saybeline. From 6 p.m. until nearly Midnight, friendships were renewed, new jewelry was unveiled, custom gowns were paraded, and thousands of dollars raised by the court during the year were presented to charitable organizations. State Senator Mark Leno, City Supervisor Scott Wiener, and City Treasurer Jose Cisneros all came to offer their congratulations. At the peak of the evening, the newly elected monarchs were introduced, Emperor Bradley Roberts and Empress Sissy St. Clair! Best of luck to them!

Our weekend ended with that spectacular celebration of the Oscars, the Academy of Friends Gala!

From the stylish entry and goldpainted live statues to the extensive silent auction and numerous foodsampling stations, from the luxuriously dressed crowd and beautifully lit, sprawling atrium to the plethora

of wine tastings and awesome Ketel One shrine, and from the scores of large-screen video monitors to the live talents of the cast of Mamma Mia, it was obvious that this party is back on the map as the place to be on Oscar night. Among the celebrants were event founder Kile Ozier, Will Whitaker, Richard Sablatura, Jeff Doney, Scott Miller, John Marez, Mario Diaz, Tom Tarn, Kenyon Devault, Kevin Shanahan & Michael Montoya, Kaushik Roy, Nanette Duffy, Terry Penn, J. Conrad Frank, Arthur Allione, Rick Hamer, Icarus Cipriano, and Alec Hughes & Gavin Hamilton. We congratulate the Academy of Friends and anxiously await the financial results of this fun party for its designated charities.

A few quick reminders of upcoming must-attend events: Lenny Broberg’s Roast/Tribute is tonight, Thursday, March 1, at The Arc, 1500 Howard St., and the Mr. SF Leather Contest is Saturday night at Hotel Whitcomb, 1231 Market St. Next Thursday is LGBT Night at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre’s production of Blue/Orange at 450 Post St., Friday is a re-election fundraiser and party for State Senator Mark Leno at Trigger, and Saturday is the Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation’s Gay Night at the Wax Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf, hosted by Armistead Maupin, Sister Roma, and this intrepid columnist. Does it ever end?▼

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Karnall >>

March 1-7, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 31

Love machines

by John F. Karr

S

o many surprising things in one week. Like the sorta things that are considered news these days.

When Michael Ian Black was asked by Entertainment Weekly whether a possible sequel to the movie Wet Hot American Summer might give him an encore of the steamy scene in which he topped Bradley Cooper, he admitted, “If Bradley will have me, he could be the ‘top’ this time.”

And in the Bay Guardian, rocker/ bear/DJ Bob Mould was asked what he thought, as a Castro resident, about public nudity. “Cool by me,” he responded. “But when you put a cock ring on, you’re not naked.

It crosses over into something else.

I’m no prude. I love cock rings, too, but there’s a time and a place.” Didja ever think national mags would report Who’s Topping Whom, or papers of record would provide cock ring editorials? I’m surprised.

Also surprising was the way Cavin Knight gushed like a schoolgirl as he babble-blogged on and on that he and Tristan Jaxx were – get ready now: dating! Big news, that.

I sincerely hope their relationship lasts so much longer than I cynically believe it will.

The biggest surprise of all came from LucasEntertainment. It’s a new sexo called Men in Love. The movie’s a sequel of sorts to LucasEnt’s Eye Contact. In that one, the performers made efforts to directly address viewers about their salacious desires. In Men in Love, they make rewardingly successful efforts to communicate to each other their surpassing love.

That’s right, you heard me. In five scenes running only 20 minutes short of three hours, directors Mr. Pam and Michael Lucas have delivered episodes of love-lust at its best. A movie in which sex expresses love. How so?

Verbally, natch, in whispered proclamations. What’s surprising about the performers’ amorous avowals in general is that they they don’t get gooey, and they ring true.

And at any rate, talking is minimal, and the genuine communication between partners in Men in Love is principally non-verbal. The movie embodies the primary rule of narrative: it doesn’t tell us, it shows us. For one thing, without taking the edge off torrid sex, it’s slower-paced, unhurried. We’re on a luxury cruise, not a bullet train – porn’s usual mode of conveyance. So to the usual athletics of porn there’s been added depth of intent. The performers provide surface sensation all over the place, but also some entry into the soul of the matter.

Aiding and amplifying this are the expanded prologue and postlude each scene is allowed, so much more than usual. And I find that even better than a languid lead-in is a slow exit.

There’s no hasty departure after orgasm, but a savoring of the moment, with the relaxed kisses and slow drift into cuddling’s reverie that are some of fucking’s finest moments.

More than anything else that dif-

LucasEntertainment

Ben Brown romances Scott Carter in LucasEntertainment’s Men in Love.

ferentiates Men in Love from the general glut of porn is that emotion is present. Whether truly felt or finely feigned, it’s present. The directors have attempted something no other producer of porn has dared, or perhaps even thought of. And they’ve succeeded.

Men in Love was filmed in Ibiza, and makes full use of the lush island’s beauty. The scenes take place on a wicker bed in a forest, on an outcropping high above the ocean, and, most thrilling, on the rocks at land’s end. Jonathan Agassi’s partner is Issac Jones, a 29-year-old, six-foot-tall, uncut Frenchman with a swimmer’s build and a strong, silent intensity. He’s made a handful of scenes for an English website, and been in a couple films made in the UK, including the delightfully titled A Policeman Fucked My Son, in which he’s partnered by yummy

Ben Brown; no doubt I’ll be checking that out. Men in Love is his Stateside debut, and it’s swell, especially when he shoots his load into Agassi’s cum-hungry mouth. Jones’ near look-alike, Will Helm, tops Damien Crosse in a scene that starts with the white-briefed guys indulging in some provocative bulge worship, and builds to a hot fuck.

Strangely, though Crosse is an inveterate semen swallower, he denies us the pleasure here, in Lucasland, the oral cum-shot’s home and haven.

Beguiling Leo Helios gets a doozy of a love-fuck from Rafael Carrerras. Jees, does Carreras grind around when his cock is sheathed in tight young blond ass. American sex pro Jessie Coulter takes a copious OCS as if it were consecrated from Continental beauty Jean Franko, and, in a wondrous coupling, Ben Brown thrills unusually handsome and fuck-hungry Scott Carter.▼ www.LucasEntertainment.com

www.ebar.com

<< Books

32 • BAY AREA REPORTER • March 1-7, 2012

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Cecil B. DeMille’s lavish life

by Tavo Amador

N

early six decades after his last and most famous movie, The Ten Commandments (1956), director/producer Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959) remains identified with Biblical stories more notable for their production values and huge casts than their artistic merits.

In Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille (Simon & Schuster, $35), Scott Eyman recounts the story of a master showman whose career began in the early days of silents.

Born in Massachusetts but raised in New York, he was the product of a show business family. Together with older brother William, he acted, directed, and wrote barnstorming melodramas in the tradition of David Belasco, for whom he once worked. Almost by accident, he found himself in Southern California and joined the nascent movie business, initially partnering with Sam Goldfish (later Goldwyn) and Jesse Lasky.

From 1914 to 1928, DeMille directed, produced, and sometimes wrote over 90 silent movies. His most acclaimed pictures of that era include The Squaw Man (1918), The Ten Commandments (1923), King of Kings (1927), and several topical, then-shocking films starring Gloria Swanson.

After a falling out with his partners, he formed his own production company, but financial difficulties resulted in a brief, unsuccessful stint at MGM before a long, profitable association with Paramount. His talking pictures always stressed the visual over the verbal, often incurring ridicule from sophisticates.

The son of a Jewish mother who converted to Christianity before her marriage, he had his own ideas about the Bible. He rejected the concept of original sin because he liked sex and thought it natural. Yet he seemed fixated on Christian values, often contrasting them with paganism. He frequently pushed the limits of censorship. In The Sign of the Cross (1932), for example, Charles Laughton played Nero as a flaming queen, with scantily clad handsome young men in attendance. Claudette Colbert, as Poppea, famously bathed in milk. The original version included an erotic lesbian dance, cut from subsequent reissues, but restored in the extant version.

Colbert starred as his enjoyable, campy Cleopatra (1934), which compresses her affairs with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony into 100 minutes and is unrelentingly modern in dialogue and perspective.

His casting choices were often odd.

While Gary Cooper was perfect as Wild Bill Hickok in The Plainsman (36), the superb comedienne Jean Arthur was lost as Calamity Jane.

For the next decade, he wanted to film another Biblical story. One project, Queen of Queens, about the Virgin Mary, would have included a love affair between Judas and Salome. Alas, because he couldn’t show a normal sex life between Mary and Joseph, the movie wasn’t made. (The mind reels at the possible plot-lines and dialogue.) Instead, he made Samson and Delilah (1949). After briefly considered young, gorgeous, unknown Steve Reeves for the lead, and rejecting Burt Lancaster because of his liberal politics, he reluctantly settled for heavyset Victor Mature. For the temptress, he contemplated, among others, Rita Hayworth, Joan Fontaine, Lucille Ball(!), noir queen Lizabeth Scott, and Jean Simmons, but chose Austrian beauty Hedy Lamarr, who had been an MGM star since 1938. The film was a smash, although most critics scoffed. The next year, using a set from the picture, he played himself in a moving cameo opposite Swanson’s Norma Desmond in Billy Wilder’s brilliant Sunset Boulevard.

The Greatest Show on Earth (52), which he produced and directed, would win the Best Picture Oscar, an appalling selection. It featured Charlton Heston, James Stewart (maudlin as a clown), Betty Hutton, Dorothy Lamour, buff Cornel Wilde (burdened with a belief-defying

Fr French accent) and Gloria G Grahame in a part DeMille had originally planned fo for Ball. The movie’s main in interest is its realistic look at how the Ringling Brother ers Circus worked. DeMille lo lost the Best Director award to John Ford for The Quiet M Man, but consoled himself kknowing that his film was th the year’s biggest moneym maker.

He returned to the Bible w with his most financially ssuccessful picture, a remake o of The Ten Commandm ments, with Heston as Mosses, Yul Brynner as Ramses, aand other big names, often b bizarrely cast (including E Edward G. Robinson and V Vincent Price). Audrey H Hepburn (!) had been his first choice for Nefretiri, b his costume designers but (five of them) felt her thin figure inappropriate for t revealing gowns. Anne the Baxter, dressed to resemble Colbert’s Cleopatra, got the part and gives one of the most hilariously atrocious performances in screen history. DeMille believed he had made a definitive and historically accurate biography of Moses.

DeMille’s personal life was complicated. He adored his much-admired wife, Constance. They had a daughter, Cecelia, but Constance was unable or unwilling to meet his sexual demands. This justified his having three mistresses, simultaneously. They adopted three children, including Richard DeMille, his brother William’s out-of-wedlock son who wouldn’t learn the truth until his birth-father’s 1955 death.

Daughter Katherine DeMille briefly pursued acting, then married Anthony Quinn in 1937. They had five children and divorced in 1955.

Quinn and DeMille had an uneasy relationship. Niece Agnes de Mille, the celebrated choreographer, also had conflicted feelings about him.

He had fired her because he didn’t like her dances for Cleopatra, but she acknowledged his strength of character. DeMille was loyal and generous to those, including actors, who had been with him from the beginning.

Eyman is at his best discussing DeMille’s contribution to silent movies. He’s overly generous, however, in evaluating his talking films.

He concedes DeMille’s critical reputation is poor, but defends him as a great populist and visual artist. The former is undeniable. His pictures, however, far too often are pious, rely on spoken narrative, and have cardboard characters, anachronistic points of view, and unintentionally funny dialogue. Nonetheless, this well-illustrated, carefully researched biography brings welcome attention to a hugely influential figure in the history of American movies.▼

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TV >>

March 1-7, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 33

March madness commences

by Victoria A. Brownworth

A

h, March. Who doesn’t love tall, agile men in shorts and tank tops? It’s basketball’s big season. In our humble opinion (and as a former player), we think basketball is the one true great American sport.

It’s fast enough to be interesting, unlike baseball, which has 15 fabulous minutes spaced throughout a three-hour game, but slow enough that you can actually follow it.

If you love basketball like we do, the 64 basketball games for March madness are great. If you don’t, then fortunately March is now also a mid-season premiere month with some solid new shows about to hit the tube while the rest of us are setting up our brackets. Back in January we predicted NBC’s February series debut of Smash wouldn’t last because it wouldn’t have an audience beyond gay teenage boys and middle-aged straight women who like show tunes.We were half-right: the ratings are low, but the show is so good NBC hasn’t cancelled it yet, for which we are grateful because we’re hooked, despite ourselves.

While the show is relentlessly heterosexual in terms of actual sex, it’s also relentlessly gay in content and subtext. How is it gay? Let us count the ways. First, there are two gay characters in the foreground: the musician who is co-writing the musical, and his assistant, who is naturally one of the two characters of color (see our rules of dual minority status on the tube). Second, Smash is a show about theatre, on Broadway, no less: how can it not be superlatively gay?

We cannot help loving this show.

Debra Messing and Anjelica Huston are marvelous as writer and producer. Megan Hilty and Katherine McPhee are stunning singers, and the show has as many production numbers as Glee, except that unlike on Glee, all the male dancers are clearly gay. Or at least playing gay.

Smash has the behind-the-scenes theatre feel to it as well as a deeply emotional facet that is engaging without being sappy. You get to experience the best of A Chorus Line in every episode. What could be grander? (Five, six, seven, eight –) Last season NBC blew it with Prime Suspect, which was just getting solid when they canned it.

This season The Firm was good and thriller-y from the outset, but because it didn’t find an audience in a nanosecond, NBC moved it from time slot to time slot (it originally replaced Prime Suspect in the Thursday lineup which is all comedy, so not a good fit), and now it is relegated to Saturday nights, also known as graveyard TV. The Firm is complicated, but worth watching. If you can catch up to it.

Undaunted by this bizarre track record of killing their own good shows, NBC’s March 1 debut of Awake tonight holds promise. Once again we are back to the dangerous after-the-comedy-lineup slot on Thursdays that killed Prime Suspect and The Firm, but perhaps Awake will have better luck, since the show is superb. It has an added bonus for lavender tube watchers: two stalwart out queer actors, B.D. Wong and Cherry Jones, in the foreground. We once again note the dual minority status issue: you are seeing the pattern just like we do now, aren’t you, and we’ve only discussed two shows.

Awake stars British actor Jason Isaacs of Harry Potter fame. Isaacs also starred in last season’s Masterpiece Mystery series, Case Histories.

He’s an actor who brings complex-

ity and range to the small screen as well as the big screen. And he’s got a strange, dissipated sexiness to him that is compelling.

In Awake he plays Det. Michael Britten, who awakens from a car crash to find he’s living in two realities (or is he?). In one, his wife is alive and his son is dead. In the other, it’s the reverse. In one reality, B.D. Wong is his psychiatrist, in the other, it’s Cherry Jones. What’s real, what isn’t? That’s the question. Definitely the best new show of the midseason, since we are bored

by The River, which is not Lost but Lost-oh-solite, and we are tired of the Blair Witch Project shake-the-camera-tomake-us-scared faux cinema verite style. We hate all the characters but one, and find there are few genuine thrills. Over-hyped and hasn’t delivered.

Meanwhile, ABC is premiering GCB, which stands for Good Christian Bitches, just like the title of the book it’s based on, but the network decided viewers might protest, so we get another acronym show, which is so cowardly, just like using hashtags and exclamation points for Shit My Dad Says. If this is your title, own it. We personally find it super-offensive in either form, but then we have that pesky vagina thing going on.

GCB is supposed to be the new Desperate Housewives, with Kristen Chenoweth and Annie Potts.

But all we can say to that is, DH has become so dated, it’s unwatchable. So why model a dying show?

It has all the cloying humor of the CW’s Hart of Dixie (also unwatchable) and all the faux coyness of the title. Sunday nights provide a plethora of good shows. Don’t waste the hour. Especially since Chenoweth (whom we do love in all her gayfriendly splendor) is only singing in the church choir. And those Texas drawls get really old, really fast.

Bad news bears Speaking of Texas accents, we liked this throwaway line from the Feb. 24 episode of Blue Bloods: a suspect tells Donnie Wahlberg’s Det. Regan that someone has been gone from the hood “since the smart Bush was in office.” What a perfect segue to the TV news, which has been ghastly, like the harrowing killing of award-winning American TV war correspondent Marie Colvin, who was one of those “get the story or die trying” TV journalists who set the standard for everyone else. She was killed reporting from Homs, Syria on Feb. 22, along with French photojournalist Remi Ochlik. According to her obituary in the Guardian, Colvin was credited with saving the lives of 1,500 women and children in 1999 in East Timor when she was covering the Indonesian conflict. Colvin stayed with the refugees until they were rescued four days later by UN forces.

In 2001, Colvin lost an eye covering the war in Sri Lanka after being shot at point-blank range. She had to be hospitalized for PTSD, yet returned to war reporting. She continued to risk her life covering stories, right up until her death. In an interesting aside to her murder, Jake Tapper, ABC’s senior White House correspondent and frequent fill-in anchor for This Week, took on White House press secretary Jay Carney last week after Carney lauded Colvin and extolled the importance of journalists who seek out stories despite the risks. This led Tapper to grill Carney for a full 10 minutes.

Tapper: “The White House keeps praising these journalists who are –

NBC-TV

Anjelica Huston and Debra Messing star in NBC’s Smash.

who’ve been killed –” Carney: “I don’t know about ‘keep.’ I think –” Tapper: “You’ve done it, Vice President Biden did it in a statement. How does that square with the fact that this administration has been so aggressively trying to stop aggressive journalism in the United States by using the Espionage Act to take whistleblowers to court? Currently, I think that you’ve invoked it the sixth time, and before the Obama Administration, it had only been used three times in history.

This is the sixth time. You’re suing a CIA officer for allegedly providing information in 2009 about CIA torture. Certainly that’s something that’s in the public interest of the United States. The administration is taking this person to court. There just seems to be disconnect here.

You want aggressive journalism abroad, you just don’t want it in the United States.”

We loved this kind of feet-tothe-fire journalism when Tapper displayed it during the Bush Administration. It’s no less incisive or vital now. The entire exchange is available at ABCnews.com. Carney never answers any of Tapper’s questions. We also note that CBS has done extraordinary reporting on the current human rights crisis in Syria, with some stellar female reporters including Clarissa Ward and Elizabeth Palmer. Anyone who thinks these women are not as brave as men – yes, we are talking to you, Rick Santorum, with all your nonsense about women not being able to fight in combat, which they’ve done throughout Iraq and Afghanistan – is watching the wrong network.

CBS’ The Good Wife imitated real life in its Feb. 19 episode. This is the best drama series on the tube, and the most political, with a storyline in which someone is reporting from the front lines only to be killed as he sends his footage to the U.S. via the Internet.

Meanwhile, over on MSNBC, it was just serendipity that brought Jonathan Capehart, openly gay African American reporter at The Washington Post, to take on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. He just happened to be in the building. The place was the Morning Joe show, and the subject was marriage equality.

Christie had just vetoed the state legislature’s passage of the marriage equality bill in New Jersey, although he recently signed onto civil unions with no problem. The disconnect?

He wants the voters to decide in a referendum.

Capehart wanted a takedown, but while he was tough, Christie was tougher. Christie asserted his views are exactly the same as President Obama’s. He went further, noting that if the President had actually taken a stand in support of marriage equality, which he has yet to do, there would have

been more Democratic votes in the New Jersey legislature and Christie wouldn’t have been able to veto the bill. This doesn’t make the veto any more wrong, in our opinion. But it does raise uncomfortable questions.

Christie called out Obama as a coward for not taking a stand on marriage equality. Capehart couldn’t refute Christie’s claim, but Capehart did try deftly to get Christie back to discussing the civil rights element.

It’s a very compelling exchange, check it out at MSNBC.com. Well worth watching the entire debate.

Finally, it is with great sadness that we report the death of Robin Scorpio (Kimberly McCullough) on ABC’s General Hospital. Robin has been a character on the soap since 1985, since both the character and McCullough were six. Robin was the only major character on the tube living with HIV/AIDS. Robin contracted the disease from her first boyfriend, Stone, who was a drug addict and who died of AIDS, in one of the most heart-breaking death scenes in TV history. One can tear up just recalling it, but you can

check it out on YouTube and ABC. com. The consistency of the GH storyline, Robin’s struggles with having HIV, developing relationships when she had to reveal her status, becoming a doctor because she wanted to save lives like Stone’s, deciding to have a child, counseling other people with HIV: it has all been groundbreaking TV. McCullough won several Emmy awards for her portrayal, and was nominated several other times. Scenes of Robin and Stone were replayed recently when Robin thought her drug protocol was failing and she was dying. But the show wrote a different exit for her that played to her strengths as a doctor and a humanitarian.

McCullough decided to leave GH to pursue what up until now had been a side career as a director. The show did not want to recast the character, believing that Robin was too deeply associated with McCullough. While the manner in which Robin died leaves the door open for a return, that seems unlikely. We applaud GH for sticking with this storyline since Robin was a teenager, and we applaud McCullough for giving the character such depth and heart. She showed millions of viewers what it is like to live with HIV/AIDS, she made the complex language of the disease simple and accessible, and she showed that people with HIV/AIDS can live normal lives, have children and relationships and jobs, and that the only thing standing in their way is prejudice.

The death of Robin Scorpio is a loss to the TV landscape. But we were very fortunate to have such a character to chart the AIDS epidemic in real time all these years.

It’s because of storylines like this, gutsy stands like Capehart’s, and the kind of no-holds-barred reportage brought to the tube by reporters like Tapper and Colvin that you really, absolutely must stay tuned. ▼

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