March 3, 2011 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

A real-life ‘It Gets Better’

Revisiting ’80s hair bands

BARtab

Lesbian teen is set to screen her coming out film at SF festival.

‘Rock of Ages’ writer Chris D’Arienzo on making a musical.

Sports; Drinks!

Jock-ular Beer Busts Softball Sisters

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see Arts

see inside

BAYAREAREPORTER

Vol. 41

. No. 9 . 3 March 2011

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

Jubilant Castro rally follows DOMA milestone

Takin’ it off!

Groups nix Russian activist’s CA visit

by Matt Baume

by Cynthia Laird

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Rick Gerharter

GayRussia.ru

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oining the Bare Chest Calendar men on stage at the Powerhouse February 24, Positive Resource Center Executive Director Brett Andrews takes off his shirt during a presentation of the group’s annual fundraising check. The second beneficiary from the calendar is the AIDS Emergency Fund, whose executive director, Mike Smith, is to the left of Andrews. A record amount, $162,302.99, was raised by the 2011 calendar team through sales of the calendar, auctions for dates, raffles, and other items.

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everal local and California organizations have pulled the plug on their sponsorship of a visit to the Golden State by prominent Russian gay rights activist Nikolai Alekseev after it was discovered that he Nikolai Alekseev posted an antiJewish remark on a blog that he owns.

Alekseev was to have appeared in San Francisco at the LGBT Community Cen-

ctivists and others rallied in the Castro last week with a mixture of shock and jubilation, just hours after the Obama administration declared that the Defense of Marriage Act is constitutionally unsound.

Community members and leaders alike were caught by surprise at the administration’ announcement, in which U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama had determined that DOMA would not be able to pass constitutional muster in several federal court cases. The decision is a significant development for the LGBT community as many legal observers noted that DOMA is now on its last legs. The federal law has resulted in discrimination for same-sex couples, who even if they are legally married in states that allow it, are not eligible for federal benefits that heterosexual married couples receive. LGBT federal employees are also not entitled to the same benefits for

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Pride board Diversity, better relations among chair quits desires for next SF police chief

by Seth Hemmelgarn

by Seth Hemmelgarn

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ozens of people from the LGBT and other communities gathered last week to tell the San Francisco Police Commission what they want to see in the city’s next police chief.

The forum was held at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, but a broad range of topics – beyond specifically gay concerns – were raised. Diversity inside the department and respect for the diversity of the city’s residents; better collaboration with nightlife officials; and officers developing relationships with people in the neighborhoods they serve, especially youth, were among the issues discussed.

Three of the commission’s seven members – Jim Hammer, R. James Slaughter, and Angela Chan – heard comments at the event.

This was the third community forum. The commission is working to provide Mayor Ed Lee with three candidates for police chief by March 15.

The chief vacancy occurred after former Mayor Gavin Newsom, now the state’s lieutenant governor, appointed Chief George Gascón to be the city’s district attorney.

Police officers were among those who spoke at the forum Thursday, February 24.

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he president of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee’s board of director announced her resignation Tuesday, March 1, just over three months before the June 25-26 events.

Nikki Calma The departure of Nikki Calma is the latest in a string of resignations at the organization since October.

Calma didn’t respond to interview requests, but in a statement released by Pride, she said, “I feel that Pride has made some significant strides over the past few months. ... I can comfortably step down, knowing that we’ve created a structure at Pride that can move the organization forward and build trust, while at the same time supporting the community.”

Steve Currier speaks at a community event held by the San Francisco Police Commission to solicit public input as to criteria for a new police chief.

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BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 3 March 2011

COMMUNITY

NEWS

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Rick Gerharter

More than just a royal couple

or the first time in the 46-year history of the Imperial Court, the reigning Empress and Emperor are a couple. Crowned Empress Saturday night was HMIM Saybelline Fernandez and crowned as Emperor was her partner, Frankie Fernandez. The immediate past reigning monarchs, Absolute Empress 45 Renita Valdez and Emperor 38, After Norton, Stephen Dorsey stand to the side, welcoming the new monarchs. The annual event took place at the Gift Center, followed by the traditional Sunday morning pilgrimage of Her Imperial Majesty Absolute Empress I the Widow Norton Jose Sarria to the gravesite of Emperor Norton at Woodlawn Cemetery in Colma. For more on the coronation, see the On the Town column on page 26.

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Kaplan looks to re-election akland City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan talked about the need for jobs and economic development at a reception for supporters last week. The onetime mayoral candidate said she is working with Mayor Jean Quan and looking to next year’s re-election bid.

“Presumably,” she said when asked by the Bay Area Reporter if she would seek re-election in 2012.

Kaplan, 40, the council’s only out member, represents the at-large seat on the legislative body.

The February 24 meet and greet, dubbed “Onward and Upward,” was held at ProArts Gallery across from City Hall. It marked one of the first public events Kaplan has held since coming up short in the dramatic Oak-

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Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan

land mayor’s race last November. Kaplan and Quan both encouraged their supporters to vote for the other candidate as their second choice under the city’s ranked choice voting system. The

result was that Quan defeated former state Senate leader Don Perata when she shot ahead in the balloting after the second-choice votes were counted.

Kaplan didn’t appear to harbor any ill feelings toward Quan, who previously served on the City Council.

“She’s working her ass off,” Kaplan said of the mayor. “We’re getting along just fine.”

Kaplan told the crowd of about 60 people that job creation remains her top priority.

“There’s a horrific unemployment crisis in this city that is undermining what we’re trying to do,” she said, adding that the city’s financial woes are largely due to the economic downturn. Kaplan avoided any mention of Oakland’s pension problems; pension reform was a platform of her mayoral

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by Cynthia Laird

Jane Philomen Cleland

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Lyon-Martin needs another $500,000

by Seth Hemmelgarn yon-Martin Health Services, the San Francisco-based clinic that’s been struggling to stay open, made several staff changes this week as it announced it needs another $500,000 by March 31 to survive.

That amount is on top of the more than $300,000 that’s been raised since late January, when the clinic’s board made the surprise announcement that it was more than $500,000 in debt and would have to close in days.

The board’s lack of planning would have meant the abandonment of almost 2,500 patients. As it is, Lyon-Martin continues to see its patients but is not accepting new ones.

The clinic provides services to transgender people and women regardless of their ability to pay.

Lyon-Martin announced in an email blast Monday, February 28, that consultants serving as turnaround executive director, finance director, and accounting staff were being put in place.

Dr. Dawn Harbatkin, who had served as interim executive director since former Executive Director Teri McGinnis resigned in November,

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has stepped down from that position but will continue to serve as the clinic’s medical director.

Eric Fimbres, the new interim executive director, didn’t respond to interview requests made through Harbatkin.

Debbie Pappas, Lyon-Martin’s finance director, is stepping down Friday, March 4, the clinic announced.

In an interview, Harbatkin said that she hadn’t asked Pappas specifically why she was quitting, but she said, “I wouldn’t be surprised” if it was related to the “enormous” stress clinic staff have been under. Pappas declined an interview request.

Lyon-Martin’s mental health director, Lisette Lahana, is also leaving her job at the clinic, said Harbatkin.

Lahana didn’t respond to an interview request.

The information on how much more money is needed came from a recently completed external financial assessment.

Harbatkin said that the clinic has a financially viable model that “will always require some fundraising support, but not the kind of fundraising we require now.”

She said a transition plan for patients is almost complete.

Jane Philomen Cleland

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Dr. Dawn Harbatkin

Asked how Lyon-Martin’s patients could continue to trust the clinic, Harbatkin said, “It’s a really challenging time for our patients, and I really wish we were not asking patients to endure this with us.”

Clinic officials and supporters were to go to a Board of Supervisors budget and finance committee hearing Wednesday, March 2, to ask for money.

Several city officials have expressed a desire to see changes on Lyon-Martin’s board, but so far, no changes have been announced.

Lyon-Martin Board Chair Lauren Winter didn’t respond to an interview request.▼

3 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

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BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 3 March 2011

OPEN

Volume 40, Number 9 3 March 2011 eBAR.com PUBLISHER Thomas E. Horn Bob Ross (Founder, 1971 – 2003) N E W S E D I TO R Cynthia Laird A R T S E D I TO R Roberto Friedman ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko Seth Hemmelgarn Jim Provenzano CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dan Aiello • Tavo Amador • Matt Baume • Erin Blackwell Roger Brigham • Scott Brogan • Victoria A. Brownworth Philip Campbell • Chuck Colbert • Richard Dodds Raymond Flournoy • Brian Gougherty David Guarino • Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell Robert Julian • John F. Karr • Lisa Keen Matthew Kennedy • David Lamble • Michael McDonagh Paul Parish • Lois Pearlman • Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota Bob Roehr • Donna Sachet • Adam Sandel Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro • Gwendolyn Smith Ed Walsh • Sura Wood

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DOMA’s likely demise e cheered last week when the Obama administration announced that it would no longer defend the indefensible Defense of Marriage Act, which is the subject of several lawsuits across the country. And although DOMA has not been repealed – yet – the end appears near for the discriminatory policy that continues to treat same-sex couples in the United States as second-class citizens.

The crux of the Department of Justice’s decision is that Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama have concluded that Section 3 of DOMA, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex couples, cannot pass constitutional muster. Holder also said in his letter on the subject that DOJ attorneys would be instructed that the law should meet a strict scrutiny test. If that is accepted by the courts, it would almost certainly spell doom for DOMA. State Attorney General Kamala Harris agrees.

In a court filing this week for the federal Proposition 8 case, Harris told the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that “the likelihood that the appeal will succeed on the merits has been substantially diminished both by the United States Attorney General’s conclusion that classifications based on sexual orientation cannot survive constitutional scrutiny and by this court’s order to the California Supreme Court, which seriously questions the court’s jurisdiction to decide the merits of the case.”

Harris filed a motion asking the appeals court to vacate the stay on Judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling that Prop 8 is unconstitutional. If the appeals court vacates the stay, same-sex marriages in California could resume immediately.

The Justice Department’s decision not to defend DOMA has wide-ranging implications not only for the Prop 8 case, but for the other pending cases as well. It is significant that immediately after the news broke, Republicans who are considering running for president next year were decidedly muted, signaling that they know marriage equality will not be the hot-button issue it was just a few short years ago.

In recent days, congressional Republicans have begun making noise about entering the cases to defend DOMA. It’s a losing effort, we think, and just another way for them to divert attention and resources from working to fix the economy. Poll after poll have found that the American people want Congress and the president to work on improving the country’s economy. Trying to stop people from marrying the person they love is no longer the white hot lightning rod it once was; smart politicians should be able to get that message.

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“strong believer” in human rights and equality for porting his appearances in the state pulled the everyone, it’s worth noting that he blames others plug on their sponsorships this week after it was for the situation. He tried to deflect attention from discovered that he posted an anti-Jewish remark his own actions by criticizing Scott Long, formeron a blog he owns. ly of Human Rights Watch, who has denied there Alekseev was scheduled to appear at the was any campaign to derail Alekseev’s U.S. visit.

LGBT Community Center this Monday. While He also placed blame on California organizers, that venue may no longer be available, accusing them of exerting pressure on him. we’re confident that a site can be located From the e-mails we’ve seen, that doesn’t to accommodate him. appear to be the case. California organizLGBTs across the country, but ers did attempt to inform Alekseev of the particularly in San Francisco, care a recent history of LGBT activism in the great deal about gay rights struggles in Golden State, but we found no evidence of other countries. Alekseev is a pioneer in organizers trying to tell him what to say or his native Russia, standing up to an authoriwhat subjects to avoid, such as large tarian government both locally and nationLGBT agencies. In fact, in his interally, and he has been arrested and deview with us before this controversy tained for his activism. Last SeptemE DITORIAL erupted, Alekseev did express his ber, he was mysteriously abducted by thoughts on the high salaries that government agents and held for some LGBT leaders earn. He also pointed out the more than two days. fact that while LGBTs contributed millions of dolThis latest controversy stems from a post he lars to help defeat Proposition 8, international wrote at the end of January: “The Jews and LGBT equality efforts are generally starving for Mubarak ... The Israeli Prime Minister urged donations. Many others have made similar obserWestern leaders to support Egyptian dictator vations, so we don’t see why Alekseev seems to Mubarak ... And who after this are the Jews? In think he is being singled out. fact, I always knew who they were.” Ellipses are Alekseev seems to be a determined activist, alin the original. though his diplomatic skills need improvement.

When organizers discovered the post, they That said, we do encourage him to come to San asked Alekseev to explain his words. Up until TuesFrancisco as planned, where people here are very day, he had declined to do that. Unfortunately, interested and involved in LGBT world affairs.

Alekseev waited several days to respond, issuing a He has a natural base of support here; however, statement on Tuesday evening, after the episode people are wondering just what is going on and had become a major topic on gay blogs and elsewe think Alekseev should work harder on exwhere. Alekseev spoke at Columbia University plaining his own actions rather than trying to Tuesday, and the incident came up there as well. cast blame on others. He is, after all, the person While it’s a positive step that Alekseev issued who wrote the post in the first place.▼ his statement, in which he affirmed that he is a

Alekseev should come to SF Russian gay activist Nikolai Alekseev should come to San Francisco next week as scheduled so that local members of the LGBT community can hear from him. Numerous organizations sup-

We are greater than AIDS

by David Furnish his year marks 30 years since the discovery of the first case of what was later identified as AIDS. With that news, our lives and relationships as gay men were forever altered. We witnessed an unthinkable tragedy that has taken the lives of more than a quarter million of our gay and bisexual friends and lovers.

In the face of this devastation leaders emerged. The crisis helped to shape our community’s political agenda, and it provided a platform around which gay leaders could advocate for rights and equality. We realized that if we informed ourselves and acted on what we learned, we could be greater than the disease.

Thanks to the efforts of gay men and our allies, our community saw a dramatic decline in new infections by the late 1980s.

Many of us can look back with immense pride at the collective response in those early years. The availability of effective combination drug therapies in 1996 fundamentally changed how we thought about HIV. No longer was HIV the death sentence it had once been.

We had new hope. For many, HIV was a manageable chronic disease. Many of us turned our attention to marriage equality, adoption rights, the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and other pressing issues facing our community.

While we broadened our focus, AIDS did not.

G UEST When we become complacent, HIV thrives. New HIV infections among gay and bisexual men in the United States are on the rise. Yes, on the rise.

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David Furnish

We are the only risk group for whom this is the case. According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in five of us – that is gay and bisexual men – in some of the largest U.S. cities today are living with HIV – and half of those who are positive do not know it. Unless we act now, we will see these numbers rise even higher, and quickly.

My partner, Sir Elton John, O PINION often talks of his friend Ryan White – a boy whose tremendous courage in the face of AIDS forced our leaders to take action and inspired many of us. Today,

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Ryan’s story continues to remind us that just as HIV began one person at a time, it will end one person a time.

Elton and I recently had a baby boy. Becoming fathers has given us new perspective on what it means to take care of one another – as parents, as partners, and as members of a community. And, it reminds us that we cannot be complacent in helping to create the kind of society in which we want our son to grow up. In short, we must take responsibility and each do our part to create a future free of HIV – by being informed, using protection, getting tested and treated, and getting involved.

And so, as we mark 30 years of this disease, Elton and I have recommitted ourselves to being greater than AIDS. As chairman of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, I’m proud of the community organizations with which we are working to fight stigma and prevent the spread of the disease. And, I’m proud that leading LGBT companies, like Here Media, Logo TV, and the Bay Area Reporter, are refocusing attention on this epidemic, and I hope more will join us.

As a community, we once showed that we could be greater than AIDS. Now is our time to do it again. Visit www.greaterthan.org/pride to get started.▼ David Furnish is chairman of the Elton John AIDS Foundation (www.ejaf.org). The Elton John AIDS Foundation is a supporting partner of Greater Than AIDS (www.greaterthan.org/pride), a national movement organized in response to AIDS in America with a focus on the most affected communities.

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3 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

LETTERS

Disappointed in SF Giants

These are but some of the many indignities that people in the West Bank and Gaza face on an all-too-regular basis, simply because they are Palestinian.

Israel may have a decent track record of supporting LGBT rights, but we cannot allow its treatment of our community to “pinkwash” its continued attacks and discrimination against Palestinians. By taking money from the Israeli Consulate, Frameline effectively says that it supports Israel’s poliPete Dragon cies that strip Palestinians of their human rights, equality, and San Francisco dignity. As a community that fights so hard for our LGBT leaders ignore real enemy rights, we must resist this attempt to win our sympathy by casting a blind eye toward the I am responding to a letter in the February struggle of others. We should not allow our com24 edition entitled “Questioning Frameline on munity institutions to align themselves with a Israeli support.” government that oppresses any minority.

A small group of self-appointed gay leaders As a longtime Frameline supporter, I am editorialized here that the Frameline festival proud to join those who advocate for a true should refuse funding from Israel to help with in which all people – Palestinian, its event. They hint that should this refusal not M AILSTROM democracy Jewish, LGBT, and otherwise – can live alonghappen, a boycott of the festival might be in side each other in justice and peace. order. The basis of their complaint is Israeli treatment of Palestinians. This self-aggrandizing and naive Davey Goldman-Faye idea cannot be more wrong.

San Francisco Why is it so easy for radical left wing LGBT “leaders” to ignore the real enemy? Israel is not the enemy of LGBT peoGiving away your rights ple. I am a gay man. I care about gay rights. Israel is a friend I was in the Castro on Sunday and ran across two young to the LGBT movement. I am not afraid to criticize Israel. men with a petition to make it illegal to have males circumBut I find it ridiculous to criticize Israel when it is formally cised. I was astounded to see people once again signing willing to endorse and help fund a gay event in the Bay Area. something that would let the voters limit individual rights.

I believe we ought to celebrate, and hold up Israel as a model Are we going to give away all our rights to the government? for other countries that lag so far behind. Bringing in an This petition limits a person’s right to choose, parental rights overconfident and opinionated view of the political situaas well as religious rights. Parents make decisions for their tion, then refusing this help is wrong. Where in that letter is children all the time, what schools to go to, what they can the outrage about Palestinian and Arab treatment of LGBT eat (don’t get me started on the ridiculous McDonald’s toy people? ban) and especially health issues like immunizations and cirPalestine has no civil rights laws that protect LGBT peocumcision. ple from discrimination or harassment. Male homosexualiMost of the people signing this petition were gay men as ty is illegal in Gaza. Same-sex marriages, civil unions, and it was the Castro. Did anyone want the voters to limit the domestic partnerships are not given legal recognition in right to marry? Also I saw a parent with children signing it.

Palestine. A simple Google search reveals photos of gay I guess she does not want her right to choose what is best for young men hanging from utility poles in the public squares her child. If people don’t want to have their child circumof Iran. Gay men are rounded up and jailed in Egypt. Opcised then they don’t have to do it. No one is forcing anyone pression of the LGBT community is rampant across the to have this done. I personally do not have anything against Middle East, including within Palestine by Palestinians. having a foreskin. Thank God for variety. The majority of In contrast, LGBT rights in Israel are considered the most the people I saw signing the petition will never even face this developed in the Middle East. In November 2005, an Israel decision. How cavalier to give away someone else’s rights. court ruled that a lesbian spouse could officially adopt a Signing won’t bring your foreskin back. If you are angry child born to her partner by artificial insemination. Comabout it, have it out with your parents and move on. Parents mon law marriage for LGBT couples is allowed, which grants have the right to decide this issue for themselves. most of the marriage rights granted to opposite-sex couples.

Same-sex marriages performed elsewhere are recognized. IsAndrew Rosen rael also has one of the highest percentages of support for San Francisco same-sex marriage in the world, with 61 percent of Israelis supporting civil marriage for same-sex couples.

Dishing on Karr There are gay Pride parades in Israel every June. Believe John F. Karr does a service to our community by enme it is the only country in the Middle East allowing such lightening us with the human man behind the sexual fantaevents. Stepping across the border into the surrounding Arab sy in “Dishing with Devore” [Karrnal Knowledge, February countries is like stepping back into a middle-age torture 17]. For all the hypersexuality that characterizes the gay comchamber for the LBGT community. munity, we each possess talents that transcend the physical.

It is upsetting to hear the authors of this simplistic letter That Mr. Karr sheds light on the three-dimensionality of lecture us on how horrible Israel is. In that entire region, IsJoshua Devore, a man we often objectify, testifies to this. rael is the only place where there is a free press, or where However, Mr. Karr lapses in the piece when he imposes there could be an openly gay magazine. It is the only place his opinion on bareback porn. Of Josh Devore’s foray into where women have achieved equality. Gays and lesbians have that niche of male adult entertainment, he writes: “I was sad openly served in the Israeli military for years. to see that; it’s not a decision I can respect.” The opinion of The life of Palestinians is far from perfect. And Israel lives Mr. Karr is inappropriate because the article is about Mr. Dewith difficulties, too. A life of worry about your actual exisvore, not about him. As a journalist, Mr. Karr has a duty to tence takes a toll on every Israeli, including the LGBT comrespect Mr. Devore by approaching the subject of bareback munity, who would face an especially dark fate should Israel porn from an objective stance. For instance, he could have ever fall. As gays and lesbians, let us not lose sight of who our written instead: “Josh did bareback flicks for at least three friends are and in the Middle East – Israel is our one and different companies, a controversial decision considering the only friend. polarizing arguments such flicks are generating.” He proceeds to question Mr. Devore’s comfort with a “Russian Joe Barrett roulette sexuality” and to declare with relief, “But that’s now San Francisco in the past,” as if this is something of which Mr. Devore Admires Frameline critics should be regretful.

I have known Josh Devore for a few years, and I know I write with deep admiration for the efforts of those that whatever decisions he made as Tober Brandt, he did so “Questioning Frameline on Israeli support.” It is shameful with careful thought and with the involvement of consensual that an organization so revered and so cutting-edge as adults. For a journalist to put a porn personality in the poFrameline would even consider taking money from a govsition where he needs to justify his choices is out of line. ernment that endows legal rights to one group of people at None of us should be incriminated for how we choose to the expense of another. Isn’t this what we, as LGBT people, express our sexuality with our consenting partners. are fighting against?

In conversations about Proposition 8, I have often heard Rafaelito V. Sy LGBT people bemoan being treated as “second-class citiSan Francisco zens,” and I encourage our community to imagine living under a system of occupation and apartheid that affects [The arts editor replies: Mr. Sy is confusing a news nearly all aspects of one’s daily life. Imagine not being able to reporter with a columnist. In his long-running column cross a checkpoint to get to school or the hospital. Or havKarrnal Knowledge, John F. Karr is entitled, indeed encouring your home demolished to make way for settlements. Or aged, to share his opinion.] having your electricity or water supply turned off at whim.

I am disappointed that the San Francisco Giants hired former player Jeff Kent as a spring training instructor. Mr. Kent donated $15,000 to the Proposition 8 campaign to deny gays and lesbians the right to marry. Apparently the Giants think it’s okay to insult part of its fan base.

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The news comes as Pride faces almost $200,000 in debt, with few confirmed sponsors on board.

Board member Alex Randolph said that he and Lisa Williams were unanimously elected Tuesday night as the board’s co-chairs. He said Calma is having “major health issues.”

Randolph, who said Pride’s current debt is $190,000, expressed confidence about this year’s events, despite its troubles. He pointed to

Pride’s bevy of longtime contractors who have helped ensure the events’ success for several years. He also said traditionally, most sponsors don’t sign on until late April, May, and even June.

He also had more positive news to share. Beginning later this month the public will be able to vote for a community grand marshal.

Randolph said that community grand marshal nominees are Brian Basinger, director of AIDS Housing Alliance-San Francisco; Aaron Belkin, an “outspoken advocate” for the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on gays serving openly; Susie Bright, a community

activist and sexologist; Alex Karson, of Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center; Joanne Keatley, director of the Center of Excellence for Transgender Health at the University of California-San Francisco; Karl Knapper, a community activist and HIV/AIDS advocate; Victoria Kolakowski, who recently became the first out transgender trial judge in the country; Graylin Thornton, activist and leather community member; Therese Stewart, the chief deputy city attorney who successfully argued San Francisco’s historic same-sex marriage case; and Ronald

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BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 3 March 2011

INTERNATIONAL

NEWS

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Russian gay activist speaks out

by Rex Wockner ussian activist Nikolai Alekseev, who has been on the front lines of the gay rights fight in that country, was to appear in San Francisco next week, but the organizations sponsoring his visit have canceled their sponsorship of it. [See story, page 1.]

The Bay Area Reporter caught up with Alekseev, 33, before news of the cancellation broke this week. He was asked about the state of the gay rights movement in Russia and other issues.

Alekseev, who is a lawyer and journalist in addition to his activist work, agreed to an e-mail interview rather than one via phone or iChat.

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Courtesy Brett Lock

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Russian gay activist Nikolai Alekseev What is bringing you to California?

Solidarity. I was once invited to Chicago by a local gay group, Gay Liberation Network, some years ago and we always kept in contact. Andy Thayer from the group came to Moscow Pride twice in 2009 and 2010. He was even arrested in 2009 with us. He has been a great help for us writing articles and commentaries about what he witnessed in Moscow and about our struggle.

I really appreciate our collaboration because Andy is not the kind of guy who will start to give advice on everything. He is coming to show his support and solidarity and to help.

Often when foreigners come, they are crossing the line. They believe that because they have the experience of what happened in their countries some years ago, you have to mirror the same strategies and replicate the same thing.

Well, Moscow of 2011 is not New York City of 1971 or Paris of 1981. Sharing experience is great – imposing a strategy is not what we need.

What are you going to say here?

I’ll give the primer for those who will come to listen to me but in a nutshell, as the last weeks have shown in North Africa, things can change very quickly in the world. These changes have been initiated by people, not by politicians. It should be a boost for many of us as it really shows everyone can make a change. I believe this to be true at all levels.

You’ve been critical of the U.S. and some U.S. gay activists on your Facebook page. What’s the nature of the disappointment, in a nutshell?

U.S. activists are, on average, often seen abroad as too self-centered. I know the excuse that I often hear from people when I say that is, “We cannot care for all the world.” Usually, those who say that are those who do not care for anyone. It’s like denying to make a small donation for people starving in Africa on the basis that it will not change anything. I do not understand that.

You know, there’s something I cannot understand. I was looking at the money that was pulled in the campaign against Proposition 8. [The No on 8 campaign raised about $43 million.] It’s amazing. What a waste of money. Plus, the vote was lost, which showed that after all, it was not only a question of money. Only 1 percent, and maybe less, of the budget could have changed so many things for gay rights around the world but the same amount would not change the final result of the vote. But I am not naive.

The companies who thought that it’s smart to give money to fight against Prop 8 are not those who would give something for gay rights in Asia or Africa. Perhaps there is a logic here but if one looks at it from the moon, it is hard to understand.

I remember an article from the Washington Blade which was detailing the paychecks of those working in the big quasi institutional LGBT organizations (I am not talking about grassroots). Amazing. Well, a very good job and a very well paid one for most of them. This is something that I cannot understand. When you’re campaigning for gay rights or for any other rights, you must be animated by a pas-

sion. I am not asking everyone to be like me and do it as a job without any income, but what I am saying is that there should be a kind of “ethic” and a limit. I made the choice not to earn anything from anyone in order to keep my independence. This is key. I don’t owe anything to anyone. You know, as soon as you get something from someone, you lose your independence either directly or indirectly. Plus, you risk falling in the game that you start spending more time running after donors to renew budget and future paychecks than doing the effective job on the field. All that is nonsense for me.

U.S. diplomacy is a bit strange for me. On one hand I read in the U.S. papers that [Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton and [President Barack] Obama are gay friendly. Clinton said often that she considers LGBT rights as part of her diplomacy, but at the same time they behave in an opposite way. Clinton came to Moscow in 2009. She inaugurated hand in hand with the former mayor a statue to a U.S. gay poet at the same place where three weeks earlier, all of us, by the way, also Andy Thayer, were arrested for staging the banned Pride.

Not a word for us but nice photos and nice smiles with the homophobic mayor. Same thing some time later, when she was speaking about LGBT rights in Eastern Europe at an official dinner and mentioned the struggle of gay activists in ... Albania. She found the right country in Europe where the U.S. had no strategic interest. As for Obama, he also came to Moscow. We were banned from organizing a rally while he was in Moscow (that was even advertised in the media) and at the same time, we were banned from taking part in the meeting his staff organized with local human rights activists. What does that mean? Gay rights are not human rights?

What’s the conclusion of all that?

There’s a lot of hypocrisies here. Yes, they care for LGBT rights but to an extent that it does not hurt any other discussion. They care, but just a bit. It’s more a political tool than a real philosophy. But at the same time, how many people in America wrote to Clinton to tell her behavior in Moscow was not acceptable? Can you believe if only 1,000 people had done it? And if 1,000 people wrote her a letter before her trip to Moscow asking her to raise LGBT issues there? She would have remained quiet? At least, she would be more careful. That’s my message in a few words. With [just] sending a letter at the right time, you can make a change. We don’t ask for money.

These incidents have really been a big frustration for me. Really.

What does the struggling Russian gay movement need from other nations?

Money? Political pressure? Delegations of visitors, for example, during Pride Week?

Money is definitely what is not needed. It only creates tensions and makes everyone nervous, especially in Eastern Europe. I am not saying that we are sitting on cash, as we have nothing, but what I am saying is that to change things, you don’t need money. You need passion, you need

ideals, you need courage, and ideas also. It’s not money that changed power in Tunisia, Egypt, or Libya. It’s courage.

Foreign delegations are important but it needs to be done respecting a certain logic. It’s a well-known fact that in Russia we are just a small handful of activists ready to go in the streets. If you bring a delegation of 200 Americans or foreigners, it would be counterproductive. It would show that the Pride is a march of foreigners.

Local media and anti-gay groups would be using it against us. This is the issue that activists face in Latvia or Lithuania, for example. In these smaller countries, it is difficult to find locals ready to show their faces, to face angry protesters and march in the streets. As a result, their Prides have a high concentration of foreigners. I think there is no shame for us to be 30 [people] trying to march in Moscow. If that’s what we are then that’s how it should be. The political opposition regularly attempts to organize public rallies as well. When these are allowed they are just a few hundred taking part. Can you believe it? In a city of 17 million and a country of 141 million?

The problem with our gay community is that people, when they can afford to, are ready to go to Prides in Paris, London, Berlin, or Amsterdam because for them it’s real fun. When we tell them to join us in Moscow, they say something like, “No, it is not possible here, people are not ready, it is too dangerous.” They simply do not understand by going to Europe that they benefit from the result of the struggle of other activists some 30 years ago.

You have fought for more than five years to have a Pride march in Moscow. [Former] Mayor Yuri Luzhkov always banned it, then sent the cops to beat you up when small groups of people tried to march anyway. Finally, just recently, you won a big court case at the European Court of Human Rights against these bans.

What have you learned from all this?

First of all, that we were right. For five years, I regularly filed dozens of court decisions from Russia that were all telling me that I was wrong. That the Pride [march] was banned lawfully, that my organization was barred to be registered lawfully, that it was constitutional to have a law which prevents the propaganda of homosexuality and all that kind of thing. The Moscow Pride decision that we won at the European Court is the first court decision that told me that I was right and that our rights were breached illegally.

I can tell you that after all these years of hearing the same stupid and illogical court decisions, I started to almost lose hope. It’s kind of strange but all these decisions were making me furious after I received each of them.

Even though I knew in advance the result, I could not get used to it.

Moscow has a new mayor now? Is there any chance this year will be different?

Can you believe which level we have reached in Russia that despite the fact the constitution grants freedom of assembly to every citizen, that Russia ratified international treaties saying the same thing, and that we have just won this major case on the ban of the Pride at the European Court, we are still asking ourselves whether the new mayor will allow the next Pride. It’s kind of unrealistic. To answer your question, I believe that the decision will be taken neither by the mayor [Sergi Sobyanin] nor by his people, but after a consultation with the presidential administration. The previous bans were personally decided by Luzhkov but his successor is a pure “Kremlin product.” He will be more careful. Once again, I am not saying President [Dmitry] Medvedev will be asked to opine on that (it’s only a Pride event, not the START treaty) but most likely one of his advisers will do.▼

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3 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

West Hollywood Mayor John Heilman with councilmembers Lindsay Horvath and Abbe Land.

Council race roils WeHo It is estimated that about 40 percent of West Hollywood’s 38,000 residents are LGBT. Voter registration he race for three seats on the stands at 24,500, but voter turnout is West Hollywood City Council usually less than 20 percent. next Tuesday has roiled the proGetting supporters to the polls gressive, gay enclave nestled against the come March 8 will be key for both the Hollywood Hills. incumbents and the challengers.

Six challengers, all gay men, are According to polling in the race, looking to oust the city’s current while hardly predicative of what votmayor, John Heilman, a gay man who ers will do next week, Land is given the has served on the council since 1984 best chance of retaining her seat. She following West Hollywood’s incorposerved on the council, including a stint ration as its own city, along with two in the rotating mayor’s seat, between of his council allies, Councilwomen 1986 and 1997 when she opted not to Abbe Land and Lindsay Horvath. seek re-election.

Land and Horvath are not only the In 2003 Land, co-chief executive sole women on the five-person counofficer of the Saban Free Clinic, again cil but also the only straight members. sought election to the council and has Should their challengers oust them served ever since. from office, West Hollywood would Of the three incumbents, Horvath make history in having the country’s appears to be the most vulnerable of first all gay male city council. losing her seat, according to the Several issues, from parking repolling. An advertising executive at strictions and over development to Cold Open, Horvath was appointed in maintaining the city’s LGBT culture May 2009 by her fellow council memwhile at the same time being bers to fill a vacancy created by the welcoming to straight resdeath of Councilman Sal Guarriello. idents, have all flared up Heilman, a college law professor, during candidate fois facing his strongest challenge at rums. Working in the inthe ballot box since first winning cumbents’ favor, though, is his seat 27 years ago. His dethat the city is fiscally solvent tractors have tarnished him while other Los Angeles-area as being arrogant and an municipalities are entrenched mired in debt. politician who “There are a P OLITICAL N OTEBOOK should step lot of people, aside, while his frankly, who are backers praise his pretty comfortable with the direction intelligence and devotion to the city. of the city,” noted Karen Ocamb, a Of the sextet running against the resident and out lesbian who has incumbents, former Councilman covered the race for the LGBT biSteve Martin and D’Amico, a former weekly news magazine Frontiers, planning commissioner for the city where she is news editor. who now serves on two other overIn addition, Ocamb said many sight bodies, both appear within strikwomen, both lesbian and straight, ing distance of winning council seats. worry about seeing an all male council.

Another challenger, Scott Schmidt, “Certainly it would be unique and a Log Cabin Republican leader and historic. But straight women and lesWest Hollywood transportation combians are feeling like, ‘If these guys get missioner, is also mounting a strong there who is going to look out for us?’ campaign to be the first GOP member It is no small matter,” said Ocamb. to serve on the council. [While Horvath The campaign, at times, has turned was a Republican in college, she left the incredibly cutthroat and mean-spiritparty before joining the council.] ed, according to residents, and is the The others in the race are small most contentious election the city has business owner Lucas John, who falseseen in more than a decade. ly claims to have Duran’s endorse“It’s gotten as nasty as San Francisment; HIV-positive tenant activist co politics,” said Councilman John Mark Gonzaga; and former congresDuran. sional aide Mito Aviles, who gained While he endorsed Heilman and national attention when he and his partner hung an effigy of Sarah Palin Land last year, Duran is working to from their roof during the 2008 preselect John D’Amico to a seat on the idential campaign. council.

“I am not sure it is really easy to “Even though I completely dispredict how the top three will turn out agree with every direction they want in a race like this,” said Eric Bauman, to take the city, it is not that they want the openly gay chair of the Los Angeto destroy West Hollywood, we just les County Democratic Party, which have different visions,” Duran said of has thrown its backing behind the his colleagues. three incumbents. “I would have to say Stacey E. Jones, a straight resident that the likelihood that the incumand city commissioner, wants to see bents get re-elected is very strong. In both Horvath and Land retain their 25 years of city elections, only one inseats. Not only is she concerned cumbent has been turned out at the about losing a female voice on the polls, and that was Steve Martin.”▼ council, but Jones has been put off by what she sees as misogynistic attacks against Horvath.

Keep abreast of the latest LGBT “We are living in one of the most political news by following the progressive cities in the U.S. and these Political Notebook on Twitter are antics people have resorted to. It @ twitter.com/politicalnotes. makes me sick,” said Jones, who is also a supporter of Heilman. “I defiGot a tip on LGBT politics? Call nitely want a woman on the city Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 861-5019 council, at least one.” or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.com.

by Matthew S. Bajko

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Changing genes to treat HIV

by Bob Roehr he next generation of therapy to treat HIV, and perhaps eventually to cure it, is likely to involve changing the genes in your body. A small study in just six patients discussed in Boston at the 18th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections opened the door to those possibilities.

The clinical trial by San Francisco HIV physician Jay Lalezari took CD4 T-cells from each patient; knocked out a section of DNA that codes for the CCR5 cell receptor; grew those mutated cells to large numbers; and then put 30 million of them back into the patient. It used zinc finger technology developed by the Bay Area biotech company Sangamo to create the genetic deletion.

The primary goal of a phase 1 trial is safety, and this procedure passed with flying colors. The bonus was that it also appeared to robustly increase the number of CD4 cells in

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Bob Roehr

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AIDS activist and treatment advocate Matt Sharp

the patients. And there is no sign that HIV is able to infect them.

Lalezari said there was “a significant engraftment and expansion of the cells and a three-fold increase over what would have been predicted.” Those changes seem to be lasting as 67 percent of the CD4 cells sampled in the blood three months later carried the modified DNA. It is “probably as good as we could have hoped for in this population.”

The data is preliminary and the study is ongoing, with a multitude of questions that must be answered.

They include: How long are the modified CD4 cells going to last? Do they have the same antimicrobial activity as unmodified cells? And will they reappear as quickly as before?

Patient perspective Matt Sharp is one of the six patients in the trial. The San Francisco resident and long time AIDS treatment activist was diagnosed with HIV in 1988. He said that he has been on “pretty much every drug,” often as functional monotherapy, and has developed some degree of resistance to many of them.

About four years ago he was able to put together a new combination of drugs that for the first time suppressed his virus below the level of detection. The problem was that his T-cell count never rebounded above

the mid-200 range.

When Lalezari mentioned the study he was putting together, Sharp initially was hesitant. “I’ve done some pretty wild things but I didn’t think that was for me,” he said. He slowly came around and entered the study last summer; receiving the modified CD4 cells back into his body in early September.

The first blood work came back a few weeks later showing “an immediate doubling of T-cells to about 550 ... I hadn’t seen my numbers in this range in 20 years,” he said. His blood work has fluctuated between 450 and 600 over the last six months.

Some of the patients in the trial eventually will interrupt their highly active antiretroviral treatment regimen at some point to see if the virus has been cleared from their body, or more reasonably, the extent to which their new CD4 cells alone might be able to control the infection.

Sharp is not one of them. He is concerned with “the fragile situation” of his immune system and first wants to see data on how others do when they interrupt treatment. If the data looks promising enough, he might consider trying it himself.

He remembers the early enthusiasm about how administering the cytokine IL-2, a signaling molecule produced by the immune system, increased a patient’s CD4 count. But subsequent research showed the increased numbers to be hollow; many of the additional cells lacked full functionality, they simply did not perform their protective immune tasks very well.

While the zinc finger-modified CD4 cells seem to retain functionality in the lab, there is not yet any data in humans to back that up. Nor is there a sense as to how long the treatment might last or whether subsequent rounds are possible or advisable.

While Sharp is excited by the possibilities of where this line of research might lead, including perhaps to a cure for HIV, he knows that will all take time, and there are likely to be stumbles along the way. ▼

Why target the CCR5 gene

by Bob Roehr CR5 is important because it is the co-receptor molecule on the surface of cells that HIV is most likely to use to infect the cell. It is particularly common on CD4 cells, the favorite target for HIV to attack.

About 1 percent of Caucasians are almost incapable of becoming infected with HIV because their DNA contains two copies of the delta-32 mutation in the gene that codes for CCR5. Their bodies cannot make the CCR5 co-receptor and the virus can’t get in.

People who have inherited the mutation from only one parent are somewhat protected from infection and their disease progresses slowly.

This information led to development of the small drug compound maraviroc (Selzentry), which blocks the CCR5 receptor and keeps the virus from entering a cell.

Another key piece of the scientific literature is the story of Timothy Ray Brown, the so-called Berlin patient who is the first person believed to be cured of HIV infection. Medicines controlled his HIV but he developed leukemia in 2007.

Treatment for that form of blood cancer includes radiation and chemotherapy to kill it. An unfortunate side effect is that the therapy also completely kills off the immune system, so a bone marrow transplant containing stem cells is needed to rebuild the immune system.

Brown’s doctor, Gero Hutter, tried an experiment. He looked for a bone marrow donor who was both a tissue match for the patient (if the donation is not a match the body will reject it) and also had a CCR5 double delta-32 mutation. There was just one such donor in the entire German bone marrow donor registry.

The transplant was a success and when Brown finally stopped his HIV medications, nothing happened. The virus did not come back. Months turned into years before they decided to go public with the results.

Researchers on the zinc finger trial knew all of this and took an approach that would not require them to destroy the immune system with radiation or chemotherapy. They focused on changing just CD4 cells.

Other researchers are looking for ways to modify and transplant stem cells without first having to use radiation or chemotherapy to wipe out the old immune system and create immune space for the new stem cells.

That approach is likely to take even more time. ▼

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NEWS

Out teen to screen film in SF

by Seth Hemmelgarn oming out is tough for plenty of teens, but most don’t make a movie about the process.

Espie Hernandez, a 17-year-old high school senior from Los Angeles did just that.

Mariposa, Espie’s first film, is part of Youth Producing Change, a collaborative effort of Adobe Youth Voices and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. The festival provides youth with the opportunity to submit their work and, if selected, present their films to an international stage.

Espie will be in San Francisco next week for the Bay Area premiere. Events will include a public screening and discussion with filmmakers Thursday, March 10 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts screening room, 701 Mission Street.

The lesbian teen made the film after becoming part of Immediate Justice, a summer program that she said is “about inspiring young women to send out a message through film.”

“Around that time, I was having trouble around coming out to my parents. That’s why we decided to make the film on that,” she said.

Espie said that when she was first coming out, her parents didn’t believe her, and once they did, “they were kind of upset about it.”

“They always wanted me to be with a guy,” said Espie. “They never pictured me being a lesbian, so I guess it hurt them.”

While she was coming out, Espie was also looking forward to her quinceañera, when a 15-year-old girl becomes a woman. She said her parents were so upset “they weren’t going to have my quinceañera.”

Once her parents saw the film, though, they came around, she said.

“I think they were more understanding about it,” Espie said. “Now, they’re not mad at me. They don’t hold a grudge on me. I think they’re happy.”

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Espie Hernandez’s film will be shown at next week’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival.

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Her mother wouldn’t participate in the film, however, so someone else’s mother is included talking about her daughter’s coming out process.

This year’s Youth Producing Change includes 11 stories from teens around the globe. Besides the United States, Australia, Kenya, and Afghanistan are some of the other countries represented. Espie’s film was selected from over 250 submissions from youth all over the world.

Jennifer Nedbalsky, program manager for the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, said, “I think we were all just incredibly moved by Espie’s story.

It’s kind of a universal story that these young people and adults all over the world are dealing with as they come out to their families.”

Espie’s story had a positive ending, she said, but “unfortunately there’s still a lot of teenagers in the United States, in particular, that are kicked out of their homes or rejected by their parents after coming out, so we felt Espie’s story really shined a spotlight on an

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Tax workshop scheduled ing this month’s Golden Gate Business Association “Make Contact” mixer on Tuesday, March 8 from 6 to 8 p.m. at ederal income tax filings have the San Francisco LGBT Community become a hot topic among marCenter, 1800 Market Street. The netried same-sex couples and regisworking event is free for GGBA tered domestic partners in Calimembers and $15 for non-memfornia as a recent ruling by bers. the Internal Revenue SerThe B.A.R. is celebrating vice will change the way its 40th anniversary this returns are filed, beginning year; the GGBA’s mission is with 2010 tax documents to improve its member due next month. businesses and the overall Financial consultants business climate in Jordan, Miller and Asthe Bay Area LGBT N EWS B RIEFS sociates will hold a community.

The workshop on the topic paper is a presenting sponsor of Tuesday, March 15 with tax expert GGBA for 2011. For more informaKaren Stogdill. The workshop takes tion on the business organization, visit place from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the San www.ggba.com.

Francisco LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street. A reception preSF job fair next week cedes the event at 6:30.

Job seekers tired of scouring the InThe federal change took place ternet and want ads can attend a job when the IRS announced it is requirfair at San Francisco’s HIREvent Tuesing registered domestic partners and day, March 8 from noon to 4 p.m. at married same-sex couples to split their the Hotel Whitcomb, 1231 Market income equally on their federal tax Street, at 8th Street. forms.

The career event will feature a The workshop is free but seating gathering of Bay Area recruiters from is limited and an RSVP is required. a variety of industries, with immediTo sign up, e-mail francisate openings to fill, ranging from co.e.alfaro@ampf.com and include entry-level to management. your full name and the name of your Employment experts will also be on guest, if applicable. hand to provide free one-on-one eval-

compiled by Cynthia Laird

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The Bay Area Reporter is sponsor-

uations of resumes. Job applicants should dress professionally and be pre-

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B.A.R. to sponsor GGBA mixer

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Hush, hush, school tells player Same-sex dance nationals

by Roger Brigham ye Allums made headlines last November when media outlets reported on his becoming the first publicly acknowledged transgender man to play for an NCAA women’s college basketball team this season. But George Washington University has declared an end to the junior guard’s season with just three weeks left. The official reason for shutting down his season was a concussion, but the school has denied media requests to speak with Allums since the November reports and Allums’s mother, Rolanda DelaMartinez, said Allums was medically cleared to play and the school has attempted to squelch media coverage of the player, who is scheduled for reassignment surgery in May. DelaMartinez told Outsports.com that Allums “feels that there are children committing suicide because their parents don’t understand their gender or that they’re gay.

So when there are speaking engagements schedJ OCK uled just to talk about feelings, or when a media outlet calls to say, ‘Tell me

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College basketball player Kye Allums

more about your story,’ it’s just to get the story out and be who (he) wants to be. It hurts to know that there has been no effort to understand. The school has never sat down and said, ‘Hey, tell us what you want.’ They’ll say, ‘It’s all up to you and how you want to do it,’ but then they have capped off every avenue of speaking to the media and then using the guise of acadeTALK mics or basketball, when now (he) can’t even play basketball. It should be an open forum.”

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The North American Same-Sex Partner Dance Association has sanctioned the ninth annual April Follies Same-Sex Dancesport Classic, scheduled for April 30 at Just Dance Ballroom in Oakland, as the inaugural national championship for ballroom dancing.

Competition among the top dancers from Canada, Mexico, and the United States will include beginning, intermediate, and veteran couples and pro-am pairs in various international and American style ballroom events, as well as social dance styles including country and western, swing, salsa, and Argentine tango, as well as formation teams.

Tickets are $15 for daytime events only; $25 for evening only; or $35 for the entire day. For further information, visit www.aprilfollies.com.

AIDS/LifeCycle registration maxes out For just the second time in the event’s 10-year history, organizers of the annual AIDS/LifeCycle bicycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles have closed biker registration at 2,500. The riders from 40 states and nine countries, ranging in age from 18 to 80, will leave from San Francisco on June 5 – the 30th anniversary of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s first reported cases of AIDS. The event is expected to exceed the fundraising record of $12.3 million set in 2008.

Registration remains open for volunteers to serve food, transport gear, staff rest stops, direct cyclists, and perform other tasks during the weeklong ride. Registration and donation information is available at www.aidslifecycle.org. Riders interested in reserving a spot in next year’s event can also sign up on the website.

Last year, the average rider raised more than $4,500 for the AIDS-related services of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.

Wrestler update I wrote earlier about Jaime Loo, one of my high school wrestlers who came out this year to his teammates through wrestling (see February 3 Jocktalk), and have received a lot of very nice correspondence from people who said they appreciated his story.

The city finals were last Saturday and Jaime took first in the 145-pound weight class to earn a spot in this weekend’s state championships.▼

Kaplan ▼

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campaign last year.

Instead, she touched on the importance of “good jobs” in the city and expansion of local businesses.

She pointed out the city has the first unionized cannabis dispensary in the country. She also discussed proposed transit-oriented development projects being discussed for the Lake Merritt BART station area and later near the Coliseum BART station.

“We have to build Oakland,” Kaplan said.

Kaplan also touted new restaurants that have recently opened in the city, noting that “you’re helping your city when you eat out in Oakland.”

Michael Colbruno, executive director of the Alameda County Democratic Party and an Oakland planning commissioner, said that Kaplan is important for the city.

“She is smart, tenacious, and she is a problem-solver, not a problem creator,” he said. “We need to keep people like Rebecca Kaplan in office and let her keep doing the job she’s doing.”

Kaplan showed up at the event sporting a beard. She declined to comment on a recent San Francisco Chronicle column that mentioned it, other than to say, “my sweetie likes it.”▼

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DOJ-DOMA aftermath: Swell or tsunami? olitical decisions are a lot like oceanic earthquakes. First, there’s the quake, and then there’s the wave. Nobody can tell just how significant the wave is until it reaches land and, sometimes, the wave has greater impact than the earthquake; sometimes, it’s just a swell.

So it is with the decision by the Obama Department of Justice to call the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. The news was a political earthquake for the LGBT community. Now, there’s the wait-and-see for how big an impact the announcement will have.

In this case, there are two waves to watch for – the legal and the political.

Legally, the decision by the government to stop defending DOMA doesn’t guarantee the law will be struck down as unconstitutional.

That’s still in the hands of several courts. But the Obama-DOJ position significantly strengthens the likelihood of the law being struck down because it is up to the government to explain why it needs a law in the first place. If the government can’t or won’t offer an explanation – beyond hate for the group of people the law disfavors – then the court (theoretically) cannot make up one for it and the law is struck.

Politically, the decision by the government to stop defending DOMA offers up a moment of truth for Congress. It can let the legal chips fall where they may, it can send its own attorney to court to explain a reason for the law, or it can ignore the court-bound challenge and pass yet another law to render gays as second-class citizens.

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Legal landscape On the legal front, a federal district court judge in San Francisco gave the Justice Department until Monday to explain how it was going to defend denying a lesbian court worker in the 9th Circuit health coverage for her spouse, given its new position on DOMA. The Justice Department replied that the constitutionality of DOMA Section 3 – which bans federal recognition of same-sex spouses – doesn’t apply in the case of Karen Golinski. Furthermore, noted DOJ, the administration must continue to enforce DOMA “unless Congress repeals it or there is a final judicial finding that strikes it down.”

Interestingly, noted Jennifer Pizer, head of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund’s Marriage Project, the Justice Department did not seek a delay in the judge’s decision on this case, Golinski v. OPM, to invite Congress to intervene. Pizer called that “an apt and reasonable position in light of the fact that it’s been fully briefed, argued, and submitted.”

That same day, February 24, Assistant Attorney General Tony West sent a letter to the 1st Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals informing it that the president and attorney general had recently concluded that the courts should use a heightened level of scrutiny in reviewing laws based on sexual orientation. He further stated that DOMA Section 3 “may not be constitutionally applied to same-sex couples whose marriages are legally recognized under state law; and that the Department will cease its defense of Section 3 in such cases.” The letter concludes by noting that the administration has an “interest in providing Congress a full and fair opportunity to participate in the litigation of those

cases” and that it would continue as a party in those cases “to represent the interests of the United States throughout the litigation.”

Mary Bonauto, the lead attorney for Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders in one of the two 1st Circuit cases, now consolidated as Massachusetts v. HHS, said that, while the DOJ is “stepping back from its defense of DOMA,” it has not issued a letter, required by law, stating that it would stop enforcing DOMA. Its letter to Congress on February 23 stated only that it believes DOMA is unconstitutional, that it would no longer defend the law in court, and that Congress should, if it chooses, join in the litigation.

“The DOJ is now on record with the court about its view that heightened scrutiny should be applied to any review of DOMA’s constitutionality and that DOMA fails that test,” said Bonauto. “All the same, it appears the DOJ will cease to defend DOMA only to the extent that the court determines that heightened scrutiny applies. If the

As hard as it is to predict what impact the DOJ announcement last week will make on the courts, it is even harder to predict its impact on the political landscape.

In the hours following last Wednesday’s announcement, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California), one of only a handful of senators to vote against DOMA in 1996, said she would introduce legislation to repeal it.

Initially, the Justice Department’s announcement seemed to elicit but a ripple. The New York Times and Washington Post both said the immediate reaction from Republicans was relatively mild. In fact, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) issued a statement February 23, saying “While Americans want Washington to focus on creating jobs and cutting spending, the president will have to explain why he thinks now is the appropriate time to stir up a controversial issue that sharply divides the nation.” That’s a criticism of timing, not substance.

That evening, at an appearance at Harvard, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) said Republicans were “a little taken aback” by the Obama DOJ decision, adding, “I’ve never been around when a president decided not to defend a law on the books.”

(Cantor, born in 1963, was curiously uninformed. While it is not common for presidents to decide against defending certain laws in court, the last three Republican presidents did it, as did the previous two Democratic presidents, according to

Jon Davidson, legal director for Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.)

But Associated Press said the more conservative Republican affiliates were quite angry and pushing for a more hostile response. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said Republicans in Congress must respond or else they would “become complicit” in the decision.

“The president was kind of tossing this cultural grenade into the Republican camp,” Perkins told AP. “If they ignore this, it becomes an issue that will lead to some very troubling outcomes for Republicans.”

Fox News commentator Monica Crowley likened the DOJ announcement to the president attempting to become a dictator.

“You cannot pick and choose which law you’re going to enforce as president of the United States,” said Crowley, apparently having not read the attorney general’s letter in which he stated clearly that the administration would continue to enforce the law. “If President Bush had done that, I think there would be calls for his impeachment.”

By Sunday, Boehner seemed to be taking a harder line. He told the Christian Broadcast Network that Republican leaders were examining “a lot of options on the table,” including appointing counsel to defend DOMA. He said House leadership would be talking to House members “in the next few days” and would make a decision by the end of the week on what to do.

Representative Steve King (RIowa) said, in an interview with ABC News, that he thought Congress should take out of the DOJ budget the funding given to DOJ to defend DOMA in court. ▼

Jeremy Bernard

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese issued a statement calling Bernard’s appointment as White House social secretary “historic.”

“We celebrate his appointment not merely because of the ground that he is breaking but because we know that he will serve the president and first lady exceptionally well,” said Solmonese. “He is competent, gracious under pressure, and has distinguished himself as a leader in a number of fields. The president and Mrs. Obama could not have selected a better candidate to ensure that all Americans are welcomed to the ‘people’s house.’”

Bernard, 49, is a native of San Antonio and well-known fundraiser in California for both the Obama cam-

paign and the Democratic Party. He served on the Democratic National Committee until 2009. Early on he worked for longtime gay Democratic activist David Mixner.

Bernard also marks the 155th appointment of an openly LGBT person to the Obama administration, according to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund’s Presidential Project list. He is a former member of the boards of the Victory Fund, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the Access Now for Gay and Lesbian Equality, a Los Angeles-based LGBT fundraising group.

Another openly gay man, Ebs Burnough, currently serves as one of two deputy White House social secretaries.▼

court determines rational basis review applies, DOJ’s position is and has been that the newly invented justifications for DOMA (status quo, uniformity) are rational bases for the law.”

Political landscape

Jane Philomen Cleland

by Lisa Keen

Senator Dianne Feinstein plans to introduce a bill to repeal DOMA.

by Lisa Keen he White House on February 25 announced the appointment of an openly gay man to assume the position as President Barack Obama’s social secretary.

Jeremy Bernard, a senior adviser to the U.S. ambassador to France at the embassy in Paris, will become the first man and the first openly gay person to hold the position of social secretary. The position is charged with planning and supervising a

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wide variety of official White House events, from state dinners and teas to concerts and egg rolling festivals.

This marks the second presidential appointment under President Obama for Bernard. His first appointment was to serve as the White House liaison to the National Endowment for the Humanities. He was also appointed by President Clinton to serve on the Advisory Committee on the Arts for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Karen Ocamb

Gay man named White House social secretary

Obituaries >> Jeremy M. Parr 1973-2011

Jeremy M. Parr, 38, originally of Louisville, Kentucky, passed away unexpectedly in his San Francisco home, on February 21, 2011.

Jeremy, also known as Karen Kill, is survived by a large family and his partner of six years Auggie Petras. Jeremy was born in Kentucky, went to college in Indiana and moved to San Francisco at age 26. He attended fashion school at FIDM, and was an accomplished fashion designer featured in many local fashion shows.

He was also a visual artist, infamous drag performer, athlete, eloquent poet, studied actor, and a professional scientist.

Friends knew Jeremy as a generous and charismatic person who enjoyed life to its fullest, who strove to accomplish great things. His partner knew him as a gentle and loving friend who never complained about the burdens and barriers set in his path.

A tireless energy and optimistic outlook allowed Jeremy to be creative and accomplish many achievements in

his short life. Jeremy had been plagued with illnesses in the past year, but his health was on the mend and he was full of hope. He had returned to work at UCSF, planned to resume acting, bought new running shoes, and had resumed making fashion. All who knew and loved him are devastated by his passing.

Jeremy’s Memorial will be held at Sullivan’s Funeral Home, 2254 Market St. on March 5 at 4 p.m.

Charles Raymond Pitts September 9, 1947 – February 6, 2011

Charles “Chuck” Raymond Pitts, age 64, died of complications due to stroke, on February 6, 2011, at St. Francis Pavilion in Daly City. Chuck was born on September 9,1947 in Shawnee, Oklahoma, the third of five children. He was very active in church settings from an early age, and a noted choral singer. As a teenager, he was part of a gospel trio that attained some renown traveling to Pentecostal churches throughout Oklahoma.

He graduated from Shawnee High School in 1960 and attended Southwestern Bible College in Oklahoma City. He also received training as a florist and continued, according to friends, to create “the most beautiful flower arrangements” in Oklahoma City, and after 1985, in San Francisco.

Chuck attended Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco (MCCSF) regularly from 1990 until falling ill in 2010. He was beloved among churchgoers for his gentle spirit and fabulous hats, particularly as displayed in the church’s annual Easter Parade. He overcame a number of difficult challenges to his health with poise and spirit. On Saturday, March 12, 1 p.m., a memorial service will be held at MCCSF. Flowers may be sent, or in lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to MCCSF general fund.

Web content Online content this week includes the Wockner’s World column and an article about San Francisco mayoral candidate Bevan Dufty dropping his self-imposed contributor cap for the race. www.ebar.com

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BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 3 March 2011

COMMUNITY

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their partners that their straight counterparts receive.

Plans for the February 23 rally were hastily formed that day over lunch, where Lieutenant Dan Choi, who was in town to accept an award, was joined by Marriage Equality USA’s Molly McKay, John Lewis, and Carole Scagnetti, as well as Lez Get Real blogger Melanie Nathan and Olivia Cruises co-founder Rachel Wahba.

The group had initially gathered to celebrate the administration’s announcement, made earlier that morning, that it would no longer defend DOMA in several federal lawsuits.

The lunch coincided with Choi’s 30th birthday. During the meal, news arrived that Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) planned to introduce a Senate bill to repeal DOMA. In response, the group began to make calls to arrange for a rally at 5 p.m. that evening.

There was plenty to celebrate, McKay said.

“Three amazing things happened

Police chief ▼

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“The first time I was called ‘faggot’ was in the police academy,” said longtime homicide Inspector Kevin Jones, an out gay man. He said the last person who made that remark was also from the police department.

Jones said there’s been progress, but he expressed concern about someone from outside San Francisco being hired as the next chief. He said if they talk to candidates from outside the city, commissioners should inquire whether they have gay people in their departments.

They should ask, “Do you really have any? Do you really know their names?” said Jones.

Lieutenant Lea Militello, who heads the homicide unit and is an out

Russian activist ▼

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ter Monday, March 7. An interview that he gave to the paper before news broke of the sponsorship flap is on page 6.

Alekseev said in a statement Tuesday that he still plans to come to California. On his Facebook page, according to a source, he posted, “It’s time to shake the Castro and I will do it. So that those who forgot what is gay activism switch on their brain again and not conceal behind the

... They told us that we seemed immature, or we don’t know what we’re doing, that we’re naive. They were wrong then, and they are wrong now.”

Choi was a leader in the fight to repeal DADT, which culminated last December when Obama signed the measure. The military branches are

now in the midst of setting up training and other tasks before full repeal is implemented.

Several speakers reminded the crowd that much work remains to be done.

“Change takes place when we start changing hearts and minds,” said Equality California’s Andrea Shorter.

lesbian, said she’d soon be starting her 31st year with the department.

“I want a police chief, him or her, that embraces diversity, that doesn’t just talk the talk, that walks the walk,” she said.

Militello said there are “a few” transgender people in the department, but “we’re not doing enough in that area.” She also said it’s “ridiculous” that there are no out gay men higher than the rank of sergeant.

Both Militello and Jones said that if it weren’t for all the gay men who have died from AIDS, there would have been an out gay police chief by now.

Hammer, who noted that he’s the only gay person on the commission, told people at Thursday’s event that the panel owes it to the community “and the kids who are coming out not to go backwards.” He said he’d “fight

like hell” to make sure the police chief “gets it.”

Several people at the forum voiced concerns about entertainment and other issues.

Entertainment Commissioner Audrey Joseph reflected the concerns of many when she said the next chief needs to be “nightclub friendly, street fair friendly, gay friendly, and youth friendly.”

Joseph, who produces the main stage for the city’s LGBT Pride celebration, spoke of the difficulty of obtaining police permits for the event, among other problems. She also reminded police commissioners about the importance of entertainment to the city’s economy, saying police shouldn’t view nightclub operators as “evil, vicious people.”

Several young women from the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center

described incidents of police harassing young people, and said they wanted to see police make more of an effort to personally connect with youth.

“The police are supposed to help us youth and make sure we’re safe,” said Santa Hernandez, who was with the group.

One topic the crowd at Thursday’s event didn’t appear too concerned about was the orientation of the next chief, although there could be at least one LGBT candidate for the job.

Assistant Chief Denise Schmitt, the out lesbian who heads the department’s office of administration, is believed to be the highest-ranking out LGBT person in SFPD history.

Schmitt recently declined to tell the Bay Area Reporter whether she had applied for the chief’s job, since it’s a personnel issue.

After Thursday’s event, David

Waggoner, a past co-president of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, referred to concerns Schmitt brought up when she was captain of the city’s Taraval Station that medical cannabis dispensaries draw crime.

He said she needs to back up her concerns, and that his sense was that Schmitt had raised “a lot of ire in the medical marijuana community.” She’d need to build trust there, he said.

But “Does that mean she couldn’t be an outstanding police chief?” said Waggoner. “No.” Lee is the interim mayor and he has said he won’t be a candidate in November’s election so the next mayor could decide to look for a new chief.

Slaughter told people Thursday night, “Our goal is to pick a chief that’s so good the new mayor, whoever it is, can say, ‘I want this chief, too. This is my chief.’”▼

name of Harvey Milk.”

Equality California and Robin Tyler, of Robin Tyler Productions, were the main sponsors of Alekseev’s visit. But a broad range of organizations were also on board, including Congregation Kol-Ami, Jewish Community Relations Council, Get Equal, Christopher Street West, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Scott Long, formerly of Human Rights Watch and now a fellow at Harvard, captured the January 31 blog post on February 26. The specific quote from Alekseev (since

deleted) reads: “The Jews and Mubarak ... The Israeli Prime Minister urged Western leaders to support Egyptian dictator Mubarak ... And who after this are the Jews? In fact, I always knew who they were.” (Ellipses in original.)

In a statement released Tuesday night, Alekseev said he did publish the comments, which he said were directed at the Israeli government.

“I was angry that anyone could support this dictator [Mubarak] as he was killing his own people. My comments appeared to blame all Jews for the actions of the Israeli gov-

ernment and its supporters,” he said.

Alekseev said he is a “strong believer” in human rights and equality for everyone, “irrespective of personal characteristics, whether it is sexual orientation, race, gender, national or ethnic origin, religion, or any other basis.”

Tyler said she saw Alekseev’s quote in English, not translated from Russian, before it was taken down.

She said the groups organizing Alekseev’s visit were asked to wait for the activist to clarify his remarks, but that clarification never came.

“Andy Thayer a few days ago asked us to wait until we made a decision, as Nikolai was going to make a statement clarifying his misquotes around Jewish people,” Tyler said in an e-mail Tuesday to the Bay Area Reporter. Thayer, with Gay Liberation Network Chicago, has helped coordinate Alekseev’s visit to the United States.

Tyler said that Thayer called Monday afternoon and said Alekseev refused to make a statement but would “explain everything” when he got here.

“We said we had a lot of Jewish sponsorship to these events, plus other organizations who fight racism and anti-Semitism (anti-Jewish remarks). So yesterday at 4 p.m. we told Andy we were going to cancel,” Tyler said.

She said Thayer went to Alekseev’s hotel room in Chicago and told him the California visits had been canceled.

“Nikolai put out a statement last night saying he was canceling California, hours after he found out he was canceled,” Tyler said.

In fact, Alekseev, on his Facebook page, posted a lengthy note explaining that he was “highly pressured” by Tyler “in terms that are not acceptable.”

“I have experienced such a stress

in the last hours than cannot even be compared with what I faced while being arrested and insulted by the Moscow police over the last years,” he wrote.

He alluded to being pressured into toning down comments about gay organizations, what he called “Gay Inc.” “This restriction of my freedom of speech was not acceptable to me,” he wrote.

Tyler denied that.

“I never told him to tone down his comments on Gay Inc.,” Tyler said.

Alekseev was also critical of Long, saying that he waited “until I arrived in America to run his campaign because by attacking me, he was at the same time attacking the activists from Chicago who are also not his toys.”

Alekseev did not address the offending blog post in his Facebook note.

“There was no ‘campaign,’ and I don’t even know who the activists from Chicago are,” Long said in an email Tuesday.

“Generalizations about a racial, religious, or ethnic group cross a line,” Long added. “They’re wrong in themselves and they’re wrong when indulged by LGBT activists who have a responsibility to be true to their own values of equality and understanding.”

Long said he had nothing to do with the cancellation.

“I never spoke to Robin Tyler in my life,” he said. “I would have preferred, in fact, that Nikolai speak, and answer public challenges about what he wrote.”

The statement put out by the coalition that had organized Alekseev’s visit to California said, “Offensive remarks against a religious and ethnic group is at direct odds with the goal of our coalition.”▼

Lieutenant Dan Choi speaks to the crowd that gathered in the Castro last week to celebrate the Obama administration’s announcement that it will no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act.

Lydia Gonzales

SF Lutheran church welcomed back

rant Burger, left, stands with Bishop Mark Holmerud and Paul Johnson as Holmerud knocks on the door three times to be let into the chapel of St. Francis Lutheran Church during the Festival of Reconciliation and Restoration in San Francisco Sunday, February 27. The ceremony marked the end of St. Francis’ expulsion from the national Lutheran Church.

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▼

“Make sure that when you leave here today, you think of who you need to talk to, and make sure that they know what’s going on with DOMA and make sure that they’re along with us.”

In his remarks, Lewis compared Obama to President Franklin Roosevelt, who is rumored to have responded to labor leader A. Philip Randolph’s requests for action by saying, “I couldn’t agree with you more ... But I would ask one thing of you, Mr. Randolph, and that is to go out and make me do it.”

Obama himself once recounted that story, in response to a supporter’s request that he pursue Mideast peace. Similarly, Lewis said, “after two years, and after the work of thousands of average lesbian and gay folks, and our friends and families ... today he has issued that proclamation that discrimination against any human being, including lesbian and gay people, violates our most sacred guarantees of equality and liberty.”

“I’ve always said the two pillars keeping us from our full equality were marriage and the military,” McKay said, before concluding the rally by leading the crowd in the National Anthem.▼

today,” she said. “Each one independently would have been really tremendous. It feels like a tipping point.”

In addition to the announcement on DOMA, the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which filed a federal lawsuit challenging Proposition 8, California’s same-sex marriage ban, announced that it had requested that the California Supreme Court expedite oral arguments regarding its re-entry into the Prop 8 case. A federal judge ruled last August that Prop 8 is unconstitutional and the case is now on appeal. An appellate panel has asked the state Supreme Court to determine issues around standing by the anti-gay protectmarriage.com.

AFER also asked that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lift a stay on the August ruling, which if granted would permit same-sex couples to resume marrying immediately.

As a crowd of about 80 gathered in the Castro that evening, Choi observed that the day’s surprise announcements were a vindication of assertive activist tactics.

“There is no stopping us now,” he said. “It’s been a long journey for so many of us. So many people have told us that we should not fight as loudly

Matt Baume

Castro rally

NEWS

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3 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

COMMUNITY

Film ▼

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issue that many teens are dealing with in the United States and abroad.”

Over the course of the summer of 2009, when she made the film, Espie learned about using a camera and editing, among other skills.

But that’s not all she learned.

Mariposa is Spanish for “butterfly,” and the word fits what happened to Espie.

“It was a huge experience,” she said of making the film. “I wasn’t very

News Briefs ▼

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pared to make a good first impression.

The event is free; it is sponsored by the Job Journal, Entercom, and ABC7KGO. For more information, visit www.jobjournal.com or call 1-888843-5627.

New online directory for LGBT families Our Family Coalition has created a real-time online reference tool for Bay Area LGBTQ families with kids to recommend and comment on welcoming service providers, educational institutions, organizations, activities, restaurants, retailers, and more. The directory is at www.ourfamily.org/BestoftheGayBay. “LGBT parents, like all parents, are always looking for the best for their kids. On top of quality services and

Pride ▼

page 5

Wong, a past Pride board treasurer.

Pride’s membership will also select a community grand marshal.

Pride’s board has already chosen the national Trevor Project as an organizational grand marshal, but the public will select a local organizational grand marshal.

Those nominees are the GLBT Historical Society, Lavender Seniors of the East Bay, Hayward’s Lighthouse Community Center, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, and the San Francisco HIV Health Services Planning Council.

Finally, the community will select someone to receive the Pink Brick, an award meant to recognize groups and individuals who’ve run afoul of the community or pushed for anti-

NEWS

much of an open person. Then, when everything started happening, I started being more open, and more positive about who I am, so I think it helped a lot.”

And Espie did have her quinceañera.

“It was fun,” she said. “I had all my family there, and all the people we were filming with.”

Regular tickets for next Thursday’s event at YBCA are $8. Tickets for seniors, students, and YBCA members are $6. For tickets visit www.ybca.org or call the center’s box office at (415) 978-ARTS (2787).▼ good fun, they want to utilize queer friendly services,” said Yensing Sihapanya, associate director of OFC. “Parents are the best source of ideas for one another and Best of the Gay Bay offers them a vehicle for sharing their knowledge.”

According to the 2000 census, the Bay Area topped the list of metropolitan areas in the country with the highest percentage of households with gay and lesbian couples. In a 2007 survey, more than 70 percent of OFC’s respondents indicated that a resource like a guide of LGBTQ friendly services, organizations, and activities would be valuable.

In 2007 the guide was published in paper form. OFC decided to move the resource online so that parents can add information, referrals, and offer comments. Once a book with listings, the guide is now interactive, current, and user-friendly, staffers noted.▼ gay measures.

The nominees are Lou Engle, who’s been linked as a supporter of Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill; Maggie Gallagher, board chair of the National Organization for Marriage; and George Rekers, an anti-gay activist who got caught with a male escort.

Pride’s board has selected Bishop Yvette Flunder, whom Randolph described as a “longtime HIV/AIDS advocate,” as lifetime achievement grand marshal, he said.

Also Tuesday night, Randolph said, the board voted children’s book author Eric Ross in as its newest member.▼ For more information, visit www.sfpride.org.

Full disclosure: Judge Victoria Kolakowski is the wife of B.A.R. news editor Cynthia Laird.

BAYAREAREPORTER

CLASSIFIEDS

LEGAL NOTICES

City and County of San Francisco For Papers March 2011 RFP for the Information Booth Program at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) Airport Proposal ID # 9075 The Airport Commission seeks experienced and qualified firms interested in managing and staffing the Information Booth Program at the SFO. Information booth agents are responsible for providing Airport patrons with impartial, courteous, accurate information on ground transportation services to and from the Airport; selling transit passes for Bay Area transit operators, and providing other as-needed services.

The RFP may be downloaded at www.flysfo.com. A copy can also be requested by sending an email to daniel.pino@flysfo.com or by fax at (650) 821-6508.

Deadline for Submission: 3:00 p.m., March 22, 2011 SFO has commenced the RFP for six retail leases: • Terminal 3 News and Specialty Store • Terminal 3 and International Terminal News and Specialty Store • Terminal 3 and International Terminal News and Bookstore/Café • Terminal 3 Bath & Body Store • Boarding Area F Newsstand • Boarding Area F Athletic Apparel and Accessories Store An informational conference is scheduled for March 16, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. Conference Rm. 28R, International Terminal, North Shoulder Building, at SFO. Information is available on our website at http://www.flysfo.com/web/page/about/b2b/conces/ or by calling John Reeb, Senior Principal Property Manager, at (650) 821-4500.

News from the S.F. Residential Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Board Did you know you may be due interest on your security deposit? Chapter 49 of the San Francisco Administrative Code requires landlords to pay interest annually on deposits held on residential property.

Landlords are required to pay interest on all monies held over one year, regardless of what the deposit is called. Interest payments apply to all residential rental units in San Francisco, including those exempt from the Rent Ordinance. If your rent is subsidized by a government agency, the interest payment requirement does not apply. Usually, the security deposit interest is due the same month the landlord first received the deposit. From March 1, 2011 through February 29, 2012, the interest rate on security deposits is 0.4%.

More details about security deposit interest can be found at www.sfrb.org.

From March 1, 2011 through February 29, 2012, the annual allowable increase amount for rent-stabilized homes, apartments and hotel rooms is 0.5%. For example, if a tenant has a base rent of $1,250.00, the annual increase would be calculated as follows: $1,250.00 x .005 = $6.25. The tenant’s new base rent would be $1,256.25. ($1,250.00 + 6.25 = $1,256.25). In most cases, landlords are only able to raise a tenant’s rent once a year. For more information visit www.sfrb.org. Information on over 80 topics of interest to landlords and tenants is also available in English, Spanish, and Chinese by calling (415) 252-4600. Tenants and landlords can receive individual counseling by calling (415) 252-4602 or visiting the Rent Board’s office in San Francisco at 25 Van Ness Avenue, Room 320, during regular business hours.

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.

NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE LICENSE To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are : SUEMEE OSUKA. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at: 1500 Irving St., San Francisco, CA 94122-1909. Type of license applied for:

41 ON-SALE BEER AND WINE EATING PLACE MAR 3,2011

Sharing coming out stories

NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE LICENSE To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are : AMERICAN AIRLINES INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at: San Francisco International Airport, Terminal 2 SP D2 205, San Francisco, CA 94128-3161. Type of license applied for:

57- SPECIAL ON-SALE GENERAL MAR 3,2011

Jane Philomen Cleland

NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

ot429, a group that connects LGBT professionals and their allies, last weekend launched its WorkOpen campaign, a series of videos

by LGBT professionals sharing their stories about coming out at work and other issues. Christel Van Der Boom, who works at a Silicon Valley start-up called Flip Board, was the first person to be interviewed on Saturday, February 26 at Saks Fifth Avenue’s Men’s Store in downtown San Francisco for the WorkOpen project. Van Der Boom was being prepped by camera operator Chris Heinrich.

D

To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: KRAVE CAFE LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at: 422 Larkin St., San Francisco, CA 94102-3607. Type of license applied for:

41 ON-SALE BEER AND WINE EATING PLACE FEB 17,24,MAR 3, 2011

NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: ANUAR ISMAIL ABUARAFEH. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at:803-805 Howard St., San Francisco, CA 94103-3009. Type of license applied for:

21 OFF-SALE GENERAL FEB 17,24,MAR 3, 2011

STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE# CNC-11-547466

In the matter of the application of DELVON DEOAUNTA FIELDS for change of name. The application of DELVON DEOAUNTA FIELDS for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that DELVON DEOAUNTA FIELDS filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to KAI MALIK PINA. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 218 on the 7th of April, 2011 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

FEB 10,17,24,MAR 3, 2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033323100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as J L ELECTRIC, 37 Tioga Ave., San Francisco, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Juchi Li. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/04/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/04/11.

FEB 10,17,24,MAR 3, 2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033308300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as XS ENTERPRISES, 101 9th St., San Francisco, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Keland Wells. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/31/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/31/11.

FEB 10,17,24,MAR 3, 2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033347200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as 1.SERAPHIM ENERGIES, 2.SERAPHIM INITIATIONS, 3.SERAPHIM BLUEPRINT,4.JUPITER EXPRESS,5.OXUXO,6.AITOTIA, 7.GUARDIANS OF GAIA, 45 Brosnan St., San Francisco, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Alex O.J. Brandin. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/01/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/14/11.

FEB 17,24,MAR 3,10, 2011

Check us out online:

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STATEMENT FILE A-033320300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as 1010 KEYS, 3 Byron Court, San Francisco, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Gregory E. Harris. 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 02/03/11.

FEB 10,17,24,MAR 3, 2011

NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are:GARFIELD BEACH CVS LLC, LONGS DRUG STORES CALIFORNIA LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at:NWC 32nd Ave. & Clement St., San Francisco, CA 94121. Type of license applied for:

20 OFF-SALE BEER AND WINEFEB 24,MAR 3,10, 2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033339300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as APOTHECARIUM, 2095 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94114.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Ryan Hudson.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/10/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/10/11.

FEB 17,24,MAR 3,10, 2011

BAY AREAREPORTER STATEMENT FILE A-033293300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SWELL CONTENT, 925 Pierce St.,#2, San Francisco, CA 94115.

This business is conducted by an individual, signed Nicole Jones. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/21/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/25/11.

FEB 17,24,MAR 3,10, 2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033311500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LANDSCAPE XL, 3529 24th St., San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Cleuton De Araujo. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/31/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/31/11.

FEB 17,24,MAR 3,10, 2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033335400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as CASTLE GENERAL CONTRACTORS, 2443 Fillmore St.,#215, San Francisco, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Ken Page. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/09/11.

FEB 17,24,MAR 3,10, 2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033335500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as EAG STUDIO,2443 Fillmore St.,#215, San Francisco, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a limited libility company, signed Ken Page. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/09/11.

FEB 17,24,MAR 3,10, 2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033335000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as NUTE’S, 149 Vicksburg St., San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Surangrat Chulasuwan. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/09/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/09/11.

FEB 17,24,MAR 3,10, 2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033340600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MISSION OASIS GALLERY, 3118 22nd St., San Francisco, CA 94111.

This business is conducted by an individual, signed James B. Lappin Jr. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/11/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/11/11.

FEB 17,24,MAR 3,10, 2011

14

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 3 March 2011

▼

CLASSIFIEDS

COUNSELING

LEGAL NOTICES STATEMENT FILE A-033283600

STATEMENT FILE A-033359900

STATEMENT FILE A-033366700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as TOWER CAFE,100 First St.,8th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105.

This business is conducted by an individual, signed Ann Song-Rim Kim. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/20/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as CLOUDCRANK.COM,4409 20th St., San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual,signed Eric Wilcox. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/18/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/18/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as BAY BRIDGE INN, 966 Harrison St.,San Francisco, CA 94107.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company ,signed Divyesh Patel.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 1/02/08. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/23/11.

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STATEMENT FILE A-033318100

STATEMENT FILE A-033305100

STATEMENT FILE A-033367200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LEGER LINES PRODUCTIONS, 755 Tennessee St., #11,San Francisco, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a individual, signed Janice A. Leger. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/17/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/02/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SOCMED MOJO, 2025 Pine St., #9, San Francisco, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual,signed Melissa O’Neil. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/01/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/28/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as RODEWAY INN, 101 9th St.,San Francisco, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company ,signed Divyesh Patel. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 1/02/08. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/23/11.

FEB 24,MAR 3,10,17,2011

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033359700

STATEMENT FILE A-033379200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as 860 KANSAS STREET HOA, 860 Kansas St.,San Francisco, CA 94107.

This business is conducted by an unincorporated association other than a partnership,signed Kimberly Baggett. 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 02/18/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as KOK BAR SAN FRANCISCO, 1225 Folsom St.,San Francisco, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company ,signed Steven Abramson. 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 02/28/11.

FEB 17,24,MAR 3,10, 2011 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: ANDALE MANAGEMENT GROUP INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at:San Francisco International Airport Terminal 2 Boarding Area D, San Francisco, CA 94128.

Type of license applied for:

41 ON-SALE BEER AND WINE EATING PLACE MAR 3,10,17,2011

FEB 24,MAR 3,10,17,2011 STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE# CNC-11-547473

STATEMENT FILE A-033353600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as U- SAVE MARKET,399 Crescent Ave., San Francisco, CA 94110.

This business is conducted by an individual, signed Dipak B. Gandhi. 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 02/16/11.

FEB 24,MAR 3,10,17,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033354100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as DEVISE,10 Tapia Drive, San Francisco, CA 94132. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Reza Hashemzadeh. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/14/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/16/11.

FEB 24,MAR 3,10,17,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033323500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as DREAM WORLD MEDIA,470 Third St.,#210, San Francisco, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Carolyn Quan. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/22/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/04/11.

FEB 24,MAR 3,10,17,2011

In the matter of the application of DANIEL ALAN SCRIVNER for change of name. The application of DANIEL ALAN SCRIVNER for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that DANIEL ALAN SCRIVNER filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to DANIEL MARC GATSBY. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 218 on the 19th of April, 2011 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011 STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE# CNC-11-547474 In the matter of the application of BERNADETTE CHRISTINA FAYE MEYERS-GUZMAN for change of name.

The application of BERNADETTE CHRISTINA FAYE MEYERS-GUZMAN for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that BERNADETTE CHRISTINA FAYE MEYERS-GUZMAN filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to BERNADETTE FAYE GATSBY. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 218 on the 19th of April, 2011 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033350800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as GIVE SQUARED,42 Steiner St., San Francisco, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Elliot Peterson. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/15/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/15/11.

FEB 24,MAR 3,10,17,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033335900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as DOANEW,548 Market St.,#13562, San Francisco, CA 94104.

This business is conducted by an individual, signed Mark Leppa. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/02/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/09/11.

FEB 24,MAR 3,10,17,2011

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTICIOUS BUSINESS NAME: #A-0310278-00 The following persons have abandoned the use of the ficticious business name known as ALLSTAR CAFE,1500 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94102. This business was conducted by an individual, signed Diana Wei. The ficticious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/21/08.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTICIOUS BUSINESS NAME: #A-0316631-00 The following persons have abandoned the use of the ficticious business name known as ALLSTAR CAFE,98 9th St., San Francisco, CA 94103. This business was conducted by an individual,signed William Wei. The ficticious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/02/09.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033363400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as 1.FIAT LUX, 2.BELLAFLORA JEWELRY,218 Church St.,San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual,signed Marie McCarthy. 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 02/22/11.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033369900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as EXCELLENT AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE & REPAIR,1298 Shotwell St., Unit B, San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Marvin John Octaviano. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 1/17/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/24/11.

The following persons have abandoned the use of the ficticious business name known as OZIMO,3150 18th St.,STE. 429,San Francisco, CA 94110. This business was conducted by a general partnership, signed Richard Freitas. The ficticious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/03/11.

FEB 24,MAR 3,10,17,2011

The following person(s) is/are doing business as FRITTS FAMILY CHIROPRACTIC,557 Waller St.,San Francisco, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual,signed Garretson VanBuren Fritts. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 2/03/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/03/11.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

The following person(s) is/are doing business as OZIMO,3150 18th St.,STE. 429 Box 313, San Francisco, CA 94110.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Richard Freitas.

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 02/16/11.

STATEMENT FILE A-033340500

FEB 24,MAR 3,10,17,2011

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

The following person(s) is/are doing business as EPIDEMIC IQ, One Sutter St., Suite 600,San Francisco, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a corporation ,signed Jeremy Alberga. 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 02/11/11.

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as MIKE’S GARAGE SALES,343 Crestmont Drive,San Francisco, CA 94131. This business is conducted by an individual signed Michael Joseph Hutton. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 2/25/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/25/11.

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MAR 3,10,17,24,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033368000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as MISSION: CATS LLC, 3150 18th St.,#103,San Francisco, CA 94110.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Genna Darby.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 2/23/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/23/11.

RENTALS

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033364400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as MULBERRY MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS LLC, 225 Bush St.,Suite 1608,San Francisco, CA 94104.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Daniel Brown.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 9/02/08. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/22/11.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033353000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as OLSEN & PARTNERS SF, 2352 Market St.,#B,San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Gina Waota. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 2/16/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/16/11.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033353900

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MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033321500

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTICIOUS BUSINESS NAME: #A-033239200

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Being Abe Vigoda

Bali mon amour

The truth about lions

Guitarist Juan Velasquez on being the only gay member of the rock band Abe Vigoda.

Asian Art Museum’s ‘Bali: Art, Ritual, Performance.’

‘The Last Lions’ is set in Botswana’s Okavango Delta.

page 23

page 19

page 28

Vol. 41 . No. 9 . 3 March 2011

The music of the 1980s gets a playful makeover in the musical Rock of Ages, arriving next week at the Curran Theatre.

he music of the ’80s was known for… what? Hair, it turns out, as in the long-shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen hair on the swaggering guys in such heavy-metal bands as Poison, Ratt, Styx, White Snake, and Van Halen. They’re often called “hair bands,” and as are about as far away from Broadway music as you can imagine. But writer Chris D’Arienzo and his collaborators on Rock of Ages saw the theatricality in the overblown anthems. Indeed, he said, “They have this epic, almost-Shakespearean musicality to them.”

It took four bumpy years, but Rock of Ages became an unlikely

Photo: Joan Marcus

where an early incarnation of Rock of Ages faced its first audiences in 2005.

Another L.A. club date followed, and then an expensive failure as a hotel-casino show attraction in Las Vegas. “There were many times we thought the project might be dead,” D’Arienzo said. The producers, with deeper pockets than theatrical experience, were afraid of New York as a destination, but took the plunge with an off-Broadway production that soon transferred to Broadway.

“Ironically, New York audiences embraced our show even bet-

‘Rock of Ages’ brings on the music of the 1980s

by Richard Dodds

Broadway hit when it opened in 2009, and has since launched several international productions as well as the touring company arriving March 8 at the Curran Theatre. D’Arienzo was speaking from Los Angeles, where the tour was in residence at the historic Pantages Theatre. “It’s just two blocks away from where we first did it,” D’Arienzo said of the small Hollywood music club

Phenomenal dancing

San Francisco Ballet in Yuri Possokhov’s Classical Symphony.

San Francisco Ballet’s Programs 3 & 4 ~ by Paul Parish ~ an Francisco Ballet’s third and fourth programs opened last weekend at the Opera House with mixed bills that showed off the company roster to stunning effect. Right down to the dancers in the back row, the talent is simply phenomenal, and the ballets are well-chosen to let them shine. These performers have everything – technique, energy, personal beauty, musicality; every one of them a stage animal. They never shrink back, not even in the hardest steps. Au contraire, that’s when they turn themselves loose. The opening numbers on both shows are maybe too exciting – each one is the most classical piece on the program, and each one kicks ass to the point where the best that follows, good as it is, is a little anti-climactic.

The all-Tchaikovsky Program 4 led off with Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, made in 1947 to show off the fledgling Ballet Theater’s classical chops and the brilliance of Alicia Alonso, their great allegro technician who later returned to her native Cuba to found the National Ballet. It was poignant to see one of her protégés, the brilliant Taras Domitro (who defected a few years back), handle the principal male role with magnificent Spanish glamour. It’s a ballet where technique is just a prerequisite, page 28

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Erik Tomasson

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18

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 3 March 2011

OUT

THERE

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Inside the Out There play-by-play S

We Were Here co-director and editor Bill Weber and producer/ director David Weissman enjoy the film’s premiere at the Castro Theatre.

Rick Gerharter

ince pop star Britney Spears feels quite at home enough in the Castro District to do her Good Morning America shoot from there, and actress Faye Dunaway feels she belongs back in the spotlight on Dancing with the Stars, we feel we can bring you along to a deep, dark, exotic place where many fear to tread: Out There’s weekend datebook.

Last Friday night at the Castro Theatre, OT was among the VIP crowd at the opening-night premiere for We Were Here – The AIDS Years in San O UT Francisco from co-directors David Weissman and Bill Weber, a benefit for Project Inform and Shanti. At the reception in the mezzanine, the filmmakers made remarks to a see-and-be-seen crowd that included political luminaries Carole Migden, Scott Wiener, Harry Britt, and special guest singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright.

From the stage of the Castro, Wainwright conjured up the spirit of Judy Garland as he sang “Over the Rainbow” with heart and soul, accompanied by Matthew Simmons (Peggy L’Eggs) on keyboards. Shanti e.d.

Kaushik Roy, PI e.d. Dana Van Gorder, Weissman and Weber made touching remarks. Then they rolled the film.

Partly because OT lived in SF through most of the times depicted (we got here in ’83), and recognized many faces onscreen – and behind the camera lens for many of the stills – We Were Here moved us deeply, but we were not alone. Like the T HERE saying almost goes, you don’t need to have been a radicalized homo in 1980s SF to bite the kosher hot dog.

After the credits rolled to Holcombe Waller’s sprightly score, the film’s principals took the stage to heartfelt ovations before they submitted to a Q&A. Weissman and Weber have done the gay community a tremen-

dous service, getting down for posterity how it felt to live through the terrifying early years of the epidemic.

Then, Saturday night at the jewelbox Herbst Theatre, conductor Nicole Paiement led the Ensemble Parallèle‘s chamber orchestra in the California premiere of Philip Glass’ opera Orphée, which sets poet/filmmaker Jean Cocteau’s screenplay to pulsating music. With a top-notch cast featuring Eugene Brancoveanu as Orphée, Marnie Breckenridge as the Princess (Death), John Duykers as Heurtebise and Philip Skinner as the Poet, a 15piece orchestra that descended into the pit as if it were the Underworld, amazing staging, cirque artists and super supernumeraries, this Orphée was a triumph. We were happy to congratulate some of the artists at the high-spirited afterparty downstairs at the Herbst.

But of course, the next night was the festive Academy of Friends Gala celebrating the Oscars telecast, this year moved to the SF Galleria Design Center, where we met friends, enjoyed libations and victuals, took smoke breaks, and, oh yes, intermittently watched the proceedings broadcast live from the Kodak Theater in L.A. There wasn’t much suspense or any real surprises during the annual dispensation of golden trophies, and the most thrilling moment of the evening was when co-host James Franco came out in Marilyn Monroe drag, claiming to have received suggestive text mes-

sages from head case Charlie Sheen.

Actress Annette Bening was robbed of the Best Actress award in favor of the pregnant swan; but “life isn’t always kind, is it?” (the moral of Mike Leigh’s Another Year).

One last film note: the singular film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives by acclaimed Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul will show on the San Francisco Film Society Sat the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas this week, March 4-10.

We’re told it’s a wonderful film, and on top of that, Weerasethakul was the first openly gay director to receive the Palme d’Or, for Uncle Boonmee, at the Cannes Film Festival. Hooray for Apichatpong, familiarly known as “Joe.”

Steven Underhill

by Roberto Friedman

Baroque developments In conjunction with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra’s 30th Anniversary Season, music director Nicholas McGegan and the PBO have announced the launch of the ensemble’s own recording label, Philharmonia Baroque Productions. The first release, slated for early March, showcases the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in a live 1995 recording of Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été, and in a live 1991 recording of arias from Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Ottone, Arianna, Radamisto, and Agrippina. The Berlioz is the last of seven acclaimed recordings Hunt Lieberson made with the PBO, and the first time she ever sang the full song cycle in performance. In press materials, McGegan recalls the experience of performing Nuits d’été. “There are certain musical performances you always

Golden trophy poses at the Academy of Friends Gala 2011.

remember, and I can remember exactly what it felt like standing there next to her for the Berlioz. It was thrilling.

You don’t forget that. Her artistry shines through on this recording.”

It’s the first of three recordings the PBP label will release this year. In conjunction with the PBO’s April performances of Haydn’s epic oratorio Creation comes a recording of Haydn symphonies including No. 104, London, performed in concert. An all-Vivaldi disc featuring violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock is coming up in September, to go with the opening of the PBO’s 2011-12 season.▼

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3 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

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ali, a Southeast Asian mecca for Western tourists seeking the promise of paradise, a tropical tan and the sort of spiritual awakening glamorized by the pop culture phenomenon Eat, Pray, Love, gets a thorough and rather fine art-historical treatment in Bali: Art, Ritual, Performance. The new exhibition, on view at the Asian Art Museum, should do nothing to diminish the American romance with this faraway isle; instead, the show will only add to its mystique while offering a grounding in the legacy of artistry and aesthetic beauty that informs Balinese daily life and nearly every ceremonial object here, from primitive representations of the rice goddess (the staff of life) made out of palm fronds or graceful carved-wood sculptures in her image embedded with copper alloy coins, to a pair of elaborate gilded chairs with a lion’s head on each armrest, precious gold vessels produced by court artisans and ivory sculptures believed to be vehicles for the gods descending from their mountain aeries. The oldest piece in the show, and one of the most enigmatic, is the top layer of a primitive bronze drum that has turned green with the passage of time; concentric rings, like those etched into an ancient sequoia stump, relay its history.

Over two-thirds of the exhibition’s 130 artworks, which date mostly from 1700 to the 1930s, are spoils of war collected by the Dutch,

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following their conquest of Bali in the early 20th century; the prizes of military campaigns were shipped back to Europe and preserved in museums in the Netherlands, which may explain their pristine condition.

The wide array of objects on display includes paintings, furnishings, archival photographs, decorative pieces, musical instruments like the metallophone that has bronze bars and bamboo resonators, a tray holding bamboo tubes for cricket-fighting (a Balinese national pastime that’s not quite as popular as cockfighting), and shadow puppets symbolizing a constellation of figures like the goddess of death and destruction, a demon warrior, a ruler of snakes and a feisty chicken, who are all players in a vivid storytelling tradition.

The first in-depth, major show of its kind in the U.S., Bali examines the confluence of ritual practice with the thriving performing and visual arts that emanate from this relatively tiny island (it’s only 90 miles across), one of a network of thousands of such land masses in the Indian Ocean that comprise the republic of Indonesia.

With over 20,000 temples to sustain, there are numerous ceremonies, each requiring artifacts and costumes such as the “legong” dancer’s delicate, gilted rawhide headdress, crowned with protruding leaves of gold paper, mica shards and mirror fragments that move and sway, catching the light as a performer glides through space. The headdresses are believed to induce a trance in those who wear them on the 10th full

Courtesy Asian Art Museum

by Sura Wood

Courtesy Asian Art Museum

Fantasy island

The widow Rangda, 1800-1900.

Wood and pigments. Asian Art Museum, Gift of Thomas Murray.

Lion barong (barong singa ), approx. 1900-25. Wood, pigments, rawhide, horsehair. Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam.

moon of the lunar calendar.

In the midst of the most populous Islamic country in the world, Bali has somehow remained a Hindu oasis, though its Hinduism is inextricably linked with a tradition of animism and ancestor worship. In contrast to the tranquility of the landscape, the collective Balinese psyche is a densely populated, tumultuous place filled with wrathful, red-faced, fire-breathing, bulging-eyed deities, whom one wouldn’t want to encounter in a dark alley or a rice paddy.

Battles royale between good and evil erupt in ritual dances where seemingly gigantic performers don brightly painted, startling animalcreature masks of extraordinary size.

They face off in ancient scenarios, engaging in ritual catharsis that could be construed as a form of culturally sanctioned anger management. Decorated with shanks of un-

ruly hair, enormous teeth and a generally menacing appearance, these creature masks of boars, lions, tigers, horned monkeys, elephants, magical birds and mythical beasts are the highlight of the show.

At a height of nearly nine feet when worn in full regalia, the “Barong Landung,” giant puppets usually carried on the shoulders of a single male performer, tower over spectators and are regarded as village protectors whose powers repel misfortune and sickness. These figures can also consist of a couple, as in a story based on the legend of an unattractive, possibly demonic Balinese king, represented here by the ebony, buck-toothed mask of Jero Gede, who married a demur Chinese wife, Jero Luh, a white-faced character with a sweetly serene expression.

In a welcome departure from the hype and jumble of Shanghai, last

year’s big spring/summer extravaganza, the Asian, back on track and in high gear with this exquisite exhibition, shows its usual admirable restraint, culling prime examples of select works and allowing them room to breathe, while offering narrative and background information in easy-to-read, illuminating text in the galleries. In addition, video clips of temple festivals and celebrations of the life cycle, shot in Bali by curator Natasha Reichle, provide context to the objects on display. A full complement of concerts and dance performances will play out in the museum’s public spaces during the course of the show.▼ Bali: Art, Ritual, Performance at the Asian Art Museum, Feb. 25-Sept. 11.

Info: (415) 581-3500 or www.asianart.org.

by David Lamble avier Beauvois’ Of Gods and Men belongs to that tiniest of sub-subgenres, the film that tries not only to take us inside the head of a character, but to examine the workings of his or her immortal soul. I tried very hard to put myself into the predicament of eight Trappist monks serving in an isolated community during the tsunami of civil insurrection that swept over Algeria in the mid-90s. The title of Beauvois’ second feature, Don’t Forget You’re Going to Die, about a young HIV-positive student, could serve equally well for this tale. A group of elderly monks is faced with two seemingly bad choices: flee the country and abandon their poor Muslim community, or stick to their vows and face almost certain assassination at the hand of extremist guerrillas.

A pivotal moment early in the drama occurs as the monks, none of them young and a few elderly and

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feeble, sit around a table and take an informal poll on the unknowable risks of leaving or staying. The two characters determined to stick it out are the ones we come to most closely identify with: Father Christian (charismatic French actor Lambert Wilson) and the monastery’s medical expert, Father Luc (legendary Michael Lonsdale). The real-life Christian had a lifelong passionate identification with Algeria and its people, having once served in the colonial French army. His character has the most tortured position regarding the duty of a devout religious man to stand by another people, some of whom wish him dead.

“My death will quickly vindicate those who hastily called me naïve or idealistic, but they must know that I will finally be freed of my most burning curiosity and will be able, God willing, to immerse my gaze into the Father’s in order to contemplate with him his children of Islam as he sees them.” I quote this, to me, almost masochistic philosophy, to give a clue

as to the uphill job the filmmakers have to convince the likes of me that Christian isn’t merely a saintly madman. Father Luc’s position – wanting to stay put in his old age and make his scarce medical skills available – is one I can abide far more easily, and it doesn’t hurt that Lonsdale is one of the screen’s most nimble and witty humanists.

The filmmakers are at great pains to stress how much the monks mistrust both the guerrillas and the ultra-corrupt army forces supporting the ongoing dictatorship. This drama has its share of saintly martyrs but no real heroes in the conventional sense.

At 120 minutes, this high-minded, intimate mini-epic feels a little long.

I have to confess my favorite scene is a silly, tension-breaking one where an elderly monk escapes his fate by hiding under a bed (this would have been my choice).

Machotaildrop There have been a lot of really bad skateboard films, mostly clueless Hollywood schlock.

The one thing you could count on is

Marie-Julie Maille

Monks in a Muslim land

Scene from Xavier Beauvois’ Of Gods & Men: high-minded.

a cute boy or two hurling themselves across the screen, usually in service of a really dumb script. But skateboard films have seldom been pretentious, that is until the Canadian clunker, fresh from IndieFest, clumsily titled Machotaildrop. The best moments in this weirdly plotted fantasy come when inarticulate, shaggyhaired teen Walter Rhum (Anthony Amedori) performs an amusing series of board pratfalls making an audition tape for a mysterious skate-

board combine. Once Walter arrives at the company’s rural headquarters, all bets are off, and the film turns into a parody of The Mouse That Roared in the style of an Eastern European Dadaist drama. The boy vanishes into an absurd nest of stuffed horses, zombie werewolves and bad hairdos. The filmmakers keep doubling down on their atrocious bets until I was convinced this might be the worst film I’ve ever seen, a new low in airhead cinema. (Roxie)▼

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BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 3 March 2011

MUSIC

Mostly Mozart, with class

by Philip Campbell he last two weeks of San Francisco Symphony concerts might have seemed like something of a mini Mozart festival, but the most impressive performances of the fortnight actually belonged to another, far more modern composer.

Morton Feldman, American maverick from New York City, got a major hearing right next to Mozart’s towering Requiem. His champion, Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, took a big gamble and won. It wasn’t a competition, but more a vindication of MTT’s long-time advocacy of a neglected stand-alone genius.

Feldman seldom strayed west of the Hudson, and his remarkable compositions haven’t earned him a place of much prominence in the musical establishment. His style, both professional and personal, would appear to bear no relationship to Mozart’s, but his intentions with the beautifully quiet and deeply reflective Rothko Chapel of 1971 certainly can compare in spirit. The big shouts of anguish and declaration in the Requiem never emerge from the contemplative shadows of the Chapel, and the “New York Jewish hipster, Zen master” (as MTT described him) employed wordless choral utterances, as opposed to Mozart’s ecclesiastical text. Still, one mentally walked through the Rothko Chapel, along with the literally wandering viola soloist (a perfectly artful and committed Jonathan Vinocour), with the same sense of humility and questioning that we feel in the face of Mozart’s god of judgment.

The program opened with Director Ragnar Bohlin’s San Francisco Symphony Chorus singing the first SFS performances of Lithuanian composer Mindaugas Urbaitis’ Lacrimosa.

The brief and lovely score is both homage and riff on Mozart’s Lacry-

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San Francisco Symphony

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Viola soloist Jonathan Vinocour.

mosa section of the Requiem in D minor. The modern composer works up to and past an actual quotation of Mozart’s music, and the effect is cumulatively powerful. It also proved an intelligent prelude to the much longer Feldman work that followed.

Percussionist Jack Van Geem, timpanist David Herbert and keyboardist Robin Sutherland (playing celesta) were on hand to add exquisite detail and contour to the stark landscape of the Rothko Chapel, and two of the solo vocalists, soprano Kiera Duffy and mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, supplied almost angelic appearances during the subtly theatrical staging (achieved with simple placement and restrained lighting).

MTT also prefaced the performance with an insightful speech about the composer and his place in Western music. He also (to my delight) included his marvelous take on Feldman’s Brooklynese: “Dis is gonna be a real classy production.” It was a classy production, and despite numerous bronchial punctuation marks from the mostly attentive audience, a successful one as well.

The two female soloists returned

after intermission to stand before the full SFS Chorus and the full orchestra with tenor Bruce Sledge and bass-baritone Nathan Berg for the Mozart Requiem. MTT used the most traditional edition completed after the composer’s death by Franz Sussmayr. It seemed a logical choice, requiring less explanation than a different version might have.

Sasha Cooke is a big favorite of mine, and obviously of MTT as well.

I can’t get enough of that rich mezzo sound with the bright soprano edge.

She and Kiera Duffy were the standouts, along with the sinuous bassbaritone Nathan Berg. Tenor Bruce Sledge has a pleasing and pure tone, but he lacked power. In the Requiem, that power might not be as important as in an operatic quartet, but when the writing turns theatrical (and it often does in this piece), more volume is needed. We can certainly imagine the darkly handsome Berg portraying one of Mozart’s characters onstage. Hopefully we will, and soon.

MTT and Mozart is not a pairing I easily conjure, and the intrepid maestro didn’t really make much of a case for the partnership with this outing. Still, he is renowned for his selfless support of soloists, and his permission to let the Chorus take their interpretive lead from their own director is admirable. These gracious traits were apparent throughout the performance of the Requiem, and when the few moments of orchestral prominence did occur, he didn’t stint on the drama or personal force.

It is my suspicion that MTT would make a better (nay, superb) Mozart opera conductor. Here’s a fantasy scenario: concert performances of Don Giovanni, or better yet, The Marriage of Figaro, starring Nathan Berg and Sasha Cooke. Now that would be a “real classy production.”▼

Gay speaking/singing pianist

by Jason Victor Serinus Anthony de Mare, Speak!

(Innova 241)

n first listen, someone unfamiliar with the art of NYbased “speaking/singing pianist” Anthony de Mare might ask, “Is this guy nuts?” Beginning the first track of a compilation of music written or arranged specifically for his talents with the line, “There is a story to tell,” seems reasonable enough.

But those odd beats on the piano, wild cries, whoops, slaps, heavy breaths, hollers and hiccups, and Indian vocalizations?

Could composer Jerome Kitzke have possibly envisioned such an unbridled response to the personal text with which he framed his setting of our gay brother Allen Ginsberg’s great Sunflower Sutra (1999)?

As it turns out, he did.

When Kitzke first heard de Mare perform the New York premiere of Frederic Rzewski’s setting of Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis (1992) at the 1995 Bang on a Can marathon in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, he was blown away.

“From a pure performance standpoint,” he says, “I thought he had done a piece of incredibly magical one-person theater at the piano. This is not a new notion; lots of performers sing and play and create little bits of theatre at the piano. But Tony creates a complete piece of theater. He is not just an artist and performer; he thinks like a theatrical person, which

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makes him just perfect for pieces like De Profundis and Sunflower Sutra that convey the full range of human emotions.”

Anthony de Mare pioneered the genre of speaking/singing pianist, and remains its supreme master.

Speak! contains three pieces written expressly for him: the aforementioned works by Kitzke and Rzewski, and Rodney Sharman’s The Garden (2001). Also on the CD are Derek

Bermel’s touching Fetch (2004), and adaptations of Meredith Monk’s urban march (shadow) (2001) and Laurie Anderson’s Statue of Liberty (2001).

Sharman’s The Garden sets a libretto by Peter Eliot Weiss. “I’ve written a lot of music for Tony,” says Sharman. “This was written at his request with a gay theme. I didn’t want to write about AIDS – I’d already written three memorial pieces – or

about coming out. Tony said he was so relieved, because those are the standard gay literary subjects that are done constantly.

“When I approached Weiss, he suggested a piece about the politics of men kissing men, and the possibility of a perfect kiss. Tony wanted the section where he could whisper, ‘Come on, kiss me, kiss me’ under his breath. It’s like a spoken cadenza, as it were.”

The Garden is about a man’s first visit to a gay club known for its dark backyard meeting space, and the bliss that ensues.

“Tony has performed it about a dozen times,” says Sharman. “He did an amazing performance as part of the Art & Activism: Contemporary LGBT Art and Protest series at Lincoln Center in 2006.

Rzewski was also there, and we spoke together on a panel. I shared how Tony’s abilities take me to places as an artist where I otherwise would never go.

The piece is truly inspired by his talents; he becomes the fictional characters, and becomes the tenderness. Frederic said that listening to this piece was like listening to a radio play that draws you in and seems to speak to you one-on-one.”

That is the essence of de Mare’s genius as a speaking/singing pianist.

As he performs music that speaks of love, doubt, and self-acceptance, he addresses the shared heart that binds us together in the most difficult of times. Speak! is an amazing disc, and I’m not just saying that to sound upbeat. You’ve got to hear his artistry.▼

3 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

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Politics, lies & videotape Obama’s pronouncements with a grain of salt. Or a handful of Xanax.

Within what seemed like seconds of kay, we should be leading with the President explaining his new Libya or at least Wisconsin, stance on the tube, our inbox was because the now-weekly revoflooded with laudatory comments lutions are like the new miniseries for about how Obama was so worth this endless winter of our globworshiping, and gush, gush, al discontent. And what gush, do not hold the you are or are not seeing applause. on TV very much is the This TV afterglow story. But for queers, moment reminded us of there was only one TV a scene from Egypt a news story this week: couple of weeks back. the sudden and inexWe saw an Egyptian guy plicable reversal of in Liberation President Obama’s Square excitedly stance on DOMA. L AVENDER T UBE saying he didn’t After more than know what it all two years of broken meant that Mubarak was out, but it promises on every issue from the had to be good even if there was no wars and torture to the economy and new leader on the horizon. In other women’s rights, we’ve come to take words, be careful what you wish for.

by Victoria A. Brownworth

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Lesbian comedian Lily Tomlin was on Craig Ferguson last week and repeated a line from one of her shows with regard to politics. Tomlin noted, “No matter how cynical you become, it’s never enough to keep up.” Exactly.

We found the timing of Obama’s pronouncement suspect. We found the phrasing and the TV staging suspect.

We watched the TV news videos that came out of the closet on ABC, CBS, CNN and even MTV (NBC virtually ignored the whole story) where Obama kept saying he believed marriage was between a man and a woman, and that he didn’t support “the notion” of samesex marriage (which he also referred to as “gay marriage” because lesbians don’t count). “I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage.”

The president has just decided (now that he’s running for president again) that section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional. A nanosecond ago, the President thought he had an obligation to defend DOMA because it was the law. He says he’s evolving. We say he’s backtracked repeatedly on issues of import where he has said one thing will happen with his DOJ, then something else happens instead. Earth to Obama: TV video footage is forever.

And the footage does not evolve.

Remember how excited we were about the repeal of DADT? Well, here’s some news you’re not seeing. Last week the Army began the training on the rescinding of DADT. Training, you ask? There’s apparently a six-month course in how to behave with gays and lesbians in the military. None of the networks chose to air this news story, but it was aired abroad, where gays and lesbians serve in the military. The Army will finish training active-duty forces by mid-July, the National Guard and Reserves by August. The Marines might be done training sooner, since there are fewer of them. Deployed troops will be trained in the field.

Final implementation of the repeal of DADT does not go into effect until 60 days after Obama, Defense Sec. Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff all agree that rescinding DADT won’t interfere with the working military. The kicker: that decision will be based on the training.

So none of the U.S. news networks felt this was worthy of reporting. Especially not the part where the entire military needs a six-month or more training to treat other personnel like human beings. How many queers have undergone training to know how to treat straight people every day of their lives?

So don’t go buying those wedding bands any time soon. Remember that Obama wasn’t able to “evolve” on DOMA while there was still a Democratic majority in Congress that might have overturned DOMA.

President Barack Obama got some TV face-time reversing his DOMA stance.

Over at NBC, Jimmy Fallon, the sweetest of all late-night hosts, has developed an amazing drag show called Real Housewives of Late Night, in which he and members of his core staff dress in drag as wives of themselves. Oh. My. God. It’s at least as good as Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and doesn’t have the evil Camille, so no danger of putting a foot through the TV. The irony, of course, is that every one of the guys looks better in drag than as real men.

Fallon urged viewers to follow the series at realhousewivesoflatenight.com.

One sign the end times are near was this line-up on Fallon’s Feb. 25 show: Snooki, Martin Bashir (who has a new show beginning next week on MSNBC because there can never be enough snarky British talk show hosts) and Laurie Anderson. Remember that song from Sesame Street, “one of these things is not like the others, one of these things is wrong?”

Snooki was her usual combatively tedious self, as was Bashir, but Anderson clearly beamed down directly from another planet. She was in drag (as a man, in case you weren’t sure) with a mustache and Charlie Chaplin eyebrows, and had a voice modifier so she sounded like a man. It was absolutely the most bizarre thing we’ve ever witnessed on TV. Ever.

Franco’s world The deconstruction of Oscar winners and losers has been done, as has the commentary on who wore what.

But we just wanted to add a tiny two cents about James Franco. We love Franco, but then we love smart, talented and sexy, and Franco is all those things. We thought the Academy finally moved into the 21st century by teaming Franco and Anne Hathaway for the biggest awards ceremony on the planet. It was a bold choice, if a decade behind the times.

Hathaway is a dreamy little concoction of wit and winsomeness, a real antidote to the tedium of overdone Hollywood divas. And she can sing and dance. But as luscious and fun as Hathaway is, Franco is the real stunner. At 32, he’s the ultimate Renaissance man. He’s got two postgraduate degrees and is working on a third. He’s a painter, filmmaker, screenwriter and actor. He’s played three major gay roles

in the movies, including Milk, and has been in a long, complicated (and homoerotic) story arc on ABC’s General Hospital for over a year. He plays a version of himself on the show, painter and performance artist.

On Feb. 25 Franco resurfaced on GH in a phone conversation with mobster Jason (butch Steve Burton) after a gruesome murder in Port Charles. He noted that he was “between a rock and a hard place” (reference to his Oscar-nominated role in 127 Hours, where he cut his own arm off because he is caught under a rock).

He explained he had a “big thing” to go to and made constant reference to that (the Oscars, naturally). Fun. Franco is a constant surprise. On GH, it was revealed that he set up Michael to be raped in prison as part of his homoerotic obsession with Jason. And now he’s tried to kill Brenda on her wedding day with a bomb in the limo. We’re constantly intrigued by Franco’s range, wit, charm, dark side and acting props. The Oscars were one more feather in his prodigious cap.

Speaking of explosions, we used to love Two and a Half Men because it was funny and had the best double entendre on the tube. But Charlie Sheen’s recent meltdown caused the show to be cancelled for the remainder of the season. Putting tons of people out of work. We think Sheen is talented and funny, but his recent antics are far from humorous. You gotta wonder how queers are ruining straight marriage when people like Sheen are wrecking marriages left and right.

Finally, the queerest moment on TV this week was not Obama’s announcement but the Grand Diva of Motown, Diana Ross, singing a love song to a tearful Oprah on the Feb. 25 episode.

Oprah had just told Ross how much it had meant to her as a poor little black girl to see “someone who looked like me” on TV when she was a child, and Ross turned to her and started singing. Oprah did not go into the ugly cry, but you could tell she wanted to. We think of Oprah as a civil rights icon because she’s blazed such a trail on TV. But we never thought of Miss Ross that way. Until Oprah said it. It’s moments like these that underscore how important it is to always stay tuned. ▼

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MUSIC

Mehdi Benkler

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3 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

Juan Velasquez from the band Abe Vigoda: ‘Being gone for a long time is rough on relationships.’

Crushing on Abe Vigoda

by Gregg Shapiro uan Velasquez plays guitar in Abe Vigoda. That’s Abe Vigoda the band, not Abe Vigoda the actor.

Juan is one of a growing number of out musicians who play in cool indie bands including Grizzly Bear, the Soft Pack, These Arms Are Snakes, and the now-defunct Bound Stems. Crush (PPM), Abe Vigoda’s new disc, might take some of their existing fan-base by surprise, considering the (welcome) use of synthesizers and dance beats. At the same time, the band has definitely increased its potential for a larger LGBT audience. I spoke with Juan in early 2011.

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Gregg Shapiro: Was the sonic difference of Crush a conscious decision, or did it occur organically?

Juan Velasquez: Definitely organically, but it took a while. We write sporadically, usually when we’re practicing. Our drummer Dane Chadwick, who really likes dance music, introduced electronic elements to the band.

I think we were finally more comfortable using synths. We toyed around with them, then we realized how much we liked it. The stuff we’re going to do coming up is going to center around electronics and stuff like that.

We were experimenting with that and writing songs using different instruments. It’s fun because you’re not restricted to guitars and drums.

How has the response to Crush been from longtime Abe Vigoda fans?

It’s very varied. Some people just don’t get it. To me, it sounds more accessible than other things we’ve done through the years. Some people are not so jazzed on it, and some people like it. It’s not what they expected, and because of that they like it. I think people are still getting used to it. It never enters our mind when we’re writing what it’s going to be like on the other side of it. We just want to produce something that we like. After that, it’s up to unknown forces whether people will be into it or not.

Juan, what’s the best part of being the lone gay member of a band?

What’s funny is that some people think everyone in the band is. Or they think there is one, and it’s Michael, the singer, which is really funny! When we’re on tour, the other guys in the band aren’t looking for girls. They’re really nice guys, which is awesome. If anyone, I’m probably the one who’s more, like, on the prowl!

I get really excited when I find someone else in a band who is gay because there aren’t that many of us in indie rock. Sometimes I’ll venture out and check out the gay bars, or if I have a friend in town we’ll go out and do our thing. In a way, I have a little freedom where I can go and do my own thing. I get some space away from the whole touring thing and being in close quarters with everybody.

Because they’re not going to tag along.

Sometimes they do. Sometimes

we’ll all go out to a gay bar. It’s a nonissue, obviously. I don’t think I could be in a band where it was an issue.

Are you aware of a contingent of LGBT fans among Abe Vigoda’s fans?

I’m not aware of one if there is. Not to generalize, but we’re usually playing for kind of a straight crowd. Sometimes, someone will come up to me and say, “I’m gay, too.” But that’s rare.

But I’m sure there are gay people in the audience.

Abe Vigoda is on a cross-country tour.

Does being in a touring band make it difficult to maintain a relationship?

You betcha! If you’d asked me this at this time last year, I would have said, “No! I have an amazing boyfriend.” I never until last year had a relationship or somebody that I was really excited about. It was the first time that I legitimately fell in love with someone. Before that it had been more casual. In January last year, I was in love. We went out on tour with Vampire Weekend, then recorded Crush. I was gone and missed him, talked to him on the

phone. It felt like a relationship. Then I got home, and soon after, I got dumped. He didn’t enjoy that I was gone for so long. Being gone for a long time is rough on relationships. You only have a certain amount of time when you’re home to meet someone, and once you get started, you have to leave again. Hopefully I’ll meet someone who doesn’t mind that their significant other has to leave for a while.

If there’s trust and they have their own thing, it’s not a deal-breaker. But it’s definitely stressful.

Do you know if Abe Vigoda the actor knows that Abe Vigoda the band exists?

I have a pretty strong feeling that he does. One time somebody who wanted to interview us, instead of contacting [the band’s publicist] Kasey, found his publicity person and messaged them. They got a response saying it wasn’t the band’s publicist they had reached, it was the actor’s. If his publicist knows, he knows. And he doesn’t seem to care, which is good.▼

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OUT&ABOUT 40 Pounds in 12 Weeks: A Love Story @ The Marsh Pidge Meade takes audiences on a heartpounding, hair-raising, society-skewering, weight-loss rollercoaster ride, spinning between ten different characters in her new solo show. $15-$35. Fri 8pm. Sat 8:30pm.

Thru Mar. 26. 1074 Valencia St. (800) 838-3006. www.themarsh.org

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

Devil-Fish @ Brava Theater Cirque Noveau’s aerial acrobatic circus show loosely based on the Faust legend. $26. 7pm. Also Mar. 5 at 7pm; Mar 6, 6pm. 2781 24th St. www.cirquenoveau.com

Stephen Petronio Company

Imagination

by Jim Provenzano magine the surprise of walking around a piazza in Florence to see a dance concert about to begin. You hear conversations about an Italiannamed artist, thinking it’s some local talent. Then, you’re handed a program: Stephen Petronio Company, whom you know from your years in New York City, where he evolved his moves from the fountain of innovation handed down from Trisha Brown. Imagine still being shocked and surprised by the fluid beauty of his dances, across continents and decades.

Stephen Petronio Company performs his new work, I Drink the Air Before Me, with a score

by Nico Muhly, at the Novellus Theatre. $30-$50. 8pm. Friday and Saturday, Mar. 4 & 5 at 8pm, 701 Mission St. 392-2545.

978-2787. www.ybca.org www.sfperformances.org Imagine being a teenager watching Saturday Night Live, unable to keep your eyes off the amazing, mysterious back-up singers behind David Bowie.

Imagine almost a decade later, having a drink in a Manhattan meatpacking district nightclub with one of those back-up singers, who croons out Billie Holiday songs as if he’s swalJoey Arias and Sherry Vine lowed her ghost.

Enjoy two drag sensations in one act.

New York legend Joey Arias, who also starred in Cirque du Soleil, teams up with the irreverent Sherry Vine, whose Lady Gaga song parodies have run wild on YouTube. Mature audiences only! Mar. 4 & 5. 10:30pm. $27.50. 2-drink minimum. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. at Ellis. (800) 3803095. www.therrazzroom.com Imagine being so creeped out by a film you don’t even know if you can stand to watch it again, it’s so disturbing. Bare your soul and your eyeballs, at Exposed on Film at the Castro Theatre. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art presents three days of movies about voyeurism, surveillance and the invasive aspects of cinema (additional screenings at the museum, 3rd St. at Mission). $5-$10. Mar. 4: Robert Forster as a hot young, yet amoral, filmmaker in Medium Cool (7pm); director Haskell Wexler in person. Also, Antonioni’s Blow Up (9:30). Mar. 5, Deep End (5pm), Streetwise (7pm) and Pretty Baby (9pm). Mar. 6, Anita – Tanze Des Lasters (Dances of Vice), 5pm; and David Lynch’s fascinatingly strange Lost Highway (7pm). 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com www.sfmoma.org ▼

Michael Wakefield

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Sarah Silver

Devotion @ ODC TheaterChoreographer Sarah Michelson and playwright Richard Maxwell’s dance-theater work $15-$18. 8pm. thru Mar. 6. 3153 17th st. at Shotwell. 863-9834. www.odctheater.org

Farragut North @ Theatre of Yugen Company Open Tab performs the play loosely based on author Beau Willimon’s exploits during the 2004 implosion of the Howard Dean campaign (soon to be a George Clooney film). $25. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru Mar. 5. 2840 Mariposa St. at Florida. www.opentabproductions.com

The Homecoming @ ACT Harold Pinter’s classic family drama is performed; directed by American Conservatory Theatre’s Artistic Director Carey Perloff; special programs thru the run. $10-$85.

Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru Mar. 27. 415 Geary St. 749-2228. www.act-sf.org

Litter @ Zeum Theater American Conservatory Theatre students perform the world premiere of Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s dark comedy about the frenzy surrounding a family with multiple births, and what happens when their “cute factor” fades. $15. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru Mar. 19.

221 4th St. at Howard. www.act-sf.org

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

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

1062 Valencia St. at 21st. (800) 8383006. www.themarsh.org

Merce Cunningham Dance Company @ Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley

Gay playwright Paul Rudnick’s latest comedy, set in a Manhattan penthouse with various uptown characters about to celebrate a wedding. $15-$36. Previews thru Mar. 4.

Runs thru April 3. 25 Van Ness Ave., lower level. 861-8972. www.nctcsf.org

Ruined @ Berkeley Rep Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about the harrowing lives of women in Africa. $14.50-$73. Tue-Sat 8pm, (Wed 7pm). Thu, Sat, Sun 2pm. Sun eve 7pm. Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St. at Shattuck. (510) 6472949. www.berkeleyrep.org

San Francisco Ballet @ War Memorial Opera House Giselle, Coppelia and mixed programs of new and classic works, thru April. $48$194. 8pm. (Special LGBT “Nite Out” with after-parties in the Dress Circle Bar Mar. 4 and April 8; 21+). 301 Van Ness Ave. 865-2000. www.sfballet.org

Strangelove, Erasure-esque @ Café du Nord Depeche Mode and Erasure tribute bands perform. Sanity Assasins, a Bauhaus tribute band, opens. $10. 21+. 8:30pm. 2170 Market St. 861-5016. www.cafedunord.com

What We’re Up Against @ Magic Theatre World premiere of author, playwright and TV writer Therea Rebeck’s comedy about sex and sexism in the workplace, confused mall architects, and ducts. 8pm. Tue 7pm; Wed-Sat 8pm. Also Sat & Sun at 2:30pm.

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

William Blake Sings the Blues @ Actors Theatre of SF World premiere of Keith Phillips’ new play about a professor’s brutal destiny and some fateful events. $26-$38. Wed-Sat 8pm.

Thru Mar. 5. 855 Bush St. at Taylor. 3451287. www.actorstheatresf.org

William Salit @ Magnet Opening reception for an exhibit of photographic sketches of the Castro by the local artist. 8pm. Thru March. 4122 18th St. at Castro. www.magnetsf.org

Xanadu @ Retrodome, San Jose Touring production of the mirthful musefilled musical comedy based on the strangely lovable film, complete with roller-skating disco numbers set to the original music, but a script that takes a satirical edge. $24$44. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Previews thru Mar. 4. Opens Mar. 5. Thru April 3.

1694 Saratoga Ave. (408) 404-7711. www.TheRetroDome.com

Sat 5>>

Cal Performances presents the final West Coast tour of the acclaimed modern dance company before it disbands; with music by John Cage, Brian Eno and others; set pieces

by Robert Rauschenberg. $15-$56. Program A: (Pond Way, Antic Meet and Sounddance) Thursday & Friday, March 3 & 4 at 8:00 p.m. and Program B (Roaratorio) Saturday, March 5 at 8:00 p.m. Thru Mar. 5.

Bancroft Way at Telegraph Ave. (510) 6429988. www.calperformances.org

African American GIs and Germany @ African American Arts Complex

Next to Normal @ Curran Theatre Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical about a family torn apart and trying to put itself together. $30-$99. (limited $30 rush tix available). Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat, Sun at 2pm. 445 Geary St. (888) 7461799. www.shnsf.com

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

Plastic Camera Show @ RayKo Photo Center

Robert Forster in Medium Cool Bill Pullman in Lost Highway

Regrets Only @ New Conservatory Theatre

Annual juried group exhibition of fascinating prints made from cheap cameras. Thru April 30. Tue-Thu 10am-10pm. Fri-Sun 10am-8pm. 428 Third St. www.raykophoto.com

Kevin Berne

Fri 4>>

Ruined at Berkeley Rep, Friday

Eric Ross @ A Different Light Author of the children’s book My Uncle’s Wedding celebrates its release with illustrator Tracy K. Greene. 3pm. 489 Castro St. 431-0891. www.adl-books.blogspot.com

The Glass Menagerie @ Town Hall Theatre, Lafayette Local theatre company performs Tennessee William’s classic family drama. $23-$30.

Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru Mar. 19.

3535 School St., Lafayette. (925) 2831557. www.TownHallTheatre.com

In Bed With James Broughton @ SF Art Institute Performance and fundraiser for production of the documentary about gay poet, filmmaker, radical faerie James Broughton, directed by Eric Slade. Readings, dances and acts by Keith Hennessy, Kirk Read, Jack and Adelle Foley, Karl Cronin, Rotimi Agbabiaka and others. Sister Merry Peter MCs. $10-$50. 8pm. 800 Chestnut St. www.bigjoy.org www.sfai.org

Sing-Along Disney’s The Little Mermaid @ Castro Theatre Laurie Bushman and Leigh Crow cohost the kid-friendly screening with subtitles, of the animated musical favorite. $10-$15. 1pm. Also Mar 6, 1pm. Mar. 7-9 at 7:30. Also Mar. 9 at 2pm. 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

Paula West @ The Rrazz Room Popular local singer performs with The George Mesterhazy quartet on various nights for eight weeks thru Mar. 13. $35$45. Mostly at 8pm. Check online schedule.

2-drink minimum. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. at Ellis. (800) 380-3095. www.therrazzroom.com

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

Romeo and Juliet @ Val’s Subterranean, Berkeley Impact Theatre’s production of the Shakepeare romantic tragedy reset between contemporary Russian mafia gangs. Pizza, beer and other food & drinks available. $10-$20.

Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru Mar. 27. 1834 Euclid Ave. www.impacttheatre.com

Textural Rhythms @ Museum of the African Diaspora

Exhibit about the role of African American soldiers in World War II by researchers Maria Hohn and Martin Klimke. Thru April 22. 762 Fulton St. at Webster. www.aacvr-germany.org

Constructing the Jazz Tradition, Contemporary African American Quilts, a new exhibit of quilts by the Women of Color Quilters Network that visualize jazz artists. $5-$10. WedSat 11am-6pm. Sun 12pm-5pm. 685 Mission St. at 3rd. 358-7200. www.moadsf.org

Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi

Working @ Lohman Theatre, Los Altos

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

Musical based on Studs Terkel’s award-winning book of interviews with laborers; music

by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked) James Taylor and others. $10-$26. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru Mar. 6. Foothill College, 12345 El monte Road, Los Altos Hills.

(650) 949-7360. www.foothillmusicals.com

Crab Feed @ Rainbow Community Center, Concord

Sun 6>>

Dinner and fundraiser for the East Bay LGBT center, with an all-you-can-eat crab dinner, no-host bar, raffle, live auction and desserts. $40. 6pm-9pm. Concord Moose Lodge, 1805 Broadway St. (925) 6920090. www.rainbowcc.org

Eadweard Muybridge @ SF Museum of Modern Art Fascinating showcase the first-ever retrospective examining all aspects of artist Eadweard Muybridge’s pioneering photography; more than 300 objects created between 1857 and 1893, including Muybridge’s only surviving zoopraxiscope and other ephemera. $9-$18. Daily 11am-5:45pm (closed Wed.). 151 Third St. 357-4000. www.sfmoma.org

Bali: Art, Ritual, Performance @ Asian Art Museum Expansive exhibit of more than 100 historic art works in exhibits that showcase the practicality of the performing and visual arts in this beautiful culture. Special performances and interactive workshops throughout exhibit run. $7-$17. Tue-Sun 10am5pm. Thu til 9pm. Thru Sept. 11. 200 Larkin St. www.asianart.org

Ballet Folklorico Da Bahia @ Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley 32-member troupe of dancers, musicians and singers will perform a mix of works

3 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

from African and South American traditions such as slave dances, capoeira, samba and dances celebrating Carnival. $22-$52. 7pm.

Bancroft Way at Telegraph Ave., UC Berkeley campus. (510) 6429988. www.calperformances.org

Kat Evaso in Q Comedy, Monday

Tue 8>> Curious George Saves the Day @ Contemporary Jewish Museum

Benefit for the Boob @ Wild Side West

Fascinating exhibit of 80 drawings by Margret and H.A. Rey, cocreators of the impish monkey books, and how their daring escape from the Nazis in Europe was aided by their drawings; thru Mar. 13. Also, Reclaimed: Paintings from the Collection of Jacques Goudstikker and Black Sabbath: The Secret Musical History of Black-Jewish Relations (both thru March). Thu-Tue 11am-5pm. Thu 1pm-8pm. 736 Mission St. at 3rd. 655-7800.

Thru March 13. www.thecjm.org

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence host a fundraiser for the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund, with burlesque gals, drag kings, faux queens, comedy fan-dancing, raffles, kinky sex ed and more. $5$20. 4pm-10pm. 424 Cortland St. 647-3099.www.myspace.com/ wildsidewest

Cabaret Showcase Showdown @ Martuni’s Best Art Song is the theme of the third round of the 2nd annual fab singing contest. Bring sheet music for two songs. Judges include Madame Jo and Kitten on the Keys. Trauma Flintstone and Katya Smirnoff-Skyy cohost. $5.

7pm.4 Valencia St. at Market. www.dragatmartunis.com

Our Vast Queer Past @ GLBT History Museum

Community Women’s Orchestra @ Merritt College, Bellevue Club, Oakland Kathleen McGuire conducts the International Women’s Day concerts, with special guests, the Rainbow Women’s Chorus of San Jose, Voci Women’s Ensemble and the Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco. $5$10. 3pm at Newton-Seale Student Lounge, Merritt College. Also Mar. 8, at The Bellevue Club, 252 Bellevue St. $10-$25. www.community womensorchestra.org

Happy Hour @ Energy Talk Radio

and a lot of fun. $117-$145. Saturday 11:30am “Breve” show $63—$78. WedSat 6pm (Sun 5pm). Pier 29 at Embarcadero Ave. 438-2668. www.teatrozinzanni.com

Various Exhibits @ YBCA Nina Bier: Agents of Change (thru Jan. 23) and Lauren DiCioccio: Remember the Times (thru Mar. 27), ongoing Middle East videos and more. $5-$7. Thu-Sat 12pm-8pm. Sun 12pm-6pm. Free first Thursdays. 701 Mission St. at 3rd. www.ybca.org

Mon 7>>

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

New exhibit from the GLBT Historical Society, with a wide array of rare historic items on display.

Free for members-$5. Wed-Sat 11am-7pm. Sun 12pm-5pm. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

Radar Reading @ SF Public Library Blake Nelson, Nicholas Boggs, Cedar Sigo and Camille Roy read at the series hosted by Michelle Tea. Main Library, Lower Level, Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room, 6pm. 100 Larkin St. at Grove. www.sfpl.org

Rock of Ages @ Curran Theatre American Idol finalist Constantine Maroulis stars in the 80s-set arena rock straight love story set to the music of Journey, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar and more. $30$99. Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat, Sun 2pm.

Thru April 9. 445 Geary St. (888) 7461799. www.shnsf.com

Kvetch @ Eros

In Paths Untrodden @ SF Public Library

K.M. Soehnlein (The World of Normal Boys) and poet Bucky Sinister read at the often queer-themed open mic series hosted

by Tara Jepsen and Kirl Read. $3-$5.

7:30pm sign-up. 8pm show. 2051 Market St. www.erossf.com

Walt Whitman’s Calamus Poems and the Radical Faeries, curated by Joey Cain; an exhibit of the gay poet’s influence on contemporary queer culture. Thru May 19.

James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center, 100 Larkin St. third floor. www.sfpl.org

Outlook Video @ Channel 29

Marga’s Funny Mondays @ The Marsh, Berkeley

LGBT news show, this month with segments on author Judy Rickard, Peninsula social group, Billy DeFrank Community Center and the recent rally for murdered Uganda gay activist David Kato. 5pm. Also streaming online. www.outlookvideo.com

Marga Gomez, “the lesbian Lenny Bruce” (Robin Williams), brings her comic talents, and special guests, to a weekly cabaret show. $10. 8pm. 2120 Allston Way. (800) 838-3006. www.margagomez.com www.themarsh.org

Scharoun Ensemble Berlin @ Hertz Hall, Berkeley

Q Comedy @ Martuni’s

Angels in America at 20 @ Museum of Performance & Design

Kat Evasco, Dana Cory, Maggie Dolan, Nick Leonard, MC Cookie Dough and more.

Partial proceeds benefit the SF Ducal Charity Fund. Piano bar sing-along afterward. $5-$16. 8pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market. www.Qcomedy.com

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

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

Size Matters @ John Pence Gallery

Reprise @ Robert Tat Gallery

Acclaimed string and horn ensemble performs works by Schubert, Mozart, and a world premiere by Keeril Makan. $52. 3pm.

Bancroft Way at College Ave., UC Berkeley campus. (510) 642-9988. www.calperformances.org

Song Dong @ Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Dad and Mom, Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well, the Chinese artist’s installations and photography about Bejing’s rapid development and social changes. Party 8pm12am. $5-$7. Ongoing related programs thru exhibit run (thru June 12). Reg hours, Thu-Sat 12pm-8pm. Sun 12pm-6pm. 701 Mission St. 978-ARTS. www.ybca.org

Group exhibit of amazing photorealist paintings; landscapes, still lifes and sensual nudes, ranging from enormous to tiny in size. Mon-Fri 10am- 6pm. Sat 10am-5pm.

750 Post St. 441-1138. www.johnpence.com

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

Sundance Saloon @ Space 550 Country-western dancing for the LGBT community and friends two night a week, every Sunday and Thursday. $5-$8. 21+.

Sundays 5pm-10:30pm, lessons 5:30–7:15pm. Thursdays 6:30–10:30pm, lessons 7pm-8pm.

550 Barneveld Ave., near Bayshore and Industrial. www.sundancesaloon.org

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

Starfucker @ The Independent Pop-synth quartet with a queer edge (known to don dresses onstage) performs live; Unknown Mortal Orchestra opens. $15. 8pm.

628 Divisadero St. 771-1421. www.theindependentsf.com Also Mar. 9 at The Rickshaw Stop (also with UMO). $15.

7:30pm. All ages. 155 Fell St. at Van Ness.

861-2011. www.myspace.com/strfkrmusic

Wed 9>>

Favorite photographs on display at the fine art gallery of historic prints. Thru Feb. 26.

Tue-Sat 11am-5:30pm. 49 Geary St. #410.

781-1122. www.roberttat.com

Thu 10>> Atlacualo @ Novellus Theater Jose Navarette and Violeta Luna’s collaboraitve performance piece The Ceasing of Water, about precious resources. $20-$25.

8pm. Thru Mar. 12. 978-2787. www.ybca.org

Regrets Only at New Conservatory Theatre, Friday

Group Exhibit @ Michael Rosenthal Gallery Greer McGettrick’s Faulkner by Hand (The Sound and the Fury hand-written on wall-sized panels) and works by Narangkar Glover, Meghan Gordon and James Benjamin Franklin. ThuSat 11am-6pm. 365 Valencia St. 55201010. www.rosenthalgallery.com

Human Rights Watch Film Fest @ YBCA Films from around the world focus on the struggles of people abused by militaries, governments and dictatorships. $6-$8. Thursdays, 7:30pm.

Thru Mar. 31. 701 Mission St. www.ybca.org

Sunday Swing-out @ Rock-it Room Same-sex and “straight-friendly” swing and jive dance night, Lessons 7pm, 8pm. Dancing with a live band 8:30pm. $5, $15, $40.

406 Clement St. at 5th Ave. www.QueerJitterburgs.com

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

Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication.

License to Kiss II is the show at the theatre-tent-dinner extravaganza with Kevin Kent, twin acrobats Ming and Rui, Vertical Tango rope dance, plus magic, comedy, a five-course dinner,

For more bar and nightlife events, go to www.bartabsf.com

Lois Tema

Teatro Zinzanni @ Pier 29

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SOCIETY

Crowns royale

by Donna Sachet ew events can compare to the history, tradition, pageantry, and magic of San Francisco Imperial Coronation! It is a week replete with celebrations attended by hundreds of locals and lots of visitors from other cities, many with Courts of their own.

Last Saturday at the Galleria Design Center, Emperor Stephen Dorsey and Empress Renita Valdez hosted All Aboard Flight 45 – San Francisco to New York – Broadway Bound, the 45th Imperial Coronation in San Francisco, where they recognized supportive friends and businesses, welcomed visiting courtiers, received acclamation from State Senator Mark Leno, and awarded over $20,000 raised during their year to several worthy charitable organizations. Despite the expected challenges of a new venue and the unexpected cancellations of a few invited participants, the evening went off beautifully as elaborate gowns, richly embroidered jackets, stunning jewelry, and towering crowns paraded across the stage. Outstanding entertainment included command performer Bobby Ashton, the Imperial Court of All Hawaii, Absolute Empress XVI Pushy Phyllis, and an inventive number prepared by Absolute Empress XXXVI Chablis, where David Lassman (Chablis’ male persona) appeared onstage and inRevelers at the Academy of Friends Gala 2011. terviewed Chablis by satellite on the video screen, purportedly sitting in her lush Parisian apartment. What a ers and raised the audience to their feet Emperor and Empress from voting the refreshing concept, and what a grain appreciation. Candidate for Emperprevious Saturday are announced, cious, thoughtful message! or Frankie Fernandez demonstrated but first each candidate Seated at our prime table some fun choreography with a couple presents a musical numwere Emperors Brian Beof back-up dancers, and candidate ber. Candidate for Emnamati and Jacques Ray McKenzie brought us a hilarious press La Monistat Michaels, Empress Anita and well-rehearsed presentation of stepped way outside the Martini, International Mr. “Keep It Gay” from Broadway’s The box, rolling onstage in a Leather Lenny Broberg, Mr. metallic jumpsuit on a skateProducers. When all was said and San Francisco Leather Julian board, lip-synching a done, the Imperial Family assembled Marshburn, Synerdriving rock song, on stage and, in an elaborate ceremogy, and Prince Imand diving into a ny derived from European royalty, O N T HE T OWN perial Tony Onomosh pit of crowned the new monarchs, Reigning rati, who generously friends in the audiEmperor Frankie Fernandez and Emprovided trays of delectables. ence. Candidate Saybeline went the press Saybeline. We sincerely wish At the conclusion of Imperial more traditional route musically, but them a fruitful year.

Coronation, the winners of the title filled the stage with energetic support-

Steven Underhill

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Coming up in leather & kink >> Thu., Mar. 3: 2012 Bare Chest Calendar Semi-Final #6 at the Powerhouse (1347 Folsom), 9:30 p.m. Go to: www.barechest.org or www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Thu., Mar. 3-Sun., Mar. 6: Leather Alliance Weekend.

Friday night kicks off with the Mr. SF Leather Meet & Greet at Mr. S Leather (385 8th St.), 5-7 p.m. Go to: www.leatheralliance.org for details. For weekend pass to all events, go to: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/146582.

Thu., Mar. 3: Kinky Dating Class with Anglea & Iain at the SF Citadel (1277 Mission). Doors open 7 p.m., program 7:30 p.m. $15-$25 sliding scale. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org or www.edukink.org.

Thu., Mar. 3: Locker Room at Chaps Bar (1225 Folsom). 9 p.m.-close. Wear your jockstraps, sports gear, anything that goes in the locker room, for drink specials. Go to: www.chapsbarsanfrancisco.com.

Fri., Mar. 4: Truck Wash at Truck (1900 Folsom). 10 p.m.-close. Enjoy the live shower boys and drink specials.

Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Fri., Mar. 4: Eclipse! Women’s Only Spring Fling Party at the SF Citadel. 8 p.m.-1 a.m. For women and trans perverts. Must be Citadel member to attend. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Fri., Mar. 4: 45th Annual SF Leather Community Awards & Dinner at the Hotel Whitcomb (1231 Market), 6:30-8 p.m. $35. Go to: www.leatheralliance.org for details.

Fri., Mar. 4: Jockstraps at Chaps Bar. 9 p.m.-close. Wear your jocks. Free clothes check. Featuring DJ Sam. Go to: www.chapsbarsanfrancisco.com.

Sat., Mar. 5: Nasty at the Powerhouse. 10 p.m. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Sat., Mar. 5: Mr. SF Leather Contest at the Hotel Whitcomb. 6-8 p.m. $15-$25. Go to: www.leatheralliance.org for details, www.brownpapertickets.com/event/146574 for tickets.

Sat., Mar. 5: Mr. SF Leather After Contest Cigar & Leather Celebration at the Eagle Tavern (398 12th St.), 11 p.m.-close. Go to: www.leatheralliance.org.

Sat., Mar. 5: Boots, Leather & Uniforms at the Eagle

Tavern, 9 p.m.-close. Go to: www.hotboots.com.

Sat., Mar. 5: Men in Gear at Chaps Bar. 9 p.m.-close.

Wear your gear for drink specials. DJ Jim mixing. Go to: www.chapsbarsanfrancisco.com.

Sat., Mar. 5: Open Play Party at the SF Citadel, 8 p.m.1 a.m. $25. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Sat., Mar. 5: SF BDSM Photo Club at the SF Citadel. 14 p.m. $40. Photographers of all levels welcome. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Sun., Mar. 6: Mr. SF Leather Victory Party/Beer Bust at the Eagle Tavern. 3-6 p.m. Go to: www.leatheralliance.org.

Sun., Mar. 6: Castrobear presents Sunday Furry Sunday at 440 Castro. 4-10 p.m. Go to: www.castrobear.com.

Sun., Mar. 6: PoHo Sundays at the Powerhouse. DJ Keith, Dollar Drafts all day. Go to: www.powerhousesf.com.

Mon., Mar. 7: Trivia Night with host Casey Ley at Truck. 8-10 p.m. Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Mon., Mar. 7: Peer Rope Workshop hosted by Madame Butterfly & Mr. Madame Butterfly at the SF Citadel. 7:30 p.m. $10. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Tue., Mar. 8: Busted at Truck, 9 p.m. $5 beer bust, 9-11 p.m. Great music, and the notorious Truck boys. Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Tue., Mar. 8: Ink & Metal followed by Nasty at The Powerhouse. 9 p.m. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Tue., Mar. 8: Skins n Punks at Chaps Bar. 9 p.m. Featuring drink specials. Go to: www.chapsbarsanfrancisco.com.

Wed., Mar. 9: Golden Shower Buddies at Blow Buddies (933 Harrison). Doors open 8 p.m.-12 a.m. Play til late.

Go to: www.blowbuddies.com.

Wed., Mar. 9: Naughty Knitters at the SF Citadel. 7-9 p.m. $5. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Wed., Mar. 9: SoMa Men’s Club. Every Wed., the SoMa Clubs (Chaps, Powerhouse, Truck, Lone Star, Hole in the Wall, Eagle) have specials for those who wear the Men’s Club dogtags.

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3 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

KA RRNAL

Service station A

Falcon Studios

couple days after I’d watched Raging Stallion’s Brutal (twice), the swelling finally went down, and I was able to realize two things about the movie that were staying with me. First, there’s an amazing subtext to Brutal, displaying the failures of machismo – without making that the movie’s subject. And second, that machismo is what drives my favorite scene, a heart-stopper I mentioned only in passing in my full review. Unable to express his conflicted feelings, Ricky Sinz has been throwing his fists all over the place. His lover Drew Cutler (I really dig this guy) meets him with his own aggressive force, and their rough sex ultimately soothes the savage beast. It’s not that things get any less rough; it’s the change in attitude that they play out so convincingly, as excessive force becomes aggressive love.

Mr. Cutler is the bridge to the Mustang sexo Fit for Service. It’s a curious movie, in that only Drew Cutler, Paul Wagner and sensational newcomer Cavin Knight overcome Erik Rhodes’ rather passive direction. The movie certainly has its passionate moments, but mostly settles for proficient.

Rhodes has been displaying comThere’s more of this later on, too, petency in his movies; I’d like him to when big Tom Wolfe joins Tristan push a little further. In this one, he Phoenix in the locker room. “Didja gets professional performances from see the big dicks on those new reguys (Samuel Colt, Tony Aziza, Tom cruits?” Tom asks, deadpan. “Not as Wolfe) who have been exciting for big as me, though,” replies Tristan, other directors. The reason I also deadpan. Tom: “Oh, began thinking this is beyeah? Let’s see.” You know cause of the way he’s hanwhat that leads to, and dled – or not handled – quickly. the movie’s dialogue.

Lines like this are When Sam Colt sits generally tongue-indown next to Drew cheek. But there’s neither Cutler in a doctor’s comedy, irony, nor satire waiting room, Drew here. There’s no drollery, asks, “Whatya here no fun, wink, or joke. It’s for?” And Sam, totalpossible this was a direcK ARRNAL ly matter of fact, choice, offering up K NOWLEDGE torial says, “I got a hard-on such dialogue as a comthat won’t go down.” monplace. It’s as if “I can work on that,” Drew offers Rhodes is putting us in an alternate nonchalantly. And as he starts suckuniverse, where no one takes particing Sam’s schlong, Sam wistfully inular notice of such overtures. You quires, “Is that gonna help?” know, in opera, everyone sings. In

Cavin Knight in Mustang’s Fit for Service.

the ballet, everyone dances. In a sexo, everyone sexes. What’s the big deal?

Yet was this Rhodes’ choice? He’s never shown such cleverness before.

Is it possible he offered no instruction on delivery at all? That doesn’t seem possible, given the consistent style of the delivery. Yet he’s accepted merely professional performance from most of his cast. He rarely stumbles across any real desire; the film’s passionate moments seem supplied by the performers, not the director. I’d love to know what’s up.

If anything at all.

At any rate, Drew Cutler’s beefy cock and hearty approach entertained me. Everything about him screams, Top! Yet he’s a bottom.

Yum, love those butch bottoms. Sam Colt’s okay. I can take a pass on the scene with a toned-down Tony Aziz and Luke Marcum. I’ve never gotten

▼

by John F. Karr

page 29

On the Town Although the founders of so many LGBT organizations are no longer with us, the International Court System’s founder, Absolute Empress I Jose Sarria, remains very active and attended San Francisco Imperial Coronation, regally dressed and easily approachable. Her impromptu song that night brought the house down. But the piece de resistance for Jose is the Widow Norton’s Annual Pilgrimage to Colma on Sunday. Yes, after a five-hour extravaganza the night before, Jose leads a rag-tag procession to Colma to the gravesite of Emperor Joshua Norton, whose widow she claims to be. This year’s early-morning trip saw splendid weather at Woodlawn Cemetery, and included blessings from Reverend Lyle Beckman of Night Ministry and Sister May Joy Be With You, musical entertainment by Robert Sunshine, the Lesbian/Gay Chorus, SF Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, and Emperor Brian Benamati, a dazzling routine by Cheer SF, formal Imperial ceremonies, and rambling but hilarious remarks from the Widow Norton, all emceed by City Treasurer Jose Cisneros and this reporter. Notable attendees included City Supervisor Scott Wiener, Arthur Hurwith, Queen Cougar, Chanel Colone, Ray Tilton, Bill Wilson, Hector Crawford & Ralph Hibbs, and Miguel Gutierrez.

The Academy Awards presentation in Hollywood may have been full of wardrobe miscalculations, hair don’ts, and dull deliveries, but

Steven Underhill

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page 26

Voyeurs at the Academy of Friends Gala 2011 at the Galleria Design Center.

the parties in San Francisco gave us much to smile about. We started at Trigger for the second annual Academy Awards party hosted by Bevan Dufty and Betty Sullivan, benefiting Lyon-Martin Health Services, and attended by a bevy of bettyslist.com subscribers, including Marga Gomez, Carol Queen, Lauren Winter, Dawn Harbatkin, Ron Huberman, Leslie Katz, and Zoe Dunning.

We then headed to the Academy of Friends Gala at their new location, the Galleria Design Center, where klieg lights and giant visual displays greeted us at the door. As large video screens made the Hollywood ceremony visible, floor after floor provided restaurant offerings and cocktails to this elegantly dressed crowd, including Mario Diaz, Adam Sandel, Neil Figurelli, Sister Roma, Bebe Sweetbriar, Nanette Duffy, Cher A

Little, John Carillo, Garza, Frank Woo, John Newmeyer, James Carlson, Les Natali, Liam Mayclem & Rick Camargo, and Richard Sablatura. We joined 981 KISS FM and KOFY-TV’s Morris Knight and AOF Board Chairman Alan Keith onstage briefly to draw the winning tickets for a trip to Zurich on Swiss International Airlines (Louis Vachon) and for a beautiful Audi A4 Luxury Sedan from Royal Motors (Craig Gotfried), as well as to encourage bids on handheld devices throughout the event going to Fund-a-Need, directly benefiting the beneficiaries of the evening (a creative and easy new way to contribute). From this well-attended and spectacular evening, all indications are that Academy of Friends is heading in the right direction, and San Francisco is where the party is.▼

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BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 3 March 2011

FILM

Fierce of tooth & claw hat’s your earliest memory of the “King of Beasts?” In my case I’m three, and my mom takes me to Madison Square Garden to see Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. This magical day is shadowed by my witnessing a slightly older boy hit by a truck near the Garden. From the beginning, I conflate wild animals and human mortality. The one thing that doesn’t snap into place is the idea that these wondrous creatures hail from a truly wild place. That’s the downside of doing your lion-watching at the Bronx Zoo, or with the five beasts who served as the official MGM logo, and don’t forget faint-of-heart Burt Lahr in Oz. Filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert demolish every misconception I had about lions in the wild in the course of their riveting tale of a lioness determined to save her three

W

cubs from the bad intentions of a rival pride and the razor-sharp horns of a herd of wild buffalo. Set in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, The Last Lions (opening Friday at Landmark Theaters) makes clear that the lions’ place in the African food chain is nowhere near secure. In the past 50 years, the world lion population has plummeted from close to half-a-million to barely 20,000, the invasion of the lions’ turf by humans being the major problem.

There are no human critters on view in the Jouberts’ tooth-and-claw saga, although the off-screen narrator informs us that our heroine, Ma di Tau (“Mother of Lions”), must not take her cubs too far north or risk human retaliation. From the get-go our cat has a devil of a survival problem: her mate has been seriously wounded in an interpride showdown, and she must flee the rival cats if her three cubs stand any chance of reaching adulthood. One of The Last

Lions’ strong suits is how harrowingly clear our lioness’ options really are.

In the end, she clings to a small niche on a tiny island, wrapped around a crocodile-infested river (the crocs are one band of predators the lions steer clear of.)

The filmmakers, who have invested thousands of hours tracking these rival prides, convey just how perilous it is for the lioness to hunt the only practical local food supply: buffalo meat. These beasts are good at using the lions’ own tactics against them – the two creatures act like rival guerrilla armies in a never-ending series of deadly skirmishes.

Although some purists may find the narration intrusive and attributing too many human traits to the lions, the filmmakers employ stunning close-ups (sometimes getting a little too close for my comfort to some ferocious kills) to keep the upbeat outcome from seeming inevitable. In the end, Ma di Tau pulls

Beverly Joubert

by David Lamble

Scene from The Last Lions: a lioness is determined to save her cubs.

off a coup that involves winning over the affections of a deadly rival pride while saving a precious drop of her own DNA. Using the best techniques developed by Disney’s pioneering wildlife photographers, while avoiding the cutesy falsifying of the animals’ true

natures, The Last Lions is a fascinating simulated safari for those of us unable to afford the real thing. With its disclaimer explaining that the filmmakers were not responsible for any onscreen carnage, the movie is probably the best out-of-bed wildlife adventure you’ll be invited to this week.▼

Rock of Ages

SF Ballet 3&4 ▼

page 17

and cool style is the point. “Taritas” takes the stage with a generosity to his partner and the corps de ballet that is enormously appealing, and he even lets you see the brilliant things the demi-soloists and the girls in the back line are doing while he’s turning his gazillion pirouettes. Frances Chung, in Alonso’s role, moved with an amazing lightness and alacrity when speed was called for, and brought a voluptuous quality to her few moments of true adagio; it was a dream to see her fold her knee and bring her foot back in from its maximum extension.

The ballet’s made to the finale of Tchaikovsky’s Orchestral Suite #3, every inch of which is danceable; each variation has a distinct character. Its finale is almost unbearably exciting, opening with trumpet fanfares, on each of which a new couple flies in, lands center-stage, springs onto poses like knives quivering in the ground, and you are stunned by how beautiful each one of them is, what magnificent creatures; o brave new world that hath such people in it! It builds from there into a huge crowd of people jumping, kicking and turning, to Tchaikovsky’s loud-

Winslow Townson

Elizabeth Caren

ter than Los Angeles audiences,” D’Arienzo said. “It was both shocking and surprising for this show that was just supposed to be a fun, irreverent, silly night at the theater.”

Working with director Kristin Hanggi, D’Arienzo created a story about a wannabe rocker working in a music club on the Sunset Strip of the 1980s who falls for a girl just off the bus from Kansas. They team to save the club from destruction at the hands of a greedy real estate developer, as about two dozen songs from the ’80s punctuate the story.

“There were songs I was devastated we couldn’t use,” D’Arienzo said of getting clearances from the various bands and songwriters. Notably, Def Leppard did not want to be included despite the fact that the show took its name from one of the group’s songs.

“But we always tried to be malleable in the early stages, knowing that if we couldn’t get song X we could find another. As I look at the show now, I wouldn’t change any of the songs we used.”

Reception from the New York theater critics was predictably mixed, with some dismissing the show as only so much noisy nonsense. But there were good reviews too, most notably from The New York Times, whose critic Charles Isherwood invoked the phrase

Constantine Maroulis and Rebecca Faulkenberry play 1980s sweethearts who try to save a Sunset Strip music club in the musical Rock of Ages.

Chris D’Arienzo wrote the book for Rock of Ages, which celebrates the heavymetal music that he avoided as a kid.

“guilty pleasure” to help explain his welcoming words.

“I hate the term ‘guilty pleasure,’” D’Arienzo said. “It’s like a security blanket for people to not feel judged because they like something. I unapologetically just like things, and that’s how I go about my day.”

The writer liked better the critic’s description of the show as “Xanadu for straight people, and straightfriendly people, too.” “I was very flattered by that, because I really enjoyed Xanadu,” D’Arienzo said of the tongue-in-cheek Broadway musical based on the notorious movie starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly.

est music, going off like fireworks at Las Vegas. Unbelievably exciting.

Program 3 opens with Classical Symphony, by SFB resident choreographer Yuri Possokhov; new last year, it is made up of the hardest steps in the classical book set to music and thrown off like they were nothing. Possokhov came up through Moscow’s Bolshoi school and ballet, where he was a principal.

He made this in homage to his teacher, the great Peter Pestov, and he’s pulled from his deepest memories, transfigured the moves and made them come to life all over again. He’s taken pirouettes sitting on the heels, which come from the men’s folk-dance lexicon, and given them to the women, who do them with glee and wit.

He’s also given the women some of the snaky-spined moves brought into the neo-classical mode by the inventor of hyperballet, William Forsythe, whose Artifact Suite makes a stunning conclusion to the same program. Forsythe, who grew up in the USA, has had his main career in Germany, where he developed a theatricality full of S/M tropes. In Artifact Suite, the corps dancers, lined up like soldiers around the perimeter, take their cues from a dominatrix standing center-stage with her back to us. They echo her semaphore-like

“While I’m a straight guy, I think my humor and sensibility are very gayfriendly.”

As a theater kid at his high school in Paw Paw, Michigan, D’Arienzo was sometimes bullied by teens whose music of choice included the very songs that Rock of Ages celebrates. And so, it wasn’t a soundtrack he embraced during his youth. “I fought it,” he said of the heavy-metal genre. “I didn’t want to like ‘Appetite for Destruction’ because the guys who would push me into a locker were the guys who would listen to it.”

But he gained a respect for the music as he developed Rock of Ages,

Erik Tomasson

▼

page 17

Sofiane Sylve and Tiit Helimets in Kenneth MacMillan’s Winter Dreams.

arms, which change positions robotlike while two couples do hyperballet au milieu. If you’ve never seen Artifact Suite, you haven’t lived.

Both programs had a one-act dramatic ballet as a centerpiece. Kenneth MacMillan’s version of Chekhov’s Three Sisters gave wonderful material for the ballerinas Sofiane Sylve, Maria Kochetkova, and Lorena Feijoo, all of whom were riveting. Sylve was sensational in a role that owed a lot to Jerome Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering. The imagery, the subtle

and he took on its persona when he pitched himself to the producers as their man to write the script. “I kicked open the door to the conference, and I tried to unleash by inner rocker,” he said. “In my pitch I played the different characters and took them through my ideas of how to shape these songs into showtunes. I got an e-mail on my drive home saying, ‘You’re our guy.’”

D’Arienzo had been a struggling screenwriter in Hollywood for 12 years when Rock of Ages came along. “I’ll be honest,” he said. “I was kind of at the end of my rope.” But the success of the musical has turned his career around.

He wrote and directed the 2010 fea-

ture film Barry Munday, and wrote a script for the movie version of Rock of Ages to be directed by Adam Shankman (Hairspray) and starring Tom Cruise as the ruthless real estate developer. He has many more irons in the fire.

“I am the furthest thing from an overnight sensation,” D’Arienzo said.

“Rock of Ages was a thing I created on my way out, and it pulled me back in.

I probably would have ended up doing community theater in Paw Paw.”▼

use of Russian folk-dance posture and phrasing created a warm melancholy feeling of a vivid creature being wasted, slowly, inexorably. The piece is over-long, but it’s wonderful.

SFB artistic director Helgi Tomasson had a piece on each program – one, a bluesy piece set to Kurt Weill’s Berlin-cabaret music, about a young woman who arrives in town with high hopes and sees them crushed.

Nanna’s Lied was dull on Saturday night, but Garen Scribner in a very small role showed just how powerful the piece can be if a dancer takes the opportunities it offers. Yuan Yuan Tan has danced this role with greatness in the past, but not this time.

Melody Moore sang the Brecht/Weill songs ravishingly – her “Wo sind die Schneen vom vergangenen Jahr?” floated the most exquisite tone I’ve heard thus far all year.

Tomasson’s Trio sets a Tchaikovsky score – the Souvenir de Florence – of which only the first movement is really suitable for dancing. Vanessa Zahorian danced gloriously. She can be constricted in the throat and collarbone, but in this piece her shoulders were voluptuous, and her every movement was generous, magnanimous, wonderfully phrased. Everyone danced their best, but the piece, though beautifully dressed and presented in front of a

gorgeous gilded backdrop that suggested Cimabue, Gentile da Fabriano, and all the early Renaissance masters, slipped knotless through the mind.

Dancing vividly in most of the pieces: Sasha da Sola, Courtney Elizabeth, Clara Blanco; absolutely thrilling in Classical Symphony, Hansuke Yamamoto, Daniel Deivison, and Jaime Garcia Castillo, whose work is beyond praise. Matthew and Benjamin Stewart, the Gemini; and Maria Kochetkova throughout, who slices through the space like a hungry man going through a steak: the appetite is glorious, what a great spirit.

In other news, this weekend the great Merce Cunningham Dance Company on their farewell tour presents their final appearances in Berkeley, performing the fantastic Antic Meet tonight and tomorrow, and the great Roaratorio on Saturday.

Reports from North Carolina say they have never danced better. Merce was like Gertrude Stein in many ways: not just one of us queers, his work, like hers, is at the heart of the American version of modernism: trying to see everything at once, Cubistically, with feeling but without sentimentality. There will probably be, on this occasion, some weeping in the house. We shall not look upon their like again.▼

Rock of Ages will run March 8-April 9 at the Curran Theatre. Call (888) SHN-1799 or go the www.shnsf.com.

▼

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by Ernie Alderete he title Bel Ami XL Files Part 5 – XL as in extra-well-hung donkey dong – makes you automatically zero in on each performer’s endowment, and that’s a crying shame. Because all of these fine Eastern European boys have so much more to offer than just what’s dangling between their legs!

Every one of these 16 young men – Milan, Martin, Tamas, Pavel, Laslo, Csaba, Tom, Robert, Lukas, Tibor, Matus, Rado, Josef, Marek, Antal and Mato – is a delight to savor. All are squeaky clean-cut, clean-shaven, trimmed-bush, masculine, fresh meat, video virgins, with massive, thick, dildo-like pricks.

No single subject particularly stands out as a runt or loser, or as a superstar, except for brown-haired, green-eyed, buff cover model Csaba.

Dark-haired Tamas/Tommy has the leanest, most defined torso, and is a runner-up to Csaba for cutest face.

Tibor has the firmest, most seductive bubble-butt. Josef is the most boyish, charming, and handsome. I even liked the crystal-clear beads of sweat puddling up on his upper lip. I honestly liked every last one of these choice comrades. They all not only turned me on, I couldn’t peel my eyes

T

Karrnal ▼

page 27

Luke’s appeal. But then we’re offered my husky, hairy fave, Paul Wagner, who jazzes it up quite nicely with newcomer Cavin Knight. This guy’s a wow.

His hard body is ripped and lean. So’s his steely dick, which pulls abruptly north over tight balls. He looks more like a longshoreman than a porn star, and throws a happy/surly attitude all around (what a match he’d be for Brenn Wyson). Cavin’s having a swell time; maybe his abundantly evident enthusiasm comes from his being new to “the industry.“ He still doesn’t know it’s an industry, a factory that processes meat. I don’t think he’ll become one

off anyone from start to finish.

The fast-moving graphic presentation of each performer reminded me of the 1970s Brady Bunch TV program. A triple split-screen shows each performer in various activities and poses, with bright-colored bars ascending then descending vertically across your screen.

Each chapter is a well-lit solo session. The subject is presented dressed, then is soon coaxed out of his threads. He responds to a few lewd off-camera questions (what is the most unusual place you’ve jacked off?) in Hungarian with corresponding English subtitles, then proceeds to jerk one out, several while thrusting the same small root beer-colored dildo up their behind. That well-used dildo does have a condom on it, with at least a fresh sheath per user.

The most amazing thing I noticed about Bel Ami XL Files Part 5 was that not one of these video virgins was in the least bit shy, embarrassed, or timid. They were as cool as proverbial cucumbers in what must be a new and stressful situation for each of them. No one had the least bit problem getting it up and off. Memorable, gushing cum shots were the norm, not the exception. On a scale of one to 10, Bel Ami: XL Files Part 5 is a perfect 10. Solo performances don’t get any better than this.▼ of those faceless professionals for a some time. Lotsa pictures at his blog, CavinKnight.com. Fit for Service was Cavin’s first mainstream movie, and they put his picture on the box – a prescient and deserved recognition.

Last up, that okay scene with Phoenix and Wolfe. Phoenix bottoms, and ends the show with some longdistance spurting, cum sailing over his shoulder. And didja think the sets looked familiar? That fake, underdecorated doctor’s office and examination room? Following Rhodes’ unusual collaboration with Hot House head Steven Scarborough, he directed this Mustang movie solo, at the Hot House Studio. Pretty soon the entire industry’s gonna be one big conglomerate.▼

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