May 24 2018_Edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Bay Area Reporter

New top cop in Fremont

Huge send-off for Kate Kendell

ARTS

'Ring' Cycle

Gay Gaymes

The

www.ebar.com

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

Vol. 48 • No. 21 • May 24-30, 2018

Courtesy Travis Woodmansee

Members of Outpost had a booth at last year’s San Mateo Pride festival under the name RAC.

Group nixed from San Mateo Pride gets booth

Milk mural revealed on Milk Day Patrik Gallineaux, left, national LGBT ambassador for Stoli USA, joined Stuart Milk and muralist Oz Montania in front of the new mural commemorating Harvey Milk outside the Cafe bar May 22.

by Alex Madison

hey were out, now they’re in. Members of a San Mateo LGBT social group called Outpost, who were initially rejected from having a booth at the upcoming San Mateo Pride Celebration because of an “affiliation with alcohol,” were given a reprieve this week and will be allowed to be at the festival. After the Bay Area Reporter contacted officials from the San Mateo County Health System, the umbrella agency that oversees the festival, See page 14 >>

Kelly Sullivan

by Tony Taylor

n celebration of Harvey Milk Day, Tuesday, May 22, Stolichnaya vodka revealed a new mural dedicated to the late political activist, elected official, and gay rights pioneer. During an outdoor ceremony at the Cafe nightclub at 18th and Castro streets, nearly 100 people gathered to witness the unveiling.

Next SF mayor could seek housing bond measure

SF OFFICES SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR 1: Mark Leno 2: London Breed 3: Jane Kim

Community Center in Asunción. This limited-edition bottle, Stoli’s first-ever LGBTQ-themed product offering, commemorates the 40th anniversary of Milk taking office as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in January 1978. He was the first openly gay elected official in California and San Francisco. See page 12 >>

B.A.R. election endorsements

by Matthew S. Bajko

inding the funds to pay for below-market-rate housing in San Francisco for the homeless, youth, seniors, and those earning low to moderate incomes is a constant challenge for local leaders. And recent moves at the state and federal level have only made it harder. During the height of California’s recession, Governor Jerry Brown eliminated city redevelopment agencies that had been a prime source of development funds. The tax overhaul Congress and President Donald Trump pushed through last year also reduced the incentive for investors to fund affordable housing projects. It is exacerbating the already insatiable demand for housing in the Golden State. And is leading lawmakers and community leaders to search for new pots of revenue to build affordable housing. Voters in San Francisco this June are being asked to impose a 1.7 percent tax on commercial landlords, generating approximately $70 million annually to fund low and middleincome housing and homeless services. The 10year funding plan under Proposition D would fund housing and services for the homeless, low-income senior housing, and subsidized middle-income housing.

In addition to the mural, Stoli also premiered a limited-edition vodka bottle with the mural’s image as the label. The bottle features a portrait of Milk holding a megaphone that reads, “Hope will never be silent.” The art was inspired by the work of Paraguayan artist Oz Montania. Montania was flown to San Francisco by Stoli USA, where he recreated the mural that he had painted in 2013 inside the Paraguayan LGBT

DISTRICT 8 SUPERVISOR Rafael Mandelman EAST BAY ASSEMBLY Dist. 15: Judy Appel

STATE OFFICES

Kelly Sullivan

Mayoral candidate London Breed has floated the idea of a housing bond.

Opponents of the measure are pushing a November ballot proposition that would generate about $340 million annually for homeless services and supportive housing. The Coalition on Homelessness is behind the measure, which See page 14 >>

Governor: Gavin Newsom Lt. Governor: Eleni Kounalakis Attorney General: Xavier Becerra Secretary of State: Alex Padilla Treasurer: Fiona Ma Controller: Betty Yee Insurance Commissioner: Ricardo Lara Superintendent of Public Instruction: Tony Thurmond Board of Equalization (District 2): Malia Cohen STATE ASSEMBLY (SF) Dist. 17: David Chiu Dist. 19: Phil Ting

OTHER RACES State Assembly (Bay Area) Dist. 18: Rob Bonta Dist. 28: Evan Low Congress (Bay Area) US Senate: Dianne Feinstein Dist. 2: Jared Huffman Dist. 3: John Garamendi Dist. 5: Mike Thompson Dist. 10: Michael Eggman Dist. 11: Mark DeSaulnier Dist. 12: Nancy Pelosi Dist. 13: Barbara Lee Dist. 14: Jackie Speier Dist. 15: Eric Swalwell Dist. 17: Ro Khanna Dist. 18: Anna Eshoo Dist. 19: Zoe Lofgren

JUDGES SF SUPERIOR COURT Seat 4: Andrew Cheng Seat 7: Curtis Karnow Seat 9: Cynthia Ming-Mei Lee Seat 11: Jeffrey Ross

Alameda County Bd. of Ed. Area 1: Joaquin Rivera San Mateo County Superintendent of Schools: Gary Waddell, Ph.D. Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors Dist. 4: Jimmy Dutra San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo

SF PROPS Yes on: A, B, E, F, G No on: C, D, H, I Regional Prop 3: Yes

CA. PROPOSITIONS Yes on: 68, 69, 71, 72 No on: 70

Alameda County Superior Court Office 11: Tara Flanagan

Remember to vote June 5!

{ FIRST OF THREE SECTIONS }

LIVE ARE5”AH

4.75” W x 3.687

ORTU BT MARKETING OPP

Since 2016, the Bay Area Reporter has partnered with VIA MEDIA to produce

NITIES

ERT PROGRAMS SFGMC has S CHORUS • CONC ly identify as gay or lesbian, irst chorus to public l movement. global LGBT chora Tour Lavender Pen SFGMC's The 19, 2018 March Symphony HaII ...................... .............................. .............................. Vroman Lippa and Lisa uring Andrew 12, 2018 June re ...... Theat .......... urse .......... .............................. .............................. and guide is a ut official map fficial Guide Street Fair’s fold-o 1974, the Castro unity. he LGBT comm ber 14, 2018 2018 ................... Septem .............................. ..............................

The 2018 edition will be inserted into the June 7 edition of the Bay Area Reporter with additional copies distributed at high-traffic LGBTQ businesses and official SF PRIDE events/venues.

9.000” H

turn- key spec ializi ng in thea tre g publ ishin g firm n awar d-wi nnin rtisin g-su ppor ted hip ns inclu ding adve ogs and mem bers oke publ icatio guid es, and catal n from concept, catio ms, neig hbor hood publi a of nt full spectrum trafficking, conte and rvices cover the sales g gh advertisin ibution. d branding, throu distr and nt, manageme rint production

INSIDE PRIDE, the official magazine of San Francisco Pride.

CEMENT PREMIUM PLA INCLUDE TIES OPPORTUNI

RS,

INSIDE COVE

5.552.8040

E: 6.000” W x

IP-5x1.75" fill.indd CO1VER FACING PAGES R

& BACK COVE

201IA8 MED

5/17/18 11:25 AM

<< Community News

2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 24-30, 2018

Supes’ panel expected to vote on police commission applicants by Alex Madison

VOTE JUNE 5

GavinNewsom.com Paid for by Newsom for California – Governor 2018. FPPC ID# 1375287

PAID POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT

fter the San Francisco Board of Supervisors angered Mayor Mark Farrell with its rejection of his two reappointments to the Police Commission, its rules committee is poised to vote on 12 applicants, including four LGBTs, at its meeting Wednesday. Last week, Farrell called it “outrageous” that the supervisors rejected the reappointment of Police Commissioners Joe Marshall and Sonia Melara, leaving the oversight panel without enough members to convene or take action. The 6-5 vote at the board’s May 15 meeting comes at a precarious time for the commission, with the looming possibility that Police Chief William Scott will leave the San Francisco Police Department to become the next chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. The commission is also in the midst of implementing hundreds of reform recommendations from the U.S. Department of Justice, including use-of-force policies. Supervisors Jane Kim, Hillary Ronen, Aaron Peskin, Norman Yee, Malia Cohen, and Sandra Lee Fewer voted to reject the reappointments. Fewer was the only person to speak on the rejection at the board’s meeting saying, “I strongly feel that approval of mayoral appointments only three weeks before voters cast votes for the next mayor of San Francisco is premature.” Two weeks ago, the board’s rules committee recommended reappointing both Melara, a Latina woman and social worker, and Marshall, an African-American man who’s been on the commission for 14 years. With the rejections, there are

Rick Gerharter

Mayor Mark Farrell

only three sitting commissioners on the seven-member police oversight panel, leaving it without the ability to search for a new chief – if Scott is selected for the LA job – or oversee police disciplinary hearings or discipline officers in cases of police misconduct. (Former Commissioner Julius Turman, a gay man, had already resigned from the panel before his death May 13.) Farrell was not happy about the supervisors’ decision and said the vote was politically motivated. “I am extremely disappointed that the Board of Supervisors decided to politicize the appointment process of the Police Commission at such a crucial time in our city,” he said in a statement. “Rejecting the reappointments of Joe Marshall, an AfricanAmerican leader and longtime antiviolence pioneer, and Sonia Melara, a Latina woman and chief advocate of police reform, is outrageous.”

Fremont names first female, lesbian police chief

Paid Political Advertisement

by Alex Madison

YES on PROP H Without Tasers, San Francisco policemen and women lack a vital tool they need to safely de-escalate dangerous situations. Vote Yes on H this June 5th to equip our officers with Tasers and make San Francisco a safer place for the public and officers alike.

Paid for by Yes on H, Safe Neighborhoods for All, Sponsored by the SF Community Alliance for Jobs and Housing and the San Francisco Police Officers Association. Committee major funding from: San Francisco Police Officers Association Financial disclosures are available at sfethics.org.

18GGF0516_bar375x7625_1.indd 1

Gay District 8 Supervisor Jeff Sheehy, who is running for re-election in June, agreed with the mayor and said he was surprised by the rejections. In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Sheehy said he was “disappointed” with the decision and said it “over politicized” what should be an independent commission. “No argument was made that Ms. Melara and Mr. Marshall had done a bad job,” he said. “On principle, I find it troubling to remove people from office when by all accounts have been doing a great job on what is a very difficult commission and at a very difficult time.” In defense of her vote, Cohen appeared on KTVU’s “Mornings on 2,” last Thursday, and said the commission “would have a full quorum by June 6.” In an email to the B.A.R., Cohen said the board has the opportunity to “revamp the infrastructure” of the commission and said “it is time that we bring on individuals with new perspective and fresh ideas to help strengthen and propel the Police Commission in a new direction.” To some, Melara and Marshall are seen as being too close to the San Francisco Police Officers Association, reported the San Francisco Chronicle. The union is behind Proposition H on the June ballot, which sets the police department’s policy on the use of Tasers. Many of the supervisors, including mayoral candidate and board President London Breed, oppose Prop H, saying it undermines the purpose and authority of the commission. Neither Melara nor Marshall signed on to a ballot measure opposing Prop H. See page 15 >>

5/17/18 3:07 PM

he city of Fremont announced Monday that Kimberly Petersen has been named its new police chief, making her the first woman and lesbian to lead the department. Petersen, 48, will take over the role July 26, when current Police Chief Richard Lucero retires after 31 years. “I am honored to have the opportunity to lead this extraordinary team of people who dedicate their lives to protecting the city of Fremont,” Petersen said in a news release. “I am grateful to be part of such a distinguished agency within a supportive community.” Petersen has been with the police department for more than 20 years, currently serving as a captain, which she has done for the past five-plus years. She will oversee the entirety of the department of more than 300 full-time employees, of which 197 are sworn positions. The soon-to-be chief spoke with the Bay Area Reporter on the phone Tuesday and said she is proud to be taking over the position. “It’s an honor to be leading this amazing and dedicated group of people,” she said of her peers. “I’m really looking forward to continuing our momentum in this community.” The first order of business will be to learn the rules and do a lot of listening, she said. Although Petersen said it was too early to express her goals for the role, she said the biggest challenges facing the department is the issue of homelessness in Fremont, as well as other Bay Area communities, something she will focus on as chief. She also plans to hire around 30 or 40 new officers over the next few years due to retirement among employees

Courtesy city of Fremont

Incoming Fremont Police Chief Kimberly Petersen.

and is excited to bring on the next generation of officers and, “bring them up to our brand of professionalism.” When asked about relations between the LGBT community and the FPD, she said, “I never felt like that’s been an issue here. What is beautiful about our officers is they treat [LGBTs] like anyone else, with the same humanity and self-respect. I’m proud of that.” Congratulations came from many, including Fremont Mayor Lily Mei, who said Petersen represents the diverse community of Fremont. “Captain Kimberly Petersen is a highly qualified candidate reflective of the Bay Area’s demographics where Fremont is an inclusive, diverse, and welcoming community,” Mei wrote in an email to the B.A.R. Tiffany Woods, program manager for transgender services at Tri-City Health Center in Fremont, said in a tweet, “Congratulations to the new Fremont Police Chief Captain Kimberly Petersen. The first female and

openly gay chief in the department’s history. I met her three years ago, and she is [a] leader and a great choice.” Her appointment was announced by Fremont City Manager Fred Diaz, who said in a statement, “Kim has a high degree of intellect that will lend itself to Fremont’s unique community attributes and two complexities. She’s also bright, creative, and articulate, all of which will serve her well as she leads the department and community in the years ahead.” Diaz also commended Petersen’s long-standing and diverse background with the department and said she “possesses the tactical and technical knowledge of police work.” Throughout her history with the department, Petersen has been an officer, detective, sergeant, and lieutenant prior to her current position. She was the department’s first female SWAT officer, a role she made a mark on with her creation of the Tactical Emergency Medical Support Team, which she led for four years. Recently, she also created the Training Dog Program and the Mobile Evaluation Team, a newly created unit and partnership between the FPD and Alameda County Behavioral Health. Petersen is also a mom of three children, which she shares with her wife of 16 years, who is a former police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. Coaching soccer is a passion for both of them and are currently are coaching baseball for their youngest child. The family lives in Santa Cruz. Petersen was one of four police captains who sought the position in the internal recruitment. Her salary will be $244,000 plus benefits, which will be around $120,000, according to the police department’s Public Affairs Manager Geneva Bosques. t

ALICE PICKS FOR MAYOR:

Mark Leno #1 and London Breed #2

ALICE AND MILK CLUBS AGREE: Rafael Mandelman for D8 Supervisor

VOTE BY J U N E 5TH

Mark Leno

#1 C H O I C E

MAYOR

DISTRICT 8 SUPERVISOR Rafael Mandelman

London Breed # 2 CHOICE

State Offices

David Chiu

Phil Ting

No Position

Eleni Kounalakis

Alex Padilla

No Position

State Assembly, District 17

State Assembly, District 19

Governor

Lt. Governor

Secretary of State

Attorney General

Fiona Ma

Betty Yee

Ricardo Lara

Tony Thurmond

Malia Cohen

Treasurer

Controller

Insurance Commissioner

Superintendent of Public Instruction

Board of Equalization, District 2

Superior Court Michael I. Begert

Angela Bradstreet

Roger C. Chan

Andrew Cheng

Christopher Hite

Seat 1

Seat 2

Seat 3

Seat 4

Seat 6

Curtis E. A. Karnow

Kathleen Kelly

Cynthia M. Lee

Stephen Murphy

Jeffrey Ross

Seat 7

Seat 8

Seat 9

Seat 10

Seat 11

Monica Wiley

Teresa M. Caffese

Seat 12

Seat 13

State Propositions

Local Ballot Measures

YES on Prop 68 • For Water, Parks, and Natural Resources

YES on A • Support Public Utilities

YES on Prop 69 • Fix Our Roads

NO on B • Solution Looking for a Problem on Appointed Commissioners

NO on Prop 70 • Stop Oil-Funded Attacks on Clean Air

— on C • Tax on Commercial Rents to Fund Child Care & Education

YES on Prop 71 • Implement Ballot Measures Only After

YES on D • Fund Housing and Homelessness Services

Votes Are Counted YES on Prop 72 • Don’t Penalize Californians Who Install

Rainwater Capture Systems

YES on E • Prohibit Retailers from Selling Flavored Tobacco YES on F • Legal Representation for People Facing Eviction YES on G • Parcel Tax for San Francisco Unified School District NO on H • Don’t Bypass the Police Commission on Tasers NO on I • Don’t Force Relocation of Sports Teams YES on Regional Measure 3 • Relieve Bay Area Traffic Congestion

www.AliceBToklas.org

This ad was paid for by the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club PAC, FPPC# 842018. This advertisement was not authorized or paid for by a candidate for this office or a committee controlled by a candidate for this office. Financial disclosures available at sfethics.org. Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club • 2261 Market Street #1800, San Francisco, CA 94114

<< Community News

4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 24-30, 2018

NCLR gives Kendell huge send-off at gala by Heather Cassell

t was a night to party. It was a night to say goodbye. It was a night to raise a lot of money for LGBT rights. It all happened Saturday, May 19, at the National Center for Lesbian Rights’ sold-out 41st annual gala and party at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco Gala attendees and other donors raised $1 million in honor of outgoing Executive Director Kate Kendell and the future of the LGBT legal advocacy organization. A crowd of 1,000 attended the fourhour cocktail reception and dinner. Later in the evening, another 1,300 people came for the after-party, the organization announced in a news release May 21. Kendell, 57, announced in March that she was stepping down after 22 years at the helm of the organization. She will leave NCLR at the end of the year. Kendell’s tenure spans nearly a quarter century at the organization. She landed in San Francisco from Salt Lake City’s American Civil Liberties Union office as its new legal director 24 years ago. Two years later she was the executive director, taking on cases ripped from the headlines, and leading the charge for same-sex marriage during her tenure. She also built and led a winning team that launched advocacy campaigns and programs to protect LGBT families, immigrants, athletes, transgender individuals, and more.

Saying goodbye

In her reassuring way, Kendell comforted the crowd about her departure. In a rousing speech she reminded the organization’s key donors how the community embraced her when she was new to San Francisco. She recalled how the founding

leaders of the organization, retired San Francisco Superior Court Judge Donna Hitchens and former San Francisco supervisor Roberta Achtenberg, supported her when she took the helm of the then-fledgling agency. “It was really important for the good of the organization to do anything that I could to help Kate be successful. She had all of the right characteristics,” said Hitchens. “There were times when she needed support or advice and both Roberta and I tried to be there for whenever that happened.” Kendell told the crowd that she hoped and expected the community to do the same for whoever will be selected to fill her shoes as the national search for her replacement is currently underway. Like her predecessors, she added that she will be at the gala next year to support NCLR’s new executive director. “Under every leader at NCLR our reach has exceeded our grasp. Under every leader we punch above our weight. Under every leader we defy expectations,” Kendell told the crowd. “In this moment, of real threat and palpable peril, it’s never been more important for you to know that you can count on the history, the experience, and the hard-won tireless commitment of this organization to navigate this moment and future moments,” she said, crediting the NCLR’s donors, board members, and staff. “It’s not about me. It is about this organization, our DNA, and who we are and what we know. I’m not taking any of that with me. It is staying with this organization.” Kendell expressed hope and excitement for the future, talking about NCLR’s Next Gen Movement, a campaign to bring new leaders into the LGBT movement. She challenged the new leaders and everyone to “aim higher” than her example of leadership, referencing a onesie created by NCLR staff reading, “When I grow up I want to be Kate Kendell.”

Hard to let go

Jo-Lynn Otto

Kate Kendell, left, outgoing executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, shared a moment with her wife, Sandy Holmes, at the agency’s 41st annual gala May 19 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.

Pointing to the new generation of community leaders like members of Black Lives Matter, the Parkland, Florida kids, and immigrant workers’ advocates, she said future leaders don’t look like her or have the years of experience she has under her belt, but they are “standing up, moving the levers of power, and making real change. “They are standing up demanding justice, and they are not accepting no for an answer. They are saying, ‘we will be in charge. We are not going to wait for you to come around to the right position, we are going to take charge,’” Kendell said to roaring applause. “That is how we move forward. I can’t wait to see what these leaders do next. I can’t wait to see what NCLR does next.”

Honorees

This year’s recipients of NCLR’s Courage Award went to Naval Academy Midshipman Regan Kibby and University of New Haven freshman Dylan Kohere, who are plaintiffs in Doe v. Trump. The young

transgender men took on President Donald Trump’s transgender military ban with the help of NCLR legal director Shannon Minter – one of two transgender attorneys at the center of the fight to stop the Trump-Pence transgender military ban. Dinner attendees also heard from Born Perfect strategist and conversion therapy survivor Mathew Shurka, who shared his personal story and spoke about the organization’s work combatting conversion therapy. He also noted two forthcoming films NCLR consulted on addressing conversion therapy, “The Miseducation of Cameron Post,” staring Chloë Grace Moretz, which won best dramatic feature at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, and “Boy Erased,” starring Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe, as a part of the work the organization is doing. “LGBT people are in every community. Every issue is an LGBT issue. We cannot be bystanders. We are the ones that can make a difference,” Kendell told attendees.

For partygoers – LGBT and allies – Kendell simply got down to Jon Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” and attempted to reassure them that NCLR will continue its work without her. Not everyone was convinced. Kimberley Skidmore, a lesbian who was attending the event for the fifth time, expressed surprise and concern about Kendell’s departure. “I don’t know who is coming next,” said Skidmore, stating that Kendell’s work was “absolutely excellent.” “I wondered, ‘Why is she leaving?’” she asked, speculating burnout or personal issues. “Nobody ever said.” Other party attendees were more optimistic about NCLR’s future. “She’s done a lot for the community, and I owe respect to her because I was able to get married because of all of the hard work that she’s done,” said Lauren Inthanousay, who attended the party with her wife, Jenny Inthanousay. “The next person that steps up we need to show her adequate respect,” she continued. “I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited.” Sharon Smith, the plaintiff in the 2001 dog mauling case in which her partner, Diane Whipple, was killed, echoed one of Kendell’s messages to the audience that everyone in the community had a part in the changes that occurred over the past quarter century. “She’s been a huge inspiration to all of us,” said Smith, but, “everybody out in the room today is also a big part of the movement.” Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (DSan Francisco) praised Kendell as he presented her with a proclamation. “I worship at the altar of Kate Kendell,” he told the audience. “We have a lot of leaders in the LGBT community, but there is a tiny handful over time who ascend to a deity-like status and See page 7 >>

BMR UNIT#

BEDROOM COUNT

BATH COUNT

SQUARE FEET

FLOOR

PRICE WITH ONE PARKING SPACE

PRICE WITHOUT PARKING

INCOME MAXIMUM

MONTHLY HOA DUES WITHOUT PARKING

MONTHLY HOA DUES WITH PARKING

DOWNPAYMENT REQUIRED

204 209 304 310 407 410

2 2 2 1 STUDIO 1

1 1 1 1 1 1

846 858 846 612 439 612

2 2 3 3 4 4

$415,824 $415,431 $415,824 $371,228 $324,383 $371,228

$358,866 $358,473 $358,866 $314,270 $267,425 $314,270

100% of AMI 100% of AMI 100% of AMI 100% of AMI 100% of AMI 100% of AMI

$504.43 $506.57 $504.43 $462.70 $431.85 $462.70

$529.43 $531.57 $529.43 $487.70 $456.85 $487.70

5% of sale price 5% of sale price 5% of sale price 5% of sale price 5% of sale price 5% of sale price

, ! ay In nd y rr Mo at Hu ds th En 28 ! le ay pm Sa M 9

Get it Today! No Credit Needed!

HONORING ALL WHO SERVED

MEMORIAL DAY EVENT

OUR BEST MEMORIAL DAY OFFER EVER! Opening Soon Lathrop Outlet

YEARS

no interest* no down payment no minimum purchase

On purchases with your Ashley Advantage™ credit card from 5/1/2018 to 5/28/2018. Equal monthly payments required for 60 months. Ashley Furniture does not require a down payment, however, sales tax and delivery charges are due at time of purchase. *See below for details.

18290 Harlan Rd., Lathrop, CA 95330

plus

% off

‡‡

3 YEARS 2 YEARS 1 YEAR no interest* no down payment no minimum purchase

On purchases with your Ashley Advantage™ credit card from 5/1/2018 to 5/28/2018. Equal monthly payments required for 36 months. Ashley Furniture does not require a down payment, however, sales tax and delivery charges are due at time of purchase. *See below for details.

plus

20off

NOW HIRING! Sales Associates

‡‡

no interest if paid in full in 12 months††

On purchases with your Ashley Advantage™ credit card made 5/1/2018 to 5/28/2018. Interest will be charged to your account from the purchase date if the promotional purchase is not paid in full within 24 months. Minimum monthly payments required. ††See below for details.

On purchases with your Ashley Advantage™ credit card made 5/1/2018 to 5/28/2018. Interest will be charged to your account from the purchase date if the promotional purchase is not paid in full within 12 months. Minimum monthly payments required. ††See below for details.

no down payment no minimum purchase

plus

25off %

‡‡

no down payment no minimum purchase

plus

30off %

‡‡

CONCORD

FOLSOM

MODESTO

ROSEVILLE

STOCKTON

Exit at Concord, next to Trader Joe’s 2201 John Glenn Dr Concord, CA 94520 925-521-1977

Located in the Broadstone Plaza 2799 E Bidwell St Folsom, CA 95630 916-986-9200

3900 Sisk Rd., Ste B Modesto, CA 95356 209-248-6152

Highland Reserve Marketplace 10349 Fairway Dr Roseville, CA 95678 916-953-5757

In the Park West Place Shopping Center 10904 Trinity Parkway, Stockton, CA 95219 209-313-2187

facebook.com/AshleyHSConcord

EMERYVILLE

Get it Today! No Credit Needed!

no interest if paid in full in 24 months††

In the East Baybridge Shopping Center 3839 Emery St., Ste. 300 Emeryville, CA 94608 510-292-4339

facebook.com/AshleyHSEmeryville

FAIRFIELD Exit Green Valley 4865 Auto Plaza Ct Fairfield, CA 94534 707-864-3537

facebook.com/AshleyHSFairfield

facebook.com/AshleyHSModesto

facebook.com/AshleyHSFolsom

REDDING

FRESNO

1405 Dana Drive Redding, CA 96003 530-222-7707

7502 N. Blackstone Ave Fresno, CA 93720 559-283-8251

facebook.com/AshleyHSFresno

MILPITAS In McCarthy Ranch 128 Ranch Dr Milpitas, CA 95035 408-262-6860

facebook.com/AshleyHSMilpitas

facebook.com/AshleyHSRedding

ROHNERT PARK Exit Rohnert Park Expwy, across from Costco 6001 Redwood Dr Rohnert Park, CA 94928 707-586-1649 facebook.com/ AshleyHSRohnertPark

facebook.com/AshleyHSRoseville

SACRAMENTO Located at the Promenade in Natomas 3667 N Freeway Blvd Sacramento, CA 95834 916-419-8906 facebook.com/ AshleyHSSacramento

SAN FRANCISCO 707 Bayshore Blvd. San Francisco, CA 94124 415-467-4414 facebook.com/ AshleyHSSanFrancisco

facebook.com/AshleyHSStockton

VISALIA 3850 S. Mooney Blvd Visalia, CA 93277 559-697-6399

facebook.com/AshleyHSVisalia

OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK: Monday - Sunday 10am - 9pm

“Se Habla Español” www.AshleyHomeStore.com

*Offer applies only to single-receipt qualifying purchases. Ashley HomeStore does not require a down payment, however, sales tax and delivery charges are due at time of purchase if the purchase is made with your Ashley Advantage™ Credit Card. No interest will be charged on promo purchase and equal monthly payments are required equal to initial promo purchase amount divided equally by the number of months in promo period until promo is paid in full. The equal monthly payment will be rounded to the next highest whole dollar and may be higher than the minimum payment that would be required if the purchase was a non-promotional purchase. Regular account terms apply to non-promotional purchases. For new accounts: Purchase APR is 29.99%; Minimum Interest Charge is $2. Existing cardholders should see their credit card agreement for their applicable terms. Promotional purchases of merchandise will be charged to account when merchandise is delivered. Subject to credit approval. ‡Monthly payment shown is equal to the purchase price, excluding taxes and delivery, divided by the number of months in the promo period, rounded to the next highest whole dollar, and only applies to the selected financing option shown. If you make your payments by the due date each month, the monthly payment shown should allow you to pay off this purchase within the promo period if this balance is the only balance on your account during the promo period. If you have other balances on your account, this monthly payment will be added to the minimum payment applicable to those balances. ††Ashley HomeStore does not require a down payment, however, sales tax and delivery charges are due at time of purchase if the purchase is made with your Ashley Advantage™ Credit Card. Offer applies only to single-receipt qualifying purchases. No interest will be charged on the promo purchase if you pay the promo purchase amount in full within 12 or 24 Months. If you do not, interest will be charged on the promo purchase from the purchase date. Depending on purchase amount, promotion length and payment allocation, the required minimum monthly payments may or may not pay off purchase by end of promotional period. Regular account terms apply to non-promotional purchases and, after promotion ends, to promotional balance. For new accounts: Purchase APR is 29.99%; Minimum Interest Charge is $2. Existing cardholders should see their credit card agreement for their applicable terms. Promotional purchases of merchandise will be charged to account when merchandise is delivered. Subject to credit approval. §Subject to credit approval. Minimum monthly payments required. See store for details. ‡‡Previous purchases excluded. Cannot be combined with any other promotion or discount. Discount offers exclude Tempur-Pedic®, Stearns & Foster® and Sealy Posturepedic Hybrid™ mattress sets, floor models, clearance items, sales tax, furniture protection plans, warranty, delivery fee, Manager’s Special pricing, Advertised Special pricing, and 14 Piece Packages and cannot be combined with financing specials. Effective 1/1/2018, all mattress and box springs are subject to a $10.50 per unit CA recycling fee. SEE STORE FOR DETAILS. Stoneledge Furniture LLC. many times has multiple offers, promotions, discounts and financing specials occurring at the same time; these are allowed to only be used either/or and not both or combined with each other. Although every precaution is taken, errors in price and/ or specification may occur in print. We reserve the right to correct any such errors. Picture may not represent item exactly as shown, advertised items may not be on display at all locations. Some restrictions may apply. Available only at participating locations. ±Leather Match upholstery features top-grain leather in the seating areas and skillfully matched vinyl everywhere else. Ashley HomeStores are independently owned and operated. ©2018 Ashley HomeStores, Ltd. Promotional Start Date: May 1, 2018. Expires: May 28, 2018.

<< Open Forum

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 24-30, 2018

Volume 47, Number 21 May 24-30, 2018 www.ebar.com

Re-elect Feinstein to Senate

placement for expelled students, [and] training.” Alameda County has some under-resourced school districts so his attention to services the county can provide is refreshing. His opponent is a homophobe who reportedly implied at an endorsement meeting that Rivera is not a “real man” because he doesn’t have children. That sounds like gay-bashing to us. Rivera has been endorsed by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund and deserves re-election.

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

LEGAL COUNSEL Paul H. Melbostad, Esq.

News Editor • news@ebar.com Arts Editor • arts@ebar.com Out & About listings • jim@ebar.com Advertising • scott@ebar.com Letters • letters@ebar.com Published weekly. Bay Area Reporter reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement which the publisher believes is in poor taste or which advertises illegal items which might result in legal action against Bay Area Reporter. Ads will not be rejected solely on the basis of politics, philosophy, religion, race, age, or sexual orientation. Advertising rates available upon request. Our list of subscribers and advertisers is conﬁdential and is not sold. The sexual orientation of advertisers, photographers, and writers published herein is neither inferred nor implied. We are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.

Rick Gerharter

Senator Dianne Feinstein

enator Dianne Feinstein’s experience is reason enough to recommend her for another six-year term in the U.S. Senate. With President Donald Trump and his administration’s assaults (Russia meddling in the election, bad trade deals, corruption at the Environmental Protection Agency, and targeting of immigrants), California needs someone of Feinstein’s seniority and stature now more than ever. Feinstein has been a leader on gun control issues. It touches her personally. She first came to the nation’s attention on November 27, 1978, when she stood at City Hall and announced the shooting deaths of then-supervisor Harvey Milk and mayor George Moscone by disgruntled exsupervisor Dan White. In 1993, shortly after she was elected to the Senate, a gunman entered the high-rise office building at 101 California Street in downtown San Francisco and killed eight people before taking his own life. It was a shock to the Bay Area at a time when mass shootings weren’t as common as they are now. It was Feinstein who passed the assault weapons ban in Congress; sadly, a later Congress allowed it to expire years after. She has introduced a new assault weapons ban. On her website, Feinstein states that she will “continue to author and support additional legislation to enact sensible gun laws, including: closing the gun-show loophole, holding arms manufacturers accountable, raising the minimum age to purchase firearms, and preventing those on the terrorist watch list from buying a gun.” On the environment, an issue under siege by Trump and his appointees, Feinstein has dedicated her career to preserving the state’s natural spaces, combatting climate change, and fighting for environmental justice. She authored the California Desert Protection Act that preserved more than seven million acres of California desert. She helped secure over $250 million in federal funding to purchase and preserve the nearly 8,000-acre Headwaters Forest. She authored the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, which launched a nearly $2 billion public-private partnership to restore Lake Tahoe. On LGBT rights, Feinstein has been a champion of the community. She was one of just 14 senators to vote against the hideous Defense of Marriage Act in the mid-1990s, and co-sponsored the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which has never passed Congress. She did state that then-mayor Gavin Newsom’s decision to order city officials to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2004 was “too much, too fast, too soon;” but she certainly wasn’t the only Democrat who needed to “evolve” on marriage equality. The important thing to remember is that she did become a supporter of same-sex marriage when we needed it most: four years later in 2008 during the Proposition 8 campaign. She also authored a private bill to help a lesbian couple stay in the U.S., and has stood up to Trump’s attacks on LGBTQ equality. The reality today is that Republicans control the Senate, so there’s not much Feinstein and other Democrats can do to prevent anti-LGBT federal judges from being appointed, including Supreme Court justices. (Feinstein voted against Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s pick to replace the late Antonin Scalia.) Nor can Democrats do much in the way of spearheading progressive, pro-equality legislation. If Democrats take control of the Senate in the midterms, they could become a check against this out of control president. Feinstein’s detractors display blatant ageism when they say she’s been in office too long. They think because she’s 84 she can’t do the job. We disagree. The Senate is run on seniority – Feinstein is on the intelligence committee and a

senior member of the judiciary committee – and her clout carries considerable weight that helps Californians. Her opponent, state Senator Kevin de Leon, has not gotten the traction one would expect if voters are truly unhappy with Feinstein. She made one unfortunate remark last year at a San Francisco town hall when she urged voters to be “patient” with Trump. But since then, we think Feinstein has seen up close how unhinged the president is, and we think her own patience has run out. Vote to re-elect Feinstein.

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo

San Jose Mayor: Sam Liccardo

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo has been a solid ally to the LGBT community since he won election four years ago. He joined the Mayors Against LGBT Discrimination Coalition, which was started after same-sex marriage became legal nationwide, as a way to organize coordinated responses to other types of discrimination against the LGBT community, such as housing and jobs. He has also set an inclusive tone in city government, an improvement after years of former mayor Chuck Reed’s opposition to same-sex marriage. Liccardo has been endorsed by the Bay Area Municipal Elections Committee, a South Bay LGBT political action committee. He deserves re-election.

Gary Waddell, Ph.D.

San Mateo County Superintendent of Schools: Gary Waddell, Ph.D.

Gay Pacifica resident Gary Waddell is making his first bid for public office. Currently the deputy superintendent in the San Mateo County Office of Education, he told us in an editorial board meeting that he’s ready to take on the top job and has experience at many levels of education as a principal and counselor and a foster parent for special needs youth. His platform is educating the whole child, and by that he means including arts, civics, social-emotional learning, and environmental education. “Kids need to understand how government works, but also how to get involved when they see injustice done,” he told us. He said that his collaborative management style would work well in the county office, but that he’s also willing to take a bold stand if necessary. In a Guest Opinion piece for the Bay Area Reporter earlier this year, Waddell wrote about the importance of the FAIR Education Act, which is now being implemented in the state’s public schools. The act requires that California’s public schools provide fair, accurate, inclusive, and respectful representations of LGBTQ Americans, as well as people with disabilities in history and social studies curricula. He maintains that LGBT community leaders must be at the table to talk about the nuances of historical context to better tell the stories of LGBTQ historical figures. Another priority is to recruit teachers, and he has ideas to partner with local colleges to encourage those students to become educators. Waddell has many endorsements from elected officials. We think he will do a good job enhancing public education on the Peninsula. Vote for Waddell.

Rebecca Stark/Rebecca Stark Photography

Jimmy Dutra

Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, District 4: Jimmy Dutra Joaquin Rivera

Alameda County Board of Education, Area 1: Joaquin Rivera

Joaquin Rivera is a gay man running for reelection to the Alameda County Board of Education. His top priority is improving the public educational system that benefits all schoolchildren. A community college chemistry professor, Rivera was first elected to the county school board in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. He states on his website that he brings “a strong record of advocacy for students, teachers, and the institution of public education.” One of his goals “is to serve as a link between the school board members in our area and the County Office of Education to make sure that our school districts receive the services they need in areas such as special education, adequate

Jimmy Dutra is a gay man who’s served on the Watsonville City Council and now wants to represent a larger portion of Santa Cruz County by being on the Board of Supervisors. He first ran in 2014 but fell short in his bid. While he was out to family and friends, he did not run as an openly gay man. When he ran for City Council, he was an out candidate and won by 26 points. He’s running as an out man this time, too. “I have been leading my career this way ever since I was elected,” he told us in an interview last year. Some of the issues Dutra is concerned about are homelessness, and advocating for more LGBT services. He said that when government says no to something, he looks for other ways to accomplish the goal. Dutra has local government experience and has the endorsement of BAYMEC. It would be great to see a qualified gay man on the Board of Supervisors in Santa Cruz.t

Politics>>

May 24-30, 2018 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

Progressive lawyer and DJ aims to take on Pelosi by Matthew S. Bajko

urning Man attendees known him as a DJ for the Gender Bender camp. Privacy and free speech activists likely have gotten to know him through his work with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Bill of Rights Defense Committee. Marriage equality advocates might remember him as part of the legal team that defended Jason West for breaking New York’s marriage laws when he wed same-sex couples in 2004 as the then-mayor of New Paltz. Now Shahid Buttar is aiming to gain national attention as the person San Francisco voters choose to challenge House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) in the June 5 primary. He is one of three Democrats, as well as a trio of other candidates, waging an uphill battle to unseat Pelosi come November from California’s 12th Congressional District. “I will take second place. I have no doubt on it,” a confident Buttar told the Bay Area Reporter in a recent interview about his candidacy. “The others are not as prepared to do it. I am as deep on policy issues as the incumbent, if not more.” Pelosi is widely expected to take the number one spot in the June primary, where the top two vote-getters will advance to the general election in November. Also on the ballot are Republican educator Lisa Remmer, Green Party member Barry Hermanson, and independent lawyer Michael Goldstein. The two other Democrats are lawyer Stephen Jaffe and UC Hastings College of the Law student Ryan A. Khojasteh. Leading up to the primary, Buttar and Khojasteh have garnered support from more progressive Democratic clubs and leaders in the city. Should he advance past the June primary, Khojasteh hopes his candidacy, and the fact that he is the son of Iranian immigrants, will attract national attention. “Our team is feeling energized and optimistic heading into the final stretch of the campaign,” he told the B.A.R. last week. “Thanks to the hard work of a dedicated group of young people we have reached more voters than any other challenger in the race, secured the most endorsements, and our message of unity

NCLR

From page 4

Kate is one of those people. “Kate, you are such an inspiration. You have inspired a generation of leaders that our community really need,” he continued from the podium. “We know you are going to continue to do great things.”

Confidence

Community leaders spoke of their gratitude for Kendell’s commitment and vision, while at the same time, they were confident in the organization’s future. “She’s done such an amazing job bringing the organization to the forefront of fighting for LGBT rights,” said Leslie Katz, a lesbian former supervisor and a shareholding attorney at Greenberg Traurig, LLP. “We all owe her a great deal of thanks. “We have to keep the fight up,” Katz said, hoping that the organization continues to “stay on the forefront leading the fight for human rights and civil rights.”

Courtesy Shahid Buttar

Shahid Buttar is one of several candidates challenging House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

around a common vision for the future of the Democratic party has resonated. We are looking forward to upsetting expectations on June 5 and engaging Minority Leader Pelosi in a thorough contest of ideas.” Buttar, 43, is also hoping his personal background will attract interest from the national political press should he survive the primary. Born in England to a Pakistani Muslim family, he immigrated to the U.S. as a child. He and his three siblings grew up in the small, rural town of Rosebud, Missouri. He came to the Bay Area for law school at Stanford and graduated in 2003. After landing a job with Heller Ehrman LLP, a San Franciscobased law firm that later collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis, he moved to Washington, D.C. to work at its office in the nation’s capital. Having earlier met West at a conference where the recently elected mayor talked about his using puppets as a form of political protest, Buttar convinced his law firm to take on West’s legal defense. He faced prosecution for officiating same-sex weddings shortly after San Francisco officials began marrying gays and lesbians in February 2004 on the orders of then-mayor Gavin Newsom. “We beat the criminal charges but lost the civil case. He was the only person in the country to be criminally charged for marrying partners of their choice,” recalled Buttar. “Five years later after we lost the civil case, we won marriage equality in the state of New York. When we filed the case, no Democrat “This is a critical time for all of us, and the fights that NCLR is leading and winning are crucial to our advancing equality for everyone,” she said. “She’s leaving it in great shape for the next generation to take leadership.” Minter praised Kendell in a phone interview May 21 from Washington, D.C. “She’s given us such a strong foundation and such a strong vision that I think we feel very confident moving forward,” he said. “We are all very committed to honoring her legacy and her vision.” He also expressed that while the next person to take the helm of NCLR will be stepping into “some big shoes” they will also “get the benefit of an enormous reservoir of good will that she has built up and we have a very strong team at NCLR.” “In that way it will be a great job to step into,” he added. Hitchens agreed with Minter. “I really have no doubt that NCLR will continue to be [a] successful

supported marriage equality except for Gavin Newsom.” While Buttar is straight, he said he does identify as queer because of his political beliefs and not adhering to traditional ideas of masculinity. “I am kind of femme,” he explained. “I reject traditional gender roles.” A spoken word artist in addition to spinning music, Buttar co-founded the outdoor poetry convergence that for the past 15 years has assembled every Thursday night at the BART station entrance on the corner of 16th and Mission streets in San Francisco. Currently living in Glen Park, he plans this summer to move into an artist collective in the Haight. He took a leave from his job with Electronic Frontier Foundation to focus on his campaign for office. The first-time candidate vowed that he would run again for Congress in 2020 should he lose this year, as he is not interested in seeking local office. “I will run for this seat again if I don’t win. I don’t understand the Board of Supervisors,” said Buttar. “I am running for office because I want to ask questions that no one else has the cajones to raise.” Never before interested in being a politician, Buttar told the B.A.R. he was moved to run for Congress this year because of President Donald Trump and his “kleptocratic administration.” “I don’t have political aspirations, but I have a great deal of political frustrations,” explained Buttar. “It is why I am running to give San Francisco real representation in Washington.” As for campaigning, Buttar said it has been “a wild and whacky experience” so far. “I love meeting people,” he said, adding that learning of their diverse life experiences “is very humbling.” Running for office, he added, feels “very much like a sail being pushed by the breath of a lot of people. It also feels like a bronco I am just trying to stay on. It is a wild thing, bigger than me and bigger than any of us.”t Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion, will return Monday, June 4. Keep abreast of the latest LGBT political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/politicalnotes. Got a tip on LGBT politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 8298836 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.

[and] respected leader in the movement across the country,” she said. “I am not the least bit worried.” Julie Dorf, senior adviser of the Council for Global Equality, expressed pride for Kendell’s leadership as well as excitement for NCLR’s future. “It’s a new era,” said Dorf. “I really hope that we can find the next gen [leader] who is thinking about sexual rights and gender in a new way and who will take NCLR out of this era into the next that most of us in this room can’t really imagine.”t

Barry Schneider Attorney at Law

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

415-781-6500 *Certified by the California State Bar 400 Montgomery Street, Ste. 505, San Francisco, CA

LGBT PROGRESSIVE CATHOLICS † OUR FAMILIES & FRIENDS

Celebrating our Sexuality and Love as Gifts of God Liturgy & Social: Every Sunday 5pm First Sunday Movie Night Second Sunday Potluck Supper Third Wednesday Faith Sharing Group 1329 Seventh Avenue † info@dignitysanfrancisco.org Follow us on Facebook!

<< Commentary

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 24-30, 2018

Nobody’s room by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

he other day, after doing a talk at a local middle school’s Rainbow Connection group, I picked my wife up from work. Tired after our long days, we headed to the nearest sit-down eatery, a Denny’s. We had a lovely meal, one that in most cases I might recommend. Before we ate, my wife went to use the restroom. She had to wash her hands of the various detritus she acquired working at a local garden center. Had we known then what we know now, she probably wouldn’t have used that bathroom, and we likely would have found some place else to have our dinner. You see, some 360 miles to the south of us, in the heart of Los Angeles, something was brewing in another Denny’s location. Jazmina Saavedra, a conservative congressional candidate for California’s 44th District, started to live stream video on her phone. She also stated that she was carrying pepper spray. With her phone attached to the business end of a selfie stick, she entered the Denny’s women’s room. Inside the bathroom, a trans woman was in a closed stall. Saavedra entered the room and begun

to shout at the trans woman, calling her a “stupid guy.” She then went outside the restroom, waiting for the trans woman to exit. The manager of the Denny’s also entered the restroom and forced the trans woman to leave. When the trans woman exited, Saavedra ambushed her. Words were exchanged, with the trans woman claiming that Saavedra had been stalking her previously. “You’re just singling me out, lady, for no reason. And I seen you yesterday, following me,” said the unidentified trans woman. “Next time use the men’s room – or nobody’s room,” retorted Saavedra. The manager of the Denny’s escorted the trans woman off the premises. In a statement from the restaurant, it claims she was not ejected due to her gender identity, but due to “drug paraphernalia on the floor” near her. Denny’s statement also apologizes to the trans woman and other guests for the disrespectful actions of Saavedra, but one thing remains on my mind: the manager did not eject Saavedra for filming in the women’s room. This particular Denny’s, located

at 635 S. Vermont Avenue in downtown LA, is not a stranger to controversy. In 2016, this location was sued for asking black customers to prepay for their meals. The restaurant opted to settle out of court rather than risk a trial. The eatery clearly has not learned its lesson about prejudice. In spite of the corporate apology, we know now that this location seems perfectly fine with live streaming in its restroom, and that the privacy of any person – trans or otherwise – in that restroom is at risk. This incident is exactly what trans people fear. We enter a closed stall to use the restroom, only to have another patron, brandishing their phone, call us out for somehow invading

Section 632), and may have been stalking this trans woman prior to that evening. Even though Saavedra faces an uphill battle as a conservative attempting to represent Compton and Lynwood, this incident should – in a just world – end her political career. Indeed, she should be spending some time in jail for her actions. The manager who was so eager to remove the trans woman, who Saavedra claims as “helping her,” made no effort to remove Saavedra and her selfie stick from the premises, and all we’re left with is a lukewarm corporate apology. Meanwhile, there are virtually no documented cases of trans people attacking anyone in a public restroom. Trans women are there for the same reasons as any other women. Over the last few years, as arguments about public accommodations for transgender people have heated up, thanks to religious and political leaders looking for another group to scapegoat in the wake of marriage equality, we’ve seen many stories of people ejected from restrooms. The majority of these haven’t been trans women at all. Trans or not, however, we can all face the actions of the next Saavedra who decides to play vigilante – and none of us may be safe from being filmed in the women’s room at Denny’s. This is the true danger to one’s right to privacy. t Gwen Smith wishes people would learn to mind their own business, for once. You can find her at www.gwensmith.com.

Gay publisher donates items to national museum

compiled by Cynthia Laird

Drain Clean Special* Call us 24/7

415-993-9523 Main line service up to 100’, with access point. Warranty included. May not be combined with other offers. Service limited to San Francisco County resident, 8am to 7pm.

A locally owned and operated franchise. Lic# 974194

www.MrRooter-SFO.com

HAIR RESTORATION

BEFORE

Christine Smith

their privacy. It is nothing short of abhorrent behavior on Saavedra’s part, all the while she claims she’s somehow the victim for a trans person using the facilities all women are allowed to use. I find myself wondering, what would happen to me if I walked into a Denny’s women’s room with my phone at the end of a selfie stick, loudly proclaiming that I was going to film a patron inside it? I would expect to at least be asked to leave, if not end my night in handcuffs. In recent weeks, we’ve seen a number of cases of vigilantism and harassment akin to Saavedra’s, most notably Jennifer “BBQ Becky” Schulte calling police on a number of black people barbecuing at Lake Merritt in Oakland; Holly Hylton, a Starbucks manager in Philadelphia who called police on a pair of black men two minutes after they arrived; and Aaron Schlossberg, a lawyer who threatened to contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement on people at a Manhattan deli who were speaking Spanish to each other. Yet while Schulte has been publicly called out, Hylton lost her job, and Schlossberg has been served with eviction as a result of their actions, Saavedra is seemingly facing no backlash whatsoever. Indeed, she walks free today, even though she clearly broke the law by harassing this trans woman, filming in the restroom (a violation of California Penal Code,

AFTER

Free Consultation 800-743-4247 Email: RMAforHair@aol.com

THOMAS ROSANELLI, MD 30 years experience

• ARTAS Robotics • FUE • PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) 15% off first hair restoration procedure* Plus receive 20 units Botox FREE Restrictions apply. New Patients only. Botox free units with hair restoration procedure. Expires 5/31/18

www.Rosanelli.com

he gay publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News has donated a trove of materials to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Mark Segal made the donation May 17. The items document his almost 50-year career in LGBTQ activism, from the Stonewall riots to today. Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey (D) was among those on hand for the donation last week. In addition to his papers, Segal donated artifacts from his personal collection, including the first stateissued gay Pride proclamation (1975), buttons, and T-shirts (an old Bay Area Reporter T-shirt is among the items). Segal also contributed a donation can that he used during the 1970 Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day march (recognized as America’s first gay Pride celebration) and a flyer for the march, as well as his personal marshal’s badge. “We fought for pride, for equal rights, our place in the military, and our right to marry the person we love,” Segal said in a news release. “I am humbled and honored to know the National Museum of American History will preserve and tell our struggle for generations to come.” In June 1969, a teenaged Segal traveled from his home in Philadelphia to New York City, and within weeks found himself in the middle of the Stonewall raid and uprising. Following that experience, he devoted his life to activism and helped organize the New York Pride March in 1970. He became known for

Patsy

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, left, listens to Philadelphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal explain some of the items he donated to the National Museum of American History. At lower left is an old Bay Area Reporter T-shirt.

interrupting live news broadcasts to protest the lack of coverage of LGBT issues, famously leaping in front of Walter Cronkite on the “CBS Evening News” with a sign that read, “Gays Protest CBS Prejudice.” Later reports document that he and Cronkite became friends. “Few people have been as fearless, creative, and relentless in their activism for LGBTQ rights as Mark Sega,” Katherine Ott, curator at the museum, said in the release. “The materials he is donating are an insider’s guide to most of the big issues of the past 50 years.” Segal is the founding publisher of PGN (1976). He wrote his memoir, “And Then I Danced: Traveling the Road to LGBT Equality” in 2015 and took the top prize for book writing

at the 2016 National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association awards.

Early bird tickets available for leather cruise

Golden Gate Guards will hold its eighth annual leather cruise on San Francisco Bay Saturday, September 29, and early bird tickets are now available. The event, held the night before the annual Folsom Street Fair, benefits the San Francisco Leather Alliance, which has a long-term goal of creating a fund to purchase a permanent home. The cruise departs and returns to Pier 40. The cruise will travel under the Bay Bridge to pass Angel Island and Treasure Island. Going north, the group will cruise near Sausalito and take a turn around Alcatraz Island. From there, the trip heads west to the Golden Gate Bridge for See page 14 >>

A New Kind of Musical

Your truth if you dare

SERIES PREMIERE

JUNE 3

<< Community News

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 24-30, 2018

TAKE PRIDE IN YOUR BRAIN

Panel looks at queer youth, past and present

by David-Elijah Nahmod

RY Everyone with a brain is at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. During Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month in June, learn the facts about brain health.

rench and American panelists took a look back at history and kept an eye on the present during a presentation on the lives of queer youth in the two countries. The May 17 discussion was a collaborative effort between the GLBT History Museum and the French Consulate. Talking about the historical perspective were Don Romesburg, a gay man and professor of women’s and gender studies at Sonoma State University, and Michael Lucey, professor of French at UC Berkeley who identifies as queer. The present and future were discussed by Jodi L. Schwartz, the queer longtime executive director of the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center in the Castro, and Clare Hart, a straight ally who works at Le Refuge, a similar organization in France. Romesburg spoke of the “romantic friendships” between two boys or two girls in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These friendships were sometimes erotic and were not considered a sickness. For many of these youth, the passage into adulthood meant marriage and the loss of these kinds of intimate associations. Past centuries also found youth turning to hustling as a means to get ahead. “Working-class boys had chances to engage in sexual adventures, which were sometimes monetized,” Romesburg said. “Heterosexual boys who wanted to take girls out needed money – they could make money by having sex with men.”

& SF! VALENCIA LEARN MORE AT ALZ.ORG/ABAM

CYCLERY Steven Krzanowski, Alzheimer’s Association Events Manager (left) and Jaime McElmon, RN at Sutter Health and Alzheimer’s Association Volunteer (right)

David-Elijah Nahmod

Professors Don Romesburg, left, and Michael Lucey joined moderator Mark Sawchuk Clare Hart and Jody L. Schwartz at a discussion of queer youth in France and the U.S.

But things changed as the century progressed. “By the 1920s and 1930s there was a real attempt to clamp down on gender variance and homosexuality,” Romesburg said. “The 1930s until the 1960s were the worst years, but those were the years that gay movements began to emerge.” Romesburg noted that into the 1970s homosexuality was viewed as a phase that people could “pass through.” It was in the 1980s and 1990s that youth movements emerged. Lucey discussed the way misunderstandings arise between people who have difficulty accepting that they do not share the same experience of sexuality. It is severe misunderstandings of this kind between parents and children that create the need for organizations like LYRIC and Le Refuge. “Historians of sexuality need to be aware of this kind of problem as well,” he said. “When you imagine the sexual experience of someone in the past, how do you loosen the hold that your

own sexuality has on your way of understanding the world enough to be open to the possibility of a difference you might not even suspect from your own experience of sexuality?” Lucey used the examples first, of a number of men who lived together as couples in mid-19th century France and the way their contemporaries reacted to them, and, second, of the reactions of different public figures, including the writer Colette, to women in early 20th century France who had elective mastectomies for a variety of different reasons. “The sexuality of others when different from ours elicits strong feelings,” he pointed out. Schwartz and Hart talked about the work that each of their organizations does in support of queer youth, many of whom face homelessness and poverty after rejection from families. Some have substance abuse issues while others are forced into sex work See page 12 >>

LGBTQ homeless shelter VALENCIA VALENCIA We’ve got more bikes in stock & ready to ride than any shop in SF! proposed in South Bay CYCLERY CYCLERY Your one-stop shop SPRING SPRING SALE ON SALE NOW!ON NOW! VALENCIA for the whole family! got more bikes&in stock & We’ve got We’ve more bikes in stock A ready to any rideshop thanin any ready to ride than SF!shop in SF! CYCLERY SPRING SALE ON NOW!

by Heather Cassell

homeless shelter for LGBTQ people in Santa Clara County is one of several recommendations that are expected to go before the Board of Supervisors in June for funding in next year’s budget. At a May 9 public hearing of the county’s Children, Seniors, and Families Committee, the Office of LGBTQ Affairs presented a recommendation an LGBTQ-focused homeless Kid’s for Hybrid/City Hybrid/City Kid’s shelter and specialized transgender support programs. The committee also heard a proposal for a new Division of Equity and Justice. It would be charged with overseeing the work of the Office of Hybrid/City Kid’ Kid’s Cultural Competency, Office of Immigrant Relations, Office of LGBTQ and Office of Women’s Policy. Road Mountain Mountain Affairs, Road A special report released ahead of Now Open Thursday to 7pm! the hearing recommended the creation Now Open Thursday to 7pm! of 10 new positions to support the DiNow Open Thursday to 7pm! vision of Equity and Social Justice. Every Thursday in April between 4 & 7pm About $3.2 million in additional Every Thursday April between 4 & 7pm Every Thursday in April between 4 &in7pm funding is being sought. take 20% OFF all parts, accessories & clothing.* take 20% OFF all parts, accessories & clothing.* take 20% OFF all parts, accessories & clothing.* Road Mountain The top priority community memlimited to bers stock hand. to government leaders *Sales limited to stock on *Sales hand. *Sales limited to stock onon hand. brought was the need for a specialized LGBT Now Open Thursday to 7pm! homeless shelter and helping victims of domestic violence. Every Thursday in April between 4 & 7pm A group of queer youth, whose take 20% OFF all parts, accessories & clothing.* members didn’t want to be identified, described their experiences of being *Sales limited to stock on hand. kicked out of their homes and struggling to survive by sleeping on friends’ 1065 (Btwn & 107721st Valencia 1065 & 1077 Valencia & 22nd(Btwn St.) •21st SF & 22nd St.) • SF couches, working, and continuing to SALES 415-550-6600 • REPAIRS 415-550-6601 go to school. SALES 415-550-6600 • REPAIRS 415-550-6601 1065 & 1077 Valencia (Btwn 22nd St.) • SF The proposed LGBT homeless Mon.-10-7, Sat. 10-6,21st Thu.&10-7, Sun. 11-5 Mon.Sat. 10-6, Thu. Sun. 11-5 shelter would be only the second of its SALES 415-550-6600 • REPAIRS 415-550-6601 1065 & 1077 Valencia (Between 21st & 22nd St.) SF kind in the United States. San FrancisMon.Sat.•10-6, 10-7, Sun. 11-5 1065 (Bewteen 21stThu. & 22nd St.) SF SALES 415Valencia 550-6600 REPAIRS 415 550-6601 co established Jazzie’s Place, a shelter Mon-Sat 10-6, 11-5 10-6,(Btwn Thu. Sun 10-7, for LGBTQ adults, in 2015. Los An1065Mon.-Sat. & 1077 Valencia 21st & Sun 22nd 11-5 St.) • SF 415-550-6601 geles and New York have established Carnaval May 27th & SALESClosed 415-550-6600 •Sunday, REPAIRS 415-550-6601 homeless shelters with specialized Memorial Day Monday, May 28th Mon.- Sat. 10-6, Thu. 10-7, Sun. 11-5 services specifically for LGBT youth. San Francisco’s Larkin Street Youth

We’ve got more bikes in stock & SPRING SALE ON NOW! ready-to-ride than anyinshop inKid’s We’ve got more bikes stock &SF! Hybrid/City ONany SALE! ready to MANY ride than shop in SF!

Road

Mountain

HAPPY HOUR PRICES! HAPPY HOUR PRICES! HAPPY HOUR PRICES!

HAPPY HOUR PRICES!

VALENCIA CYCLERY VALENCIA CYCLERY VALENCIA

VALENCIA CYCLERY VALENCIA CYCLERY CYCLERY valenciacyclery.com valenciacyclery.com

VALENCIA CYCLERY

valenciacyclery.com

valenciacyclery.com valenciacyclery.com

ValenciaCyclery_050318.indd 1

5/22/18 4:54 AM

Jo-Lynn Otto

San Jose Police Officer James Gonzales, right, who’s also the department’s LGBT liaison, testifies at a special hearing of the Santa Clara County Children, Seniors, and Families Committee as Office of LGBTQ Affairs director Maribel Martinez, left, and deputy County Executive David Campos look on.

Services offers homeless services that are LGBT-friendly. The San Francisco LGBT Community Center offers some daytime homeless services, but not shelter beds. The Office of LGBTQ Affairs also identified the need for specialized transgender support programs and LGBTQ support for families with children under 13 years of age. Community organization leaders and many others spoke at the hearing. Residents strongly requested the Board of Supervisors and departments work together and partner with community organizations. The Board of Supervisors will head into June’s budget discussions with an aim to target a nearly $3.2 million in additional funding for programs and services focused on hate crimes, immigration, and women’s issues, according to gay Deputy County Executive David Campos. Supervisor Cindy Chavez, who led

the CSFC hearing along with Supervisor Dave Cortese, said the board would examine the proposed budget and an additional report on intimate partner violence during the budget process in June. She also assured the nearly 300 people who filled the board chambers at the County Government Center at the hearing that funding, particularly for domestic violence, wasn’t being cut. She told community members the board was looking at expanding resources for domestic violence and examining “more appropriate investment” of those resources. Chavez added that contracts that were due to expire were going to be extended for another 90 days to allow for conversations to happen between the county’s executive office, specialized offices, community organizations, and funding partners. See page 15 >>

Community News>>

May 24-30, 2018 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11

City announces backfills for CDC cuts by Cynthia Laird

an Francisco Mayor Mark Farrell and gay District 8 Supervisor Jeff Sheehy this week announced that the city will backfill $4.2 million in federal cuts to HIV/AIDS programs, including funding for the Getting to Zero initiative that aims to significantly reduce HIV transmissions. The money is included in the mayor’s proposed two-year city budget. According to the mayor’s office, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has cut HIV prevention funds to San Francisco. The mayor’s budget plan includes $2.8 million over two years to backfill losses from the federal government through the CDC. Such reductions in federal funds have been ongoing for the past several years. The city has long backfilled the shortfalls. The money funds disease surveillance that informs HIV prevention programs to address prevention and care disparities. It also supports linkages to care in San Francisco jails, at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, and coordination of syringe access and disposal programs. “We have made remarkable advances in reducing HIV infections and improving the lives of people living with HIV,” Farrell said in a news release, “but we must continue to fight against this ongoing public health threat.” Sheehy told the Bay Area Reporter this week that the backfill for CDC cuts will help the city’s

Rick Gerharter

Supervisor Jeff Sheehy

strong foundation of HIV programs as it works on Getting to Zero. “I think what this does is sustain existing programs,” he said, referring to the jails and SFGH. “HIV testing at SFGH is the bedrock” by which rapid testing enables people to immediately enter treatment, one of the goals of Getting to Zero, he said. “That testing in the hospital is where we pick up a lot of infections.” Sheehy, the board’s first known person living with HIV, also said the funds for syringe access and disposal are crucial, especially as the city moves toward establishing a safe injection site. “I want to salute the mayor, it looks like he’ll support a safe injection site,” he added. A spokesman for Farrell confirmed that the mayor is supportive of safe injection sites. Sheehy will face voters June 5 in a special election to serve out the remainder of gay now-state

Valdez wins Texas Dem primary for governor by Lisa Keen

STORES

FLOORS

the $10 million state and federal reserve included in the current Fiscal Year 2017-18 budget to backfill $700,000 of the cut through the remainder of the current fiscal year. Regarding Getting to Zero, which Sheehy helped initiate a few years ago, the city’s proposed budget includes $1.4 million over two years to backfill existing funding for the program. “As co-founder of San Francisco’s Getting to Zero Consortium, I am heartened by the funding to sustain existing efforts and continue our innovative GTZ initiatives so we can meet our ambitious targets for 2020, including getting below 50 new transmissions,” Sheehy said in a statement. “I applaud Mayor Farrell for continuing San Francisco’s historic commitment to lead in the fight to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic and ‘get to zero.’” Lesbian Health Director Barbara

Garcia said the city is in a “good position” to reach the GTZ goal. “San Francisco has pledged to get to zero in the battle against HIV/AIDS,” she said in the release. “Thanks to major accomplishments in care and medication, along with syringe access, community partnerships, and world-class research, we are in a good position to reach that goal.” She added, however, that San Francisco will not reach its goal if it doesn’t fix “disparities that impact African-American, Latino, and homeless people in our city.” “This funding boosts our ability to reach these communities and tailor outreach, prevention, and treatment to meet their needs,” she said. Getting to Zero, which includes city, public, and private partnerships, aims to reduce HIV transmissions to zero, HIV deaths to zero and eliminate stigma by 2020. t

OVER 400 FLOORS IN 400 STORES

Ends May 29!

SALE

We’re celebrating the opening of our 400th store! That means huge savings for you. Get more than 400 floors — ALL ON SALE!

65+

water

varieties

PROOF

Worry-Proof Flooring from

Elegant Wood Acacia Porcelain Tile

North Perry Pine Luxury Vinyl Plank

55+

here was big news out of Texas Tuesday night. Lupe Valdez won the Democratic nomination for governor of Texas in a runoff primary Tuesday night, becoming the first openly LGBT person – and the first Latina – to win a major party nomination for governor in the state. Valdez’s win, with 52 percent of the vote, overshadowed three other important LGBT victories in the Lone Star state. Gina Ortiz Jones, as expected, easily won the Democratic nomination to represent the 23rd Congressional District in the western part of the state. Eric Holguin, who came in second during the original March primary, won a congressional nomination handily in Tuesday’s runoff for the 27th District’s vacant seat. And Lorie Burch won her runoff for the Democratic nomination for the 3rd Congressional District in the Dallas area with 75 percent of the vote. (The figures are based on unofficial results.) There were some disappointments in Tuesday’s voting, too. Jim Gray, the popular gay mayor of Lexington, Kentucky, was beat out for the Democratic nomination for a U.S. House seat. His opponent was a newcomer to politics and to the state: a retired military fighter pilot, Amy McGrath. Gray, who had been considered the frontrunner for months, won only 41 percent of the vote. Republicans have already started calling McGrath, who sports a tough military-like demeanor, a “radical liberal.” Valdez, 70, a lesbian, first made history in 2004 when she became the first

Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) term. His challenger, gay attorney and City College trustee Rafael Mandelman, fully supports backfilling the federal cuts, he told the B.A.R. during a recent editorial board meeting. “There’s not a lot of daylight between the supervisor and myself on HIV/AIDS,” Mandelman said Wednesday. “The District 8 supervisor needs to be an advocate on HIV/AIDS and I commend the mayor and Supervisor Sheehy for that.” Sheehy said that he’s been working with Farrell for the last few weeks to make sure the backfill will be funded and that Getting to Zero will be fully funded. Last year, the city learned that a change in the CDC’s allocation formula would result in a loss of $1.4 million in each of the upcoming five-year grant cycles, which began in January. The late mayor Ed Lee utilized

varieties Laminate Flooring from

water Vintage Wood Medley resistant

Laminate

American Beech Laminate

49¢

sqft

Reclaimed Barn Board Engineered Vinyl Plank

52¢

sqft

Fairfield County Hickory Laminate

Courtesy AP

Former Dallas Sheriff Lupe Valdez won the Texas Democratic gubernatorial primary runoff Tuesday.

openly LGBT person to become sheriff anywhere in the nation – in Dallas, defeating a 30-year white male veteran of the Dallas police force. Polls strongly suggest Texas will re-elect its current Republican governor, Greg Abbott. In other LGBT election news Tuesday night: In a dramatic comeback story, Tippi McCullough won the Democratic nomination for a House seat in the Arkansas Legislature just five years after being forced to resign her private school teaching job in Little Rock because she married a woman. Because there is no Republican candidate competing for the seat representing the state’s most liberal district, Tuesday’s win sets up McCullough to become the first openly LGBT person to be elected to the Arkansas state House. See page 12 >>

275+

Prefinished Hardwood varieties & Bamboo Flooring from

Elk Creek Engineered Bamboo

Willow Manor Oak Engineered Hardwood

$ 39 sqft

Mediterranean Maple Solid Hardwood

10% ALL 15% ALL 25% ALL OFF

in-stock

Tranquility Ultra Luxury Vinyl Plank

CoreLuxe Ultra Engineered Vinyl Plank

in-stock Avella Ultra Porcelain Tile OFF

Purchases of $2,000 or more made with your 24 Months OnLumber Liquidators credit card between May 16 and

Promotional

Financing Available

May 29, 2018. Subject to credit approval. Minimum monthly payments required. See store for details.

in-stock Dream Home Laminate Floors OFF

While supplies last. Product prices & availability are subject to change. See store for details.

<< Community News

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 24-30, 2018

<< We are Your Local Experts helping Exceptional Clients Buy and Sell Beautiful Homes in San Francisco. Call Us for a Free Valuation of Your Property.

Mike Ackerman & Oliver Burgelman LIC# 01388135 | 01232037 415.307.5850 ABZ@ZephyrSF.com BuildingTrust4Life.com

SAVING SPACE... BEAUTIFULLY EURO DELUXE TABLE BED

in order to survive. Schwartz noted that 68 percent of queer youth are now homeless or unstably housed due to the housing market. “As homelessness escalates, we’ve seen escalating exposure to violence,” said Schwartz. “The mission of LYRIC is to build community and to inspire positive change – not just to meet basic needs, but to make lives better.” A diverse community is served by LYRIC, she noted. “LYRIC represents a wide range of gender and sexual identity,” she said. “The life experiences of LGBTQQ youth are diverse and complex. Most LGBTQQ youth have faced experiences of rejection and judgment because of who they are. At LYRIC, our role is to love all LGBTQQ youth for who they are. We meet youth where they are at, partnering with them to reduce any harm they are facing and supporting them in a life path that will ensure that they thrive as healthy and happy individuals as part of a community that loves them for who they are and to

<< Call Now To Make An Appointment:

628-400-4771

Meet with one of our Wallbeds experts!

550 15th Street, Suite #2. San Francisco, CA 94103 Located in the SF Design District

Accessories and More From

Largest Selection of Murphy Wallbeds In Town!

SFmurphybeds.com

THIS IS THE

san francisco

Columbariu M Funeral Home and

formerly the Neptune Society

Queer youth

From page 10

Milk mural

From page 1

Tragically, Milk and then-mayor George Moscone were assassinated in November 1978 by disgruntled exsupervisor Dan White. Stuart Milk, Harvey Milk’s gay nephew and co-chair of the Harvey Milk Foundation, spoke during the event moments before two rainbow flags were pulled away to reveal the mural. A global nonprofit, the foundation was founded in 2009 by Stuart and Anne Kronenberg, Milk’s campaign manager. “Stoli is very passionate about supporting the LGBT community,” Stuart Milk said. “This mural does a wonderful justice to my uncle’s vision and dream, that people can live authentically, without a mask. “My uncle knew he would be assassinated and he knew the bullets had the opportunity to destroy our invisibility to take off masks and all the lies and myths about LGBT would be heard,” Stuart Milk added. Russell Pareti, Stoli’s vice president of marketing, also addressed the crowd to speak about Stoli’s presence in the LGBTQ community. “Like Harvey, we consider ourselves icons in the LGBT community,” Pareti said. “If we ever do something to support the community, we want

which they positively contribute.” Le Refuge is doing similar work. “We’re doing the same thing as LYRIC,” said Hart, who noted that Le Refuge has existed for 15 years. “How wonderful it would be if we didn’t have to exist anymore, but we exist because LGBTphobia exists. “The aim is to fight against suicide and isolation,” she said of the youth center. “Suicide among LGBT youth is very high. We encourage them to spend time together. We go into schools and talk to young people, particularly in deprived areas. We also talk about racial inequality.” For kids who are part of Le Refuge programs, there is a structure to each day. “A time to get up, to dress, and to be home by a certain time,” Hart said. Love and support are the primary components that Le Refuge seeks to bring into the lives of the youth it serves. “We’re letting them find themselves,” Hart said. “We’re encouraging them to love who they are, then they can meet other people and spread the love.” Attendees found the panel interesting.

Valdez

From page 11

Six openly LGBT candidates for the Georgia state House advanced Tuesday night to the general election. Five of them ran unopposed for their Democratic nominations. Two other candidates lost, but one incumbent, state Representative Park Cannon,

Courtesy Leno for Mayor campaign

Mayoral candidate Mark Leno cast his vote on Harvey Milk Day.

to do it in a new way. We hope Harvey is proud of this bottle.” Pareti said the mural is a “beautiful work of art that represents progressiveness and equality.” Proceeds from the limited-edition bottle will be donated to the Harvey Milk Foundation to support its LGBT programing in Eastern Europe and the Baltic nations. Montania, an LGBTQ ally, said the mural represents the freedom to be authentic. “For me it’s an honor to be part of

“The structure of the panel was well thought out,” said Arthur Corbin, who attended the event. “An introduction to our history from romantic friendships that may or may not have been sexual, male prostitution as an economic springboard for poor and working class young men to a better life and marriage, how LGBTQ identities evolved, how the stereotyping of LGBTQ identities with false assumptions led to conversion ‘therapies,’ witch hunts, violence, and sometimes death. And the continuing crisis of LGBTQ youth in both France and the U.S.” Corbin said that he found the evening instructive. “It was informative learning about the concepts and practices of sexuality in the 1800s and 1900s, particularly male prostitution as a vehicle to heterosexual marriage in the 1800s; the ideal of passionate romantic friendships between men and women; the development of LGBT identities in the early 1900s; and the similar work of the French youth group Le Refuge, and the local LYRIC,” he said. t

this project and tribute,” Montania said. “It all started in my country and now we’re closing the circle with this mural. Don’t take this for granted. What you achieved here [in the Castro] is something amazing and most of the world doesn’t experience this.” Stuart Milk added that in many places around the world, LGBTQ community centers are simply clubs and bars and he’s proud of the passion behind this mural and bottle. “There are young people having that [coming out] talk at the kitchen table,” Stuart Milk added. “I guarantee you, a young person will see this mural and get the strength to have that kitchen table conversation and claim their authenticity.” In other Milk Day news, gay San Francisco mayoral candidate Mark Leno voted at City Hall. Leno authored the bill that established Harvey Milk Day in 2009 when he was in the state Senate. Leno’s campaign announced that it will air a 60-second ad over most local stations at 6:58 p.m. Thursday, May 24. Leno is in a tight race for mayor with Board of Supervisors President London Breed, and District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim. t Cynthia Laird contributed reporting.

breezed to the nomination for reelection to her House seat representing the Atlanta area. A gay candidate for mayor of Athens, Richie Knight, lost his bid for the Democratic nomination, garnering only 10 percent of the vote in a three-way race. A gay candidate for the state House, Josh Mers, lost his bid for the Democratic nomination to represent the Lexington-Fayette district.

Gay candidate Mary Wilson lost her bid for the Democratic nomination to represent the state’s 21st Congressional District. One gay candidate for a state Senate seat lost her runoff Tuesday; attorney-activist Fran Watson, in a district that stretches between Austin and San Antonio, took a respectable 42 percent of the vote. t

Francisco for helping to build the International Gay Softball League franchise in 1988 and 1989. Bill enlisted in the Army in 1957 and served his army stint in Greenwich Village, New York. He was honorably discharged. Shortly after arriving in San Francisco he was employed in the nascent Castro as a bouncer and bartender for such iconic bars as the original Toad Hall, the Phoenix, JRs, and the Badlands. After his retirement, he dedicated most of his time and energy to the Gay Softball League and fishing at Ocean Beach. Bill was proudly Polish-American and was possessed of a unique character. He was a tall, blonde, confident, stubborn man of very strong opinions and a quick willingness to voice them often and loudly. He was a great socializer and enjoyed cooking for his friends and family. He was a recognizable “character” of the Duboce Triangle, where he lived for 40 years in the same apartment. Although Bill pretended to be a gruff, tough man of little empathy and a quick willingness to take offense, it was an act to hide his soft interior and he was quick to apologize and make amends for his bad

behavior. Behind his curmudgeonly exterior he was a generous and loving man quick to help his friends and family. Bill loved all holidays, but especially Halloween, his birthday, and Christmas. He spent a lot of time and energy decorating for the holidays, and he was especially happy preparing holiday meals and inviting friends over to enjoy his often-garish holiday decorations and lavish spreads. Bill is survived by his aforementioned brother-in-law, nephews, and various grand nephews and nieces. Sadly, his sister, Dot, predeceased Bill by seven months. Bill will be greatly missed by his friends, Stan, Fernando, Marilyn, Mark, Artie, Larry, Bill, Mai, and many others. Bill’s family and friends would like to thank the staff of the San Francisco Veterans Hospital, the staff of the Rehabilitation Center in Oakland, and the nurses of Hospice Care for making his last months as comfortable as possible. Per Bill’s wishes, his ashes were scattered in San Francisco Bay and no special memorials or services were requested. To the end Bill did not want to impose on his friends – foolish and stubborn man. Bill would never accept how loved he was.

Obituaries >> William Bernard Pielock Jr. October 31, 1934 – April 15, 2018

We’ve expanded our services and kept the spirit and tradition.

Call (415) 771-0717 One Loraine Court between Stanyan & Arguello

FD 1306

COA 660

Bill was born in Jersey City, New Jersey and died in Oakland, California. Bill spent his formative years in New Jersey and New York, and moved to San Francisco in 1965. Bill only traveled to places or to people dear to his heart – Reno, Nevada, for gambling his $100 limit, and Boonton, New Jersey, to visit his much loved only sister, Dorothy (Dot), his brother-in-law, Frank Zabriskie Sr., and his nephews Michael and Frank Jr. and their respective families. He also traveled to various U.S. and Canadian cities in support of his other love, the International Gay Softball League. Bill was a great sport enthusiast and he spent many hours playing, watching, and discussing (some would say arguing about) his favorite teams. Bill was also recognized for his efforts by the city of San

Vote NO on E Prop E is a ban on ADULT choices

California recently changed the tobacco purchase age to 21, and the real solution is to strictly enforce the new Age 21 law, punish retailers and other sources who violate the law, and focus the millions of dollars the City and County receives for youth tobacco prevention education to actually educating our kids on the harms of tobacco use.

Banning choices is not what San Francisco is all about

Support San Francisco’s longstanding spirit of not restricting freedom of choice. We’ve never been about telling adults what they can and cannot do. Let’s not start now.

Respect everyone’s choice of how to live their life

Smoking and vaping is a choice, and even if we don’t approve of the choices adults make we shouldn’t tell adults who to be and what to do. Proposition E goes too far by limiting choice and telling adults what to do.

Stop the Prohibition Proposition On June 5th you can help stop City Hall’s misguided ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes, hookah tobacco, most vaping liquids, and other tobacco products.

Vote NO on E June 5th NoPropE.com

Paid for by No on Prop E - Stop the Prohibition Proposition, A Coalition of Concerned Citizens Supporting Freedom of Choice, Adult Consumers, Community Leaders, and Neighborhood Small Businesses, Committee major funding from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Financial disclosures are available at sfethics.org.

<< Community News

14 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 24-30, 2018

San Mateo Pride

From page 1

Outpost will have a booth. Pride officials blamed the situation on a “misunderstanding.” To Dana Johnson and Regina Moreno, co-chairs of the San Mateo Initiative, which organizes the Pride festival, Outpost’s weekly meeting place at Steelhead Brewing Company, a restaurant and brewery in Burlingame that serves alcohol, was enough to disqualify the social group from having a booth. Since its inception in 2012, San Mateo Pride has been overseen by San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services. It promotes the Pride festival as being a “sober space” and does not allow organizations affiliated with or that promote alcohol or drugs to be involved in the festival. “I apologize, however, we are not going to be able to provide your organization with a booth due to your meeting location being in a bar, the bar affiliates with alcohol,” Johnson wrote in an email to Travis Woodmansee, a Peninsula psychotherapist and organizer of Outpost. To Woodmansee, the group’s meeting place at a restaurant that happens to serve beer – and yes, some members order alcohol at the group’s meet-ups – does not mean it promotes alcohol and should have been allowed a booth from the start. “Yes, some members choose to drink, but that doesn’t mean our group is associated with alcohol,” Woodmansee, a gay man, told the

B.A.R. in a recent interview. “No one is saying we want to drink alcohol at the [Pride] event. Everyone in our group complied with it being a sober event.” Outpost, which has more than 300 members, had a booth last year at the Pride festival under the name “RAC” and had no problems. The only thing that’s changed about the group since last year is its meeting location, which actually went from a bar to a restaurant that serves alcohol. When Woodmansee submitted Outpost’s booth application this year and received the rejection email from Johnson, he thought it was a mistake. He explained in an email to Johnson that the group was not involved with alcohol or drugs and ensured the acceptance and the comfort of its sober members. But after more email correspondence between Woodmansee and Johnson, it was a no-go; Outpost would not be allowed a booth. Woodmansee questioned the ambiguity by which the Pride co-chairs were choosing who was in and who was out. “It just doesn’t seem right,” he said. “Basically they are saying we can’t have a presence in this event because of that so-called association with alcohol. It seems like discrimination to me.” When the B.A.R. initially reached out to the San Mateo County Health System and asked why Outpost was rejected, its communication specialist, Preston Merchant, said in an email: “It’s Health System policy that events must be drug- and alcohol-free, so any group that wished to serve or promote alcohol or other drugs at the event would not be allowed to participate.”

Outpost, just like last year, did not intend on consuming or promoting alcohol at the Pride festival. Instead, it would promote its increasingly growing social group that gives queer people the chance to socialize and meet others from the community. After some digging on the part of Merchant, however, and reaching out to the co-chairs, Outpost was approved for a booth a few days later. The behavioral health division sent a statement to Woodmansee that stated, “On behalf of San Mateo County Health System, we have re-reviewed the application of Outpost’s participation at the June 16, 2018 Pride Celebration in San Mateo County and found their work is in line with our mission. We have approved Outpost’s participation and apologize for the misunderstanding and delay in approving their participation.” Johnson, an African-American nonbinary person, who, in an initial interview with the B.A.R. would not confirm if Outpost had been rejected, said they were “excited” to have Outpost as a part of the Pride festival now. “There was a misunderstanding and miscommunication,” Johnson said in a phone interview with the B.A.R., which included Merchant on the line. “After doing more research, we realized the organization does not promote alcohol, it just happened to be their location.” When asked if they thought Outpost would promote alcohol at the event, Johnson replied, “no,” and said its meeting location was at the root of the “miscommunication.” Woodmansee, who was initially

angry about Outpost’s rejection and even considered boycotting the event, said he was glad to hear the news. “We are happy,” he said. “This is important to us. Our mission is to build community and we felt like this was tearing the community apart. We are feeling relieved and happy that it will be a more inclusive celebration. That’s what we envisioned it to be originally.” Richard An, a gay man and the original founder of Outpost, retired from the position after having children, but recently helped organize Prism, a weekly gay bar night held at Qube Bar & Grill in San Mateo. An inquired about applying for a booth in early May and was also denied by Johnson via email. An did not pursue the denial to apply, he said, because the event was being promoted as a “gay bar night,” but said he would still like a booth. “San Mateo Pride is a great way to reach the LGBT-plus community here on the Peninsula because people are at Pride to have fun and discover more ways to engage,” An wrote in an email to the B.A.R. “Prism is the Peninsula’s new gay bar and dance floor and we would love to get the word out.” The San Mateo County Health System has yet to comment on the denial of Prism’s booth application.

resist the transphobia, biphobia, and homophobia that exists,” said co-chair Moreno, a Chicano lesbian. Last year’s festival welcomed between 700 and 800 people, a number the co-chairs would like to see increase. The free, family-friendly festival will kick off with a flag raising ceremony in the center of San Mateo Central Park, where it’s located. Organizers, volunteers, and representatives from San Mateo Parks and Recreation will raise a rainbow and American flag to commence the celebration. Entertainment includes Sistahs of the Drum, a West-African inspired rhythm, song, and dance group from Oakland; DJ Lady Char from Sacramento; and Aima the Dreamer, a freestyle rap vocalist. The celebration, Merchant said, is a health- and wellness-based event. The festival will include booths that promote healthy living and resources for addiction and mental health. Booths include, Edgewood Center for Children and Families, Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse, and initiatives overseen by the SMCHS including the Spirituality and Chinese Health Initiatives. Celebrating its one-year anniversary on June 1, the San Mateo Pride Center will also have a booth. t

Pride coming up

The theme of the sixth annual San Mateo Pride Celebration is “Celebrate. Resist. Unite.” There will be about 40 booths from communitybased organizations, 10 vendors, food trucks, live music, and more. “It’s a place to celebrate, but also to

The San Mateo Pride Celebration will take place Saturday, June 16, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at San Mateo Central Park, 50 East 5th Street. For more information, contact Johnson or Moreno at (650) 3125352 or email Johnson at theractivist@gmail.com.

Cynthia Laird

a recent editorial board meeting. “We definitely need to ensure that our affordable housing bond cycles every couple years. I think we have to tinker with the dollar amount.” While the nearly $1 billion bond worked for Santa Clara County, San Francisco may need a bond at a different dollar amount to meet its affordable housing needs, said Kim. “We also have to poll and see what homeowners are willing to pay if there is an increase to their property taxes for affordable housing and homelessness services,” she said. “So it may not be the billion dollar but it was modeled after the Santa Clara concept.” Gay former state lawmaker and supervisor Mark Leno has discussed the need to pass a regional bond measure to address the housing needs of the entire Bay Area. His idea is modeled after the $1.2 billion bond measure to build housing for the chronically homeless that voters in the city of Los Angeles passed in 2016. Leno wouldn’t commit to a bond amount, telling the B.A.R. that would need to be hammered out by Bay Area leaders. It would be dependent, he said, on the numbers of people who qualify for subsidized housing based on the average

median income of the region. “It would be irresponsible of me to say I know, myself unilaterally, what the amount of a regional bond should be today. It will take negotiations and a lot of hard work with our regional partners,” Leno said. “Before you throw out a bond number, you’ve got to back up. What is the regional housing need of those earning let’s say 55 percent of AMI and less? That is step one. What is the housing need regionally for those earning between 55 and 120 percent of AMI?” Then, said Leno, the bond backers would need to determine how much would it cost to build all of the necessary housing. “And once you have that figure, what is the revenue source going to be? So I threw out as a possibility a regional general obligation bond. Other counties have done this,” said Leno. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, and again, I would ask this crisis has been going on for how long and we haven’t even made the first determinations of what that need might be? So we aren’t there yet.” Board President London Breed, who briefly served as acting mayor following Lee’s sudden death December 12, is a main proponent for passing Prop D next month.

“We want to build low, moderate, and middle-income housing. Proposition D is a funding source to help pay for that,” noted Breed. “Instead of just doing a lot of middle income housing with on-site inclusionary, here is an incredible opportunity to have a family of four making $60,000-80,000-100,000 a year, real mixed-income all in one building. “That’s really what I want to see happen in San Francisco. I want to see more of that happen,” she added. She has noted that the city’s voters in recent years have overwhelmingly supported local housing funding measures. She and Lee sponsored a $310 million housing bond that was passed in 2015 and successfully pushed for an additional $261 million affordable housing bond the following year. As mayor, Breed said she would create a long-term strategic plan for how the city could build more housing affordable at all income levels and identify sites where new housing could be built. “I want to create the San Francisco I can afford to stay in,” said Breed. “That is the goal with trying a lot of new ideas and also looking at a long-term strategy around building more housing and getting more housing built faster.”t

Scheduled candidates include Angela Alioto at 3 p.m.; Jane Kim at 3:30; Mark Leno at 4; and London Breed at 4:30. There is no cost to attend. People can sign up at https:// www.eventbrite.com/e/veteransmayoral-candidate-forum-tickets-45953795038.

Memorial Day at the Presidio

The event, which is free with food to purchase, is open to the public. For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2wSWq4y.

SF mayor

From page 1

has yet to qualify and would tax any San Francisco-based company that earns more than $50 million a half a percent. State lawmakers are expected to put two housing bond measures on the fall ballot. One bond, for $4 billion, would go toward housing for lowincome earners and veterans, while a separate $2 billion bond would be allocated for homeless housing. San Francisco’s next mayor could pursue an additional housing bond measure to build in the city or on a regional basis. All three of the leading candidates in the special election on the June 5 primary ballot to serve out the remainder of the late mayor Ed Lee’s term have floated plans for a housing bond. District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim has said, as mayor, she would seek a $1 billion dollar housing bond just for the city and county of San Francisco. It’s modeled after a $950 million affordable housing bond passed Santa Clara County voters passed in 2016. (Kim is a main proponent of Proposition C on the June ballot, which would implement a 3.5 percent tax on commercial landlords generating about $146 million

News Briefs

From page 8

a chance to see it and the city of San Francisco at sundown. Returning to dock, people will be able to see the Bay Bridge lights. There will be a full no-host bar and a late afternoon buffet, as well as music and dancing. Leather or uniform attire is strongly encouraged. Early bird tickets are a $75 donation and available through July 30 or until they sell out. Regular tickets are a $90 donation. Drink tickets may be purchased in advance. All attendees receive a commemorative pin, sailor hat, and lei. Souvenir photos will be taken on the dock or on board and emailed after the cruise. The Golden Gate Guards was originally founded in 1976 as the Imperial Guards of San Francisco, and the club served as an

Mayoral candidates Mark Leno and Jane Kim have talked about a housing bond.

annually to fund child care and education subsidies for children up to 5 years old and increase wages for early educators and other child care workers. If it gets more votes than Prop D, it would go into effect.) “We do have to study it, and I pulled back on it this year because of the coalition’s moving forward with a $300 million revenue measure, but I’d like to study it,” Kim told the Bay Area Reporter during

unofficial liaison between the Imperial Court and the Leather-Levi’s community. In late 1986, with the Imperial Court’s blessing, the guards group became an independent organization. For more information, visit http:// ggguards.org/events/cruise.htm.

Veterans mayoral forum

Ahead of Memorial Day, the San Francisco Veterans Commission will hold a veterans mayoral candidate forum Saturday, May 26, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the War Memorial Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue. Organizers noted that there are over 27,000 veterans in the city, more than 70 percent of whom are over the age of 55. The four major candidates will speak individually. They will be asked to present their veterans-focused platform and then have a moderated question and answer session before giving closing comments.

Gay author to talk at Dignity event

Gay author Felice Picano will talk about gay Hollywood in the golden age Sunday, May 27, at 6:30 p.m. at Dignity San Francisco’s meeting at Seventh Avenue Presbyterian Church, 1329 Seventh Avenue. Picano met many Hollywood actors and writers in the 1970s and 1980s, and this talk is based on what they told him first or second hand. His most recent book is “Nights at Rizzoli.” There is no cost to attend.

The Presidio Trust, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the city of San Francisco have announced the city’s official 150th Memorial Day Commemoration, which will be held Monday, May 28, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the National Cemetery at the Presidio, 1 Lincoln Boulevard. A grand march with veterans is scheduled for 10:30, followed by the formal ceremony at 11. There will be a picnic at the conclusion of the ceremony, as well as cemetery tours led by National Park Service interpretive rangers Fredrik Penn and James Osborne. The ceremony will provide the public with an opportunity to understand and share the burden of military service, according to a news release. Selected speakers will recount personal military experiences that have impacted individuals, families, and communities.

Poll workers needed in Alameda County

The Alameda County Registrar of Voters has announced that poll workers are needed for the June 5 primary election. Bilingual poll workers are especially needed. People who speak English and at least one of the following languages are encouraged to apply: Chinese, Punjabi, Khmer, Vietnamese, Korean, Spanish, and Tagalog. Poll workers will be paid up to $195. For questions and information, contact the registrar’s office at rov_pollworker@acgov.org or (510) 272-6971. To apply, visit https:// www.acvote.org/community/ become-a-poll-worker. t

t <<

Community News>>

Police commission

From page 2

New applicants

The mayor and Board of Supervisors each make appointments to the commission. Currently, there are 12 people who have applied for vacancies the supervisors appoint. LGBT politicians, leaders, and community members are hoping to see someone from the LGBT community approved, as only one remains, lesbian Commissioner Petra DeJesus. According to information on their applications, four people have indicated they identify as LGBT: DeAnthony Daymone Jones and Sneh Rao, both gay men; Marilyn Murrillo a transgender woman; and Linda Franklin, a lesbian. Rao has worked at the city’s Human Rights Commission as director of policy since 2013. He has also served as director of Latin-American programs at Global Exchange, an international human rights organization in San Francisco. Rao, 34, said although the Police Commission has done good work, it needs improvement, including relations between San Francisco police officers and the LGBT community. “Over one-third of LGBTQIA people don’t trust the police,” he told the B.A.R. in a recent interview. “That’s not because of the police officers today, but because of the historical relationship communities have had, not just in our city, but in cities all across the world.” “Building bridges within

South Bay

From page 10

The report

Campos presented the report, “Comprehensive Report on Special Hearings on Immigration, Women’s Issues, and Hate Crimes and Climate,” and an accompanying working plan with recommendations for implementation. “We are going to continue to do everything we can to resist against the hatred and divisiveness that comes out of [President Donald Trump’s administration],” Campos said. The County of Santa Clara isn’t “afraid to stand up to the Trump administration,” he added. Campos noted the county filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration within the last few months. “This is not just about fighting Trump but creating a proactive agenda that goes beyond Trump and tries to ensure the success of every member and every one of our residents,” he said. “We are proud to be part of a county that understands that we are stronger when we are together.” Campos was joined by the directors of the Office of Cultural Competency, Office of Immigrant Relations, Office of LGBTQ Affairs, and Office of Women’s Policy as they each presented their recommendations based on the findings of the report. Researchers and government officials identified several areas to focus on: outreach and community training, strategic partnership and collaboration, system improvement and internal capacity-building, new

May 24-30, 2018 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 15

communities so victims of violence feel safe going to the police is a role commissioners can play and can play well,” Rao said. He also spoke about bias and accountability within the SFPD and said the police could be doing a better and more comprehensive job of implementing the DOJ reforms. “We need to look at bias and accountability in the context of the broader culture of policies and practices of the department,” he said. “I don’t think it’s just about one training or one policy update. We need to take stock of what’s happening across the board and why.” Jones, an African-American man, works as a teen program lead for Collective Impact, a nonprofit that administers community-based initiatives, mentoring young adults in the Western Addition and throughout the city. In his application, he said, as commissioner he hopes to improve relations among police and people of color, the LGBT community, and particularly, with youth through “intentional” programs, initiatives, and community partnerships. “I hope to not only work with the youth in these programs, but to expand them as well so that relations between youth from marginalized communities and police officers can improve and become rooted in empathy as opposed to apathy,” his application stated. Murrillo, 49, emphasized the need for representation on the commission from people like her, stating in her application, “There is an unmet need for representation on

the Police Commission for a lowincome, college-educated, formerly homeless [San Francisco] resident, 49-year-old Latina transgender women to help reflect and advance the concerns and needs of people of color, homeless individuals, the Latino community, and low-income neighborhoods.” Franklin is a retired California Highway Patrol captain. In her application, she emphasized her commitment to “equal treatment for all” through her previous accomplishments including as a diversity training facilitator for the CHP, and as a former Equal Employment Opportunity counselor and investigator. Sheehy weighed in on the importance of having LGBT representation on one of the most powerful commissions in San Francisco, especially after losing lesbian Commissioner Leslie Katz from the Port Commission. She was replaced by Gail Gilman, after Katz’s term expired earlier this month. (Sheehy voted for Gilman.) “A lot of policy decisions happen there,” Sheehy said. “The Police Commission is one that has a great deal of influence over the discipline of police officers, major policy issues like use-of-force and types of tools that officers can use, and it’s important for us to have a strong voice at the table.” Sheehy said the commission’s relationship with the LGBT community is good, but could be better. He gave examples of reported harassment of trans sex workers by police and the treatment of trans people in prisons. t

specialized programs, civic engagement and leadership data and research, spectrum of exploitation and abuse, and overarching infrastructure. The report was published May 8. Some of the work has already begun. In February, the Office of LGBTQ Affairs launched a 10-city listening tour, the Bay Area Reporter reported. Meetings hosted in partnership with city government leaders and organizations have been held in Mountain View and Palo Alto this year. Officer James Gonzales, a gay man who is the LGBT liaison for the San Jose Police Department, testified at the hearing that the department has launched an LGBT advisory board under the guidance of Police Chief Edgardo “Eddie” Garcia. He added that his office is also working with the Office of LGBTQ Affairs. However, much of the testimony about hate crimes from community members was focused on the Muslim and immigrant communities. Reported attacks on LGBT community members weren’t mentioned. That doesn’t mean that attacks against LGBT individuals in the South Bay don’t happen. Gonzales told the board that hate crimes against LGBT people in the city are underreported. The community advisory board on LGBTQ issues, made up of department employees and community members, is working to address hate crimes, traditional law enforcement responses, and community-based responses to crimes. Gonzales said that he is looking at Seattle’s police department, which has developed a comprehensive program

between the police and the LGBT community, as a model for San Jose. “Seattle has done a lot of work in this area, and we are studying that model,” he said, noting that it was clear that a comprehensive approach is working. “Where the community is part of that response, where business, the county government, even the federal level ... everyone is working together.” Maribel Martinez, director of the county’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, added that the issues within the LGBT community “existed before the presidential election of 2016.” “However, what has changed since then is the urgency to which we have to respond,” Martinez told the supervisors. “What has also changed is the frequency of and intensity of the explicit overtness of the hatred being propagated in our communities as bullies have become increasingly emboldened.” She pointed out that addressing issues within the LGBT community has long been underserved and that in many settings talking about sexual orientation and gender identity are “still taboo.” She noted that the scarcity of resources in addition to rising fear compounded the issues. You “can begin to understand the challenges and barriers faced by this community,” she said, appealing for support for the recommendations in the report. t To read the full report, visit http://sccgov.iqm2.com/Citizens/ Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=10329.

Legal Notices>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-18-553863

In the matter of the application of: CRISTIAN GERARDO CALVA GALINDO, 2102 BUSH ST #4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner CRISTIAN GERARDO CALVA GALINDO, is requesting that the name CRISTIAN GERARDO CALVA GALINDO, be changed to JERRY RAYMOND KLEIN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 21st of June 2018 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAY 03, 10, 17, 24, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038092300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NICE AND BETTER, 3170 21ST ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed HERALD DANILO BERMUDEZ AGUILERA. 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 04/11/18.

MAY 03, 10, 17, 24, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038116400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BARKEEP, 230 CASELLI AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed TIMOTHY A. EICHER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 03/09/10. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/30/18.

MAY 03, 10, 17, 24, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038114800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LES PETITES FLEURS, 599 3RD ST #302, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed GRACE HUBERTS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 04/27/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/27/18.

MAY 03, 10, 17, 24, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038115900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: A.B.C. SPA, 441 STOCKTON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LISA LEE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 04/30/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/30/18.

MAY 03, 10, 17, 24, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038109100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GALA, 91 CHARTER OAK AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JORGE SOTOMAYOR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 04/24/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/24/18.

MAY 03, 10, 17, 24, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038105000

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Notice is hereby given to the creditors and contingent creditors of Johann H. Haller, AKA, Hans H. Haller, deceased, that all persons having claims against the decedent are required to submit them complete with evidence of support, to Jeffrey B. Leith, Executor of the estate, at 46 Grand View Terrace, San Francisco, CA, 94114, within 120 days after the date this notice has been first published. For your protection, you are encouraged to file your claim by certified mail, with return receipt requested.

MAY 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018 NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Notice is hereby given to the creditors and contingent creditors of Frieda Berger, deceased, that all persons having claims against the decedent are required to submit them complete with evidence of support, to Jeffrey B. Leith, Executor of the estate, at 46 Grand View Terrace, San Francisco, CA, 94114, within 120 days after the date this notice has been first published. For your protection, you are encouraged to file your claim by certified mail, with return receipt requested.

MAY 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038133000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Y-LEARNING & CONSULTING, 1905 14TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DEWEY YEE. 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 05/07/18.

MAY 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038128500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SPARKJOYSF, 2912 DIAMOND ST #359, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHARLES STEVEN PELTZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 05/03/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/03/18.

MAY 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038113600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: OLIVE THIS OLIVE THAT, 304 VICKSBURG ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JANELL PEKKAIN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 04/19/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/26/18.

MAY 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038121900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ULTIMATE SPORTS MEDICINE, 3727 BUCHANAN ST #203, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ROY ALLEN WOOD. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 03/23/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/03/18.

MAY 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038117700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SUE TRUPIN RN PATIENT ADVOCATE, 389 DAY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SUE TRUPIN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 04/18/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/20/18.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SF GATHERING PLACE, 3 STARK ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed YULIA A. ISKANDAR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 05/01/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/01/18.

MAY 03, 10, 17, 24, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038110400

MAY 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038114700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PLATFORM 248, 248 9TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed LGNC INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/24/18.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WIC MARKET, 4992 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed GUIMEI WU & LIFENG WU. 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 04/27/18.

MAY 03, 10, 17, 24, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038112800

MAY 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038120900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AAA ENERGY SOLAR, 816 PERU AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed GREEN-TECH DEVELOPERS DBA AAA ENERGY SOLAR (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 04/25/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/25/18.

MAY 03, 10, 17, 24, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038116500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: URBAN MICE, 790 EDDY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed GO WEST TOURS (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/02/18.

MAY 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038129600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BEAUX, 2344 MARKET ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed DEVIATE SF, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 03/08/13. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/30/18.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ORCHIDHOLIC, 686 BRANNAN ST #A, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed EPLANTWORLD, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 03/22/13. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/04/18.

MAY 03, 10, 17, 24, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038114500

MAY 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038104100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ELMIRA ROSTICCERIA, 154 MCALLISTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed JPMD, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 09/06/16. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/27/18.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FRJTZ MISSION, 3412 17TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed FRJTZ LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 02/18/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/19/18.

MAY 03, 10, 17, 24, 2018 LEGAL NOTICE REQUEST TO SET ASIDE JUDGMENT AND SANCTIONS PURSUANT TO CCP 128.5 AND FAM CODE 271 CASE NUMBER: FDI-14-782013

MAY 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038114200

TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner: Stacy L. Kawula filed a petition with this court on January 11, 2018 for a Request to Set Aside Judgment and Sanctions Pursuant to CCP 128.5 and Fam Code 271. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter shall appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the Request to Set Aside Judgment should not be granted. Any person objecting to the Request described above must file a written objection nine (9) court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the Request should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the Request without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING Date: May 31, 2018 at Time: 9:00 a.m. in Department: 404 The address of the court is Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, 400 McAllister Street, San Francisco, CA 94102. A copy of this Request to Set Aside Judgment and Sanctions Pursuant to CCP 128.5 and Fam Code 271 shall be published at least once each week for four (4) successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the Request in the following newspaper of general circulation, printed in this county: the Recorder. Date: April 11, 2018 /s/ Roger C. Chan, Judge of the Superior Court. This Order was filed with the San Francisco Superior Court on April 11, 2018.

MAY 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: USHITARO, 1382 9TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed HKS OHANA LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/26/18.

MAY 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038120800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SAIGONSUN AUTO SALES, LLC, 77 CHARTER OAK AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SAIGONSUN AUTO SALES, LLC. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 03/08/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/02/18.

MAY 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038117900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TIPP RAMBLER, 1928 JACKSON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed WICK VINTNERS LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/01/18.

MAY 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018

<< Classifieds

16 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 24-30, 2018

Legal Notices>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038117600

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038134600

MAY 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038133200

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038139200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TRIPLE BK LANDSCAPE GARDENING, 3845 MARKET ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed TRIPLE BK LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 04/22/14. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/01/18.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MARINA GREENS, 1881-1885 LOMBARD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed WAVI, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/07/18.

MAY 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018 SUMMONS SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF MARIN NOTICE TO DEFENDANT: JANINE MIDORI FUJIOKA; ALL PERSONS UNKNOWN, CLAIMING ANY LEGAL OR EQUITABLE RIGHT, TITLE, ESTATE, LIEN, OR INTEREST IN THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED IN THE COMPLAINT ADVERSE TO PLAINTIFF’S TITLE, OR ANY CLOUD UPON PLAINTIFF’S TITLE THERETO NAMED AS DOES 1 THROUGH 10, EXCLUSIVE, YOU ARE BEING SUED BY PLAINTIFF: BRECKENRIDGE PROPERTY FUND 2016, LLC CASE NO. CIV 1801182

Notice! You have been sued. The court may decide against you without your being heard unless you respond within 30 days. Read the information below. You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this summons and legal papers are served on you to file a written response at this court and have a copy served on the plaintiff. A letter or phone call will not protect you. Your written response must be in proper legal form if you want the court to hear your case. There may be a court form that you can use for your response. You can find these court forms and more information at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/ selfhelp), your county law library, or the courthouse nearest you. If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the court for a fee waiver form. If you do not file your Response on time, you may lose the case by default, and your wages, money, and property may be taken without further warning from the court. There are other legal requirements. You may want to call an attorney right away. If you do not know an attorney, you may want to call an attorney referral service. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may be eligible for free legal services from a nonprofit legal services program. You can locate these nonprofit groups at the California Legal Services Web site (www.lawhelpcalifornia.org), the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo. ca.gov/selfhelp), or by contacting your local court or county bar association. NOTE: The court has a statutory lien for waived fees and costs on any settlement or arbitration award of $10,000 or more in a civil case. The court’s lien must be paid before the court will dismiss the case. The name and address of the court is: MARIN COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT, 3501 Civic Center Dr., San Rafael, CA 94903. The name, address, and telephone number of plaintiff’s attorney, or the plaintiff without an attorney, is: Elaine Yang, Esq. 2015 Manhattan Beach Blvd., #100, Redondo Beach, CA 90278, (310) 640-3070 Date: April 09, 2018. Clerk of the Superior Court, by James M. Kim, T. Jones, Deputy.

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038104600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: K-9 KARMA, 209 PERSIA AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CURTIS CHOW. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 04/19/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/19/18.

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038142100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: APPLY PRESSURE, 760 WEBSTER ST #D, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LARRY GEORGE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 05/10/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/11/18.

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038128900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GOTOTALKING.COM, 2719 VICENTE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed HUI HE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 05/03/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/04/18.

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: OFFBEAT PRODUCTS, 3041 MISSION ST #2076, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KENNETH LUI. 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 05/08/18.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BENTO BOX COMMUNICATIONS, 2130 MARKET ST #11, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JUSTIN KNEPPER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 05/10/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/10/18.

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038138800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PALACE OF FINE ARTS GALLERY, 245 JEFFERSON ST, SF CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RICHARD SOFFER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 05/10/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/10/18.

RAMBO WITH A VACUUM Housecleaning Richard 415-255-0389

CLEANING PROFESSIONAL

27 Years Exp. (415) 794-4411 Roger Miller

Hauling>> HAULING 24/7 – (415) 441-1054 Large Truck

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AGORA LENDING, 222 KEARNY ST #650, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed ETHOS LENDING LLC (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/23/18. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/23/18.

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038136700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GOLDEN STAR TATTOO COMPANY, 850 CLAY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed GOLDEN STAR TATTOO COMPANY LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/09/18. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/09/18.

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038105500

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038128700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: VENUS CAFE, 700 CLEMENT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed M&W NOODLE SHOP LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/20/18. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/20/18.

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038138100

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: NATALIA’S BUSINESS, 2 GENEVA AVE #11, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by JAIRO ALONSO GIL. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/06/17.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ESSENTIAL ORGANIZING SOLUTIONS, 766 22ND AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JINA JUE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 05/04/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/04/18.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE KELLY LAW FIRM, 345 FRANKLIN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed NICOLE C. KELLY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 05/08/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/09/18.

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038129500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BLOCKBUSTERS, 270 DIVISADERO ST #24, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed PATRICE WILLIAMS JR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 05/04/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/04/18.

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038137100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PEOPLES BARBER, 133 TOWNSEND, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed PEOPLES TOWNSEND, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/09/18.

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038138200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NEILSON & MACRITCHIE INVESTIGATORS, 1161 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SPECIALIZED INVESTIGATIONS, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/09/18.

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038133500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GRUBMARKET WHOLESALE, 1925 JERROLD AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed GRUBMARKET INC (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 05/01/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/07/18.

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038139300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EXCALIBUR FINE MEN’S SALON; SPARGO, A PLACE FOR MEN, ONE EMBARCADERO CENTER, LOBBY LEVEL, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed JB DESTINY PARTNERS LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 05/10/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/10/18.

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018

Classifieds Cleaning Services>>

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038106200

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-037627600

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-038044900

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: NEILSON & MACRITCHIE INVESTIGATORS, 1161 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by DONALD T. MACRITCHIE. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/15/18.

MAY 17, 24, 31, JUNE 07, 2018 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-18-553793

In the matter of the application of: CARMEN OCHOA, c/o Ghervy Jhon Tesoro (SB: 298501), Tesoro Law, 1630 TARAVAL ST #B, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116, for change of name having been ﬁled in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner CARMEN OCHOA, is requesting that the name CARMEN OCHOA, be changed to MARIA MAGDALENA DIAZ GUZMAN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 26th of June 2018 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAY 24, 31, JUNE 07, 14, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038111500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TASTEBUDS, 600 FIFTH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CATHERINE TROOSH. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 04/24/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/25/18.

MAY 24, 31, JUNE 07, 14, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038152400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BRANCH & SQUIRE, 3301 CLAY ST #204, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ANUAR RAMIREZ-MEDINA. 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 05/18/18.

MAY 24, 31, JUNE 07, 14, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038140200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SABAI SABAI THAI MASSAGE, 326 LA GRANDE AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed PRIYALON BORANRAT STRASSER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/10/18. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/10/18.

MAY 24, 31, JUNE 07, 14, 2018

Movers>>

You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this Summons and Petition are served on you to file a Response (form FL-120 or FL-123) at the court and have a copy served on the petitioner. A letter or phone call will not protect you. If you do not file your Response on time, the court may make orders affecting your marriage or domestic partnerships, your property, and custody of your children. You may be ordered to pay support and attorney fees and costs. For legal advice, contact a lawyer immediately. Get help finding a lawyer at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courts.ca.gov/selfhelp), at the California Legal Services website (www.lawhelpca.org) , or by contacting your local county bar association. NOTICE – RESTRAINING ORDERS ARE ON PAGE 2: These restraining orders are effective against both spouses or domestic partners until the petition is dismissed, or domestic partners until the petition is dismissed, a judgment is entered, or the court makes further orders. They are enforceable anywhere in California by any law enforcement officer who has received or seen a copy of them. FEE WAIVER: If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the clerk for a fee waiver form. The court may order you to pay back all or part of the fees and costs that the court waived for you or the other party. The name and address of the court are SUPERIOR COURT SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY 400 MCALLISTER STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102; The name, address, and telephone number of petitioner’s attorney, or the petitioner without an attorney, are: AMANDA EUAN, PRO PER, 252 BOCANA STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110, 415-933-1982 NOV 15, 2017 Clerk by Jocelyn Wong, Deputy. STANDARD FAMILY LAW RESTRAINING ORDERS: Starting immediately, you and your spouse or domestic partner are restrained from: 1. Removing the minor child or children of the parties, if any, from the state without the prior written consent of the other party or an order of the court; 2. Cashing borrowing against, canceling, transferring, disposing of, or changing the beneficiaries of any insurance or other coverage, including life, health, automobile, and disability, held for the benefit of the parties and their minor child or children; 3. Transferring, encumbering, hypothecating, concealing, or in any way disposing of any property, real or personal, whether community, quasicommunity, or separate, without the written consent of the other party or an order of the court, except in the usual course of business or for the necessities of life; and 4. Creating a nonprobate transfer or modifying a nonprobate transfer in the manner that affects the disposition of property subject to the transfer, without the written consent of the other party or an order of the court. Before revocation of a nonprobate transfer can take effect or a right of survivorship to property can be eliminated, notice of the change must be filed and served on the other party. You must notify each other of any proposed extraordinary expenditures at least five business days prior to incurring these extraordinary expenditures and account to the court for all extraordinary expenditures made after these restraining orders are effective. However, you may use community property, quasi-community property, or your own separate property to pay an attorney to help you or to pay court costs. NOTICE – ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE HEALTH INSURANCE: Do you or someone in your household need affordable health insurance? If so, you should apply for Covered California. Covered California can help reduce the cost you pay towards high quality affordable health care. For more information, visit www.coveredca.com. Or call Covered California at 1-800-300-1506 WARNING – IMPORTANT INFORMATION: California law provides that, for the purposes of division of property upon dissolution of a marriage or domestic partnership or upon legal separation, property acquired by the parties during marriage or domestic partnership in joint form is presumed to be community property. If either party to this action should die before the jointly held community property is divided, the language in the deed that characterizes how title is held (i.e., joint tenancy, tenants in common, or community property) will be controlling, and not the community property presumption. You should consult your attorney if you want the community property presumption to be written into the recorded title to the property.

MAY 24, 31, JUNE 07, 14, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038146200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FINANCIALSOLUTIONS.IO; FINANCIALSOLUTIONS, 404 BRYANT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JOHN H. FULLEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 05/14/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/16/18.

MAY 24, 31, JUNE 07, 14, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038151100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BLUMEN, 548 CASTRO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed BRUCE ALLEN SCARROW. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 05/09/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/18/18.

MAY 24, 31, JUNE 07, 14, 2018

Tech Support>>

Tech Support

Ralph Doore 415-867-4657

Jobs Offered>> SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER –

Architect, design, & develop robust software. Req. M.S. in Comp. Science or rel ﬁeld & 1 yr exp in job or 1 yr exp as Software Dev. or in rel occup. Any suitable combo of educ, training &/or exp is acceptable. Jobsite: Redwood City, CA. Send resume: E. Garcia Reynoso, Innit, Inc., 600 Allerton St, Ste. 101, Redwood City, CA 94063.

SUMMONS (FAMILY LAW) SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO NOTICE TO RESPONDENT: FRANCIS “FRANK” XAVIER DONNER, YOU HAVE BEEN SUED. PETITIONER’S NAME IS AMANDA EUAN CASE NO. FDI-17-788762

35 PUC # 176618

Professional 30+ years exp Virus/Malware GONE! Device setup Mobile Support Network & wireless setup Discreet

 Yelp reviews

MACINTOSH HELP •Home OR OFFICE •27 YEARS EXPERIENCE

SFMACMAN.com RICK

415.821.1792

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038145600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NAILS FOR ME, 17 DRUMM ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LONG CAM TIEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 05/15/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/15/18.

MAY 24, 31, JUNE 07, 14, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038119300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ROBBINS FAMILY LAW, 44 MONTGOMERY ST #3750, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KELLY J. ROBBINS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 10/06/05. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/01/18.

MAY 24, 31, JUNE 07, 14, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038153300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TIERRA BIOSCIENCES, 953 INDIANA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SYNVITROBIO, INC (DE). 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 05/21/18.

MAY 24, 31, JUNE 07, 14, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038154200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CHANVI, 1063 MARKET ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed BHUWAN FOOD INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 05/21/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/21/18.

MAY 24, 31, JUNE 07, 14, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038138600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PORTOLA SMILES DENTAL OFFICE OF DR. ARIELLE LIBERMAN, 2497 SAN BRUNO AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed ARIELLE LIBERMAN DMD, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/10/18.

MAY 24, 31, JUNE 07, 14, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038147500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: POLYCHROME INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION, 2732 36TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed POLYCHROME INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 03/25/08. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/16/18.

MAY 24, 31, JUNE 07, 14, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038147600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JESSICA SCLAMBERG, LLC, 3322 BUCHANAN ST #310, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed JESSICA SCLAMBERG LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 12/04/17. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/16/18.

MAY 24, 31, JUNE 07, 14, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038135700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SPIRITS; PROOF COCKTAIL CO; GREAT WESTERN SPIRITS; OLD KENTUCKY ROOH, 849 AVE D, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94130. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed TREEHOUSE CRAFT DISTILLERY, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/08/18.

MAY 24, 31, JUNE 07, 14, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038137200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BLACK PEPPER, 1555 YOSEMITE AVE #8, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed BLACK PEPPER NATION LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 04/17/18. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/09/18.

MAY 24, 31, JUNE 07, 14, 2018 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-038087800

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: RAAVI EATERY, 1063 MARKET ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business was conducted by a corporation and signed by BHUWAN FOOD INC (CA). The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/01/18.

MAY 24, 31, JUNE 07, 14, 2018

Annoucements>> Abhe & Svoboda, Inc., will be submitting a bid as a Prime Contractor for the following project which bids on June 6th, 2018: Third Street Bridge Rehabilitation Project San Francisco, California - Contract No. 1000007012 We are seeking subcontractor and supplier quotes from all qualified vendors on the above referenced project. Quotes due by May 29th, 2018. Abhe & Svoboda, Inc., will consider any special bonding, credit, and insurance needs for DBE’s For information on the above job and any assistance you may need please contact: Abhe & Svoboda, Inc., Attn: Donnell Hauck 18100 Dairy Lane, Jordan, MN 55352 Phone (952) 447-6025 Fax (952) 447-1000 Email: donnell.hauck@abheonline.com Abhe & Svoboda, Inc. is an EEO Employer

Great Magritte

Pigs kin

Summer screen

Silent scream

Vol. 48 • No. 21 • May 24-30, 2018

www.ebar.com/arts

by Philip Campbell

recent press conference led by San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock previewed the soon-to-launch revival of the Companycommissioned 2011 production (with Washington National Opera) of director Francesca Zambello’s so-called “American Ring.” See page 24

Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

The ‘Ring’ cycle approaches

Scene from “Das Rheingold,” the first opera in Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelung” cycle.

Courtesy SFIAF

International performance art arrives by Sari Staver

he San Francisco International Arts Festival (SFIAF) will present more than 40 different dance, cirque, musical, comedy, theatre, and performance art pieces, including several LGBT-themed performances as well as a panel on queer theatre, in its upcoming festival at Fort Mason Center, May 24-June 3. This year’s theme is “Down by the Riverside,” celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “and a call to remember the power and importance of his mission and message 50 years after his death, including focusing on the subjects of white privilege and market capitalism,” according to the SFIAF program. “The 2018 festival has something for every left-leaning, Trump-averse, anti-fascist, arts-loving denizen of the Bay Area.” See page 24 >>

Steamroller Dance Company will present the world premiere of “Loserville.”

{ SECOND OF THREE SECTIONS }

“A revelation” —San Jose Mercury News

A Gay Fantasia on National Themes

LE A D S P O N S O R S

PA R T O N E : M I L L E N N I U M A P P R O A C H E S PA R T T W O : P E R E S T R O I K A BY

Tony Kushner Tony Taccone

SEASON SPONSORS

D I R EC T ED BY

NOW PLAYING

Call 510 647-2949 Click berkeleyrep.org

Francesca Faridany and Carmen Roman P H OTO BY K E V I N B ER N E

<< Out There

18 • Bay Area Reporter • May 24-30, 2018

We’re just a column who can’t say no by Roberto Friedman

we enjoyed running with the dogs, Out There is 100x sk anyone who has ever more a cat person. tried improvisational theThe next morning we said atre: a cardinal rule is always “yes” to a media breakfast at to say “yes” to whatever your Illy Caffé in the Financial improv partner has come up District. Illy, founded in with during a scene. Maybe 1933 in Trieste, Italy, is still the idea will pay off, maybe it family-owned. Our event won’t. But blocking it, saying was an Arabica coffee tast“no,” will certainly not get you ing with professors from anywhere. “Yes” keeps the ball the Universita del Caffe. in play. They were eager to share So on our “days off ” last the goods, and show us their week, Wednesday & Thursday new Y5 DRS Iper Espresso (we work Friday through Tuesmachine and capsule system. day, don’t ask), we tried this Master barista Giorgio approach to repeated requests Milos led the program. for our limited time and atOT is a veteran of many tention. For two days straight, wine tastings, but this was we said “yes” to every press our first coffee tasting. We conference and publicity opsampled four Arabicas from portunity that came our way. different parts of the world. Charly Herscovici/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York On our first morning The first, from Brazil, was off, we attended the “René René Magritte, “Son of Man” (1964), boldest in taste, with caraMagritte: The Fifth Season” oil on canvas, private collection. mel overtones. Brew from press preview at the San Franthe Guatemalan beans hit cisco Museum of Modern Art notes of dark chocolate and Then we said “yes” when Pepi (which Sura Wood reviews in honey. Arabica from Coproposed we go see director Wes this issue). The paintings of the artlombia had fruity overtones, and the Anderson’s new film “Isle of Dogs” ist’s transformational latter period, batch from Ethiopia hinted of floral at the Shattuck Theater in Berkeley. 1943-67, invite you in. Is “Son of notes like lavender and jasmine. Iffy The beleaguered canines in this Man” the most beguiling self-porroasts a premium blend of these stop-motion animation are voiced trait of all time? We placed ourselves four origins, using the top 1% of by actors of the caliber of Jeff into the immersive spaces of “The Arabica beans globally, for a most Goldblum, Bill Murray, Edward Dominion of Light” series. This exsatisfying cup of Joe. Norton and Bryan Cranston. hibition is beautifully installed. We also got to see the new Illy Scarlett Johansson voices show Then we said “yes” to a dental Art Collection cups, with graphic dog Nutmeg. There’s even a cameo appointment. Told to, we rinsed illustrations by Italian artist Max from Yoko Ono. But even though and spat. Petrone that feature coffee anima-

tions with a graffiti touch typical of underground comics. Did you know that coffee is the second-most consumed beverage, after water? Did you know it’s the second-most commodity traded, after oil? We did not know that. Then we said “yes” to a presser at the War Memorial Opera House looking ahead to the San Francisco Opera’s “Ring” cycle coming this summer (which Philip Campbell previews in this issue). There’s a lot to anticipate in this journey down

the Rhine, which General Director Matthew Shilvock called “one of the great feats of humanity.” Bass Greer Grimsley, who will portray Wotan, King of the Gods, acknowledged, “It’s a singing athletic event – it’s all about stamina.” OT also had stamina last week. Yup, that sure was a lot of yesses. But don’t worry, OT can’t go on being agreeable all the time. In fact, our job requires us to say “no” a good deal. At first that was tough for us to do. But then it got better!t

Courtesy Illy Caffe

Contemporary artist Max Petrone at Salone Milan.

Glenda Jackson’s contrary genius by Brian Bromberger

ast year, British actress Glenda Jackson was given an Evening Standard Theatre award for her performance as King Lear. As the audience rose to their feet to congratulate her when she got to the podium, her first words were, “We don’t do standing ovations in England!” She continued, “As a working professional actress, I never got a good notice in the Evening Standard paper, and when I ran as an MP for Parliament, I was the wrong political party, and as the paper is run by a conservative, I’m left to wonder what I did wrong, so thank you!” This contrary speech encapsulates Jackson as both a person and an actress. At 82, she has returned to Broadway this spring in Edward Albee’s “Three Tall Women,” and is the frontrunner to receive the Tony award for Best Actress in a Play (she’s been nominated four times previously). She has received critical raves for her rendition of Albee’s ferocious adopted mother. From 1992 to her retirement in 2015, she represented the liberal Labor Party in Parliament, then returned to the stage at the Old Vic to take on probably the most difficult theatrical role in the canon. Jackson has never taken the easy way out, which has made her both fearless and intimidating as an actress and personality. England knows her as much for her stage work, but in America we know her primarily for her films, especially in the 1970s during her Hollywood heyday. Born in 1936 to working-class parents, she started her ascent as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1964 under the tutelage of the legendary iconoclastic English stage director Peter Brook. She rose to prominence as the murderess Charlotte Corday in Peter Weiss’ “Marat/Sade” play in 1965, a role she repeated on Broadway, then later in the 1967 film. But it was her quasi-emancipated sculptress Gudrun in Ken Russell’s “Women in Love,” based on

the D.H. Lawrence novel, Virginia Woolf?” (1989) that was her breakthrough, directed by its playwright winning her an Oscar as Edward Albee. They wound Best Actress in 1970, setting up hating each other. her movie persona as intelDisgusted by Thatcherligent, independent, opinite politics (Britain’s verionated and imperious, yet sion of conservative Ronexhibiting a sensual earthiald Reagan), she lost a 1990 ness. More than any actress bid for Parliament but won of her time she was willing in 1992, retiring from to do nude scenes, unusual acting. She served for 23 even in the early 1970s. years, and initially was seen Russell was probably her as possible Prime Minister favorite screen director, as material, but was waylaid later in 1970 she appeared by the rise of Tony Blair. in his film about Russian She was contentious and composer Peter Tchailacked diplomacy, though kovsky “The Music Lovers,” very loyal and hardworkplaying his mentally uning for her constituents. stable nymphomaniac wife Her biggest moment came Antonina Miliukova, even when Margaret Thatcher though he (played by the died in 2013, and rather gay Richard Chamberlain) than bury the hatchet in was homosexual. Critics praise like the rest of Parliament, Jackson cut her hated it, though it has since become a cult favorite. to pieces to the disdain 1971 would be her glory of other members. Her year, when she gave probspeech, well worth watchably the two greatest film ing on YouTube, was in performances of her career. retrospect an audition for First she played Queen her return to acting a little Courtesy the subject over two years later, and Elizabeth I in the BBC-TV Glenda Jackson, in her Tony-nominated role in Edward Albee’s is one of her best perforproduction “Elizabeth R,” “Three Tall Women” on Broadway. mances, featuring all her phenomenally successcontradictory sparkling inful in England and, when tensity and rough candor. imported to America, portraying another British divorIn the late 70s she continued to In her old age, she seems to take virtually launched PBS’ new series cee, this time having an affair with indulge her comic flair, playing a pride in her at times abrasive feisti“Masterpiece Theatre.” She won two a married American man (George conniving nun in the Watergate ness, driving some interviewers to Emmys for her performance. SecSegal), and to their mutual horsatire “Nasty Habits” (1977), and tears, lampooning the absurdity ond, she played divorcee Alex Greror finding they are falling in love finding a leading man who could of their questions. There was no ville, caught in a romantic triangle with each other. The picture was keep up with her prickly intelligence one like her in the 1970s, and in as the lover of a younger bisexual nominated for six Academy Awards, in Walter Matthau, playing his love her long absence no one has risen man (Murray Head) also romancand won Jackson her second Oscar interest in “House Calls” (1978) and to take her place. She is part of the ing an older doctor (Peter Finch) as Best Actress. She went on to give “Hopscotch” (1980). In the 1980s magnificent generation of English in John Schlesinger’s masterpiece two more tour de force performancshe did more television work, play“Sunday Bloody Sunday.” It ranks as actresses born in the mid-1930s es, as Hedda Gabler in “Hedda” ing actress Patricia Neal felled by a one of the best mainstream LGBT that produced three other icons of (1975) and as poet Stevie Smith in stroke in “The Patricia Neal Story” films ever made, years ahead of its stage and film: Judi Dench, Maggie “Stevie” (1978), which earned her (nominated for another Emmy), time because Finch’s character is Smith, and Vanessa Redgrave. Yet two more Oscar nominations. She and finally a role to match her poliwell-adjusted and not the least bit Jackson remains unique. We can was marvelous in the underrated tics as Yelena Bonner, the wife of a ashamed about being gay. Jackson only hope that she will be given Joseph Losey “The Romantic EngRussian dissident opposite Jason was nominated for another Oscar as the opportunity to deliver one last lishwoman,” playing the disconRobards in “Sakharov” for HBO. She a woman in quiet upheaval. She lugreat film performance (perhaps tented wife of a successful novelist found stage success on Broadway minously conveyed the ambiguities an old-lady role not nabbed by (Michael Caine) seeking solace with as Nina Leeds in Eugene O’Neill’s of the independent modern woman. Meryl Streep), which would be a a mysterious younger German man, “Strange Interlude” (1985), but was In 1973, she was able to show her capstone to an odd but singularly with zippy dialogue provided by a surprisingly wimpy Martha in an comic side in “A Touch of Class,” brilliant career.t Tom Stoppard. LA production of “Who’s Afraid of

Fine Art>>

May 24-30, 2018 • Bay Area Reporter • 19

Rene Magritte, to infinity & beyond A gallery featuring the series don’t comport with the popular and defy laws of physics and scale, “Gravity and Flight” includes “The perception of his work, while dembut nonetheless seem so right, like Domain of Arnheim” (1962), an onstrating a calculated yet devilthe gargantuan rock, shadowed eerily beautiful, glacier-blue alpine ish unpredictability that does. For by a trusty companion cloud, zipvista of gigantic peaks at twilight; instance, “The Harvest” (1943), a ping over the ocean’s surface like an eagle’s head tops the tallest pinnude reclining on a bed by an open an airborne cigarette boat. “Pernacle, its wingspan as wide as the window, a pose lifted from a Renoir sonal Values” (1952), the concepmountain range. It’s a mesmerizing composition, is made wild and tual jumping-off point for the show, sight that sends a shiver down the accidentally psychedelic by the adponders a dollhouse bedroom in the spine not least because the eagle dition of bands of acid-trip colors. land of tiny people outfitted with was a prominent Nazi symbol that The works in this first section, one a comb and a wine goblet fit for a must have been on the artist’s radar. of a succession of discrete groupgiant. Other canvases offer equally But the painting, embedded with ings that zero in on a major series inadequate accommodations for disturbing allusions to Berghof, Hitor visual theme, are fascinating as oversized guests, such as: the imler’s high-altitude Bavarian retreat, anomalous artifacts but not nearly mense gray boulder trapped in a adopts the title of a different source as captivating as what was to come. spartan room too small to contain of inspiration: an Edgar Allan Poe An established Surrealist in the it or have allowed its entry (“The tale that Magritte embellished by Anniversary” 1959); a corralled 1920s and 30s, producing and endowing its lead character with Tropicana rose whose voluptuous, showing work during the endthe superhuman powers to move ephemeral beauty is destined for of-the-world dread and gloom of mountains and adjust the angle of oblivion in “The Tomb of the Wresthe German occupation, Magritte the sun. tlers” (1960); and an El Grando emerged from WWII to fully Alas, time ran out. Reluctantly green apple likewise caged and embrace freedom, artistic and exiting the show, I was reminded of ready to bust out of its cramped cell, otherwise, and strike out in a new the feeling I had visiting art museif only escape were on the agenda direction. Thankfully, though, he ums as a child with my mother, un(“The Listening Room,” 1958). “A never gave up the Surrealists’ glee able to tear myself away and pleadSense of Reality” (1963), which has in upending expectations. Take ing with her to stay a little longer.t anything but, depicts another mamthe pair of swooning inverted moth boulder impervious to gravmermaids nuzzling each other on Through Oct. 28. ity, floating above the earth like an shore in “The Wonders of Nature,” www.sfmoma.org. asteroid on cruise control. a component of “The Enchanted Domain,” a 233-foot mural commissioned in 1953 for a 360-degree panorama at a casino. He painted a former sherry bottle for “The Curvature of the Universe” (1950) with one of his recurring motifs, a robin’s egg-blue sky with puffy white clouds. It’s a sublime transfiguring of a mundane object into something magical that might take flight before our eyes. He created 25 such glass bottles, mostly as gifts for friends. I only wish I Charly Herscovici/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York had been one of them. René Magritte, “The Enchanted Domain I” (1953), oil on canvas, Magritte revels in dream logic where incongruous Würth Collection, Künzelsau, Germany. objects share secret affinities

Charly Herscovici/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

René Magritte, “The Kiss” (1951), oil on canvas, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

by Sura Wood

onderful and amazing is the way to describe “Rene Magritte: The Fifth Season,” a fab new show at SFMOMA that kicks off the summer art season with panache. The museum is the sole venue for an exhibition of over 70 of the Belgian artist’s late career works, 20 never seen before in the U.S. An uneasy blend of ambiguity, menace, allure and irony, they span the last chapter of his life, from 1943 to his death in 1967. Magritte, an intellectual provocateur who saw himself as a philosopher and poet whose tools happened to be paint, is mostly closely identified with his paintings of anonymous bourgeois men in drab grey overcoats and signature black bowler hats, attire worn by the intrepid detectives of stories he loved. “The Fifth Season,” the 1943 canvas that’s the exhibition’s name-

sake, borrows Renoir’s brushstroke techniques for a picture of two men in bowler hats greeting each other on a bustling street, a scene right out of the Impressionists’ playbook. The figures presaged the so-called Bowler Men, who inspired a ballet and a movie, among other things, and transformed his career. In “The Schoolmaster” (1955), we’re treated to a silhouetted view from behind, a sliver of a moon directly over this Everyman’s head as he gazes out at a starry night. “The Son of Man” (1964), of the eponymous bowler hat fellow with a green apple obscuring most of his face like a mask, easily earns the distinction of the most intriguing and famous selfportrait of the 20th century. An entire gallery is devoted to their ranks, but Magritte’s oeuvre is more varied than many might assume. The show’s opening salvo contains examples of his unsettling “sunlit surrealist” paintings that

Fairmont San Francisco

Huntington Park Grace Cathedral

Tony Bennett Statue CELEBRATE THE DEDICATION OF “TONY BENNETT WAY” IN FRONT OF FAIRMONT SAN FRANCISCO Tony Bennett will Unveil his Honorary Street Sign on

Saturday, June 2, 2018 Noon–3:00pm The public is invited to a block party featuring live entertainment, food and more! “Climb halfway to the stars” for family-friendly fun atop Nob Hill! Show the world that San Francisco has heart and be part of a historic photo op! At 1 :1 5 pm, attendees will honor Tony with heart-shaped hand gestures. At 2:00pm, Tony himself will unveil his sign!

What better way to applaud our city’s ambassador and his signature song than to celebrate all who have left their in San Francisco? #TonyBennettWay

<< Theatre

20 • Bay Area Reporter • May 24-30, 2018

StevenUnderhill PHOTOGRAPHY

Oinking out loud

by Jim Gladstone

T HEADSHO S PORTRAIT EVENTS

StevenUnderhill.com StevenUnderhillPhotos@gmail.com 2pub-BBB_BAR_020818.pdf

CMY

415 370 7152 1/22/18

2:23 PM

repare to snort-laugh, eye-roll, and faux-groan your merry way through the new production of “Howard Crabtree’s When Pigs Fly” at the New Conservatory Theatre Center through June 10. It’s a booster shot of theatrical serotonin to get your Pride season off to a smiling start. This scrappy, pun-packed extravaganza debuted Off-Broadway in 1996, and was first produced here at NCTC 15 years ago. Local treasure Joe Wicht, who now contributes the rollicking piano accompaniment, was one of the multiple-role-playing actors in that 2003 engagement. The evening’s entertainment begins as irrepressible, impractical Howard (J. Conrad Frank, ever dependable) takes the stage in a sort of Cowboy Liberace get-up, complete with white-feathered chaps. “I’m Dream Curly!” he declares, in a reference to “Oklahoma!” that will tickle the knowing show queens in the audience and fly right by everyone else, who will remain happily distracted by the costume. “Pigs”’ loose-screwed meta-plot has Howard and a quartet of super gay pals mounting an impossibly complicated low-budget spectacle – We’re watching it! – to fulfill the showbiz fantasies born of a bullied boyhood. At one point Howard compares his vision to “‘New Faces of 1952,’ which introduced Paul Lynde, Eartha Kitt and Carol Lawrence” to the American public. Mel Brooks and Alice Ghostley, too. There’s zero need to worry that the script’s numerous hat-tips to the Golden Age of Broadway will alienate post-Boomers in attendance; there’s youthful exuberance and timeless shtick for gays of all ages: a hunky centaur (Phillipe Gosselin, who plays all of the shirtless roles, praise Goddess), a “blow me down” mermaid (David Bicha, who pulls faces like taffy), and a trio of Technicolor Victorian fops who give “Beach Blanket Babylon”’s fey French poodles a run for their money. Composer Dick Gallagher and lyricist Mark Waldrop have even swapped out a few of their original numbers in order to take aim at contemporary targets: a delicious trio of homoerotic torch songs that once licked at the feet of Newt Gin-

Lois Tema

The Pig (David Bicha) finally achieves liftoff in the over-the-top musical revue “Howard Crabtree’s When Pigs Fly.”

grich, Strom Thurmond and Rush Limbaugh has been retooled in honor of Trump, Pence and Putin. Less successful is a new ComiConthemed number, but it’s the only slack bit in the entire production. In contrast to Broadway spectacles of yore, “Pigs” can hardly be deemed an “All Singing, All Dancing” extravaganza. In fact, the cast’s estimable vocal and terpsichorean skills are often upstaged by the costumes, designed by the team of Wes Crain, Keri Fitch and Jorge Hernandez. In a city where nun’s habits and leather gear are regular daily attire and Easter amounts to Spring Halloween, it’s quite a feat to create a gotta-see-it-to-believe-it wardrobe like the one on display here. Director Ed Decker and choreographer Jayne Zaban leverage the cast’s diverse talents and physiques to terrific effect. In roles including a hippo-hinded blues diva, big boy Chris Plank makes comic hay of assumptions about size, executing remarkably fleet-footed dance skills and a satin smooth vocal tone. Bicha’s physiognomy is such that you can almost smell it when he gives the stinkeye. And boyish Ryan Vasquez’ perpetual highbeam smile makes the slithery innuendo of his solos all the more alluring. WonderTwink powers, activate! “When Pigs Fly” can be fully enjoyed as a kaleidoscopic (sometimes nearly endoscopic) cavalcade of camp, but knowing a bit of its backstory adds an element of poignancy. Echoing the tragic origin-story of “Rent,” a temperamentally different

but contemporary work, “When Pigs Fly” premiered just months after the real-life Crabtree – an unapologetically flamboyant costume designer who conceived of the show with Waldrop – died of AIDS at 41, just seven months after Jonathan Larsen’s death. The inclusion of Crabtree’s name in the longform title of the show is a tribute, as is the fact that the emcee character, played by Frank, is called Howard in every production, while other actors who are cast use their real names on stage. In 1996, the vibrant comic queerness of “Pigs” represented an insistence on optimism and a refusal of assimilationism. I happen to have attended that production and can attest that, to a recently out young man who cowered in the shadow of the plague, the confidence and laughter it stimulated were potent psychological medicine. “Laughing Matters,” one of the two more serious-minded songs that arrive near the end of “Pigs,” speaks directly to the need for humor in times of difficulty. But it’s the other number, “Sam and Me,” that really hits home. It’s a song that represents another side of its American era, in which the singer (Gosselin) describes the pain of hiding one’s relationship and trying to pass as straight. How lucky many of us are that when we hear this song today, its references feel as dated as Dream Curly.t “Howard Crabtree’s When Pigs Fly,” NCTC through June 10. Tickets from $35. www.nctcsf.org.

Insect interplay by Jim Gladstone

he pretty, hopeful closing scene of San Francisco Playhouse’s “An Entomologist’s Love Story” finds Betty (Lori Prince), a self-protectively cynical research scientist, beginning to let her romantic guard down after years of online hookups and internal solitude. Betty’s touching final soliloquy is delivered over a recorded score in which the clicks and chirrs of insects are mixed into dreamy electronic music, and accompanied by scores of tiny flickering lights representing fireflies, which extend beyond the stage, enveloping the audience in a luminous hug of optimism. (Theodore J.H. Hulsker’s sound design and Kurt Landisman’s lighting add a welcome ephemeral dimension to Melissa Ross’ occasionally too-snappy script.) Emotionally, visually, and sonically, the scene brought to mind the 2009 pop video “Fireflies” by Adam Young, aka Owl City. Like that loveit-or-hate-it bonbon of bleeping sweetness, the whole of “An Entomologist’s Love Story” may be polarizing. It’s a clever piece of work, openhearted but perhaps a bit too

Jessica Palopoli

Entomologists Jeff (Lucas Verbrugghe) and Betty (Lori Prince) discuss New York’s bedbug epidemic in “An Entomologist’s Love Story” at SF Playhouse.

tidy. The happy ending may leave you all smiles, or it could induce a minor toothache. I ended up on the smiling side, able to keep my own cynicism in check. So did much of the opening-night crowd. Over the course of 90 fast, funny, intermissionless minutes, longtime academic colleagues (and long-ago couple) Betty and Jeff (Lucas Verbrugghe) find their cheerful, bicker-

ing, two-decade stasis unexpectedly metamorphosing. Over the years, Betty has adopted the aggressive presence of a rhinoceros beetle; Jeff, that of a conflict-averse earthworm. The arrivals of love interests Lindsay (Jessica Lynn Carroll) and Andy (Will Springhorn Jr.) set their insect world a-scuttle. See page 24 >>

Film>>

May 24-30, 2018 • Bay Area Reporter • 21

SF Silent Film Festival opens with a bang by Erin Blackwell

he San Francisco Silent Film Festival is hands-down the most excellent of the year, even though everyone in the films is dead and there’s no possibility of clamoring red-carpet adulation by selfie-obsessed fans. Silent films depict worlds that were often already lost at the time of the films’ making, except as they lived on in memory. These films carry a huge cargo of cultural DNA, of aesthetic insights and innovations that yet haunt the living. To submit to the power of the silent film is to be overwhelmed by ghosts and ancestors more beautiful, tragic, magic, diaphanous than any of us otherwise dream of being. Give in to the glamour, May 30-June 3 at the Castro Theatre. Conrad Veidt (1893-1943): be still, my heart. I used to love to hate him as the evil Nazi in Hollywood’s propaganda films of the 1930s and 40s. His tall, lean sinewiness, his cruelty, disdain, and remoteness made him the image of my father. But that’s only half his range. To see his pre-Third Reich self revealed in all his trembling Expressionistic glory as a young actor, taking on the most nerve-jangled sleepwalkers stumbling through nightmares, is to realize how much an actor’s oeuvre depends on who will cast him in what. He fled Hitler in 1933 to play Nazis in Hollywood. He’s a worthy

object of study, and nowhere worthier than in the opening-night film. “The Man Who Laughs” (1928) is instantly breathtaking. The second it starts you know you’ve travelled to a foreign land where people’s hearts are all on their sleeves because you, the audient, have the privileged seat in the drama of their undoing. Yes, the film is theatrical, and its subject is the theater, the theater of life, in which we hide from ourselves and others our true nature, for fear of being outcast. We wear masks, we live double lives, we lie, we betray, all to conceal an incarnation we did not knowingly choose. Victor Hugo (1802-88) wrote the novel of the same name in 1869, setting his story 200 years earlier, during the reign of James II of England. Don’t worry about the remote clamminess of the Stuarts, the aristos are played like lowcomedy vaudevillians, like stooges, very American and recognizable. How, though, did director Paul Leni manage to squeeze a 700-page novel into a two-hour movie? By reducing everything to easily imbibed visuals and leaning heavily on his star to convey with his facial muscles in a constant involuntary rictus the Existential Hell of being human. The sublime collision of Queen Anne’s England, Victor Hugo’s huge French imagination, Conrad Veidt’s grotesque German style, and American melodrama makes for one hell

Courtesy SF Silent Film Festival

Conrad Veidt in “The Man Who Laughs” (1928).

of a cinematic picnic. Veidt plays an aristo whose face was slashed as a boy to give him a perpetual toothy grin. Yes, the Joker, sublime antagonist to Batman, was inspired by this guy. Hugo, who also created the monster Quasimodo, the Hunch-

back of Notre Dame, is all about seeing past the deformity into the beating heart. We’re all deformed, we’re all monsters, but some of us bear with dignity the curse of being human. (5/30, 7 p.m., with party following)

As for everything else on the schedule, simply go see as many as you can afford, it’s the only way to find out what you like and don’t like. More importantly, you’ll see all your favorite current genres in their original form. It’s all here in black-and-white, with mechanical effects that are always more fun and often more effective than their contemporary budget-bloating corollaries. The sea battles in “Mare Nostrum” (1926) between a German submarine and everything else have the deep poetic resonance of a puppet show. Plus, there’s a beautiful spy who seduces a gullible hero, then falls in love with him. (6/2, 10 a.m.) Don’t miss “The Lighthouse Keepers” (1929), because it’s set in a lighthouse and in Brittany, where the women wear entrancing lace headdresses. Also, there’s a boy with a case of rabies that’s not getting better. (5/31, 9:15 p.m.) I’d recommend seeing anything Constance Talmadge is in because she’s totally nuts, I mean she’s a subtle comic genius who transcends gender, as geniuses will. “Good References” (1920) is about a penniless young woman in New York City. (6/1, 10 a.m.) Inspired by The Mahabharata, “A Throw of Dice” (1929), filmed on location in India, features a supporting cast of camels, elephants, and tigers. (6/3, Noon)t

More summer flicks

Scene from “A Kid Like Jake.”

Courtesy SFFILM

Transgender filmmaker Silas Howard, director of “A Kid Like Jake,” opening in theaters this June.

by David Lamble

ummer films are soon upon us. Here’s what’s coming up in June. “Action Point” The owner of a rundown amusement park (Johnny Knoxville, famous for the lowbrow comedy “Jackass”) sets out to give the joint an “excitement enema.” “Adrift” Shailene Woodley appears as Tami Oldham Ashcraft, who, with her male lover (Sam Claflin), was trapped by a hurricane while boating. Baltasar Kormakur directs. “American Animals” Director Bart Layton weaves real chats into a dramatized true-crime heist movie, about the robbery of a college library. With Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan, Blake Jenner and Jared Abrahamson. “Breath” Early-70s Aussie surfers (Samson Coulter, Ben Spence) learn from a master (Simon Baker, who also directs) who teaches them

their limits. Elizabeth Debicki and Richard Roxburgh co-star. “A Kid Like Jake” Claire Danes and Jim Parsons are parents learning that their 4-year-old may not have a traditional gender identity. Silas Howard, a transgender filmmaker, directs. “En el Septimo Dia” Undocumented immigrant (Fernando Cardona) faces a choice between his job and playing in the finals with the soccer team he captains. Jim McKay (“Our Song”) directs. “Hearts Beat Loud” Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons are a father and daughter who helm an unlikely musical group. Brett Haley (“The Hero”) directs. “Hereditary” The death of an eccentric grandma kicks off a terrifying time for the family of her daughter (Toni Collette). With Alex Wolff, Ann Dowd, Gabriel Byrne and Milly Shapiro as a creepy kid.

“Hotel Artemis” In writerdirector Drew Pearce’s sci-fi tale, a hospital treats reprobates in hiding in Los Angeles of the future. Jodie Foster is the proprietor, and Sterling K. Brown and Sofia Boutella are among the guests. “Ocean’s 8” Sandra Bullock, as Debbie Ocean, celebrates her release from prison by assembling an all-star cast (Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, Helena Bonham Carter, et al.) to steal gems from the annual Metropolitan Opera Gala. “Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist” Vivienne Westwood, the fashion titan who defined the Sex Pistols’ aesthetic and became a global brand, tells her story in a documentary directed by Lorna Tucker. “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” The documentarian Morgan Neville celebrates Fred Rogers’ legacy, values and unlikely status as a pioneer of TV kid shows. “Eating Animals” Jonathan Safran Foer’s book on factory farming is now a documentary narrated by Natalie Portman (who, along with Foer, is one of the producers). “Superfly” Trevor Jackson steps into Ron O’Neal’s suit in this remake of Gordon Parks Jr.’s blaxploitation

revival by driving across the country in Elvis’ RollsRoyce before the 2016 election, drawing connections between the singer’s life and the condition of the country. “Under the Silver Lake” The LA neighborhood home to baseball’s Dodgers is the site for a latter-day film noir where Andrew Garfield plays a man looking for a mysterious blonde (Riley Keough) who disappears shortly after they met. From writer/director David Robert Mitchell. “Custody” Xavier Legrand’s French drama follows the fallout from a custody decision that an Courtesy SFFILM abusive hubby exploits to maintain a presence in the life of his ex-spouse. classic, reimagined for contempo“Leave No Trace” Debra rary Atlanta. The filmmaker, known Granik’s tale of a paranoid survivas Director X, who has produced alist (Ben Foster) and his daughter music videos for Drake, Rihanna (Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie) and Kendrick Lamar, has Jason who live in a park on the outskirts Mitchell and Michael Kenneth Wilof Portland, Ore. liams co-star. “Love, Cecil” Lisa Immordino “Spiral” Filmmaker Laura FairVreeland looks at the life of British rie explores the escalation of antifashion photographer and costume Semitic violence across Europe. designer Cecil Beaton. “Boundaries” Christopher “Three Identical Strangers” DiPlummer is an aging pot dealer who rector Tim Wardle’s cleverly strucgoes on a road trip with his daughtured documentary about identical ter (Vera Farmiga) and her son triplets Bobby Shafran, Eddy Gal(Lewis MacDougall). With Bobby land and David Kellman, who were Cannavale and Peter Fonda. separated shortly after birth for “The Catcher Was a Spy” A adoption and found one another at catcher who hit only six home college age. runs in a 15-year big-league career, “Uncle Drew” Boston Celtics Moe Berg (Paul Rudd) worked as point guard Kyrie Irving reunites an American spy in the years right some fellow athletes (former NBA before and after WWII. Berg helped stars Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Webuncover atomic secrets in Europe. ber and Reggie Miller) for a last With Jeff Daniels, Mark Strong and hurrah on the court. With Tiffany Sienna Miller. Ben Lewin directs. Haddish. “Damsel” Robert Pattinson, Mia “Woman Walks Ahead” Jessica Wasikowska and a miniature horse Chastain is the painter Catherine that got great Sundance buzz appear Weldon, who goes west to paint a in this tongue-in-cheek western portrait of Sitting Bull (Michael from the brothers David and NaGreyeyes) and becomes an advocate than Zellner. for Native American rights. With “The King” Docmaker Eugene Sam Rockwell and Bill Camp. SuJarecki celebrates the Elvis Presley sanna White directs.t

<< TV

22 • Bay Area Reporter • May 24-30, 2018

Royally estranged family of the bride by Victoria A. Brownworth

e do love weddings. We aren’t fans of the monarchy and think the French and Russians got that one right, but we really do think Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are beyond adorable. We also love some pomp and circumstance, great hats and the very gay Sir Elton John performing for the royal couple. Yet we have to admit, in all the TV mega-hype of the royal wedding, the Jerry Springer-esque drama of watching Meghan’s terrible family stole the show for us. Sometimes it’s good to be reminded that even The Rich and Famous have awful people in their lives whom they can’t formally divorce. A mere day before the wedding, we were watching of all things “Inside Edition,” which we never watch. But how could we not bear witness to yet another train wreck interview with Samantha Grant, Meghan Markle’s half-sister? Grant has been everywhere in recent weeks dissing Meghan, whom she says she raised for 12 years (Markle is 36, Grant is 53). Grant and Markle’s half-brother Thomas have written to Prince Harry urging him not to marry their sister. Now that’s a loving family! Yet there was more. It turned out Grant had been setting up hers and Markle’s elderly and unwell father for paparazzi photos for which Grant was pocketing the cash. We’d already seen Grant on “TMZ” asserting that she’s “not a British subject” and “there is free speech in America,” and she “can say what she wants about the family.” All delivered via Skype from her car, where she said Markle had turned her back on the family. (Who could imagine why?) We’d also seen Grant interviewed by Piers Morgan on “Good Morning Britain,” where Morgan, whom we usually find insufferable, referred to her as “the little vulture” and asked her, “How much money have you made from trashing Meghan Markle?” Morgan said Grant had spent two years making money off maligning her sister, ever since Markle started dating Prince Harry. On “Inside Edition,” Grant upped her game, saying it was typical of her half-sister to make this all about her, after Markle issued a statement about their family on Kensington Palace stationery. Grant told “Inside Edition,” “With all due respect, it is not just about Meghan, and for some reason the world is so set on her being the priority. What,” she asked plaintively, “about everyone else?” Yes, why would anyone think the marriage of a royal couple was about the royal couple? Initially, when the royals were being a little

cold to Markle, we worried about her entering that family, known for being brutal to outsiders. But having seen Markle’s family (not her mother, who is lovely) in spectacularly terrible form, we really are glad of her being a continent away from them. But we will miss the drama. That has been quite the show. The reason we had decided to watch “Inside Edition” was because there had been a promo of the latest reveal on New York attorney Aaron Schlossberg, America’s latest White Samantha Grant (right) is Meghan Markle’s treacherous half-sister. Person Videotaped Behaving Badly to People trans woman of color to be writing and end up on the national news, it of Color. There’s been a scripted series, according to a should serve as a cautionary tale to some controversy over whether it’s guest column she wrote in Variety others considering similar actions. been “fair” to Schlossberg to have May 16. Describing her experience That there is at least one of these TV cameras following him for comwatching TV in her youth as she incidents every week should be the ment after his tirade in a Manhattan explained why working on “Pose” disturbing element. eatery where he threatened to call was life-altering for her, Mock said, What is more disturbing than ICE on three workers who were “As a black and Native Hawaiian Schlossberg is that the POTUS speaking Spanish with a customer. trans girl, I never felt fully reflected. made similarly racist comments Unsurprisingly this question of fairWhen girls like us flitted onto my while visiting a state that is majority ness has been raised by white people. screen, we were seen through the non-white and it was a mere blip on It speaks volumes that ICE issued a narrowest lens: either as points of the national news, while Schlossstatement about the incident saying trauma, treated as freaks or mere berg was several days’ headline. they do not want such calls. punchlines. Rarely were we given a Schlossberg was censured. Trump The same day as Schlossberg’s chance to be the center of the story, was not. That is what’s worrying in rant, Pres. Trump had referred to to be the protagonists, the antagothis scenario of centering whiteness. undocumented immigrants as “aninists and the damn villains. And I We’d like to see more white mals,” so Schlossberg wasn’t even knew with ‘Pose’ I would hold the Americans watching CNN’s the worst public racist of the day. pen, writing narratives that would “United Shades of America,” hosted His attack on the workers has been show the totality of what it meant by W. Kamau Bell, San all over TV news, MSNBC to be brown and black, to be trans, Francisco comic and and CNN pundit shows. poor and femme in an era in New radio host. Bell’s show It wasn’t the first time York City dictated by a series of looks at different comSchlossberg had gone ills, from HIV and gentrification munities that remain after people he deemed to crack and greed.” The series beunseen in America: “foreigners” who didn’t gins June 3 on FX. mostly communities of belong in his country. color, although his May We thought it would be easier ABC, CBS and CNN 20 episode was devoted to let go of Dr. Arizona Robbins all showed video of to people with disabili(Jessica Capshaw) than it was. The several incidents, all ties. What makes Bell’s longest-running lesbian character vile. According to news show unique is Bell: he’s on prime-time TV is now gone. reports, Schlossberg’s funny, a provocateur without being The May 17 season finale of “Grey’s lease for his law practice was teroffensive, coming from a space of Anatomy” chose not to kill anyminated, and he was censured by being black in what is still largely one, unlike previous finales that the New York Bar Association after viewed as white America, and he’s have ended in gruesome deaths of complaints related to the incident. opening dialogue every week about beloved characters. Several of the Was this too much? Is this a free the most discomfiting issue in characters we have loved long and speech issue in which the media America: race. Maybe these folks hard are exiting the show, though has become overly invested? Are we who keep calling police on people of none will be as deeply missed as supposed to feel sorry for people color should be sentenced to watchArizona. She had been on the series who are blatantly racist in public ing shows like Bell’s, or “Dear White since 2008, and series creator Shonspaces? Our personal response is a People,” “Atlanta,” “Master of None,” da Rhimes said she had an immediresounding no. We do not see the “black-ish,” “Becoming Mary Jane,” ate affinity for Capshaw and her qualitative difference between what “Queen Sugar,” and anything with portrayal of Arizona. Rhimes said, Schlossberg did and people heckling Lena Waithe. The fear of non-white“I love Jessica Capshaw, and when I black children attempting to desegness that pervades America and is say love I mean love. She couldn’t be regate schools in the 1950s. In the reified every day by Trump and his a more wonderful person, and the most diverse city in America, if you cohort has to be countered somechemistry Arizona and Callie (Sara freak out when you hear Spanish how, and TV is easy access. If only Ramirez) have feels like the Merbeing spoken, you’re the one who we could feed anti-racist messages edith and Derek chemistry to me. I should self-deport to a whiter space. subliminally through Fox News. find them delightful to watch.” When these racist videos go viral We felt it, too. Arizona and Callie Passion project always felt like a real lesbian couple In better news, “Pose” is almost to us. Their struggles – over Callie’s here. What better way to start Pride bisexuality, Arizona losing her leg Month than with this series that in the plane crash, having a child, creator Ryan Murphy calls his “pastrying not to split up when things sion project?” On May 18, Murphy got terrible – were real struggles. We told Page Six that the series about understood and believed them, and ball culture and the rise of Trump in rooted for them to stay together. 1980s NYC was one of the most exCapshaw situated her departure citing projects he’s worked on. With in her character, writing on Twitmore than 50 LGBTQI actors, the ter and Instagram, “For the past 10 most trans actors ever on any series years, I have had the rare privilege in the history of the universe, trans of not only playing Arizona Robproducers, gay and trans featured bins, but also being madly in love actors and writers, this is just so with playing her. Arizona Robbins very much the series to make Mike is kind, intelligent, funny, insightPence’s head swivel right off. Who ful, bold, playful, fierce and really doesn’t want to see that? good at her job. She was one of the “I try to use my power for good,” first members of the LGBTQ comMurphy said, “and I am donating all munity to be represented in a series the profits back into the commuregular role on network television. nity. I am not making any money on Her impact on the world is permathis project. That is something I just nent and forever.” wanted to do.” Expressing her gratitude for the Murphy has also hired trans writopportunity to play the role, Capers and directors for the series, inshaw concluded, “I am grateful that cluding Janet Mock, who is the first I got to bring her to life, and for the

life that she has brought to me. I am sad to see her go, but I am consoled by the idea that she will continue to live on in our consciences and imaginations. Shonda, thank you for the ride on this incredible rollercoaster. With a heart full of love, Jessica.” What the exit of Arizona means to the TV landscape is the loss of a long-term lesbian on TV. There are other lesbian characters on various series and two new ones on Rhimes’ newest series, “For the People,” just renewed for a second season, but there is no other long-time lesbian character with whom the audience has so much history and is so deeply in love. One of Arizona’s most extraordinary features was her cheerfulness. After years of relentless BYG (bury your gays) storylines for lesbians where the inevitable killing of a lesbian character ensues, having a character who has been almost always happy, glad to be at her job, doing her best to save lives in her role as a pediatric surgeon, Arizona was a beacon of light in an increasingly dark landscape of lesbian death. Capshaw’s evocation of her, with her rollerskate sneakers and soothing bedside manner and those dimples – all of it meant something special for the audience. Will “GA” bring on another gay or lesbian character? Rhimes referenced the underrepresented nature of lesbians on TV in her farewell to Capshaw, but no mention of a new lesbian to fill the void left by Arizona leaving. We already miss her so much. There’s a small measure of good news for gay men, that most elusive of TV creatures, in that Rhimes’ series “Station 19” has been renewed for a second season, which means Travis Montgomery (Jay Hayden) will be back. After waiting for six seasons for “Chicago Fire” to have a gay character after they killed off Leslie the lesbian, we were thrilled that “Station 19” opened with one. We have trouble watching fire shows, but we are happy to watch a series with a gay fireman in the very first episode who doesn’t get killed off in the first season. Even better news is that CBS’ “Instinct” has been renewed for a second season. We have been concerned that the series hadn’t found an audience yet and that the clunky opening episodes had jettisoned audience while the show found its footing. As the first network series with a lead gay male character, there was a lot riding on the show’s ratings. While ratings have only been moderate, they have paralleled other shows in CBS’ Sundaynight lineup, which, combined with the star power of their lead, was enough for CBS to renew the show. The show’s star is its anchor, and season 2 should strive for more balance. Tony- and Emmy-winning Alan Cumming plays Dr. Dylan Reinhart, former CIA operative turned writer turned police consultant. He’s openly gay, he’s married and he’s the cleverest man in any room. Now if he can just start acting more gay – we know Cumming can do it because we’ve seen him in “Cabaret.” So for using TV to call out the racists, be they estranged family of the royal couple or something more prosaic, for the last remaining gay men on the tube, and for a plethora of trans folks coming soon to a small screen near you, you know you really must stay tuned.t

Film>>

May 24-30, 2018 • Bay Area Reporter • 23

Newlywed game by David Lamble

an McEwan is one of the rare “serious” British fiction writers who routinely creates terrific novels that command both the intellect and the loins. On the page (“In Between the Sheets,” “The Cement Garden,” “Atonement”) McEwan finds engrossing ways to convert the womb of the British family into a chamber of horrors that yields irresistible pleasures for both the prude and the sensualist. With “On Chesil Beach” (opens Friday), novelist McEwan turns screenwriter, training his comically jaundiced eye to the task of adapting his 2008 novel about 1962-era newlyweds (Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle). Florence and Edward’s apparently limitless affection and understanding hit a snag when it’s time to take their marriage to bed. The

anguish of their plight is accentuated by the shabby circumstances of their Dorset coast newlywed quarters. Gay veteran British stage director Dominic Cooke is deft in his handling of this failed marriage-bed night. It’s a plight that will remind some longtime fans of New Wave UK cinema of such mid-60s classics as the Cannes-winning comedy “The Knack and How to Get it” starring Michael Crawford, or 1967’s “The Family Way,” where the talented Boulting Brothers mixed pathos, shame and low comedy when a handsome young redhead (Hywel Bennett) can’t get it up for his night in the sack with his young bride (grownup Hayley Mills, freed from Disney). The young leads are pitch-perfect: Saoirse Ronan (“Lady Bird”) and Billy Howle (one of a bevy of young men in the ensemble of “Dunkirk”)

Courtesy Bleecker Street

Billy Howle and Saoirse Ronan play newlyweds in director Dominic Cooke’s “On Chesil Beach.”

are a couple whose relationship is cruelly shadowed by the fickle fate of their respective families’ histories. McEwan provides flashbacks where we learn how Edward’s mother was injured in a freak accident at the local train station, becoming a prisoner of eccentric behavior that her husband and children come to accept as the new normal. “On Chesil Beach” continues the British knack of finding roadblocks to sexual freedom in the tatters of their infernal class system. The film received its North American premiere last year in Toronto, but its American commercial release was delayed so that Ronan, in consideration for award-season honors for her star turn in Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird,” would not be competing with herself for top acting honors. Costars Anne-Marie Duff and Emily Watson.t

Big picture: All about ‘Giant’ by Tavo Amador

n “Giant” (St. Martin’s Press, $27), Don Graham, professor of English at the University of Texas and scholar of the Lone Star State’s “literature, films, and pop culture,” argues for the greatness of the 1956 movie. His well-written book is often fascinating, but fails to make a case for George Stevens’ slow, well-intentioned film. Its fame is attributable to its stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean. “Giant” was based on Edna Ferber’s 1952 novel, which was critical of Texas’ macho culture. It showed the impact of oil replacing cattleranching, and the terrible treatment of Mexicans by Anglos. These perspectives, shared by Stevens, are in Fred Guiol”s and Ivan Moffat’s screenplay, although their script frequently deviates from the novel. Graham’s discussion of the casting of the lead roles is riveting. Top-billed Taylor (1932-2011) was among 31 actresses on a list prepared by Warner Bros. for patrician Leslie Benedict. Stevens wanted Audrey Hepburn, who refused for unknown reasons. His second choice was MGM’s Grace Kelly, but Metro refused to lend her. Taylor, who had given a superb performance in Stevens’ “A Place in the Sun” (1951), campaigned for the part, with home studio MGM’s blessing. Despite Ferber’s objections, she became Leslie. Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, William Holden, and Robert Mitchum were all eager to play Bick Benedict, but none were the right age. Stevens felt it was easier to make an actor look older than to make him look younger. Ferber wanted Burt Lancaster, who was never considered. Eventually, Hudson (1925-85), a classic Hollywood hunk rapidly becoming a big star, got the part. He was the right age, and at 6’5” the right size. Stevens’ first choice for Jett Rink, the third lead, was Alan Ladd. Ladd had triumphed in Stevens’ western “Shane” (1953), and wanted to work for him again. Despite his being 42, Stevens felt that Hollywood magic would make the 5’6” actor look young enough for the early scenes. Ladd, however, in what he later admitted was a significant mistake, refused the part. He felt that playing the second male lead would be a setback. He didn’t realize that Stevens would give Bick and Jett equal screentime. Ladd’s decision allowed

Dean (1931-55) to get the role, even though he was much smaller (5’7”) than Ferber described. In March 1955, Dean’s first starring film, Elia Kazan’s “East of Eden,” opened to acclaim and big business. After bit parts in pictures, many live television shows, and two New York stage successes, Dean was on the verge of mega-stardom. Later in 1955, he played the quintessential 1950s angst-ridden teenager in Nicholas Ray’s “Rebel Without a Cause.” It, too, earned plaudits and filled theatres. Dean, deeply troubled, was rude, unkempt, frequently urinated in public, disdained meeting reporters – although he charmed vitriolic gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. His penchant for recklessly riding motorcycles and driving cars would prove fatal. He was contemptuous of Hudson, and initially upset about Taylor – he thought them mere movie stars, not actors. Graham asserts that Kazan, who didn’t like Dean, cleverly manipulated him into giving a superb performance in “Eden.” Ray, enthralled by him, allowed Dean to nearly co-direct “Rebel.” But Stevens’ style was different. He and Dean clashed repeatedly. Graham sympathetically discusses Hudson’s homosexuality, which his gay agent, Henry Willson, worked tirelessly to conceal from the public. Taylor’s personal life was also complicated. She had just had her second son by second husband Michael Wilding, but their marriage was floundering. Early in 1957, she married producer Mike Todd. Dean claimed Hudson tried to seduce him (unlikely) and ridiculed him for being closeted, but

Dean obfuscated his many homosexual relationships. He pimped himself to producer Rogers Brackett, who helped Dean professionally and financially. Dean also had homosexual affairs that didn’t involve money. Shooting on location in Marfa, Texas, Stevens’ insistence on many re-takes photographed from multiple angles, and delays caused by the stars (especially Dean) put the film over budget. Taylor and Hudson became close friends, however. On location, she and Dean also bonded. The three drank heavily after filming ended, but usually concealed the results when shooting began the next morning. With just a few minor scenes left to complete, Dean, speeding in his Porsche, was killed in an automobile accident on Sept. 30, 1955. Stevens used a double to finish the movie. An hysterical Taylor was unable to work for several days, despite Stevens’ demands that she do so. Dean’s premature death ensured his place in the Hollywood Pantheon, and “Giant”’s importance. “Giant” cleaned up at the boxoffice and garnered 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Director, Actor for Hudson and Dean, Supporting Actress (Mercedes McCambridge, who played Bick’s butch sister, Luz) and Adapted Screenplay. Only Stevens won. Hudson’s performance is sincere, but the viewer can sense his thinking it through, rather than feeling it. Dean is often excellent, yet frequently mannered, especially as the older Jett. Taylor, on the other hand, is terrific, far better than her co-stars. Graham laments that the gimmicky “Around the World in 80 Days” won the Best Picture Oscar. He believes Hudson should have won for Best Actor, rather than Yul Brynner in “The King and I.” (Has he ever seen Laurence Olivier’s “Richard III?”) He acknowledges that influential critics like Andrew Sarris and David Thomson dismiss “Giant,” although Richard Schickel liked it. Graham feels that Stevens’ reputation should be higher than it is. Graham sometime errs. For example, he writes that Taylor’s pre-“Giant” movies “Rhapsody,” “Elephant Walk,” and “Beau Brummel” were “all forgettable costume dramas.” Actually, only the last was a period piece. Graham discusses how “Giant” reflected Texas’ culture, how it may have influenced it, and its decades-

long impact on Marfa. But these aren’t the reasons it’s a famous if seldom-revived movie. Taylor, Hudson, and especially Dean are why

people still talk about “Giant.” Graham’s chapters about them are the best parts of this book, and make compelling reading.t

Best Breakfast & Best Late-Night Restaurant Celebrating our 41st year!

<< Music

24 • Bay Area Reporter • May 24-30, 2018

’Ring’ cycle

From page 17

Before “Game of Thrones,” “Star Wars,” Tolkien’s trilogy or Joseph Campbell’s explanatory “The Power of Myth,” controversial genius Richard Wagner made his own massive creation-and-destruction saga, “Der Ring des Nibelungen” (“The Ring of the Nibelung”). The composer fashioned his fantasy from epic German poetry and Nordic legend, but his words for the four music dramas in the “Ring” exhibit his own provocative and often prescient politics and philosophy. The story is told in a rich musical narrative, filled with recognizable leitmotifs and descriptive symphonic interludes. A highpoint of Western Art and one of the greatest achievements in all of music, the “Ring” is a huge undertaking for any opera company. Wagner’s “festival play,” performed in three days preceded by a “preliminary evening,” usually assigns conceptual vision and staging to just one director, with an allied staff devoted to the mise en scene. Boldly adventurous Francesca Zambello has returned to tweak her brilliant version, with fresh emphasis on the consequences of messing with Mother Nature. In her view, each opera hurtles through an American era, from a pristine beginning to a world of unfettered capitalistic selfishness and technological progress that ends in ecological ruin. Against all odds, she still maintains a note of hopefulness. The Valkyries are leather-clad

parachuting aviatrixes, and their father Wotan is a big-time developer who stiffs his building contractors. He also has a troubling relationship with his daughter Brunnhilde. Zambello’s scenario is proving scarily timely. The orchestral responsibilities are awesome, too, and the conductor must be able not only to support the auteur’s vision, but also to coax the core instrumentalists (at least 88) to their best performance, while satisfying critical Wagnerites. Donald Runnicles conducted two highly praised SFO “Ring” cycles decades ago, and as the company’s music director for 17 years, also leading the cycles of 1999 and 2011. With international approval of his Wagner creds, it is great to know he will be back on the podium. A panel of singers and an enthusiastic member of the current production’s creative team assured us at the press meeting that everyone is in collegial lockstep for the three complete cycles starting June 12, 19 and 26. American bass-baritone Greer Grimsley has previously made his mark with SFO audiences as Scarpia in “Tosca” and as an unforgettable Jokanaan in “Salome.” The title role of “The Flying Dutchman” proved his Wagnerian skills. No stranger to the role, he will be a complex and thoughtful Wotan. Finnish soprano Karita Mattila, another SFO favorite, is Sieglinde; and a superstar tenor in the ascendant, Brandon Jovanovich, with several SFO triumphs under his belt, repeats his success in the roles

of Froh in “Das Rheingold” and Siegmund in “Die Walkure.” Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton will sing Fricka in “Das Rheingold” and “Die Walkure,” and Waltraute in “Gotterdammerung.” We loved her as Adalgisa in “Norma,” and can’t wait to see what she makes of Wotan’s embittered but clear-eyed wife. Bass Raymond Aceto, chilling as the Reverend Olin Blitch in SFO’s “Susannah,” reprises his equally ominous performance as Hunding in “Die Walkure.” He also appears as the giant Fafner in “Das Rheingold.” More luxury casting showcases German bass-baritone Falk Struckmann, making his SFO debut in the crucial role of the tormented dwarf Alberich. His theft of the gold at the beginning of “Das Rheingold” sets the whole plot in motion. Struckmann is an admired Wagnerian who has appeared in other productions as Wotan. Swedish soprano Irene Theorin is replacing German soprano Evelyn Herlitzius as Brunnhilde. Herlitzius has withdrawn for health reasons, and the company wasted little time finding a suitable new diva. Theorin’s SFO “Turandot” in 2011 proved she has the necessary strength. We applaud her bravery and Matthew Shilvock’s quick maneuvering. American tenor Daniel Brenna makes his SFO debut as Siegfried. Widely considered “one of the bestknown heldentenors of his generation,” he is also one of the few singers regularly performing the taxing role of the ill-fated hero. Zambello will surely be spending some major

performance “merges inclusive dance, music, storytelling, ritual, drag, outrageousness, and opportunities for accessible audience participation to call forth connections to primal power.” Another LGBT dance performance featured this year is the Steamroller Dance Company performing “Loserville,” which the program describes as a “queering of the iconic film ‘The Breakfast Club,’” one of director John Hughes’ seminal Courtesy SFIAF films. In this performance, scenes from the Queer Cultural Center will co-present “Weighted Acceptance,” movie are embodied a dance performance by the Bahiya Movement. by the performers, who play with gender and Richter, performed by the Arturo SFIAF race, “using timing and comedic Areimas Theatre from Lithuania. From page 17 physicality to challenge the heteroYvette Dibos will perform as the normative terrain of this cinematic character “Miss Appropriation,” a Among the featured musical genre.” “Loserville” questions series of vignettes that address genperformances this year are Anthony how media affects perceptions of der, whiteness, and appropriations. Brown’s Asian American Orchestra race and sexuality, and links the idea According to the program, Dibos’ with activist and academic Angela of the loser with the experiences of show “critiques pop culture’s adopDavis, a lesbian, performing a mumarginalized communities. tion of historically iconic subversive sical concert, “Down by the RiverSteamroller is led by artistic diacts, specifically those that counter side,” which reflects Dr. King’s 1967 rector Jesselito Bie, a gay man who heteronormativity and white suspeech at the Riverside Church demoved to the Bay Area in 1992 to premacy.” nouncing the Vietnam War and the dance with the High Risk Group, Among the highlights of the U.S. military role around the world. has since performed with many queer performances is the world Related issues addressed this local companies, and has received premiere of “We Are All Dragons in year include “Under Ice,” about many awards for his choreograDrag” by choreographer Eric Kupers the dark side of market capital by phy. He is currently a lead artist at and his Dandelion ensemble. The leading German playwright Falk Safehouse Arts. Steamroller began

Entomologist’s

From page 20

Lindsay and Jeff meet cute. Too cute, really. Fearing a home infestation of bedbugs, she improbably phones the entomology lab at the Museum of Natural History for advice. He, naturally, invites her in for a consultation/flirtation. As Lindsay makes herself a regular presence at the museum, Betty (and surely most of the audience) jumps to the conclusion that this chirpy-voiced, flapper-physiqued, cookie-baking visitor is inherently below Jeff’s caliber. And certainly far beneath her own.

But the biologist’s impulse toward rigid taxonomy is disrupted when Andy (Will Springhorn, Jr.) sits down beside Betty on a park bench uninvited. Hulking and highbrowed (in both senses of the word), he’s a janitor who casually references “War and Peace” and is two steps ahead of every assumption Betty will soon make about him. Convincingly at home in his character’s skin, Springhorn, who looks like a handsomer Nicholas Cage, plays Andy with a touch of naturalism that goes a long way toward keeping the play from slipping from rom-com into sitcom.

The introduction of Andy with all his ambiguities also deepens Prince’s portrayal of Betty. Elements of caricature slip away. Both character and actress seem to molt their confining superficialities, and in that last speech, spread their wings. Ross’ script, Giovanna Sardelli’s direction and the entire cast’s performances all get tighter and smarter in the home stretch. Overall the ensemble’s terrific chemistry and timing are enough to compensate for what feels like a significant flaw in the script, which is only compounded by some of Sardelli’s production choices:

San Francisco Opera

Tenor Brandon Jovanovich will reprise his roles of Froh in “Das Rheingold” and Siegmund in “Die Walkure.”

rehearsal time with Brenna and Theorin. Cast members already in place will assist in creating a cohesive ensemble. The production’s creative team reunites to utilize the latest technological advances, especially in revised lighting and projection designs. The 2011 “Ring” was visually striking. 2018 is going High-Def. It’s the Olympics of opera, and SFO is confidently accommodating

the rush of international musiclovers and “Ring” cultists to the War Memorial. LGBT Pride Month visitors and locals looking for a big cultural fix are snapping up tickets (already at 90% sold), but some complete cycles and individual performances are still available. Ancillary events are happening all over town.t

in 1993, when a loosely knit group of artists came together to create guerrilla performances to address the spread of HIV/AIDS to other communities, such as women and people of color. From Taiwan, the Tainaner Ensemble presents a one-man play, “Solo Date,” in which a man tries to reconstruct his deceased lover through artificial intelligence and social media. Pao-Chang Tsai, the co-founder of the group, tells the story of Ho-Nien, a successful international businessman from Taiwan, whose longtime lover and partner Alan is killed in an air crash. Co-presented by the Queer Cultural Center, “Solo Date” uses new media to explore “loneliness and longing, desire, death, human loss, and need.” It also “asks profound questions about amorality and the ethics of the interactive technologies humankind increasingly relies on,” according to the program. Queer Cultural Center is also copresenting “Weighted Acceptance,” a dance performance by the Bahiya Movement. The performance fuses dance, music and poetic storytelling that explore the intersectional oppression faced by people of color. This multidisciplinary performance “seeks to heal urban communities by deepening the understanding of weights people of color collectively carry.” A panel of queer artists – Bie from Steamroller, Kupers of Dandelion, and Pao-Chang Tsai of the Tainaner Ensemble – will focus on

LGBT themes as they have developed within contemporary theatre over the last three decades, and make predictions about the future. The panel, which is free, will be moderated by gay actor and producer Brian Freeman. Two lesbians, aerialist Melodie Couture and trapeze artist Sara Duell, are among the performers of the all-female Canadian nouveaucirque ensemble Cirquantique, which will present the U.S. debut of “Bang Bang,” a fusion of burlesqueinspired acrobatic acts and live music. The production portrays the dark world of Prohibition-era Quebec, with artists from Montreal’s underground circus scene offering “a night of transgression and rebelling against false temperance, in a parallel universe where speakeasies proliferate, bootlegging is rampant, and the black market rules.” In addition, Troupe Vertigo from Los Angeles (whose artistic director Aloysia Gavre has known global acclaim as a soloist with Cirque du Soleil, but is even more highly regarded in the Bay Area because she was an original member of the Pickle Circus) explores how women use weight and balance to embrace mutual trust and support. For further information about the festival and ticket availability, see the festival website, www.sfiaf. org. Tickets range from $12 to $35, with passes and discounts available. The festival also offers a number of free events, educational activities, and parties.t

While the firefly finale works like a charm, the overall conceit of the main characters being entomologists, and the title of the show for that matter, is awkward. The evening opens and closes with Betty directly addressing the audience, delivering lectures on insect mating behavior. There are enormous projected images of praying mantis bed-death, honeybee horniness and, d’ohh!, Madonna. She’s a man-eating queen bee. Get it? But these creepy-crawly metaphors don’t reemerge within the body of drama, and the fact that Betty and Jeff happen to focus on

insects in their work is largely superfluous to the plot and its themes. Sardelli further embellishes this misbegotten motif with looming projections of dragonflies (also designed by Theodore Hulsker). In the end, despite a few bugs in the program, “An Entomologist’s Love Story” makes for a fine spring evening’s entertainment. Amidst the relentless nastiness of our daily news, its humane perspectives and credibly upbeat conclusion are a pleasure and a balm.t

More info: sfopera.com

Through June 23. Tickets from $35. www.sfplayhouse.org.

Arts Events

BARchive

Nightlife Events Vol. 48 • No. 21 • May 24-30, 2018

www.ebar.com V www.bartabsf.com

Nellie McKay

Swingin’ singer-songwriter at Feinstein’s

by Jim Gladstone

“I

’m not sure that the world needs more music,” says Nellie McKay on a recent phone call, ostensibly arranged to discuss her June 1 gig at Feinstein’s at the Nikko, and her new album songbook standards, Sister Orchid. “I think there’s already plenty out there.” See page 26 >>

Nellie McKay at Joe’s Pub in New York City.

by David-Elijah Nahmod

uesday nights at The Midnight Sun are the newest Gaymer nights in the Bay Area. These evenings, which co-organizer Saul Sugarman promises will be loads of fun for gay geeks and their friends, will feature popular video games that focus on cooperative play, like Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros, Mario Kart, and Just Dance. There’s also a number of board and tactile games, like jumbo-sized Jenga, beer pong, and Drunk Twister. So what’s a gaymer? See page 27 >>

Gayming guru Saul Sugarman ponders the challenge of a Just Dance board.

{ THIRD OF THREE SECTIONS }

<< Cabaret

26 • Bay Area Reporter • May 24-30, 2018

Nellie McKay

From page 25

So it goes with this one-time next big thing, a singer-songwriter whose 2004 debut recording was a splendid double album. The nineteen-yearold McKay had a seemingly effortless ability to glide from swinging jazz ballads to spiky rap pastiche. “A tour de force,” hailed The New York Times. The range of McKay’s

repertoire, her incredibly pure tone with its wispy feathered edges, and her ingenious sweet/tart songwriting all seemed harbingers of major stardom. Then again, she titled her album Get Away From Me. A tidal push and pull has marked McKay’s career ever since. Fundamentally resistant to the fame machine, she’s slipped in and out of the public eye, sporadically releasing a

half dozen more albums, appearing on Broadway with Alan Cumming and Cyndi Lauper in The ThreeNellie McKay penny Opera, working on a sinceabandoned musical adaptation of Tom Perrota’s novel Election, and occasionally collaborating with David Byrne. She’s also developed a reputation for being erratic and distractible. In part, that’s due to her intense commitment to non-showbiz pursuits, including animal rights, the anti-nuclear movement and a general contempt toward American politics. But the buzz among recording industry and talent booking vets is that McKay is often wildly emotional and prone to offstage meltdowns. Remarkably though, according to one promoter who has struggled with McKay behind the scenes, “Once she hits the spotlight, she pulls it altogether, and the audience loves her.” Self-promotional interviews, however, are among the dark arts of celebrity that McKay isn’t particularly comfortable dabbling in. Her needle tends to skip grooves. “I’m not encouraging anyone to buy my records,” she told the Bay Area Reporter. “It’s better to just buy old things. I’ve been listening to an album of old player piano rolls. It’s wonderful. It’s the perfect accompaniment for making homemade dog food with things like ginger and pineapple, carrots and lentils.” Nice. Yum. Would you like to tell our readers just a little bit about your new music? “Right, of course,” McKay says before erupting into a stream of consciousness. “I’m just not sure more music is what we need now. There’s plenty that we do need: Mass movements of civil disobedience. Single payor healthcare. Opposition to factory farms. We have existential crises like climate change—animal agriculture is the number one reason for that, because it creates carbon and eliminates biomass. And it’s too easy to point to Trump. He’s a symptom, of capitalism, of the two-party system.” Perhaps the best approach is to go with the flow. Take cues from the performer. Drop the planned questions and ask more about the state of the world. So…Nellie, you were a guest on Prairie Home Companion quite a few times; have the #MeToo movement and the allegations about Garrison Keillor led you think any differ- Four of Nellie McKay’s seven albums. ently about that experience? “Well, there’s a woman in Saint

Paul who says she’s been treated shabbily. But there are things we know are true that are not only tolerated but celebrated. The drone program! The guy in there now is using them, but Obama launched ten times as many as any president before him. These are thermobaric weapons! They suck the air out of the lungs of their victims. That’s a much worse case of unwanted touching than anything that’s being talked about by most people.”

Audio & activism

From her earliest recordings, McKay has always displayed both an activist bent and a gift for satire, able to upturn suburban tropes in an effort to refocus listeners’ views of the world. In “I Wanna Get Married,” on her first album, she sings: “I wanna get married/I need to cook meals/I want to pack cute little lunches/For my Brady Bunches/Then read Danielle Steele…I wanna get married/That’s why I was born.” Her songwriting is pointed and sharp, able to address big ideas with humor and specificity. So why is she feeling so much less energized by her musical projects these days? “I used to think a song could change the world, but it can’t,” says McKay. “At its best it’s an opioid, or maybe a Quaalude. It can lift you out of the present and buoy you. Johnny Mathis removes people from reality. But there’s already plenty of music we can escape to. “And why not. We need to escape. Whattaya gonna do? We don’t have a universal basic income that would provide basic rent, food, and clothing. Everywhere you look around the city, you see what I call the Young Fungi. You know what that means? Fucked Up Narcissistic Green Idiots.” Oh, Nellie. Is there anything that brings you joy in this world? “The beach? My dog? A soak in the tub, maybe?” she responds ambivalently. Then Nellie McKay pauses, and replies with what sounds like certainty: “What’s a real joy is when I’m in line at the Dollar Store and someone tells a good joke.”t Nellie McKay, Friday, June 1 at 8 p.m. $22.50-$50 ($20 food/ drink min). Feinstein’s at the Nikko, 222 Mason St. www.feinsteinssf.com www.nelliemckay.com

Nightlife>>

May 24-30, 2018 • Bay Area Reporter • 27

Saul Sugarman

Drunk Twister at Gayming Night at The Midnight Sun.

Gay Gaymes

From page 25

“I could tell you a gaymer is simply a gay guy or person who plays games,” Sugarman tells Bay Area Reporter. “But I think there’s more to it. Nowadays, we have Vin Diesel and Stephen Colbert playing Dungeons & Dragons. Mila Kunis plays World of Warcraft. And I think San Francisco has adopted geek culture: arcade venues like Brewcade and Emporium SF have opened in recent years, and there’s also Folsom Street Foundry that puts on routine game nights.” Sugarman noted that there was a time when playing games came with a bit of a stigma. “When I was growing up, gaming and geekery in general was not something you wanted to be associated with,” he recalled. “People called you a geek as an insult, and the same was true about being gay. I grew up in the ‘burbs. So gaymers, to me, are people who have been courageous enough to embrace two identities that haven’t always been part of mainstream culture. I think they’re a community unto itself that overlaps but is still apart from someone who simply enjoys playing games.” Geoffrey Norman, the current leader of SF Gay Mafia, another Gaymer group, said, “With Gaymer nights, it’s gratifying to have a safe

place I feel I belong. Traditional San Francisco gay bar culture often feels intimidating and not as inclusive.” Daniel Irish, a Gaymer night attendee, and an investment banker in the video game industry, said, “Feeling the commonality of the childhood love of entertainment software is something I’ve always wanted to share. I grew up with video games and then pursued a career in the field. Video games and, by extension, Gaymer groups, bring an inclusiveness that spans income classes, backgrounds, and education levels. We all can love a game for what it offers to us and find others who share that love.”

Kids at Play

Sugarman’s love for gaming began at an early age and was instilled in him by his family. “Originally it was that my parents gave me a first generation Nintendo as a toddler,” he said. “But I long have touted my mother as my main inspiration. She introduced me to a lot of Sierra games like The Island of Dr. Brain and the Kings Quest series. Notably, my mom, my grandmother and I played most of the Myst series games together. Those memories are still some of my fondest growing up: sitting with my mom at an old desktop, trying to find our way off a mysterious island for hours. I don’t think we finished most of those

Console gaming at a recent Folsom Street Foundry event.

games without cheating.” Sugarman tells us that he was not the originator of Gaymer Night. “I came upon it in late 2014 when Jeff Arbildo was hosting one in the South of Market neighborhood,” he said. “At the time, I was a full-time journalist for a legal affairs newspaper, the SF Daily Journal. I was bored as hell and not long out of a breakup, still living with the ex and pretty unhappy with life. I suggested

Game Night at Oakland’s Club BnB.

Upcoming Gaymer Nights: Tuesdays @ Midnight Sun 4067 18th St. midnightsunsf.com

May 24 & 25 Game Vibes @ Folsom Foundry (not-LGBT-specific, but inclusive) 1425 Folsom St. www.folsomstreetfoundry.com

May 28 Gaymer Meetup @ Brewcade

June 19 @ Lookout

Weekly 7pm-11pm. 2200 Market St. www.brewcadesf.com

SF Gaymers Group:

June 8 @ SF Eagle 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com www.facebook.com/groups/ sfgaymers/

to Arbildo that we get the game Just Dance on a big screen.” Jeff Arbildo, the host of many gaymer nights, said, “As a kid, I used video games to escape reality, the same way adults use the bar scene to escape their reality. So once I leveled up and had experienced both, I wondered, why can’t we combine these escapes to craft something new? I never imagined back then how big the demand for such a thing would be. I’m proud that my short time working in San Francisco still resonates and is being kept alive. Never stop hitting that continue and reach for those extra life’s!” Sugerman took to Arbildo’s events. “I started showing up every month in a lot of sequin numbers,” he said. “My dances became a performance element of the event,” he said. “More people came, and eventually we moved to a monthly Friday slot, and Arbildo and I became business partners.” And now, as the Gaymer community grows, Sugarman takes pride in rolling out the welcome mat for all. “My events draw pretty much anyone who enjoys games, but I do tend to focus on making it a safe and enjoyable space for the Gaymer community specifically,” he said. “Many of them, I think, follow the stereotype of being maybe more shy or introverted. I strive to make an event where they feel comfortable but also that gets them out of their shell.” He’s also seeking to get a more diverse crowd of players to attend. “It’s a mixed age crowd,” he said. “In my personal life, I enjoy and encourage pretty big age differences in friendships and group settings. And women do attend. One of my closest friends dubs herself my assistant and tries to get other women out. The event is predominantly made up of gay men, but I’m always trying to add in new crowds so it doesn’t all skew to one type of person.”

Theresa Von Dohlen, Sugarman’s assistant at many events, said, “It’s a casual, fun atmosphere where I get to touch base with members of the community who I may not be able to interact with at more intense parties.” For Jose Cital (in a fab pink shirt in the Twister photo), “It feels like a safe space to gather because I know we’re all nerds, as opposed to normal bar culture which is very much image and hookup driven.” Sugarman explained Drunk Twister, a game we had not heard of before. “It was just a whacky idea,” he said. “I made Skittles-infused vodka in these bright colors that matched the game, and initially I’d billed it as, ‘Every spot gets a shot!’ Meaning every single circle you put a limb on, you got a corresponding shot in that color. I quickly realized this was a way to get people sick. So we basically just had regular Twister and handed out free shots whenever people were in precarious poses. Other drinks are also tied in with the game being played. “I like to do theme drinks that complement what I’m focusing on for a Gaymer night,” said Sugarman. “Last time, I spent a lot of energy on making Twister a thing, so I asked the bar to make a drink called the Drunk and Twisted. It was a bright red cocktail that used Smirnoff Sour Punch vodka. We’ve done a lot of Pokemon, Star Wars, and Sailor Moon drinks previously.” Gaymer Night has even raised money for good causes. They’ve partnered with the Imperial Court of San Francisco, raising more than $1,000 for the LGBT Asylum Project. To join in the fun, stop by at Midnight Sun, 4067 18th Street, on Tuesday evenings from 8pm until midnight. There is no cover charge and no drink minimum. Happy Gayming!t

<< Arts Events

28 • Bay Area Reporter • May 24-30, 2018

Sloane Kanter, Michelle Kilfeather @ Castro Country Club Lady Drag, an exhibit of photos of local drag personalities. 4058 18th St. www.castrocountryclub.org

Womxn, Omen, Women in Chinatown @ Chinese Cultural Center

Thu 24

Arts Events May 24-31

Jesus Christ Superstar @ Victoria Theatre

For full listings, visit www.ebar.com/events

Thu 24 Angels in America @ Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Can You Dig It? The ‘60s @ The Marsh

Works by Helen Pickett, Amy Seiwert and Val Caniparoli are performed in the Dance Series 02 concerts. $56-$72. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru May 27. 500 Castro St., Mountain View. smuinballet.org

Don Reed’s acclaimed autobiographical solo show recalls his groovy (and not so groovy) childhood. $20-$100. Sat 8:30pm, Sun 5:30pm. 1062 Valencia St. www.themarsh.org

Waafrika @ Live Oak Theatre, Berkeley

Classic & New Films @ Castro Theatre

What the Constitution Means to Me @ Berkeley Repertory Theatre

May 23 & 24: Ready Player One (5:15, 8pm) May 25-28: 2001: A Space Odyssey (unrestored 70MM print; 1pm, 4:30, 8pm). May 29: A Fistful of Dollars (7pm) and Dirty Harry (8:55). Reg. $11-$16. 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

The Color Purple @ Orpheum Theatre Touring company of the Tonywinning Broadway revival musical based on Alice Walker’s best-selling novel about African American women in the South. $55-$246. TueSat 8pm. Wed, Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru May 27. 1192 Market St. www.shnsf.com

The Congresswoman @ Exit Theatre Stuart Bousel’s contemporary adaptation of Aristophanes’ play about communities and political corruption. $15. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru May 26. 156 Eddy St. theexit.org

An Entomologist’s Love Story @ SF Playhouse Melissa Ross’ comic play about two bug scientists at the Museum of Natural History. $30-$100. Tue-Sun thru June 23. 450 Post St. www.sfplayhouse.org

Father Comes Home From the War @ Geary Theatre American Conservatory Theater and Yale Repertory Theatre’s production of Suzan-Lori Parks’s epic drama trilogy inspired by Homer’s The Odyssey, reset during the U.S. Civil War. $35-$85. Thru May 20. 415 Geary St. www.act-sf.org

Jesus Christ Superstar @ Victoria Theatre Ray of Light Theatre company’s new all-women production of the classic Weber-Rice musical/operetta about the last days of Jesus. $15-$40. Thu-Sat 8pm. some other nights and matinees. Thru June 9. 2961 16th St. http://rayoflighttheatre.com

Luna Merbruja @ Dog Eared Books The Mexican-Athabaskan author of Trauma Queen reads from and discusses her work. 7pm. 489 Castro St. www.dogearedbooks.com

Theatre First’s production of Nick Hadikwa Mwaluko’s drama about a Kenyan transgender teen facing traditional pressures from hir tribe. $20-$25. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru June 2. 1301 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. http://theatrefirst.com/

Heidi Schreck’s Obie-winning solo show about her childhood speeches about the Constitution, and the document’s multi-generation effect it had on women in her family. $17$62. Thru June 17. Peet’s Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. www.berkeleyrep.org

Windows for Harvey @ Castro Businesses Celebration of Harvey Milk, with a mural, art tributes in shop windows, and other events. Thru May 27. www.facebook.com/ windowsforharvey/

Fri 25 Alexander Nowik @ Et Al Gallery Opening reception for the local artist’s paintings and drawings. 6pm-9pm. Thru June 23. 620 Kearny St. http://etaletc.com/#/galleries/1/ shows/83

Flash Gordon: Live! @ Exit Theatre Comic stage adaptation of the campy 1980 space opera film loosely based on the comic series. $20. Fri & Sat thru May 26. 156 Eddy St. http://www.theexit.org

Mon 28 Anand Vedawala @ Strut Hot Chachas, an exhibit of the artist’s South Asian-themed queer multimedia works. Thru May. 470 Castro St. https://strutsf.org

Smuin Ballet @ Mountain View Center for the Arts

Tony Kushner’s multiple awardwinning two-part epic drama about the 1980s, AIDS and politics, returns to the Bay Area, with Randy Harrison, Stephen Spinella and Caldwell Tidicue. $40-$100. Tue-Sat 7pm. Most Wed, Thu Sat & Sun also 1pm. Thru July 22. 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. www.berkeleyrep.org

Exhibit of works by Bijun Liang, Shisi Huang and Vida Kuang that challenge gender roles and equity in communities. Thu-Sun 11am-4pm, thru June 17. 41 Ross Alley. www.cccsf.us

Live in the Castro @ Jane Warner Plaza The outdoor entertainment series returns, with musicians and MC Donna Sachet. 12pm. Castro St at Market. www.castrocbd.org

Marjorie Prime @ Marin Theatre Company New local production of Jordan Harrison’s stunning drama about an elderly woman whose programmed companion brings funny and haunting surprises. $25-$60. Thru May 27. 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley www.marintheatre.org

Priscilla Queen of the Desert @ Gateway Theatre Encore run of Theatre Rhinoceros’ hit 2017 production of the comic drag play based on the Australian film about queens on a road trip, with plenty of costumes and dance numbers. $15-$20. Wed-Sat 8pm. Also Sat 3pm. Thru June 30. 215 Jackson St. www.therhino.org

Sun 27 Ralph Steadman, Emek @ Haight Street Art Center

Unearthed @ California Academy of Sciences Exhibits and planetarium shows with various live, interactive and installed exhibits about animals, plants and the earth. $20-$35. Mon-Sat 9:30am-5pm. Sun 11am-5pm. 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. 379-8000. calacademy.org

Westward @ City Hall Exhibit of large-scale photos by women photographers focusing on West Coast communities. Reception, 5:30-7:30pm. Thru May 2019. North Light Court, Ground Floor, 1 Dr Carlton B Goodlett Place. www.sfartscommission.org

Tue 29 Centennial Reckoning @ War Memorial Performing Arts Center Preview of a site-specific dancetheatre work-in-progress by Echo Theater Suitcase and KD Moving Ground, with a theme of LGBT and immigrant service members stories from WWI to today. Free (walking, standing, sitting in various building locations; wheelchair accessible). 6pm. 401 Van Ness Ave. www.sfartscommission.org

Whatever Happened to Susan Jane? @ SF Public Library

Exhibit of the illustrator known for Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, and the psychedelic rock concert poster designer. Free. Wed-Sat 11am-5pm. 215 Haight St. at Laguna. www.haightstreetart.org

Screening of Marc Huestis’ wild camp one-hour film about a woman’s journey into the strange 1980 San Francisco scene. Free. 5pm.Koret Auditorium, lower level, 100 Larkin St. https://sfpl.org/index. php?pg=1032976501

Richard Wagner Concert @ St. Mark’s Lutheran Church

Will Durst @ The Marsh

Soprano Ann Moss, violinist Justin Ouellet and pianist Steven Bailey perform works in celebration of the composer’s 105th birthday, with champagne/dessert reception. Free. 4pm. 1111 O’Farrell St. wagnersf.org

The satirical comic returns with his politically-themed show, Durst Case Scenario. $20-$100. 8pm. Tuesdays thru May 29. 1062 Valencia St. www.themarsh.org

Wed 30 Bebe Neuwirth @ Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek The Emmy and Tony-winning Broadway and TV actress-singerdancer performs her new cabaret show. $65-$100. 7pm. 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek. www.lesherartscenter.org

Divine Bodies @ Asian Art Museum New exhibit of sculptures and works about the Buddha, humans and their environments; thru July 29. Free$20. Tue-Sun 10am-5pm. 200 Larkin St. www.asianart.org

René Magritte: The Fifth Season @ SF MOMA New exhibit of 70 artworks by the master Surrealist painter; thru Oct. 28. Free/$25. Fri-Tue 10am-6pm. 151 3rd St. www.sfmoma.org

Silent Film Festival @ Castro Theatre 23rd annual screenings of classic cinema from around the world, with live musical accompaniment. $15-$25. Thru June 3. 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

Thu 31 The Art of Rube Goldberg @ Contemporary Jewish Museum Art work and ephemera by the creative contraption illustrator and comic artist, thru July 8. Also, Contraption: Rediscovering California Jewish Artists, a new group exhibit of works by 16 artists. 736 Mission St. www.thecjm.org

Barn Owl @ CounterPulse Evan Johnson ( Pansy, Don’t Feel: The Death of Dahmer) presents a visually stunning show about UFOs, California cults, and queer cosmologies. $20-$35. Thu-Sat 8pm. 80 turk St. www.counterpulse.org

Empowerment in Print @ GLBT History Museum Empowerment in Print: LGBTQ Activism, Pride & Lust, a mini-exhibit of periodicals from the collection.. $5. 4127 18th St. glbthistory.org

Velocity Entertainment @ Gregangelo Museum Magician Jade is the featured performer at the colorful magical venue’s special night, with soft drinks and dinner. $75. 7pm-10pm. 225 San Leandro Way. www.gregangelo.com To submit event listings, email events@ebar.com Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication.

Roman Women @ Palace of Fine Arts We Players outdoor environmental drama, a variation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, set amid the historic columns of the park, with live music and walking tour of scenes. $60. FriSun 6:30pm, 7pm. Thru June 3. 3301 Lyon St. http://www.weplayers.org

Sat 26 The $18 Billion Prize @ Phoenix Theatre Phelim McAleer’s new drama about an environmental activist, rainforest natives, and oil company invasion, with a twist! $15-$30. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 3pm thru June 3. 414 Mason St. 18billion.brownpapertickets.com

Sat 26

Priscilla Queen of the Desert @ Gateway Theatre

BARchive>>

May 24-30, 2018 • Bay Area Reporter • 29

Laverne, surely

Celebrating a Jewel Box Revue and Finocchio’s favorite

J.D. Doyle

Laverne Cummings in the program for a 1983 Finocchio’s show, in and out of costumes, and preparing before a show.

by Michael Flanagan

hen Laverne Cummings died in a pedestrian accident in Las Vegas on March 22, 2018, we lost more than an astounding artist, vocalist and female impersonator. We lost a connection to a world that is quickly fading from view. Cummings not only worked at Finocchio’s for 26 years, but was a performer in the Jewel Box Revue as well. It took considerable courage to be a performer in the early decades of his career. Paul Laverne Cummings was born in Santa Ana in 1927. In a 1977 article in the San Francisco Examiner he related how he got his start. “When I was in high school I was in the choir,” he said. “I was always told to sing lower, but I wanted to be a soprano. After high school, some friends took me to audition at the Club Continental, a gay night club owned by Mickey Cohen.” I contacted Jon Ponder, editor of Sunset Strip history site Playground to the Stars (www.playgroundtothestars.com) to ask about Cohen and L.A. female impersonator bars. Ponder told me that the Continental was not gay and did not feature cross-dressing acts and it is more likely that Cummings performed at the Flamingo Club (1027 N. La Brea), which it is suspected Cohen controlled. The Flamingo Club closed in 1951, after Cummings had left for Florida. Cummings moved to Miami in 1950 to work with the Jewel Box Revue. The Revue has roots back to the ‘30s, and began touring in 1942. It was unique in that it was established by two gay partners, Danny Brown and Doc Benner. Cummings (whose drag name was sometimes spelled Lavern) was not the only L.A. transplant in the company. Headliner Jackie Maye had moved from the Flamingo Club to the Jewel Box and was a headliner there by the early ‘50s, so perhaps Cummings followed Maye. You may think female imper-

sonator acts only performed in sophisticated urban area, but while Cummings was with the group they performed at places like the Village Hotel in Erie, Pennsylvania; Andre’s Tic-Toc Club in Syracuse, New York and the Schwartz Hotel in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Clearly they performed far and wide and exposed a large portion of the country to their talents. But the revue performed in large cities as well, and Cummings was in the company when it performed at the Garden of Allah (a gay-owned cabaret in Seattle) in the mid-Fifties. This troupe was groundbreaking in another manner as well. During the 1950s, they were a racially integrated troupe. The essay “Sliding Scales” by Elizabeth Drorbaugh, in the book Crossing The Stage: Controversies on Cross-Dressing reports: “Unusual for its time, the Jewel Box Revue was a multiracial troupe which included at one point white, black, Latino and (one) Native American performers. Touring the Deep South during times of legislated bigotry was doubly risky for the interracial company of gender impersonators.” With the Jewel Box, Cummings also did independent shows, and that was how he first came to San Francisco to perform at the Beige Room in August, 1954. By 1956 Cummings was billed as being a “soprano, direct from San Francisco” when playing Rudy’s Blue Star in Meadville, Pennsylvania. The first record of his performing at Finocchio’s is from the After Night Falls column in the San Francisco Chronicle from Nov. 3, 1956: “Laverne Cummings, new songstar in Finocchio’s elaborate revues, comes from Miami night clubs.” After Night Falls was a nightlife column by “The Owl” (Chronicle writer Harold “Dutch” Schaefer). Cummings was a favorite and was featured often in the paper (usually with a photo). Schaefer seemed taken by Cummings split vocal technique (Cummings was both a so-

prano and a baritone and would often drop his voice while singing and do some phrases in a lower voice). I think Schaefer was referring to this technique when he wrote on March 23, 1957: “LaVerne Cummings, the Blonde Debutante of Song, is the most controversial female impersonator ever to appear in Finocchio’s Lavish Revue.” Far more often, however, The Owl wrote of the glamour associated with Cummings performances. Typical of this was a column from July 4, 1964: “New at Finocchio’s: Flashy new acts are being presented by the singing stars LaVerne Cummings and Al St. Claire, in Finocchio’s current musical revue and the add a lot of what Joe Finocchio calls ‘glamourous zip’ to the show. Both singers are masters at the art of impersonating glamour gals of the glamourous type. They also are expert at wearing gorgeous gowns with fetching grace, for which Finocchio’s is world-famous.” Cummings continued performing at Finocchio’s until 1982, establishing a presence in San Francisco exemplified by the Examiner article, which presented a biography as well as a ‘how-to’ article that gave tips on how to properly do drag. Cummings was well-loved by his coworkers as well. David de Alba, who began working with him at Finocchio’s in 1969, maintains a website with information on his own performance history, which also includes a tribute page to Cummings (http://www.david-de-alba. com/david9.htm). De Alba is also responsible for several videos of Cummings which are available on YouTube. Holly White worked with Cummings at Finocchio’s in the ‘70s, and reflected on his life: “I talked to Laverne Cummings a week before the accident. He had been planning a return to the small stage in Vegas. He would sing as a man, his ‘falsetto,’ high voice had long since gone. He still had his lovely voice talent and tone and technique. He would have pictures of himself in drag on the stage and wanted two showgirls to parade as he sang his old songs at the club. He was still full of life and ambition at 90 years!” LGBT history has not been kind to female impersonators, seeing them as somehow apart from the community, and as entertainment for straight tourists. But it is important to remember that many performers lived in the community and paid a high price for their art. In the Examiner article, Cummings said, “My parents are dead. They never saw me perform, although they did see pictures. They were strict Protestants.” These performers also had an effect on their audiences. In the documentary Storme: Lady of the Jewel Box, Bobby Schiffman, former manager of the Apollo Theater reflected on the Jewel Box Revue. “It was a show that people came back to see time and time again. The audience supported the community.” There are few performers from Finocchio’s still living, but they still have stories to tell. Reflecting on this history, David de Alba wrote, “The problem in Life is that a lot of people wait too long to do things and wait until a person dies in order to come up with tributes.” The story of this fascinating era deserves to be told.t The author would like to thank David de Alba, Holly White and Mel Domingo for their assistance with this article and JD Doyle for inspiration.

Playmates and soul mates...

San Francisco:

1-415-692-5774 Megamates.com 18+

<< Nightlife Events

30 • Bay Area Reporter • May 24-30, 2018

Domingo De Escandal @ Club OMG Weekly Latin night with drag shows hosted by Vicky Jimenez and DJ Carlitos. (Comedy Open Mic 5:30pm). 7pm-2am. 43 6th St. clubomgsf.com

GlamaZone @ The Cafe

Mon 28

Munro’s at Midnight @ Midnight Sun

Nightlife Events May 24-31 For full listings, visit www.ebar.com/events

Thu 24 Junk @ Powerhouse MrPam and Dulce de Leche cohost the weekly underwear strip night and contest, with sexy prizes. $5. 10pm2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

The Monster Show @ The Edge The weekly drag show with host Sue Casa, DJ MC2, themed nights and hilarious fun. $5. 9pm-2am. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Pastel Gore @ The Stud Nerdy punk drag tributes to classic horror flicks, with Dragula’s Erika Klash, Cash Monet, Rock M. Sakura and other acts & DJ Tweaka Turner. $5-$10. 10pm-2am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Picante @ The Cafe Lulu and DJ Marco’s Latin night with sexy gogo guys. 9pm-2am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Rice Rockettes @ Lookout Local and visiting Asian drag queens’ weekly show with DJ Philip Grasso. $5. 10:30pm show. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

Sundance Saloon @ Space 550 The Country-Western line-dancing two-stepping dance event celebrates 20 years. Free thru April 29; $5 after. 5pm-10:30pm. Also Sundays. 550 Barneveld Ave. www.sundancesaloon.org

Prism @ Qube Bar & Grill, San Mateo New weekly LGBT night at the Peninsula restaurant and bar. 8pm11:30pm. 4000 South El Camino Real, San Mateo. https://qubelyfe.com/

Steam @ Powerhouse Bath house fun with towel-clad gogo studs, wet towel contest and clothes check. $5. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Honey Mahogany showcases performers of color; May 25 is a benefit for the Compton’s Cafeteria Cultural District. $10. 10pm-4am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

La Bomba Latina @ Club OMG Drag show with DJ Jaffeth. $5. 9pm2am. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Friday Night Live @ El Rio Enjoy the weekly queer and LGBTfriendly live acoustic concerts. $5pm. 3158 Mission St. www.elriosf.com

Growlr @ SF Eagle DJ Byron Bonsall plays grooves at the cubs and chubs cruisefest. $5. 9pm2am. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Latin Explosion @ Club 21 The popular Latin club includes drag shows, with gogo guys, drink specials and table reservations available. $10$20. 10pm-3am. 2111 Franklin St., Oakland. www.club21oakland.com

Oakland’s Hoodslam brings campy pro wrestling, 90s style. $20. 3pm-6pm. 289 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Tropic of Eden @ Oasis Reggae, Dancehall, Global and House grooves with DJs Deity and Nicki the DJ, tripocal drink specials. $10. 2pm8pm. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Uhaul SF @ The Stud

Mon 28

This Charming Band @ Rickshaw Stop

Munro’s at Midnight @ Midnight Sun

Morrissey birthday bash with The Smiths cover band, DJs Omar and Aaron Axelson. $13-$15. 9pm. 155 Fell St. www.rickshawstop.com

Drag night with Mercedez Munro. No cover. 10pm. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

Sat 26 Bearracuda @ SF Eagle DJs Trevor Sigler and Jordee spin at the ursine Crotch Carnival, with clothes check, sexy tiems for big men. $5-$10. 9pm-2am. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Harder @ The Stud DJs Eric Bloom, Oscar Pineda and Siobhan Aluvalot spin ultra-groovy grooves. $10-$15. 9pm-4am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Lips and Lashes Brunch @ Lookout

Mother @ Oasis

Black Fridays @ The Stud

Sexy Good Time Wrestle Show @ Oasis

Themed kink/fetish/costume dance party, this time military outfits. $5$15. 10pm-2am. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Access Happy Hour @ Oasis

The weekly happy hour event for bearded guys and the beard fans who like them, with DJ Brian Kent. 5pm9pm. 4149 18th St. www.edgesf.com

Enjoy the weekly jock-ular fun, with DJed dance music at sports team fundraisers. 12pm-1am. NY DJ Sharon White from 3pm-6pm. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

Taboo @ Oasis

Fri 25 Beards & Booze @ The Edge

Jock @ The Lookout

The women’s dance party goes flannel-style, with DJs Jibbz and China G. $10. 9pm-2am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Weekly show with soul, funk and Motown grooves hosted by Carnie Asada, with DJs Becky Knox and Pumpkin Spice. The yummy brunch menu starts at 12pm, with the show at 1:30pm. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

The Big Shebang, a drag show. 7pm. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Pollo del Mar’s weekly drag show takes on different themes with a comic edge. 8:30-11:30pm. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Musical Mondays @ The Edge Sing along to shows tunes on video, lip-synched, and live, at the Castro bar. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Piano Bar 101 @ Martuni’s Sing-along night with talented locals, and charming accompanist Joe Wicht. 9pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market.

Underwear Night @ 440 Strip down to your skivvies at the popular men’s night. 9pm-2am. 440 Castro St. 621-8732. the440.com

Tue 29 Cock Shot @ Beaux The weeknight party gets Folsomy, with leather gear dress code, $100 kink gear contest; host Leo Forte, DJ Chad Bays, and special guest porn pup Eddie Danger. No cover. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Hysteria Comedy @ Martuni’s Open mic for women and queer comics, with host Irene Tu. 6pm-8pm. 4 Valencia St.

Karaoke Night @ The Stud Sing Till It Hurts with hostess Sister Flora; 2 for 1 happy hour, no cover, plus raffle prize drawings. 8pm-2am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Naked Night @ Nob Hill Theatre Strip down with the strippers at the clothing-optional night. $20. 9pm. 729 Bush St. at Powell. 397-6758. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

Vice Tuesdays @ Q Bar Queer femme and friends dance party with hip hop, Top 40 and throwbacks at the stylish intimate bar, with DJs Val G and Iris Triska. 9pm-2am. 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

Wed 30 B.P.M. @ Club BnB, Oakland Olga T and Shugga Shay’s weekly queer women/men’s R&B hip hop/soul night. Free. 8pm-2am. 2120 Broadway, Oakland. bench-and-bar.com

Gigante @ Port Bar, Oakland Juanita MORE! and DJ Frisco Robbie’s new weekly event, with Latin, Hip Hop and House music, salacious gogo gals and guys and a drag show. $5. 9pm-2am. 2023 Broadway, Oakland. www.portoakland.com

Revamped night at the popular hip hop and Latin dance club. $5-$15. 9pm to 3am. 2120 Broadway. (510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Sun 27 Aftermath @ SF Eagle T-dance with DJs Benjamin Vallery, Cole, Davi A and Charlotte the Baroness. $5-$10. 7pm-12am. 398 12th St. at Harrison. sf-eagle.com

Dirty Musical Sundays @ The Edge Sing along at the popular musical theatre night, with a bawdy edge; also Mondays and Wednesdays (but not dirty). 7pm-2am. 2 for 1 cocktail, 5pm-closing. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

The Oakland band plays their multigenere gypsy punk rock, with Larry and His Flask, and Acousta Noir. $15$18. 9pm. 1233 17th St. www.bottomofthehill.com

Mommie Queerest @ Oasis Peaches Christ and Heklina’s campy drag musical parody the Joan Crawford biopic. $27-$40. 7pm. Wed, Fri & Sat 7pm, thru June 9. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Pan Dulce @ Beaux Drag divas, gogo studs, DJed Latin grooves and drinks. May 30, Chi Chi DeVayne performs. 9pm-2am (free before 10:30pm). 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Queeraoke @ El Rio Dulce de Leche and Rahni NothingMore, Beth Bicoastal, Ginger Snap and Thee Pristine Condition perform, plus karaoke for queens. 9pm. 3158 Mission St. elriosf.com

Thu 31 Literary Speakeasy @ Martuni’s James J. Siegel hosts the monthly reading series at the popular martini bar, this time with Rohan DaCosta, Rebecca Gomez Farrell, Bud Gundy, Chad Koch and Riss Rosado. 7pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market.

Queer Karaoke @ Club OMG KJ Dana hosts the weekly singing night; unleash your inner American Idol; first Thursdays are Costume Karaoke; 3rd is Kinky Karaoke 8pm. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Tubesteak Connection @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge Disco guru DJ Bus Station John spins grooves at the intimate retro music night. 10pm-2am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.com Want your nightlife event listed? Email events@ebar.com, at least two weeks before your event. Event photos welcome.

Massage>>

SEXY ASIAN $60 Jim 415-269-5707 MASSAGE ASIAN MALE

In Sunnyvale. Incall $60; Outcall $80. Call 408-893-1966

Onyx @ Powerhouse

The Playground @ Club BNB, Oakland

Junk Parlor @ Bottom of the Hill

Personals

Heklina’s popular drag show, with special guests and great music themes. DJ MC2 plays grooves. May 26 is a Madonna Tribute. $10-$20. 10pm-3am (11:30pm show). 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com Boots & leather-themed happy hour for men of color and their pals, with DJ Blackstone. $5. 6pm-9pm. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

MEN TO MEN MASSAGE

I’m a Tall Latin Man. If you’re looking, I’m the right guy for you. My rates are $90/hr & $130/90 min. My work hours are 10 a.m. to midnite everyday. 415515-0594 Patrick call or text. See pics on ebar.com

“To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.” — Emily Dickinson

SENSUAL FULL BODY MASSAGE 415-350-0968

Models>> FABULOUS F**K BOY

Model looks 6’ 150# 27yrs, 8” uncut beautiful tight yummy ass. Smoky sexuality erotic male nympho. Hndsm hedonist. Str8, gay, married men at yr apt, hotel, mansion! Greek god Nick 415-290-2639. Leather fetish fantasy roleplay kink dom sub group scenes mild to wild. Pretty boy with a dirty mind, romantic & unforgettable! $400/hr, $2000 overnight negotiable.

People>> HOT LOCAL MEN

TO PLACE YOUR PERSONALS AD, CALL 415-861-5019 FOR MORE INFO & RATES

Browse & Reply FREE! SF - 415-692-5774 1-888-MegaMates Free to Listen & Reply, 18+

Shining Stars>>

May 24-30, 2018 • Bay Area Reporter • 31

Shining Stars Steven Underhill Photos by

Jock Strap Happy Hour @ Powerhouse

unks in very little clothing helped promote the upcoming REAF Broadway Bares SF III, the third edition of the sexy strip musical revue, to be held at DNA Lounge on June 17. At the promo event at The Powerhouse on May 17, hunks offered drink specials and a generous view of their assets. Get tickets to Broadway Bares SF III at https://www.reaf-sf.org/ See plenty more photos on BARtab’s Facebook page, facebook.com/lgbtsf.nightlife. See more of Steven Underhill’s photos at StevenUnderhill.com.