May 26, 2016 edition of America's longest continuously published and highest weekly circulation LGBT

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

Vol. 46 • No. 21 • May 26-June 1, 2016

3 men sue SF Pride over shootings Rick Gerharter

A construction worker saws at the site of 55 Laguna.

Senior housing lottery delayed

by Matthew S. Bajko

T

he process to select the first residents of an affordable housing development in San Francisco aimed toward LGBT seniors has been delayed by several weeks.

The project sponsors had hoped that by late May applications would be made available for those interested in applying for 39 rental units being built inside Richardson Hall at 55 Laguna, with the lottery to select the residents being held sometime in late June.

Now it is expected that the applications will be ready sometime in early June and that the lottery will be held in early July. The exact dates have yet to be finalized.

The $16 million renovation of the former college building is the first stage of an estimated $40 million project that will result in 119 units of affordable senior housing split between two buildings. There will also be a senior services center on-site named after Bay Area Reporter founding publisher Bob Ross, who died in 2003.

The complex at the corner of Laguna and Hermann just off Market Street is a joint venture between Openhouse, a nonprofit LGBT senior services provider, and Mercy Housing California, which develops below-marketrate housing. Officials of the two agencies met Tuesday afternoon to discuss the application and lottery process, but did not reach any concrete decisions.

“No date yet set for running the application, beyond what we already knew, which is that it will be early June,” Joel Evans, Openhouse’s director of development and marketing, informed the B.A.R. following the meeting.

Set for completion by September, the first building of low-income senior housing will have a total of 40 apartments, one of which will be set aside for a resident manager and eight will be designated for people living with HIV at risk for homelessness. Any senior, whether LGBT or straight, who is at least 55 years of age and meets the income requirements for the below-market-rate units can apply.

As the B.A.R. reported last month, 16 of the units will be available to seniors who live in District 8 due to a rule the city adopted that sets aside 40 percent of the units in new affordable housing developments for people who live in the supervisorial district the project is located in, or within a half mile of the site.

The other 15 units will be awarded to eligible seniors whether or not they live or work in the city. Openhouse would like to see at least 3,000 LGBT seniors apply to live in the building and will be providing assistance next month to those who do on how to complete the application.

See page 14 >>

The crowd heads toward the LGBT Pride festival in Civic Center following the 2013 parade.

Rick Gerharter

by Seth Hemmelgarn

O

ne man who was shot and two brothers who were injured in recent San Francisco LGBT Pride celebrations are suing organizers, claiming that the organization overseeing the event has “knowingly and willfully failed to take adequate steps to prevent violence.”

Among other things, attorneys are asking for the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee to be prohibited from holding this

year’s festival, which is set for June 25-26.

But communications strategist Sam Singer, who’s working with the Pride Committee, told the Bay Area Reporter Wednesday, “Yes, Pride is happening as scheduled. We firmly believe the court will reject this attempt to intimidate San Francisco Pride, and we will be victorious.” The injunction would not apply to the parade.

Complaints were filed May 18 in San Francisco Superior Court saying that the annual celebration, which draws hundreds of thousands of peo-

ple, has “devolved into a violent shooting gallery.”

Freddy Atton, of San Francisco, was shot June 27, 2015, after “a large fight broke out” on Fulton Street west of Hyde, which was inside the festival perimeters. He claims in his lawsuit that the Pride Committee allowed someone “to bring a handgun into the celebration.”

“There was no security in sight to address the fight, to dissipate it, or to eject the combatants,” the complaint says, and the celebration See page 4 >>

Homeless youth agency holds open house

by Seth Hemmelgarn

A

San Francisco nonprofit that provides basic medical care, syringe access, and other services to homeless youth in the Upper Haight district recently invited neighbors to discuss concerns about its new office space.

More than two years ago, Homeless Youth Alliance had to move out of its drop-in center at 1696 Haight Street after the landlord decided not to renew the lease.

Since then, the agency has continued providing services, but without a building in which it could welcome clients. A supporter has allowed staff to use her home for office work.

In recent months, HYA has been working on moving into 607A Haight Street in the Lower Haight to use as office space. The location formerly housed the Vapor Room medical marijuana club.

The nonprofit held an open house at the site Wednesday, May 18 to address concerns that the space would draw young homeless people.

Monday, the Lower Haight Merchants and Neighbors Association asked the planning commission to review HYA’s permit application through the discretionary review process.

A handout made available last Wednesday says the office will be used for staff meetings and trainings, office work, outreach preparations, and similar activities.

“It is written into our lease that we cannot allow participants to enter the office for any reason,” the organization said. “All of our inter-

actions with participants will continue to take place, as they always have, in the Upper Haight close to Golden Gate Park, an area that has been an epicenter for youth experiencing homelessness for the past 40 years.”

The handout includes language from the lease that says HYA “is strictly prohibited from carrying out any of [its] services at the premises. ... The premises may only be used by employees and agents of the tenant to carry out the administrative tasks of the tenant.”

See page 11 >>

B.A.R. election endorsements SAN FRANCISCO RACES

Congress (Bay Area)

State Senate

Dist. 2: Jared Huffman Dist. 3: John Garamendi Dist. 5: Mike Thompson Dist. 11: Mark DeSaulnier Dist. 12: Nancy Pelosi Dist. 13: Barbara Lee Dist. 14: Jackie Speier Dist. 15: Eric Swalwell Dist. 17: Mike Honda Dist. 18: Anna Eshoo Dist. 19: Zoe Lofgren

Dist. 11: Scott Wiener

State Assembly Dist. 17: David Chiu Dist. 19: Phil Ting

Judges SF Superior Court Seat 7: Paul Henderson

SF DEMOCRATIC COUNTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE Dist. 17: Joshua Arce, Bevan Dufty, Zoe Dunning, Michael Grafton, Pratima Gupta, Shaun Haines, Frances Hsieh, Rafael Mandelman, Gary McCoy, Leah Pimentel, Rebecca Prozan, Alix Rosenthal, Francis Tsang, Scott Wiener Dist. 19: Kat Anderson, Keith Baraka, Joel Engardio, Mark Farrell, Sandra Lee Fewer, Tom Hsieh, Mary Jung, Rachel Norton, Marjan Philhour

CALIFORNIA PRIMARY President: Hillary Clinton Kelly Sullivan

Homeless Youth Alliance Executive Director Mary Howe, left, speaks with an open house attendee May 18.

Mary Howe, HYA’s executive director, said in an interview that she started doing outreach about the space in January, and she’s been “really clear about it being for office use only.”

There’s “an unfair perception that the young people we work with will automatically come here,” she said, adding, “I understand those are fears neighbors have, and I encourage dialogue around that.”

U.S. Senate: Kamala Harris

State Assembly (Bay Area) Dist. 15: Tony Thurmond Dist. 18: Rob Bonta Dist. 28: Evan Low

State Senate (Bay Area) Dist. 9: Nancy Skinner

CALIFORNIA PROPS Yes on 50

DISTRICT PROPS Yes on Measure AA

SAN FRANCISCO PROPS Yes on Props A, B, C, D, E

Remember to vote June 7!

{ FIRST OF THREE SECTIONS }

<< Community News

t Lesbian ex-SF cop claims retaliation by former chief 2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 26-June 1, 2016

by Seth Hemmelgarn

A

former San Francisco police officer has filed a claim against the city, saying recently departed Police Chief Greg Suhr forced her to retire after she went public with allegations that another officer had embezzled money from the LGBT police officers Pride Alliance.

Patricia Burley, a lesbian who was an officer with the San Francisco Police Department for about 22 years, said in an interview Monday that “Having to do the right thing isn’t easy,” and she feels “betrayed.”

“My career ended before I would have chosen it to, all for doing what I was sworn to do – report crimes and have a high moral compass,” Burley said. “It makes me sad.”

Burley, 54, says in her claim filed May 18 with the city controller’s office that she suffered lost retirement benefits and wages, along with “emotional distress.” The claim is a precursor to a possible lawsuit.

Former Officer Michael Evans, a gay man, pleaded not guilty in October to felony charges of grand theft and embezzlement. He allegedly stole more than $16,000 from the alliance when he was the group’s treasurer. Attorneys have been working toward a resolution, but John Campion, Evans’ attorney,

said in an email that there money had been taken would be “no resolution out through “unauthorof this case” Tuesday, the ized ATM withdrawals,” day for which a pretrial and spent on “Starbucks conference had been set. charges [and] miscellaThe alliance’s secreneous web page fees” that tary has said that Evans, weren’t connected to ofwho resigned from the ficial alliance business. department in 2014, has One member sugRick Gerharter paid back the money. gested referring the disEvans, who was released Former San crepancies to Internal on bail shortly after being Francisco police Affairs, Burley wrote, but booked into custody last Chief Greg Suhr gay former Lieutenant year, has previously deChuck Limbert, who was clined to comment and couldn’t be then board president, responded reached for this story. that “this will not be followed up by In a September 2014 memo she any division of SFPD. ... I ask that wrote to a sergeant, who apparently this remain confidential.” was in the SFPD’s Internal Affairs At one point, Limbert told a memDivision, Burley, who was then the ber that Evans had said he could “acalliance’s vice president, said an count for all expenditures and that no audit of the group’s finances had refinancial irregularities had occurred,” vealed “discrepancies” from the time but soon after that, he said “Evans had Evans was the group’s treasurer. Her admitted taking money from the acmemo says the review covered 2012 count,” according to Burley. and 2013, but it’s not clear from the At one meeting, she wrote, document if Evans was the treasurer “Lieutenant Limbert told the board for that entire period. that Officer Evans admitted to According to the memo, there taking the money, that he was sorry were “indications that funds were and very remorseful, knew it was used for hotels, clubs, and car rentals wrong and wanted to pay it back.” in Las Vegas as well as online tuition He added that Evans “was payments that were in no way conexperiencing health and addiction nected with Pride Alliance business problems and that the board should or activities.” try to help him.”

Additionally, the audit showed that However, Limbert allegedly asked

that Evans be allowed to make repayments as “gifts,” which at least one other member was “very uncomfortable with,” because she didn’t want to lie, Burley wrote in her memo. (Her attorney provided the Bay Area Reporter with a copy of the document at the paper’s request.)

Then, Burley said, “Lieutenant Limbert and I engaged in a heated discussion regarding how the board should handle Officer Evans’ alleged misconduct. I felt that Officer Evans’ conduct constituted fraud and embezzlement and should be investigated by the department and that criminal charges might be considered. Lieutenant Limbert responded that he was concerned that Officer Evans would lose his job and that his life would be ruined if the financial discrepancies were reported, or worse would kill himself, then how would Pride get the money back. I felt like I was being intimidated by Lieutenant Limbert to not pursue an investigation.”

‘Duty’ to report

In her claim against the city, Burley said she was uncomfortable “with handling the matter internally because she had a duty as a police officer to report suspected crimes.”

In September 2014, she said, she

met with Internal Affairs staff and provided them with “emails and documentary evidence” supporting the allegations against Evans.

Three months later, in December, she discovered that Evans “had been allowed to resign with ‘satisfactory’ service,” meaning he could become a cop someplace else.

“She was told that the Internal Affairs investigation of the officer was closed,” Burley’s claim says. She “was outraged” that the department “allowed an officer who had committed a crime in breach of public trust to resign and seek employment elsewhere.”

In February 2015, Burley appeared on KTVU “voicing her frustration,” the document says. Her face was blacked out and her voice was distorted “because she feared retaliation from Greg Suhr” and other department members.

A few days after she went to the media, she got a letter from Internal Affairs informing her that she was being investigated for “misconduct.”

“This investigation was retaliation for Ms. Burley exercising her First Amendment rights and launched at the direction of Chief Suhr,” her claim says.

Internal Affairs interviewed her in See page 11 >>

HPPC, CARE council merger finalized

by Seth Hemmelgarn

T

he merging of two panels tasked with determining San Francisco’s priorities for fighting HIV and AIDS has been finalized.

The deal, which has been in the works for years, combines two groups that include city officials, nonprofit staff, people living with HIV/AIDS, and others.

The new body, known as the HIV Community Planning Council, results from joining the HIV Prevention Planning Council and the HIV Health Services Planning Council.

The HPPC set priorities for HIV prevention. The planning council, also known as the CARE Council, prioritized and allocated federal Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act funding for the

San Francisco Eligible reluctance of some memwith HIV and people affected by Metropolitan Area, which bers to approve the merger HIV to maximize the resources we consists of Marin, San by saying, “The concerns have in San Francisco?”

Francisco, and San Mateo of some CARE Council At a joint meeting of the two councounties. members essentially cencils in October 2013, Packer and other A work group estabtered around maintainHPPC members voted unanimously lished in 2012 had recing a community-driven to approve a merger plan. The vote of ommended full collabocouncil and preserving the CARE Council was 14-10 in favor ration between the two HIV-positive consumer of the plan, with two abstentions.

Jane Philomen Cleland groups within the next representation.”

However, to pass the council, the rectwo years, but some had Health In 2013, Tracey Packer, ommendation required the support balked at the idea, and department official who at the time co-chaired of a two-thirds majority. Abstentions a deal is just now being Tracey Packer the HPPC and is currently counted as no votes. finalized. the director of CommuniIn a November 2014 interview, Ali Cone, who’s been the CARE ty Health Equity and Prevention at the Packer said that the Centers for DisCouncil’s program manager, said in San Francisco Department of Public ease Control and Prevention and the an email that Monday, the “councils Health, said the idea for the merger federal Health Resources and Servicvoted unanimously to approve the stemmed from concerns around fedes Administration had told officials bylaws of a merged council.” eral cuts to HIV health services and they should have a combined plan The new council will meet from prevention funding. for both councils by 2016.

3:30 to 6:30 p.m. on the fourth Mayor Ed Lee and Health DirecThere will soon be a new webMonday of each month at 25 Van tor Barbara Garcia “suggested it was site for the new council but for Ness Avenue, 6th Floor, Room 610. important for the two councils to now, people can still go to http:// “Co-chairs will be elected at the work together,” said Packer, with the www.sfcarecouncil.org and http:// SPRING next full council meeting at the end question being, “How can the two www.sfhiv.org/community-planWe’ve got m of June,” Cone said. councils plan together to ensure a ning/hiv-prevention-planningready to Cone previously explained the continuum of services for people ride council/.t

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Dental school to hold CARE clinic forum

Hybrid/City

by Seth Hemmelgarn

demands on our time we survivors said it is accurate that “appointhave and how the university’s ments may take up to three to four Road San Francisco dental school governance of the HIV services is a hours,” and that depends on the that provides services to many barrier to quick and expert care.” kind of treatment patients need.

Now Op people living with AIDS is hosting In an interview, Petrelis, who “Care is provided by dental students HAPPY Ever y Thurs a discussion Thursday, June 2 to get receives free care from the clinic, or residents under the supervision of take 20% OFF a Road Mountain feedback about the care it provides said his concerns include the time expert faculty dentists,” Soine said. and get ideas for what patients it takes to get care from the school.

The school gets a total of about Project Open Hand would like to see.

“You have to make a three- to $821,000 each year for the CARE Now Open Thursday to 7pm!

June 9th thru 12th The University of the Pacific four-hour appointment,” he said, clinic. Almost $498,000 of that BENEFIT SALE! Arthur A. Dugoni School of and “there’s no guarantee that you’ll comes from Ryan White Federal Every Thursday in April between 4 & 7pm Dentistry’s CARE Clinic open get the direct service once you have CARE grant funding, Soine said, Wetake will20% be closed: Sunday, May 29 for Carnaval OFF all parts, accessories & clothing.* 1065 1077 forum, set for 10 to 11 a.m. at 155 & the appointment.” and the rest Vale comes “from other and Monday, May 30 Memorial Day SALES 415-550Fifth Street, Room 310, is something He said rather than focus on a federal reimbursements.”

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Mon.- Sat. 10-6, Thu. 10-7, Sun. 11-5 Jonathon, was misspelled. The don’t understand the many other In response to emailed questions, online version has been corrected. medical appointments and other Dan Soine, a university spokesman,

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Community News>>

May 26-June 1, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 3

Supes hear small business owners’ concerns

by Seth Hemmelgarn

S

an Francisco officials aren’t doing nearly enough to assist local historic businesses that have helped make the city what it is, dozens of merchants recently told a Board of Supervisors committee.

The board’s government audit and oversight committee held a hearing last week on implementation of the city’s Legacy Business Registry and Historic Preservation Grant, which is the result of Proposition J that gay District 9 Supervisor David Campos spearheaded and voters approved last November. The resource is meant to provide financial assistance to keep the city’s “legacy” businesses open.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin, the audit committee’s chair, has complained that supervisors have nominated dozens of businesses for legacy status, but the city’s Office of Small Business hasn’t processed any merchants’ applications.

Prop J defined a legacy business as those that have operated for more than 20 years and that the Small Business Commission has found have significantly contributed to the history or identity of a particular neighborhood or community and would face a significant risk of displacement.

The Thursday, May 19 hearing came as Mayor Ed Lee announced he was proposing that more than $2 million in additional funds be provided to support legacy businesses.

At the hearing, Tony Huerta, 42, who owns the gay Lone Star bar, at 1354 Harrison Street, said he’d been “so happy” when Prop J passed, and he’d submitted his application for the bar, which has operated for 30 years, to become a legacy business. Months later, though, nothing’s happened.

“The end is near for my business,” said Huerta, who’s owned the bar for six years. “I’m going to lose my life’s work.”

He told the supervisors, “The people have spoken. Don’t delay. Help preserve the fabric of San Francisco.”

In an interview after the hearing, Huerta said that his landlord, who he has “a really good relationship” with, plans to put the building on the market within the next couple weeks.

“He’s looking to cash out,” Huerta said. “He’s looking to retire, and the market is strong right now.”

The small business office was “helpful” at first, he said, “but then, very quickly,” his application “stalled.”

Huerta said if the landlord had had access to city funds, “maybe I could have negotiated a new lease,” but with the delays, “I’m not going to have that opportunity. ... It’s a shame.”

Based on his bar’s square footage, he doesn’t know if the money from the legacy business fund would have been enough to sway his landlord to extend the lease, but “I don’t know that the money was really the important thing for me. Really, it’s the status of being a legacy business, and having the support of the city ... that’s most helpful.”

What will happen with the Lone Star isn’t clear.

“I have the right of first refusal,” Huerta said. “I’m trying to put together a group of investors to buy the building,” but “honestly, it looks like a long shot for me.”

He said, “The best case scenario for us is the building sells to somebody who is sympathetic to the legacy business status.”

If the building does get new owners, “they would have to honor the remainder of our lease, which is three years,” Huerta said. He declined to disclose his rent.

The planning department identified the building’s owner as the Kevin P. Owen Trust.

The Lone Star’s landlord couldn’t be reached for comment.

Huerta said that despite changes in the bar industry – people used to go to bars “to get laid, and you don’t do that in a bar anymore” – the Lone Star is “not a business in distress. We can pay our bills. We pay our rent.”

However, he said, that would be different if the rent were to double or triple.

Many at Thursday’s hearing talked about how their businesses have helped San Francisco maintain its reputation for having unique, close-knit neighborhoods.

Huerta said his bar attracts a Courtesy Facebook group of regulars who come every day and even have Thanksgiving Lone Star owner Tony Huerta together.

“We raise money for all sorts make the city “such a wonderful of causes and open our doors to place to live.” anybody and everybody,” he said.

He expressed great frustration “... We’re trying to maintain a part with small business officials, and of San Francisco that’s vanishing all pointed to a lack of small business around us.” commission meeting minutes online.

Despite the troubles he’s faced, “It’s a flashing red light on the Huerta said, the Lone Star deserves dashboard that something is wrong “a chance to live on. I’m going to in this office,” Peskin said, and keep doing everything I can.” there’s “either malfeasance or incompetence” at the agency.

‘A flashing red light’ He said voters had signaled they’re At the hearing, Peskin said the “tired of seeing all these legacy busihistoric businesses are “more than nesses being squeezed out.” just places to shop and eat.” They Business owners aren’t just look-

ing for a check, they want “honor and respect,” Peskin added, and for the city to acknowledge the work they’ve put in to keep their businesses going for decades.

“I think it’s fundamentally dispiriting,” he said of the delays.

“It makes them feel that we don’t care as they’re struggling.”

Campos, who was also at the hearing, said, “I am very frustrated, very disappointed that we find ourselves where we are today.”

Referring to tax breaks given to companies like Twitter, he said the city has “rolled out the red carpet for corporate giants” and later added, “To me, this is a perfect illustration of why we need more oversight and transparency when it comes to these city agencies.”

Supervisor Jane Kim, said, “We have been incredibly frustrated with the response from the Small Business Commission, or rather the lack of response.”

Todd Rufo, from the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, which oversees the small business office and commission, said, “There’s no question we can do better, and we will.”

Rufo said among other efforts, officials would work to clear their

backlog and point business owners to other programs that may be able to help them.

In an interview Monday, Regina Dick-Endrizzi, the Office of Small Business’s executive director, said, “I certainly understand their frustration.

The office being short staffed has delayed our ability to be able to process [the applications] in a more timely manner, and also to be able to communicate the status to those who have submitted applications.”

She said supervisors recently approved a position that will be dedicated to the legacy business registry.

“That has just been posted, and this week we are going to be reaching out to each of the applicants to inform them as to where they are in the application process,” Dick-Endrizzi said.

She added, “The fact that we’re getting close to hiring for this position has freed up the ability for me to now start really getting the applications processed and reviewed.”

Dick-Endrizzi said that she reviewed the Lone Star’s application Monday morning but hadn’t been able to contact Huerta “to let him know where things are.”

However, she said, “I hope we will

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See page 8 >>

<< Election 2016

t Both Sanders, Clinton have fans among SF Dems 4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 26-June 1, 2016

by Matthew S. Bajko

millennials that I personally know that are switching their party registration to Democrat because they are inspired by Sanders, which is extremely important as young voters are the least likely to identify with either of the two parties.”

P

olls of California Democratic primary voters continue to show former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton favored to win the state’s June 7 presidential contest against Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont).

Yet in San Francisco both candidates have attracted strong support among local Democratic Party activists and leaders. One need only glance at their Facebook feed to see the impassioned arguments being waged by backers of either candidate.

The same division of support for whom the party’s 2016 nominee should be is evident in the questionnaires turned in to the Bay Area Reporter by 34 of the candidates running on next month’s ballot for Democratic County Central Committee seats.

Clinton by far had the most support, with 24 of the candidates saying they support her in next month’s primary. Four candidates were staunchly behind Sanders, while the remaining six took neutral stances, saying they liked both candidates and would support either as the party’s nominee.

Gay former Supervisor Bevan Dufty’s response was emblematic of the fence sitters in the race, saying he felt the matchup between Sanders and Clinton had made both stronger candidates. Back in 2007

Many Clinton backers like Sanders Rick Gerharter

Cindy Wu for DCCC campaign

Bevan Dufty

Cindy Wu

Dufty, who is seeking re-election to the DCCC, was an early LGBT backer of President Barack Obama’s first presidential bid, in which he defeated Clinton.

“Sanders has gotten Clinton to be more forceful on economic equality and Clinton has gotten Sanders to refresh his lifelong commitment to civil rights with a deeper connection to Black Lives Matter and other contemporary causes addressing racial injustice,” wrote Dufty, 61, who most recently oversaw Mayor Ed Lee’s homelessness policies. “For this reason, I have not endorsed either candidate and would be proud to support either one as our Democratic nominee.”

Planning Commissioner Cindy Wu, 34, told the B.A.R. she was also remaining neutral.

“I want to see the first woman president but I am more aligned with Sanders’ positions on the issues,” wrote Wu, who like Dufty is seeking a DCCC seat from the city’s 17th Assembly District.

The oversight body’s 24 elected seats are split among the city’s two state Assembly districts, with 14 designated to AD 17 and the other 10 going to the 19th Assembly District covering the city’s western neighborhoods.

The lone Sanders supporter among the AD 19 candidates who returned the B.A.R.’s questionnaire was gay firefighter Keith Baraka, 50, though he also predicted Clinton would win.

“While I am excited by the prospect of Hillary Clinton being elected as our first female president, I have really been energized by Sanders’ message of addressing income inequality, criminal justice reform, and challenging the excesses of Wall Street,” wrote Baraka. “However, whoever emerges on the Democratic nominee for president (and I believe that will be Hillary Clinton), I plan to work tirelessly to make certain they are elected.”

In the AD 17 race, bisexual union organizer Alysabeth Alexander, 34, also said she would support the Democratic nominee in the fall – noting she is “not a Hillary-basher” – but was backing Sanders in the primary.

“I am deeply inspired by his commitment to social and economic justice and his call to end economic inequality and hold Wall Street accountable,” she wrote. “I am excited by the number of decline-to-state

FEROCITY

<<

BEGINS@

SF Pride

From page 1

was allowed “to descend as it does annually into lawlessness.”

Atton, who’d been attending the festival and lives in the neighborhood, was walking by when “the festering fight turned into a shootout.”

At about 6 p.m., “a gunman fired into the crowd, shooting Atton in the left arm,” according to court documents. He “suffered severe injuries,” including “losing use of his left hand,” and he’s experienced “emotional distress” and “has incurred expensive medical and therapy bills.”

Atton, who was 64 when he was shot, is seeking at least $10 million in damages.

Joshua Spencer, 20, has pleaded not guilty to charges including attempted murder and assault with a semiautomatic firearm in the case. Spencer, whose next court date is June 2, is in custody on $2.5 million bail.

Officer Carlos Manfredi, an SFPD spokesman, said shortly after the shooting that the situation was believed to have started when several groups of men, “unrelated to the Pride event,” got into a verbal argument near or inside the venue.

2013 shooting

479 Castro Street , San Francisco • (415) 431-5365 • www.cliffsvariety.com

Mahlik and Monte Smith, two brothers from Oakland, were injured as they fled a shooting at the June 30, 2013 celebration.

Their complaint says that after 6 p.m. the night they were shot, the party “was still in full swing. A group of young men began fighting

Just as those supporting Sanders spoke positively of Clinton, so too did backers of the former first lady express praise for Sanders.

Joel Engardio, 43, a gay man seeking re-election to his DCCC seat from AD 19, typified that sentiment.

“I support Bernie in my heart and Hillary in my head. I will ultimately support Hillary,” he wrote.

Mary Jung, 61, the current chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party who is seeking re-election to the DCCC from AD 19, also indicated Clinton was the more practical choice.

“While Bernie Sanders speaks to me, I don’t think his positions are viable or implementable,” wrote Jung, director of government and community relations for the San Francisco Association of Realtors.

“Hillary is well-qualified and has the experience to take on the job of president and the intelligence to figure out how to push forward an agenda.”

As a teenager Kat Anderson, 52, another DCCC member seeking re-election from AD 19, babysat Clinton’s daughter Chelsea. She told the B.A.R. Clinton should have been president “long ago” as she believes she is one of the most experienced people to ever seek the presidency.

“She was one of the first mentors I ever had, and she was my inspiration for becoming a lawyer and a political activist,” wrote Anderson.

“She is also an amazing mother, someone who listens well and provides warmth and confidence.”

Among the AD 17 DCCC candidates backing Clinton is Kaiser OB-GYN Dr. Pratima Gupta, who is the volunteer medical director of the St. James Infirmary, a clinic for sex workers and transgender individuals. She explained to the B.A.R.

outside the celebration and were allowed to proceed” inside “without anyone stopping them. ... The committee’s safety volunteers, in the middle of this, just up and left.”

Eventually, at least one of the people involved in the fight “began to display a handgun and rob attendees.”

Nobody from SF Pride tried to stop the fight or throw out the people involved, the documents say.

“No one from the committee attempted to enforce the arbitrary 6:30 end time, to clear the area, or to conclude the celebration,” according to the complaint.

Soon after closing time, “one of the combatants fired into the crowd shooting at least two victims.”

The complaint says, “The committee had no personnel present at all to control ingress and egress. Immediately after the shooting, it ordered its staff to flee the celebration site to protect their own safety, leaving attendees to fend for themselves. ...

The limited security it hired also fled immediately on hearing gunshots, as the committee failed to retain even a single APEX [security] guard equipped to respond to violence.”

As he fled, Monte Smith, 20, “was thrown to the ground by the surging mass, his face smashing across a curb, his progress slowed by his leg dragging across the concrete sidewalk as he tumbled.”

He “lost most of the skin on his leg,” and after the incident had trouble focusing and had to switch schools, among other problems.

Mahlik Smith, 19, “was shoved to the ground by the stampede, his head

Pratima Gupta for DCCC campaign

Dr. Pratima Gupta

that her decision came down to not agreeing with Sanders’ plan “to dismantle Obamacare” and replace it with a single-payer system.

“I wish we had done a singlepayer system from the start, but now that Obamacare recently celebrated its sixth anniversary, as a physician, I can say that it is working,” wrote Gupta, 41, who is bisexual. “People have better health care coverage and better access to providers they want.

Unfortunately, in our current political climate where our legislators are not willing to work across the aisle for the greater good of their constituents, I do not believe that a singlepayer health care system would get approved.”

Michael Edward Grafton, 54, a gay man also seeking a DCCC seat from AD 17, told the B.A.R. that Sanders remaining in the primary race through June would only benefit the Democratic Party and its nominee come the general election.

He explained his backing of Clinton, however, is for purely strategic reasons, as he sees her better able to help Democrats win U.S. Senate seats in Midwest and Southern states.

“I do not think Bernie Sanders will have the coattails for Senate and House offices that Hillary Clinton will,” wrote Grafton, adding that Clinton is also more likely to boost the number of female elected leaders in the country to 50 percent because “Hillary is more likely to get women to vote for women Senate candidates in Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.”t striking a metal pole before hitting the ground,” court documents say.

He became unconscious during the incident and later started having “debilitating and frequent migraine headaches.” (Two weeks before the Pride party, he’d suffered a concussion while playing sports, but after being released from the hospital that time he’d “suffered from no symptoms and, importantly, had never experienced a migraine in his life,” his complaint says.)

The records also say Mahlik Smith “has fluid build-up on his brain as a result of his head injury” from the celebration “and may need to suspend his collegiate studies as a result thereof.”

The Smiths are seeking at least $5 million.

SF Pride responds

In a news release issued just after the lawsuits were filed last week, George Ridgely, the Pride Committee’s executive director, said, “The threatened injunction is meant to intimidate our organization and would have a massive and long-term negative impact on the LGBTQIA community of San Francisco. We will not be bullied by false claims and strongly believe the court will see this action for what it is.”

The news release also said Pride organizers work “closely and in partnership with the San Francisco Police Department, as well as private security and crowd control staff, so that all participants and spectators can enjoy a collective experience that is safe and enjoyable.”

See page 5 >>

t <<

Community News>>

SF Pride

From page 4

The celebration is free, but there’s a suggested $5-$10 donation at the gate. Proceeds from the festivities have resulted in over $2.5 million going to local nonprofits that work on issues ranging from HIV/AIDS to homelessness, and that funding “would be jeopardized” by the proposed injunction, Singer said.

Safety concerns acknowledged

Exhibits accompanying Atton’s complaint include messages between Pride officials in which they acknowledge serious concerns about safety.

Pride organizers admitted that they “knowingly and willfully failed to take adequate steps to prevent violence” despite incidents in previous years, the complaints say.

The documents cite a 2013 Pride safety subcommittee report that said, “How many years in a row must Pride end with a bang – literally – before we take seriously the changing nature of the end-of-day crowd? ... It has been many years running now that Pride has had serious crises at its closing time. It is negligent of us to maintain this ignore-the-problem-and-hope-itgoes-away-attitude.”

The records also show how candid Pride officials could be in other ways.

A May 2014 email from then-board member David Currie to Ridgely, the current executive director, and board Vice President Gary Virginia criticizes comments gay police Inspector Len Broberg made to the Bay Area Reporter shortly after the June 2013 shooting. The B.A.R. had repeated Broberg’s comments in a story just before Currie wrote his email.

The B.A.R. story says Broberg had “questioned the Pride Committee’s security practices and criticized the group’s top officials for not responding to the incident. “’I know there were a lot of cops out there,’ Broberg said, but ‘you have to do something else to control the crowd.’”

In his email to Pride colleagues Currie wrote, “Guys, someone should also reach out to Lenny Broberg to attempt to get him to stop talking to the press. ... He knows damn well that it is impossible to secure the event at that location [where the shooting occurred]. ... He knows that securing the event at that location is physically, legally, and economically infeasible, especially if it is to remain a free event. I can’t believe he is throwing us under the bus with his comments to the B.A.R.” In his own May 2014 email to longtime parade manager Marsha Levine, Virginia, who was then the board’s president, talked about why he wanted to discuss safety in a letter to the community that would apparently appear in Pride’s community guide.

Among other things, Virginia mentioned to Levine that police had been complaining about people using bottles as weapons, and that he’d heard about “high incidents of thefts and attacks,” especially after 4 p.m.

“I want to be on record ...,” Virginia wrote. “Should someone get injured or killed from any of the above issues, I can say that I advised and cautioned people in my one and only public message to the masses.”

Levine’s response included the statement, “We don’t have sufficient police support at the gates to go searching for stuff brought in from outside, and I’m not sure, given the press of the crowd, that our security people at the gates can do a thorough job either.”

She added, “Unless you stop and search everyone, stuff is always going to sneak in. ... [A]t a free event where there’s a dozen ways to sneak in and avoid both checkings and making a donation, we just can’t guarantee 100 percent control.”

According to the complaints, which also cite other statements from Pride and police officials, the San Francisco Police Department in 2012 “concluded that the celebration could not be safely held” at Civic Center, and after that year’s festival, police recommended that the footprint and size change for 2013 “because it was impossible to effectively police the celebration site or to provide for the safety of attendees at that location.”

Police also shared the finding with the Pride Committee, hoping “to avoid the certainty of violence causing injuries to third-party attendees.”

Before the 2015 celebration, SFPD recommended that the Pride Committee change the celebration’s location, make the footprint smaller since the party “could not be safely held at the Civic Center site where violent incidents causing injuries to attendees was certain to occur,” and put up a fence. Police also said attendees should have to go through “metal detective wanding, pat-downs, and bag checks” before coming in, court documents say.

However, despite violent incidents in previous years, Pride organizers “simply ignored the San Francisco Police Department’s recommendations in full and made no changes to its event” last year, the records say.

“Amazingly, the committee failed to employ even a single security guard – not even one – to secure

May 26-June 1, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 5

the entrance to the celebration and protect the safety of attendees,” the plaintiffs say.

Police also found people going to Pride were also unprotected in other ways, according to the complaints.

“The San Francisco Police Department concluded that the committee should have tripled the amount of private security it had on hand to provide event security within the celebration,” the documents say.

According to the complaints, the committee has continued to use “the same alcohol policy it implemented in 2012 without any material changes even though it conceded in its own reports that this created a ‘huge problem’ and rendered the celebration unsafe and dangerous.”

Court records don’t indicate any movement toward the injunction of this year’s festival, and the Pride Committee hasn’t filed a formal response to the lawsuits.

The cases are set for case management discussions in October.

Ryan Lapine, who’s with the Beverly Hills-based firm Rosenfeld, Meyer, and Susman and is representing Atton and the Smiths, also represented Trevor Gardner, a Los Angeles man who sued the Pride committee after he was shot at the 2013 festival. Gardner’s case was settled earlier this year, but a lawsuit

by Eric Ryan, who was also shot in 2013, is still pending. (Lapine is not representing Ryan.)t

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<< Open Forum

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 26-June 1, 2016

Volume 46, Number 21 May 26-June 1, 2016 www.ebar.com

Two women atop the ballot C

NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird

alifornians go to the polls in less than two weeks and heading the ticket for Democratic voters are two women we enthusiastically endorse: Hillary Clinton for president and Kamala Harris for U.S. Senate.

ARTS EDITOR Roberto Friedman

Senate race

PUBLISHER Michael M. Yamashita Thomas E. Horn, Publisher Emeritus (2013) Publisher (2003 – 2013) Bob Ross, Founder (1971 – 2003)

BARTAB EDITOR & EVENTS LISTINGS EDITOR Jim Provenzano ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko • Seth Hemmelgarn 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 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 • David-Elijah Nahmod Paul Parish • Sean Piverger • Lois Pearlman Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota • Bob Roehr Donna Sachet • Adam Sandel • Khaled Sayed Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith • Sari Staver • Jim Stewart Sean Timberlake • Andre Torrez • Ronn Vigh Ed Walsh • Cornelius Washington Sura Wood ART DIRECTION Jay Cribas PRODUCTION/DESIGN Max Leger PHOTOGRAPHERS Jane Philomen Cleland • FBFE Rick Gerharter • Gareth Gooch Lydia Gonzales • Jose Guzman-Colon Rudy K. Lawidjaja • Georg Lester • Dan Lloyd Jo-Lynn Otto • Rich Stadtmiller Steven Underhil • Dallis Willard • Bill Wilson ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS Paul Berge • Christine Smith ADVERTISING/ADMINISTRATION Colleen Small VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVERTISING Scott Wazlowski – 415.829.8937 NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863

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U.S. Senate candidate Kamala Harris

Harris, the former San Francisco district attorney and current state attorney general, is well known to Bay Area LGBT voters and is the most qualified person on the ballot. She pledges to bring progressive values to the Senate, and is a good successor for the retiring Barbara Boxer, who is the more liberal of the state’s two senators. In a phone call with the Bay Area Reporter last month, Harris discussed her position on several current issues. She voiced her general support for legalizing recreational marijuana, though she has some concerns regarding drivers’ possible impairment and how law enforcement would measure that.

But she was clear with us that she wants to see marijuana removed from the federal Schedule I category, instead being put in Schedule II. That change alone would make it easier for universities to do cannabis research, among other opportunities.

Another issue that Harris supports is the so-called ban the box movement, which is backed by many civil rights groups and ex-offender advocates.

The goal is to remove from hiring applications the check box that asks prospective applicants if they have a criminal record. According to the National Employment Law Project, California is one of 23 states that have adopted the policy, as have numerous cities, including San Francisco, which extends its fair-chance laws to private employers in the area. “I plan on leading the national effort around ban the box if I’m elected senator,” Harris told us. “We shouldn’t so quickly exclude a whole population ... from a fair evaluation of their feasibility to do the job.” To Harris, someone who has served their time has paid their debt to society and should not continue to be punished. As Harris noted,

t

perience over the last eight years, “The best way to get people not to taking the top diplomatic job in the reoffend is to get them a job.”

Obama administration by serving Harris said that her first bills in the as secretary of state and then runSenate would likely focus on criminal ning this national campaign for the justice reform efforts. Another senaWhite House. She is detail-oriented, tor who has done similar work, New and we would argue that’s good for Jersey’s Cory Booker (D), encourthe country. We can’t risk a president aged Harris to run this year, she said. like Donald Trump who flip-flops Most importantly for our readers, Jane Philomen Cleland on positions and carelessly tosses Harris has a long track record with Presidential out policies without specifics. His the LGBT community as a proud ally candidate popularity is confounding to us, but for equality. She famously refused Hillary Clinton Republicans like his “tell-it-like-it-is” to defend Proposition 8, the state’s persona. The anger he has stoked is same-sex marriage ban, saying it not a solution for the country’s problems and violated the Constitution. (The U.S. Supreme his gullible supporters cling to the belief that Court threw out Prop 8 in 2013.) When she he will deliver on all of his promises. was district attorney, she convened one of the Clinton has been tested with the insurgent first conferences to tackle the so-called panic candidacy of Bernie Sanders. He has only redefense, which is still used in some parts of the cently shown any interest in the Democratic country by defendants claiming to be driven to Party, after his supporters bullied Nevada state murder because they panic when they discovDemocrats at their convention about party ered their victim is a transgender person. rules – rules that were set in place months ago.

We do disagree with Harris over her deciPolls may show him besting Trump in a gension last year to fight a federal judge’s eral election matchup, but the surveys don’t order that the state provide surgery take into account his vulnerabilities to attacks to a trans prisoner, but Harris told

by Trump and the Republican Party as a selfus that she was representing her described Democratic socialist. Sanders will be client, the California Department relentlessly criticized. Sanders has not explained of Corrections and Rehabilitation, how he will pay for programs such as “free colin that case. (Later, the state anlege for all” and dismantling the Affordable nounced a historic settlement that Care Act in favor of a single-payer plan without should allow trans prisoners to a hefty tax hike for everyone. That would be a access the care they need while innightmare. Obamacare isn’t perfect, but curcarcerated. Harris said she agreed rently only 9.1 percent of people under age 65 with the case outcome.) are uninsured. Sanders has been in Congress for Overall, we believe Harris will be 25 years, yet has little to show for it. He has not a great addition to the Senate, which is just reached out to minorities, even as Latino voters about at a standstill under Republican control. are a key demographic in California. On gun The Democrats take back the Senate this Nocontrol, he is out of touch with the Democratic vember, in which case Harris would be poised Party and gun control advocates. He’s the liberal to hit the ground running. angry white man equivalent of Trump.

Presidential race Clinton has her faults, to be sure – we’ve This election cycle is more contentious than written about them – but at her core she is eight years ago. But now, as Barack Obama an accomplished politician who will work to ends his historic presidency, his work needs to move the country forward in a positive direcbe built on and the one candidate who can do tion for all, address income inequality, defend that is Hillary Clinton. marriage equality, and, as she said during her Over the years, Clinton, like a lot of politirecent rally in Oakland, “end discrimination cians, has grown to embrace LGBT rights, against the LGBT community.” in stark contrast to the presidency of her Clinton has our endorsement for husband. Clinton has gained impressive expresident.t

Stop toxic spraying at AIDS grove

by Dan Perdios

T

here’s a different kind of epidemic going on in San Francisco; one that most people aren’t even aware of. I certainly wasn’t. Which is why I was so taken aback on a July morning in 2015, when my partner and I, along with my Golden Retriever service dog, were walking through Mission Creek Park on our way to my partner’s work place.

In the bushes along the bank of Mission Creek was a guy with a spray tank, spraying something on the plants. We watched in shock as he scurried away from the bank and continued spraying in a fenced-off area where the grass had been removed and only soil remained. A group of landscapers stood around the fenced off area laughing and talking as though it were just another day.

My partner asked them what they were spraying and they replied, “Last resort. Last resort.” We didn’t know what they meant until later when the park site manager emailed us the information that the product was called Aquamaster, a specialized form of Roundup, made by Monsanto. She also sent us a list of the guidelines determined by the San Francisco Department of the Environment Integrated Pest Management program that allowed her to use Roundup as a last resort in removing hard-to-eliminate weeds. “Last resort” being, after all other manual attempts had not been successful in ridding the area of any unwanted vegetation now referred to as pests, using Roundup is then allowed. She told us that if we had any further questions that we should contact Chris Geiger, head of the IPM program.

As a person who has been living with HIV for 38 years I took an immediate interest in this issue. The main ingredient in Roundup is something called glyphosate. It makes up 53.8 percent of the product. It’s unknown what the other 46.2 percent of the ingredients are as Monsanto refuses to tell anyone. Even the government. There are some studies that show that these other inert ingredients super charge

James Egan

Dan Perdios with his dog, Morgan.

glyphosate, making it even more deadly to everyone who comes in contact with it, be it plants, wildlife, dogs, or people.

After more research I found that the leading expert on the harmful effect of glyphosate is Carolyn Cox at the Center for Environmental Health in Oakland. This is what she wrote in a March 23, 2015 article: “On Friday, a World Health Organization panel of scientists from 11 countries announced their decision to list glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, as a probable human carcinogen. In particular the panel noted the links between glyphosate and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, as well as a study showing the chemical caused DNA and chromosomal damage in human cells, another showing increases in blood markers of chromosomal damage in people studied after nearby glyphosate spraying, and several recent animal studies showing evidence of carcinogenity.”

San Francisco has one of the largest HIVpositive populations in the United States with an estimated 15,979 people living with HIV. Every day of my life is a struggle to stay as

healthy as I can. It’s not an easy task. I take a lot of pills to keep this virus at bay and they all have some kind of toxicity and side effects. I have joint pain and chronic fatigue. The last thing my body needs is to be exposed to a deadly herbicide, adding more stress to my immune system.

The thought of Roundup being used in Mission Creek Park, a park that I walked through each morning, was infuriating to me. And I knew I had to do something about it to protect myself and my loved ones, including Morgan, my service dog.

Then I read an online story that pesticides are being sprayed in all of the parks in San Francisco. They used Roundup in the National AIDS Memorial Grove for God’s sake! When I contacted the management of the AIDS grove they were not outraged to find out that glyphosate was being sprayed there.

Here’s their official response: “The grove has long endeavored to be an environmentally sensitive project.

For 25 years the grove has been seen as a leader in protecting the environment and being a green project, and we will continue to work with our partners at the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department to understand the limited use of these products and to explore other non-chemical alternatives when possible.”

“When possible.” This doesn’t sound like a commitment to ban the use of Roundup in our AIDS grove. So the next time you’re there to show respect with a quiet moment of reflection, look around. Everywhere you look may have been sprayed with a carcinogenic pesticide. I bet it won’t be such a meditative place for you knowing that Rec and Park has poisoned our serene grove.

As a result of the WHO’s statement about glyphosate being a probable cancer-causing agent, the state of California declared its intent to See page 14 >>

t

Letters >>

May 26-June 1, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

Remembering the good old days

I was surprised to read that the Tea Room Theatre is closing [“Tea Room Theatre closing,” May 12]. I discovered the place in the late 1970s; I usually went to Hal Call’s Circle J Club theater nearby. As those of us of a certain age are finding out, nothing fun and wild from the old days survives – remember the Canary Island Diner, South of Market, back in the early 1980s? Also, Carlene’s of Maui, on Polk – best Sunday brunch around, especially their muffins. Oh, well, nothing is certain, except death and taxes, I guess.

Hope another porn theater opens in the Tea Room space.

Frank Salzler Mount Shasta, California

Rainbow flag stolen – again

Shout out to the person who stole our rainbow flag – again! Each time our flag is stolen or vandalized, it reminds us that the hostility and danger that LGBTQI people experience is very real. And, it reminds us that there should be a place like Alum Rock United Methodist Church in San Jose – a place where the people who society likes to judge and abuse for their differences will be loved unconditionally, supported, and celebrated as the people God created them to be. Yes, that’s in the Bible too. Want to talk about it? We’re still here and happy to hear from you.

Melody Aberin and Reverend Stephen Lee Alum Rock United Methodist Church San Jose, California

Prefers Kim in Senate race

While I was saddened to read that the Bay Area Reporter endorsed Scott Wiener for state Senate, I was not surprised, given the paper’s decades-long history of supporting conservative candidates [“Wiener for state Senate,” Editorial, May 12]. As San Francisco – once a place of refuge for queer kids, artists, activists, and anyone else who didn’t fit in where they grew up – becomes increasingly unaffordable for all but the wealthy, Wiener has consistently stood with the developers, gentrifiers, and profiteers against the interests of ordinary San Franciscans.

He’s even stood with former police Chief Greg Suhr – even after Suhr finally did the right thing and resigned – despite the wave of police scandals and dubious shootings of unarmed people of color. Suhr’s habit of making excuses for killer cops, excuses he then had to walk back after more facts came out, apparently made no difference to Wiener.

If we send Wiener to Sacramento, we can be sure he will continue to faithfully represent the forces now destroying the San Francisco dream. Supervisor Jane Kim, on the other hand, has consistently stood with ordinary San

Franciscans, working to keep the city affordable and open to all, despite huge political pressures from moneyed interests. I’ll be proud to join with Tom Ammiano, Bevan Dufty, Harry Britt, and many other LGBT progressives in voting for Kim for state Senate.

Bruce Mirken San Francisco

Disagrees with judicial endorsement

I really do not understand the B.A.R.’s hearty endorsement of Paul Henderson, deputy staff assistant to Ed Lee, for Superior Court Judge [“Henderson for SF Superior Court,” Editorial, May 19]. Encouraging people to vote for him primarily because he is the “gay” candidate does not seem ethical to me. The other primary candidate, Victor Hwang, while not gay, has always supported our community.

He is the one that clearly has the most litigation experience, works as a lawyer, and is not merely a government civil servant who has spent most of his career in appointed positions. He is the one who still works as a practicing attorney, is not a public servant serving the current Democratic establishment that is in office, and has litigated the most serious cases as opposed to juvenile court cases as Henderson has. The B.A.R. editorial states that Henderson “said he developed and implemented a number of programs related to justice reforms before moving to management positions.”

I’m like, really? Blah, blah blah. Please, I’m so tired of our bloated city government rotating its employees from job to tenured job with their pensions and almost-free health care. Let’s get a real trial attorney with qualified experience, as the SF Bar Association recommends as well. Check out the SF Bar recommendations.

Fred White San Francisco

More to intactivists than foreskin

Forgive me if I’m the eight-millionth person to bring this to your attention, but your characterization of intactivists as “people who oppose cutting the foreskin from penises,” while technically accurate, is rather imprecise [“Intactivist Jonathon Conte dead at 34,” May 19].

Intactivists oppose all non-medically indicated genital cutting of minors – boys, girls, and intersex children.

Intactivists, generally speaking, do not oppose genital surgery performed on adult patients who have given informed consent.

If anybody ever deserved meticulous accuracy in his obituary, it was Jonathon, one of the most conscientious sticklers for detail I have ever known.

S

tate Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) was honored with the Harvey B. Milk Leadership Award during the fifth annual Coachella Valley Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast May 20. More than 700 community members, including 100 high school students, attended the event to celebrate the life and legacy of the first openly gay person to be elected to office in California. Milk was elected a San Francisco supervisor in 1977; disgruntled ex-supervisor Dan White killed Milk and Mayor George Moscone in November 1978.

Leno, a gay man who is termed out of the Legislature this year, said it was an honor to join the youth and other attendees in celebrating Milk’s contributions.

“I am inspired by the students’ passionate activism for social justice,” Leno said in a news release.

“Harvey Milk’s legacy lives on through these outstanding students.”

Leno was recognized for his legislative accomplishments and commitment to social justice during his 18 years in public office.

He is the author of Senate Bill 572, which officially designated May 22 as Harvey Milk Day in California.

Activist and United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta served as the event’s keynote speaker. She was joined by Enrique Campos, who recently graduated from Yucca Valley High School and spoke about his experience coming out during high school.

Courtesy Mark Leno’s office

Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast honorees included, from left, Steevee Caulder, Enrique Campos, state Senator Mark Leno, Dolores Huerta, and Ron deHarte, president of Palm Springs Pride.

Proceeds from the event benefit Coachella Valley youth through gaystraight alliance organizations and LGBT youth-related programs.

Art and Wind Festival hits San Ramon

People who are spending the Memorial Day weekend in the Bay Area can head over to the East Bay city of San Ramon for the annual Art and Wind Festival, taking place May 29-30 at San Ramon Central Park, 12501 Alcosta Boulevard.

Admission is free.

Kites are the main attraction at the festival, which features professional, choreographed kite flying demonstrations, a free kite-making workshop, and tethered hot air balloon rides sponsored by Re/MAX (weather permitting).

The festival also features 150 fine arts and crafts vendors selling a wide

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Leno honored in Palm Springs compiled by Cynthia Laird

Barry Schneider Attorney at Law

range of artwork including paintings, sculpture, woodwork, toys, jewelry, hand-painted clothing, stained glass, music, photography, and more.

Entertainment will be provided on four stages and there will also be two large children’s activity areas with rides, face painting, a rockclimbing wall, and free crafts for the kids to make.

Area nonprofit groups will be selling food and beverages. Festival organizers said that the nonprofits raise over $75,000 each year at the event.

Festival hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sunday and Monday. The East Bay Bicycle Coalition will provide free bike valet service. For more information, visit www.artandwind.com.

SFPD LGBT advisory forum to meet

The San Francisco Police Department Chief’s LGBT Community Advisory Forum will hold a “coffee and conversations with cops” event Tuesday, May 31 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Illy Cafe, 2349 Market Street in the Castro neighborhood.

Ken Craig, forum chairperson, said in a news release that the group decided to have this low-key event to provide an opportunity for LGBT and ally community members to simply drop by, purchase some coffee and pastries (a small portion of the proceeds will be donated to the LGBT forum if people bring a flier, available at https://www.facebook. com/SanFranciscoLgbtForum/ photos/a.313424945412479.73787.

288484864573154/11032143697668 62/?type=3&theater) and chat with LGBT police officers about concerns See page 12 >>

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<< Politics

t Reaction in South Bay mixed to anti-gay incident 8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 26-June 1, 2016

by Matthew S. Bajko

R

eaction by South Bay LGBT leaders has been mixed to an anti-gay incident involving the husband of termed out state Assemblywoman Nora Campos (D-San Jose), who is running in a heated race for a state Senate seat.

As detailed in a May 9 letter that Enrique Arguello, the business manager for Laborers’ Local 270, sent to Josue Garcia, CEO of the Santa Clara Building Trades Council, the altercation between him and Neil Struthers, the former CEO of the group who is married to Campos, occurred at the council’s Casino Night event held April 29 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose.

Arguello wrote that Struthers was heard calling him a “fucking faggot” and that he engaged in “assaultive behavior” toward himself and his wife. He demanded that the council ban Struthers from attending its future events and ask him to issue an apology.

According to media reports, Struthers also used his fingers to suggest sex in response to seeing a photo of Arguello with Omar Torres, a gay man who works as an aide to San Jose City Councilwoman Magdalena Carrasco and is a regional director for the California Democratic Party. The reports

claimed Struthers asked Arguello if he and Torres were lovers and how their sexual relationship worked.

A police report that the Mercury News obtained listed Struthers as the victim, as he reportedly was kicked in the groin when he, Arguello, and several other attendees of the event got into a physical altercation. Arguello has said he believes he placed the painful blow.

Since the story first broke two weeks ago, both sides have accused the other of lying about the incident.

In media interviews and a video she posted online, and has since taken down, Campos has blamed her Senate race opponent, Senator Jim Beall (D-San Jose), and state Senate President Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) of ordering Arguello to attack her husband and of bullying behavior toward her and other women.

Both Beall, who is endorsed by statewide LGBT advocacy group Equality California, and de León have denied the charges. The senators have painted the attacks as cynical campaign ploys during an election year. Media reports have also noted the bad blood between the two political camps that dates back years.

The one voice largely absent in the matter has been that of LGBT leaders in the South Bay. Their lack of public comment has not gone unnoticed by

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tles need to be debates about issues: not fraught with fist fights and accusations, or homophobic or any slurs.

Homophobic slurs do not just kick those named in the balls, it kicks all LGBTQs, and it hurts everyone.”

Yet to comment publicly about the incident has been the South Bay’s main LGBT political group BAYMEC, which stands for Bay Area Municipal Elections Committee. It has not posted any statement either to its website or Facebook page.

Neither BAYMEC President James Gonzalez, nor its co-founder Wiggsy Sivertsen, responded to a request for comment by the B.A.R.’s press deadline Wednesday.

Assemblywoman Nora Campos

Torres, who is also an elected member of a school board in San Jose.

“There is still a stigma, especially in the Latino community, regarding one’s sexual orientation. But what has been particularly disconcerting is if this had happened to other various established LGBT leaders there would be an uproar,” Torres told the Bay Area Reporter this week.

Torres, 34, noted he had endorsed Beall’s re-election bid months before Campos jumped into the race earlier this year.

“It is very sad that she and her husband chooses to attack a union made of predominantly immigrant families and an openly gay Latino elected official in East San Jose,” he said.

Shortly after the first reports about the incident were published, gay San Jose resident Anthony Macias expressed support for Torres via Facebook. Macias, a Republican running in the race for Beall’s 15th Senate District seat, called on Campos to denounce her husband’s remarks, which reportedly included racist as well as homophobic comments.

“If these allegations are true, what makes this personal for me is Struthers allegedly made viciously hateful and sexually explicit homophobic remarks against Omar Torres, a local community organizer who has demonstrated nothing but hard work and dedication for our communities,” wrote Macias. “Despite our political disagreements, Omar has proven himself to be a man of moral integrity and someone I am proud to call my friend.”

Gabrielle Antolovich, the board president of the Billy DeFrank LGBTQ Community Center in downtown San Jose, also reached out to Torres to express support.

And she sent a statement to the reporter covering the story for the San Jose Inside website, which she shared with the B.A.R. “Now we see how homophobia gets caught in the crossfire and used as a weapon in ongoing political battles. First of all, homophobia has no place in this or any arena.

Being LGBTQ, especially openly gay is fantastic and should be honored and protected – not attacked,” wrote Antolovich. “Secondly, political bat-

<<

Small business

From page 3

be able to get him before the Historic Preservation Commission soon.”

That’s the next step in the process.

The application would then go to the Small Business Commission for final approval.

Mayor proposes funding

Last Thursday, Lee announced that he’s proposing over $2.5 million in new funding in the fiscal years that begin in 2016 and 2017 “to create, develop, and implement the San Francisco Legacy Business Program.”

In the announcement, Lee said, “Our longtime businesses are a vital part of what makes our neighborhoods unique and vibrant. I am

49ers throw down for LGBT North Carolinians

San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York

While in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this week for the NFL owners’ quarterly meeting, San Francisco 49ers Chief Executive Officer Jed York donated $75,000 on behalf of the football team to a statewide group fighting for LGBT protections.

As the B.A.R. reported on its blog late Monday, Equality North Carolina said the donation to its foundation was one of the largest it has received.

York’s trip to the Tar Heel State was planned well over a year before state lawmakers adopted the anti-LGBT House Bill 2. The law not only bans local cities in the state from adopting non-discrimination laws, and repealed one adopted by Charlotte, it also requires transgender individuals to use public restrooms based on the gender assigned to them at birth.

The adoption of the law earlier this year has led to states and cities across the country, including San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, and Berkeley, to ban taxpayer-funded travel to North Carolina, businesses to cancel expanding in the state, and numerous entertainers to boycott performing there.

With the NFL deciding not to relocate the owners’ meeting, York told the B.A.R. he wanted to use his visit to support the local efforts aimed at seeing HB 2 be repealed.

He asked gay former San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty to accompany him, and the two met privately with local transgender advocates over dinner Monday night.

In a phone interview Monday afternoon, York said he wanted to “make sure the folks fighting HB 2 on the ground had the resources to continue their fight to repeal HB 2.”

According to Equality North Carolina, no other NFL team has reached out to it with a similar offer of financial support.

“We at Equality North Carolina are so appreciative of the continued support of fair-minded organizations and people across the state, nation, and world, who are joining this call to action,” stated Chris Sgro, the executive director of Equality N.C. who was appointed to fill a vacant state House seat last month. “Our heartfelt thanks are with Jed York and the San Francisco

49ers for their support and leadership at this critical time. It is clear that leaders at the General Assembly must act quickly to salvage our state’s reputation.”

While the advocacy group has sought support for its calls to overturn the discriminatory legislation, Equality North Carolina has not called for a boycott of the state while HB 2 is in effect. In a phone interview Matt Hirschy, the group’s director of advancement, said it would prefer to see those supportive of LGBT rights with business in the state donate to local LGBT nonprofits rather than cancel their trips, performances, or investments in North Carolina.

“A lot of people think somehow the LGBT community is encouraging a boycott. We are doing the opposite. We want people to come here and show leadership by example by investing in groups doing this work in North Carolina to make the state better,” said Hirschy. “Jed can be an example to the rest of the owners there and the NFL to be more engaged in trying to repeal HB 2.”

At the close of the NFL’s meeting Tuesday, league Commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters, when asked about the state law, “Anything that discriminates, we oppose.” He added that, “We’re not going to threaten a community. We’re going to work with the community to make the effective changes necessary long term.”

According to media reports, the owner of the Charlotte-based Panthers, Jerry Richardson, didn’t speak to reporters. Team spokesman Steven Drummond told the media, “Our organization is against discrimination and has a long history of treating all of our patrons at Bank of America Stadium with dignity and respect. The Panthers have and will continue to engage key stakeholders on this important issue.”

As for the team hosting an upcoming Super Bowl, York told the B.A.R. that was not up for a vote by the NFL team owners this week.

“Charlotte is not one of the sites being discussed,” he said, adding that for now “there are no plans to host it there.”t

proud to invest over $2.5 million in new funding through my budget to help San Francisco legacy businesses succeed.”

Campos stated, “These businesses are the heart of our neighborhoods and commercial corridors. By overwhelmingly approving Prop J, the voters of San Francisco sent a clear message that preservation of the bars, restaurants, arts venues, nonprofits and corner stores where we spend so much of our time is a priority. I am thrilled we were able to work with the mayor to fully implement the will of the voters.”

Peskin also cheered the announcement.

“I’m optimistic that our board committee hearing, combined with the mayor’s renewed commitment

to the Legacy Business Preservation Fund, will ensure that we not only start administering relief immediately but that the program sustains itself for the long haul.”

Small Business Commission President Mark Dwight also voiced his support.

“We support the mayor’s initiative to assist some of San Francisco’s most iconic small businesses which are challenged by the unprecedented recent increases in operating expenses,” Dwight stated.

The audit committee, which besides Peskin also includes board President London Breed and Supervisor Norman Yee, continued the hearing to its Thursday, June 2 meeting. Breed had been excused from attending last week’s meeting.t

t

Community News>>

May 26-June 1, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 9

Project pushes for inclusion for all in tech

by Heather Cassell

A

group of Silicon Valley women have launched Project Include with some of the biggest names in Bay Area tech circles, hoping to address the lack of diversity in the tech industry, from securing funding to leadership positions.

Leading the initiative is Ellen Pao, who last year sued her former employer, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, charging gender discrimination and lost. Later, she was ousted as interim chief executive of Reddit.

Joining Pao are Erica Baker of Google; Tracy Chou of Pinterest; Laura I. Gómez of Atipica; Y-Vonne Hutchinson of ReadySet; Freada Kapor Klein of the Kapor Center; Bethanye McKinney Blount, formerly of Reddit; and Susan Wu of Stripe.

While none of them identify as LGBT, the women said that they had planned to have a member of the LGBT community involved but she dropped out.

Queer women and gender variant individuals are an important part of the diversity question, those involved with Project Include said.

“We particularly wanted that lens ... that was very important to us,” said Kapor Klein. “All of us have been involved in conversations and have been a part of diversity initiatives in tech companies that were inclusive of LGBTQ colleagues and worked to understand those perspectives and worked hard to include those voices in Project Include.”

Kapor Klein, a software engineer who has been a proponent of diversity since the early 1980s, told the B.A.R. that the “needle has barely moved” when it comes to equality in Silicon Valley. She should know, she’s been monitoring, advocating, and encouraging girls to enter science, technology, engineering,

and mathematics, better known as STEM, since 2001 as the founder of the Level Playing Field Institute.

“These aren’t new issues for me,” said Kapor Klein, a straight ally who during the 1980s launched the first diversity council that included LGBT people at a tech company and participated with the Lotus Development Corporation in an AIDS Walk, one of the first during the AIDS crisis.

“What I think is different [is] that now people are paying attention,” she said.

However, in spite of talk about Silicon Valley’s diversity problem, the women are frustrated, said Kapor Klein. The tech industry remains mostly white and male.

“We were all incredibly frustrated with the slow pace in change,” she said. “The problem of diversity or the lack of diversity in Silicon Valley has now been a headline for two years and there has been a lot of discussion and a lot of hand wringing and a lot of checks written and the needle has barely moved.”

They’ve also noticed that during various economic boom and bust cycles minorities are adversely affected.

“One of the things that we’ve been keenly aware of [is] that groups that are otherwise marginalized are the last to be included in any economic boom and the first to suffer in any downturn,” said Kapor Klein, who hopes tech companies will be more transparent about hiring, firing, and layoff patterns.

The women make up a powerhouse team of software engineers, diversity and tech experts and executives, and venture capitalists and they are taking matters into their own hands as they shed light on and accelerate diversity in the tech industry.

The women also hope Project

Ashleigh Richelle

Project Include founding members working to diversify the tech industry include, from left, Erica Baker, Ellen Pao, Tracy Chou, Y-Vonne Hutchinson, Bethanye Mckinney Blount, Freada Kapor Klein, and Laura I. Gómez.

Include, which is open-source, will spread to other industries such as biotech and finance, said Kapor Klein.

Open-source means that anyone can participate in the project beyond the core eight members. The project team and others will nurture the conversation and channel the information into active projects and materials to utilize working with start-up CEOs and management teams of companies with 25 to 1,000 employees.

In the coming months they plan to actively begin practicing, measuring, and sharing diversity information and successful implementation. The project will also recruit venture capital firms for advice and mentoring.

The women aim to begin with 18 start-up companies as a part of the first cohort during the next seven months. They will publish an anonymized set of results shedding light on the progress made – or

not – around diversity, reported the New York Times.

“Many sea changes in technology have been open-source projects,” said Kapor Klein. “I think that the whole model of open-source is to say, ‘we want participation. We want to build community that can improve what we are doing and what we can contribute.’”

“We are looking to actively encourage people to contribute to it and make it bigger and better,” she added.

The queer factor

Some LGBT women involved in the tech industry hailed the new project.

“Inclusion is a deliberate action.

It’s about intentionally making sure that everyone has a voice at the table, because if we’re not at the table, we’re often left out of the conversation,” said Leanne Pittsford, founder of Lesbians Who Tech.

Lesbians Who Tech advocates for

queer women in the tech industry through connecting companies with talented queer techies through networking events and conferences.

Kitt Caffall, a member of the class of 2016 Silicon Valley Pipeline Angels and an investor in Tending, agreed.

“That which is not measured does not matter. If it matters, it needs to be measured. Otherwise, there’s nothing but anecdotal stories,” wrote Caffall, a 48-year-old lesbian who is senior director of engineering at Shop.com, in an email interview.

“What companies need is data and to be held accountable for what the data says about their diversity.”

Rekha Bachwani, a 36-year-old lesbian who is the senior security engineer at Netflix, agreed.

“Diversity is important, and unless companies are made accountable, the lack of it will continue to hurt the minorities and in turn hurt the companies’ bottom line,” said Bachwani.

“Queer women bring unique perspective to the table, for instance, demystifying some of the stereotypes about women in terms of their look, gender roles, and so on,” said Bachwani, who has worked in the tech industry for a decade and was excited to learn about the project.

During her career she has personally experienced people misidentifying her gender. She’s spoken up, talking to human resources to include LGBT people in the company’s cultural sensitivity training.

Stephanie Lampkin, 31, a black bisexual woman who is the founder and CEO of Blendoor, which is a merit-based blind recruiting app, said, “By making a concerted effort to include the often excluded, See page 11 >>

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<< Travel

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 26-June 1, 2016

t

Provincetown gears up for busy summer season

by Ed Walsh

I

f someone from the late 1970s were magically transported to present day Provincetown, they would notice that not much has changed. Except for the occasional person talking on a cellphone or men’s short hairstyles, they might not believe that they were in the future at all. The quaint shops on Commercial Street look pretty much the same and most of the gay bars are the same, including the Atlantic House, which dates back to 1798.

The town on the tip of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, has fiercely protected its picturesque architecture and rich history.

And Provincetown is gearing up for a big historic anniversary.

The Pilgrims first arrived in Ptown on November 11, 1620 and tourism boosters hope to capitalize on the coming 400-year anniversary to remind the world that the Pilgrims’ first stop was Provincetown, not Plymouth Rock.

Those early pioneers wound up eventually settling in Plymouth, about 20 miles across Massachusetts Bay, primarily because of better farming conditions. But before they left Provincetown, they signed the Mayflower Compact, the cornerstone of the freedom and democracy that we enjoy today.

As part of the campaign to raise awareness of the historical import of Provincetown, the city has adopted the slogan “America’s first destination.” For many LGBTs, Ptown has long been a first and favorite gay getaway. The town welcomed gay tourists long before it became fashionable for destinations to market to LGBTs. Whaling first put Provincetown

on the map in the 1800s as the early Portuguese immigrants capitalized on the big market for whale oil.

Artists also flocked to Ptown for the solitude, lighting, and affordable bohemian lifestyle. And where there is an established artistic community, a gay welcoming environment is often second nature.

Not surprisingly, gay couples have gravitated to Ptown as a place to put down roots. Based on the 2010 census data that counts same-sex couples, Provincetown is the gayest town in America. About a third of its yearround population of 3,000 is made up of same-sex couples.

While few people call Ptown home, many more call it their second home, as they return regularly for summer vacation. Provincetown’s population swells to about 60,000 this time of year. And if you can wait, locals say September is one of the best times to visit because it’s still warm but the crowds are smaller and, consequently, hotel rates are lower. October is a good time to go if you want to check out the fall foliage.

But if you enjoy being part of the crowd, Ptown is the place to be in the summer. While the Internet has dramatically changed the gay nightlife scene in other parts of the country, it has not impacted Ptown much. People on vacation would rather go out than stare at their smartphones.

For the uninitiated, Ptown’s main drag is Commercial Street.

The town is a mile wide and three miles long, with Town Hall in the center. All the town’s gay nightlife and most of the gay inns are clustered along Commercial Street or a block or so away from it. A car is more trouble than it is worth in

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tallest granite structure in the U.S., standing 252 feet, or nearly 24 stories, on a hill above downtown.

If you are in reasonably good shape, you can walk to the top in about 10 minutes. It opened in 1910.

Construction took three years. The tower offers sweeping views of the town and on a clear day, you can see Boston, about 50 miles away. Be sure and take in the museum at the foot of the tower that chronicles the history of Ptown.

Using a bicycle will also allow you to have access to some beautiful bike trails through the Cape Cod National Seashore parkland. Ptown bikes (http://www.ptownbikes. com) and Gale Force Bikes (http:// www.galeforcebikes.com) are excellent companies that rent bikes by the hour, day, or week. They can also provide you with some good advice on exploring the town’s best bike trails.

Provincetown’s famed dunes used to be open to all cars but they suffered from being trampled to death. Now, the dirt roadway through the dunes is only open to a tour company and to vehicles with permits. You can also hike on your own through the dunes but that can be a challenge, especially on hot days. Art’s Dune Tours (http://www. artsdunetours.org) is a great way to see the dunes. The guides explain the changing landscape of the dunes since the first Europeans arrived 400 years ago. Don’t be alarmed if the tires on the tour vehicles look like they are going flat. They need to partially deflate the tires to give them more traction on the sand.

Provincetown boasts America’s oldest continuous art colony, which has been going strong since 1899.

The Provincetown Art Association and Museum (www.paam.org) first opened in 1914 and the original

Ed Walsh

The Pilgrim Monument dominates the Provincetown skyline.

Ptown. Most of the small inns don’t have parking, but if you stay close to downtown, you can walk to everything. Bicycling is very big in Ptown, so if you want to venture off, pedal power is a good way to go.

Daytime attractions

Provincetown’s greatest asset is that it has it all. From a more urban experience of art galleries, restaurants, live theater, nightlife and culture to some of the most pristine untouched natural beauty you will find anywhere. Summer is the season for whale watching and a number of companies offer tours, which generally last three to four hours. Several companies offer open-air trolley bus tours. The tours are generally less than $20 and provide a good lay of the land for first-timers and interesting history that even some locals would find informative.

When it comes to beaches, you have plenty from which to choose.

If you want to stay downtown, the Town Beach is easy. It is sheltered from the ocean, so there aren’t many waves, making it easier on kids and

inexperienced swimmers. On the ocean side, Herring Cove Beach is the city’s most popular. It is part of the Cape Cod National Seashore and is managed by the federal government. It has a paid parking lot but the best way to get there is by bicycle.

The area where the parking lot is situated is oriented more to families with a men’s and women’s changing area, showers, and a refreshment concession. The southern end of Herring Cove Beach is the unofficial gay clothing-optional beach. The best way to get there is by bicycle. Go to the western end of Commercial Street and turn right on Highway 6A. Keep heading in that direction away from downtown past Bradford Street and you will see a wooden fence on the left. Chain your bike to that fence with the other bikes and follow the crowd for about a 20-minute walk to the beach.

The Pilgrim Monument is the symbol of Provincetown and is also a good way to get your bearings. If you want to know which direction is downtown, just look up for the monument. The tower is the

See page 12 >>

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t <<

Community News>>

Tech

From page 9

I think we capture the true purpose of these diversity initiatives, which is to leverage the unique values/assets we all bring in such a way that drives better results and levels the playing field for everyone, not just those who have won the ‘lottery of birth.’”

The bottom line

Those interviewed pointed out that diversity helps with innovation and improving companies’ bottom lines, but data is needed, particularly among LGBT people in the workforce.

Paul Grossinger, 26, is a gay man who is the co-founder and director of Gaingels Syndicate, a venture

<<

Homeless agency

From page 1

However, she said, the clients didn’t come to the private Haight area home where her agency had been doing its office work since January 2014.

In a letter that’s excerpted in HYA’s handout, Kathleen Ryan, that home’s owner, confirmed the absence of clients.

“They have been remarkably careful and considerate of the property while they have been here,” Ryan wrote of HYA. “They have not

<<

Lesbian ex-cop

From page 2

April 2015. “Fearing further retaliation” and being terminated from her job, Burley denied being the person who’d appeared on KTVU. In February 2016, according to Burley, Paul Chignell, of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, called her and told her that Suhr “wanted to terminate her because he knew she was the one” who’d gone to the TV station and that she’d been “dishonest in the Internal Affairs investigation.”

Chignell, who couldn’t be reached for this story, told her that if she retired she’d get to keep her pension and benefits.

“Rather than be terminated and face losing her pension benefits,” her claim says, Burley “was forced to retire” in March. She says the termination violates state labor law and her First Amendment right to comment on public matters.

Burley filed a complaint with the Ethics Commission in March. A staffer at that agency said he can’t confirm or deny pending investigations.

In April, Deputy Chief Hector Sainez, who chairs the police department’s Brady committee, wrote in a letter to Burley that “it appears that the

May 26-June 1, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11

capital firm that focuses on investing in LGBT startups. He estimates that LGBT tech workers make up 10 percent of the startup community and 25 percent of companies with at least four founders or equity leaders.

“If there is more data on LGBT and diverse participation in startups, and more of both money and energy pointed at the issue, we will make important progress,” wrote Grossinger in an email interview.

A report by Morgan Stanley published May 2 found that companies that hired women produced slightly higher returns on equity – about 1 percent over a threeyear horizon – compared to their less-gender-diverse counterparts.

The same is true of stocks in diverse companies, the financial services company’s research arm found, according to a report in the International Business Times.

“It’s important to invest in all underrepresented groups; particularly those that do not pass for white straight-cis gender men,” said Lampkin, who received $40,000 in funding from Pipeline Angels. “Diversity increases team performance, innovation, and return on investment.”

“It is important to focus funding on diverse startups. LGBT startups are just one segment that needs additional attention,” said Caffall.

“If all funding goes to straight, white male startups, then only their

view of the world gets funded.”

Surveys are finding that the venture capital field is skewed toward white men, which make up as much 70 percent of Silicon Valley’s workforce and 87 percent of the investors, according to a 2011 survey by the National Venture Capital Association and Dow Jones VentureSource, reported USA Today. Only 11 percent of investors were female.

That makes it tough for LGBTs and other minorities to gain capital for their startups. A survey conducted by Pepperdine University in 2015 found that female and minority entrepreneurs were significantly less likely to raise venture capital than their white

male counterparts.

“I think it is great. The timing couldn’t be better,” said Bachwani about the launch of the new project. “Project Include would help companies get better [at] attracting and retaining diverse candidates.”

Bachwani hopes the project can “help companies negotiate the hard and multi-faceted issue of workplace diversity.”

Added Pittsford, “We know a diversity of voices, experiences, and perspectives leads to better teams, better products, a better bottom line and a better world.”t

had any clients on the property and always meet their clients in public spaces away from the house.”

The document also says the nonprofit “maintains storage units for our supplies in the Mission district as well as syringe access supplies located privately in the Upper Haight district.”

Only a handful of neighborhood residents came to the open house.

John Pollard, 49, who lives with his family a few blocks away from the new HYA site, has supported the nonprofit for years. He said he thinks the move is “a good idea,” because

the organization’s been rejected by numerous landlords, and “they need an office where they can better facilitate homeless youth’s needs,” even though the clients won’t be there.

Andrea Lopez, 34, who lives in the Lower Haight and has volunteered for years with HYA, called the move “very exciting,” and she expressed confidence Howe would “keep the neighborhood happy.”

The only person at the event that didn’t seem enthusiastic about the nonprofit’s move didn’t want to be quoted.

HYA’s new office looks clean and new, with lots of beige and black.

Most of the furniture consists of desks and chairs. There’s nothing to suggest clients will be welcome to come over and hang out.

Howe said her agency is currently

in the notification phase, and it’s up to planning officials when the move-in can be completed.

The lease is for five years. Howe estimated the rent is $4,500 a month.

Property manager Jack Murray was at the open house but declined to be interviewed.

Howe said HYA still hopes to find a permanent space in the Upper Haight to provide services.t

department is required to notify the district attorney’s office that your personnel file may contain potential Brady information” related to “dishonesty.”

Brady refers to Brady v. Maryland, the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case that requires prosecutors in criminal cases to “disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense,” Sainez noted. (Burley’s attorney provided the B.A.R. with a copy of the letter.)

Burley’s claim says that Sainez’s letter “is further retaliation” against her for complaining to the Ethics Commission “and for engaging in protected whistleblowing and exercising her First Amendment rights.”

Limbert, who’s retired, has previously denied the allegations against him and hasn’t been charged by the DA’s office. He didn’t provide comment for this story.

Suhr, who was forced to resign last week after recent scandals including fatal officer-involved shootings, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Sergeant Michael Andraychak, a police spokesman said in an email, “The department cannot comment on internal investigations, personnel matters, or civil suits.”

The city attorney’s office didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.

See page 14 >>

For more information, visit http:// projectinclude.org.

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<< Travel

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 26-June 1, 2016

<<

Provincetown

From page 10

building is still there next to the modern addition that opened in 2006. The museum features more than 3,000 works by over 700 artists, many of who call Cape Cod home.

The Cape is known for its unique scenery, light, and shadows that artists love. You can take a stroll past a number of the more than 60 art galleries in a walk between downtown and the museum.

Commercial Street is a destination to itself. It is lined with colorful shops and restaurants. Most are locally owned; you won’t see any chain stores there. Many of the city’s charming 80-plus guesthouses are on or near Commercial Street and most are beautiful old buildings that are kept up in pristine condition.

Nightlife

Atlantic House, aka A-House (http://www.ahouse.com), boasts that it is America’s oldest gay bar.

That title is a subject of debate.

Several other gay bars also claim to be the oldest, including our own White Horse Bar in Berkeley.

But there is no disputing that the A-House has been continuously in operation for over 200 years. It has been overtly a gay bar for about 50 years and discreetly gay since as back as the late 1800s. The “oldest” destination depends on how you define “overtly” and “discreetly” and since gay bars were illegal back in the day, no one officially called themselves a gay bar in those early days. The original A-House bar is cozy, with a fireplace in its main bar and the leather “macho” bar upstairs. The larger space is next door and includes a dance floor and back patio.

The Crown and Anchor (http:// www.onlyatthecrown.com) in the heart of downtown has it all. A

restaurant, piano bar, video bar, poolside bar, Vault leather bar, and a cabaret space for live entertainment.

Hotel rooms are on the upper floors. The venue has the space to host large circuit party events.

The Boatslip (www. boatslipresort.com) tea dance from 4 to 7 p.m. throughout the summer is a Provincetown gay tradition that shows no sign of slowing down.

Hundreds of mostly gay men pack the resort’s poolside/beachfront deck and indoor disco. By the way, the nightlife is early in Ptown. Bars close at 1 a.m. but you can more than make up for it getting the party started in the early afternoon.

The Pied bar (http://www. piedbar.net) gets busy as the crowd migrates there after the tea dance.

There are no lesbian bars in Ptown but Pied is lesbian-owned and hosts “Bogie on the Bay” disco nights on Fridays and Saturdays from 10 p.m. to 1 am. that attracts a lot of women.

Purgatory Dance Club is on the ground floor of the Gifford House Guesthouse (http://www. giffordhouse.com). Its low woodbeam ceilings give the bar a cozy, intimate feel. It is connected through a back staircase to a small piano bar upstairs and the Porchside Lounge.

The Shipwreck Lounge (http:// www.ptownlounge.com) is a modern upscale lounge bar at the Brass Key Hotel. The outdoor patio features a large fire pit and fountain.

After the bars close, Spiritus Pizza is where people migrate for a late night snack or just to hang out.

Accommodations

The lesbian-owned 19-room Sage Inn (http://www.sageinnptown. com/) is one of Ptown’s most modern hotels. It used to be the Pilgrim House resort but had to be rebuilt after fire gutted it in 1990. The Sage Restaurant in front serves dinner and an excellent

Steven Underhill

PHOTOGRAPHY

415 370 7152

WEDDINGS, HEADSHOTS, PORTRAITS

stevenunderhill.com · stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com

Provisions (www.farlandprovisions. com) serves up fab comfort food on Bradford Street and it also runs the Far Land on the Beach concession, on Herring Cove Beach, greatly upping the quality of food that you might expect at a typical beach concession stand.

Getting there and Boston

Ed Walsh

Loic Rossignon stands in the Happy Camper eatery he owns, which is known for its doughnuts.

continental breakfast for guests.

By the way, the Sage is one of nine inns that are part of the Women Innkeepers of Provincetown (http:// womeninnkeepers.com/). The site is also a great resource for lesbian activities and events in Ptown. The Women Innkeepers are organizing this year to support the True Colors Foundation, the organization cofounded by singer Cyndi Lauper to help homeless LGBT youth.

The business group held a benefit online auction earlier this week and plans a number of activities during Women’s Week in support of True Colors.

Romeo’s Holiday (http://www. romeosholiday.com) may be the gayest hotel in town. It is known for a collection of Barbie dolls that line the decorative fountain out front.

The inn has a very friendly vibe and caters to gay men but everyone is welcome. The property includes a clothing-optional hot tub. The couple who own the property live on site and they serve a continental breakfast and snacks during the day.

Special events

Memorial Day weekend kicks off the high season in Ptown. The following week, starting June 4, the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival gets underway with headliner actor Brian Dennehy, followed by the Provincetown Film Festival June 15-19. The busy July 4 weekend always draws a huge crowd but the biggest gay event follows with Bear Week July 9-17. The LGBT-focused Family Week is July 23-30. The 38th annual Carnival

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News Briefs

From page 7

and suggestions. (The date on the flier is incorrect; the event is May 31.)

Community Boards to hold Peacemaker Awards

June 2nd - June 5th

t

Community Boards, the nation’s oldest public conflict resolution center, will celebrate its 40th anniversary with a continental breakfast, workshop, and awards luncheon Friday, June 3 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at City Club of San Francisco, 155 Sansome Street.

Organizers said that this year’s sixth annual Peacemaker Awards will be in memory of Eileen Hansen, a longtime Community Boards mediator and trainer who died April 29 after a battle with cancer. Hansen, a lesbian who was a progressive activist for numerous causes, was also on Community Boards’ advisory council and on the Peacemaker Award Selection Committee.

The Peacemaker Awards recognize the significant contributions of people making San Francisco a city of healthier, safer neighborhoods and communities, and celebrate community builders, anti-violence advocates, and onthe-ground peacemakers.

This year’s honorees will be Ron Kelly, a principal architect of California Alternative Dispute Resolution law, who will receive

2016 features a number of special events and parade and runs August 13-19. Carnival will have a back to the 1980s theme this year. The aforementioned Women’s Week is October 10-16.

Eating out

Ptown is known for its casual but world class dining at its more than 60 eateries. Most of the smaller inns include at least a continental breakfast but the town is not lacking in breakfast spots.

The gay-owned Happy Camper on Commercial Street is a great place to stop for decadent homemade doughnuts and coffee and also be sure to stop by for dessert to try its homemade ice cream with some very unique flavors and combinations.

Its sister restaurant Canteen (http://www.thecanteenptown. com) is open for lunch and dinner and is a great and inexpensive place to stop for a bite. You wait in line to order, take a number, and wait staff bring your food when it is ready.

They are famous for their lobster rolls.

The gay-owned Patio American Grill and Cocktail Bar (http:// www.ptownpatio.com) always and deservedly draws a crowd. Centrally located on Commercial Street, it serves up delicious food on the front patio – ideal for people watching.

The Lobster Pot (http://www. ptownlobsterpot.com) is one of Ptown’s landmark businesses.

You can’t miss the corner seafood restaurant with its neon lobster sign.

The gay-owned Far Land

the Raymond Shonholz Visionary Peacemaker Award; Da’Nille Lemon, an eighth grade student at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Middle School, who will receive the Gail Sadalla Rising Peacemaker Award; and the San Francisco Street Violence Intervention Program, which will receive the Community Boards Leadership Peacemaker Award.

The morning workshop is entitled “Resolving Conflict Resolution from the Inside Out,” with keynote Gary J. Friedman, co-founder of the Center for Understanding Conflict.

There will also be a wine reception and silent auction.

Tickets for the day, including all events, are $175. Tickets for the luncheon and awards only are $125. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit http:// communityboards.org/2016/03/31/ updates/.

Sign up for self-defense class

Castro Community on Patrol, in association with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and Community Patrol Service USA, will hold a free beginners self-defense class Monday, June 13 from 7 to 10 p.m. at Strut, SFAF’s new gay and bi men’s health center, 470 Castro Street.

Organizers said that the class is a low-impact presentation of basic, but useful, self-defense techniques.

Space is limited. Interested people can sign up at https://www.event-

A number of airlines fly direct to Boston from the Bay Area. Through its association with Cape Air, JetBlue makes the process seamless.

You can fly directly to Logan Airport then transfer for a 17-minute flight to Ptown.

A great way to get to Ptown is by way of the Bay State Cruise Company (http://www. b ay s t a t e c r u i s e co m p a ny. co m ) high-speed ferry. It takes just 90 minutes to get to Ptown and the cruise through Boston Harbor and Cape Cod bay is enjoyable. You can ride the MBTA’s Silver Line from Boston’s Logan Airport for free right to the dock. The Silver Line makes several stops in downtown Boston, so you can combine a few hours in Boston with the ferry.

The high-speed ferry makes it very easy to combine a Ptown trip with a sightseeing trip to Boston.

Unlike Ptown, Boston has changed dramatically since the 1970s and mostly for the better. The gayest part of the city is the once run-down South End neighborhood, a couple of miles south of the ferry terminal.

The Back Bay and Copley Plaza areas are also very gay-popular. New England’s tallest building is the 200 Claredon, in Back Bay. Up until last year, it was the John Hancock Tower and most people still call it that.

The building’s flat reflective glass reflects the Boston skyline. The tower’s observatory sadly closed over security concerns after the 9/11 terrorist attacks but the neighboring and older Prudential Tower provides a view that is almost as good.

Boston artfully blends the old and new. If you only have a short time in Boston, be sure to check out the 2.5 mile Freedom Trail (http://www. thefreedomtrail.org), that guides visitors through 16 historically significant locations, including the Old North Church and the site of the Boston Massacre.t For more information check out http://www. provincetowntourismoffice.org.

brite.com/e/free-community-selfdefense-class-tickets-24942207815.

Lesbians Who Tech announces coding scholarships

Lesbians Who Tech has announced that it has successfully completed a crowdfunding campaign and that applications are now being accepted for its Edie Windsor Coding Scholarship for LGBTQ women.

Leanne Pittsford, founder of Lesbians Who Tech, said in a news release that the Kickstarter campaign met its $200,000 goal for funding the scholarships. Its bootcamp partner, Dev Bootcamp, made a $100,000 match to the fund, essentially doubling the number of participants. The scholarship plans to cover 50 percent of the tuition for 20 LGBTQ women to attend coding programs. The applicants need to determine where they want to attend and the cost of the program.

The scholarships are named for Windsor, a former technology manager at IBM who in 2013 won a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that threw out a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act. The deadline to apply is June 30. For the application and more information, visit w w w. l e s b i a n s w h o t e c h . o r g / codingscholarship.t

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Obituaries>>

May 26-June 1, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 13

Gay photographer Donald Eckert dies

by Cynthia Laird

D

onald Charles Eckert, who was a longtime photographer of gay life in the Castro, died May 16 in Florida. He was 74.

A cause of death wasn’t provided in an obituary his family posted online.

Mr. Eckert, a gay man, ran Uncle Donald’s Castro Street, a website with nearly 1,000 photos taken by him and other photographers, of the Castro social scene, 1970s gay Pride parades, and Harvey Milk, who was a friend of Mr. Eckert’s. According to his family’s obituary, posted on the Cox-Gifford Seawinds Funeral Home website, Mr. Eckert took a photo of Milk shaking hands with President Jimmy Carter that was used in the 1984 Oscarwinning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk.

Photographer Dan Nicoletta, who used to work in Milk’s Castro Camera shop and is another wellknown chronicler of Milk, said that Mr. Eckert enjoyed covering the emerging LGBT movement.

“Don was one of the people who loved hanging out at Castro Camera shooting the breeze with me and Harvey and Scott Smith (Milk’s lover),” Nicoletta wrote in a Facebook message to the Bay Area Reporter.

“The famous photo of Harvey shaking President Jimmy Carter’s hand is by Don, but his connection goes further back to Harvey’s first supervisorial campaign. Don’s portrait of Harvey with medium length wild hippie hair appears on

Dan Nicoletta

Donald Eckert volunteered at a booth to raise funds for the bust of Harvey Milk in San Francisco City Hall at the 2005 Pride festival.

the commemorative panel at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro.”

Nicoletta also praised Mr. Eckert’s website.

“He was a very sweet man, willing to get involved, and the care he put into Uncle Donald’s Castro website is mind boggling,” Nicoletta said. “I recommend people pay it a visit in case the family elects not to sustain it. There is a lot to learn there.”

Mr. Eckert traveled all over the world. He attended the Gay Games in San Francisco, Vancouver, New York, Amsterdam, and Sidney.

His family said that when Levi’s

opened its new store in San Francisco, the company purchased the rights to four of Mr. Eckert’s photos of men on the street in their Levi’s and used them in the grand opening.

Mr. Eckert was born June 7, 1941 in Elizabeth, New Jersey to the late Joseph F. and Matilda Schmidt Eckert. He attended Marist College and then Newark College of Engineering. On his website, Mr. Eckert wrote that he discovered San Francisco in 1969 when an electronics company he was working for in Washington, D.C. sent him to the city for a five-month project.

“When it was over, I went back east, quit my job, said goodbye to my family in New Jersey, bought a VW bus, and headed west to a new life,” Mr. Eckert wrote on Uncle Donald’s Castro Street.

He lived on Haight Street for a time, volunteering at what was then the Haight-Ashbury Switchboard and Free Clinic. He moved to the Castro in 1972.

He studied photography at City College of San Francisco, he said on his website, and he converted the back porch of his Henry Street apartment into a darkroom.

In 2013, Mr. Eckert moved to Vero Beach, Florida to help take care of his mother, who was 98, before her passing. His family said that he discovered the McKee Botanical Garden and became a volunteer there.

In addition to his parents, Mr. Eckert was predeceased by his brother, Robert J. Eckert. He is

Church organist David Douma dies

by Cynthia Laird

D

avid Harry Douma, a gay man who was a longtime church organist and leather community member, died April 23 at UCSF Hospital. He was 63.

Mr. Douma died of complications from pulmonary fibrosis, said his husband, Claude Wynne.

Mr. Douma was the organist at St. Giles Episcopal Church, which met in the chapel of Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, from 2002 to 2014.

After that, he worked as a substitute organist at First Presbyterian Church in San Leandro until last October when he got sick, his husband said.

In a bio he wrote for his high school reunion a few years ago, Mr. Douma said that he worked for many years in the Central Valley, where he grew up. He spent 25 years working for the city of Modesto and then worked for a few years with the Stanislaus Arts Council before concentrating fully on his church music ministry.

Proficient at the piano, organ, and harpsichord, Mr. Douma had over 40 years of professional

church music experience.

Prior to his ministry As an organ recitalist, he at St. Giles, Mr. Douma performed throughout served at College Avenue central California, as well as Congregational Church Nevada and Washington. in Modesto, St. Francis Wynne told the Bay Episcopal Church in Area Reporter that he Turlock, historic St. and Mr. Douma met at Paul’s Episcopal Church the International Bear in Sacramento, and the David Douma Rendezvous in 2001 at the Episcopal Church of St. Powerhouse, a South of Market Anne in Stockton. He also worked bar. He was part of the leather and as a keyboard accompanist for kink community, as well as the bear Townsend Opera Players in community, Wynne said, adding Modesto, regional musical theater that Mr. Douma frequented several companies, community choruses, SOMA bars, including the Hole in and choral festivals. the Wall, the Eagle, and the Lone Wynne said that while Mr. Star. The couple married November Douma worked at College Avenue 2, 2008, just two days before the Congregational Church, he was passage of Proposition 8, California’s active in the church’s “open same-sex marriage ban, which was and affirming” movement to eventually overturned by the U.S. make United Church of Christ Supreme Court in June 2013. congregations LGBT-supporting.

Mr. Douma was born April 27, While living in San Francisco, Mr. 1952. After graduating from Ripon Douma was active with a dog rescue Christian High School in Ripon, organization.

California, he went on to earn a A memorial service will be held degree in music education from Saturday, May 28 at 2 p.m. at College Dordt College in Sioux Center, Avenue Congregational Church, Iowa, graduating in 1974.

1341 College Avenue, in Modesto.t

Obituaries >> Bill Choisser May 17, 2016

Bill Choisser, 69, passed away in his sleep at 2:16 a.m. Tuesday, May 17, 2016 at California Pacific Medical Center, Pacific campus, following a long period of medical problems due to the autoimmune muscle disease called polymyositis.

He is survived by his dearly beloved husband, Larry Kenney, with whom he had a wonderful relationship for 39 years; sister Lucy Choisser of Iowa City, Iowa; sisterin-law, Patricia Tyler of Las Vegas, New Mexico; Sue Bursiel of Peterborough, New Hampshire; and Ellen Caron, of Jaffrey, New Hampshire.

Bill was an electrical engineer working for the Federal Aviation Administration at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago when he met Larry in 1976. They moved to San Francisco in 1979, and Bill was hired as an electric design engineer at Glumac and Associates in the city. He later worked at Toft Wolff Farrow, also in San Francisco.

His career spanned 25 years before he retired in 2004.

Bill was a founding member of the San Francisco Hiking Club, and an active

member of the San Francisco Radio Club and the Lambda Amateur Radio Club. He designed web pages for the hiking club and the Men’s Long Hair Hyperboard, and was the head technician for the Hot Boots website.

There will be no funeral service.

Billy Slavin May 22, 2016

Billy Slavin passed away early Sunday morning May 22, 2016 at his home on Rausch Avenue in San Francisco. He was 76. Billy died peacefully in his sleep after waking earlier that morning. His roommate, Michael Good, was with him at the time. The ambulance was summoned but paramedics were not able to revive Billy.

Billy was a cancer survivor, battling the disease for several years.

Billy moved to San Francisco from the East Coast after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in art from State University of New York at New Paltz around 1968. He later took additional classes leading toward his master’s degree. He taught art at the elementary level, and later worked most of his years for Agraria in San Francisco.

He is survived by his wife, who lives in Paris.

Billy is also survived by Good, his longtime friend, and caregiver/roommate.

Billy was well liked and an easygoing individual who was known around South of Market for opening his home to assist others in need. Billy was the stereotypical SOMA gay man that inhabited this area of San Francisco.

Memorial set for Eileen Hansen

A memorial will be held for lesbian progressive advocate and activist Eileen Hansen, who died April 29 after a battle with cancer.

Peter Menchini She was 64.

Friends have announced that the memorial will take place Wednesday, June 8 from 5 to 9 p.m. at First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1187 Franklin Street (at Gough) in San Francisco.

Ms. Hansen served for six years on the San Francisco Ethics Commission. She also worked as policy director for the AIDS Legal Referral Panel and was involved with Community Boards, a conflict resolution center (see News Briefs item).

survived by his sister, Marilyn Mulhall of Vero Beach; nephew Timothy and Sharlene Mulhall; great-nephews Michael, Donovan, and Brendan, all of Forked River, New Jersey; niece MaryBeth and Joseph Colosi of Manchester, New Jersey, and many friends.

A celebration of life was held May 23 at McKee Botanical Garden.

Donations in his memory can be made to McKee Botanical Garden (http://www.mckeegarden.org/), the Harvey Milk Foundation (www. milkfoundation.org), or VNA Hospice House, 901 37th Street, Vero Beach, Florida 32960.

To visit Uncle Donald’s Castro Street, go to http://www.thecastro. net.t

Victor A. Rodriguez

May 21, 1932 – May 15, 2016 We say farewell to a special and dear friend, Victor A. Rodriguez, also known as Rod and Roxie. He was a fun-loving humanitarian and great cook, who loved the theater, opera, ballet, and symphony.

It was an honor to know him.

Victor was born in Manhattan May 21, 1932, and left this earth for Paradise May 15, 2016.

During his young working life he was employed as a fabric and clothing buyer for various department stores, who sent him throughout the world to represent them as Mr. Victor.

Rod was a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War era and was employed during the mid-1980s and 1990s serving cocktails at the famous landmark Castro bar in San Francisco called Elephant Walk.

During those years, when AIDS was taking the lives of so many gay men in the city, Rod and his longtime partner, Tom Ritzenthaler, decided to take action against the deadly disease. Rather than using their savings to travel, the two men gave monthly parties and invited people with AIDS and friends to attend.

The parties were first held in their apartment at 18th and Dolores streets and later at the homes of friends who had gardens. As hosts, Rod and Tom cooked nutritious monthly meals of turkey, ham, chili, and all the trimmings. At the parties money was also collected to be distributed to the AIDS Emergency Fund. At a time when people with Kaposi’s sarcoma lesions were deemed unwelcome in some of the bars and restaurants of the Castro, Rod and Tom’s home was open to welcome everyone.

Volunteering was a natural for Rod, and as a librarian at the Mission Dolores Elementary School he was able to interact with the children. Two large binders Rod has filled with letters from the kids attest to their fascination with this older man who brought them so much fun and laughter, along with a love of literature.

The New Conservatory Theater in San Francisco was also a place where Rod was to demonstrate his love of theater as a volunteer.

Rod will be missed by his caregiver and longtime friend, Michael Marinaro and his husband, Chris Naughton; by his extended family Rita Rockett and her two sons, Nikolao Samuelu and Michael Molina; Rita’s sister, Tina Mattucci, and by many others in all walks of life, including Carla Soussa of Bronxville, New York, and John Rocos and his wife, Mary Richards-Rocos, of the Palm Springs area. We thank the San Rafael Health and Wellness Center for assisting Rod during the last three years of his life, as well as Continuum Hospice Care.

Rod’s ashes will become one with the Pacific Ocean soon, but his spirit and the spirit of his beloved partner, Tom, will live on in the hearts and minds of their friends and loved ones for many years to come. If anyone is so moved, we suggest a donation in their name to the AIDS Emergency Fund in San Francisco.

A Memorial Weekend Concert in honor of those who served!

Meet Your Neighbors

We are pleased to present WESLA WHITFIELD in concert & Cheese Open House with MIKEWine GREENSILL at the piano You’re invited to mix and mingle with the people who will one day share your permanent San Francisco address.

Friday, July 19, 2013 2—5pm

RSVP Required: (415) 752-8791

Saturday, May 28, 1pm – 2:30.

1 Loraine Court—San Francisco, CA 94118 Limited seating/parking.

Call (415) 771-0717 to save a seat inside the historic San Francisco Columbarium.

1 Loraine Court, SF 94118 Refreshments provided after the performance.

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

14 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 26-June 1, 2016

<<

Guest Opinion

From page 6

list glyphosate as cancer causing under Proposition 65. Of course, Monsanto then sued to keep this from happening. As yet, it is still unresolved.

Then this past December, Geiger, the IPM manager, held a public forum to get feedback on the new guidelines for pesticide use and the exceptions allowed. I attended that meeting and shared that I have been HIV-positive for 38 years and that I worried not only about my health and that of my dog and partner, but also for the children who regularly play right where Roundup was used in Mission Creek Park.

As a result of this forum and public feedback that was decidedly in favor of banning Roundup altogether, an updated set of guidelines were put in place. However, again they leave room for interpretation allowing for the use and abuse of this toxic “most hazardous” chemical.

For example, instead of Roundup being prohibited only near schools and playgrounds, it is now prohibited in areas where “contact with children is likely.” In my opinion, children are likely to play anywhere in our parks. Therefore, Roundup should be prohibited from use everywhere in our parks.

Nowhere in the new guidelines are the health and welfare of people living with HIV or any other health issue taken into consideration.

Nowhere are the lives of pregnant women or the elderly or our pets considered. Geiger will take issue with these statements. But until Roundup is completely banned from our parks, the public’s health is still at risk.

For those of us living down in Mission Bay, the management of Mission Bay Parks has now declared that they won’t be using Roundup or anything similar in their parks. This

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Lottery

From page 1

“Members of the LGBT community can come to Openhouse and we will help you fill it out. We will have workshops,” said Evans.

It is expected that the timeframe to return the application will be reduced from the normal 28 days to 10 days or less.

“That hasn’t been nailed down either,” Evans told the B.A.R. this week.

According to information Openhouse has posted to its website, a single person interested in applying must have a maximum household annual income of $28,550 to $35,700. For a family of two, the maximum household annual income is listed as $32,600 to $40,750.

The agency also estimates that rents for a studio will be in the range of $821 to $893 and for a onebedroom will be between $879 and $1,019. A two-bedroom unit will likely rent for $1,055 to $1,146.

A second building to be constructed on what is now a parking lot, and will have a street address of 95 Laguna, is slated to open in the spring of 2018. It will have 79 apartments, 14 of which will be designated for people living with HIV or AIDS, and one unit will house a resident manager.

Seniors age 62 and over will be able to apply for those units – the state raised the age limit after financing was secured for the Rich-

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Lesbian ex-cop

From page 11

Jayme Walker, an attorney with Gwilliam, Ivary, Chiosso, Cavalli, and Brewer, the firm representing Burley, said officials had about six weeks to formally respond.

Burley doesn’t think she’s met Evans, and she said her claim was nothing personal.

is a good thing. Now I can walk my partner to work without worrying that there is poison all around us and in the bushes. But it’s just the start.

This isn’t the only park we go to. We visit the AIDS grove on occasion to pay respect to my former partner, Rick, who died in 1987, and the many, many friends who succumbed to AIDS. This is a sacred place and toxic herbicides like Roundup must never be sprayed there again.

But apparently Geiger is not the only one who thinks it’s safe to spray Roundup in our parks. We’ve contacted Mayor Ed Lee’s office several times by phone and emailed and phoned our supervisor, Jane Kim. The mayor’s office never got back to us and here’s how Kim responded: “Hi Dan, Thank you for letting us know about this issue. It looks like Nicole (the Mission Bay Parks site manager) has referred you to Chris Geiger, Integrated Pest Management Program Manager at the City, for questions. Please keep us posted and let me know if you need further assistance from our office. Thanks.”

Further assistance? They didn’t do anything. Further emails and phone calls were never returned. Kim has definitely lost my state Senate vote.

San Francisco is known as a progressive city. We are often at the forefront of social and environmental change. Just recently I got an email from the San Francisco Department of the Environment stating that it was discussing the possibility of phasing out products like Roundup over the next two years. This is unacceptable. They need to stop the use of these toxic carcinogenic pesticides now. It’s time for the use of Roundup to be prohibited in San Francisco. Period.t Dan Perdios is a San Francisco Pen Grant award-winning columnist and longtime political activist.

ardson Hall rehab. Construction is expected to commence in 2017, and the lottery to select residents should take place sometime in 2018.

Openhouse welcomes interim ED

This week Openhouse quietly welcomed Tim Daniels as its interim executive director. He started Monday, May 23.

The agency’s former executive director, Seth Kilbourn, announced in March he planned to depart sometime in May. He had led Openhouse since 2008.

Daniels has twice before headed a local nonprofit in an interim capacity. He spent less than a year at both the Foundation for Youth Investment and the Mario Pedrozzi Scholarship Foundation.

Between 1998 and 2003 Daniels was the executive director of the San Francisco-based Seven Tepees Youth Program. He then was hired to lead another city nonprofit, Boys Hope Girls Hope, and in 2005 he left to become executive director of the Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center, where he worked for five years.

Daniels was unavailable for an interview, and the agency had not disclosed the terms of his contract, by press time Wednesday.t For more information about the 55 Laguna development and how to apply for one of its units, visit http://openhouse-sf.org/55-lagunainformation/.

“It really was just about doing the right thing,” she said.

A New Year’s Day post on Evans’ Facebook page said, “To say that 2015 was heartbreaking, devastating, embarrassing, and even a little depressing might be an understatement.” In the new year, the post said, Evans hoped to “have a much better year and be a better person than last year.”t

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Legal Notices>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037069000

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037082500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CUTIE PIES, 1700 MONTGOMERY ST #101, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARIA DEL PILAR ALVARADO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/01/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/27/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: INTAVA HAIR SALON, 323 IVY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LIENG PHETHSAYA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/10/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/06/16.

MAY 05, 12, 19, 26, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037060900

MAY 12, 19, 26, JUNE 02, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037081400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BOUQUET CATERING COMPANY, 1821 15TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed STEPHANIE KAZARIAN-SANTORE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/16/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/22/16.

MAY 05, 12, 19, 26, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037074500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AUTHENTIC AFGHAN RUGS, 3900 3RD ST #207, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ABDUL FAHIM. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/29/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/29/16.

MAY 05, 12, 19, 26, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037074700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BUNGALOWE, 797 BUSH ST #102, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KARAN AGGARWAL. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/05/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/05/16.

MAY 12, 19, 26, JUNE 02, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037079500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NORTH BEACH CONSTRUCTION, 1443 21ST AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CARLO CAMOZZI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/4/16.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/04/16.

MAY 12, 19, 26, JUNE 02, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037080500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: O’LEARY PLUMBING, 1308 PANACE TERRACE, SUNNYVALE, CA. 94087. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DAVID O’LEARY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/24/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/29/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: INNOVATION PLUMBING AND ROOTER, 828 CRESCENT AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RAFAEL CHAHUAYO ZEVALLOS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/05/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/05/16.

MAY 05, 12, 19, 26, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037038900

MAY 12, 19, 26, JUNE 02, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037056900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: RODAN STUDIO, 457 BARTLETT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed ROSA V. MENDOZA & DANIEL DOUGLAS ROBERT BALDWIN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/07/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/07/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ATLAS VOCAL STUDIO, 1232 ARGUELLO BLVD #2, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JAYMEE SENIGAGLIA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/11/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/19/16.

MAY 05, 12, 19, 26, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037070100

MAY 12, 19, 26, JUNE 02, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037077200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ITANI DENTAL SAN FRANCISCO, 450 SUTTER ST #2318, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed ITANI DENTAL, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/08/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/28/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NEW ZEN SPA, 1933 UNION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed HAI MINH SON & JACK LY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/02/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/03/16.

MAY 05, 12, 19, 26, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037071900

MAY 12, 19, 26, JUNE 02, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037049900

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-16-551932

In the matter of the application of: JENNA VELASQUEZ-ORTEGA, 3636 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner JENNA VELASQUEZ-ORTEGA, is requesting that the name ENESSA ELENA VELASQUEZ-ORTEGA, be changed to ENESSA ELENA ESTRELLA. 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 2016 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAY 12, 19, 26, JUNE 02, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037099400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MR. BANH MI, 3605 BALBOA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JIMMY QUACH. 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 05/17/16.

MAY 19, 26, JUNE 02, 09, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037095700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE LEGEND HOLIDAYS INC, 283 6TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed THE LEGEND HOLIDAYS INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/01/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/16/16.

MAY 19, 26, JUNE 02, 09, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037094100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BIOGENIC ENERGY, INC., ONE SANSOME ST #3500, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed BIOGENIC ENERGY, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/29/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/13/16.

MAY 19, 26, JUNE 02, 09, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037091200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: POKE KANA, 65 CAMBON DR, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94132. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SUKOZA INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/12/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/12/16.

MAY 19, 26, JUNE, 02, 09, 2016 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-16-552121

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ALEX BAKERY, 431 CLEMENT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed TING YIP INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/28/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/28/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SUBSTATION, 2828 JONES ST SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed WHARF HOLDINGS, 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 04/14/16.

In the matter of the application of: QI JIANG, 4239 21ST ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner QI JIANG, is requesting that the name QI JIANG, be changed to ROGER QI JIANG. 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 19th of July 2016 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAY 05, 12, 19, 26, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037045500

MAY 12, 19, 26, JUNE 02, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037072800

MAY 26, JUNE 02, 09, 16, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037077500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HUMANKIND CO, 475 CONNECTICUT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed JULIE WERTZ DESIGN CO. LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/01/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/12/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SUZANNE TUCKER HOME, 58 MAIDEN LANE 4TH FLR, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108.

This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SUZANNE TUCKER HOME (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/29/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CRÈME DE CLEANING SERVICE, 940 MCALLISTER ST #D, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SIDON SOLOMON ABAI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/03/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/03/16.

MAY 05, 12, 19, 26, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037086000

MAY 12, 19, 26, JUNE 02, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037076400

MAY 26, JUNE 02, 09, 16, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037106800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GRACIELA’S, 315 SENECA AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JULIO MARTINEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/09/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/09/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LUSTER PRODUCTIONS, 68 SAINT MARYS AVE #2, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed FTBS MEDIA LLC (NV). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/23/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/03/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DAMONO DESIGN, 26 COSO AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DAMON O’DONNELL. 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 05/23/16.

MAY 12, 19, 26, JUNE 02, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037076500

MAY 12, 19, 26, JUNE 02, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037083200

MAY 26, JUNE 02, 09, 16, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037111000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AL CLARK PRODUCTION, 268 BUSH ST #2511, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ALBERT CLARK. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/02/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/03/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: VAKANZA, 2852 CALIFORNIA ST #B, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed KIMBERKINI LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/03/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/06/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STEVEN BALLINGER FINE ART, 1459 18TH ST #281, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed STEVEN BALLINGER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/04/05. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/24/16.

MAY 12, 19, 26, JUNE 02, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037084200

MAY 12, 19, 26, JUNE 02, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037088200

MAY 26, JUNE 02, 09, 16, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037107000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JULIA, 5438 GEARY BL, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JULIA ROSE MILLER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/06/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/06/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MATTERS OF THE HEART, 226 FAXON AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JAYANTI ANAND. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/11/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/11/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DREAM QUEEN, 63 VALLEY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LAURA L. KONNER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/23/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/23/16.

MAY 12, 19, 26, JUNE 02, 2016

MAY 19, 26, JUNE 02, 09, 2016

MAY 26, JUNE 02, 09, 16, 2016

▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

Legal Notices>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037102200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CHEF JIMMY’S CATERING, 2166 36TH AVE #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CEVDET YANAS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/19/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/19/16.

MAY 26, JUNE 02, 09, 16, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037101900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ACCESORIOS 98 CA, 5627 CALIFORNIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed GUO JUN LIN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/19/16.

MAY 26, JUNE 02, 09, 16, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037099200

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037102500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: VISCERAL PHYSICAL THERAPY, INC, 750 GRAND VIEW AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed VISCERAL PHYSICAL THERAPY, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/19/16.

MAY 26, JUNE 02, 09, 16, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037099600

MAY 26, JUNE 02, 09, 16, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037109700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EMPIRE MOVERS USA INC, 1888 GENEVA AVE #504, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed EMPIRE MOVERS USA INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/24/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/24/16.

MAY 26, JUNE 02, 09, 16, 2016

MAY 26, JUNE 02, 09, 16, 2016

NOTICE OF INTENTION TO CIRCULATE RECALL PETITION

TO THE HONORABLE Mayor Edwin M. Lee: Pursuant to Section 11020, California Elections Code, the undersigned registered qualified voters of the City and County of San Francisco, in the State of California, hereby give notice that we are the proponents of a recall petition and that we intend to seek your recall and removal from the office of Mayor, in the City and County of San Francisco, California, and to demand election of a successor in that office.

The grounds for the recall are as follows: Mayor Ed Lee must be recalled immediately. His 5+ years in office have brought: 1) HOUSING CRISIS: destruction of rent-controlled and affordable housing stock, thousands of evictions, speculation bubbles benefiting developers; 2) WORSENING HOMELESS CRISIS: brutal encampment raids, scapegoating of the poor and mentally ill; 3) CORRUPTION AND INFLUENCE PEDDLING: allegations of perjury at the Ethics Commission, vote fraud, and campaign finance violations resulting in FBI investigations of City Hall; 4) PRIVATIZATION OF PUBLIC ASSETS: parks, roads, port facilities and transit; 5) SFPD KILLINGS OF PEOPLE OF COLOR: Alex Nieto, Amilcar Perez Lopez, Mario Woods, Luis Gongora Pat, and 17 more since 2011; 6) SFPD SCANDALS: Racist Text Scandals, Chief Suhr $1.5 Million corruption settlement; 7) PAY TO PLAY GOVERNMENT: frivolous revelries America's Cup, Super Bowl 50, Salesforce street closures; 8) TAX BREAKS FOR CORPORATIONS: Twitter, AirBnB, Google Bus tax breaks; 9) DESTRUCTION OF THE MIDDLE CLASS: highest rents in America, income disparity higher than Rwanda, loss of city and nonprofit workers, teachers, artists,working class exodus; 10) NEIGHBORHOODS THREATENED: SoMa, Chinatown, the Castro, Noe Valley, the Haight Density Bonus plan for citywide gentrification; 11) DISPLACEMENT OF LATINOS AND AFRICAN AMERICANS, Latinos pushed out of Mission, African Americans now 3% from 15%.

The printed names, signatures, and residence addresses of the proponents are as follows: Signers: 2. Michael Murphy;1511 44th Ave; SF CA 94122 3. Dennis Wayne Fox; 1623 24th Ave; SF CA 94122 4. Carole Summers; 455 Sanchez; SF CA 94114

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6. Richard Stone; 3476 18th St #27; SF CA 94110

19. Mario Grillo; 242 Turk St #704; SF CA 94102

7. Robert B. “Barry” Hermanson; 2467 28th Ave; SF CA 94116

20. Will Brodhead; 15 Laidley St.; SF CA 94131

8. Amanda Owen-Walkup; 1050 Shrader St.; SF CA 94117

22. Bob Gorringe; 19 Knollview Way; SF CA 94131 23. Obo Help; 1531 Fulton St.; SF CA 94117

10. David Salaverry; 344 Jones St. #402; SF CA 94102

24. Jackie Barshak; 2067 10th Ave; SF CA 94116 25. Jane Logan; 60 Camp St; SF CA 94110

11. Francisco Herrera; 331 Peru Ave; SF CA 94122

26. Darrell Rogers; 2760 San Bruno Ave #8; SF CA 94134

13. Karen Fleshman; 5 Galilee Ln #2; SF CA 94115

Movers>>

MAY 26, JUNE 02, 09, 16, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037094000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TACOLICIOUS, 2031 CHESTNUT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed LAIOLA LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/13/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/13/16.

MAY 26, JUNE 02, 09, 16, 2016 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037107100

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CAUSE STORIES; ALLY VAULT; 1471 5TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed THE SAFDAR GROUP (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/01/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/18/16.

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18. Adrienne Fong; 750 Presidio Ave #207; SF CA 94115

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FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037101000

17. Ruth Sakheim; 105 Palm Ave #6; SF CA 94118

15. Rodney Ewing; 720 York #107; SF CA 94110

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: K-OZ RESTAURANT BREWERY, 121 7TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed KEI AND OZ LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/23/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/23/16.

5. Michael L. Black; 455 Sanchez; SF CA 94114

12. Sylvia Rorem; 1772 LaSalle Ave; SF CA 94134

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GENJI, 1765 CALIFORNIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed GENJI PACIFIC LLC (PA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/17/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/17/16.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: INNER CITY HAULING & JANITORIAL, 47 MINERVA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARIA M. MEJIA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/17/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/17/16.

1. Erika McDonald; 807 Shotwell St. #3; SF CA 94110

May 26-June 1, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 15

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Vol. 46 • No. 21 • May 26-June 1, 2016

www.ebar.com/arts

Reveling in the American songbook

by Richard Dodds

W

hen Judy Kuhn first performed Rodgers, Rodgers & Guettel at Lincoln Center last year, the reviewer for The New York Times described her style as one of “passionate restraint.” Reminded of the comment, the long-running Broadway star let out an unrestrained laugh.

See page 27 >>

Broadway veteran Judy Kuhn will explore three generations of Broadway songwriters in Rodgers, Rodgers & Guettel at Feinstein’s at the Nikko on June 3 and 4.

Denise Winters

New SFMOMA: The Whirlwind Tour

by Sura Wood

L

ast week we opined on SFMOMA’s new house; now we take a look at what’s inside. The excitement that greets a new building comes with an opportunity for a museum to reintroduce itself to the art world and invigorate donors who want their collections displayed in a high-profile destination venue. SFMOMA, clearly thriving with triple the previous exhibition area at their disposal, is currently showing off some 1,900 objects, over 600 of them new and promised gifts, in a classy, understated arena where they can luxuriate and shine. This is especially true for the Doris and Donald Fisher postwar and contemporary art collection that’s on a century-long loan to SFMOMA, and was the raison d’etre for the expansion. 260 of the Fishers’ 1,100 works, portions of which occupy four floors, really pop in the cool, spacious galleries, and benefit greatly from Senior Curator Gary Garrels’ impeccable installation.

See page 26 >>

Alexander Calder, “Double Gong” (1953), metal and paint; Doris and Donald Fisher Collection at SFMOMA.

Calder Foundation, New York/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Photo

by Ma

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18 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 26-June 1, 2016

Museum collection, by the book

by Roberto Friedman

S

ince the re-opening of SFMOMA has already garnered so much press, we thought we’d read and review the new accompanying catalog San Francisco Museum of Modern Art: 360 – Views on the Collection (SFMOMA). Edited by Judy Bloch and Suzanne Stein, the book reproduces over 200 artworks, and includes prose and poetry by 60

authors describing much of the art.

There is both scholarship and art-loving glee on display here. Is it peevish of Out There to enjoy the pictures of artworks that are not described at length in essays? One of these is a favorite of ours in the museum’s collection, Arshile Gorky’s “Enigmatic Combat” (1936-47), oil on canvas, for its sheer inventiveness and exuberance of form and color. For personal resonance, Max

Beckmann’s “Frau bei der Toilette mit roten und weissen Lillien” (1938), oil on canvas, has always reminded us of our dear departed Aunt Ruthie.

She’s there on the canvas.

The book is a treasurehouse of artistic delights and incisive commentary. Curator Sarah Roberts calls Robert Rauschenberg’s seminal “Collection” (1954-55) a rock and roll signature artwork, then explains why. Curator Caitlin Haskell brings

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penetrating insight to the dumb metal boxes of Donald Judd’s “To Susan Buckwalter” (1964). Philip Guston is represented by his later, taboo-breaking figurative work.

The artist is quoted: “That’s the only possession an artist has – freedom to do whatever you can imagine.”

Kevin Killian describes meeting Jess in his essay on the artist’s “Narkissos” (197691), and quotes him describing the origin of his title. “Robert [Duncan, the poet] used to say that the word ‘kiss’ derives from the name ‘Narkissos,’ that the word was smuggled into our language through the Greek, and that the kiss was smuggled into the world through Narcissus.”

Alice Neel is represented by a portrait of Fluxus pioneer Geoffrey Hendricks and artist Brian Buczak, lovers and artistic collaborators, that’s intimate and somehow larger.

Grupa O.K. (Julian Myers and Joanna Szupinska) observe, “In the curve of a nose or a sweep of ochre shadow, Neel could evince misery, exhibitionism, naivete, or psychosis.”

Curator Gary Garrels, who hung the Fisher Collection galleries, describes the paroxysms of civic squeamishness that brought Robert Arneson’s memorial bust “Portrait of George (Moscone)” (1981), an important historical piece by a major California artist intended for City Hall, rejected by the politicos, thence safely into the SFMOMA collection.

The catalog includes some of our favorite Bay Area writers on art, such as Dodie Bellamy on Hans Bellmer. “‘La mitrailleuse en etat de grace’ [1937] rewires my bulbous surrealist dream – its clutch of discomfiting angles, its Patty Hearst post-SLA-kidnapping militancy.

Faceless, I think, is better than half a face.” Glen Helfand on Matthew

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Barney’s Cremaster 2: The Drones’ Exposition (1999): “It’s easy to forget that Barney, a mythic multimedia art star, is a sculptor. His achievements place as much emphasis on social as object sculpture.”

As always, career art historians add insight and fresh perspective.

Curator Caitlin Haskell on Alexander Calder’s “Double Gong” (1953): Calder “was his generation’s best engineer of chance encounters – and few have rivaled him since.” Curator Jenny Gheith on Cady Noland’s “Walk and Stalk” (199394) quotes the artist: “Boundaries are always being explored and exploited.

At this moment privacy is our version of the Western frontier.” Gheith adds, “Soon afterward, Noland sought her own freedom from unauthorized intrusion and dropped out of the art world.”

Plainly Jane

This week arts writer Tavo Amador reviews Conversations with Classic Film Stars: Interviews from Hollywood’s Golden Era by James Bawden and Ron Miller. He and Out There are jointly delighted to share a wee tidbit from the book.

Actress Jane Wyman apparently controlled every aspect of her TV show Falcon’s Crest. She often clashed with guest stars. Wyman is quoted as saying, “Lana Turner? I could never figure that one out. She was never prepared, and you must know your lines on episodic TV. And after we had Leslie Caron around, and Gina Lollobrigida, I told the producers, ‘No more international harlots. Do you understand me?’

“The other day I’m talking to a young thing who has joined the cast, and she chirps, ‘I hear you’ve made some movies, too.’ And I sweetly smiled and said, ‘Kiddo, I’ve been at it for 60 years. You should be as fortunate, I dearly hope.’” That’s the Golden Era spirit!t

The Estate of Philip Guston

Philip Guston, “As It Goes” (1978), oil on canvas; The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

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Theatre>>

May 26-June 1, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 19

Musical comes back from past life

by Richard Dodds

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nip and tuck is common enough when a musical is revived on Broadway; fixes for what didn’t work, polishing off dated sensibilities, and streamlining for contemporary audiences. But On a Clear Day You Can See Forever got much more than a little lipo when it came back to Broadway in 2011. The extreme makeover added new blemishes as it tried to smooth out the old, and it hardly streamlined the 1965 show, but it definitely gives audiences more than a dusty revival of an alwaysflawed musical with a great score.

The new incarnation of a tale about reincarnation has found a welcome home at New Conservatory Theatre Center. That wasn’t so in New York five years ago when critics and audiences were turned off, and even its own makers would come to agree that their production was ill-advised. No matter where and how it’s done, the new version will displease traditionalists, who were happy enough with the original. But as rendered in director Ed Decker’s bright production, there is considerable amusement to be had in the musical’s revamped story that now includes a lot of gay-ification.

Many of the pleasures of the original production came in Barbara Harris’ performance as the insecure, chain-smoking Daisy Gamble, whose previous incarnation as a free-spirited 18th-century woman is evoked by a psychiatrist through hypnosis. Now Daisy is the ditzily gay Davey, while his past self is still a woman named Melinda Wells who enchants the doctor.

The therapist must court the hypnotized Davey to spend time with his beloved Melinda, which creeps out most everyone else including his colleagues, Davey’s boyfriend, and eventually Davey himself, who rightly feels himself abused. But ethics are mostly a nuisance in Paul Parnell’s light-hearted adaption of Alan Jay Lerner’s original libretto.

Eras on both the front and back ends have changed, with the bland early 1960s giving way to a semipsychedelic 70s for Davey’s scenes, and the 1700s becoming the 1940s for Melinda’s appearances. Whether it’s Daisy or Davey, the role still remains the most enjoyable part of the tale, especially here because of the endearing Chris Morrell as the mightily light-in-his-loafers character. This is a comically astute performance of good cheer, and Morrell is best able to put

Lois Tema

In the revised version of On a Clear Day at NCTC, Chris Morrell plays an insecure gay man who can’t commit when his boyfriend (Kevin Singer, arms outstretched) invites him to move in, despite their friends’ support.

across lyricist Lerner and composer Burton Lane’s songs, especially in the introductory “Hurry! It’s Lovely Up Here” that has Davey giddily talking to his flowers and Morrell highlighting Lerner’s lyrics at their most clever.

As the widowed psychiatrist,

William Giammona projects leadingman stolidity, and he musically connects with a forceful “Come Back to Me” toward the end of the show. Melissa O’Keefe is genuinely appealing as the back-in-time Melinda, now a big-band singer from the 1940s whose

songs are mostly interpolated from the movie Royal Wedding. Among those adding flavor to the production are Audrey Baker as Davey’s brash roommate, Kevin Singer as Davey’s earnest boyfriend, Jessica Coker as a disapproving psychiatric colleague, and Christine Macomber in a series of sharply rendered older-lady roles.

Vocally, this production is seldom a cut above, though the four-piece band led by musical director Matthew Lee Cannon is solid enough, and there are some happy steps in Joyce Zaban’s few-frills choreography. The sets by Kuo-Hao Lo and lighting by Christian V. Mejia are less polished than what we’ve come to expect at NCTC, and the 1970s Goodwill-inspired costumes by Wes Crain do the actors no favors.

But despite any deficiencies, this Clear Day manages to pull the audience over to its side. This is its first production since New York in 2011, and I’m pretty sure it’s a lot more fun than what Broadway audiences experienced back then.t On a Clear Day You Can See Forever will run through June 12 at New Conservatory Theatre Center. Tickets are $30-$50. Call (415) 861-8972 or go to nctcsf.org.

Chronology of a young marriage

by Richard Dodds

D

espite frequent good reviews and even a Tony Award, it has seemed like Broadway composer Jason Robert Brown couldn’t catch a break. He has said as much in interviews, expressing his frustration that years of work have resulted in disappointing New York runs of such musicals as Parade, The Bridges of Madison County, and Honeymoon in Vegas. You could include The Last Five Years in that list – its short off-Broadway run in 2001 made him think about quitting the business – but its popularity has only grown in the last 15 years.

You can understand why by watching ACT’s production at the Geary Theater, where the musical is receiving a top-flight production.

It’s the story of a love affair, and in the opening moments, we see both how it ends and it begins. The story, told entirely through song, comes at us from two directions over the course of five years rendered in opposing chronological order.

And so “Still Hurting,” one of the sadder songs to open a musical, is a lament from Cathy, a struggling actress, after she has been left by her husband. That would be Jamie, a promising novelist, whom we meet in the next scene as he extols

the beginning of the romance in the slap-happy “Shiksa Goddess.” The two characters only have one song together, coming right in the middle of the show when their stories are briefly synchronized, as they warily profess their love in “The Next Ten Minutes.”

Brown uses a variety of musical references in his songs, creating a score of knowing pastiche that finds novel ways to illuminate each stage in Cathy and Jamie’s relationship.

It comes across as a showcase for Brown’s versatility, but the songs all find their ways to a believable emotional connection. (And it’s no secret that Brown found material in his own failed marriage.) It also helps that they’re presented in an attractive production with two engaging performances at its core.

Zak Resnick and Margo Seibert, bracingly amplified, display expressive voices and stage presences that allow their characters to flesh out beyond the musical notations that Brown has provided. Seibert gets to notably shine in “A Summer in Ohio,” which offers a comic look at performing in summer stock, and “Climbing Uphill,” in which she provides a self-deprecating internal monologue as she goes through the indignities of an actor’s audition. Resnick also finds multiple

Kevin Berne

Zak Resnick and Margo Seibert, the young lovers in ACT’s The Last Five Years, only briefly come together on stage as their stories are told through opposite chronologies.

opportunities to draw us in, from the merry Jewish parable of “The Schmuel Song” to the aching effort at saving a marriage in “If I Didn’t Believe in You.” That director Michael Berresse was first a Tony-nominated dancer is evident in this production, which incorporates playful steps that quote from popular dance lexicons and provide subtext for the characters,

while musical director Matt Castle coaxes a full-bodied sound from the six-piece orchestra. Tim Mackabee’s stylish set is dominated by a hovering, donut-shaped installation piece made up of what looks like an explosion’s debris. Callie Floor’s costumes and Robert Wierzel’s lighting also help evoke the passing years and changing locales.

Signals of the musical’s growing

popularity include a recent offBroadway revival and even an unlikely film adaptation. ACT adds to its growing legacy with a production that may not turn out so well for the characters, but becomes a meaningful relationship for audiences.t The Last Five Years will run at the Geary Theater through June 5.

Tickets are $20-$105. Call (415) 7492228 or go to act-sf.org.

<< Music

20 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 26-June 1, 2016

Focused emotions & thrilling scores

by Philip Campbell

T

he final weeks of the 2015-16 San Francisco Symphony season are counting down to a glorious finale in late June, when Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Mahler’s radiant Symphony No. 2, Resurrection. There will be plenty of action in Davies Symphony Hall until then, including the highly anticipated semi-staged production of Bernstein, Comden & Green’s joyous WWII musical On the Town this week. Performers from the hit Broadway revival of 2014 are joining MTT and the SFS Chorus to re-create the exciting and hopeful New York, New York of 1944.

The last two weeks have included the welcome return visit of guest conductor Juraj Valčuha in an evening mostly devoted to the music of Richard Strauss, and most recently, a concert featuring fabulous mezzosoprano Susan Graham singing Berlioz and MTT recording Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 for the projected SFS Media complete set.

La Graham obviously dressed for the part, as she made her entrance to sing La Mort de Cléopâtre in regal gear. The capacity crowd took audibly appreciative notice of her costume as she settled in for a fine performance. She managed to convey focused emotion without histrionics, and the power and beauty of her tone encouraged a standing ovation and a charming encore, “L’île inconnue” from Les nuits d’été, also

by Berlioz.

I was a little surprised by Graham’s

generic French pronunciation; I don’t think I’ve ever noticed it so clearly before. She is wellknown for her excellence in the French repertoire, and I have witnessed her convincingly portray Queen Dido at the San Francisco Opera in Berlioz’s Les Troyens. Her acting ability certainly helps, so the plain accent didn’t detract from enjoyment. Her diction is still superb, and it highlighted a believable interpretation.

The season-long Schumann symphony cycle was crowned by a brisk and beautifully rehearsed rendition of the turbulent Fourth after the Dario Acosta intermission. Exquisite solo contributions from concert- Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham sang master Alexander Barantschik Berlioz at Davies Symphony Hall. and Michael Grebanier, Principal Cello, added pinpoints of beautiful detail to a sweeping a good introduction to the whipped and satisfying project finish. cream Suite from Rosenkavalier that DSH felt rather Viennese the week followed. before, as guest conductor Juraj Curious Flights goes ‘Airborne’ Valcuha tore through Don Juan and May is ending with a veritable the Suite from Der Rosenkavalier traffic jam of tempting musical

by R. Strauss. It was hard to discern events as the Memorial Day weekmuch of the conductor’s personality end offers listeners some exceptionin the measured and controlled inally varied concerts and producterpretations, though the nefarious tions. San Francisco Opera’s bold anti-hero was brilliantly evoked in staging of Carmen opens Friday, the remarkably concise (for Strauss) and there is the aforementioned On tone poem. the Town at Davies, but I wouldn’t An early work by Anton Webern, want to miss Curious Flights’ West Im Sommerwind, opened the secCoast premiere of The Airborne ond half of the program, surprisSymphony by Marc Blitzstein. ing listeners who were expecting Marin Symphony Music Direcsomething more typically spare tor Alasdair Neale will lead the from the composer known for his combined forces of the Curious rigorous 12-tone technique. It was

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or from bold and imaginative statements postwar and later during the Red Scare 1950s.

The Airborne Symphony is best described as a cantata, mixing stirring poetry with rousing choruses, touching vocal solos, evocative orchestral interludes and some occasionally jingoistic wartime propaganda.

Think thoroughly American Kurt Weill, and you will have an idea of Blitzstein’s sound.

It has the same kind of youthful testosterone coursing through its pages as Leonard Bernstein’s score for On the Town, and it isn’t surprising to learn that Lenny was an Courtesy of Blitzstein Estate early champion of the work.

The Airborne Symphony composer Unsurprising, too, that BlitzMarc Blitzstein gets a hearing. stein worked with Weill and Bertolt Brecht during a career that ended in 1964, when the Flights Symphony Orchestra and composer died from injuries Chorus, Merola Opera graduates sustained in a gay-bashing attack in Brian Thorsett (tenor) and Efrain France.

Solís (baritone), with narrator There is no hint of impending David Latulippe in performance doom or ultimate tragedy in The on Sat., May 28, 8 p.m. at the San Airborne Symphony, however, as it Francisco Conservatory of Music. covers the history of flight and the The program is aptly titled The Age human aching to soar to the heavof Flight, and coincidentally leads us ens from Icarus to the ace pilots of into June’s LGBT Pride month quite the American Air Force. In support nicely with the inclusion of works of this project, Curious Flights was by three gay composers. Selections recently awarded a $10,000 grant

by Aaron Copland and Samuel by the Kurt Weill Foundation, and Barber are on a bill that features the Artistic Director and Founder thrilling Blitzstein score.

Brenden Guy is obviously putting Marc Blitzstein was out and unthe money to good use. The edgy apologetic in an era that was hardly and innovative Curious Flights ends friendly to homosexuals or leftist the 2016 season with characteristic activists, but oppression didn’t keep ambition. For more information: him from military service in WWII, curiousflights.com. t

Golden-era Hollywood stars speak!

by Tavo Amador

H

ow adept were studio-era Hollywood stars at burnishing their legends? Very. In Conversations with Classic Film Stars: Interviews from Hollywood’’s Golden Era (University Press of Kentucky, $34.95), journalists James Bawden and Ron Miller provide a fascinating collection of career reflections from many Tinseltown names.

Cary Grant (1904-86) discusses working with Irene Dunne and Katharine Hepburn, how his career got a major boost when “flabby” Mae West twice cast him as her leading man, and how co-star Joan Fontaine “never thanked” him when she won the Oscar in Alfred Hitchcock’s Suspicion (1941). But when Bawden mentions 1932’s Hot Saturday, Grant says nothing about meeting handsome Randolph Scott on the set.

They would soon be living together,

before and after their respective marriages. They co-starred with Dunne in My Favorite Wife (1940) and seemed more interested in each other than in their leading lady. Scott once called himself Grant’s wife. Nonetheless, Grant always denied being gay.

The topic is completely ignored.

Van Johnson (1916-2008) acknowledges his sexual orientation but doesn’t discuss it. “I never met Rock Hudson” was his first comment to Bawden, who got the message. Johnson gives an astute assessment of his tenure at MGM, which often cast him as “the boy next door” romancing June Allyson and giving Elizabeth Taylor her first screen kiss.

While filming Suspicion, Fontaine (1917-2013) felt Grant “very self-involved,” but on seeing the picture again, realized he was “generous.” She also mentions the feud with older sister Olivia de

Havilland. It started, she asserts, when she was cast as The Constant Nymph (1943) after de Havilland had been turned down for it. “It takes two to feud. I know how Livvie was shocked that night in 1942 when I won the Oscar over her. But I’ve always tried to make amends. I’m always shocking her, but she doesn’t ever shock me.

We’re so close in birth terms, we’re more like twins, and twins do quarrel on occasion, right?”

Dunne (1898-1990) is among the few big stars to have successfully juggled her personal and professional lives. She earned five Best Actress Oscar nominations without winning. She triumphed in comedies, musicals, and melodramas. She candidly refers to the “vanity” of actors, including conflicts over billing.

Her 22-year movie career ended in 1952. MGM offered her the “choice” part of Grace Kelly’s mother in The Swan (1956) with fourth billing.

Her husband told her to forget that.

“Go out #1.” She adds, “I couldn’t go around with an ax in my hand, like Bette [Davis] and Joan [Crawford] did to keep things going. The difference was that I had a family and they didn’t have one, only the all-mighty career.”

Beautiful Loretta Young (19132000) was the first A-list Oscar winner to leave the movies for television.

The Loretta Young Show (1953-61) earned her more money than did her 25-year film career, which began in silent movies. A second series didn’t do well. When Crawford withdrew from Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), Young was offered the part. “I couldn’t do that to my old pal. Besides, I’d look silly running around with a saw in my hand.

I’m not passing judgment on these old gals who do this sort of thing.

They really need the money.” She made television films in 1986 and 89, then spent the last years of her

life comforting patients in a Catholic hospice in Palm Springs.

Kirk Douglas (b. 1916), interviewed when he was 67, was an intelligent, committed professional who made entertaining and serious pictures. He starred in a 1963 Broadway adaptation of Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but no studio would film it. Eventually, he and son Michael produced the 1975 movie, which swept the Oscars, including one for Jack Nicholson in the role Douglas created. Unlike most stars, Douglas didn’t worry about audiences liking him onscreen. He wanted them to be “interested” in his characters, which included villains, cowboys, romantic leads, Vincent Van Gogh, a megalomaniacal Hollywood producer, a Viking, and the Roman slave Spartacus.

Rosalind Russell’s (1907-76) ego prevented her from realizing she was terribly miscast as the Jewish widow in A Majority of One (1961) and as Mama Rose in Gypsy (1962), parts she got because her husband, producer Frederick Brisson, bought

the movie rights. Nor would she admit that Rosemary, her character in Picnic (1955), was a supporting role. She might have won an Oscar in that category for her powerful performance, but she refused to have her name submitted. She never won the little man, despite four Best Actress nominations.

Jane Wyman (1917-2007) was the second Oscar-winning top star who succeeded on television, with two series running decades apart. Wyman had “a major hissy fit” when she was given an “inferior” table at the Polo Lounge in 1974. She wouldn’t discuss former husband Ronald Reagan. But her insights into the studio system are rewarding.

Her recollection of the casting for Amanda in 1950’s The Glass Menagerie (she played Laura) is revealing. Studio honcho Jack Warner rejected Tallulah Bankhead and Miriam Hopkins (either would have been excellent). Inexplicably, he cast English stage comedienne Gertrude Lawrence, who was awful. Author Tennessee Williams rewrote lines to suit her strengths, but to no avail.

Other splendid interviewees include Sunset Boulevard’s imperious Gloria Swanson, 1930s favorite Joan Blondell, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., 1940s pin-up “girl” Dorothy Lamour, two-time Oscar-winner Melvyn Douglas, noir queen Jane Greer, character actress Margaret Hamilton, General Hospital’s Anna Lee, who dishes about 1962’s Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, and King Kong’s Fay Wray, whose anecdote about appearing in Joan Crawford’s 1955 melodrama Queen Bee is priceless. All About Eve’s Anne Baxter reveals that in 1938, Katharine Hepburn had her fired during the pre-Broadway tryouts of The Philadelphia Story because she was getting too many laughs. Egos indeed.t

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Film>>

May 26-June 1, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 21

Making adjustments in adult life-plans

by David Lamble

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riter/director Rebecca Miller aims high with Maggie’s Plan, a screwballish romantic comedy that’s constructed around actress Greta Gerwig as a sweet controlfreak who can’t resist meddling with the lives of people in her Manhattan social orbit.

Miller, daughter of genius-level American playwright Arthur Miller, has penned four previous films, all of which feature heroines who cope with early, life-defining crises by tossing a dramatic hand-grenade into the proceedings. Miller then carves her film out from the characters who survive the explosion.

She bears a slight resemblance to 1970s-era Woody Allen, in that she uses screwball logic to overcome any lapses in dramatic logic contained in her stories. To continue the Woody analogy, Maggie’s Plan falls somewhere between Allen’s Oscar-awarded valentine to offbeat romantic pairings Annie Hall and his more ambitious and darker take on the same slippery emotional real estate, 1979’s Manhattan.

Miller structures her not so laugh-out-loud caper into several chapters, beginning with Maggie Meets John. Here the innocently

sly Gerwig lures an early-middleaged academic (shy-acting Ethan Hawke) into leaving his pushy spouse (foreign-accent-wielding Julianne Moore) for a less-structured relationship with her.

John: “I’m real curious about you.”

Maggie: “What aspects of me?”

John: “Every aspect of you!”

In the next chapter, A Change of Heart, Maggie backtracks, wanting to throw her male catch back into a partially frozen pond. “He’s totally self-absorbed. I’m afraid I’m falling out of love with him.” Her friend Tony (Bill Hader) reminds Maggie that adult romantic flings are more complicated than speed-dialing for high-end consumer goods.

Tony: “Why can’t you just break up with him?”

Maggie: “That would be such a waste!”

Tony: “Maggie, he isn’t just a paper product!”

In my personal favorites of Miller’s previous films, Personal Velocity and The Ballad of Jack and Rose, the male characters carried more weight in the prickly outcomes of these novel-like stories. In 2002’s Personal Velocity: Three Portraits, Miller constructed a trilogy of short tales about youngish women facing and

John Pack, Hall Monitor, Inc., courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Left to right: Ethan Hawke as John, and Greta Gerwig as Maggie in director Rebecca Miller’s Maggie’s Plan.

overcoming personal crises. The third chapter really gripped me and caused me to memorize the name of the young actor who played a pivotal role. A female driver (Fairuza Balk)

picks up a teenage boy hitchhiker (Lou Taylor Pucci), dressing the boy’s wounds at a cheap motel while delaying a decision on the direction for her own stalled life.

The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005), Miller’s most ambitious drama, is set on a rural island off the coast of Maine, where a wealthy landowner (Miller’s real-life husband, Daniel Day-Lewis), a strong-willed idealist, fears he’s falling into an incestuous bond with his 16-year-old daughter (Camilla Belle). While Jack frets, the daughter arranges to lose her burdensome virginity to the half-feral son of her father’s mistress (Catherine Keener). Young Paul Dano steals his subplot as the designated deflowerer, capping his exploits with sour tags like, “Hey there, little freak!”

While Maggie’s Plan lacks the deftly combustible elements that fuel Miller’s top-drawer work, it’s worth catching for Gerwig, who’s a true original. Some of our readers may recall her nifty handling of Ben Stiller’s angry-guy chump in 2010’s Greenberg, starring Ben Stiller.

An additional selling point for Maggie’s Plan is Miller’s talent for creating witty, character-enhancing dialogue, as in this scene, where one of Maggie’s female friends makes apologies for John’s tough-as-nails ex-wife (Moore): “She’s been called a monster, but then again, I’ve often heard myself described as a psychotic bitch, and I think I’m pretty nice!” (Opens Friday.)t

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<< Film

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 26-June 1, 2016

‘Hockney’ paints an intimate portrait

by David-Elijah Nahmod

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Jean-Pierre Goncalves

David Hockney paints “Woldgate Before Kilham” (2007).

fter viewing Hockney, viewers might feel as though they’ve been personally introduced to the renowned, openly gay artist David Hockney. In Randall Wright’s wellmade feature-length documentary, we meet the now-78-year-old and still active Hockney and his younger self. We learn, in intimate detail, about his artistic and romantic loves, and about what inspires him.

A legendary painter, Hockney is also an avid photographer. As Hockney explains in the film, he prefers painting because photographs, which are created in the blink of an eye, lack the love, warmth, time and craftsmanship that it takes to create a painting.

Hockney had a distinctive personal look for much of his life. His pageboy blond hair and circular black-rimmed glasses would have made him stand out in a crowd even had he not become a famous artist. Early in the film, Wright lets

viewers know what inspired that look: a Clairol commercial that the British-born Hockney saw on American television during his first visit to the States more than a halfcentury ago. These seemingly trivial details humanize the artist.

Much of Hockney’s work was inspired by his love for Los Angeles, a city where he has lived for many years. “It’s got all the energy of the United States, but with the Mediterranean thrown in,” he said of the sun-drenched, ocean-front movie capital. LA was a far cry from the drab working-class neighborhood where Hockney spent his youth.

He never bought into the myth that LA is a “cultural wasteland,” as some have called it. After all, the city serves as home to Hollywood, and he’s enjoyed a lifelong love of the movies.

As Wright’s camera glides past many of Hockney’s paintings, the bright and sunny influence of Los Angeles can clearly be seen. There are a number of poolside and beachfront

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portraits of surfer boys. As early as the 1960s, Hockney was quite open about his homosexuality. He lived, he points out, in bohemia, where sexuality has never been an issue.

Home-movie footage shows Hockney with his first lover, prettyboy art student Peter Schlesinger, who was an early muse and who ultimately broke his heart. Friends of Hockney who share their memories of those days include actorplaywright Jack Larson (Jimmy Olsen on TV’s Adventures of Superman) and artist Don Bachardy, who for many years was the partner of openly gay author Christopher Isherwood. Viewers will also meet the first out gay man that Hockney ever knew. That man, along with his father, taught Hockney to never fear what people thought of him. He never did.

Hockney the film now emerges as a loving look inside the private life of a man who always remained true to himself and his art. (Opens Friday.)t

Political fastball

by David Lamble

I

DR. TIMOTHY SEELIG, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

r e v e d n a b y o b biggest JUNE 24 8 p.m. june 25 2:30 + 8 p.m. nourse Theater featuring well-struNG the singing string quartet

TICKETS: SFGMC.ORG OR 415-392-4400 Season 38 is presented by

Untitled-7 1

5/20/16 7:13 PM

n a presidential political primary season that’s already witnessed its share of star turns and pratfalls, a timely and witty political-slanted Blu-ray emerges that may just buck up your spirits enough to a cast a vote when it’s finally California’s turn.

Remember when it appeared that smart, handsome, Coen Brothersbred actor-writer-director George Clooney might actually be a White House contender rather than play one on the big screen? The next best thing is a political thriller where Clooney plays the man with more than just the liberal plan. There’s a moment of comic relief at the beginning of The Ides of March, Clooney’s taut, funny, scary big-star ensemble about the crimes, misdemeanors and moral shenanigans that threaten to destroy a promising liberal campaign for the White House. We zoom in on Stephen (Ryan Gosling at the top of his game), a press aide to Pennsylvania Governor Mike Morris (Clooney, letting a touch of evil color his Galahad). He’s doing a microphone check in a darkened hall where his boss is scheduled to debate a rival in the Ohio primary. As Stephen performs for an unseen technician, he launches into remarks that we realize only later are an affectionate parody of his boss’ stump speech.

“I’m not a Christian, an atheist, a Jew, or a Muslim. My religion consists of a piece of paper, the Constitution of the United States of America.

If you can’t accept what I stand for, don’t vote for me.” Stephen punctuates this bromide with a mouth fart.

Later, Clooney’s Morris will deliver it sincerely, without the sound effects. It’s the beauty of The Ides of March that director Clooney, son of a Kentucky news anchor and congressman, nephew to singer Rosemary Clooney, shows just how easily he could slip into the suit.

The plot, based on Beau Willimon’s play Farragut North, with screenplay credits for Willimon, Clooney and longtime Clooney producing partner Grant Heslov, is a series of cat-and-mouse games, with superstar character actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti as rival campaign managers employing their girth, wit and way with meaty dialogue to lure Stephen’s Prince Hal into a trap before he can consolidate his power base with Clooney’s King.

It’s still the boys who hold the cards and execute the moves that allow them to capture the castle. Ides of March posits a vicious liberal game where women are still the pawns.

Evan Rachel Wood delivers another

delicious turn as the idealistic but naive daughter of a powerful politician whose internship with Gov. Morris becomes a slippery slope. Marisa Tomei is jolly good as a New York Times political writer who assumes she can blackmail Stephen into an earthshattering inside scoop.

Stephen’s “liberal education” from Hoffman and Giamatti begins on a light note, with amusing war stories from now-ancient campaigns where each Falstaff learned why loyalty counts in the blood sport of liberal politics. “Of 73 Democrats who have sought the presidency over the last four decades, only three have succeeded.”

As the scales fall from his eyes, Stephen at first rejects the crass deals offered him. “This is the kind of shit Republicans pull.” But ultimately, Stephen’s Prince Hal morphs into Machiavelli’s Prince, using his moxie and techno gizmos to embed himself into a tarnished future Camelot. The film’s grand climax unfolds on another darkened stage as Stephen unblinkingly stares down his fallen idol.

Clooney keeps us sweaty close to the players as their dreams die while their real work commences. Jeffrey Wright is nasty funny as an African American Southern power-broker whose blessing of Clooney’s Morris becomes Game Over. Wright’s endorsement speech gives bows to the old South’s white demagogues and a glimpse at an unscrupulous New South black demigod.

Max Minghella (Art School Confidential), son of the late British director Anthony, is an underused asset as Stephen’s agile assistant, but those amazing eyebrows and transAtlantic ability to morph from British to American dialects will eventually reap huge dividends.

As for Ryan Gosling, all the fine work in his twisted turns as a Jewish American Nazi (The Believer) and a sexually put-upon rancher boy See page 23 >>

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Film>>

May 26-June 1, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

Jews having sex onscreen

by Sari Staver

A

of family disapproval when a Jewish man brings a non-Jewish woman home to meet his parents. “There’s a scene in the film version of Portnoy’s Complaint where young Portnoy, who is carrying on with a nonJewish girlfriend, sits at the dinner table absorbing his Jewish parents’ disapproving glances. You can palpably feel his desire to break free of everything traditionally Jewish simply by dating non-Jewish women.”

But gay stories of characters wanting to sleep with non-Jews often have a different emphasis, said Stein. Such characters are “already defying a centuries-old taboo of homosexuality, so any struggle they have about

escaping Jewish life is overshadowed by themes of homophobia.”

In recent years, the stereotypical “disapproving Jewish mother” is finally evolving in movies. For example, the 1988 film Torch Song Trilogy had a scene where Harvey Fierstein tells his mother (Anne Bancroft) that he is bringing his Jewish boyfriend to his father’s funeral. When the mother meets the boyfriend (Matthew Broderick), who is clearly not Jewish, “She basically says, ‘Oy, you’re trying to kill me twice.’”

But in the 2015 film Those People, about a young Jewish artist who has an unrequited crush on his preppy, Gentile best friend, the Jewish mother,

Film curator Peter Stein: Jewish characters emerge from long legacy of desexualized stereotypes.

played by Allison Mackie, is less concerned that her son is gay or that his crush is on an Upper East Side WASP than that the object of his affection is a needy narcissist who calls her son in the middle of Yom Kippur services.

Taboos depicting homosexuality are strongest in films with characters who are members of Orthodox (most observant) branches of Judaism. In the 2009 Israeli film Eyes Wide Open, a butcher finds himself attracted to a young man. “The way these two people navigate and nearly sink in very turbulent waters

Tickets ($27-$37) are available at jccsf.org/arts-ideas/performances/ film/sex-jews-and-videotape/.

Patrons are invited to 6 p.m. complimentary wine-tasting.

“BITTERSWEET . . . TENDER AND AFFECTING.” Mario Elia

s

San Francisco Chronicle

“STUNNING!”

Entertainment Weekly

The Ides of March

Bonus Blu-Ray tracks: Commentary with George Clooney and Grant Heslov; short subjects Believe: George Clooney; On the Campaign: The Cast of The Ides of March; Developing the Campaign: The Origins of The Ides of March; What Does a Political Consultant Do? (Sony Pictures Classics)

Mario Elia Photo by lias rio E

(The Slaughter Rule) are now paying off big time for this handsome Canadian actor with the uncanny Brooklyn-sounding accent. It’s the ultimate compliment to this amazing young screen actor that we perceive an honorable intent in his most blinkered deeds precisely at the moment he goes over to the dark side. If only Bernie Sanders could hire him to do for him what he does for the movie’s Gov. Morris.

The film’s commentary track drops some lovely insider insights: character actor Paul Giamatti was nonplussed when he realized that one of his big scenes with Gosling would play near the same battlefield where his late baseball commissioner Dad fought the disgraced Cincinnati Reds star Pete Rose.

s

From page 22

Ma o by Phot

<<

Scene from Kissing Jessica Stein: “lesbian bed-death.”

Photo by

fter decades of using stereotypes to portray Jews in films as either the nerd or the neurotic, Hollywood has begun to acknowledge that Jewish characters also have sex lives, according to film curator Peter Stein.

Jewish Film Festival executive director from 2003-11, Stein will present a clip-filled lecture, Sex, Jews, and Videotape, at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco on May 31 at 7 p.m. A senior programmer at the Frameline film festival for the past three years, he will include anecdotes about gay Jews. The event is 10th in the series Uninhibited: About Sex presented by the JCCSF. In an interview with the B.A.R., Stein said he has given at least a dozen presentations about how movies depict Jews, but this is his first on sexuality. “I’m just putting the finishing touches on my talk,” he said. “I hope it’s going to be enjoyable and a lot of fun, and will include a little bit of scholarship.”

He’ll illustrate his presentation with clips from a dozen films, including Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask), Eyes Wide Open, Funny Girl, The Graduate, When Harry Met Sally, and Yentl. Q&A will follow.

When it comes to depicting sex on the screen, said Stein, Hollywood moviemakers were quicker to show the sex lives of non-Jewish gay characters while Jews “stayed in the closet” sexually. “It took many decades for Jewish characters, gay or straight, to emerge from a long legacy of desexualized stereotypes, such as the nebbish scholar or the virginal ‘Rose of the Ghetto’ who is whisked away to the suburbs to bear children – or to be seen as healthy sexual beings beyond the tropes of the exotic temptress or the predatory lecher.” As images of lesbian and gay life became more prominent in films, the sex lives of Jews remained stereotyped: the Woody Allen schlemiel with a huge, unfulfilled libido, or the self-conscious ugly duckling girl – think of Barbara Streisand’s Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, who cracks Jewish jokes even as she’s being seduced by Omar Sharif.

Jewish women, straight and lesbian, are often portrayed as asexual, Stein said. There is a touching scene in the film Kissing Jessica Stein where the lead character has to deal with “lesbian bed-death.” Jessica asks her partner if it’s really necessary that sex be a part of their relationship.

There is also the recurring theme

in a tightly closed Orthodox community” dramatizes the long-held, tragic view that to be both observant and gay is impossible.

Israeli films usually have a more “European sensibility” in showing Jewish characters with fully realized sex lives, said Stein. “They are far less prudish” than American films, in part because “when you’re telling stories about a majority culture, your emphasis can be different. You have a wider range of stories and attitudes available to you.” Israeli films, he said, “are very frank and comfortable” with nudity, and portray powerful men and women “not necessarily neurotic and hiding, but depicting the full spectrum of sexuality.”

For example, the 2001 Israeli film A Late Marriage includes lengthy, frank sex scenes of two people approaching middle age who are having a passionate affair, “without any gauzy lenses.” Israeli audiences are clearly comfortable seeing lustful sex scenes involving Jews, he said.

“We can only hope that the trend spreads to the U.S.”t

“A MUSICAL FOR AND ABOUT THE 21ST CENTURY” SFist.com

NOW PLAYING A.C.T.'S GEARY THEATER 415 GEARY ST. GROUPS OF 15+, CALL 415.439.2309.

ACT-SF.ORG

415.749.2228

<< Out&About

24 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 26-June 1, 2016

AN ORCHESTRA OF VOICES PRESENTS

O&A

CHANTICLEER

First Congregational Church, Berkeley

June 4 - 8pm June 5 - 5pm

St. Francis Church, Sacramento

June 8 - 8pm

St. Stephen’s Church, Belvedere

June 10 - 8pm

Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph, San Jose

TICKETS: www.chanticleer.org or 415-392-4400

The Wild Party @ Victoria Theatre

by Jim Provenzano

M

ultiple arts events and exhibits this week offer journeys to faroff lands, imagined and historical, and even a bit fantastical. For nightlifery, including rock bands and funky fun, check out On the Tab in BARtab.

Erik Scanlon

Thu 26 Big Black Delta @ Great American Music Hall Electronic synth-pop band performs.

Waterstrider opens. $21-$46 (with dinner). 9pm. 859 O’Farrell St. www.slimspresents.com

Cabaret Showcase Showdown @ Oasis Season 6 Finals of the local competition include a variety of singers (Brooke Michael Smith, Effervescence Jackson, Madison Greenlund, Eric Ward, Nick Quintell, Ted Zoldan and Monica Chinchilla) competing for the top title, with hosts Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, and Joe and Bill Wicht. Judges include Paula West, Russ Lorenson, Donna Sachet, Marilyn Levinson and Skip Ziobron. $15-$25.

7pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com

Colette Uncensored @ The Marsh

Creating Memories for a Lifetime!

THE CLIFF HOUSE TERRACE ROOM A UNIQUE SAN FRANCISCO EXPERIENCE Ceremonies • Receptions • Family Celebrations • Parties

Lori Holt’s new solo show tells the story of the famed French novelist’s pioneering feminist life. $20-$100.

Thu & Fri 8pm. Sat 5pm. Extended thru June 25. 1062 Valencia St. 2823055. www.themarsh.org

The Empty Nesters @ Z Below Theatre World premiere of local playwright Garret Jon Groenveld’s new play about parents whose lives change after their youngest child leaves for college. $25-$30. Tue-Sat 8pm. Sun 5pm. Thru June 11. 470 Florida St. www.zspace.org

The Last Five Years @ Geary Theatre Amercian Conservatory Theatre’s production of writer-composer Jason Robert Brown’s romantic duo musical play about two 20something New Yorkers (Zak Resnick and Margo Seibert) who rush into marriage. $20-$110. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Tue & Sun 7pm. Thru June 5. 415 Geary St. 749-2228. www.act-sf.org

Lightning in the Brain @ The Marsh Corey Fischer (cofounder of the traveling Jewish Theatre) performs new music-theater work shares tales from his long life of Hollywood, Paris and roaming through America. $20-$100. Thu 8pm, Sat 5pm. 1062 Valencia St. Thru July 9. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

SF International Arts Festival @ Various Venues

www.CliffHouse.com 1090 Point Lobos • San Francisco • 415-386-3330 Private Events Direct • 415-666-4027 • virginia@cliffhouse.com

Celebrity Trash @ 111 Minna Gallery Jason Mecier’s new exhibit of collage portraits of celebrities made out of junk; including Phyllis Diller, Amy Schumer, and Pamela Anderson. Thru May 29. Reg hours daily 7:30am-5pm.

111 Minna St. www.jasonmecier.com www.111minnagallery.com

Chester Bailey @ Strand Theatre

Destinational

June 3 - 8pm

Mission Dolores, San Francisco

Fri 27

t

The annual festival of dance, theatre, music, performance art, plus workshops, panels, lectures and receptions features dozens of ensembles and performers (Rotimi Agbabiaka, Sara Porter, Hiroshu Koike Bridge Project, Adrian Arias, Yaelisa & Caminos Flamencos, Del Sol string Quartet). Venues include the Cowell Theatre, Fort Mason, Firehouse, The Chapel. $15-$30. Fest passes $60 and up. Thru June 5. www.sfiaf.org

Plan 9 From Outer Space @ La Val’s Subterranean, Berkeley Impact Theatre’s wacky stage adaptation of Ed Wood’s cult classic scifi horror film, considered one of the worst of all time. $15-$25. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru June 18. 1834 Euclid Ave., Berkeley. (510) 224-5744. www.impacttheatre.com

The Untamed Stage @ Hypnodrome The new musical by Scrumbly Koldewyn takes us back to Weimarera Berlin, with a Cabaret/Cockettes styled two-act show of songs, dances and bawdy pre-Fascist abandon, with special guest performers each night. $15. Thu-Sat 8pm. Extended thru June 11. 575 10th St. at Bryant. 377-4202. www.hypnodrome.org

David Straitharn stars in Joseph Dougherty’s drama about a psychiatrist in 1945 trying to find the cause of a young man’s distress after a traumatic accident. $25-$65. WedSat 7:30pm. Sun 7pm. Wed, Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru June 12. 1127 Market St. www.act-sf.org

Daughters of a Riot @ Brava Theatre VivvyAnne Forevermore’s new drag-filled drama about the historic Compton’s Cafeteria Riots, with Dulce De Leche, LOL McFiercen, Honey Mahogany, Laundra Tyme, Phatima Rude, and Trixie Carr. $20-$30. 8pm.

Also May 28. 2781 24th St. www.brownpapertickets.com

A Dreamplay @ Exit on Taylor Cutting Ball Theater’s production of August Strindberg’s innovative surreal play about a woman who dreams of becoming Indra’s daughter, and descends to earth to experience human emotions. $10-$50. Thu 7pm.

Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 5pm. Thru June 19.

277 Taylor St. www.cuttingball.com

Fri 27 Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution @ Contemporary Jewish Museum Exhibit of photos and documents of and about the prolific rock concert promoter. Also, Roman Vishniac Rediscovered, an exhibit of photos from the prolific documenter of Jewish life in eastern Europe. Thru May 29.

Other exhibits about Jewish culture, lectures and gallery talks as well. Free (members)-$12. Fri-Tue 11am-5pm, Thu 11am-8pm (closed Wed). 736 Mission St. 655-7800. thecjm.org

Bob Ostertag @ SF Eagle Composer and sound artist’s live quadrophonic experimental music set is part of Loaded, a night with DJs Dugg, Bobby Please, and C-Pap, including projections and a psychedelic ambiance. $3. 8pm-2am (Ostertag at 11pm). 398 12th St. www.bobostertag.com www.sf-eagle.com

Call Me Lucky @ Roxie Cinema Director Bobcat Goldthwait will speak at the screening of his documentary about ‘70s-’80s comic Barry Crimmins.

Partial proceeds benefit SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused

by Priests) and Friends for Benefits. $15-$30. 7pm. 3117 16th St. www.roxie.com

Fri 27 Red Velvet @ SF Playhouse

For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday @ Berkeley Rep Kathleen Chalfant stars in Sarah Ruhl’s family drama about a family facing a father’s death and reconnecting to childhood dreams. $29-$61. Tue, Thu-Sat 8pm. Wed & Sun 7pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru July 3.

2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 6472949. www.berkeleyrep.org

Grey Matter @ The Marsh Julie Katz’ new solo show about various workers at an IT company forced to confront a moral decision. $20, $35-$100. Thu & Fri 8pm. sat 5pm (8:30pm after May 21). Thru June 4. 1062 Valencia St. www.themarsh.org

Home Improvements @ Fraenkel Lab Filmmaker John Waters’ curated group exhibit of unusual re-imagined domestic objects. Thru May 28. 1632 Market St. www.fraenkelgallery.com/ fraenkellab

Thu 26 The Untamed Stage @ Hypnodrome

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Out&About>>

May 26-June 1, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 25

New & Classic Films @ Castro Theatre

Antony and Cleopatra @ Buriel Clay Theatre

The Wild Bunch @ SF Conservatory of Flowers

May 27: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (7:30) and Idiocracy (9:30). The Drag Queens of Comedy (live show; see Saturday). May 29: Harryhausen scifi classics The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1:30, 7:10), Jason and the Argonauts (3:15, 8:55) and Mysterious Island (5:15). May 30: Jaws (2:15, 7pm) and Jurassic Park (4:35, 9:20). June 1: Peckinpah film Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (7pm) and The Wild Bunch (9pm). June 2: SF Silent Film festival opening night (thru June 5). $11-$16. 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

African American Shakespeare Company’s production of the classic romantic war tragedy. $15-$34.

Sat 8pm. Sun 3pm. Thru May 29. 762 Fulton St. www.africanamericanshakes.org

New Spring exhibit of oddly-shaped succulents, cacti and fat plants. Thru Oct. 16. 100 John F. Kennedy Drive, Golden Gate Park www.conservatoryofflowers.org

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever @ New Conservatory Theatre Center

Allen’s exhibit of photo portraits of masculine lesbians. 304 Valencia St. Thru July 3. www.megallenstudio.com www.glamarama.com

Arts Festival @ Yerba Buena Gardens Weekend concerts of music, dance, poetry and more, thru October.

Mission St. at 4th. www.ybgfestival. org

Butch: Portraits by Meg Allen @ Glamarama

Wish Upon a Star: Pinocchio @ Walt Disney Family Museum New exhibit all about the Disney classic about a puppet who longs to be a real boy. Also, Mel Shaw: An Animator on Horseback, an exhibition showcasing 120 artworks and designs by the prominent Disney animator, whose own life was full of adventures.

Free (members)-$20. Thru Sept. 12.

104 Montgomery St., The Presidio.

345-6800. www.waltdisney.org

The Alan Jay Lerner/Burton Lane musical gets a new gay adaptation by Peter Parnell; a gay florist, past lives and love triangles collide with comic flair. $30-$50. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun2pm. 25 Van Ness Ave, lower level.

861-8972. www.nctcsf.org

Sat 28

Queer Open Mic @ Modern Times Bookstore

The acclaimed local pianist performs modern works in a scenic setting.

Free. 6pm. 50 Moraga Ave. www.sarahcahill.com sffcm.org

Take This Hammer @ YBCA New exhibit of nearly a dozen local activist-artists who work in different media. Thru Aug. 14. Also, Kevin Cooley’s Golden Prospects, a visual survey of water and waste in California. $8-$10. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. www.ybca.org

To Kill a Mockingbird @ Berkeley Playhouse Christopher Sergel’s stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s bestselling novel is performed by the East Bay company. $23-$60. Various dates/times thru May 22. 2640 College Ave., Berkeley.

(510) 845-8542. www.berkeleyplayhouse.org

Treasure Island @ Berkeley Repertory Mary Zimmerman directs the West Coast premiere of the stage adapatation of the Robert Louis Stevenson pirate classic. $57-$97.

Tue- Thu-Sat 8pm. Tue 7pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru June 5. 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

The Wild Party @ Victoria Theatre Ray of Light Theatre Company’s production of Andrew Lippa’s dark musical based on Joseph Moncure March’s epic poem about a Manhattan party gone horribly wrong. $15-$40. Thu-Sat 8pm.

Thru June 11. 2961 16th St. www.rayoflighttheatre.com

Sat 28 Approaching American Abstraction @ SF Museum of Modern Art See the restaged installations and new exhibits of Pop, Abstract and classic Modern art at the renovated and visually amazing museum, with two extra floors, a new additional Howard Street entrance, café and outdoor gardens. Free-$25. 10am8pm. 151 Third St. www.sfmoma.org

The political comic’s updated solo show, Elect to Laugh: 2016, adds topical jokes about the bizarre election season. $15-$100. Tuesdays, 8pm. Extended thru July 26. 1062 Valencia St. 282- www.themarsh.org

Mon 30 Color of Life @ California Academy of Sciences Exhibits and planetarium shows with various live, interactive and installed exhibits about animals, plants and the earth; new exhibit focuses on vibrantly colored species of octopus, snake fish and other live creatures.

Special events each week, with adult nightlife parties many Thursday nights. $20-$35. Mon-Sat 9:30am5pm. Sun 11am-5pm. 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park.

379-8000. www.calacademy.org The author/artist of The Nine Lives of Morris: Great Tales from One Cool Cat. Reads from and discusses his illustrated book about a gay man’s maturity. 8pm. 470 Castro St. www.ninelivesofmorris.com www.strutsf.org

Red Velvet @ SF Playhouse

Sarah Cahill @ Presidio Officers Club

Will Durst @ The Marsh

Join GLBT hikers for a 10-mile hike at Windy Hill Open Space Preserve near Woodside. Hike through oak, Douglas fir, and redwood forests.

Enjoy sweeping views of the Bay and the East Bay hills. Bring lunch, water, hat, sunscreen, layers, sturdy shoes.

Carpool meets 8:45 at Safeway sign, Market & Dolores. (650) 740-9849. www.sfhiking.com

Morris L. Taylor @ Strut

Dominique Gelin (Lazy Brunch Hour podcast) is the featured reader at the feisty LGBTQ reading and talent event.

7:30pm (7pm sign-up). 2919 24th St. www.mtbs.com SF Playhouse’s production of Lolita Chakrabarti’s drama about Ira Aldridge, the 1833 first British African American stage actor. $20-$120.

Tue-Thu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sat 3pm, Sun 2pm. Thru June 25. Kensington Park Hotel 2nd floor, 450 Post St. 6779596. www.sfplayhouse.org

SF Hiking Club @ Windy Hill

Queerest Library Ever @ SF Public Libraries

Strandbeest: The Dream Machines of Theo Jansen @ Exploratorium

The Drag Queens of Comedy @ Castro Theatre Heklina, Peaches Christ, Lady Bunny, Coco Peru, and Varla Jean Merman, RuPaul’s Drag Race alums Alyssa Edwards, Trixie Mattel, Sasha Soprano, Bob the Drag Queen, and others perform at the drag-filled night, with MC Bianca Del Rio. $45$350. 6pm & 10pm. 429 Castro St. www.thedragqueensofcomedy.com www.castrotheatre.com

The Grace Jones Project, Dandy Lion @ MOAD Dual exhibitions of video, performance and artwork about the iconic singer and queer identity; and Dandy Lion: (Re)Articulating Black Masculine Identity. Free-$10. Both thru Sept. 18. Wed-Sat 11am-6pm.

Sun 12pm-5pm. 685 Mission St. at 3rd. www.moadsf.org

Hidden Gold @ Asian Art Museum Hidden Gold : Mining its Meaning in Asian Art (thru May 8). Also, China at the Center: Rare Ricci and Verbiest World Maps; Extracted: a Trilogy of Ranu Mukherjee (thru Aug. 14); Chinese Laquerware (thru July 31); Elephants Without Number (thru June 26), and more. Free-$25. Tue-Sun 10am-5pm. 200 Larkin St. 581-3500. www.asianart.org

Sun 29 Abrazo, Queer Tango @ Finnish Brotherhood Hall, Berkeley Enjoy weekly same-sex tango dancing and a potluck, with lessons early in the day. $7-$15. 3:30-6:30pm. 1970 Chestnut St., Berkeley. (510) 8455352. www.finnishhall.com

Floral Exhibits @ Conservatory of Flowers Beautiful floral displays, plants for sale, and docent tours. Tue-Sun 10am4pm. $2-$8. Free for SF residents.

100 JFK Drive, Golden Gate Park, 831-2090. www.conservatoryofflowers.org

Hormel at 20: Celebrating Our Past/ Creating Our Future, a dual exhibit of archival materials celebrating the two decades of the LGBTQ collections.

Thru Aug 7. 100 Larkin St., 3rd floor, and at the Eureka Valley Branch, 1 Jose Sarria Court at 16th St. www.sfpl.org

San Francisco in Ruins @ Tenderloin Museum Exhibit of paintings by local artist Jacinto Castillo depicting old San Francisco. Tue-Sun 10am-5pm, $6-$10 ($15 includes walking tour). 398 Eddy St. 351-1912. www.tenderloinmuseum.org

Zack Zdrale @ John Pence Gallery Exhibit of compelling portraits by the Wisconsin painter. Mon-Fri 10am6pm. Sat til 5pm. 750 Post St. 4411138. www.johnpence.com

Fri 27 Jason and the Argonauts.

See New & Classic Films @ Castro Theatre

Present Laughter @ Eureka Theatre Theatre Rhinoceros’ production of Noël Coward’s comedy of a man with a boyfriend and girlfriend vying for his attention. $10-$15. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sat 3pm. Thru June 18. 215 Jackson St. at Battery. (800) 838-3006. www.therhino.org

Strandbeest: The Dream Machines of Theo Jansen @ Exploratorium New exhibit of the amazing walking sculptures that resemble giant insectlike creatures. Thru Sept. 5. Free-$25.

Pier 15 at Embarcadero. Tue-Sun 10am-5pm (Thu night 6pm-10pm, 18+). 528-4893. www.exploratorium.edu/strandbeest

Altered State: Marijuana in California @ Oakland Museum The first-ever museum exhibition to focus on pot, with art, political documents, scientific displays.

Thru Sept. 25. Other exhibits as well. Free/$15. Reg. hours Wed-Sat 11am-5pm (Fri til 9pm). 1000 Oak St., Oakland. (510) 318-8400. www.museumca.org

From Piss to Bliss @ The Marsh Ady Lady’s solo show explores the search for happiness and higher consciousness amid daily life. $20$100. Wed 7:30pm, Sat 5pm. Thru July 9. 1062 Valencia St. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Walking Distance Dance Festival @ ODC Theater Fifth annual dance concert showcases works by Body Traffic, Christopher K. Morgan with Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu. $20-$55. 7:30pm. Thru June 4. 351 Shotwell St. www.odcdance.org

Thu 2 10 Percent @ Comcast David Perry’s online & cable interviews with notable local and visiting LGBT people, broadcast through the week. www.ComcastHometown.com

Black Virgins are Not for Hipsters @ The Marsh Berkeley Echo Brown’s hit solo show about desire and doubt moves to the company’s East Bay theatre. $20$100. Thu 8pm Sat 8:30pm. Extended thru June 25. 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Queer Historical Mixtape @ GLBT History Museum Radar Productions presents Irina Contreras and Celeste Chan screen found footage of historic local queer lives. Free. 7pm. Also, Dancers We Lost: Honoring Performers Lost to HIV/AIDS, a new exhibit of photos and ephemera, curated by Glenne McElhinney, about Bay Area dancers who died of AIDS. Thru Aug. 7. Also, Feminists to Feministas : Women of Color in Prints and Posters, a new exhibit of illustrations depicting LBT women of color from the 1970s to today. Thru July 4. $5. 4127 18th St. www.dancerswelost.org/exhibit/ www.glbthistory.org

Sex and the City Live @ Oasis

Michael Kerner @ Castro Country Club Pink Flora: The View From Here, paintings and photographs by the local artist. Daily until 10pm, Fri & Sat til 11pm.Thru June. 4058 18th St. www.kernercreative.com www.castrocountryclub.org

Wed 1

The Future of the Past @ Legion of Honor Mummies and Medicine, thru Aug. 26. Also, World in a Book, A Princely Pursuit and other exhibits. Free/$15.

Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. Lincoln Park, 100 34th Ave. 750-3600. www.famsf.org

Live in the Castro @ Jane Warner Plaza The outdoor performance series returns, with varied acts each weekend. May 29, Mary Delave.

Castro St. at Market. www.castrocbd.org

Oscar de la Renta @ de Young Museum Stylish new retrospective exhibit of the world-famous fashion designer’s gowns on display, as well as archival photos and materials; Thru May 30.

Other exhibits of modern art as well.

Free/$25. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. www.famsf.org

Tue 31 Girls Will be Boys @ GLBT History Museum Author Laura Horak will discuss her work with Jenni Olson, filmmaker, author and LGBTQ cinema expert. $5.

7pm. Other exhibits and events (see Thu 2). 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

John Wood @ Arthaus The Lake, new paintings by the Bay Area artist. Thru June 25. Tue-Fri 11am-6pm. Sat 12pm-5pm. 411 Brannan St. www.arthaus-sf.com

Various Artists @ NIAD Art Center, Richmond Exhibits of art made by developmentally disabled people.

Mon-Fri 10am-4pm. 551 23rd St. Richmond. (510) 620-0290. www.niadart.org

D’Arcy Drollinger and crew perform new episodes of the HBO comedy about four women in Manhattan. $25 and up. 2-drink min. Thu Sat Thru July 2 (some nights off). 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

The Village Bike @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley Shotgun Players’ new production of Penelope Skinner’s drama about intimacy and connections. $23-$35.

Wed-Sun Thru July 3, then in repertory with Hamlet. 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. www.shotgunplayers.org To submit event listings, email events@ebar.com Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication.

For more bar and nightlife events, go to On the Tab in our BARtab section, online at www.ebar.com/ bartab

<< Books

26 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 26-June 1, 2016

Purple reins

by Tim Pfaff

I

n one of the innumerable wonders of her second novel The Sport of Kings (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), C.E. Morgan unleashes one of the most floridly gay characters in 21st-century fiction, a personage out of Ronald Firbank awakened, Rip Van Winkle-style, black and in the wrong century. Reuben Bedford Walker III, who thinks his name is a hoot and immediately does a riff on it, doesn’t appear until the final third of the book, but he makes the most dizzying Loretta Young entrance in fiction since Holly Golightly.

In the early days of television, when the contraption was twice as large than the screen, the actress Loretta Young hosted a show in her name, each episode introduced by Loretta herself twirling through the doorway into her tiny office in an extravagant, room-filling gown. It was only a matter of time until gay bars such as the late, lamented P.S. on Polk St. ran videos of her entrances, one after the other, looped.

It was like watching Natalia Osipova executing 50 consecutive pirouettes, but far more kitsch and asphyxiatingly funny.

In Morgan’s magnificent, transgressive novel about American horse racing (and race in America, among other vaulting themes, though the aromas of the stables are never far off), the author needs a jockey. She invents Reuben, a self-described pederast (his word, not mine), black, sassy and the size of a Lilliputian – all mouth, really.

He’s barely onstage before he greets a fellow black character, Allmon Shaughnessy, one of the novel’s most tragic figures, with “Hail, fine

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SFMOMA

From page 17

For example, the late Ellsworth Kelly’s paintings, with their crisp lines and potent color fields, seem more bracingly beautiful than ever, and a curved chapel gallery for Agnes Martin’s pale minimalist abstract canvases adds a solemn grace note. A generous amount of space is allocated to post-1960 German Art, where Gerhard Richter’s oils reign and Anselm Kiefer’s huge, rangy, unhinged paintings and collaged pieces have plenty of room to maneuver. Kiefer draws from a stew of cabalistic, Germanic, Christian and Nordic mythology, Wagner’s Ring cycle and literary sources, marinated in the aftermath of Nazi annihilation; seeing these works stirred fond memories of the museum’s exhilarating and unforgettable Kiefer retrospective in 2006. I counted nine epic works on the 6th

Ethiope!” The reader sympathizes when Allmon retorts, “How come you can’t talk like a normal fucking human being?” Reuben’s soliloquies are a tangy gumbo of Shakespeare, the Bible, and Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and even if you don’t want him to stop, you want him to slow down to a pace you can follow. But Reuben’s business is speed.

A small catalogue of Morgan’s descriptors of the jockey includes “eight feet packed into four,” “a tiny man, but all muscle and trouble,” “a bird of prey” and, here Reuben himself speaking, “the devil’s midwife, the Messiah come in shape no bigger than a black man’s fist in the face of the Kentucky colonel man.”

But he is saying more than he knows when he declares, “No mother made me. I bore my own damn self.” He is Exhibit A in the case of a fictional character outfoxing his creator.

Morgan sets her dazzling top spinning and then has no idea what to do with him, how to add weight to him as a character. You can feel her helplessness in the face of him when, in a stroke of improbability, she makes a shoe flying off a horse running in front of Reuben strike him in the face (in a race he wins, however dazed). In the biggest victory of all, the Kentucky Derby, she brings on a rainstorm that leaves Reuben, again victorious, standing at the side of the track so completely covered in mud he’s not recognizable. He’s a blowhard, a loudmouth, a troublemaker and a thorn in everyone’s side – but without a hint of sexual menace. It’s as if starving himself made him a eunuch.

Over the final pages of the novel float, malodorously, the wavy lines of a hint that Mack Snyder, chief floor, including the battered “Melancholia” (1990-91), a grounded war plane of lead and steel, a refugee, perhaps, from the artist’s early childhood amid the rubble and privation of post-WWII Germany.

There’s the ominous “Sulamith” (1983), a behemoth acrylic-andoil woodcut with shellacked straw, which evokes underworld darkness and dread, death-camp crematoria and the bowels of hell; the architecture of a Nazi Memorial Hall was one of its inspirations. Three additional, recently gifted/promised Kiefers are on the 4th floor.

Had enough Sturm und Drang?

Unmitigated delight is one flight down in the Alexander Calder Motion Lab, an assortment of the maestro’s ingenious mobiles and stabiles from the late 1920s through the late 60s. Installed both inside and outdoors, they each achieve a perfect balance between wit, playfulness and engineering. The terrace with

Katherine Du Tiel

Ellsworth Kelly, “Spectrum I” (1953), oil on canvas; Doris and Donald Fisher Collection at SFMOMA.

trainer of the thoroughbred and a character developed with the detail of a Duerer woodcut, might also be gay. But if we take “gay” as a state of mind, Morgan’s most gay character is also her richest, Henrietta. How’s that for an ambiguous name? The daughter of the racing farm’s owner Henry Forge, Henrietta could hardly be more het, with only a carnal relationship with her the so-called Living Wall is home to “Big Crinkly” (1969), a red-based, long-necked stabile that could be a headless giraffe separated from the herd; three cheerful geometric pieces, one white, the others blue and black, are impossibly suspended, weather vane-style, from a wire across the top. The light-filled gallery containing Calder’s mobiles features his famous “Aquarium” (1929), where he twisted black wire into the shape of a fish bowl with the astonishing ease of someone dashing off a sketch.

Wander into the Material Meditations section and you’ll come upon a gathering of chairs better admired than sat upon. Michael Young’s semi-circular molten throne chair in geological blue, pressure cast with gas at 8,000 degrees, looks as if it had been forged in a volcano, but my personal favorite is Marijn van der Poll’s smashed steel “do hit” chair, which comes with a handy sledgehammer in case the urge to inflict more damage should overtake you.

The advent of the Pritzker Center for Photography, the largest gallery, research and interactive space dedicated to photography at an American art museum, is a boon to those who love the medium. California and The West, one of the center’s two inaugural exhibitions, charts how the Golden State’s landscape has evolved, from 1856 to 2014, and the approaches photographers have taken in documenting it, capturing its majestic beauty and turning wild nature into art. The show of 200 recent and promised gifts features local icons Carleton Watkins, Edward Weston, Tina Modotti, Ansel Adams, Minor White and Dorothea Lange, among many others. About Time: Photography in a Moment of Change, an ambitious undertaking incorporating over 160 images in a range of formats, many of them fascinating to ponder, reflects on the elusiveness of time in a medium that has been in a state of flux since its invention. The concept of

father to brand her a sexual outlier.

But for a good stretch of the book, she’s sexually insatiable, a predator of men, mostly serially but with genuine feeling for Allmon, whom she brings out of himself and whose child she fatally bears.

When Reuben hasn’t got the reins, the author characterizes brilliantly; you think about her people while you’re in the shower. Some

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are ghostly, like an older AfricanAmerican woman who comes on like Aretha Franklin with her ubiquitous designer purse, sets the entire plot on a new course, then effectively vanishes again.

As with her characters, there’s more plot in The Sport of Kings than Morgan can come through on, not that you mind as this extravagant and emotionally wrenching tale unfolds. But plot and character both surrender to language, the unmistakable star of this show. Words pour out of Morgan’s mouth with the same prodigality that ropes of drool come out of the gnashing bitbiter of Hellsmouth, the thoroughbred filly at the center of this story, an incarnation of Brobdingnagian monstrosity in this most bred of horses. Hell, as she is affectionately called, is described even more extravagantly than Reuben (“a hurricane in a black barrel”). It’s no accident that in her colossal body lies the secret of a Triple Crown winner, “a whale’s heart.”

The spirit of Melville the moralist and the specter of the White Whale hang over The Sport of Kings like glowering clouds. This book obsessed with lineage links Morgan to Melville, with asides on all things horse-ish and matters no smaller than creation and evolution. Sometimes it reads like Richard Powers on horse steroids and you find it not just too much but, in the inimitable words of Anne Lamott, “just too too.” But although Morgan has set her sights no lower than Milton, there’s little surprise that her heroine, Henrietta, is female and that her protagonist, Hellsmouth, is also a filly and not incidentally black.

Somewhere Secretariat is fuming.t

Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery

Charles Ray, “Sleeping Woman” (2012), solid stainless steel; Collection SFMOMA.

arresting time – the photograph as a bid for immortality and a vehicle for preserving a fleeting moment – is flexible enough to allow exhibition curator Corey Keller to exercise her astute eye and taste for the unusual, i.e., Andrew Davidhazy’s “Portrait of Toni Ferri” (1970-72), whose subject was shot with a split-scan camera during a long exposure.

The technology, used in movie special effects, produced a weird 360-degree view of a distended head in a single image. Then there’s Sam Taylor-Johnson’s magnetic/ repulsive time-lapse video “A Little Death” (2004), which starts out like a traditional Dutch still life of a dead rabbit hanging by one leg, then accelerates the process of decay. Taylor-Johnson, a woman with serious

artist credentials despite directing the soft-porn fiasco Fifty Shades of Grey, dares viewers to avert their eyes.

If you walk by too quickly you might miss Kiki Smith’s bronze sculpture “The Guard” (2005), a uniformed figure with a pageboy stationed on the 7th-floor terrace.

If she could talk, she’d tell you there are many more galleries in which to while away an afternoon and more to see than alluded to here. Charles Ray’s wonderful solid stainless-steel sculpture “Sleeping Woman” could well be a voracious visitor who collapsed on a bench from exhaustion.

For more info: (415) 357-4000; sfmoma.org/tickets. Booking tickets in advance is advised.

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Books>>

May 26-June 1, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 27

Putting Mapplethorpe into perspective

by Brian Bromberger

and obscure, including Lisa Lyon, the first World Women’s Bodybuilding champion and favorite muse.

Between 1977-80, his photographic focus was on the gay s/m community, these infamous explicit sex pictures celebrating the post-Stonewall gay subculture of the 1970s-80s, which he both participated in (inviting men back to his loft for sex, getting them to model for photographs) and observed, using himself at times as his own subject. He loved to use African-American models such as Milton Moore, subject of one of his most notorious pictures, “Man in Polyester Suit” (has a man’s cock ever looked more delicious?).

He also was a master of still life, especially his sensual flowers (the sexual organs of plants), which for him expressed compositional order and control, the perfect aesthetic arrangement. Less well-known and fewer in number are his striking landscapes, the stark “Winter” (1979), with a man contemplating under a tree during a snowfall; and “Waves” (1980), pulsing ocean sprays resembling liquid fireworks.

Mapplethorpe’s elegant, formal style, reconciling light and dark, order and chaos, sacred and profane, is captivating. While his subject matter was revolutionary, his work was classical, with balanced composition, obsessive attention to detail, statuesque poses, and sophisticated lighting. For Mapplethorpe, eroticism is a function of its classicism, and vice versa. He wasn’t the first to photograph the male nude, but even in the 1970s, this was still scandalous, a de facto expression of homoeroticism, with male bodies both

targets of prohibition and sources of pleasure. Because of his technical mastery, his nude photos were among the first to be displayed in museums.

His greatest legacy as an artist was redrawing the boundary of the aesthetic to include what had been excluded, unlikely subjects such as anuses, erections, and s/m, forcing viewers to see the erotic in a new light. Human sexuality in all its forms could rise to transcendent heights functioning as religious themes, complete with Catholic

iconography Mapplethorpe absorbed in his youth. He wanted to make pornography art because he believed they both shared the pursuit of beauty and the solicitation of desire. So Mapplethorpe could say, “I don’t think there’s much difference between a photograph of a fist up someone’s ass and a photograph of carnations in a bowl.” He wanted to open people’s eyes that any subject was acceptable as long as it was photographed well. Sexuality wasn’t in the photograph, it was the photograph. He claimed in sex

we give up differentiation, that it functions as the great leveler, Thus Mapplethorpe is not “documenting sexual activity, but representing it as a purified ideal.”

From the beginning, discovering himself through art, Mapplethorpe set about creating a dynamic public image, taking pictures of prominent people to foster a demand for his work among the creative literati.

Three months after he died of AIDS, his Perfect Moment show, partially funded by the National Endowment of the Arts, and denounced in the Senate by homophobe extraordinaire Jesse Helms, was canceled at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., causing a storm of controversy. When it relocated to the Contemporary Arts Center, its director, Dennis Barrie, was arrested on charges of obscenity, but acquitted. Being ground zero in the 90s culture wars elevated his work’s stature and international visibility, as well as the monetary and cultural value of his oeuvre. Mapplethorpe once told Patti Smith that he “held hands with God when he made art.”

Through the decades, critics and the public alike have come to share his estimation. With the book’s four loosely chronological plate sections, five in-depth essays exploring sexuality and identity (with queer curator Jonathan Katz’s “Queer Classicism” a standout), the artist’s vast exhibition history, an illustrated chronology of his life and work, a useful bibliography, and gorgeously reproduced photographs, Martineau and Salvesen’s accomplishment is not only authoritative, but indispensable.t

songs from one family.”

First came the research, as Kuhn talked with people connected to the family. “I just wanted to get as many stories and as much information as I could to get a little insight into their brains,” she said. “It was quite an adventure.” (The results are also available in a studio recording of Rodgers, Rodgers & Guettel.)

Working with musical director Todd Almond, who will be appearing with Kuhn at Feinstein’s, she “mashed up” some of the songs so the different generations “could have a conversation with each other.” Kuhn identifies the composers of the songs as she sings them – some are well-known, while others are obscurities brought forth in her research – but there isn’t a lot of spokenword history. “I don’t want Jenny Anderson to give a musicology lesson,” Judy Kuhn is part of the original cast of the Broadway hit Fun Home, playing she said. “I think what’s a wife and mother dealing with intense family secrets. much more interesting is how do you listen to one of Adam’s songs after you hear Oklahoma!; his daughter Mary Judy Kuhn one of his mother’s or grandfather’s Rodgers, best known for Once From page 17 songs.”

Upon a Mattress; and her son Adam Kuhn’s appearance at Feinstein’s Guettel, whose successes include “People always tell me I’m recomes close to the end of a mediFloyd Collins and The Light in the strained,” she said. “I don’t know what cal leave from Fun Home for hipPiazza. it means, but I try to take it as a comreplacement surgery. Recovery “There are lots of businesses that pliment. I guess it means that I bring has been going well, she said, and have dynasties, and there are generpassion, but it’s not over the top.” eventually she’ll have the other hip ations of actors and writers,” Kuhn Whatever it is precisely, this pasreplaced as well. “I have osteoarthrisaid recently from New York, “but sionate restraint has served Kuhn tis, which has been a slow deterioraI’d never heard about that with muwell through a Broadway career that tion. I’m sure the fact that I’m a very sical theater songwriters, especially is still in high gear after more than active person, and I’m an actor and in the case where the generations 30 years. Currently in the cast of Fun my work is physical, has accelerated are all so masterful. I think that’s Home, Kuhn will take time to bring the deterioration.” Too much dancjust amazing DNA.” Rodgers, Rodgers & Guettel to Feining? “Oh, God, I don’t dance.”

Kuhn first got the notion for the stein’s at the Nikko on June 3 and 4.

Even without a terpsichorean show while performing a benefit It’s the first performance since its specialty, Kuhn has found steady concert where Mary Rodgers and debut as part of Lincoln Center’s and usually lauded work on stage.

Guettel were present. “People were American Songbook program.

A classical musical student in colsinging songs from all three genThe names in the show’s title lege, she made her Broadway debut erations, and first of all, I wanted to refers to three generations in one in 1985 in The Mystery of Edwin sing all of that music because I love of musical theater’s first families Drood, and a few of her subsequent it so much, and then I thought of it of songwriters: Richard Rodgers, credits include the original Amerias an American Songbook evening who is represented with songs from can productions of Les Miserables, because it’s a century of American The King and I, South Pacific, and

Chess, Rags, and Sunset Boulevard.

There have been four Tony nominations along the way, most recently for her performance in Fun Home.

The musical is based on writer/ artist Alison Bechdel’s autobiographical memoir in comic-book form that focuses on her coming of age, and how her coming out as a lesbian is complicated by her father’s secret gay life and his probable suicide. Kuhn plays the beleaguered wife and mother who must navigate through her husband’s secrets and her daughter’s revelations.

Kuhn is currently contemplating an extension that will keep her with

Fun Home through the end of the year. “It depends on what else comes up,” she said. “But I’m happy to stay there as long as I can, because I love it so much and it’s been one of the more remarkable journeys of my career. I was introduced to the material when it was barely more than a sketch four-anda-half-years ago, and I thought it was going to be something special, but the success has been beyond anyone’s hopes and dreams.”

What might Kuhn want to do next? “I’d love to do something funny, because I’ve done a lot of sad things,” she said.

“It would be great to play someone who’s not in a tragic situation. Maybe it’s time for a little laughter.”t

Robert Mapplethorpe: The Photographs by Paul Martineau and Britt Salvesen; J. Paul Getty Museum, $59.95 an Robert Mapplethorpe be deciphered? Does photographer, provocateur, pornographer, political sexual radical/activist, and person with AIDS exhaust or just skim the list of identities? Since his death in 1989 and the fading of headlines, enough time has passed so we can reexamine the artist and his career. With the publication of a sumptuous tribute and the recent documentary on his life and work

by HBO, this is a banner year for Mapplethorpe. Clearly he changed photography forever and still triggers controversy today.

Mapplethorpe isn’t a figure on whom one can remain neutral. Both the man and his pictures demand a visceral response. So it is fortunate that, drawing from the extraordinary collection jointly acquired in 201l by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, the authors Paul Martineau and Britt Salvesen provide a rich and exhaustive selection covering the remarkable range of his photographic work, including the “scandalous” ones, and have also assembled five superb essays to give fresh perspectives on the man and his creativity.

Mapplethorpe was renowned for his portraits of both the famous (his lovers Patti Smith and patron Samuel J. Wagstaff, Andy Warhol, singer Deborah Harry, David Hockney)

C

<<

Steven Underhill

PHOTOGRAPHY

415 370 7152

WEDDINGS, HEADSHOTS, PORTRAITS

stevenunderhill.com · stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com

MORE MYSTERIOUS A FRONTIER

THAN THE MOON

New exhibit, opens June 10 In the depths of the ocean’s twilight zone—a region scientists know less about than the surface of the Moon—every dive yields new discoveries. Explore these deep reefs and the fascinating marine life found hundreds of feet below.

Get tickets at calacademy.org

36

Leather

www.ebar.com ✶ www.bartabsf.com

39

Shooting Stars

Vol. 46 • No. 21 • May 26-June 1, 2016

Bob Ostertag from the Strozzi Palace to the Eagle

by Michael Flanagan

W

hen Bob Ostertag takes the stage at the SF Eagle on Friday May 27, he brings with him a resumé that many performers could envy.

See page 30 >>

Bob Ostertag works an electronic sound board.

On the Tab

W

May 26June 2

hether you’re checking out ta town for the Memorial Day Weekend holiday, or immersing yourself in local sun & fog (sog?), her nightlife and daytime par e are some memorable ty options, including a me rry influx of live bands.

Listings begin on page 32 >>

Tue 31

ore Yeasayer @ The Fillm

{ THIRD OF THREE SECTIONS }

DRIVE WITH UBER. Sign up now and receive an additional $100 after your first trip T.UBER.COM/BAYAREAREPORTER

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

30 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 26-June 1, 2016

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Bob Ostertag

Bob Ostertag performed at The Strozzi Palace in Florence.

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Bob Ostertag in a percussive moment onstage.

Bob Ostertag

From page 29

From the very beginnings of his career in the 1970s and ‘80s, he worked with innovators like Fred Frith (now on the faculty of Mills College) and John Zorn. A planned collaboration with David Wojnarowicz became a collaboration with Kronos Quartet, “Bob Ostertag: All the Rage” which included sound from a riot which occurred in San Francisco after Pete Wilson vetoed AB101 (a bill that would have made discrimination against

lesbians and gay men illegal in California).

In 1999, he collaborated with Justin Bond and Tokyo composer Otomo Yoshihide with the group Pantychrist, and recorded an album which Allmusic said, “seethes with anger and sociopathic content” (the reviewer is praising the album, which was given a three out of five-stars review). The work can also be seen as ironically humorous, with Justin Bond musing about Westerns and John Wayne on “Giddy Up Cowboy.”

It is not surprising that Ostertag’s work may be seen as “seething with anger,” however, as he is an intensely political artist. He was sufficiently involved and interested in the politics One of Bob Ostertag’s several books. of Central America to go on hiatus from the musynthesizer with a gamepad,” said sic industry in 1982 and move to El Ostertag. “I’m just back from a oneSalvador for several years. year-plus tour where I did that all He has also published writings over the world.” on the World Trade Organization, He referred me to a recording of labor politics and a book about inmaterial similar to what he will be dependent political writing entitled performing, on his music website, People’s Movements, People’s Press: www.bobostertag.bandcamp.com.

The Journalism of Social Justice A quote on his website from Movements.

The New York Times says, “Bob Besides anger, the overwhelmOstertag’s improvisations on variing notion one gets from his writous non-keyboard synthesizers are ing is compassion, however. In his about as far removed from the elecessay, “Lonely and Scary Times for tronic music clichés of the past as Sexual Diversity in Indonesia,” he can be imagined.” talks about the situation of queer After having listened to music Indonesians which he witnessed on from that link, I agree (and look his tour earlier this year. He informs forward to the concert). the reader: Ostertag’s tour took him from “Indonesia has used not laws but Mexico and El Salvador to Europe, state-incited violence to maintain Lebanon, China, Southeast Asia, their desired level of social control.

South America and back to the U.S. The current campaign against the I asked what the highlights of the queer community falls squarely tour had been. within this tradition.”

“The Strozzi Palace in Florence The entire essay is worth readand the Teatro Colón in Buenos ing to give a broader perspective on Aires were pretty special,” he said. human rights for sexual minorities “Presenting the world premiere of in the world and can be found on my new ensemble at Teatro Colón this website, www.bobostertag. was especially nice. The Jogja Noise wordpress.com.

Festival in Java was one of the most I spoke with Ostertag about his punk rock things I have ever particiupcoming concert to ask if he was pated in. And returning to El Salvaperforming something new or a redor after almost 30 years to share corded work. Given the breadth of a bill with a band whose members his music pieces, I wondered what had grown up in refugee camps we could expect at the Eagle. during the war is something I will “I will be performing live imnever forget.” provisations in which I control a

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Read more online at www.ebar.com

Asked how he chooses artists for collaborations (such as Pantychrist or his work with David Wojarowicz), Ostertag mentioned that his book Creative Life tells the stories of PantryChrist and the collaboration with David Wojnarowicz in detail.

“In general, I look long and hard and far and wide for my collaborators. I have to resonate with their work pretty deeply. David Wojnarowicz and Justin Vivian Bond are two wonderful examples of collaborators whose work really touched me.”

The story of the collaboration with Bond in Creative Life is in equal parts touching and hilarious. In it, Ostertag recounts how they went onstage at the Great American Music Hall and improvised, with Mike Patton (from Faith No More) doing vocals on one set and (with no warning to the assembled fans of Faith No More) Bond doing vocals in the second set. Without revealing too much (you should really get the book), but this captures how unique the evening was: “Justin came onstage in a onepiece ladies’ swimsuit with a jar of indoor tanning lotion and announced he wanted to have a perfect tan before the end of the set. I think the audience was simply stunned. When we got back to the dressing room, Otomo, Justin and I looked at each other and asked, ‘What was that? Was that pretty good or the worst thing we have ever done?’ At that moment,

May 26-June 1, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 31

for the only time in my life, a man from a record company burst in, beside himself with how great our show had been and gushing about how we had to make a record for his label right away. Thus was born PantyChrist. Or PC, for short.”

While Ostertag will not have any copies of his books for sale at the Eagle, if you are a fan of his writing you should be aware that he has a new book, Sex Science Self: Rethinking Identity and Activism in the Pharmaceutical Age, which has been released by the University of Massachusetts press this month.

A complete list of his writings is available on his website.

The concert looks to be a unique and wonderful event – for both the Loaded series and the Eagle. Ostertag takes to the stage at 11pm for what the website calls “an entire evening of music, projections, and the highest of spirits.”t Bob Ostertag and DJs Dugg, Bobby Please, and C-Pap play at Loaded, Friday May 27 at the SF Eagle, 398 12th St. at Harrison. $3. 8pm2am. www.sf-eagle.com

Bob Ostertag (right) performing with Justin Vivian Bond (center) at the Great American Music Hall.

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5/16/16 11:07 AM

<< On the Tab Shot in the City

32 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 26-June 1, 2016

Fri 27 Daughters of a Riot @ Brava Theatre

Bob Ostertag @ SF Eagle

Luther Vandross Tribute @ Yoshi’s Oakland

Composer and sound artist’s live quadrophonic experimental music set is part of Loaded, a night with DJs Dugg, Bobby Please, and C-Pap, including projections and a psychedelic ambiance. $3. 8pm-2am (Ostertag at 11pm). 398 12th St. www.bobostertag.com www.sf-eagle.com

Ray McCoy is the featured musician in the concert tribute at the elegant nightclub-restaurant. $29-$35. 8pm & 10pm. 510 Embarcadero West. (510) 238-9200. www.yoshis.com

Boy Bar @ The Cafe Gus Presents’ weekly dance night, with DJ Kid Sysko, cute gogos and $2 beer (before 10pm). 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Comedy Noir @ Balancoire Valerie Branch’s weekly comedy night, where she embodies her faux queen character Pia Messing for some offbeat wit, along with guest performers. $5. 8pm-10pm. 2565 Mission St. www.balancoiresf.com

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Daughters of a Riot @ Brava Theatre

On the Tab

From page 29

Thu 26

Big Black Delta @ Great American Music Hall Electronic synth-pop band performs.

Waterstrider opens. $21-$46 (with dinner). 9pm. 859 O’Farrell St. www.slimspresents.com

Bulge @ Powerhouse Grace Towers hosts the fun sexy night. $100 cash prize for best bulge. $5-$10 benefits various local nonprofits. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Cabaret Showcase Showdown @ Oasis Season 6 finals of the local competition include a variety of singers (Brooke Michael Smith, Effervescence Jackson, Madison Greenlund, Eric Ward, Nick Quintell, Ted Zoldan and Monica Chinchilla) competing for the top title, with hosts Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, and Joe and Bill Wicht. Judges include Paula West, Russ Lorenson, Donna Sachet, Marilyn Levinson and Skip Ziobron. $15-$25. 7pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com

Man Haters @ The White Horse, Oakland Enjoy stand-up with queer comics Irene Tu, Ash Fisher, and guests Kate Willett, Emma Haney, Adrienne Price, Justin Lucas, and for May a Queer Prom theme. $7.70 (for women)-$10 (for men). 7:30pm show; dancing 10pm-2am. 6551 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. www.manhaters.org www.whitehorsebar.com

Mary Go Round @ Lookout Mercedez Munro and Holotta Tymes’ weekly drag show. $5. 10:30pm show.

DJ Philip Grasso. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

The Monster Show @ The Edge

Themed event nights at the fascinating nature museum, with DJed dancing, cocktails, fish, frogs, food and fun. May 26: ‘90s nightlife with DJ Jamie Jams, Outbreak science film discussions, grunge garb encouraged. $10-$12. 6pm10pm, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. 379-8000. www.calacademy.org

Rock Fag @ Hole in the Wall Enjoy hard rock and punk music from DJ Don Baird at the wonderfully divey SoMa bar.

Also Fridays. 7pm-2am.

1369 Folsom St. 431-4695. www.hitws.com

Thursday Night Live @ SF Eagle Music night with local and touring bands. $8. 9:30pm. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Tubesteak Connection @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge

VivvyAnne Forevermore’s new drag-filled drama about the historic Compton’s Cafeteria Riots, with Dulce De Leche, LOL McFiercen, Honey Mahogany, Laundra Tyme, Phatima Rude, and Trixie Carr. $20-$30. 8pm.

Also May 28. 2781 24th St. www.brownpapertickets.com

Friday Nights @ de Young Museum Season 12 of the fun art parties returns, with the Oscar de la Renta exhibit, live music and drinks.

5:30pm-9pm. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, www.deyoung.famsf.org

Hard Fridays @ Qbar

Weekly drag queen and drag king show hosted by Cruzin d’Loo. 8pm10pm. No cover. 2565 Mission St. www.balancoiresf.com

Red Hots Burlesque @ Beatbox

Some Thing @ The Stud Mica Sigourney and pals’ weekly offbeat drag performance night. $7.

10pm-3am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

ZoSo @ Slim’s Led Zeppelin tribute band performs rock classics. $21-$46 (with dinner).

8pm. 333 11th St. www.zosoontour. com www.slimspresents.com

The popular video bar ends each work week with gogo guys (starting at 9pm) and drink specials. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

Weekly dance night with nearly naked gogo guys & gals; DJs Chad Bays, Ms. Jackson, Becky Know and Jorge T. $4.

9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com Stanley Frank spins house dance remixes at the intimate Castro dance bar. $3. 9pm-2am (weekly beer bust 2pm-9pm). 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

Soul Delicious @ Lookout Brunch, booze, sass and grooves, with the Mom DJs, Motown sounds, and soul food. 11am-4pm. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

Soul Party @ Elbo Room DJs Lucky, Paul, and Phengren Osward spin 60s soul 45s. $5-$10 ($5 off in semi-formal attire). 10pm-2am. 647 Valencia St. 552-7788. www.elbo.com

Fri 27 Drag Queens of Comedy featuring Bob the Drag Queen @ Castro Theatre

DH Haute Toddy’s weekly electro-pop night with hotty gogos. $3. 9pm-2am (happy hour 4pm-9pm). 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

Ladies of San Francisco @ Club OMG Galilea hosts the weekly “old school drag show” with guest performers and DJ Jack Rojo. $4. 9pm-2am. 43 6th St. www.clubOMGsf.com

Latin Explosion @ Club 21, Oakland Enjoy Latin, hip hop and electro, plus hot gogos galore, and a big dance floor. April 29: Violeta and Jacqueline La Gata. $10-$20. 9pm-3am. 2111 Franklin St., Oakland. www.club21oakland.com

Sat 28

Bearracuda @ SF Eagle The beartastic dance and cruise night celebrates its older days in the formerly gay Polk street bar, but at the SoMa bar, with DJs Medic and Robert Jeffrey. $5-$10. 9:30pm-2am. 398 12th St. www.bearracuda.com www.sf-eagle.com

La Bota Loca @ Club 21, Oakland Latin, hip hop and Electro music night. $5-$25. 9pm-4am. 2111 Franklin St., Oakland. www.club21oakland.com

Bootie SF @ DNA Lounge The mash-up DJ dance party, with four rooms of different sounds and eight DJs. May 21: Bootie Prom, midnight costume contest with $100 prize, Monster Drag Show. $10-$15.

9:30pm-3am. 375 11th St. www. bootiesf.com www.dnalounge.com

The weekly hip hop and R&B night.

8-$15. 9pm to 4am. 2120 Broadway.

(510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Industry @ Beatbox

Industry @ Beatbox

Nitty Gritty @ Beaux

Saturgay @ Qbar

The saucy women’s burlesque show hosted by Dottie Lux. May 20 is a Dolly Parton tribute night. $10. 7pm10pm. 314 11th St. www.beatboxsf. com Also Sunday brunch shows (see Sun.) www.redhotsburlesque.com

Club Rimshot @ Club BNB, Oakland

Sat 28

Heklina’s weekly drag show night with different themes, always outrageously hilarious. $15-$25. 10pm-2am. 298 11th St. at Folsom. 795-3180. www.sfoasis.com

Hot dancers grind it at the Castro bar with a dance floor and patio. 4146 18th St. www.toadhallbar.com

Zsa Zsa Lusthansa and Friends @ Martuni’s

Ain’t Mama’s Drag @ Balancoire

Weekly drag shows at the last transgender-friendly bar in the Polk; with hosts Victoria Secret, Alexis Miranda and several performers. Also Saturdays. $10. 11pm. 1081 Polk St. www.divassf.com

Mother @ Oasis

Gogo Fridays @ Toad Hall

Happy Friday @ Midnight Sun

Fri 27

Midnight Show @ Divas

The Grammy-winning cool hip hop singer and DJ share a bill; Raz Simone opens. $55. 8pm. 99 Grove St. www.apeconcerts.com

The family-friendly night events returns, with exhibit tours, dancing, food, drinks, and live music. $7-$15.

5pm-9pm. 1000 Oak St. www. museumca.org

Disco guru DJ Bus Station John spins grooves at the intimate retro music night. $5. No cell phones on the dance floor, please! 10pm-2am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.com

Christian Heppenstall’s drag persona performs a night of Broadway song, comedy and magic, with Terry McLaughlin and Stephen McFarland, comedienne Ginorma Desmond and magician Bradmagic. 7pm. 4 Valencia St. www.facebook.com/ events/161339157601484/

Gogo-tastic dance night starts off your weekend. $5. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Macklemore, Ryan Lewis @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium

Friday Nights @ Oakland Museum

Marques Daniels

The weekly drag show with DJ MC2, themed nights, gogo guys and hilarious fun. $5. 9pm-2am. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Nightlife @ California Academy of Sciences

Manimal @ Beaux

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Jamies J Sanchez and Danny Verde spin at the Memorial Day Weekend dance event. $20-$25. 10pm-4am.

314 11th St. at Folsom. www. beatboxsf.com www.industrysf.com

Spanish Harlem Orchestra @ Yoshi’s Oakland at the elegant nightclub-restaurant. $36-$66. 7:30 & 9:30pm. Also May 29, 7pm & 9pm.. 510 Embarcadero West. (510) 238-9200. www.yoshis.com

Sugar @ The Cafe Dance, drink, cruise at the Castro club.

9pm-2am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Swagger Like Us @ F8 The queer hip hop dance party features DJs Kingdom, davO, Val G, Jasmine Infiniti and others. $10.

10pm-4am. 1192 Folsom St. www.swaggersf.com

Terry McLaughlin @ Martuni’s The singer-actor (Absolutely Fabulous Live) performs the James Bond Songbook, theme songs from the popular spy movies. $10. 7pm. 4 Valencia St.

Sun 29

Beer Bust @ SF Eagle The classic leather bar’s most popular Sunday daytime event in town draws the menfolk. Beer bust donations benefit local nonprofits (Check the website for a list of recipients). 3pm6pm. Now also on Saturdays. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

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On the Tab>>

May 26-June 1, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 33

Sun 29 Gogo guys at Club Papi @ Club 21

Big Top @ Beaux The fun Castro nightclub, with hot local DJs and sexy gogo guys and gals. $5. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.Beauxsf.com

Club Papi @ Club 21, Oakland Mariana Seone is the guest performer at the dance night known for extrahot gogo guys. $5-$25. 9pm-4am.

2111 Franklin St., Oakland. www.club21oakland.com

Disco Daddy @ SF Eagle Special extra Memorial Day weekend tea dance with DJ Bus Station John playing classic grooves. $5. 7pm-1am.

398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Domingo De Escandal @ Club OMG Weekly Latin night with drag shows hosted by Vicky Jimenez and DJ Luis.

7pm-2am. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Femme, Xtravaganza @ Balancoire Weekly live music shows with various acts, along with brunch, Mimosas, champagne and more, at the stylish nightclub and restaurant; shows at 12:30pm, 1:30pm and 2:45pm. After that, T-Dance drag shows at 7pm, 10pm and 11pm. 2565 Mission St. at 21st. 920-0577. www.balancoiresf.com

GlamaZone @ The Cafe 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

Jock @ The Lookout Enjoy the weekly jock-ular fun, with DJed dance music at sports team fundraisers. 12pm-1am. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

Mor ve Ötesi @ Rickshaw Stop The amazing Turkish alt-rock band (and Eurovision contestant) performs a rare U.S. concert. $40-$50. 7pm.

155 Fell St. www.rickshawstop.com

Queers & Alies Comedy Night @ Club OMG Enjoy gay, straight, drag and queer comedy performers Dom Gelin, Alyssa Westerlund, Nick Leonard, Justin Lucas, Jesus U.BettaWork and host Nasty Ass Bitch. $15. 7pm. 43 6th St. www.clubOMGsf.com

Red Hots Burlesque @ PianoFight The saucy women’s burlesque show now serves brunch before and after the show, with bottomless Mimosas. $15-$25. 2pm. Weekly thru May 29.

144 Taylor St. www.pianofight.com

Sunday’s a Drag @ Starlight Room Donna Sachet hosts the weekly fabulous brunch and drag show, now celebrating its tenth anniversary. $45.

11am, show at noon; 1:30pm, show at 2:30pm. 450 Powell St. in Union Square.

395-8595. www.starlightroomsf.com

Sunday Brunch @ Thee Parkside Bottomless Mimosas until 3pm at the fun rock-punk club. 1600 17th St. 2521330. www.theeparkside.com

Sundance Saloon @ Space 550 Weekly two-stepping and line-dancing fun, with lessons and DJed music (not just country). 5pm-10:30pm. Also Thursdays. 550 Barneveld Ave. www.sundancesaloon.org

Mon 30

Drag Mondays @ The Cafe Mahlae Balenciaga and DJ Kidd Sysko’s weekly drag and dance night.

9pm-1am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Epic Karaoke @ White Horse, Oakland Mondays and Tuesdays popular weekly sing-along night. No cover.

8:30pm-1am. 6551 Telegraph Ave, (510) 652-3820. www.whitehorsebar.com

See page 34 >>

Sat 28 DJ Kingdom at Swagger Like Us @ F8

<< On the Tab

34 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 26-June 1, 2016

<<

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No No Bingo @ Virgil’s Sea Room

On the Tab

From page 33

Gaymer Meetup @ Brewcade The weekly LGBT video game enthusiast night includes big-screen games and signature beers, with a new remodeled layout, including an outdoor patio. No cover. 7pm-11pm.

2200 Market St. www.brewcadesf.com

Karaoke Night @ SF Eagle Sing along, with guest host Nick Radford. 8pm-12am. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Mahogany Mondays @ Midnight Sun Honey Mahogany’s weekly drag and musical talent show starts around 10pm. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

Monday Musicals @ The Edge Sing along at the popular musical theatre night; also Wednesdays.

7pm-2am. 2 for 1 cocktail, 5pm-closing. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Mica Sigourney and Tom Temprano cohost the wacky weekly game night at the cool Mission bar. 8pm. 3152 Mission St. www.virgilssf.com

Opulence @ Beaux Weekly dance night, with Jocques, DJs Tori, Twistmix and Andre. 9pm-2am.

2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Piano Bar 101 @ Martuni’s Sing-along night with talented locals, and charming accompanist Joe Wicht (aka Trauma Flintstone). 9pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market. www.dragatmartunis.com

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

Tue 31 Bandit @ Slate Bar

New weekly queer event with resident DJ Justime; electro, soul, funk; cocktails and food available. $3.

2925 16th St. www.facebook.com/ BanditPartySF www.slate-sf.com

Sat 28 Macklemore and Ryan Lewis @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium

Block Party @ Midnight Sun

Hysteria @ Martuni’s

Weekly screenings of music videos, concert footage, interviews and more, of popular pop stars. 9pm-2am. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. midnightsunsf.com

Irene Tu and Jessica Sele cohost the comedy open mic night for women and queers. No cover. 6pm-8:30pm. 4 Valencia St.

Cock Shot @ Beaux

Meow Mix @ The Stud

Shot specials and adult Bingo games, with DJs Chad Bays and Riley Patrick, at the new weekly night. No cover.

9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

The weekly themed variety cabaret showcases new and unusual talents; MC Ferosha Titties. $3-$7. Show at 11pm. 9pm-2am. 399 9th St. at Harrison. www.studsf.com

Gaymer Night @ Eagle

Naked Night @ Nob Hill Theatre

Gay gaming fun on the bar’s big screen TVs. Have a nerdgasm and a beer with your pals. 8pm. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Hella Saucy @ Q Bar Queer dance party at the stylish intimate bar. 9pm-2am. 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

415 Steven Underhill 370 7152

High Fantasy @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge

PHOTOGRAPHY

WEDDINGS, HEADSHOTS, PORTRAITS

stevenunderhill.com · stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com

Weekly drag and variety show, with live acts and lip-synching divas, plus DJed grooves. $5. Shows at 10:30pm & 12am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.com

I am the future of the LGBT community.

I’m 26 and transitioning.

I have a lot going on - I don’t need to be mocked, misgendered, or marginalized, and I don’t have time to hunt out news that matters to me.

That’s why I read EDGE on my Android tablet.

I’m being true to my future - and that’s where it will be.

The person depicted here is a model. Their image is being used for illustrative purposes only.

Strip down as the strippers also take it all off. $20. 9pm. 729 Bush St. at Powell. 397-6758. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

Retro Night @ 440 Castro Jim Hopkins plays classic pop oldies, with vintage music videos. 9pm-2am.

44 Castro St. www.the440.com

Trivia Night @ Hi Tops Play the trivia game at the popular new sports bar. 9pm. 2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

Una Noche @ Club BnB, Oakland Vicky Jimenez’ drag show and contest; Latin music all night. 9pm-2am. 2120 Broadway. (510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Underwear Night @ Club OMG Weekly underwear night includes free clothes check, and drink specials. $4.

10pm-2am. Preceded by Open Mic Comedy, 7pm, no cover. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Yeasayer @ The Fillmore The dream pop princes play; Young Magic joins in. $25. 8pm. 1805 Geary Blvd. www.yeasayer.net www.thefillmore.com

Wed 1

Bedlam @ Beaux New weekly event with DJs Haute Toddy, Guy Ruben, Mercedez Munro and Abominatrix. Wet T-shirt/jock contest at 11pm. $5-$10. 9pm-2am.

2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Bone @ Powerhouse New weekly punk-alternative music night hosted by Uel Renteria and Johnny Rockitt. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Bottoms Up Bingo @ Hi Tops

Digitalism @ SF Independent The electronic duo play a set, including cuts from their new album, Mirage. $20-$25. 9pm. 628 Divisadero St. www.theindependentsf.com

Floor 21 @ Starlight Room Juanita More! presents a new weekly scenic happy hour event, with host Rudy Valdez, and guest DJs. No cover, and a fantastic panoramic city view.

5pm-9pm. Sir Francis Drake Hotel, 450 Powell St. www.starlightroomsf.com

Latin Drag Night @ Club OMG Weekly Latin night with drag shows hosted by Vicky Jimenez. 9pm-2am.

43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Man Francisco @ Oasis The sexy, funny weekly male burlesque show returns with a few new handsome talents; choreographed by Christopher James Dunn; Mr Pam MCs. $20. 2 Two-drink min. 9:30pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom.

795-3180. www.sfoasis.com

Matt Corby @ The Fillmore The folk-pop singer performs with his band. $25. 8pm. 1805 Geary Blvd. www.thefillmore.com

Miss Kitty’s Trivia Night @ Wild Side West The weekly fun night at the Bernal Heights bar includes prizes, hosted by Kitty Tapata. No cover. 7pm-10pm.

424 Cortland St. 647-3099. www.wildsidewest.com

Open Mic/Comedy @ SF Eagle Kollin Holts hosts the weekly comedy and open mic talent night. 6pm-8pm.

398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Pan Dulce @ Badlands The Latin & hip hop dance night returns, with DJs Adrian and Krazy Spin. $5. 9pm-2am. 4121 18th St. www.sfbadlands.com

Pussy Party @ Beaux Ladies night at the Castro dance club.

9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Shit Talk @ Oasis Yuri Kagan’s naughty weekly comedy night. 7pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom.

795-3180. www.sfoasis.com

So So Glos @ Rickshaw Stop The punk-pop NYC band performs; The Dirty Nil and Friends W/O Benefits also play. $10-$12. All ages. 8pm. 155 Fell St. www.rickshawstop.com

So You Think You Can Gogo? @ Toad Hall

Play board games and win offbeat prizes at the popular sports bar. 9pm.

2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

The weekly dancing competition for gogo wannabes. 9pm. cash prizes, $2 well drinks (2 for 1 happy hour til 9pm). Show at 9pm. 4146 18th St. www.toadhallbar.com

B.P.M. @ Club BnB, Oakland

Way Back @ Midnight Sun

Olga T and Shugga Shay’s weekly queer women and men’s R&B hip hop and soul night, at the club’s new location. No cover. 8pm-2am. 2120 Broadway, Oakland. www.bench-and-bar.com

Weekly screenings of vintage music videos, and retro drink prices. 9pm2am. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

See page 38 >>

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

36 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 26-June 1, 2016

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Nark Magazine

Pup Amp (left) and Pup Bolt (right) of Watts the Safeword displaying their typical lighthearted approach to presenting kink education.

Watts up? Kink 101, friendly and fun

by Race Bannon

E

ver since I first started hanging out with the likes of Tony DeBlase in the 1980s as he and others were bringing to the forefront serious widespread BDSM education and skills development, most such education has been done pretty much the same ever since. All around the country every week BDSM and various other sex and kink classes are held, and that’s great. I do sometimes believe we have a bit too many of them, but that’s just my perspective and I know many disagree.

However, what I hope people will agree on is that kink education needs to be accessible, easy to understand and, if possible, delivered with a bit of humor. Sometimes the injection of humor and lightheartedness can make learning happen in ways not readily possible if it’s absent.

Enter Watts the Safeword, a relatively new website (www.wattsthesafeword.com) and YouTube channel featuring the vibrant personalities of Pup Amp and Pup Bolt, two young men who have catapulted themselves into the kink limelight through their engaging and popular videos.

To find their channel navigate to it from their website or visit www. youtube.com and search for “Watts the Safeword.” The channel listing should appear at the top along with a listing of their videos that follow. I recommend you consider subscribing to the channel.

Watts the Safeword covers a wide range of kink topics such as the puppy play, fisting, rope bondage techniques, chastity, coming out kinky, and much more. Already their channel is a repository of some of the best and most accessible kink education available today and the list of topics grows weekly.

While the information they present is solid and incredibly helpful, it’s really Amp’s and Bolt’s personalities that are the stars of their videos. Their friendship and kidding around relationship are clearly on display in every video and that’s in part what makes their videos so unique and effective.

Good, solid information coupled with a humorous delivery style is so much more effective to help people learn than cold, dry recitation of facts or instruction. Watts the Safeword should become a go-to

destination suggestion for anyone looking to learn more about this leather and kink scene of ours, and that goes for both newcomer and seasoned player alike. I just learned a great new easy bondage rope technique from one of their videos.

You’re never so experienced that you

can’t learn something new.

On the surface their videos might appear to be just for gay men, but many of their topics apply generally to everyone of any gender or orientation.

Amp and Bolt met online on Grindr, but they never actually

Both images: Nark Magazine

Top: Pup Amp showing the rope with which he explains some bondage techniques. Bottom: Pup Bolt holding condoms as he discusses safer sex approaches for his fellow kinksters.

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Read more online at www.ebar.com

May 26-June 1, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 37

“I think our approach to kink is one that just doesn’t happen often,” they replied. “We come at it from a non-judgmental state of mind. We try to have fun with it no matter the kink or possible stigma that might come along with it. We always want to educate and have fun ‘with’ never have fun ‘at’ anyone’s kink.

“Using something like YouTube Watts the Safeword is a popular YouTube channel with videos about is also very different in that it’s a wide array of kink topics. bringing sex and kink to a more mainstream way of doing things hooked up. They were by their own understand initially. We get comand while some find it scary to description gamers and nerds who ments all the time saying ‘Well, this talk about sex so openly, we like to went to similar conventions in Seatcertainly wasn’t my thing, think it makes it more accessible,” tle. So they eventually just but that was really fun they continued. “We are talking to hit it off and became and interesting to learn those who are just getting access to close friends. about!’” the internet and talking about sex Watts the Safeword This particular style in a way we never had, creating a was created because of kink education resource that we would have died Amp and Bolt have a stands out among the to have growing up kinky and curimutual love of YouTube many other such ofous. And at the end of the day we are and kink. One of their ferings. So I asked Amp just trying to make it fun and funny. major resources for enand Bolt how they feel It’s not the dark and scary dungeon tertainment was binging their approach fits into that many expect when it comes on YouTube videos day the overall leather and kink to kink, but a well-lit colorful chat after day. They noticed there weren’t education realm. where we try to level the playing any real kink-friendly refield and show a kink at its sources from guys their age bare roots, explaining it to and so they created their arrive at common ground first video. The response and with visibility to evand support from that first eryone!” video was so amazingly Amp and Bolt see sex in positive and encouraging our country as still a taboo that they decided to do it subject. They were raised weekly. That was a year ago to fear it, never taught and they’re still at it. that it’s meant to be about I asked Amp and Bolt fun or even pleasure. And what they have learned while they get hate comabout kink education as ments amounting to ‘burn they’ve worked on this in hell fags’ all the time, project. they also receive hundreds “Everyone has a kink,” more comments from peothey said. “From beard ple who had previously felt fetishes to being doubleashamed of themselves for fisted, while every kink has their kinks. different levels of comThey make their videos plexity to them, it doesn’t for those who may believe make any kink more or they’re outcasts or broken lesser. Similarly, we’ve due to what they enjoy. seen from comments and They want their viewers viewers that there is a need to have a place they can Podcasts and videos from Amp and Bolt include and want for kink educa- water sports and coming out kinky. visit that celebrates them tion, even kinks people for who they are and what don’t necessarily enjoy or

Leather Events, May 27 – June 12, 2016 Fri 27 Sober Kink Together @ Castro Country Club Officially a CMA meeting, but open to all Anonymous 12-step Fellowship members, 4058 18th St., 9:30pm. www.castrocountryclub.org

Gear Party @ 442 Natoma Gear play party (leather, rubber, harnesses, etc.) for gay men.

442 Natoma St., $15 (requires $5 membership), 10pm. www.442parties.com

Mon 30 Ride Mondays @ Eros A motorcycle rider and leathermen night at Eros, bring your helmet, AMA card, MC club card or club colors and get $3 off entry or massage. 2051 Market St. www.erossf.com

Fri 3 Exiles Orientation @ The Women’s Building All those wishing to join The Exiles must attend an orientation so we can ensure that all of our members are introduced to basic BDSM safety and concepts like RACK (Risk Aware Consensual Kink). Safety, confidentiality and consensually are required from and offered to all members. 3543 18th St., 7:30pm. www.theexiles.org

Sober Kink Together @ Castro Country Club See Fri 27

Gear Party @ 442 Natoma See Fri 27

Mon 6 Ride Mondays @ Eros See Mon 30

Wed 8 Golden Shower Buddies @ Blow Buddies A men’s water sports night, Golden Shower Buddies, $15 with membership, 933 Harrison St., 8pm. www.blowbuddies.com

Wed 8-12 Boot Camp The 15 Association men’s BDSM outof-town play weekend. See details on site. www.the15association.org

Thu 9 Red Hanky Nite @ Powerhouse Bar night for men into fisting. 1347 Folsom, 7-9pm. www.hellholesf.com

Fri 10 Sober Kink Together @ Castro Country Club See Fri 27

Gear Party @ 442 Natoma See Fri 27

Sat 11 Woof @ SF Eagle Come romp, play and socialize at our monthly pups and Handler mosh event! We’ll have mats out to pup out on and snacks to munch on! 5 mats outside if the weather is clear, 3 inside if it rains. 398 12th St., $3 entrance, $7 for puppy pass, 2-5pm. www.SFK9Unit.org

Brüt @ Beatbox Express your sex-sports, leather, jocks, muscle, chubby, rubber, sleazy, freaky or whatever divulges your confidence as a sexual being at this dance party.

Every headspace has a place at Brüt. 314 11th St., $10 in advance, 10pm-4am. www.brutparty.com

Sun 12 South Bay Bike Ride @ Renegades Bar 16th annual ride through the South Bay and the gorgeous peninsula. At the end point there will be food, drink, raffle prizes, vendors, and sexy kinky people!

Registration at the start point opens at 8:30am and Kick Stands Up is 10am. The ride will arrive at the end point around 1pm. Start: Starbucks, 2370 El Camino Rd., Santa Clara. End: Renegades Bar, 501 W Taylor St., San Jose, CA. 8:30am-5pm. www.renegadesbar.com

they like. They try to make sex less scary because they think everyone deserves to feel empowered about their kinks, bodies and lives.

Kink education has been an endeavor I have put lots of time, effort and money behind over the years.

It’s something near and dear to my heart. So when I see young people like Amp and Bolt create such a unique way to deliver such learning, I must stand up and applaud.

We need to foster and support these sorts of efforts more. This is one of the ways we’ll best deliver information and insights to those kinksters needing it.

Bravo, Watts the Safeword. Well done.t Race Bannon is a local author, blogger and activist.

You can reach him at his website, www.bannon.com.

38 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 26-June 1, 2016

Personals

<< On the Tab

t

The

People>>

Massage>>

PLEASANT MASSAGE

De-stressful session, hot and fun.

22, Latino, uncut, 7”, disease free, HIV-, safe play only. Contact for info 415 574 1977

HOT LOCAL MEN – Browse & Reply FREE! SF - 415-430-1199 East Bay - 510-343-1122 Use FREE Code 2628, 18+

FREE TO LISTEN AND REPLY TO ADS Free Code: Reporter

Models>> BLACK MASCULINE & HANDSOME

MEN TO MEN MASSAGE

Very discreet, hung, also friendly and clean. In/out. Cedric 510-7765945 All types welcome.

I’m a Tall Latin Man in my late 40’s. 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.

415-515-0594 Patrick call or text. See pics on ebar.com

SEXY ASIAN $60 JIM 415-269-5707

FIND REAL GAY MEN NEAR YOU San Francisco:

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”

—Virginia Woolf

Wed 1 So So Glows @ Rickshaw Stop

(415) 430-1199 Oakland:

www.megamates.com 18+

Sex and the City Live @ Oasis

Thump @ White Horse, Oakland

Sing out loud at the weekly least judgmental karaoke in town, hosted by the former owner of the bar. No cover. 9pm. 3152 Mission St. 8292233. www.virgilssf.com

D’Arcy Drollinger and crew perform new episodes of the HBO comedy about four women in Manhattan. $25 and up. 2-drink min.

Thu Sat Thru July 2 (some nights off).

298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Weekly electro music night with DJ Matthew Baker and guests. 9pm2am. 6551 Telegraph Ave, (510) 652-3820. www.whitehorsebar.com

Themed event nights at the fascinating nature museum, with DJed dancing, cocktails, fish, frogs, food and fun. $10-$12. 6pm-10pm, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. 379-8000. www.calacademy.org

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

Queer Karaoke @ Club OMG Dana hosts the weekly singing night; unleash your inner American Idol. 8pm. 43 6th St. clubomgsf.com

On the Tab

From page 34

Wooden Nickel Wednesday @ 440 Buy a drink and get a wooden nickle good for another. 12pm-2am. 440 Castro St. 621-8732. www.the440.com

Thu 2

Bulge @ Powerhouse Grace Towers hosts the racy night with a $100 wet undies bulge contest at midnight. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Gym Class @ Hi Tops Enjoy whiskey shots from jockstrapped hotties at the popular sports bar. 10pm-2am. 2247 Market St. 5512500. www.HiTopsSF.com

To place your Personals ad, Call 415-861-5019 for more info & rates

Nap’s Karaoke @ Virgil’s Sea Room

Nightlife @ California Academy of Sciences

<<

San Jose:

(510) 343-1122 (408) 514-1111

Skate Night @ Church on 8 Wheels Groove on wheels at the former Sacred Heart Church-turned disco roller skate party space, hosted by John D. Miles, the “Godfather of Skate.”

Also Wednesday, Thursday, 7pm-10pm. Saturday afternoon sessions 1pm-2:30pm and 3pm5:30pm. $10. Kids 12 and under $5.

Skate rentals $5.

554 Fillmore St at Fell. www.churchof8wheels.com

Thursday Night Live @ SF Eagle Music night with local and touring bands. 9:30pm. 398 12th St. at Harrison. sf-eagle.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.

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

Montclair Women’s Big Band @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The powerhouse jazz band performs. $30-$50. 8pm. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. www.ticketfly.com

My So-Called Night @ Beaux Carnie Asada hosts a new weekly ‘90s-themed video, dancin’, drinkin’ night, with VJs Jorge Terez. Get down with your funky bunch, and enjoy 90cent drinks. ‘90s-themed attire and costume contest. No cover. 9pm-2am.

2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Wed 1 Digitalism @ SF Independent

t

Read more online at www.ebar.com

Shooting Stars

May 26-June 1, 2016 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 39

photos by steven underhill Young Actors’ Theatre Camp gala @ Chez Poulet

A

festive fundraiser gala for Young Actors’ Theatre Camp, the unique musical theatre and film workshop series for kids 8 to 18, included some masked patrons both young and older, tasty food and drinks, and video tributes.

Hosts and Camp cofounders Shawn Ryan and his partner John Ainsworth shared their sincere and witty banter, and introduced special performances by Broadway star Alysha Umphress (On the Town) and local vocal powerhouse Jason Brock. www.campyatc.com More event photo albums are on BARtab’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/lgbtsf.nightlife. See more of Steven Underhill’s photos at www.StevenUnderhill.com.

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For headshots, portraits or to arrange your wedding photos

call (415) 370-7152 or visit www.StevenUnderhill.com or email stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com

STDs are on the rise.

1 out of 22

gay/bisexual men test positive for gonorrhea Consistent and correct use of condoms reduces your risk of getting STDs.

We provide free condoms.

City Clinic - 356 7th Street, SF, CA 94103 1(415) 487-5500 sfcityclinic.org

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