May 29 2014 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Bay Area Reporter

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Vol. 44 • No. 22 • May 29-June 4, 2014

PrEP talk Airbnb joins Pride as sponsor draws a A crowd by Seth Hemmelgarn

by Liz Highleyman

ore than 100 people packed the Eureka Valley Recreation Center for the latest San Francisco AIDS Foundation Real Talk forum on antiretroviral treatment as prevention and pre-exposure prophylaxis – or PrEP – for HIV. The forum asked whether being HIVpositive with an undetectable viral load is the “new negative.” To make informed decisions about risk today, it is not enough to simply know whether someone is positive or negative – or thinks he is – but also what he is doing in terms of treatment or biomedical prevention. “We have to think about what it means to have sex today – in 2014, not in 1992,” urged moderator David Evans of Project Inform. “I remember those very dark years, but we’re not there anymore. New research has given people more options.” A diverse range of prevention options is more important than ever, according to an See page 16 >>

irbnb, the Internet-based lodging sharing company whose name is often associated with San Francisco’s eviction controversy, has joined the city’s LGBT Pride parade and celebration as a major sponsor. George Ridgely, executive director of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, the group that organizes the event, said Airbnb has contributed $100,000. So far, response from the LGBT community has been muted. “Honestly, we haven’t gotten much feedback here in the office, but when the announcement was made, there were a lot of people who were excited about it,” said Ridgely. One of this year’s grand marshals has criticized the move, though. “Airbnb is problematic,” said longtime housing advocate and queer activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca. “I think the biggest problem with [Airbnb] is landlords are using it in order to make a lot of money. They’re emptying a lot of apartments” and instead of renting to regular tenants, “they’re renting by night or by week” and “taking apartments off the market” that are “desperately” needed. “I understand that Pride needs money,”

Milk stamp a hit in Castro by David-Elijah Nahmod

he new Harvey Milk postage stamp was so popular locally that it sold out at the Castro Post Office on its first day last week. A U.S. Postal Service spokesman had told local media outlets the morning of May 22 –

Harvey Milk Day in California – that the Castro Post Office had about 4,500 sheets of the 49-cent forever stamps. But by the time of a late afternoon gathering at Harvey Milk Plaza, where local officials handed out some 200 canceled stamps, the post office had sold out, a stamp enthusiast told the crowd. See page 18 >>

Rick Gerharter

Airbnb, which is headquartered in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, is a major sponsor of this year’s Pride parade and festival.

said Avicolli Mecca, but “I think they need to restructure and find a way to not be dependent on all this corporate money.” He added, “With the housing crisis being what it is, I don’t understand. I think it’s a bad move” and “sends the wrong message.” Asked how much Airbnb could be faulted for the evictions, Avicolli Mecca said, “The

B.A.R. election endorsements CALIFORNIA PRIMARY

Governor: Jerry Brown Lt. Governor: Gavin Newsom Attorney General: Kamala Harris Secretary of State: Alex Padilla Treasurer: John Chiang Controller: Betty Yee Insurance Commissioner: Dave Jones Superintendent of Public Instruction: Tom Torlakson Board of Equalization (District 2): Fiona Ma State Assembly (San Francisco) Dist. 17: David Chiu Dist. 19: Phil Ting State Assembly (Bay Area) Dist. 15: Elizabeth Echols Dist. 18: Rob Bonta Dist. 24: Rich Gordon Dist. 28: Evan Low

Rick Gerharter

Supervisor Scott Wiener, left, and Tom Crites, right, from the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District, unveiled the new Harvey Milk postage stamp during a short ceremony in the Castro on Harvey Milk Day, May 22. The official unveiling took place in Washington, D.C.

company has to be living in a cave somewhere not to know what’s going on in San Francisco.” Criticism of Pride sponsors has become routine over the years. The organization’s teaming with alcohol and technology comSee page 15 >>

Congress (Bay Area) Dist. 2: Jared Huffman Dist. 3: John Garamendi Dist. 5: Mike Thompson Dist. 10: Michael Eggman

Dist. 11: Mark DeSaulnier Dist. 12: Nancy Pelosi Dist. 13: Barbara Lee Dist. 14: Jackie Speier Dist. 15: Eric Swalwell Dist. 17: Mike Honda Dist. 18: Anna Eshoo Dist. 19: Zoe Lofgren Judges SF Superior Court Office 20: Daniel Flores Other races Alameda County Bd. of Ed. Area 1: Joaquin Rivera SAN FRANCISCO PROPS Prop A YES Prop B NO CALIFORNIA PROPOSITIONS Prop 41: YES Prop 42: YES

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<< Community News

2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 29-June 4, 2014

SF group designates day for long-term AIDS survivors by Matthew S. Bajko

San Francisco-based group has designated a special day to recognize long-term AIDS survivors that it hopes will become a yearly event. The inaugural National HIV/ AIDS Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day will take place June 5. Its theme is “We’re Still Here” in recognition of those, both HIV-positive and HIV-negative, who survived through the trauma of the early days of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s. The lead sponsor and organizer of the day is the group Let’s Kick ASS, which stands for AIDS Survivor Syndrome. Formed last year, the grassroots organization has held a number of forums and events to bring long-term AIDS survivors together and to advocate for their needs. “The reason Let’s Kick ASS was founded was to raise awareness about long-term survivors. This day is one more step in that evolution and one more effort to get it on the agenda,” explained Tez Anderson, 55, a co-founder and leader of the group who has lived with HIV for three decades. The date for the observance coincides with the anniversary of the first published report of what became known as AIDS in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report issued June 5, 1981. “Really brilliantly Tez decided that would be the day we used to make this a long-term survivor awareness day,” said Matt Sharp, 56, who helped launch Let’s Kick Ass and has been living with HIV for more than 26 years. “This was a goal we had early on. It really started around World AIDS Day on December 1.”

The day for longtime AIDS survivors is modeled after annual commemorations such as World AIDS Day and similar national days of awareness like National Black HIV/ AIDS Awareness Day (February 7); HIV Vaccine Awareness Day (May 18); and National HIV Testing Day (June 27). According to the website AIDS.gov, there are currently 13 officially recognized special days related to HIV and AIDS. Let’s Kick ASS leaders hope to see the long-time AIDS survivors day added to the list. Anderson said he contacted the administrators of the AIDS.gov website and was told he could request official recognition once the first observance of the special day occurs. “It was a little disappointing, but the federal government doesn’t operate very quickly,” said Anderson. “Next year will be an official day. We are already planning for 2015.” The 2014 observance will kick off at 10:30 a.m. at the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park with a heart circle and tree planting to recall and honor those lost to AIDS. Afterward, beginning at 1 p.m., will be an AIDS Survivor Summit at the LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street. It will feature three panels covering various topics, such as the challenges long-term survivors face, what types of services they require, and how to plan for future needs. The organizers also plan to present a Long-Term Survivors Declaration modeled after the Denver Principles, a document drafted by people living with AIDS who were attending the 1983 National Lesbian/Gay Health Conference and AIDS Forum and felt their voices were not being heard. “Really, our focus is the future,” said Sharp. “We want to bring peo-

ple together to mobilize around what are we going to do now. Now that we have our lives how are we going to go forward? What help do we need and what is our strategy for survival?” The event at the LGBT center will also feature an expo with tables staffed by various AIDS agencies in San Francisco. The day ends with a pre-Pride party from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.

AIDS survivors has already captured the attention of San Francisco officials. Gay District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener has asked the city’s budget and legislative analyst to study what happens when people living with HIV who have been receiving long-term private disability insurance that they got through their employer age out of such coverage in their early 60s and transition over to Social Security.

Rick Gerharter

Let’s Kick ASS co-founder Tez Anderson

For more information about the longtime AIDS survivor day events, see this week’s Guest Opinion on page 6 or visit http://aidssurvivorssummit.org/.

SF budget analyst to study longtime survivors

One issue confronting longtime

“There is a looming challenge where quite a few longtime HIV survivors went onto disability in the 1980s or 1990s. They are now approaching the age – typically 62 or 65 – where the disability policy will end and they will be transitioned to Social Security,” said Wiener. “This will often represent

a significant income drop, which could make it hard or impossible for them to continue to afford their housing.” While Wiener acknowledged, “this is a unique and concentrated issue that will begin and ultimately tail off,” nonetheless he noted that “for this specific population, and for our community, it’s a big deal and we need to get our heads around it.” The issue was addressed at a recent forum Let’s Kick ASS held about “the disability trap,” said Anderson. “This is a substantial drop in their income that is going to throw a lot of people into crises. This is something we would never have seen coming because a lot of people thought they would never survive.” But due to the introduction of protease inhibitors in the mid1990s, AIDS quickly went from being a death sentence to now seen as a “manageable disease.” The result has been an entire generation of people living with HIV or AIDS unprepared for aging into their senior years. “It is a real big sea change. Not only are we living longer, but we have to deal with the ramifications of living longer,” noted Anderson. “I know several friends who are in that situation who are starting to get panicky about turning 60 and are saying ‘Oh, my god! I don’t know what I am going to do when my income drops.’ What we need are creative solutions. But we have a lot of smart people in this town to come up with answers.” Before the city can devise a response, said Wiener, it needs to know the scope of the problem. He hopes to have the budget analyst’s report later this summer. “Right now we know there is a problem,” said Wiener, “but it has never been comprehensively quantified.”t

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<< Community News

4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 29-June 4, 2014

SF sex worker clinic marks 15 years by Seth Hemmelgarn

San Francisco nonprofit that provides HIV testing, food, and other assistance to sex workers is marking its 15th anniversary as people in the industry – many of whom are LGBT – continue to face stigma, financial insecurity, and other challenges. St. James Infirmary, which claims to be “the only peer-led and participant-driven sex worker clinic in the United States,” will hold its anniversary party Thursday, June 5 at Temple nightclub. Since 1999, St. James has offered free services including primary medical care, sexually transmitted infection testing, transgender hormone care, hepatitis vaccines, counseling, food, clothing, and syringe exchange to current and former sex workers. For many people, the clinic “might be the only place in the world they’re out as a sex worker or feel comfortable and free from judgment,” said Executive Director Stephany Ashley, 28. The nonprofit is housed in a nondescript gray building at 1372 Mission Street in the South of Market neighborhood. There’s no sign on

the mirrored front door or anything Williams had heard about St. and she’s been “afraid to be really else informing passersby what goes James, and she went there to get honest about my sexual history,” on at the address. tested for STDs. When she got there, and scared that “I will get poor ser“We like folks to have some privashe was asked if she wanted peer vice from that person because of cy,” said Ashley. Otherwise, a person counseling, and she said, “Sure.” their own prejudices.” “could potentially be outing yourThe counselor she spoke with St. James continues striving to self by walking through the door.” “was another sex worker, so I felt make clients comfortable. On a recent Thursday morning, comfortable telling that person “We try to keep all our services as one woman dropped by asking about what had happened,” said Williams, peer-based as possible,” said Ashley. services, and Ashley, who provided who works as a prostitute. One example can be seen with the the woman with some information At St. James, “I got exactly the Stride hormone therapy program, on what St. James offers, said the kind of supportive counseling I which is led by transgender people. agency gets such visitors “a lot.” needed,” she said. The nonprofit’s space includes People often seek help at the several offices that double as clinic because of what’s hapcounseling rooms, a lab, and a pened when they’ve gone to community room known for its other places for assistance. popular “dinner and a movie” “A lot of our community nights on Wednesdays. members have had very negative, A banner hanging on one of shame-based experiences with the room’s walls makes clear St. service providers,” said Ashley. James’s support of sex workers. Shannon Williams, who’s 48 “Outlaw poverty, not prostiand lives in Oakland, has been a tution,” the sign says. sex worker for 20 years. The nonprofit’s clients range Williams said she first went from porn performers making Rick Gerharter to St. James around 2002 after a “fantastic salaries” to people St. James Infirmary’s Executive Director police officer raped her. who are “exchanging sex for Stephany Ashley, left, helps set up the She didn’t report the incident needle exchange program with Dee Michel. food or shelter,” said Ashley. to officials, and said she didn’t St. James, which has a budeven want to tell friends because get of approximately $427,000, “I felt like there was a good chance Williams, who eventually volunhas more than 3,500 unduplicated my friends were going to pressure teered at St. James as a peer counparticipants who receive in-clinic me to go to the police or quit my selor for about four years, said she’s health care services. work and say it was too dangerous.” gone to other places for health care Additionally, the organiza-

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tion’s made about 30,000 contacts through its outreach program. The organization provides testing and counseling in locations ranging from the Nob Hill Theatre strip club to the San Francisco LGBT Community Center’s youth meal night. According to Ashley, “68 percent of our community members self identify as somewhere on the LGBTQQI spectrum.” Almost onethird of people in the community identify their gender “as transgender or gender non-conforming.” While Williams and others engaged in sex work have expressed satisfaction with their career, many clients have faced increasing hardships. Ashley said that as the Bay Area “gets less affordable,” and fewer jobs are available, “people who may have been retired sex workers are returning to work,” and other people are doing sex work to supplement their incomes. Like its clients and any number of other nonprofits, St. James faces challenges of its own. The agency lost $70,000 in Title X funding last year, which is federal family planning funding that could be used for HIV testing and treatment, birth control, and other needs. Ashley’s been looking for ways to fill in the gap. Other funding sources include the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and private foundations and corporations.

Workers’ rights

Ashley, whose salary is $70,000 and who identifies as queer, was once a dancer at the Lusty Lady. She said she had “a largely positive experience in the sex industry.” Sex workers have lacked the ability to organize and gain access to better working conditions, she said. According to the website of the now-shuttered Lusty Lady, it was “the world’s only unionized, worker-owned peep show co-op.” Ashley, a former legislative aide to gay San Francisco Supervisor David Campos, first worked with St. James as the agency’s harm reduction coordinator after she met former Executive Director Naomi Akers. Ashley became the agency’s new head late last year. Akers is now a board member. Since St. James started “the political landscape around sex worker rights has changed dramatically,” said Ashley, with sex worker rights being recognized by groups like the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. However, “San Francisco is jumping all over the place” on the issue of sex work, she said. Positive developments have included District Attorney George Gascón joining Police Chief Greg Suhr in 2013 in agreeing to no longer use condoms as evidence of prostitution. But Ashley finds troublesome the targeting of sex workers’ clients in San Francisco and other places in an effort to “end the demand for prostitution.” Among other problems, said Ashley, is that from what advocates have seen, it “tends to be the nonviolent, non-problematic clients” who are arrested. Tickets for the St. James anniversary party, which will include DJs, go-go dancers, and porn stars, are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. VIP admission is $40 presale or $50 at the door. The June 5 party is from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. at 540 Howard Street. All funds raised through the event will go toward health and social services for current and former sex workers and their partners. For more information visit www. stjamesinfirmary.org. For more on the party, see this week’s BARtab.t

Community News>>

May 29-June 4, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 5

Film aims to shed stigma around HIV by Gregory Pleshaw

n January 8, 2004, cyclist Parker Trewin’s life changed forever. That was the day Trewin discovered he was HIV-positive. “There’s a misconception within the community that there’s no longer a stigma around being positive,” said Trewin. “When people tell me that, I have to remind them that they believe this is the case only because they’re negative. They’re not aware of the issues that positive means to a person who is positive.” A fit and trim 54-year-old who spends four hours a day on a exercycle, Trewin spoke in front of a crowd that recently gathered at Magnet, the gay men’s health center in the Castro, to see the premiere of a documentary that Trewin spearheaded called My Status is Not a Secret. The film evolved out of a fundraising effort that Trewin began last year when he decided to participate in this year’s AIDS/LifeCycle event, a 545-mile bicycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles that raises money for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the LA Gay and Lesbian Center. “I had participated in the event in previous years, but this year I really wanted to go all out with my fundraising efforts,” he said. “I decided I would aim to raise $1,000 for every year of my life, for a total of $54,000. In the course of fundraising, I approached my friend Jason Lankow and asked him for $1,000 – but he decided he wanted to offer something a little more generous.” Lankow is the owner of Column Five, a marketing communications, info-graphics, web and video production firm in the city. What he offered was a remarkable gift – 200 hours of his company’s time, an amount that “far exceeded

my request,” said Trewin. Through a series of discussions about what could be done with that time, both a website and a movie – My Status is Not a Secret – were developed to raise awareness about the particular challenges that HIV-positive people still face. Nine participants were flown to Los Angeles for a weekend and asked to share their stories of being HIV-positive. Faces appear and speak from a variety of different races, classes, and genders – as well as the circumstances regarding the subject’s acquisition of the virus. The result is a haunting reminder that an illness that many think of as “manageable” is only manageable with a great deal of heartache – and courage. The audience at Magnet for the May 10 viewing was mostly comprised of the filmmakers, the participants in the film, and their friends. Among those in attendance was Steve Gibson, the executive director of Magnet, which through 11 years has operated as a gay men’s sexual health center, with over 15,000 clinical visits in the previous year, many of which relate to HIV. Magnet is now part of the AIDS foundation. “My Status is Not a Secret highlights the issues that many in our community are not aware of, simply because they aren’t directly confronted with the issue of a positive status,” said Gibson. Magnet counselor and concierge Matt Beard, 45, discovered that he was positive in 2000. He said that in some circles, it’s still common for people to speak pejoratively about HIV, asking questions like, “Are you clean or dirty?” in assessing status. But he feels that while there’s a lot less stigma to being HIV-positive than there used to be, he also thinks that it all depends on what ZIP code

you happen to be living in. “Here in San Francisco, it’s less shameful than perhaps it would be elsewhere,” he said. “I have to be upfront about my status with anyone I play with, and I do get nervous when I’m outside the Bay Area.” Beard is long past the stages of discovery and disclosure to family and friends, but he admits that the issue of managing the illness isn’t easy for anyone. “Managing HIV is a bit like having a monkey on your back,” said Beard. “I have to get checked every three months by a doctor, and I have to take care of myself and worry more than other people about ailments like a cold or a flu.” Actor Tye Olson was one of those at the screening. Olson, 26, was already in the midst of an impressive film career when he learned at the age of 21 that he had contracted HIV. “I felt so disconnected from the rest of humanity when I discovered I was positive,” said Olson, who appeared in the film. “My world was turned upside down. I was already out as a gay man, but I felt like this would be the end of my career.” Olson left Los Angeles and came to San Francisco, where he got in touch with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “AHF totally swept me up and gave me case management and a sense that I wouldn’t have to do it alone,” he said. “I knew I wanted to give back in some way and that’s how I came to find the AIDS/LifeCycle.” Participating on an AIDS/LifeCycle team dubbed “the Misfits” with Trewin for two consecutive years, Olson was a first choice to appear in the film, and he graciously accepted. Broken up into distinct sections T:9.75” that include discovery, disclosure,

Gregory Pleshaw

Filmmaker Parker Trewin

and management of the virus, the film is not an easy experience. As one participant mused, the notion that HIV is “manageable” presumes many things, including access to health care and the ability to tolerate the medications. Still, as another subject noted, the arrival of protease inhibitors in the mid-1990s changed many lives, as both he and many others were completely intolerant of AZT and similar experimental drugs that are no longer on the scene. “Many of the women that I talk to that have HIV do not tell their families,” Tina Henderson, Ph.D., an African American woman, said in the film. “I always encourage them

to find at least one person in their family that they could tell because if they could have that one person in their corner, the support would be invaluable. But many do not, because the stigma is so great in our community that they carry the very real fear that disclosure would lead them to be discarded.” In addition to Trewin, Olson, and Henderson, the other people featured in the film include Tim Matheson, Gabriel Rocha-Zendejas, Charlie Wellborn, Marissa Smith, Michael Eisman, and Namir Nasir.t My Status is Not a Secret can be found online at http://www.mystatusisnotasecret.com.

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<< Open Forum

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 29-June 4, 2014

Volume 44, Number 22 May 29-June 4, 2014 www.ebar.com PUBLISHER Michael M. Yamashita Thomas E. Horn, Publisher Emeritus (2013) Publisher (2003 – 2013) Bob Ross, Founder (1971 – 2003) NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird ARTS EDITOR Roberto Friedman ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko Seth Hemmelgarn Jim Provenzano CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dan Aiello • Tavo Amador Erin Blackwell • Roger Brigham Brian Bromberger • Victoria A. Brownworth Philip Campbell • Heather Cassell Chuck Colbert • Richard Dodds David Guarino • Peter Hernandez Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell • John F. Karr Lisa Keen • Matthew Kennedy • David Lamble Michael McAllister • Michael McDonagh David-Elijah Nahmod • Elliot Owen Paul Parish • Sean Piverger • Lois Pearlman Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota • Gregory Pleshaw Bob Roehr • Donna Sachet • Adam Sandel Khaled Sayed • Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro • Gwendolyn Smith • Jim Stewart Ed Walsh • Sura Wood ART DIRECTION Jay Cribas PRODUCTION/DESIGN Max Leger PHOTOGRAPHERS Jane Philomen Cleland Rick Gerharter • Lydia Gonzales Rudy K. Lawidjaja • Steven Underhill Bill Wilson ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS Paul Berge Christine Smith ADVERTISING/ADMINISTRATION Colleen Small VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVERTISING Scott Wazlowski – 415.359.2612 NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863

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Honda should be re-elected

ongressman Mike Honda, who has ably represented parts of the South Bay for many years, finds himself in a similar situation to Pete Stark, the former longtime East Bay representative who was defeated in his re-election bid two years ago. But Honda is no Stark; he is neither out of touch with his district nor does he make weird comments about reporters and others like Stark did. Yet here we are again with another intraparty fight between Honda and his upstart Democratic challenger, technology lawyer Ro Khanna. This time, the choice for our readers in the 17th Congressional District is clear – we recommend Honda for another term. Since arriving in Congress in 2001, Honda has been an ally to the LGBT community. He joined with fellow Democrats to introduce the Uniting American Families Act back in 2011. The law was needed at the time because the federal Defense of Marriage Act precluded binational same-sex couples from residing here legally – a U.S. citizen could not sponsor his/ her foreign-born partner for a green card, something that opposite-sex couples could. With last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a key provision of DOMA, same-sex Mike Honda binational couples can apply for residency with immigration officials. Honda was there when we needed support for the bill, which ultimately was not adopted. Honda supports the inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a bill that is stalled in the House. When we met with Honda at the end of last year, he held out hope that Republican House Speaker John Boehner would schedule a vote this spring. His thinking was that if GOP House colleagues weren’t fac-

ing challenges from tea party members, the speaker would call a vote. This, however, has not happened and it looks like a House vote on ENDA is unlikely this year. Comprehensive immigration reform is another issue that Republicans would vote on if they were smart; but they are obsessed with Benghazi and Obamacare, to the consternation of Democratic Eric Swalwell lawmakers and many Americans. Khanna’s campaign has focused mostly on criticizing the fact that Honda doesn’t actually live in the district since its borders were changed under redistricting, and his own close ties to tech leaders. But as we’ve seen in the recent dustup involving Mozilla, tech leaders don’t always act in the interest of the LGBT community – or the greater community for that matter. There are constant concerns about tech companies sharing users’ personal information with the government. Regarding Honda’s residence, members of Congress aren’t required to live in their districts and there are several recent examples of California representatives who have not. We’d argue that Honda continues to represent his constituents effectively. The Bay Area Municipal Elections Committee, an LGBT-focused South Bay political action group that has been active for 30 years, has endorsed Honda. Honda has done a good job in Congress and another candidate’s ambition is not reason enough to vote him out of office. Vote for Honda.

Eric Swalwell, District 15

There’s a similar situation in the 15th Congressional District, which includes the cities of Fremont, Hayward, Castro Valley, Livermore, Dublin, and San Ramon. Two years ago Eric Swalwell challenged the aforementioned Stark and won. Since then, the freshman lawmaker has turned out to be a good fit for the district. He supports marriage equality. He’s spoken out for global LGBT rights. Last year he joined with gay Congressman David Cicilline (D-Rhode Island) and New York Congressman Joe Crowley (D) to send a bipartisan letter to the Ukrainian Parliament expressing concern with proposed anti-LGBT laws that would curtail freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. Swalwell has been a leader on non-LGBT issues as well, including jobs, public safety and homeland security, and gun violence prevention. Recently, after a teenager accessed the tarmac at Mineta San Jose International Airport and climbed inside the wheel-well of an airplane, Swalwell was among the first elected leaders to call for a pilot study of new airport security technology. In short, he gets it. He is active, engaged, and has the support of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and many others. His main opponent is state Senator Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro), who has been an advocate for the LGBT community and an effective state legislator. The problem with intraparty political fights is that they often pit two good people against each other. Generally there should be a compelling reason to vote against an incumbent. We don’t see such a reason in this race and endorse Swalwell for another term. See page 13 >>

We’re still here by Matt Sharp

une 5 marks the first National HIV/AIDS Long-Term Survivor Awareness Day. The day is one that has historical significance in San Francisco, but also globally, because it was the same day in 1981 that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the very first cases of a new and devastating disease we now know as AIDS. As a long-term survivor, living with AIDS now for over 26 years, there is not a day that goes by that I do not remember those dark years, all the desperation and tragic loss. For the past 33 years it has been a long road for us survivors, both HIV-positive and -negative, where there is much trauma that has not been addressed for a variety of reasons. We believe this has led to a series of psychological symptoms we call AIDS survivor syndrome, a.k.a. ASS, such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and even suicide. Last year a few us met in local coffee shops to discuss this AIDS survival paradox: the fact that while there are many of us who have survived AIDS to grow into our senior years, there is a great deal of suffering going on. We recognized the stark reality that not only was not much known about this phenomenon, but also nothing was being done. We were left wondering if so-called AIDS Inc. had dropped the ball focusing now on an “AIDS-free generation” instead of the forgotten warriors, now in great need of help. We feared the Denver Principles declaration from the early years of the epidemic had gathered dust on the top shelves in many of our AIDS organizations. Whatever the reasons, we knew something was broken and needed to be fixed. As usual we stepped in to take care of our own. In September last year Let’s Kick ASS held its first town hall meeting at the LGBT Community Center, and the second I walked into the Rainbow Room on the second floor it felt like class reunion. There was an electrifying energy in the room as the meeting commenced that reminded me of an early ACT UP meeting, minus the anger. There was joy

in seeing people we hadn’t seen in years, perhaps because of isolation or the vacancy of an AIDS community. But as the evening went on that community appeared to be born again and everyone seemed energized to address the variety of AIDS long-term survivor needs we knew were not being met. We heard that survivors needed to open up and talk about the dark days, but more importantly to begin to plan and strategize about reclaiming our lives, ending the isolation and planning for our future. Since that night a coordinating committee formed, developed a mission statement, continued with themed town hall meetings, and held a variety of opportunities for longterm survivors to meet and be together. Social media interest in Let’s Kick ASS and long-term survival issues started to explode. Passionate emails and comments were flooding in from all over the world recognizing the very same survival issues we had begun to see in San Francisco. Tez Anderson, a co-founder of LKA, was passionate about the creation of “a day to call our own” that would have the impact of focusing around the fact that dammit, we’re still here! June 5 was selected as the day that would become our own National HIV/AIDS LongTerm Survival Awareness Day. In San Francisco, Let’s Kick ASS is sponsoring this day of activities tailored to honor the experience and losses of long-term survivors and work toward a productive future. The day will start at 11 a.m. with a heart circle meditation and tree planting at the National AIDS Memorial Grove followed by an AIDS Survivor Summit at the LGBT center from 1 to 9 p.m. The summit will involve a series of three talk show format town hall forums that will address challenges and solutions, the importance of meaning and purpose in the lives of long-term survivors, and mobilization and empowerment, the key to our future. Several community leaders are expected to lead and participate in discussions with the audience.

In conjunction with the summit, the Expo will involve several local AIDS organizations that now provide services to long-term survivors at staffed information tables. And finally, how can any San Francisco event be complete without a party? A pre-pride reception for long-term survivors and anyone that wants to attend will be held from 7:30 to 9 p.m. All events are free and anyone can join in any or all of the day’s activities. Other jurisdictions across the country are planning separate events tailored to their own communities to honor survivors. Hoping that another national “Day” event won’t be forgotten after it’s all over, Let’s Kick ASS will continue mobilizing and strategizing around long-term survivors issues. A continuing San Francisco coordinating team will be busy planning more events including town hall forums, social events, and retreats. Importantly, an advocacy agenda that begins with re-awakened principles will seek to address the issues of AIDS survivors today. Let’s Kick ASS is grassroots. We don’t consider our work to be service provision, but mobilization and connection. We need energy and we need resources to continue on. Any long-term AIDS survivor, including HIV-negative survivors, are invited to attend activities on June 5, but also in any future planning that will help to bring survivors out of isolation, fear, and distress, living into a future we never dreamed possible. For more information about the awareness day and Let’s Kick ASS visit http:// www.LetsKickASS.org or join our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ AIDSSurvivorSyndrome.t Matt Sharp is a long-term AIDS survivor, living with AIDS 26 years, and co-founder of Let’s Kick ASS. He is also a nationally known and respected AIDS treatment activist, now focusing on research for a cure.

Letters >>

May 29-June 4, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

Open primary

Let me thank the Bay Area Reporter for linking its election endorsements to “California Primary” not merely to Democrats. Because California’s June elections are open to all registered voters – not just members of the shrinking political parties – all of our LGBTQI sisters should vote. So-called nonpartisan voters are a rapidly growing population. Although many nonpartisans are moderates, individuals vary widely. Full disclosure: The undersigned nonpartisan is officially subversive, as an ex-member of the anarchistic Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies).

Write-in for 17th AD race

Caught between the endorsements of LGBT political clubs, viz. Alice B. and Harvey Milk, skeptical of good guy candidates with the same first name depicted on glossy mailers, tired of having to travel to Berkeley or San Jose to claim your right to privacy and the security of your property in a lockable bathhouse cubicle, had enough of neo-Prohibitionist smoking laws, not freaked out by tobacco or cannabis smoke (whether first- or second-hand)? Are you maybe even driven to thoughts of suicide by current economic realities? I have a remedy or at least a gesture toward one. Remember San Francisco in the 1970s, remember Harvey Milk, remember to vote. Bring back a renaissance by writing-in “Michelangelo’s David” for the 17th Assembly District.

Tortuga Bi Liberty San Francisco

Reid Condit San Francisco

Santa Cruz marks 40th pride parade Sunday compiled by Cynthia Laird

he 40th annual Santa Cruz Pride parade and festival will take place Sunday, June 1. This year’s theme is “Celebrating 40 Years of Trailblazers.” It is expected that thousands of people from all over the Bay Area will attend. Produced by the Diversity Center, Santa Cruz Pride is the third oldest Pride parade and festival celebrated in California and is the largest free LGBTQ gathering on the Central Coast. The parade starts at 11 a.m. Sunday at the corner of Cathcart and Pacific. Merriment continues immediately following the parade with the Pride festival on Pacific Avenue. There will be a stage show, DJ dance area, merchant and information booths, a Pride history exhibit, children’s play area, and food and beverages for sale. The Diversity Center has been producing Santa Cruz Pride for the last 25 years and will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year as a nonprofit. For more information on Santa Cruz Pride and related activities, visit www.diversitycenter.org.

1220 Pine Street in Walnut Creek. There is no charge to attend the Pride festival, although gate donations are greatly appreciated. For more information, visit www.rainbowcc.org.

Peninsula MCC celebrates ninth anniversary

Peninsula Metropolitan Community Church will celebrate its ninth anniversary with a dinner and dance party Saturday, May 31 from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. at the Beresford Community Center, 2720 Alameda De Las Pulgas, in San Mateo. A no-host cocktail reception will be held at 5:30, followed by a dinner program. The dance party starts at 8. Raffle tickets will be available and prizes will be awarded throughout the evening. Peninsula MCC, originally known as the New Church, held its first service on Easter Sunday in 2005. It has an average attendance of 50 and growing, and a justice ministry to LGBTQ people and their friends. “Every year we have a great time,” the Reverend Teri Echelbarger, senior pastor, said, referring to previous anniversary celebrations. “This year’s theme is 1950s style. Truly it’s ‘Happy Days’ for us with all we’ve accomplished with marriage equality and federal civil rights.” Echelbarger added that the church has been active locally, working with high school gay-straight alliances and networking with other emerging community groups. Organizers said that while some people will enjoy wearing 1950s garb, attire is casual with a relaxed atmosphere. Tickets for the dinner and dance are $60; tickets for the dance party only are $20. For more information, visit www.peninsulamcc.org.

Forum on LGBTQ vets and the military

In addition to this weekend’s Sonoma Pride festivities, which start Friday, May 30 and culminate with the Sunday parade, the area’s LGBT retirement community will get into the Pride spirit. Fountaingrove Lodge in Santa Rosa will kick off Pride Month by hosting a rainbow flag ceremony June 1, followed by a champagne breakfast. Local elected officials will join the community’ owners, staff, and residents to honor the efforts made to build equality and end discrimination and violence toward the LGBT community. Meanwhile, Sonoma Pride organizers said they are ready for this year’s parade, which steps off in Guerneville June 1 at 11 a.m. at the western end of Main Street. Other activities are also planned throughout the weekend. For more information, visit www.sonomacountypride.org. For more information about Fountaingrove Lodge, visit www.fountaingrovelodge.com.

The San Francisco Public Library is kicking off Pride Month with a forum, “LGBTQ Veterans and the Military” Thursday, June 5 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Koret Auditorium, 100 Larkin Street. The forum, which is free and open to the public, is part of Cal Humanities’ statewide initiative, War Comes Home. The panel discussion, which will be moderated by Elizabeth Hillman of UC Hastings Law School, includes retired Navy commander Zoe Dunning, who successfully challenged the military’s former “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy; Aaron Belkin, founder of the Palm Center; and Major Jeffrey Mueller, co-chair of the board of OutServe Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. War Comes Home is a statewide conversation about veterans returning to California. Questions the panel will discuss include how returning soldiers will come back into their communities; and how people can build bridges of understanding between those who have served and those who have not. Cal Humanities is planning more than 800 lectures, forums, film screenings, discussion groups, and exhibits in an effort to have residents throughout the state consider these questions and more. The program is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Bay Tree Fund, the Whitman Institute, and the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Contra Costa Pride festival

Estate planning post DOMA decision

Rick Gerharter

The Dykes on Bikes are ready to roll at the 20th anniversary of the Santa Cruz Pride parade, June 4, 1994.

More North Bay Pride

In yet more Pride news, the Rainbow Community Center of Contra Costa County will present its seventh annual celebration, Pride on the Plaza, Sunday, June 8 from 1 to 5 p.m. at Todos Santos Plaza, 2151 Salvio Street in downtown Concord. The afternoon festival will feature entertainment by Honey Mahogany of Ru Paul’s Drag Race, Stephanie Nicole le Dream, the East Bay Gay Men’s Chorus, Cheer San Francisco, and much more. A pink party after-event will be held at Club 1220,

Add San Francisco’s major performing arts groups to the list of organizations holding seminars on the new landscape for estate planning for same-sex couples. The San Francisco Ballet, San Francisco Symphony, and San Francisco Opera will hold a meeting on the topic Thursday, June 5 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Chris Hellman Center for Dance, 455 Franklin Street. See page 18 >>

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<< Politics

t June primary features several LGBT candidates 8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 29-June 4, 2014

by Matthew S. Bajko

his public profile across the state. The spot highlights his leadership he June primary in California as speaker in helping to address the next week features a number of state’s $60 billion deficit and passing LGBT candidates running in local balanced budgets on time. races around the state in addition to The commercial is an answer to those seeking legislative, statewide, those who have questioned if he has or federal office. the experience needed to lead the One of the more high-profile controller’s office. That line of atcontests voters will weigh in on tack has been a key argument made Tuesday, June 3 is that for state conby Yee’s campaign, which has retroller in which gay Assemblyman peatedly played up her own experiJohn A. Perez (D-Los Angeles), ence with the state’s finances. who recently stepped down from “I have a lot of respect for the the powerful Assembly speaker. He has brought speaker post, is locked in tremendous stability to a heated, three-person the Legislature,” Yee told race. Under the state’s the Bay Area Reporter primary rules the top during a recent editotwo vote-getters regardrial board meeting. But less of party affiliation his skill set, she said, “is will advance to the genjust not suitable for this eral election in Novemoffice. I wish he would Rick Gerharter ber. think of using that skill Controller candidate Polls in recent weeks set for another office.” John A. Perez have indicated that ReThe race has split the publican Fresno Mayor LGBT community, with Ashley Swearengin will place first the statewide group Equality Caliand second place will go to Betty fornia and the San Francisco-based Yee, a Democrat who represents the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Bay Area and northern California Club working to elect Perez as the on the state Board of Equalization. first out candidate to win a statePerez has consistently wide seat and only the placed third in the polls. second known LGBT “U.S. Senator Diperson to hold one of anne Feinstein’s recent the state’s eight constiendorsement of my tutional offices. campaign assures me The first is believed that we are gaining the to be Tony Miller, a gay momentum we need to man and Democratic push through the prilawyer, who in 1994 was mary,” Perez stated in a Controller candidate appointed secretary of recent email he sent to Betty Yee state after March Fong supporters. Eu resigned to be an Largely unknown to ambassador in the Clinmany in the Bay Area, where voter ton administration. Miller lost his turnout is usually higher than in his bid for a full term, and in 1998, he home base of Los Angeles County, again came up short in his bid for Perez began running television lieutenant governor. commercials this month to boost Backing Yee are a number of Bay

Area LGBT leaders and groups, such as the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club and the B.A.R. On May 22, when Perez’s TV ads first hit the airwaves, his campaign reported having more than $1.8 million in cash on hand, according to campaign finance records. He reported raising $757,175 in 2014 through May 17 and had spent $837,553. Yee reported having spent $591,388 on her race through May 17, with $116,188 remaining in her campaign account. She had raised $173,898 in 2014 through mid-May, according to her campaign finance reports. Swearengin, meanwhile, reported spending $344,827 on her campaign through May 17, according to her financial filings, and had raised $287,441. Her campaign reported having little more than $70,000 in cash on hand.

Assembly District 17 race in SF

Another race dividing the LGBT community in San Francisco is the Assembly District 17 contest between Supervisors David Chiu and David Campos. Campos, who is gay, has the endorsement of the incumbent, gay Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), as well as of the Milk club and EQCA. Chiu, who is straight, garnered endorsements from Alice and the B.A.R. and has repeatedly stressed he will be a champion of LGBT issues if elected to the Assembly. He also has inquired about joining the Legislative LGBT Caucus, which currently does not allow straight lawmakers to be members.

Despite the presence of Republican David Carlos Salaverry on the June primary ballot, it is widely expected that both Chiu and Campos will advance to the November election. Yet Campos’s campaign and backers, in particular, have been spending heavily on a get-out-the vote effort leading up to next week’s election. For months his campaign has been phoning voters and sending those contacted follow up letters in which Campos writes their support June 3 “means a great deal to me.” His mailers have attacked Chiu as being “the choice of corporate lobbyists and special interests for state Assembly.” The reasoning for the aggressive primary campaign, say Campos’s supporters, is to demonstrate he is a formidable candidate against the more moderate Chiu, who many have predicted has an edge in the race. A strong primary showing could also help open up more donors’ wallets for Campos as he gears up for a tough fall campaign. The latest finance reports showed Campos had raised $225,641 and spent $280,389 through May 17. His campaign reported having $107,025 in cash on hand by that point. Labor groups backing Campos reported spending nearly $60,000 this month to oppose Chiu in the race. The Milk club has also spent heavily to promote Campos, paying for a billboard in the Castro and mailers to voters, although the club has yet to file any financial disclosure forms with the state. According to Chiu’s campaign filings, his campaign had raised $376,232 and spent $300,489 as of

May 17. It reported having $478,474 in cash on hand. Chiu has criticized Campos’s camp for going negative, noting in a recent email to his supporters that his campaign has “stayed positive” while “unfortunately, from our very first debate, my opponent David Campos has gone on the attack: distorting my record, insulting me and our supporters, and sending out extremely negative hit pieces.” Yet one group working to oppose Campos, funded mainly by tech mogul Reid Hoffman, has reported spending nearly $200,000 on mailers, a website, and videos attacking the supervisor for his vote not to remove Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi from office despite his guilty plea on domestic violence charges stemming from an incident involving his wife in 2011. During his editorial board meeting with the B.A.R. Campos said he takes offense to those who equate his vote in the matter as being “for domestic violence or against women.” His decision, he said, came down to his determination that Mirkarimi’s behavior did not constitute official misconduct. “If it didn’t meet the definition of official misconduct you had to vote a certain way,” explained Campos. No matter the primary results, the attacks on both sides are sure to intensify over the coming months. There are three other legislative seats involving out non-incumbent candidates on the ballot Tuesday. Gay Campbell City Councilman Evan Low is expected to survive his four-person primary race for the 28th Assembly District seat covering portions of west San Jose and several Peninsula cities that is currently held by his boss, Assemblyman Paul

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See page 13 >>

Thank you, heroes.

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<< Travel

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 29-June 4, 2014

Bodega Bay is for the dogs by Matthew S. Bajko

t may be famous as the setting for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, but Bodega Bay is also a perfect getaway spot for those traveling with their dog. My husband and I have always enjoyed stopping to grab a bite to eat or exploring the numerous beaches around the peaceful seaside town situated along the Pacific Coast Highway 65 miles north of San Francisco. Many of the state beaches in the area allow dogs on leash and a plethora of local eating establishments welcome canine companions in their outdoor seating areas. So when the owners of Bay Hill Mansion, a pet-welcoming bed and breakfast in town, invited us up for a weekend visit in early March it was the perfect excuse to sojourn with Enzo, our 5-year-old Chihuahua and miniature pinscher mix. Perched at the base of Mt. Roscoe just off Highway 1, Bay Hill Mansion was built as a traditional B&B in 1989 by Francis Miller. It was briefly a private residence for two years until current owners, Chris and Gina White, bought the Queen Anne Victorian estate in 2012 and re-opened it as a luxury guesthouse. The couple’s own four-footed companions, yellow Labradors Loki and Buttercup, call the mansion home. “Oh my gosh, we love dogs,” said Gina White, in explaining why they decided to open their bed and breakfast up to traveling canines. One of the mansion’s five guest rooms is set aside as pet-friendly to accommodate guests checking in with their family pet. Called the Captain’s Suite and housed in an

octagonal turret, it features its own entryway for easy in-and-out access without disturbing other guests. “People love to travel with their pets nowadays,” said Chris White, noting that in addition to welcoming guests with dogs they have also played host to a traveling cat and its owner. Over the years the couple has adopted several rules to ensure both non-pet-traveling guests and those checking in with a dog have enjoyable stays. Up to two dogs that are potty trained and well socialized are welcome to stay at the inn, but guests must arrange approval for their pets when making their

their car during breakfast, guests can arrange to have their food delivered to the room. The no-dog-alone policy came to be, explained Chris White, because early on they had a guest who arrived with a dog that vocalized being none-too-happy when left solo in the room. “The dog missed his owner,” he recalled, “so this is for everybody’s benefit.” Besides, there is no reason to not take your dog with you when exploring Bodega Bay and the surrounding area. Especially when a sunny day at the beach beckons. After breakfast on Saturday morning of our stay we headed for the Sonoma County regional park district’s Pinnacle Gulch and

Matthew S. Bajko

James LaCroce and his dog, Enzo, enjoy a Sonoma County trail with ocean views in Bodega Bay.

reservation in advance and will be charged an additional $65 per visit. (To book a stay visit http://www. bayhillmansion.com/.) The Whites also request that owners do not leave their pets alone in their suite. Thus, for those uncomfortable leaving their dog in

Shorttail Gulch Coastal Access Trail (20600 Mockingbird Road, Bodega Bay). There is a small parking lot ($7 per vehicle day fee) and dogs are welcome on leash along the easy one-mile path down to the beach. Head south to explore rocky tidal pools and connect with the Shorttail

Gulch Beach trailhead where a loop trail will reconnect you to the parking lot. Or travel north along the beach and climb through an arched path the Pacific has carved into the coastal bluff to access more sandy beaches with spectacular views of Bodega Head, the rocky headland at the entrance to Bodega Harbor. Afterwards stop off at the Dog House (537 Smith Brothers Road) for a lunch of hot dogs and burgers while seated at picnic tables

tative signs about the local marine life and crabbing is allowed on a narrow walkway that juts into the harbor. The road dead-ends at the top of Bodega Head, part of Sonoma Coast State Park and a popular viewing spot for migrating grey whales between December and April. Although dogs are not allowed on the trails, they can be on leash in a small picnic area off the parking lot. A number of the beaches that comprise Sonoma Coast State Park do allow dogs on leash, including Duncan’s Landing, Portuguese Beach, School House Beach, and Marshall Gulch. (Be sure to check the signage at the beach trailheads as the rules are often subject to change.) At day’s end a gorgeous vantage spot to watch the sunset beachside with your dog is at Blind Beach. From Highway 1, 10 miles north of Bodega Matthew S. Bajko Bay, turn west on Goat Rock Road and take the bluff-hugEnzo enjoys the grounds of Bay Hill ging roadway as it winds its Mansion. The dog-friendly suite is in way down to the parking lot the turret, upper right. on the ocean’s edge. Dogs are allowed on leash with ocean views. Or for a no-frills on the sandy shores south of the lot. seafood meal grab a bite at the Boat As you traverse the beach you can House (1445 North Highway 1), add to teepee-like structures made known for its clam chowder, fish from driftwood before settling in to and chips, and barbequed oysters. see the sun dip behind the horizon. Another great option is the Spud Afterwards, if you do want to Point Crab Company across from ditch the dog for a romantic dinner Spud Marina (1910 Westshore out, Sonoma Concierge (http://soRoad). Be prepared for a wait to be nomaconcierge.com/) will arrange seated, as the small crab shack has for a sitter to meet you at Bay Hill just a few picnic tables to accommoMansion ($20 per hour of dogdate diners. sitting.) We opted to do so, and at There are a few picnic tables the suggestion of our hosts, dined across the street near a statue honat Terrapin Creek (1580 Eastshore oring those Bodega Bay fishermen Road) just down the road from the who have been lost at sea. A walking B&B. trail along the marina has interpreSee page 18 >>

Thankfully, there’s Healdsburg. Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce (707) 433-6935 Start your journey at HEALDSBURG.com

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YOUR PRIDE WILL KNOW NO BOUNDS

<< Community News

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 29-June 4, 2014

Differences will make you, Black tells grads by Khaled Sayed

scar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black told graduates at City College of San Francisco that they should celebrate who they are and that their differences will make them valuable. Black delivered his commencement address to a record 2,456 graduates and thousands of friends and family members in the college’s Ram Football Stadium Friday, May 23. Black, 39, himself is a community college student, having graduated with honors from Pasadena City College before attending UCLA’s School of Film and Television. “I look out at this crowd of graduates and I see an ocean of gorgeous differences,” Black said. “Let’s be honest. Everyone of us here today is a minority in one way or another. It just depends on how you slice that pie. After your celebration I want you to think about the way you are different. For some of you like me, I think that difference might be covered in shame. I’m telling you today: rip that shame off of your differences. Your differences are what will make you valuable, what will make you marketable, what will make you beautiful.” Black asked the graduates to use their differences to create ties to different communities wherever they are. “I want to ask you to take these differences, and think about what you can do with your differences to build bridges to other people to other communities,” Black said. “To build bridges of understanding that will unify us again; to build what Harvey Milk called the coalition of the us’s.” Black won an Academy Award in 2009 as best screenwriter for Milk, the biopic about the slain San Francisco supervisor. In his speech, Black mentioned growing up in the Mormon faith.

He kept his sexuality a secret from his mother, but one day he invited some of his gay friends over, and because he never mentioned anything about his mother and her beliefs, they thought that his mother was okay with him being gay. Black’s friends told his mother about their Khaled Sayed personal stories and their struggles with Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin their own families, Lance Black spoke of differences as he deand how hard it was livered the commencement address at City for them when they College of San Francisco on May 23. came out. She listened to everyone politely, “It was a fantastic night of enand acknowledged them. Then, aftertainment and awarding in the ter everyone left, she pulled Black spectacular Diego Rivera Theatre,” aside and asked him if the boy he he said. had been hanging out with was his The lavender graduation event boyfriend. featured Supervisor David Campos Black believes that, because his as keynote speaker and honored mother had listened to his friends’ City Attorney Dennis Herrera and struggles growing up gay, it changed his team that litigated Proposition her opinion and made her more ac8, California’s now-defunct samecepting of his sexuality. Black later sex marriage ban. took it upon himself to tell everyone MK Nobilette, a lesbian and City about the LGBT struggle, and he is College alumna who was a conteshoping to change the perception in tant on American Idol, was also recpeople’s minds the way his mother’s ognized, Allen said. perception changed. Another graduate, Oscar Pena, a Trey Allen, one of the LGBT science and criminal justice major, graduates, was given a shout out is also associate body president at by Black because of his high-heeled the CCSF Ocean campus. Not only laced black boots and Black appreciis Pena a big supporter of the LGBT ated his uniqueness and his stylish community but he also helped with queer sense of fashion. the lavender graduation ceremony. “I’m thankful that pioneers like “I feel honored that someone Black are moving equality forward like Dustin Lance Black came and in their field,” Allen said. “I’m happy spoke here today,” Pena said Friday. to see leaders like Black take the “He is not only famous, but he went stage ...” through a struggle. It only shows Allen was also one of the prothat going through struggle is tough, ducers of the third annual lavender but you will be able to overcome graduation and diversity awards it and then look back on what you that was held the night before and have accomplished, and you will be honored LGBTQ and ally graduates able to motivate others too, and to for their academic achievements be active in your community.”t and contributions to CCSF.

Group aims to get bigger slice of donor pie for LGBT organizations by Gregory Pleshaw

lanthropy to network and strategize with each other. When I didn’t find that kind of organization, I met with other colleagues in the field and we decided it was time to start one.” Horizons Foundation is a San Francisco-based organization rooted in the LGBT community that works to empower individual donors, maintains an endowment to help meet the future needs of the community, and provides grants to organizations. Out in the System was chaired by veteran philanthropy professional Jewelle Gomez, formerly the director of grants and community programs at Horizons, the oldest LGBT community foundation in

the United States. In addition to her work at Horizons, Gomez was also grassroots group concerned a founding member of the Astraea about financial giving to LGLesbian Foundation for Justice. BTQI organizations has started “You have to get a sense of how developing new strategies to help far we’ve come in the past 30 years those organizations get a lager slice in order to understand how much of the philanthropic pie. further we can go,” Gomez said at Recently, a panel met on the 14th the May 12 panel. “When we started floor of the Embarcadero Center Astraea, for example, we didn’t even in the offices of the San Francisco use the word ‘lesbian’ in our name Foundation. The four-person panel because people were afraid to apof queer individuals with decades ply for grants that would stigmatize of collective experience in LGBTQI their sexual orientation.” community organizing and phiOther people on the panel inlanthropy gathered to help kick off cluded Pam David, the current exa new affinity group called Queer ecutive director of the Walter and Leaders in Philanthropy. Elise Haas Fund and an activist in The panel discussion was called LGBTQI issues since the mid-1970s; “Out in the System,” which enCecilia Chung, senior strategist gaged the issue of developing at the Transgender Law Center better strategies to help LGand a founding member of the BTQIs get their share of the $50 San Francisco Trans March; billion in annual foundation givand Nathaniel “Toby” Thomping. kins, vice president of the 21st “One of the most pressing isCentury Foundation and a sues within LGBT philanthropy board member for both the and giving is that less than .25 Center for Social Inclusion and percent of all the money given Funders for LGBTQI issues. by foundations is given to LGBT Much of the discussion was organizations,” said A. Sparks, focused on how LGBTQ phiJane Philomen Cleland the woman who is spearheading lanthropy professionals can the new group. “In my capacity Panelists Jewelle Gomez, Pam David, develop better relationships as a member of the Horizons Nathaniel “Toby” Thompkins, and Cecilia between their organizations Foundation emerging leaders Chung listen as A. Sparks, right, talks and the foundations that can giving circle, I looked around about financial giving to LGBTQ organiza- support their programing for an organization that would tions at the inaugural meeting of Queer See page 13 >> help those of us in LGBT phi- Leaders in Philanthropy.

t <<

Community News>>

Editorial From page 6

Other congressional seats

The previous races are the most contentious in the Bay Area this cycle. Other local congressmembers are not running in highly contested races and are deserving of support. Pelosi has been a champion of the LGBT and HIV/AIDS communities. Congresswomen Jackie Speier, Barbara Lee, Anna Eshoo, and Zoe Lofgren are also steadfast allies; Lee has fought for global HIV/AIDS issues and Speier has taken on sexual assault in the military. Congressmen John Garamendi, Jared Huffman, and Mike Thompson are also recommended for re-election. In the East Bay, Mark DeSauliner is the favorite to replace retiring Congressman George Miller and has Miller’s backing. Jared Huffman has been an effective representative for his North Bay district. In the central part of the state, Michael Eggman is running for a seat that covers Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties and hopes to secure a spot in the general election against anti-gay Republican Jeff Denham. Overall, we’re endorsing a qualified list of political leaders who are on the side of LGBT equality.t

Donor Pie

From page 12

through giving and other means of institutional support. The discussion dovetailed neatly with a number of QLP’s long- and short-term goals, which include building community and solidarity between the many LGBTQI organizations locally and nationwide that rely on foundation support to advance their social and institutional agendas, as well as creating greater inclusivity and leadership for LGBTQ professionals through networking and learning opportunities like the event itself. Roger Doughty, executive director of Horizons, told the Bay Area Reporter that QLP has the potential to help raise awareness about mainstream foundation giving. “Queer Leaders in Philanthropy’s focus is on bringing together people working within the field of philanthropy to connect and network with one another and to create a sense of solidarity for those of us within the field,” Doughty said. “What QLP is developing is very synergistic with what Horizons’ mission is and we look forward to seeing how they develop their goals.” The immediate effect of creating an organization like QLP is that there have been reverberations felt across the nation, as Sparks has discovered colleagues in Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York who have quickly responded to the idea and have called to discuss the possibility of setting up QLP chapters in those cities. “I’m much in favor of what QLP is aiming to do,” said Ben Francisco Maulbeck, the president of Funders for LGBTQ Issues in New York. “Our main work here is to expand the network of people engaged in philanthropy. The sad reality is that LGBTQI projects are not very wellfunded by foundation monies. The hope is that QLP’s efforts may help to bring LGBTQI organizations into the long-range strategic efforts of foundation support.” The panel marked the first public event for QLP, which had previously been discussed at some impromptu mixers for those within the field of LGBTQ philanthropy. Sparks said she was excited by the turnout and felt that there was sufficient interest to get the group off the ground. For more information, contact QLP at queerleadersinphilanthropy@gmail.com.t

Political Notebook

From page 8

Fong (D-Cupertino), who is termed out this fall. The other candidates are fellow Democrat Cupertino Councilman Barry Chang, and Republicans Saratoga Councilman Chuck Page and Michael Hunsweck, a semiconductor chip engineer. California Army National Guard state surgeon Dr. Vito Imbasciani, a gay married father of two sons, has proven to be a formidable fundraiser in his race for a state Senate seat in Los Angeles County. He is one of seven Democrats plus an independent running for the open Senate District 26 seat. Gay Republican lawyer Brad Torgan is assured surviving the primary in Assembly District 50, which covers West Hollywood, Santa Monica and Malibu. He was the sole candidate to run against incumbent Assemblyman Richard Bloom (DSanta Monica). Gay Assemblyman Rich Gordon (D-Menlo Park) and lesbian Assemblywomen Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), now the Assembly speaker, and Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton) are all expected to easily survive their primary races. Running unopposed Tuesday for a final third term is gay Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager.

May 29-June 4, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 13

Two congressional races feature gay candidates this June. The state’s first out congressman, Mark Takano, is seeking re-election to a second term representing Riverside in the state’s 41st Congressional District. He faces off against three opponents Tuesday. In San Diego gay former city councilman Carl DeMaio is one of three Republicans running against incumbent Democratic Congressman Scott Peters in the state’s 52nd Congressional District.

Lesbians headline local races

There are a number of races for local offices throughout the state Tuesday where lesbian candidates are considered front-runners. Former state lawmaker Sheila Kuehl is looking to again make history by becoming the first out person elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. A star of the 1950s TV show The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Kuehl became the first out lawmaker to serve in California’s legislature when she won an Assembly seat in 1994. The Santa Monica resident is locked in a tough race against former Santa Monica Mayor and Councilman Bobby Shriver. Six others, including gay West Hollywood Mayor John Duran, are also

running for the board’s newly created District 3 seat, making it likely there will be a runoff election in November if no one captures a majority next week. (Also on the ballot in Los Angeles County is gay West Hollywood Councilman Jeffrey Prang, who is among the crowded field running for county assessor. As with the supervisor race, if none of the 12 candidates receives more than 50 percent, the top two advance to a November runoff.) Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch is running for reelection against Deputy District Attorney Victoria I. Shanahan. While Ravitch is seen as the favorite, the race has been rocked by whether she will file charges against a Sonoma County sheriff ’s deputy for the October 23 killing of a 13-year-old boy he shot after mistaking his BB gun for an AK-47 rifle. Ravitch has said the matter remains under review, and it is unclear if she will announce her decision prior to Election Day. In San Diego the most recent polling has District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis within reach of netting the 50-percent-plus-one vote she needs Tuesday to avoid a runoff in her bid for a fourth term. She faces two opponents trying to claim her job. Also on the San Diego ballot is

Susan Guinn, who married her partner and serves on EQCA’s board. She is among a trio of challengers trying to oust county Assessor-Recorder Ernie Dronenburg, who sued in state court last year to prevent county clerks from having to marry same-sex couples after the U.S. Supreme Court tossed out California’s ban against such marriages. The history of the ban, known as Proposition 8, has also been an issue in the race for district attorney in Sacramento County. Deputy District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, a Republican and the lesbian sister of Prop 8 campaign mastermind Frank Schubert, is being fiercely opposed by LGBT groups who claim she could have done more to help defeat the anti-gay ballot measure in 2008. Deputy Attorney General Maggy Krell, one of two Democrats in the race, has benefited from Schubert’s troubles over Prop 8, winning the endorsement of local LGBT leaders and state politicians such as Governor Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris. In El Dorado County Dylan Sullivan, a superior court commissioner, is looking to become the first out person to serve on the El Dorado County Superior Court. She is one of two people seeking the court’s open Office 5 seat.t

Mary’s at the Patio Two iconic, historic, cutting-edge, LGBT-friendly institutions for over 30 years in San Francisco, Hamburger Mary’s on Folsom Street and the Patio on Castro Street, are joining together to open a new “Hamburger Mary’s at the Patio Cafe.” The original Hamburger Mary’s opened in 1972 and the Patio Cafe opened in the 1960’s. Both were gay-owned and operated and had a largely gay and lesbian clientele from San Francisco, the Bay Area, and tourists from around the world. Both establishments have been closed over a decade and both have been sorely missed. Although Hamburger Mary’s has only12 locations in the United States, the SF Planning Department considers it (and any retail establishment with 11 or more locations) to be “formula retail.” Hamburger Mary’s is not a chain or formula retail store or restaurant that has hundreds or thousands of locations and which are all alike. Hamburger Mary’s has only 3 locations in California (West Hollywood, Long Beach and Palm Springs), and a total of 12 locations in the U.S. Each “Mary’s” is locally owned and operated, each one is different, and each is operated as a neighborhood restaurant. All “Mary’s” owners pride themselves on being involved in their community and every “Mary’s” gives back to their community. Mary’s bingo events, for example, have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the collective of Mary’s restaurants has raised nearly one million dollars for local charities. “Hamburger Mary’s at the Patio Cafe” will be a one-of-a-kind, locally owned and operated full-service restaurant and bar with reasonably-priced comfort food and cocktails, and it will have an interior décor incorporating the eclectic, friendly atmosphere of the original Mary’s on Folsom Street. “Mary’s at the Patio” will be a lively and vibrant business and it will bring back life to the Patio Cafe which has been closed far too long. Mary’s will be desirable for the LGBT community, the Castro neighborhood, and San Francisco. We need to show the planning department we have neighborhood support to open Mary’s at the Patio... Please email your support to John Kevlin at JKevlin@reubenlaw.com

<< National News

14 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 29-June 4, 2014

GLAAD CEO ushers in new day at media advocacy group by Chuck Colbert

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Consequently, she said, “I think that is where the misconception or misperception is. That if you don’t hear from GLAAD, then we are not working on something, which means we are probably working overtime on it.” “With the Logo situation,” Ellis explained, “we had really good relationships with the media” outlet. “We were talking to them, having conversations. A lot of times – I cannot speak for past presidents – but my approach is to come to the table and try to find a resolution that is going to move the culture forward. “We only apply ‘the watchdog role’ when we don’t feel like we’re getting anywhere or not being heard or listened to.” There is also a danger, she said, in “go[ing] out against a company or an organization. It can really set you back.”

ear the end of a half-hour interview, the head of a major national gay organization waxed philosophical about a shift in approach to LGBT rights and equality. “Going from activism to advocacy,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, the recently appointed president and chief executive officer of GLAAD, may well be “the overarching theme of this conversation.” “There was and still are places where you have to be an activist,” she explained. And yet, “There are places where you can be an advocate.” That’s because “there has been a cultural shift in America. A lot of work remains to be done. But more people want to do the right thing than the wrong thing,” said Ellis. On the job for not yet half a year, Ellis, 42, spoke recently during Extensive media a wide-ranging telebackground phone interview about Ellis brings to her her vision for GLAAD, new role at GLAAD a a leading LGBT mewealth of media savvy. dia advocacy organiMost recently, for exzation, which, over ample, she served as nearly three decades, senior vice president has played a significant of global marketing for Courtesy GLAAD role in changing the Martini Media Inc., a nation’s view of LGBT GLAAD’s new CEO, digital firm that specialpeople partly by “em- Sarah Kate Ellis izes in online branding, powering real people public relations, and to share their stories,” marketing. according to its mission statement. An award-winning media execu“In terms of my leadership,” she tive with 17 years of experience, Elsaid, “it’s about core competency lis, who is based in New York City, and being the media advocacy orhas also led national media brands ganization that we are, that’s why it to success, particularly growing Real is important to have somebody who Simple into one of Time Inc.’s most has a media background in the role,” respected and successful magaespecially given “how nuanced and zines. At Time, she co-chaired the finite the media” [landscape] is “in publishing outlet’s LGBT employee which we have to operate.” organization, thereby leading proIn communicating – and mesgramming efforts to spotlight LGBT saging – through print, broadcast, diversity at the same time educating social media, and other online venthe company’s straight allies on a ues, it’s all about “where to pull the range of LGBT issues. punches, when to pull back, and” In 2011, Ellis and her wife, Krishow “to navigate all” of those opten Ellis-Henderson, co-authored a portunities, said Ellis. memoir, Times Two, Two Women in The current media landscape of Love and the Happy Family, which 24/7 news and entertainment, along chronicled their respective pregwith social media’s ability to go vinancies and path to motherhood. ral instantaneously, she readily acThe proud mothers of two chilknowledges, “does make” GLAAD’s dren, Ellis and Ellis-Henderson work “a little bit more difficult – the were the first same-sex couple to be pressure that is applied and it’s asmarried in the Episcopal Church of suming the worst, which I never like New York state. to do about anybody.” In that regard, “I choose to be GLAAD at a glance deliberative,” said Ellis, “because Founded in 1985 in New York that is how we can make the most City, primarily in response to the impact and have the most influence New York Post’s sensationalized covin shaping the culture.” erage of the AIDS crisis, the Gay and The rapid-fire, split-second meLesbian Alliance Against Defamadia juggernaut opens GLAAD – its tion – now simply called GLAAD action or seeming inaction – to – has changed and evolved over the criticism. years. The recent Logo TV RuPaul’s Based in Los Angeles, with an ofDrag Race kerfuffle – the drag perfice in New York, the organization former’s use of the word “tranny,” has an operating budget of approxiwhich is widely perceived to be mately $6 million and staff of 29. Eltransphobic – is a case in point, with lis’s salary is $225,000, she said. some LGBT people wondering what Back in the day, GLAAD staffed took GLAAD so long to respond. regional offices, including one in “Our work, a lot of our work, is San Francisco, but they were shutdone behind the scenes,” explained tered in 1997; however, the organiEllis. “We were quick to respond, zation still has volunteer leadership but not public about it.” councils in Chicago, Miami, Dallas,

Atlanta, and Los Angeles. In addition to amplifying “the voice of the LGBT community,” GLAAD’s mission includes “holding the media accountable for the words and images they present, and helping grassroots organizations communicate effectively.” The organization has expertise not only in news and entertainment media, but also Spanish language and Latino media and communications and digital strategy. Additional programmatic work focuses on faith and acceptance, transgender media, marriage and family, immigration, equality on the field in American sports leagues, support for LGBT youth (Spirit Day), and the Boy Scouts. GLAAD’s Commentator Accountability Project, or CAP, monitors comments made by anti-LGBT activists when quoted in the media about LGBT issues. The project thwarts the spread of harmful misinformation by giving reporters information and context for America’s most ardent anti-gay activists. Over the years, CAP – for its media watchdog role – is one key means by which GLAAD has become widely known throughout the LGBT community. And yet, in promoting a positive public image of LGBTs for nearly three decades, GLAAD has become much more than a media watchdog organization. “We still do media monitoring, but not at the same level we used to,” said Ellis. One area where media monitoring is needed is around transgender issues, which Ellis said is “much more relevant for the transgender community.” GLAAD’s board co-chair is a transgender woman, Jennifer Finney Boylan, who is a writer in residence at Barnard College of Columbia University. Ellis went on to explain that GLAAD’s “core competencies” entail “advocacy, education, and protection.” Protection, she said, is the “newest” element that “we have added, and that comes from the great success we’ve seen as a community.” Recent advances in LGBT equality include the 2011 repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the military’s ban on openly gay and lesbian service members; the advent of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts (2004) and its extension today in 19 states and the District of Columbia; and other positive developments gracing the cultural landscape, including those in business, entertainment, politics, among other areas, where, increasingly, LGBTs encounter acceptance and support – even in professional sports where Michael Sam, a defensive end, recently became the first openly gay player to be drafted into the National Football League by the St. Louis Rams. “If you look at the movement over the last quarter of a century,” said Ellis, there’s a need “to put in place a protection strategy to proSee page 16 >>

Obituaries >> Allen L. Dale October 1, 1931 – May 6, 2014

Allen died at home after a long illness. Born in Everett, Washington, he was the 10th of 15 children. After graduating from Snohomish High

School in 1950, he immediately joined the U.S. Navy, serving in Korea, and eventually two tours in Vietnam as a chief hospital corpsman. Upon retiring from the Navy in 1972 he settled in San Francisco, where he began a long civilian career as a medical records technician at several Bay Area clinics and hospitals, including Mt. Zion and San Francisco General. Allen was a longtime member of the Warlocks Motorcycle Club, and served

twice as chairman of the San Francisco Inter-Club Fund. He was active in the South of Market community during the 1970s and 1980s. Allen is survived by his partner of nearly 40 years, Charlie Minehart; several brothers and sisters; countless nieces and nephews; and many great friends. He will be missed. Allen was a longtime supporter of the AIDS Emergency Fund, and donations in his memory will be appreciated.

Transmissions>>

May 29-June 4, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 15

Speaking poorly by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

orning commuters in and around Rochester, New York could tune in for the usual drivetime rock and talk combination like so many other places across the country. In Rochester, it’s 98.9 WBZA-FM, known in local marketing speak as The Buzz. Wherever you happen to be sitting right now, you can fiddle around with your radio dial and come across a radio station with the same general format as WBZA-FM. It could be 107.7 The Bone, or 98.1 The Bear, 105.9 The Rock, or, well, you get the idea. There’s a formula to all of this. Whether the local rock station is owned by a large conglomerate like The Buzz owners Entercom or not, they’re all the same mix of programming that hasn’t markedly changed since the first ad man uttered the words “classic rock.” The Buzz is no different. It has the usual mix of on-air personalities, drive-time DJs, and weekend special programming that I remember growing up on the opposite coast from the Empire State. But I digress. The morning show on The Buzz is called “The Breakfast Buzz,” and its hosts until recently were Kimberly Ray and Barry Beck, known professionally as “Kimberly and Beck.” They’d play a few rock records, and spice up the time between songs and commercials with light commentary on the news of the day. I’m sure you’ve likely heard any number

Airbnb

From page 1

panies regularly draws at least some community protest, but heightened concern over evictions across the city make the Airbnb announcement stand out this year. City Attorney Dennis Herrera in April filed two lawsuits against what his office called “short-term rental scofflaws” for illegally converting apartments into tourist lodging, which at least one of the property owners marketed through online platforms that included Airbnb. Also in April, Board of Supervisors President David Chiu introduced legislation that would require residents to register with the city’s Department of Building Inspection for permission to rent short-term. It would also require companies like Airbnb to collect and remit hotel or transient occupancy taxes, among other provisions. Chip Conley, Airbnb’s head of global hospitality and strategy, wasn’t immediately available for an interview, but in a statement to the Bay Area Reporter, he said he’s participated in Pride “for many years, and I’m proud that Airbnb is sponsoring the work of this organization.” “The overwhelming majority of people who use Airbnb share the home in which they live so they can help pay their bills ... ,” said Conley, who is gay. “The behavior of some predatory landlords who are abusing platforms like ours to illegally evict tenants in search of a quick buck is deplorable, and we want to work together to stop it from happening. San Francisco is where Airbnb got started and we look forward to working with local leaders and partners to make this community stronger for all of us.” He didn’t offer details of what actions Airbnb would take. Ridgely defended the sponsorship, saying, “We were excited to have a locally funded corporation

of these shows. On May 21, Kimberly and Beck had a story to talk about. The previous weekend, the mayor of Rochester, Lovely A. Warren, announced a new benefits package for city employees. The new benefits package covers transgender and gender nonconforming city employees. “The city of Rochester, you should be feeling good about this,” started Ray, “using your tax dollars to extend transition-related health care coverage to its employees who are transgender or gender nonconforming. What the hell does that mean? Like you’re not a woman or a man?” The segment went quickly downhill from here, hitting all the usual comments about transgender people as mentally unbalanced and even delving into the equal treatment of transgender athletes. They even worked in a clip of Areosmith’s song “Dude Looks Like a Lady” in the background. Later, when a presumably transgender woman caller asked them to stop being disrespectful and to stop spreading misinformation, a third member of the team, Chris Konya, stepped up to the microphone, saying, “Thank you, sir” to the caller in question. I’ll spare you all the details of the call, which has been preserved online for all who wish to find it. As the firestorm over the comments heated up, Ray fueled the flames, taking to Twitter to say, “Freedom of Speech includes the

freedom to offend others. You aren’t granted a right to not be offended in this life #getoverit #ROC” By the next morning, both Beck and Ray were suspended indefinitely from The Buzz. By Friday, they were both out of a job, with Entercom

removing the hosts from the station. Chris “Thank you, sir” Konya is now the host of “The Breakfast Buzz,” so apparently his comment was deemed acceptable. To their credit both Ray and Beck have issued an apology of their own. Unlike what usually passes for apologies, this one feels sincere. “We are very sorry for the hurt and pain we have caused anyone, especially those in the transgender community and their friends and

of sensitivity and understanding, accept Entercom’s position, and hope that their termination “can be a chance for all of us to stop the ignorance and find our humanity.” Overall, I’m pleased with their apology. It is a far cry from what one usually sees, and certainly beats some of what has been said in the ongoing feud over RuPaul’s Drag Race and its use of language that many see as offensive. At the same time, as I alluded

that embraces LGBT rights within San Francisco that was seeking out an opportunity to engage in the event and support the event” financially and by providing volunteers. As for the city’s housing problems and any role Airbnb may play in them, Ridgely said, “I don’t feel like I have all the details. I’m certainly aware of the conversation, and I think that’s part of why it was important for them” to participate in and support Pride. “Pride needs a broad range of support” from community partners, volunteers, corporate sponsors, and others in order “to pull off an event of this size and scope” and to help keep entrance to the celebration free, he said. Each year, the Pride festivities draw hundreds of thousands of people to San Francisco’s streets. Donations from the celebration have helped Pride contribute nearly $2.3 million to nonprofits since 1997. Pride board President Gary Virginia said, “It’s really impressive to me that after 44 years there’s still no required ticket price” for Pride. (Although entrance is free, a minimum donation of $5 is requested.) Virginia also noted that donations at the gate have declined in recent years, and said, “If every person who came to the event over the two days last year would have donated $1, that would have generated $1.8 million.” Virginia said Airbnb “has LGBT employees” and “LGBT users on both ends,” and he predicted “as legislation is created,” the company will “be following it in each city.” “I think they actually are a model of community-based exchange,” said Virginia, who added that he’d nominated Avicolli Mecca as a grand marshal “for many years” and he’s “thrilled Tommi is going to have a platform this year” to talk about housing issues. Airbnb isn’t the first tech company to participate in Pride. Google

has had a parade contingent for several years, and it’s facing the ire of some people for its buses that take employees to work in Silicon Valley. Last year Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg marched in the parade.

Pride is projecting to raise more than $800,000 through sponsorships this year, said Ridgely, and “we’ve collected a little over half of that.” The financial picture “is looking very good,” he said.

families,” it begins. “What we said and the manner in which we handled ourselves was wrong, we take full responsibility and we deeply apologize to any and all that we offended.” They express regret for their lack

Former Rochester, New York, DJs Beck and Kimberly

to above, there are hundreds of similar cookie-cutter radio stations out there, with hundreds of similar drive-time radio programs. I’m sure they all have a cart all loaded up with a recording of “Dude Look Like A Lady,” just waiting for the right moment to spin. Every few years, it seems that a disk jockey or two on a local radio station talks themselves into a suspension, a termination, and/or an apology. It has a disturbing regularity. It could be a benefits package. It could be equality ordinances such as one that recently passed in Maryland, or one currently on the table in Houston. It could be the recent fight over transgender and gender non-conforming students in California. This is their bread and butter. This is what they do, and how they reach the radios of tens of thousands of people. “Shock jocks” like Howard Stern did not make a living out of being nice, and I’m sure there is plenty of future Ray and Beck clones who will follow this same path. Yes, Ray and all those like her, you can offend others – but you have the choice to do better. Here’s my challenge to all those other disc jockeys out there: If you wish to be truly shocking, take a stand in support of your transgender and gender variant listeners. Break out of this cookie-cutter mold, and accept us before you find yourself having to make a public apology.t Gwen Smith grew up with The Mighty Met. You can find her at www.gwensmith.com.

The budget isn’t expected to be finalized until June. The most recent budget was $1.7 million. This year’s festivities are June 2829. Visit www.sfpride.org for more information.t

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FAC T: Exposure to tanning beds increases the risk of melanoma.

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<< Community News

16 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 29-June 4, 2014

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PrEP

From page 1

unscientific on-the-spot audience phone poll at the May 20 forum. Almost all participants (96 percent) said they had ever had sex without a condom, while 85 percent said they’d had sex with someone of a different HIV status. A majority (60 percent) said they would rather have condomless sex with a person who is HIV-positive with an undetectable viral load, while 19 percent said they would rather do it with someone HIV-negative and 21 percent were not sure. The latest data continue to show that effective HIV treatment dramatically reduces the risk of sexual transmission. An interim analysis from the Partner Study, reported at the retrovirus conference in March, revealed no cases of HIV transmission among more than 700 serodiscordant couples – including 40 percent same-sex male couples – when the positive partner was on treatment with an undetectable viral load. But the study is still ongoing and seeing no transmissions so far does not mean the risk is zero. Audience members noted that some HIV-positive men using Grindr and other hook-up apps are now declaring not only that they are positive and on treatment, but even what undetectable viral load threshold they fall under. And some HIVnegative men are stating that they are using PrEP, or taking the antiretroviral combination pill Truvada, to prevent infection. But some people who regularly take antiretroviral therapy can still be detectable, explained Dr. Joanna Eveland of Mission Neighborhood Health Center. Viral load “blips,” or transient increases, are not uncommon, and people may miss drug doses or stop treatment temporarily, for example due to loss of insurance coverage. Someone who thinks he is negative may have recently become infected, a period when viral load is at its highest. “It should be like [an expiration date] on a milk carton,” she suggested. “After a certain date you have to change your status.”

Focus on PrEP

While the forum title referred to HIV-positive people on treatment, the focus of discussion quickly turned to PrEP for HIV-negative people. The audience poll revealed that 70 percent of participants were themselves using or knew someone who was using PrEP and 86 percent think it is a viable option to prevent HIV infection. PrEP has been a major topic of discussion, online and off, after Michael Weinstein of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation recently called Truvada a “party drug’ in an Associated Press interview and pioneering AIDS activist Larry Kramer said that people taking PrEP have “got to have rocks in their heads.” New Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines released

GLAAD

From page 14

tect those gains that we have made, legally, legislatively, culturally.” Why so? “If you study other movements, the ones that have not put into place any protection strategies in place are the ones where rights have been eroded over time because the opposition gets smarter and uses different tactics,” she said. Specifically, regarding LGBT equality, Ellis pointed to Arizona and Mississippi where gay rights detractors recently marshaled freedom of speech and religious liberty arguments, attempting to advance potentially discriminatory legislation in those respective states with

earlier this month state that health care providers should consider advising people at “substantial risk” to use PrEP to prevent HIV infection. The Food and Drug Administration approved Gilead Sciences’ Truvada (tenofovir plus emtricitabine) for PrEP in July 2012. According to the guidelines, PrEP should be considered for people in an ongoing sexual relationship with an HIV-positive partner, gay or bisexual men who have had sex without a condom or been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection within the past six months, heterosexual men or women who do not always use condoms when having sex with partners known to be at risk for HIV, and anyone who has recently injected illicit drugs and shared equipment or been in a treatment program for injection drug use. The guidelines reflect research showing the effectiveness of PrEP

strengths of PrEP is that you can take Truvada any time during the day. “You may be drunk at midnight, but you can take it when you’re in a calm moment and your life may be better organized,” he said. Further, Truvada offers some “forgiveness” since drug levels build up in the body and allow for an occasional missed dose. “Having used a condom yesterday provides no protection if you don’t use a condom today,” Grant said. ‘But if [Truvada] has been taken for several months, we think protection may last a few days, maybe as long as a week.” However, only Truvada taken every day has been approved for HIV prevention. Taking it sporadically before sex or as a “morning after pill” has not been shown to be effective. Asked who might be a good candidate for PrEP, Grant said, “Anyone who wants to take it.” “A bad breakup is a situation that should make people ask if maybe they should be taking PrEP for a year,” he suggested. “It’s not only for sero-different partners, but even more for people who have negative partners who have sex with other partners, or partners of unknown status.”

Sex and stigma

for different populations. The iPrEx trial of mostly gay and bisexual men found that taking Truvada once-daily reduced the risk of HIV infection by 42 percent overall, rising to more than 90 percent among participants with blood drug levels indicating regular use. Panelist David Waggoner said his doctor suggested a few years ago that Truvada PrEP might help him stay negative, after he had requested post-exposure prophylaxis (taking antiretrovirals after sex to prevent infection). While it once sounded daunting to take a daily pill, he has gotten used to it and now takes Truvada with lunch every day. He added that he has never experienced any side effects. People starting Truvada can sometimes have a “start-up syndrome” with headaches, nausea, and flatulence, these are usually minimal and typically subside, according to Eveland. Kidney toxicity and bone loss are potential side effects of tenofovir, but these have not been seen in PrEP studies so far and regular monitoring can reveal problems before they become serious. Dr. Robert Grant, SFAF’s new chief medical officer and iPrEx lead investigator, explained that one of

The idea that gay men are using Truvada to have condomless sex they shouldn’t be having is one of the key issues in the ongoing PrEP debate. “HIV prevention for gay men is getting more like birth control for straight people,” Eveland suggested. “There’s a lot of controversy about people having too much sex, which happened also with birth control.” Waggoner said he was surprised at the level of stigma associated with PrEP. “I’m amazed that in 2014 there’s still so much stigma, so much judgment and mean-spiritedness in our community,” said Waggoner, who sported a #TruvadaWhore T-shirt. “There’s still so much emotion and negative judgment about gay men and their sex lives. [Truvada] is not a party drug, it’s a way to live our lives with dignity.” While providers in the Bay Area are increasingly aware of PrEP – and most insurers are covering it – education is still needed. “So far we’ve found at Project Inform that the biggest obstacle to PrEP are providers,” Evans told the Bay Area Reporter. “Providers may be uncomfortable talking about sex, don’t known about Truvada as PrEP, or are scared of providing antiretrovirals. Having such clear and straightforward guidelines from the CDC provides a new weight of leverage.” Grant agreed. “There are still many doctors that don’t know about it,” he said. “They may say just use condoms or have fewer partners. Patients have a role in educating their doctors.” t

varying degrees of success. Of course, the other way GLAAD is widely known throughout the LGBT community and beyond is through its Media Awards, established in 1989 to “recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBT community and the issues that affect their lives.” This year’s awards ceremonies were held in Los Angeles (April 12) and in New York City (May 3). Those two gala events indeed served up enough glitz and glamour, prompting some to view GLAAD as all about Hollywood, a perception Ellis readily acknowledges. Nonetheless, “I think there is a lot of imagery out there that [we] are

doing very glamorous stuff. ... But we are not as Hollywood as [some] would think,” she explained, pointing to the 65 percent programming component of this year’s awards celebration. “We had some glitz and glamour,” said Ellis. “But that’s how we sell tickets and tables to build excitement around the programming.” The long and the short, what’s GLAAD all about? “We are a dynamic media force,” going “after the tough issues, which puts us in the crosshairs, crossfires,” Ellis said. “But ultimately it’s about changing the narrative and providing dialogue that leads to change.” Added Ellis, “We are the voice for LGBT equality.” t

Liz Highleyman

Moderator David Evans, left, and panelist David Waggoner discuss PrEP at a recent forum.

E D I R P 4 1 20 The Bay Area Reporter is the longest continuously-published and highest circulation LGBT newspaper in the Unites States and the undisputed newspaper of record for the San Francisco Bay Area’s LGBT community. Published weekly since 1971, the B.A.R. has covered San Francisco’s June celebrations since before the word PRIDE was even used to describe them. On June 26, we’ll publish our 44th Annual edition celebrating the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride celebration. Join us and reach the largest audited and verified audience of LGBT consumers in Northern California. Call Scott Wazlowski, VP/Advertising at 415-359-2612 or email advertising@ebar.com to reserve your space in our largest edition of the year.

18 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 29-June 4, 2014

Harvey Milk stamp

From page 1

California Stamp News editor Branton Burke said that the Castro post office had sold out its stock of 10,000 Milk stamps in two and a half hours. Burke urged people to order Milk stamps online. An upbeat group of about 100 people gathered at Harvey Milk Plaza to celebrate the slain gay leader’s 84th birthday and the unveiling of the U.S. Postal Service’s Harvey Milk postage stamp. Milk was the city’s first openly gay elected official. He and thenMayor George Moscone were assassinated at City Hall by former Supervisor Dan White on November 22, 1978. The Milk stamp was formally unveiled earlier in the day at an event in Washington, D.C. where Milk’s gay nephew, Stuart Milk, was present, along with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power. Also on hand was Dan Nicoletta, who took the photo of Milk that inspired the stamp’s image. Despite the ceremony in D.C., many felt that Harvey Milk Plaza, located at the entrance to the Castro Muni station, was the perfect spot for the local unveiling and celebration. Forty-two years earlier, Milk had delivered his first political speech at the top of the stairs that lead into the station. Others who happened to be in the Castro last Thursday evening were surprised to be a little part of history. Maryland resident Michael Frost, 41, who said he came out about five years ago, had no idea that he would be attending the unveiling when he came to visit the Castro. “I’m overjoyed,” he said. “It’s amazing. We still have a long way to go, but San Francisco is leading the way.” Frost said he came to the Castro “to see where my peeps are.”

News Briefs

From page 7

The seminar will feature attorney Deb Kinney from Johnston Kinney and Zulaica LLP, who will discuss the various changes in the law since last year’s historic decision in U.S. v. Windsor, where the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act. Specifically, Kinney will talk about estate planning and whether samesex couples want one trust or two; Social Security benefits and how to take advantage of lifetime and death benefits; the importance of properly titling or retitling property and other assets; Medicare benefits; pre-nuptial agreements; deferred tax retirement accounts; and charitable giving. Interested people are welcome to attend. For more information or to RSVP, contact Elizabeth Lani, giving manager at the San Francisco Ballet, at (415) 865-6623 or elani@sfballet. org.

Bodega Bay

From page 10

Owned by the husband and wife team of Andrew Truong and Liya Lin, former San Francisco chefs, the restaurant scored a Michelin star in 2011. The menu changes with the seasons and expect to spend at least $80 on dinner for two. For a more seafood-centric menu head to the Tide Wharfs Restaurant, 835 Coast Highway One, overlooking the bay. Following dinner, if your dog isn’t a scaredy-cat, snuggle up in bed for a viewing of The Birds (each room at Bay Hill Mansion has a DVD of the movie for guests to watch).

Many people in his small town remain closeted, he said, even though Maryland now has marriage equality and a transgender rights bill was recently passed. Best friends Ben Freeman, 27, who’s gay, and Janine Bothwell, 26, who’s straight, were visiting the Castro from Scotland, where they run From Yesterday For Tomorrow, an international organization dedicated to fighting prejudice. “It’s really amazing,” said Freeman. “Today is a celebration of Harvey Milk’s legacy. He was a trailblazer, and a beacon of hope.” “We’re lucky that we stumbled upon this event,” added Bothwell. “It’s like fate. Milk was incredibly inspirational.” Gay Supervisor Scott Wiener, whose District 8 includes the Castro, stood before a cardboard blowup of the Milk stamp, which was still covered. “This wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t have a down home celebration in the Castro,” Wiener said. “It’s where Harvey is from. We’ve made so much progress: marriage, repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ new hate crimes laws. It’s so important to have visibility.” Longtime AIDS activist Cleve Jones, a personal friend of Milk’s, took to the microphone and urged people to support a cause he thinks Harvey would have believed in. Jones urged attendees to write to the Sultan of Brunei, who recently purchased the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles. Brunei also recently enacted Sharia law, a strict Muslim religious code that calls for the death penalty for LGBT people. Jones handed out postcards designed by himself and Oscarwinning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black addressed to the Sultan at the hotel. A photo of Milk graced one side of the card. The other side of the card says, “Change your laws or sell your hotels.” “We didn’t want to go to Washington, D.C. for the unveiling at the White House,” Jones said of himself

Holisitc medicine lecture

The American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine will present a free lecture on preventative and holistic medicine Monday, June 2 from 5 to 6 p.m. at its main campus, 455 Arkansas Street, Room C in San Francisco. Speakers will provide an introduction to the world of Chinese medicine, acupuncture, and herbs. The strengths and limitations of eastern medicine when compared to western medicine will be discussed, along with how to integrate the two forms of healing. For more information, visit www. actcm.edu.

Local agency in running for Google challenge

Mission Asset Fund, a nonprofit that has social loan programs such as lending circles to help low-income residents open bank accounts, build their credit history, and avoid predatory lenders, is in the run-

Sunday morning, after checking out and saying our goodbyes, we drove south down Highway 1 toward Bodega, a speck of a town on the Bodega Highway, to visit St. Theresa Church and the Potter School, which is now a private residence. Both featured prominently in Hitchcock’s thriller starring Tippi Hedren, although the film made it appear the buildings were located above the harbor in Bodega Bay. Returning back onto Highway 1 we traveled south for about 25 minutes to head to Dillon’s Beach. (From Highway 1 in Tomales turn right onto Dillon Beach Road.)

and Black. “We wanted to be here. Harvey wasn’t a saint, he was a real person who lived here.” Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, a straight ally, spoke of Milk’s contributions to the fight for equal rights. “We are white, black, gay, straight, Asian, and Latino. He was the mayor of Castro Street. He recruited all of us to fight for justice,” said Chiu, referring to a speech Milk gave in which he said, “My name is Harvey Milk and I’m here to recruit you.” As the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to Milk, Wiener lifted the rainbow covering, revealing the postage stamp for all to see. The crowd applauded and cheered. Andrea Aiello, executive director of Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District, participated in the unveiling. As previously reported in the Bay Area Reporter, Burke had contacted the CBD about holding a local unveiling event. “The release of the Harvey Milk stamp tells everyone in this country that the country is proud of a gay activist,” Aiello told the B.A.R. “Stamps are legitimate, they are not fringe. They reach everyone. They reach isolated young questioning girls and boys in a very normal way.” While other LGB people have been honored by having their likeness grace a stamp, the Milk stamp is the first to honor an openly gay elected official. “When Harvey moved here you weren’t second-class if you were LGBT, you were a criminal,” Black told the B.A.R. “To have that same government now lift Harvey up is incredible.” Others were thrilled to be able to purchase the stamps. “Harvey Milk’s life and actions inspired me when I came out in 1981,” said Patrick Henry, 53. “It was an extra thrill to appear at the Castro Post Office today to purchase the Harvey Milk stamps. And it’s an extraordinary pleasure to attend this amazing event at Harvey Milk Plaza this evening.”t

ning for a $500,000 Google Impact Award but needs the community’s help by voting online for the agency. One of the couples MAF has helped, Edgar Cruz and Gustavo Cerritos, was featured in a recent Bay Area Reporter article. The men utilized a social loan to pay for fees to apply for the deferred action for childhood arrivals program, which was established by the Obama administration so that undocumented immigrant youth can attend college or find work that isn’t under the table. Jonathan Dsouza with MAF said that if the agency wins the Google award, it would be able to help more people. “We would have a tremendous opportunity to deepen our engagement in the Bay Area and reach more underserved individuals,” Dsouza said in an email. Voting is open until Monday, June 2 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time, at http://tinyurl.com/oelvdz9.t

There is an $8 entrance fee per vehicle to park and dogs are allowed to run off-leash along the beach. After a second day whiled away oceanside, stop off in Point Reyes Station to grab a light dinner at Cowgirl Creamery at Tomales Bay Foods (80 4th Street). The lesbianowned company restored the old hay barn into a showcase for its renowned organic cheeses. Inside chat up the cheesemongers and then dine outside under the night sky. By then any food-pilfering winged creatures should have called it a day, leaving you and your dog to eat in peace.t

Legal Notices>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME & GENDER IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-14-550235 In the matter of the application of: CAROLINE LOWNDES SMITH, for change of name & gender having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner CAROLINE LOWNDES SMITH is requesting that the name CAROLINE LOWNDES SMITH be changed to BEAU AMADEUS DREAM. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Rm. 514 on the 5th of June 2014 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAY 08, 15, 22, 29, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035814800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WHINY SHEEP STUDIO, 71 BRIGHTON AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 92112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed YANG YANG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/01/14.

MAY 08, 15, 22, 29, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035810000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SECUREWAY AUTO BODY AND GLASS, 585 BRYANT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SECUREWAY GLASS INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/29/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/29/14.

MAY 08, 15, 22, 29, 2014 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME & GENDER IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-14-550313

In the matter of the application of: JULIE MICHELE BERNSTEIN, for change of name & gender having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner JULIE MICHELE BERNSTEIN, is requesting that the name JULIE MICHELE BERNSTEIN be changed to PAX AHIMSA GETHEN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 10th of July 2014 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAY 15, 22, 29, JUNE 05, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035817500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TAQUERIA EL FAROLITO #10, 358 BEACH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed TAQUERIAS EL FAROLITO INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/05/14.

MAY 15, 22, 29, JUNE 05, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035789900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PHATHEADS GALLERY, 1519 POLK ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ELDER BRANDON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/17/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/17/14.

MAY 15, 22, 29, JUNE 05, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035839100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: VOLKOV LAW FIRM, 211 GOUGH ST #116, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ALEKSANDR VOLKOV. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/15/14.

MAY 22, 29, JUNE 05, 12, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035844100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BUMP IT UP, 2176 CHESTNUT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed AIMY TANTUWAYAREHM. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/19/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/19/14.

MAY 22, 29, JUNE 05, 12, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035840000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WORLD STARS, 1369 22ND AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARGARET K. LEE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/19/07. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/15/14.

MAY 22, 29, JUNE 05, 12, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035843400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JIAN MING TRADING COMPANY, 2400 ULLOA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JIAN MING LIU. 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 05/19/14.

MAY 22, 29, JUNE 05, 12, 2014

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-14-550262

In the matter of the application of: MARGARET COLLEEN BRUENING, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner MARGARET COLLEEN BRUENING, is requesting that the name MARGARET COLLEEN BRUENING, be changed to MARGARET COLLEEN GRACE MCGARRY. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 24th of June 2014 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAY 08, 15, 22, 29, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035843500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: XING SHENG TRADING COMPANY, 120 WENDY LANE, EL SOBRANTE, CA 94803. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DENG YONG. 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 05/19/14.

MAY 22, 29, JUNE 05, 12, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035820900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: IDEAL STORE, 4214 CALIFORNIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ELENA TUNG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/05/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/06/14.

MAY 22, 29, JUNE 05, 12, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035827600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ADVANCE HEALTH SF, 528A SAN JOSE AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MAGNOLIA NG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/08/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/08/14.

MAY 22, 29, JUNE 05, 12, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035842200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SPIRAL TOUCH MASSAGE THERAPY, 1840 48TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARY B. FONTE. 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 05/16/14.

MAY 22, 29, JUNE 05, 12, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035840600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SAN FRANCISCO PERIODONTICS AND IMPLANT DENTISTRY; SFPID; 129 SACRAMENTO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed ALEC J. TEMLOCK, DMD, MS, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/15/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/15/14.

MAY 22, 29, JUNE 05, 12, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035830600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SYMBIO; SYMBIO, INC; 393 7TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SYMBIO, INC. FAMILY THERAPY AND CONSULTING SERVICES (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/12/14.

MAY 22, 29, JUNE 05, 12, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035833500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PLEASURE WORKS ECOROTIC, 603 VALENCIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed BARNABY LTD LLC (OH). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/08. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/13/14.

MAY 22, 29, JUNE 05, 12, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035833600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PLEASURE WORKS ECOROTIC, 1620 POLK ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed BARNABY LTD LLC (OH). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/08. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/13/14.

MAY 22, 29, JUNE 05, 12, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035833700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GOOD VIBRATIONS PLEASURE WORKS, 899 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed BARNABY LTD LLC (OH). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/08. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/13/14.

MAY 22, 29, JUNE 05, 12, 2014

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Read more online at www.ebar.com Classifieds >>

22-28, MayMay 29-June 4, 2014 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11 19

Legal Notices>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-14-550346

In the matter of the application of: RAYMOND BRENNAN, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner RAYMOND BRENNAN, is requesting that the name RAYMOND BRENNAN be changed to RAYMOND DAVILA. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Rm. 514 on the 24th of July 2014 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAY 29, JUNE 5, 12, 19, 2014 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-14-550351 In the matter of the application of: HEATHER TEETER ROCKER, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner HEATHER TEETER ROCKER, is requesting that the name HEATHER TEETER ROCKER, be changed to PEMA TEETER ROCKER. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 514 on the 29th of July 2014 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAY 29, JUNE 5, 12, 19, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035851600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WELEARN CENTER, 2650A BALBOA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SUMI LEVY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/22/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/22/14.

MAY 29, JUNE 5, 12, 19, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035852200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BIEN BIEN, 255 STEINER ST #602, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed EMILY DULLA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/23/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/23/14.

MAY 29, JUNE 5, 12, 19, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035823100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SAYDE MARK DESIGNS, 1112 DE HARO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed HEATHER FORBES. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/11/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/07/14.

MAY 29, JUNE 5, 12, 19, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035838600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LOGOPEDA; PASSION COACHING FOR MEN; 550 FELL ST #15, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ALINA GABRIELA MIHAI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/15/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/15/14.

Classifieds The

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035833900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GOOD VIBRATIONS PLEASURE WORKS, 189 KEARNY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed BARNABY LTD LLC (OH). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/08. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/13/14.

Gaylesta2x2_0610CN Gaylesta2x2_0610CN Counseling>>

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MAY 22, 29, JUNE 05, 12, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035855300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: OUTERBAR APPAREL, 1859 41ST AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SARA FRANCO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/27/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/27/14.

MAY 29, JUNE 05, 12, 19, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035849200

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Invitations for Bids

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Board of Supervisors Regularly Scheduled Board Meetings June & July 2014

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC – Come see your San Francisco government in action. Tuesdays, 2:00pm, City Hall Chamber, Room 250. • June 3 • June 10 • June 17 • June 24 • July 8 • July 15 • July 22 • July 29

The City and County of San Francisco encourage public outreach. Articles are translated into several languages to provide better public access. The newspaper makes every effort to translate the articles of general interest correctly. No liability is assumed by the City and County of San Francisco or the newspapers for errors and omissions.

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Silent treatment

Surreal journey

Out &About

Future shock

O&A

The

Vol. 44 • No. 22 • May 29-June 4, 2014

www.ebar.com/arts

David Levinthal, courtesy San Jose Museum of Art

Tableaux vivants by Sura Wood

s a youth growing up in Palo Alto in the 1950s, photographer David Levinthal was a member of a generation hypnotized – some might say warped – by television and a steady diet of weekly serials – think Gunsmoke and Combat – war-movie matinees and Westerns. A grad of Stanford and Yale, he made his reputation and demonstrated an aptitude for controversy early, with photographs of disquieting tableaux meticulously staged with toys arranged in miniature dioramas. He started down this dubious road in 1971 with fellow Yalie and “bad influence” Garry Trudeau of Doonesbury fame, when the duo devised WWII vignettes using toy figures to depict the 1941 invasion of Russia from the German perspective. Levinthal is said to have buried the soldiers in snow drifts of baking flour, set model planes on fire, and photographed the conflagration as they crashed. Not for nothing do seasoned generals refer to combat as the “theater of war,” a metaphor he apparently took to heart. He lived out every little boy’s dream, acting out elaborate battles with GI Joes “Untitled (Willie Mays, No. in his room, but the crucial difference is that for Levinthal, it led to an art career. 43),” from the series Baseball Informed by the work of Life magazine photojournalist Robert Capa, the col(2003) by David Levinthal. laborative project with Trudeau yielded Hitler Moves East: A Graphic ChroniVintage Polaroid Polacolor ER cle, 1941-43, an influential book admired by pictorial fabulist Cindy Sherman, Land film on paper. Richard Prince, and other young artists. The plastic figurines contained in its pages seemingly come to life in sepia-toned battle scenes: a crouching infantryman, rifle in hand, is ready to spring into action; another pair of soldiers waits stealthily in the tall grasses. These two images are on view in Make Believe, an exhibition now at the San Jose Museum of Art, which features 39 photographs of Levinthal’s theatrical tableaux, drawn from nearly a dozen series the artist has produced since the mid-1970s. As a miniretrospective, the show is a sampling, and while it offers an instructive catalogue of Levinthal’s various enthusiasms, the approach dilutes the impact of a complete series and the way it might act on the mind if viewed on its own. See page 31 >>

Cindy Goldfield plays a woebegone secretary who chooses a robot lover over romance novels in D’Arcy Drollinger’s new musical Mr. Irresistible.

Romance of the robot lover by Richard Dodds

W kenttaylorphotography.com

hen D’Arcy Drollinger first began writing Mr. Irresistible in 1998, he worked on a beige, gumdropshaped iMac that was basically a word processor. “And I think I had just gotten my first cell phone, which was as big as a brick,” he said. In that early version of the musical, the robot-as-boyfriend story was more about spoofing the 1950s notions of what the future might hold. “But as it progressed, I pushed it more into what’s happening today,” Drollinger said. “Even though the show can be very silly, there is a bit of a serious take on our dependence on technology, and creating something and not being able to stop it.” See page 30 >>

{ SECOND OF TWO SECTIONS }

designing home jews and midcentury modernism On view through October 6, 2014 The Contemporary Jewish Museum | Plan your visit at thecjm.org

<<Out There

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 29-June 4, 2014

Presenting the Frameline presenters by Roberto Friedman

rameline 38, the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, has announced its offerings and special attractions in a beautifully designed new catalog, and it’s not too early to buy your screening tickets. So Out There sat down with director of exhibition & programming Desiree Buford and senior programmer Peter L. Stein in the Frameline offices to get the scoop and hear the buzz. Buford said it’s always an “honor curating and presenting the world’s largest and oldest LGBT film festival.” Programmers “travel the world, scouting at Sundance and the Berlinale [film fests],” but the films

have emerged before. But it’s still hard to make a good film. Talent will always out!” The programmers try to “open our lens wide” to all kinds of new and emerging voices. As one example, director Florencia Manovil’s Dyke Central, concerning the lives and loves of lesbians and bisexuals in Oakland, began as a Web series, and will be seen at Frameline up on the silver screen. We chatted about directors Ben Cotner and Ryan White’s opening-night film, The Case Against 8. Stein remarked that even though “you know how the story ends, it’s still a riveting journey towards justice” that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats. He encouraged us to think of some of its foot-

night film Ich Fuhl Mich Disco (I Feel Like Disco) is “not a silly film at all,” according to Stein. “It has real heart to it.” Brazilian director Daniel Ribeiro expanded a previous short film into feature length in his showcase film Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho, which has been given the English title The Way He Looks, an appropri-

rectors Sergei Taramaev & Luba Lvova), shorts including directors Gogol’s Wives’ Pussy vs. Putin, and Campaign of Hate: Russia and Gay Propaganda, with a discussion by its director, Moscow-born filmmaker Michael Lucas, and journalist Masha Gessen. Films from 31 countries include a strong representation from Latin

Scene from director Daniel Ribeiro’s showcase film Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho, which has been given the English title The Way He Looks.

Courtesy Frameline

that make it to Frameline are also the product of “a robust submission process.” This year, the festival offers 214 films, gleaned from over 800 submissions. Apart from all other considerations, its gatekeepers look above all for “craft and storytelling.” How have digital filmmaking and new social media affected the submissions pool? Stein acknowledged that now that more people “have access to the tools of moviemaking, we’re getting stories that might not

age as if we were flies on the wall during, say, the Brown vs. Board of Education deliberations. Centerpiece film To Be Takei (directors Jennifer Kroot & Bill Weber) celebrates the work and worth of George Takei – rhymes with TaGAY – an actor, activist and inspirational figure whose life has had, as Buford put it, “a wonderful third act!” Despite its campy press photos, director Axel Ranisch’s closing-

about a lonely trans girl in Kentucky; director Eduardo Roy, Jr.’s Quick Change, about the black market for silicone injections in Manila; and directors Sandrine Orabona & Mark Herzog’s Lady Valor: The Kristin Beck Story, a documentary about Beck’s incredible journey from U.S. Navy Seal to transgender activist. All of this, of course, is barely scratching the surface of the bountiful Frameline 38 offerings. Oh, and did we mention Barney Frank is the subject of one doc, and he’ll be coming to the fest? General ticket sales begin on Friday, May 30. Go to frameline.org and knock yourselves out, cinematically.

Scarlet fever

Courtesy Frameline

Actor & activist George Takei with an action figure based on his Star Trek role, in directors Jennifer Kroot & Bill Weber’s centerpiece film To Be Takei.

ate double entendre for a film whose lead character is blind. Thanks to a grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (baby daddies to the Oscars), Frameline will present three panels under the rubric New Storytelling in LGBT Cinema, including one on digital platforms and technologies; one on exploring hidden, suppressed or buried queer history; and one focusing on queer women filmmakers. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Go Fish and the 15th anniversary of Boys Don’t Cry: their respective directors Rose Troche and Kimberly Peirce will appear on the latter panel, and both films will screen in the fest. Also on the panel will be Appropriate Behavior writer, director and lead actress Desiree Akhavan, whose fictional incarnation was described to us as a “hot mess.” On a very hot topic right now, Spotlight: LGBT Films in Today’s Russia brings four programs of recent queer filmmaking from that troubled land. “It’s so brave for people to be making LGBT films in Russia,” said Stein, and we’ll see dramas Stand (director Jonathan Taieb) and Winter Journey (di-

and South America, including Ecuador, Venezuela and Mexico; the Finnish director Simo Halinen’s Open Up to Me, centering on a transgender woman; and a look at what it was like to be gay in a police state, in directors Jochen Hick & Andreas Strohfeldt’s Out in East Berlin – Lesbians & Gays in the GDR. A strong run of films about transgender people includes director Eric Schaeffer’s Boy Meets Girl,

Out There was in the elegant house for the debut party of The Scarlet Huntington, the grand old hotel on the top of Nob Hill given a colorful new makeover, and the attractions included good sparking wine (Mumm Napa), yummy canapés prepared at the hotel’s beloved Big 4 restaurant, mini spa treatments at Nob Hill Spa, live Instaprinting and photo projections, and a glam fashion show presented by Karen Caldwell Design. Our dear friend Elena flew in from Chicago and booked a room at the hotel with cocktail party furnishings and a view of stately old Grace Cathedral, so we stayed with her pre- and postparty in high style. Just consider it another installment in the longrunning series Out There: Fading Gigolo.t

Courtesy Frameline

Scene from writer, director and lead actress Desiree Akhavan’s Appropriate Behavior: a hot mess.

Fictionally yours by Jim Piechota

Foolish Hearts: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy J. Lambert & R.D. Cochrane; Lethe Press, $15.95 With: New Gay Fiction edited by Jameson Currier; Chelsea Station Editions, $20

he big, blustery world of gay fiction indeed ebbs and flows. With that said, it’s a pleasure to proclaim that the first half of 2014 has been promising, with enchanting new releases such as Michael Cunningham’s ethereal The Snow Queen, Jim Provenzano’s crushingly beautiful love story sequel Message of Love, Stephen Greco’s Brooklyn-based Now and Yesterday, and many others. Newness is a trait we can all relate to and gravitate toward, and two recently released compilations of short stories celebrate the fresh, newly-christened quality of stories penned by both previously pub-

lished gay writers and those just beginning to break their way through. For readers truly living in a house of love, Foolish Hearts will be inspiring and funny, offering joyful, fun (and periodically goofy and gushy) reading entertainment. While sorting through the stories to choose from for this book (the sequel to their 2009 compilation Fool for Love Love), Lambert and Cochrane were most impressed with “how deftly places are woven into the stories and hearts of their characters.” This is definitely true in Tony Calvert’s “Hello Aloha,” the adorable lead story in this 17-piece compilation, which takes place at Disney World, where the jaded, jilted narrator, attending his friends’ fantastical Magic Kingdom wedding, meets a flirtatious Goofy for some light banter (“Maleficent and See page 31 >>

Theatre>>

May 29-June 4, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

Economics, theological studies & hustlers by Richard Dodds

es, Tony Kushner’s latest play clocks in at nearly four hours, but many other contemporary playwrights writing in the now-popular 90-minute mode could extract at least five plays from what Kushner has written, making Kushner’s effort, relatively speaking, a streamlined affair. Berkeley Rep is presenting its first post-New York production, with a new director, a new cast, and significant revisions by Kushner (whose Angels in America was born in San Francisco). It is a technologically complex, emotionally wrenching, intellectually stimulating, and thematically unwieldy play that finds fulfilling life under Tony Taccone’s direction at Berkeley Rep. The play’s title certainly doesn’t stint on word count: The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures. But that can only suggest part of the stories of this colliding family, some of which do involve economic dialectics and theological studies. Among those that don’t, at least specifically, is the saga of a gay couple whose 26-year relationship is challenged by one of the men’s expensive addiction to a Yale-educated hustler. And then there is the unfaithful partner’s sister, whose own partner is pregnant from sperm donated by their younger brother, and who beds her ex-husband while her spouse is having contractions in the same house. That house is very much a character in the play, a large Brooklyn brownstone that has been the Marcantonio family’s anchor for decades even if most of the offspring have moved far away. When the clan is summoned by patriarch Gus, they are almost as disturbed at his an-

nouncement that he is selling the house as by the fact that he is planning on liquidizing himself as well as the homestead. And here is where the parts of the title that invoke economic theories come most into play – mainly revolving around the positives and negatives promulgated by labor unions, and the quasireligious experience they once gave to their most ardent adherents. Gus is an old-time union activist and a standing member of the shrinking U.S. Communist Party, and his reasons for wanting to kill himself at age 72 are fluid and not completely honest at the start. Alzheimer’s is his initial rationale, but little that he says or does suggest that as a valid reason. Gradually more honest explanations emerge, and valid or not, his family cannot abide his choice. That tension unleashes conflicts already facing his offspring and their spouses, whose dramas play out both separately and in the verbal group brawls that may be the most intriguing/frustrating aspect of the play. Multiple sub-arguments compete for attention in these rancorous scenes, and you soon realize you cannot possibly follow them all. That can be frustrating, but what happens is that you variously tune in to different moments of the different confrontations, and nobody in the audience is going to have exactly the same experience. And while the concurrent arguments competing for our attention are deadly serious, Kushner clearly wants to have some fun with the chaotic situation as well. Most everyone in the cast of 11 has equal prominence as the story plays out in multiple scenes and various locations. But the reason that they are all drawn together at this moment is Gus, the suicidal pater-

familias, and the quietly charismatic Mark Margolis delivers the difficult combination of convincing elderliness with the assuredness of an actor not hindered by age. As his daughter Empty (an unsubtle nickname derived from the initials of her given name Maria Teresa), Deirdre Lovejoy gives vivid life to the character whose position as her father’s favorite becomes a moral burden while she also deals with her unmaternal feelings about her partner’s pregnancy. Lou Liberatore and Jordan Geiger project the uneasy erotic-affectionate-monetary relationship between, respectively, Gus’ older son Pill and his hustler-companion Eli. And while Tyrone Mitchell Henderson provides a kind of uptight comic relief as Pill’s husband Paul, we never get to see beyond the character’s rigid anger to that place that had made Pill and Paul such an enduring couple. There isn’t kevinberne.com room to go into the considerable contributions of Mark Margolis and Deidre Lovejoy play a father and daughter dealing with a family crisis in Tony Kushner’s The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalthe other cast members, ism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures at Berkeley Rep. except to note the wonderfully deadpan perforthe dominant reaction is more quizmance by Randy Danson zical than resolute for both the charThe Intelligent Homosexual’s as Gus’ sister and the chilling impresGuide to Capitalism and Socialism acters and for us. Kushner doesn’t sion made by Robynn Rodriguez in With a Key to the Scriptures will pretend to have answers to the dia single scene as the widow of one of run at Berkeley Rep through June lemmas he creates, but there are few Gus’ union buddies, with her inad29. Tickets are $29-$99. Call (510) playwrights better than Kushner vertent revelations and her tutorial 647-2949 or go to berkeleyrep.org. at creating messy lives with such on painless suicide. clarity.t When the final curtain descends,

<<Music

24 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 29-June 4, 2014

Chike One: the rogue piano concerto by Tim Pfaff

ue the horns: It will be greeeat. Just wait and seeee. Here it comes nowwww. I told you sooo. Boom. Crash. Boom. Crash. Booom! Cue the piano, in octaves. Is Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto really necessary? One new, one newish (they were recorded one year apart) CD of the warhorse of warhorses by modernity’s first iconically gay composer, both with Valery Gergiev conducting his own Mariinsky Orchestra on the house label (and cauterizing the work of all putridity), raise the questions: If one is good, are two better?, and, Is one good?

As for the concerto, I’ll merely say that I’ve been bewitched with the rogue’s company since my impressionable adolescence. Somewhere in my first, fateful handful of recordings was the million-plusselling studio version of Chike One with Van Cliburn, shortly after the movie-starhandsome, long, tall Texan had made his contribution to world peace by winning the first-ever Tchaikovsky Competition – a piano competition being the singularly Russian idea of the one thing that

might cap the world-dominating feat they just had just pulled off with Sputnik. On his triumphal return to a grateful US, the young gay pianist was given a tickertape parade, sitting on the back of an expensive convertible, down Broadway. Watching him on TV at the tender age of 10, I just knew both he and I were, though “gay” and Stonewall were still years off, and we’d both have to be very quiet about it. If music was in your orbit at the time, there was no getting away from Chike One. Truth be told, in three later decades of live-concert reviewing, I’ve never heard the piece live, or avoided hearing it live, or therefore, never had to pronounce on its quality. That’s been a divisive issue in the music world ever since Nicolai Rubenstein, the pianist Tchaikovsky hoped would play its premiere (and whom music history has forgotten except for this opinion and his change of heart, subsequently playing the popular work often) pronounced it vulgar, worthless and unplayable. All I knew was that Russian pianists played it as if it were a second national anthem, the brainier pianists (with notable exceptions, like Stephen Hough) avoided it like the plague and often with a sniff, commentators of the stature of Michael Steinberg unearthed “special” language to describe it – and it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up every time I heard its famous opening. Was that right? It’s not a piece that I have 130 recordings of (people do), though,

over the years, Martha Argerich and Ivo Pogorelich – both, perhaps not incidentally, with Claudio Abbado – have made me love the piece, in a closety kind of way, all over again. The recent-ish first issue of Van Cliburn live at the 1958 Tchaikovsky Competition (Testament) was a gooseflesh moment, and Hough’s revelatory set of all three piano-Chikes purged any remaining shame I might have had. The older of Gergeiv’s two new versions features then-21-year-old Danil Trifonov, whose sense of excitement about the piece is infectious. Without sacrificing anything in its nobility, fire and sentiment, he plays the concerto with such obvious pleasure that there is – against enormous odds – that sense you rarely have that you’re hearing the piece for the first time. Its more sinister passages have a bit of the devil in them, and in the soulful, soaring passages, you have a feeling that if you let yourself, you could fly. Trifonov fills out his disc with serious, absorbingly played solo works, mostly Liszt transcriptions, but also a Chopin Barcarolle, a late Chopin piece many a 21-yearold has yet to notice. The pianist on the newer, betterrecorded version is Denis Matsuev, who’s long since proved his piano prowess but plays the concerto as if he – and certainly not it – still had something to prove. He doesn’t play down to it, but he certainly plays down on it, pommeling it into shape and showing off its tenderer,

more inward sections as if they were spoils of war. It’s remarkably clean playing that traces the fast, lighter, more delicate episodes with agility and gleam, if not with much heart. In all, his concerto seems to be saying, let this music lift you up or it will hurt you. That approach, high on sustained tension and high momentum, becomes an unalloyed virtue in his CD filler, the more notorious Tchaikovsky Second Concerto, which everyone (including Tchaikovsky) agrees is overlong yet has proved over time that it works best in the composer’s original. It’s the overworked pianists who defend it most strongly, and in the right hands – Matsuev’s among them – it doesn’t overstay its welcome. It’s tempting to say leave the Second to fend for itself when it can find as fine a proponent as Matsuev – and leave the First to Russian pianists; there are plenty of them good enough, and they love it. Apart, possibly, from his good friend Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Putin’s camp still holds that Tchaikovsky was not gay. But what if the truth got out that two of the First’s main tunes – no, not the big, disappearing one – were derived from Ukrainian folk songs. Then the Russian government could host its own cultural revolution, in which Chike 1 would be banned as subversive, anti-Russian propaganda. You can only wonder at how that would enhance the concerto’s popularity. We’d be hearing it everywhere again.t

Country, ’tis of thee

by Gregg Shapiro

I CHANTICLEER

PRESENTS

Russian Dreams Choral music, in many styles, that has poured from the great Russian heart, under the direction of Elena Sharkova

JUNE 4-8 6/4 6/5 6/7 6/8

Lafayette San Jose San Francisco Sacramento

Tickets available through City Box Office: 415-392-4400 or www.chanticleer.org

t’s got to be nearly impossible for Califone, a band with Chicago roots and an experimental alt-country sound not to be compared to Chicago’s Wilco. The similarities alone, including that Califone is comprised of members of the defunct but influential Red Red Meat, in the same way that Wilco consists of former members of Uncle Tupelo, not to mention enigmatic frontmen (Califone’s Tim Rutili, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy), guarantee that comparisons will be made. But Califone holds its own on Stitches (Dead Oceans). How could you not love a band that makes reference to the late Karen Black (the desert torch tune “Movie Music Kills a Kiss”), admits to having come in their pants and “turned a shade of red” (“Moses”), knows when to twist and turn the knobs (“Frosted Tips”) and strikes a balance between the new and the familiar? Long before there was Wilco or Califone or any of the other altcountry acts, there was a little something called cowpunk. Purveyors included Rank & File, Jason & The Scorchers, X at their twangiest, Los Lobos, gay Glen Meadmore, and of course, Lone Justice. With lead vocals by belting diva Maria McKee, Lone Justice scored some airplay and hits on college radio, and released a pair of discs on Geffen. This Is Lone Justice: The Vaught Tapes, 1983 (Omnivore) unearths some early recordings (recorded “direct to 2-track tape”) and does a delightful job of reminding us of LJ’s contributions. Covers of “Nothing Can

Stop My Loving You” and “Working Man’s Blues,” and originals “Soap, Soup and Salvation” and “Cactus Rose” reinforce the band’s legacy. North Carolina’s country rockers Southern Culture on the Skids are back with Dig This (Kudzu). Rootsy and rockabillyish, SCOTS have some of the best song titles, hands down. “Too Much Pork For Just One Fork,” “My House Has Wheels” and “Put Your Teeth Up on the Windowsill” meet expectations. SCOTS also bring their surf buggies to the Carolina coast on the Dick Dale-icious instrumentals “Tuna Fish Everyday” and “Rumors of Surf,” and get down on the dirty double entendre of “Ditch Diggin’.” In the tradition of Sugarland and Lady Antebellum, The Band Perry is a modern country act with a strong female in the lead. The Perrys are siblings. Pioneer (Republic Nashville), their second full-length disc, boasts some irresistible country poprockers. “Done” is a boot- and bridge-burning number meant to be embraced by line dancers, “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely” is a Bic-waving anthem, and the title cut shows that TBP can slow things down. These days more Broadway performers are branching out of the show-tune corral. North of Houston (Broadway/Low Heat) by Michael Cerveris & Loose Cattle is a good example. Cerveris, who has sung Sondheim and played the lead in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, shares

lead vocal duties with Kimberly Kaye on this live recording. He tosses in a few originals along a stellar array of covers. Standouts include Julie and Buddy Miller’s “Gasoline and Matches,” the medley of Dolly’s “Jolene” and Cee-Lo’s “Fuck You,” out singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile’s “Raise Hell,” Ryan Adams’ “Hard Luck Story” and, believe it or not, The Who’s “Pinball Wizard.” The Avett Brothers also hail from North Carolina, but they go for a sweeter acoustic sound. Not that they don’t plug their gee-tars into amps when necessary, but there’s more of a focus on harmony on Magpie and the Dandelion (American). “Morning Song,” “Souls Like Wheels” (live) and “Vanity” are some of the dandy highlights. Amos Lee brings blue-eyed soulfulness to his country-hued tunes on Mountains of Sorrow, Rivers of Song (Blue Note). From the pedal steel guitar on “Johnson Blvd.” to the banjo on “Stranger,” the frontporch stomp of “Tricksters, Hucksters, and Scamps” to the bluesy bounce of “The Man Who Wants You,” Lee sounds perfectly at home in this territory. He reminds us of his soul style on “Loretta,” and draws on his experimental side on “Plain View.” Singer and actor Dwight Yoakam is one of the survivors of the mid-1980s country t r e n d where young upstarts were looking to shake things up. He continues to do so on 3 Pairs (Reprise), his first albuΔm of new material in several years. Yoakam colors outside the country lines on “A Heart Like Mine” and “Missing Heart,” part of the double-disc 21 Century Hits: Best of 2000-2012 (New West).t

Theatre>>

May 29-June 4, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 25

Homosexuals past, present & future by Richard Dodds

of The Homosexuals has a wicked resonance. “When I’m reading bad news, I prefer that a tree dies,” says Peter, a theater maven, who could have more easily found online that Catherine Zeta-Jones has won a

Tony Award than wait for this horror to appear in print. The year is or those of us still grasping at 2010, and as the play regresses two paper covered with flecks of ink, years in each subsequent scene, we also known as newspapers, a chardon’t see Peter again until the final acter’s remark in the opening scene scene set in 2000. “The future is ambiguous,” says Peter at a party attended by all the characters, “like capri pants.” It’s s flip comment, and if the ambiguity of the future is an obvious notion, it’s one that Philip Dawkins’ play explores with graceful insight. New Conservatory Theatre Center is the first area theater to showcase this ascendant Chicago playwright, with Marin Theatre Company soon to follow with Dawkins’ Failure: A Love Story. Before the final scene, which, chronLois Tema ologically, is the earliest in the play, we are Matt Weimar finds himself comforting Robert Rushin after Rushin’s character has able to see how past, broken up with Weimar’s in The Homosexuals at New Conservatory Theatre Center. present, and future

can be a dispiriting mix when taken in together, but have their own life forces when experienced individually. We view this through the eyes of Evan, a character a decade into gay life after fleeing Iowa, disapproving parents, and the closet, and he appears in each of the two-person scenes featuring characters that he met at the party that will end the play. Something like Bobby in the Sondheim musical Company, Evan is a bemused witness to life with a cipher-like personality onto which the other characters can project their own hopes and desires. These desires often have a sexual activation, which can become relationships, flings, and splintering confrontations. As Evan, Robert Rushin has the right combination of laidback charm and accessible good looks, and Rushin is also able to show us the character’s pain and uncertainties through cracks in the veneer. Each of the other characters gets a scene with Evan, and in each case to memorable effect. Following the order of the play’s introduction of these characters, there is Matt Weimar, who deliciously laps at

the pool of snark as theater-queen Peter; Daniel Redmond, who projects visceral sexual intensity as the character known as British Mark; Gabriel Ross, as sexual wallflower Michael, who beautifully delivers a soul-baring monologue; a confident Alyssa Stone, as the gal pal to the boys; Keith Marshall, who infuses the older character of Mark with a hostile sense of seniority; and Scott Cox, who empathetically plays Collin as he must still host a Tony Awards party despite the fact that his lover has just left. Director Arturo Catricala smoothly handles the transitions, both in time and mood, of the multi-scene play for which Yusuke Soi’s set easily accommodates. Those scenes span a decade, and while we all know the enormous changes for gay rights that have happened in those years, Dawkins’ play reminds us that freedom is much easier to legislate than internalize.t The Homosexuals will run at New Conservatory Theatre Center through June 28. Tickets are $25$45. Call 861-8972 or go to nctcsf.org.

Recordings taking center stage by Gregg Shapiro

esbian cartoonist Alison Bechdel’s lauded graphic novel Fun Home might not seem like the ideal candidate for a stage musical. It’s the autobiographical story of Bechdel’s coming out in college, her childhood growing up in her family’s funeral home, and her complex relationships with her parents, particularly her bisexual father Bruce, who committed suicide. But leave it to Jeanine Tesori, who cowrote new songs for the Broadway musical Thoroughly Modern Millie and collaborated with Tony Kushner on Caroline, Or Change, to bring it to fruition with book writer and lyricist Lisa Kron. The Pulitzer Prizenominated Fun Home: Original Cast Recording (PS Classics) features Tony-winning actor Michael Cerveris as Bruce, Tony nominee Judy Kuhn as Alison’s mother Helen, and three actresses as the lead character, identified as Small Alison (Sydney Lucas), Medium Alison (Alexandra Socha) and Alison (Beth Malone). To the credit of all involved, Fun Home maintains the humor and tragedy of the book, honoring the original material and expanding the audience for both the book and the show. If you’ve ever seen singer/ songwriter Jonatha Brooke in concert, you know that she has a theatrical streak. Brooke thinks nothing of posing like a dancer, a discipline in which she trained. She is also a natural storyteller, regaling audiences with marvelous stories between songs, sometimes even in the middle of a song. So it’s not surprising that she created and performs the musical play My Mother Has 4 Noses, currently running off-Broadway. It’s the story of when “Alzheimer’s began claiming” her mother, and how Brooke moved her mother in with her to become her caregiver. The CD My Mother Has 4 Noses (Bad Dog) consists of 12 songs from the show, finding a place between cast record-

ing and pop album. Every song is a welcome addition to Brooke’s canon, especially standouts “Are You Getting This Down?,” “What Was I Thinking?” and “Time.” The 2010 all-star studio recording of Here Lies Love, featuring the talents of Cyndi Lauper, Sia, Sharon Jones, Martha Wainwright, Kate Pierson, Santigold, Natalie Merchant, Tori Amos and Florence Welch, was a creative collaboration between David Byrne and Fatboy Slim. Reminiscent of the pre-stageproduction albums of musicals by

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, it set the stage for what was to come next. Here Lies Love has the most in common with Evita. It’s the story of Imelda Marcos, who went from beloved to despised during the course of her lifetime. The double-disc cast recording of the Public Theater’s production (Nonesuch) replaces the all-star performers with a cast of actors, including Ruthie Ann Miles in the lead role. Those who heard the studio concept recording will recognize “American Troglodyte,” “Eleven Days,” the haunting “Order 1081,” and the buoyant title tune. The cast recording features seven new songs written just for the stage musical. To commemorate the half-century that has passed since it premiered on Broadway, the 50th Anniversary Edition of Funny Girl: Original Broadway Cast (Capitol/UMe) is a sensational package. The box set contains the digitally remastered cast album on vinyl and CD, and a

colorful 48-page book containing archival pix and new liner notes. Show-tune queens are sure to polish their brass to “Cornet Man” (cut from the movie version), “Who Are You Now?” and “The Music That Makes Me Dance.” The inexplicably popular musical Les Miserables has returned to Broadway at the Imperial Theatre. To whet your appetite for the destruction of the souls in the show, the double-disc concert version of

the 25th anniversary production from 2010 is available on a live cast album. Les Miserables Live! (First Night), subtitled Dream the Dream, features John Owens-Jones as Jean Valjean, Earl Carpenter as Javert, and Madalena Alberto as Fantine. Les Miserables debuted during the reign of Reagan. If that isn’t a political statement, what is? If you believe, as the vaudeville strippers in Gypsy sang, that you’ve got to get a gimmick, then Joe Kino-

SHOSHANA BEAN June 5

sian and Kellen Blair’s two-person, multi-character musical Murder for Two is your cup of tainted tea. Murder for Two: Original Cast Recording (Ghostlight) stars Brett Ryback as career-minded cop Marcus, summoned to the home of murdered writer Arthur to question his many guests (read: suspects), all portrayed by Jeff Blumenkrantz. This one grows old quickly. It’s “two” tiresome.t

GLORY CRAMPTON AND FRANC D’AMBROSIO June 6 - 7

JUDY KAYE

CHRISTINE EBERSOLE

June 12 - 13

June 14 - 15

For tickets: www.feinsteinssf.com Feinstein’s | Hotel Nikko San Francisco 222 Mason Street 855-MF-NIKKO | 855-636-4556

090530.05_HNSF_Feinsteins_2014_Q2_Bay_Area_Reporter_5_29 ROUND #: MECH Trim: 5.75in x 7.625in Bleed: none Live: 5.75in x 7.625in Color Space: CMYK Fonts: Futura

<< Out&About

26 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 29-June 4, 2014

O&A Out &About

Daylighting @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley

Pen/Man/Ship @ Magic Theatre

Shotgun Players’ production of The Berkeley Stories Project, Dan Wolf’s play about a young East Bay woman whose day-long walk includes real-life stories from Berkeley residents. $20-$35. Wed-Sat 8pm. 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org

World premiere of playwright Christina Anderson’s drama about passengers on an 1890s ship bound for Africa. $30-$55. Tue 7pm. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2:30pm. Thru June 15. Fort Mason Center, Bldg. D, 3rd floor. 441-8822. www.magictheatre.org

Devil Boys From Beyond @ New Conservatory Theatre Center

Kent Taylor

Fri 30

Walk Like a Man

Homotional by Jim Provenzano

ith the current emotional discussion-argument-catfight over the use of the word “tranny” making headlines (including ours; see the BARtab section), it’s ironic that no less than three plays running this week use the terms Homo and Homosexual (see our theatre reviews). Several others dare to use the term Queer. Oh, my! So while we’re still allowed to use those terms without offending anyone, or most people, or—oops. Looks like I just offended someone, so I’d better stop now. Not. Go see art. Let artists define themselves, before someone tries to censor them, and you.

Bloom @ City View API Wellness Center’s annual gala includes cocktails, hors d’eouvres, live entertainment, a silent auction and a great view. $125-$250. 6:30-9:30pm. Metreon, 135 Fourth St. 292-3420. www.apiwellness.org

Dan Hoyle @ The Marsh The award-winning solo performer premieres his new show, Each and Every Thing, a multi-character play about the search for real community in a hyperconnected world. $20-$50. Thu & Fri 8pm, Sat 8:30pm. Thru July 12. 1062 Valencia St. at 21st. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Dracula @ Shelton Theatre Jennifer Keller and Lauren Davidson’s new adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic vampire novel. $30. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru May 31. 533 Sutter St. at Powell. (800) 838-3006. www.sfdracula.blogspot.com

Dissident Sexualities @ LGBT Center Lecture and reception with medical doctor and human rights activist Dr. Alberto Roque, who discusses the historical and current challenges of LGBTQI life in Cuba. Free. 7pm-8:30pm. 1800 Market St. www.RainbowFund.org

New and Classic Films @ Castro Theatre May 29-June 1 is the Silent Film Festival; various single and multi-event ticket prices. (www.silentfilm.org). June 3: A Film About Coffee. June 4: Le Week-End and Band of Outsiders. June 5: Jodorosky’s Dune and Woman in the Dunes. 429 Castro St. 6216120. www.castrotheatre.com

Jacob Hankinson

Hot Draw @ Mark I. Chester Studio The monthly gay men’s sketch group features male models posing nude and in kink-fetish gear. Donations. 6:30-9:30pm. RSVP day of at 621-6294. 1229 Folsom St. www.markichester.com

Michael Feinstein, Paula West @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The cabaret singer-pianist and namesake of the classy nigthclub performs in a oneyear anniversary celebration of concerts with special guest vocalist Paula West. $65-$95. 8pm. May 30, 8pm. May 31 & June 1, 7pm. Thru June 1. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.ticketweb.com

The Homosexuals @ New Conservatory Theatre Center Bay Area debut of Chicago playwright Philip Dawkins’ comic drama about young men facing the new gay community. $25$45. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. thru June 28. 25 Van Ness Ave. lower level. 861-8972. www.nctcsf.org

The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures @ Berkeley Repertory The West Coast premiere of multiple award-winner Tony Kushner’s new play takes on politics, sex, and power in his expansive and brilliant way, by focusing on a Brooklyn Italian family whose patriarch decides to die. $55-$89. Tue, Thu-Sat 7:30pm. Wed & Sun 7pm. Thru June 29. Roda Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

Queer Past Becomes Present @ GLBT History Museum Opening reception for Biconic Flashpoints: Four Decades of Bay Area Bisexual Politics, May 29, 7pm-9pm. Thru Aug. 15. Also, the new exhibit of fascinating historical items and how their legacies are still with us; includes queer youth, Harvey Milk, José Sarria, AIDS and gay bar ephemera and the lesbians of The Ladder. Reg. hours Mon-Sat 11am-7pm (closed Tue.) Sun 12pm-5pm. ($5/free for members). 4127 18th St. 6211107. www.glbthistory.org

Queer Youth Arts & Crafts Fair @ LGBT Center One-day exhibit and display of works by LGBTQ youth under 24 who’ve experienced homelessness. $5. 4pm-8pm. 1800 Market St. 865-5555. www.sfcenter.org

A Raisin in the Sun @ Bruns Ampitheatre, Orinda California Shakespeare Company’s production of lesbian playwright Lorainne Hansbury’s classic drama about an impoverished African American family’s struggle to overcome oppression. $45-$61. Tue-Thu 7:30pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 4pm. Thru June 15. 100 CA Shakespeare Theater Way Hwy 24, Wilder Road Exit. (510) 548-9666. www.calshakes.org

The Speakeasy @ Private Location Boxcar Theatre’s popular Prohibition-era interactive bar, gaming and performance show extends its sold-out run before closing to find a bigger venue. $65-$100. WedSat admissions times 7:30-9pm. Thru June 21. Address given after ticket purchase. www.thespeakeasysf.com

East Bay production of the comic musical about stressed-out spelling bee competitors. $37-$65. Wed 7:30pm. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 2:30pm. Thru June 21. 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek. (925) 943-7469. www.centerrep.org

Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi The musical comedy revue celebrates its 40th year with an ever-changing lineup of political and pop culture icons, all in gigantic wigs. $25-$160. Beer/wine served; cash only; 21+, except where noted. 678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd (Green St.). 4214222. www.beachblanketbabylon.com

The Color Purple @ Hillbarn Theatre, Foster City Local production of the musical stage adaptation of Alice Walker’s hit novel about downtrodden African Americans in the South. $23-$38. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru June 1. 1285 East Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City. (650) 349-6411. www.hillbarntheatre.org

Queer AAPI Artivism @ African American Arts & Culture Complex, ATA Gallery Spirit, a two night event of performance and films by LGBTQ artists of color, including Bellows, Elena Rose, Erin O’Brien, Heaven Mousalem, Maryam Rostami, Moon Ray Ra and Ryka Aoki. $12-$20, 8pm. 762 Webster St. Film night with Celeste chan, Devyn Manibo, Gein Wong, Jeepneys, Kirthi Nath, Laura Kim, Riko Fluchel and others. June 1, 8pm. 992 Valencia St. $7-$10. www.queerrebels.com

Sasha Boldachev @ Harps Etc., Walnut Creek The Russian master harpist performs an intimate concert of works by Bach, Laurent, Debussy, Faure and other composers, at the harp store. $20-$50. Master class 2pm. Concert 7:30pm. 1601 N. Main St., Walnut Creek. (925) 937-4277. www.harpsetc.com

SF Hiking Club @ Stanford Join GLBT hikers for a 6-mile walk among the outdoor sculptures at Stanford University plus a loop around Lake Lagunita, the radio telescope in the Santa Cruz foothills, and a detour to Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1936 Hanna House. Bring water, lunch, hat, sunscreen, good walking shoes. Carpool meets at 9:30 at Safeway sign, Market & Dolores. 740-9888. www.sfhiking.com

Yerba Buena Gardens Festival @ Esplanade The months-long free summer performance series has commenced, with weekend outdoor dance, music and theatre concerts, on various days and evenings thru Oct. Mission St. at 3rd. 543-1718. www.ybgfestival.org

Ray of Light Theatre company’s production of the innovative musical about a female T-Rex who turns male, leaving the herd of singing dinosaurs to question their prehistoric gender identity. $25-$36. Wed-Sat 8pm. Thru June 28. 250 Jackson St at Battery. www.rayoflighttheatre.com

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee @ Center Repertory, Walnut Creek

Impact Theatre company premieres Christopher Chen’s satirical play about desperate racist GOP power brokers who select a token presidential candidate who’s half Asian. $10-$25. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 7pm. Thru June 1. 1834 Euclid Ave., Berkeley. www.impacttheatre.com

Lil Miss Hot Mess hosts a fundraiser for the SF Tenants Union, which fights evictions. Live music by Adelante, Mean to Me and Be Calm Honcho. $5-$50. 3pm-8pm. 3158 Mission St. www.elriosf.com

Triassic Parq @ Eureka Theatre

Fri 30

Mutt: Let’s All Talk About Race! @ La Val’s Subterranean, Berkeley

Tenants Union Fundraiser @ El Rio

Thrillpeddlers’ hilarious Cockettes revival returns, with new choreography, costumes, performers, and some of the original cast members. $30-$35. Thu-Sat 8pm. Extended thru June 28! 575 10th St. (800) 8383006. www.thrillpeddlers.com

Enjoy wacky offbeat vintage short films. Thu & Fri, each $10, 8pm. 275 Capp St. 558-8117. www.oddballfilms.blogspot.com

Hot Draw

Seth Eisen’s innovative multimedia musictheatre production about the life of gay author, tattoo artist, and sexual raconteur Samuel Steward blends puppetry, projections and even aerial artistry. $25-$35. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 7pm. Thru June 15. 1310 Mission St. 626-2060. www.counterpulse.org

The lesbian comic’s hit solo show Lovebirds, with characters revolving around a nightlife photographer, returns before she takes it to New York City. $20-$100. Fri 8pm, Sat 8:30pm. Thru May 31. 1062 Valencia St. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Pearls Over Shanghai @ The Hypnodrome

Unusual Shorts @ Oddball Films

Thu 29

Homo File @ CounterPulse

Marga Gomez @ The Marsh

Sun 1

Fri 30

Georgia O’Keeffe @ de Young Museum

Homo File

The Letters @ Aurora Theatre, Berkeley John W. Lowell’s suspenseful two-person psychological thriller about life under the Stalin regime. $28-$32. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru June 1. 2081 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org

Macbeth @ Fort Point We Players’ innovative audience participation staging of the tragic “Scottish play” by William Shakespeare returns (after being abruptly closed for the government shut-down). Audience members walk through the historic building as the show takes place in all areas of the fort, including a snack and beverage break during the famous “banquet scene.” $30-$75. Thu-Sun 7pm. Previews thru June 1. Thru June 29. Golden Gate National Recreation Area, 999 Marine Drive. 547-0189. www.weplayers.org

Not a Genuine Black Man @ Osher Studio, Berkeley Brian Copeland’s tenth anniversary run of his compelling autobiographical solo show gets restaged at Berkeley Repertory’s studio theatre. $14-$430. Wed 7pm. Thu-Sat 8pm. Extended thru June 28. Osher Studio, 2055 Center St., Berkeley. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

The Objects @ ASC Projects Opening reception for Evie Leder’s photo and video installation that uses nude portraits of local gay artists to examine the human form. 7pm-9pm. Thru June 29. 3150 18th St. www.facebook.com/ascprojectssf

Walk Like a Man @ The Costume Shop Theatre Rhinoceros’ production of Laurinda D. Brown’s Lambda Literary Awardwinning drama about African-Amercian lesbians and their relationships. $15-$35. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 3pm. Thru June 15. 1117 Market St. at 7th. (800) 838-3006. www.TheRhino.org

Walking Distance Dance Festival @ ODC Theater Fringe-style two-day dance festival features three programs of paired artists, a book reading and a site adaptive performance across the street from the theater at Mission Bowling Club. $25-$65. 7:30pm. Also May 31 at various times. 351 Shotwell St., 3153 17th St. and 3176 17th St. odcdance.org/wddf

Sat 31

Georgia O’Keeffe: Modern Nature : Georgia O’Keeffe and Lake George, a new exhibit of paintings focusing on the artist’s New York landscapes. $25. Thru May 11. Also, Lines on the Horizon: Native American Art from the Weisel Family Collection, thru Jan. 4, 2015. Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. www.deyoungmuseum.org

Meals on Wheels Gala @ Fort Mason Notable chefs and vintners from Northern California’s top restaurants and wineries join James Beard Award-winner Nancy Oakes to create a huge celebration of food, wine and cocktails. Proceeds benefit the nonprofit that provides food to homebound seniors. $200 and up. 5pm-11pm. VIP reception, car raffle, silent auction, seated dinner and wine and dessert reception. DJ Chef Hubert Keller. Black Tie attire, please. Festival Pavilion, 343-1283. www.mowsf.org/gala

Sat 31

Feisty Old Jew @ The Marsh Charlie Veron’s new solo show about a fictional elder man who hitches a ride with surfer-hipsters, and rants about what he hates about the 21st century. $25-$100. Sat & Sun 5pm. Extended thru July 13. 1062 Valencia St. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Cailin Holmes

Thu 29

Buddy Thomas and Kenneth Elliot’s hilarious comedy is about an ace reporter who investigates a Florida colony of elders who are shacking up with alien beefcake guys. $25-$45. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. thru June 28. 25 Van Ness Ave. lower level. 861-8972. www.nctcsf.org

Maryam Rostami @ Queer AAPI Artivism

Out&About>>

May 29-June 4, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 27

Mr. Irresistible @ Alcazar Theatre Fresh from his hit show Shit & Champagne, D’Arcy Drollinger (with writer Christopher Winslow) has a new musical comedy thriller about the wild misadventures of a manufactured perfect man. $25. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 7pm. Thru June 8. 650 Geary St. www.mrirresistiblemusical.com

Radar Superstar @ SF Public Library

Sat 31

Sasha Boldachev

Passage and Place @ Alley Cat Books Gallery

David Hawkins @ Glama-Rama

Multimedia visual arts exhibition, book project and skillshare series of works that explore a queer aspect of incarceration, immigration and other social issues; with works by Grace Rosario Perkins, Sarah Biscarra Dilley, Paper Buck, Zeph Fishlyn, Annah Anti-Palindrome and Lex Non Scripta. Reception June 1, 5pm-8pm. 3606 24th St. www.lexnonscripta.com www.passageandplace.tumblr.com

Exhibit of spooky child-like pen and ink and digital images by the local gay standup comic. Opening reception, June 6, 7pm10pm, with music and comedy. Exhibit thru July 27. 304 Valencia St. 861-4526. www.glamarama.com

Show Boat @ War Memorial Opera House San Francisco Opera’s beautiful production of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s classic musical about people in the 1880s who live and work along the Mississippi River. $24-$379. Various times, June 1, 3, 10, 13, 19, 22, 26, July 1 & 2. 301 Van Ness Ave., 864-3330. www.sfopera.com

SuperAwesome: Art and Giant Robot @ Oakland Museum Exhibit of eclectic comic and unusual graphics from contributors to the creative zine Giant Robot, which expanded to websites and retail shops. Also, Sunshine and Superheroes: San Diego Comic-Con, thru May 31. Also, Judy Chicago: A Butterfly for Oakland, thru Nov. 30. Also, Vinyl: The Sound and Culture of Records, thru July 27. Also, Inspiration Points: Masterpieces of California (thru July 13), A Cinematic Study of Fog in San Francisco (thru June 29) and other exhibits. Free/$15. Reg. hours Wed-Sat 11am-5pm (Fri til 9pm). 1000 Oak St., Oakland. (510) 318-8400. www.museumca.org

Designing Homes @ Contemporary Jewish Museum Jews and Midcentury Modernism, an exhibit of architectural, furniture, dinnerware, photos, and interior design in postWWII. Also, Arthur Szyk and the Art of the Haggadah, an exhibit of 48 fascinating and richly detailed illustrations of Hebrew stories by the early 20th-century artist (thru June 29). Also, To Build & Be Built: Kibbutz History (thru July 1). 2pm-5pm. Free (members)-$12. Thu-Tue 11am-5pm (Thu 1pm-8pm) 736 Mission St. 655-7800. www.thecjm.org

Meditation Group @ LGBT Center New weekly non-sectarian meditation group; part of the Let’s Kick ASS AIDS Survivor Syndrome support group. Tuesdays, 5pm, 1800 Market St. www.LetsKickASS. org www.sfcenter.org

Thu 5

Yoga: The Art of Transformation @ Asian Art Museum New exhibit of visual art representing the 2,500-year-old health practice. Other ongoing exhibits as well. Free (members)-$12. Tue-Sun 10am-5pm. 200 Larkin St. 581-3500. www.asianart.org

Thu 5 AIDS Survivors Summit @ LGBT Center Forum with guests and audience participation about AIDS/HIV issues 1pm-9pm, with a pre-Pride party for longterm survivors (7:30pm). 1800 Market St. www.LetsKickASS.org www.AIDSsurvivorsSummit.org

David Sax @ Books Inc. The New York Times writer and winner of the James Beard Award for his food reporting reads from and discusses his new book, The Tastemakers: Why We’re Crazy for cupcakes But Fed Up with Fondue. 7:30pm. 2275 Market St. www.booksinc.net

Javier Rocabaldo @ Public Barber Salon The Bay Area gay artist’s iconic Catholic icon-inspired paintings Nature for Sale, blend money and endangered animals; on exhibit thru June. Opening reception June 5, 8pm11pm. Reg hours 9am-9pm. 571 Geary St. 441-8599. www.publicbarbersalon.com

The quarterly after-work cocktail party include music of Karina Denike and Michael McIntosh of The Cottontails, flash tours, food and craft demos, DIY activities, snacks and a celebration of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. $5. 6pm-8pm. 736 Mission St. at 4th. 655-7800. www. thecjm.org

Magic, Color, Flair, an exhibit of original art work from the innovative production design artist for Disney’s Peter Pan, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and other films, and the iconic attractions at Walt Disney World like the “It’s a Small World” ride; thru Sept. 7. Also, Leading Ladies and Femme Fatales: The Art of Marc Davis, including original drawings of Cruella DeVille, Tinkerbell and other iconic characters; thru Nov. 4. 104 Montgomery St. www.waltdisney.org

Kris Delmhorst @ The Chapel Boston folk singer-guitarist performs. $18-$20. 9pm. 777 Valencia St. www.krisdelmhorst.com www.thechapelsf.com

LGBTQ Veterans and the Military @ SF Public Library

Mon 2 Javier Rocabaldo

The Kinsey Sicks and 20 Years of Dragapella Activism, a new exhibit about the musical ensemble; thru July 10. Also, Pretty in Ink: North American Women Cartoonists 1896-2013, 4th floor. Thru June 5. Also, You Don’t Say! Wordless Cartoons from the Schmulowitz Collection of Wit & Humor, an exhibit of witty visual comics like Little Lulu, from the 19th to 21st century. Thru May 31. 100 Larkin St. www.sfpl.org

Tue 3 Chomp! @ Conservatory of Flowers They Came From the Swamp, a new floral exhibit of carnivorous plants, includes exhibits, docent talks and a giant replica model so you can feel like a bug about to be eaten. Thru Oct. 19. Reg. hours, 10am4pm. Free-$7. Tue-Sun 10am-4:30pm. Thru Oct. 19. 100 JFK Drive, Golden Gate Park. 831-2090. www.conservatoryofflowers.org

ebar.com

Jewseum @ Contemporary Jewish Museum

The World of Mary Blair @ Walt Disney Museum

Chicks with Shticks @ SF Public Library

Celebrate the 11th anniversary of the eclectic reading and performance series, hosted by local acclaimed author Michelle Tea; with Julian Talamantez Brolaski, Anna Margarita Albelo, Achy Obejas, and Martin Sorrendeguy. Free. 6:30pm. 100 Larkin St, Latino/Hispanic Room. www.sfpl.org

Public Intimacy @ YBCA

How Far We’ve Come, a panel discussion with Dr. Elizabeth Hillman of UC Hastings Law School, retired Navy Commander Zoe Dunning who successfully challenged the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy; Dr. Aaron Belkin, founder of the Palm Center; and Major Jeffrey Mueller, Co-Chair of OutServe Servicemembers’ Legal Defense Network Board of Directors. 6pm. Koret Auditorium, 100 Larkin St. www.sfpl.org

SF MOMA on the Go exhibit Public Intimacy: Art and Other Ordinary Acts in South Africa, a collection of photography, with artists Kemang Wa Lehulere, Athi-Patra Ruga, Sello Pesa, and Vaughn Sadie, among others. Thru June 29. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. 321-1307. www.sfmoma.org www.ybca.org

This Lingering Life @ Z Space

Wed 4

To submit event listings, email jim@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

Arts & Above @ The Garage Kate Jordan and Bruno Augusto’s art installation and dance concert. $10-$20. 8pm. 715 Bryant St. www.715bryant.com

Chiori Miyagawa’s multi-character play, inspired by Japanese Noh plays from the 14th century, explores the past and present lives of people dealing with the Buddhist concept of Karma. $15-$50. Wed & Thu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru June 14. 450 Florida St. www.theatreofyugen.org

Spring at the Cliff House

Join us for these Cliff House Weekly Favorites • Wine Lovers’ Tuesday – Half Priced Bottled Wines* • Bistro Wednesday Nights – $28 Three-Course Prix Fixe • Friday Night Jazz in the Balcony Lounge • Sunday Champagne Brunch Buffet *Some restrictions apply. Promotions are not valid on holidays.

The Lands End Lookout Be sure to visit the Lookout Cafe at the Lands End visitor center. Operated by the Cliff House team, the cafe serves a delicious selection of locally sourced grab-and-go items including the famous It’s It originally for sale at Playland at the Beach. The center, under the direction of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, offers educational and interactive exhibits, a museum store, stunning views, and the amazing Lands End Trails. Open daily from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Located at Point Lobos and Merrie Way

1090 Point Lobos

415-386-3330

www.CliffHouse.com

<<Film

28 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 29-June 4, 2014

Silents: not always golden by Erin Blackwell

desecration to see things on acetate.” Touché, La Monga. We are, as you he appeal of nonagenarian say, living through a format revolumovies is a weird voyeurism no tion in movies as radical as the shift longer constrained by their original from silent to talkie. purpose of “mere entertainment.” I Speaking of radical shifts, The like them because they remind me Epic of Everest (1924) is a relic of of my grandmother, a British Empire on the who taught Theda skids but still swayed by Bara how to swim on its own colonialist propaBalboa Island during ganda. It’s a boy’s own adthe filming of Cleopaventure, climbing Tibet’s tra (1917). You might sacred “Mother Goddess appreciate scrutinizof the World” for God and ing old-fashioned Country. Shot with a static fashion, technology, camera often two miles or relatively unspoiled from its black-dot subjects Nature. On the negamoving across a screen tive side, you might be full of white ice, Eversubjected to incidental est’s drama remains offglimpses of unrehacamera and unexpressed. bilitated racism and Two brown men will die, ethnocentrism. Such unnamed; two white men is the tangled web wowill die and be publicly ven by the San Franmourned; nobody gets cisco Silent Film Festo the top. Insults to intival at the venerable digenous people (beyond Castro Theatre, May “conquering” their moun29 through June 1. tain for them) range from The word “silent” erasing Tibetan contribumaybe should be retion (expert climbers beplaced with “non-talkcome “faithful porters”) ing,” since silents were to “comic” descriptions always accompanied of villagers. The same by lots of lush, loud white-skinned cluelesssound. That’s why ness (abetted by Nepalese there were Wurlitzer government greed) led to Courtesy SF Silent Film Festival organs in movie thethe death of 16 sherpas on aters, with literal bells Buster Keaton is funny on a ship in The Navigator (1924). Everest in April. and whistles. But the Castro Wurlitzer will be a silent partner to the live musi(1926), Harbor Drift (1929), The cians accompanying the SFSFF, inParson’s Widow (1920), Ramona cluding Guenter Buchwald and Ste(1928), The Sign of Four (1923). The phen Horne on piano, the Matti Bye other 11 are DCP, the latest iteration and Donald Sosin Ensembles, the of digital. Silent Movie Music Company, and Mont Alto Motion Picture OrchesFormat fetishism tra. There’s no thrill in the world like “I have to tell you,” she scolded live acoustic music; to have it set to me in her breathy drawl, “I think emotion-packed black-and-white that you should stop being a format images on a screen is a treat rarisfetishist. If you’re going to say you’re sime. not going to see anything outside of Festival programmer Anita 35mm, I challenge you to not see Monga, who once ruled the Casanything outside of nitrate. It’s a

tro, has been choosing movies for other people to watch for 35 years, the last five for the SFSFF. She said seven titles will be projected using physical film: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), The Good Bad Man (1916), The Girl in Tails

Courtesy SF Silent Film Festival

The Epic of Everest (1924) is a boy’s own adventure.

White supremacist humor

Two comedies, by our own Buster Keaton and France’s Max Linder, also suffer from a white-centric perspective. The Navigator (1924), in which Buster is funny on an empty ship, has been pulled from the Internet Archive over “issues with its content.” I wonder if they mean the angry mob of cannibals that greets Buster on a beach. There’s zero humor here, only woeful cliché. The low point comes when co-star Kathryn McGuire lies whimpering in a circle of savage black men, complete with funny hair, nose rings, and

Courtesy SF Silent Film Festival

REAL STEAKS. REAL MARTINIS. REAL SAN FRANCISCO.

Rudolph Valentino is a gaucho in the opening-night film Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921).

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spears. There’s a long sequence of attempted mutual destruction. Not even gags; just war. Ha, ha! Max Linder, an international star who flopped in the U.S., was maybe too Old World elitist decadent roué for us. Judging by Seven Years Bad Luck (1921), he’s a maniacal comic genius without heart, a fantastic physical comedian. When he slips a black silk stocking over his face to pass for a Pullman porter, though, it’s somehow shameful. As is the big black mammy sight-gag. Keaton also has one of those. Spoils the fun. The big event is Rudolph Valentino as a gaucho, on opening night, “to commemorate the 100th anniversary of WWI, the first world event the cinema was around to comment on,” said Monga. “I asked Kevin Brownlow, ‘What film do you think is its most expressive symbol?’ He said, ‘Of course, it’s Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.’ We’re using Kevin’s print. It’s a restored print. It’s got the tinting and toning of the original. And Patrick Sandbury, Kevin’s partner at Photoplay, will be in the booth, varying the speed as the film goes along. Because it was, of course, from the era of handcranking. They’ve determined it’s not the same speed throughout. So your appreciation of certain scenes, including the famous Tango Scene, will be enhanced.”t Tonight (May 29) through June 1, Castro Theatre, San Francisco. Tickets ($13-$20): www.silentfilm.org.

Nervous energy by David Lamble

DINNER

it and Runway is a genre-crossing comedy about the unlikely friendship between a hunky Italian American failed screenwriter and a nerdy, underachieving gay Jewish playwright. It’s available in DVD format. Alex Andero (Michael Parducci) wants to write a Steven Segal-like splatter film, only he can barely write at all. Enter Elliot Springer (Peter Jacobson), who loathes the very idea of Alex’s Rambo-knockoff movie idea. Kerr Smith (Jack McPhee of TV’s Dawson’s Creek) proves the comic icebreaker as a goy gay boy-toy who seduces Elliot out of his self-deprecating funk and into saving Alex’s lousy script. Smith’s Joey, the film’s most underwritten and best-realized conceit, is given only two funny things to work with, a 13-letter Polish surname and a libido fueled by Yiddish-sounding words. On TV, Smith plays closeted jock McPhee like a middle-aged, lifefearing kid. Conversely, he does the older and very out Joey all loosey-

goosey and oddly Annie Hall-like. Since Jacobson looks and sounds a bit like a much younger Woody Allen, we’re set to laugh, at first almost from embarrassment for the actors. Then suddenly, the scene actually catches fire, and we’re relieved to be laughing for the saucy, sexy glee of it all. Co-writers Jaffe Cohen and Christopher Livingston (who also directs) use their fictional action gore-fest (the film’s low point) as a creative love-child, the raising of which will nurture the most unlikely of bonds between Alex and Elliot. In gay life, Elliot tells Alex, there’s an elaborate caste system that prevents guys like him from making it

with pretty boys like Joey. We accept Elliot’s good fortune with his goy boyfriend faster than we get his brain-drain writing combo with a putz like Alex. At its best, Hit and Runway is a nervous spoof of gay Jewish dating rituals, in which the last man a guy can trust is his rabbi. There’s a droll moment when a priest ignores Alex’s confession in favor of quizzing him about the “needs” of his protagonist. Jacobson’s Elliot starts to work for us when we stop seeing him as a Woody stand-in and begin to like the bashful, needy guy who switches his mantra from Portnoy’s Complaint to The Power of Positive Thinking. Bonus: Commentary with co-writer Jaffe Cohen (Cultural Connection).t

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<<Film

30 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 29-June 4, 2014

Beyond the reach of Lady Liberty by David Lamble

n 1994, a 24-year old novice filmmaker got my attention with an unapologetically operatic melodrama filmed during a winter of blizzards in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach, home to a tempestuous community of Orthodox Russian Jews. In James Gray’s Little Odessa, a ruthless older son (Tim Roth) defied his family’s old-world codes by becoming a mob hit-man, in the process setting a dangerous example for a worshipful younger brother (Edward Furlong). The sight of Roth’s Joshua carrying his kid brother’s lifeless body towards an incinerator remains one of my most indelible movie memories of the 90s. Twenty years later, Gray returns with The Immigrant, an equally unsettling, brutally unsentimental tale of aspiring Americans whose battle to survive leaves little time to dream. It’s 1921, and Lady Liberty’s torch is partially hidden by a New York Harbor fog. Ewa (Marion Cotillard) is a fresh-faced Polish Catholic who’s determined to navigate her way past the hurdles set up by US Immigration officials. Desperate to get her sister Magda (Angela Sarafyan) out of an INS quarantine (she’s thought to have TB), Ewa at first accepts without reservation the help offered by a smooth-talking representative of the Travelers Aid Society. Bruno (Joaquin Phoenix) is so eager to

please that our shit-detectors kick in before Ewa’s. What’s his game? In a film that is as richly evocative of a long-lost America as Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York or Francis Coppola’s Godfather trilogy, Gray underscores just how slippery the path to a new life in America was for immigrants from non-Englishspeaking lands, and in particular for young women who could be exploited in a myriad of ways. As Bruno sweet-talks Ewa into his various sidelines – ranging from corralling a bevy of young women into a burlesque theatre’s chorus line to pimping them out to the hordes of unwashed horny male denizens of Manhattan’s Lower East Side – the young woman catches on to his game. It’s as if one of the chickens in the British stop-motion animation classic Chicken Run figured out how to avoid becoming ensnared in the evil farmer’s chicken-pot-pie machine. Bruno, however, is no simple, mustache-twirling villain. Beneath that mendacious bonhomie there is a complex guy who just might be induced to put his heart before the constant need to move product. It’s at this point that The Immigrant takes a left turn into a subplot that brings it close to both the joys and pitfalls of Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. Enter Orlando the Magician (Jeremy Renner), who is either a fiercely charming new character and rival to

The Weinstein Company

Marion Cotillard stars in director James Gray’s The Immigrant.

Bruno’s schemes concerning Ewa, or merely a beguiling plot device. It turns out Orlando is Bruno’s cousin and hyperaware of the perils in his game. Ewa, on to Bruno’s tricks, is charmed by the magician and ready to disappear with him before director Gray (and his co-writer Richard Menello) pull a violent suckerpunch of a plot change, and the movie’s tone turns distinctly melancholy. Three strong performances compensate for any failure in story logic. Phoenix and Cotillard are especially compelling in their cobra/mongoose chemistry. God’s Pocket In one of the last screen appearances by the late acting genius Philip Seymour Hoffman (if you don’t count The Hunger

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Mr. Irresistible

From page 21

But back to the silly – as well as the campy, the slapstick, the drag, the bawdy, and the gratuitous innuendoes. “I do have a certain sense of humor that is going to be in everything I do,” said the writer-director-star of the recent cult hit Shit and Champagne. But besides having a title that any publication can print, Drollinger sees Mr. Irresistible as “the most commercial show I’ve done, and I think it’s universal enough that it can go on to have a life after this run.” Mr. Irresistible will run for five performances only, June 4-8, but in the relatively spacious and underused Alcazar Theatre. (Tickets at mrirresistiblemusical.com). It’s a pricey undertaking with its nine-member cast and four-piece band, not to mention a slew of special effects. And it wasn’t even a show Drollinger expected to be resurrecting until the stars aligned in just the right way. The quick story of the dusty script being pulled from the shelf began when ODC Theatre offered Drollinger an artistic residency, and a mention of Mr. Irresistible stoked interest from the theater. Drollinger tore apart his old script, tossed his musical score, and rebuilt it with composer Christopher Winslow. After readings at ODC, Drollinger pitched the musical to New York’s La Mama Theatre, and a two-week workshop production ensued there. Then the San Francisco Arts Commission came through with a grant, and Alcazar Theatre operator Steve Dobbins joined in as a co-producer. In the story, a socially awkward secretary named Eileen, bullied by her wicked stepsisters-like colleagues, orders a fully functioning mechanical male companion. She mistakes an exterminator as her custom-made robot, and is happy with her unwitting error until the real robot comes along and eventually refuses to shut down when Eileen decides she prefers the extermi-

Games, which I don’t), Hoffman is in his element as the pudgy, disheveled everyman Mickey Scarpato. Mickey lives, or you might better say, is buried alive in one of those South Philadelphia neighborhoods from which queer kids flee by the droves every year. Actually, since this James Slattery-directed film is set in 1983, most queers stayed deep in the closet, in a hood where even the local flower-stand lady is packing heat. When we first see him in God’s Pocket, Mickey is making a living driving a refrigerator truck when fate and rotten karma cause his life to get way too interesting. His stepson Leon (Caleb Landry Jones) commits a racially motivated assault on an elderly black construction

worker who promptly brings God’s wrath on the kid with the help of a lead pipe to the noggin. When Leon becomes a body, it falls to Mickey to give him a dignified send-off. With a series of frequently hilarious complications ratcheting up the stakes, Mickey begins a pratfall-strewn path to the cemetery. First Leon’s body (like the title character in Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry) starts popping up awkwardly around the hood. Later, Mickey’s path to burying Leon is obstructed by the local goon squad. This witty, colorfully enacted tale is actually rather violent, so the black humor may be lost on viewers with delicate sensibilities. Apart from Hoffman’s usual brilliant spin on a lost soul, the film presents a dead-eye accurate take on the sorrows of the drinking man, especially Richard Jenkins’ local newspaper columnist, who severely misjudges his readers’ taste for selfreflection. Fans of whimsical, localcolor caper films will find God’s Pocket to be in the same black-humor league as Alan Taylor’s 1996 sassy ensemble caper Palookaville. Based on Pete Dexter’s 1983 novel, God’s Pocket is a delightfully unpredictable, totally empathetic descent into a slice of America that, happily, is many zip codes removed from our everyday concerns.t

nator after all. T-wrecks on the loose “It starts off with a boy-meetsFrom the folks who brought girl, girl-meets-robot kind of you Carrie: The Musical and Jerry thing, and then it turns into a bit Springer: The Opera now comes a of a horror-movie musical spoof,” musical about gender issues in a Drollinger said. “In the second act, it place very much like Jurassic Park. almost turns into an action thriller Ray of Light Theatre is presenting with lasers and explosions.” the local premiere of Triassic Parq, Cindy Goldfield, who played which was the big hit of the 2010 Eileen in the ODC and La Mama New York Fringe Festival. The allstagings, returns in that role, with dinosaur show runs May 29-June Steven Shear (from the ODC edi28 at the Eureka Theatre. (Tickets at tion) in the title role. Other familiar rayoflighttheatre.com.) names in the cast include Joe Wicht In the musical created by Mar(Trauma Flintstone) and J. Conrad shall Pailet, Bryce Norbitz, and Steve Frank (Katya Smirnoff-Skyy). JonaWargo, the genetically recreated than J. Carpenter is the director. theme park creatures face a crisis Mr. Irresistible is the when a stray frog gene causes one of unusual Drollinger the females to turn into a male. The show that neither show includes power ballads, a hipstars nor is directed hop number, a Marx Brothers homby Drollinger. Shit and age involving genitalia, and a Spring Champagne, Project: Awakening detour. Lohan, and Scalpel! all Alex Kirschner is directing Triasfollowed the triplesic Parq, the first of two musicals in threat model, but Ray of Light’s 2014 season. Coming he decided the show in the fall to the Victoria Theatre is would be better served the West Coast premiere of another with a new set of direcNY Fringe Fest graduate: Yeast Natorial eyes on the matetion, a rock musical by the creators rial, and with himself removed from of Urinetown that is set in prehistoronstage responsibilities he could see ic times when the only living creawhat jokes and lyrics might need tures on Earth are salt-eating yeast fixing. who discover love.t “It’s been an interesting challenge,” he said of his strictly offstage involvement, “to sell a show that I’m not in or directing. People are more likely to come see something I’ve got a bigger hand in.” Only a couple of years back from a long New York sojourn, Drollinger is in the enviable position of having established himself as a name brand. He’ll be back on stage in July at the Victoria Theatre in a beefedup production of Sex and the City episodes that have been part of a series of TV shows given a drag makeover at smaller venues. Drollinger is also in demand as a dance instructor, so he’s been able to support himself through creative activities. Erik Scanlon “My life in New York was in an office,” he said, “so even when Lewis Rawlinson is one of the dinosaurs I’m exhausted at the end of the facing a gender crisis in Ray of Light’s day, I still feel very lucky.” production of Triassic Parq.

Film>>

May 29-June 4, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 31

Embracing the flower of the world by David Lamble

come not to bury Jodorowsky, but to praise him. A couple of months back, dear readers, I devoted a column to a kind of eulogy-beforehe’s-dead tribute to the 84-yearold Chilean filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky. The occasion was a bio-documentary on his life that related how, among other things, he had lost out on a chance to film the sci-fi classic Dune. Well, imagine my joy at being able to report that not only is the old man not dead, but he’s back in theatres with The Dance of Reality, a freshly minted gem that may finally restore him to the Great Filmmakers pantheon. In the opening frames of his astonishing and truly trippy new work, gold coins fall from the sky, and the gray-haired filmmaker stares into the camera proclaiming, “Money is like blood. It gives life if it flows. Money is like Christ, it blesses you if you share it. Money is like Buddha, if you don’t work,

David Levinthal

From page 21

Many of the pictures were shot with consumer-grade and largeformat Polaroid cameras, the latter an unwieldy contraption he would roll in to photograph a layout. His recent digital explorations of scenes

you don’t get it. Money enlightens those who use it to open the flower of the world, and damns those who glorify it, confounding riches with the soul.” Right out of the box it’s clear that Jodorowsky is channeling the Italian master Federico Fellini as his child alter ego (Jeremias Herskovitz) innocently tosses a stone into the sea and instigates a massive fish kill. Moments later the boy, a Shirley Temple-miming kid with a huge mane of shoulder-length blond hair, offers to scratch the back of a beggar who has lost his hands. The back scratch turns into a full embrace. This symbolically queer act sends his Fascist-leaning dad into a rage, during which he runs off the beggar and screams at the boy and his mom. During their encounter, Dad is challenged about his spiritual hard-on for Joseph Stalin. The dictator’s portrait hangs in the front room, and Dad himself affects a Stalin look. The beggar shouts out a challenge to Dad’s ideology.

“Why dress up like Stalin? You say glorious gold locks, throws him on The Dance of Reality is a glorious you’re a communist, but you only a bed, takes off his shoes, and provisual treat, a one-seating accessible respect the rich. If I had money, claims, “I’m going tickle your feet. If masterpiece, and a very good excuse you’d kiss my stumps!” you can refrain from laughing. you to rush to your Landmark movie “Fuck off! If you come back, I’ll deserve to be my son!” screen for the equivalent of a cincut off your legs.” At two hours and 10 minutes, ema picnic.t At this moment, Mom (who sings all her dialogue) trills, “Jaime, come on, leave him alone.” Dad grabs the boy from Mom’s arms, screaming, “Why hug that cripple? You like men, do you? With that girlish mane, what else could we expect? With that hair, he looks like a faggot!” To which Mom sings, “Show him some respect. Alejandro is holy.” “Holy, my bollocks!” At this point, The Dance of Reality really takes flight for a surreal journey seldom seen these days. Among the gloriously queer moments is a scene where Dad takes Sonny, now shorn of his Scene from director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Dance of Reality.

and WWII Marines planting a flag on Iwo Jima. He deliberately blurs most of the photographs, which has the dual effect of making them appear both more life-like and unreal. Since his grad-school escapades, Levinthal moved on to create increasingly lurid, voyeuristic, politically incorrect imagery: male sexual

fantasies of submission and domination acted out with female dolls; baseball greats like Willie Mays and Babe Ruth in action; so-called “blackface” memorabilia; the myth-

with their perfect hair, stylish fashions and a dropdead, loser gaze, photographed by Levinthal in saturated color and transformed into ladies-who-lunch ice queens. (Of course, there’s Barbie’s shady past to consider; before she was acquired by Mattel and became a role model for hordes of little girls, she was Bild Lilli, a German sex toy.) Utilizing dolls of a very different vintage, “Desire” (1990-91) and “XXX” (2000-01) venture into pornographic peepshow territory. In the former, a headless female body David Levinthal, courtesy San Jose Museum of Art shot from behind “Untitled (No. 1),” from the series Hitler Moves stands with its legs East (1975) by David Levinthal. Vintage Kodalith. hip-width apart while another figure is posed kneelical Wild West of cowboys, bucking ing and cupping her breasts. broncos and gunslingers heading In the strongest section, Mein for High Noon stand-offs that only Kampf, whose chilling Holocaust existed in the movies; and Barbies, imagery is horrifying yet imposthose mean, wasp-waisted dolls

of “limerence” all converge in this exceptional snapshot of life in the waning years of gay adulthood. It’s been several years since Holleran’s last fictional outing; here’s hoping for more of this brilliance from him in the longer form. With, superbly edited by Jameson Currier, assembles 16 authentic stories of varying lengths and themes. David Bergman’s sexually charged tale “A Sentimental Education” finds two men – one horny, the other a hustler – who meet in a park and take the action home. Lambda Literary Award finalist Michael Graves offers a multi-narrated, multifaceted story replete with recipes, definitions, and factoids dedicated to his deceased grandmother, who wanders “through the shadows of our kitchen while I scratch up my notebooks.” Other stand-outs include San Francisco resident Dan Lopez’s

“Andrew Barbee,” a shark-fishing adventure story that’s part of his forthcoming collection on gay men and the sea; Tom Schabarum’s affecting baby-stealing yarn “Follow Me Through”; and Shaun Levin’s poetic four-page observance on the addictive, obsessive, physical beauty of men in “The Beautiful Boy.” Local San Francisco writer Lewis DeSimone creatively and effortlessly transports readers back to that memorable prePride night when the Defense of Marriage Act was struck down, and places two reflective characters in the thick of the celebrations at Castro and Market Streets in “Pride.” These two compilations usher in a season of good reading for gay book-lovers by a colorful collage of writers at the peak of their abilities.t

David Levinthal, courtesy San Jose Museum of Art

“Untitled,” from the series Airport (1996) by David Levinthal. Cibachrome print.

from American history, which don’t have the same depth or intrigue of his earlier forays, include a helicopter from Apocalypse Now and renditions of Custer’s Last Stand

New gay fiction

From page 22

Ursula, though? Drag queens. Don’t tell me they aren’t,”) and maybe even a kiss. The next tale is set at another happy gay coupling, this time in Provincetown, where New York author David Puterbaugh instructs us on “How To Be Single at a Wedding.” Elsewhere, Steven Reigns’ short but sweet bedroom tale “On These Sheets” romantically satisfies as much as Taylor McGrath’s “A Royal Mess,” about a rebooted relationship set in a pet store. Among the lengthier pieces in the collection is “Foundations” by New England writer Timothy Forry, which follows a couple who become separated during a violent storm, and traces the power of their reunion surrounded by rubble and destruction. Stealing the show, perhaps, is Andrew Holleran’s “Symposium,” which follows the activities of a graying gay man who is gifted a luxurious suite at a secluded Fort Lauderdale guesthouse to give a speech on the state of gay publishing. Observations on books, writers, love, sex, aging, shaving the back of a loved one, and the nature

sible not to look at, a group of naked men is clustered at the edge of a large burial pit where, one surmises, they’ll soon join fellow victims; the background is blood-red, and shadowy SS officers can be seen in the distance. Elsewhere, a looming guard tower blocks the gateway to freedom and the view of a wintry sky. That plastic toys are enlisted to depict a monstrous chapter in history doesn’t trivialize it as one might expect; instead, it adds a repellent inhumanity. We also see Hitler, his arm extended in salute, standing on a balcony, reviewing the troops filing past him below. Levinthal’s preoccupation with Nazis and the seductive pageantry of the Third Reich supposedly began when he found a Hitler toy in an Austrian shop, followed by the discovery of a New Jersey vendor stocking SS officers and a bevy of munchkin-sized Fuehrers. Like some obsessive out of an old X-Files episode, Levinthal, consumed by scenarios fueled by imagination and memory, engineers fictional worlds that become more real than reality. t Through Nov. 30. Info: www.sjmusart.org.

Tempest in a T-shack

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Date Night Sony Holland

Boy, Oh Boy

LEATHER

PERSONALS Vol. 44 • No. 22 • May 29-June 4, 2014

by Joshua Klipp

’m a big fan of scheming up creative date nights. Once I devised a date night called “Despicable San Francisco” – a walk along Barbary Coast Trail sites that included the Old Ship Saloon (site of many a shanghai’ing) and Maiden Lane (site of many a harlot). The date culminated at the Westfield’s opening night of Despicable Me. Another time I created a “Dirty Old San Francisco” night, walking from City Lights Bookstore (where Lawrence Ferlinghetti was arrested on obscenity charges) through Washington Square (where scenes from Dirty Harry were shot). See page 2 >>

with

Sony Holland. T. Dudley

! K R O SEX? W St. James Infirmary Celebrates 15 years

by Michael Flanagan

ave you ever thought about what medical care would be like in San Francisco if you were a sex worker? Would you face medical discrimination from people who look down on your livelihood and the possibility that your personal medical information would be shared with law enforcement? Would you worry that you might be arrested just for going to the doctor? And if you were not to go to the doctor how would that affect both your health and public health in the city? See page 2 >>

Temple nightclub

Ricky Sinz DJs the St. James Infirmary party

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 29-June 4, 2014

Sony Holland

From page 1

So when I unveiled our “Hotel Bars of San Francisco” date – an evening sampling Union Square hotel bars, imagine my partner’s feigned enthusiasm. The phrase “lead balloon” comes to mind. Spoiler alert: it was one of the best dates I’ve ever had, and the reason is Sony Holland. Let’s backtrack a little. I’m a fan of San Francisco history. And from an historical perspective, San Francisco hotels have largely devolved from grand places to see and be seen, to functional right angles with kingsize beds and large-screen pay-perview. Over decades, the emphasis in this city’s fine hotels has shifted from beautiful common spaces and classy entertainment, to bars built into otherwise unused corners with solo crooners and drum machines. (It’s cute that you think I’m kidding about the drum machine, because I’m not. But I digress.) There is an exception to San Francisco’s hotel devolution. That exception is the J.W. Marriott in Union Square and its Level III Lounge resident chanteuse, Sony Holland. Recently returned from a brief exile in Los Angeles, Sony cut

EDITOR Jim Provenzano DESIGNERS Jay Cribas, Max Leger ADVERTISING SALES Scott Wazlowski 415-359-2612 CONTRIBUTORS Ray Aguilera, Race Bannon, Matt Baume, Heather Cassell, Coy Ellison, Michael Flanagan, Dr. Jack Fritscher, Peter Hernandez, John F. Karr, T. Scott King, Sal Meza, David Elijah-Nahmod, Adam Sandel, Donna Sachet, Jim Stewart, Ronn Vigh, Cornelius Washington PHOTOGRAPHY Biron, Wayne Bund, Marques Daniels, Don Eckert, Lydia Gonzales, Rick Gerharter, Jose Guzman-Colon, Georg Lester, Dan Lloyd, Jim Provenzano, Rich Stadtmiller, Monty Suwannukul, Steven Underhill BARtab is published by BAR Media, Inc. PUBLISHER/PRESIDENT Michael M. Yamashita CHAIRMAN Thomas E. Horn VP AND CFO Patrick G. Brown SECRETARY Todd A. Vogt BAR Media, Inc. 225 Bush Street, Suite 1700 San Francisco, CA 94104 (415) 861-5019 www.BARtabSF.com NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Rivendell Media 212.242.6863 LEGAL COUNSEL Paul H. Melbostad Member National Gay Newspaper Guild Copyright © 2014, Bay Area Reporter, a division of BAR Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

T. Dudley

Sony Holland.

her chops busking fifteen days a month at the Fisherman’s Wharf to anyone who would listen. People did listen, because not only is her voice like ear honey, Sony is as gorgeous a human being inside as out. She is one of those rare performers who needn’t hide behind the editing tricks of Pro Tools or Photoshop: she simply is that beautiful. When I interviewed her for this article, I was struck by her humility. Hailing from a small town in Minnesota called Pelican Rapids, she made her way to Nashville with dreams of becoming a pop star. It was there she met her husband (and accompanist), Jerry, a successful music writer who scored a hit with country legend John Michael Montgomery. Their blind date led from one thing to another, and eventually the two found their way to the Bay Area. Sony’s hard work at Pier 39 paid off, and soon she was on to bigger platforms like Yoshi’s and the San Jose Jazz Festival. Throughout her ascendance, however, her trademark humility never wavered. In fact, when I asked her what it takes to succeed in the music business, she responded, “Keep your sense of humor, and stay humble. There’s always someone out there who’s better. So just be the best you can be.” And in those three sentences, Sony Holland spelled out the grace which not only defines her character, but warms her voice and connects her with everyone around her. When my date and I walked into

St. James

From page 1

The good news is that since 1999 sex workers in San Francisco have had a place to go that alleviates their concerns. The Saint James Infirmary was the first clinic of its kind and continues to provide support, information and help to change both cultural notions and laws that affect sex workers. As their mission states, they “provide free, compassionate and nonjudgmental healthcare and social services for sex workers (current or former) of all genders and sexual orientations while preventing occupational illnesses and injuries.” To celebrate fifteen years of hard work on this mission, St. James Infirmary is having a party at Temple nightclub on June 5. It’s no surprise that they have succeeded and thrived in their mission, as they have roots that go deep into San Francisco history. The infirmary was founded in collaboration between the organization founded by Margo St. James’ COYOTE (Cast Off Your Old Tired Ethics), the Exotic Dancer’s Alliance (founded by Johanna Breyer and Dawn Passar) and the San Francisco Department of Public Health under Dr. Jeffrey Klausner. St. James has been making a mark on San Francisco since the days of the beats in North Beach (Klausner wrote the foreword for Dick Boyd’s Broadway North Beach: The Golden Years, published in 2006).

T. Dudley

Sony Holland.

the J.W. Marriott’s Level II Lounge, my gaze was instantly drawn upward to the soaring atrium, then back down to Sony and husband Jerry, set up on an edge where carpet meets marble and flying columns become seat backs to booths and cozy tables. Somehow, the J.W. has managed the architectural feat of combining a sense of spaciousness and intimacy – an apt metaphor for Sony Holland’s voice during her threenight a week set there. No matter how near or far we sat from Sony, it was always as if she sang just to us. Her warmth and connection are a product of her approach to her own life. She made us feel welcome and, well, I have a confession to make: I got a little teary at her stunning take on “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Now in their seventh month of residency, Sony and Jerry play three nights a week, three hours a night. And yet every song felt fresh and The infirmary has been at the forefront of harm reduction for sex workers, including a needle exchange. Johanna Breyer, cofounder and executive director of St. James Infirmary from 1999 to 2006, said that since, “Saint James Infirmary is a harm reduction organization, supporting decriminalization of sex work is harm reduction. Not requiring abstinence - from sex work or drugs- in order to receive services is harm reduction. In addition, St. James Infirmary has always conducted syringe exchange services. We have had formal syringe exchange shifts for many years.” The harm reduction aspects of the infirmary extend toward reducing violence against sex workers. I asked Breyer how they went about doing that. “A lot of this work happens in individual counseling sessions,” she said. “Participants discuss sexual practices (with clients as well as intimate partners), interpersonal violence, and other issues in a non-judgmental setting so that they can reduce risk factors and implement safety measures. We have also held support groups over the years, developed and distributed several editions of our Occupational Health and Safety Handbook, and participated in community forums to discuss working safely.” Aside from their important healthcare and harm reduction work, St. James Infirmary has had See page 3 >>

personal. There was no sense of repetition, only warmth, joy, and Sony’s profound desire to give her gift to anyone who would listen. As her set wrapped up, Sony greeted just about everyone in the lounge in person with a rare authenticity and sense of gratitude. She didn’t rush out, but took time with anyone who wanted to sit with her. This is notable because, as an independent musician living in the Bay Area, every minute is time she might spend finding other work. Yet she intuitively understands that being a working musician doesn’t just mean finding new gigs, but giving her listeners that present gift of music and letting it settle together. After my time with Sony and Jerry at the J.W., the rest of our date went something like this: hotel bar #1 – a lone Latin guitarist in a very big and pretty but empty room; hotel bar #2 – cover charge, DJ, nice

city views and many, many tube dresses; hotel bar #3 – drunk tourists, drunk pianist, drum machine and gelato. It was wildly entertaining, not too expensive, and I highly recommend you try this date night. But if you do, make sure to start out right at the J.W. Marriott, with Sony and Jerry Holland. PS. And support local artists like Sony. Hire her for a cocktail party, a wedding, or your techie corporate event. For god sake, they’re tearing down Flax to build condos. Support the arts and artists in this town before it’s too late.t Sony Holland performs Wednesday - Friday at the J.W. Marriott in Union Square at the Level III Lounge, 5-8pm. 515 Mason Street at Post. www.sonyholland.com

(Josh Klipp is a writer and bandleader for the Klipptones)

Dave Morffy

St. James Infirmary cofounder Johanna Breyer.

t <<