May 8, 2014 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Bay Area Reporter

Changes at Castro safe-sex club

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Ballet finale

Spencer Day’s new dawn

The

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Peltier recognized for peer support work by Gregory Pleshaw

gender non-conforming young adult from northern California was recognized this week for their work helping other youth in troubled times. Eureka resident Qaiel Peltier was one Gregory Pleshaw of four people recognized at the May 6 Qaiel Peltier event hosted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration just outside Washington, D.C. The SAMHSA event coincided with National Children Mental Health Awareness Day and the importance of focusing attention on children’s health from birth onward. Peltier, 23, prefers the pronoun “they” and said the key to creating healthy youth in communities requires peer advocacy and peer support groups to help youth thrive in their communities. Peltier was at the Tuesday event, held in conjunction with the National Council for Behavioral Health’s annual conference, that included an appearance by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio; his wife, Chirlane McCray; and their daughter, Chiara de Blasio, who recently went public with her own mental health and addiction struggles. The other honorees are Sean Campbell, Michelle Vance, and Jim Saintgermain. A few days before the event, Peltier sat quietly at their kitchen table in Eureka, appending rhinestones to brooches as gifts to give to their friends in the Eureka chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The group, which Peltier has been a member of for four years, had recently had a death in the family and they were planning to attend a memorial later in the day. Peltier said that involvement with the Sisters and other queer-positive groups in the area had helped them to get over the stigma of being queer in rural California. “I grew up near here in McKinleyville, where it really wasn’t okay to be out,” Peltier said. “When I was a kid, this whole area was pretty rural and close-minded about queer people. Some things have changed and some haven’t but I have been out here for most of my life.” Growing up, Peltier felt very strongly that they were a girl, but said that reading about gender issues on the Internet helped to empower them that it was possible to be neither a girl nor a boy, but to be gender-queer and perhaps “something in between.” “Gender non-conforming means that I’m a transgender person but that I’m not necSee page 14 >>

Vol. 44 • No. 19 • May 8-14, 2014

Charge dropped against Hercules teen by Heather Cassell

Jane Philomen Cleland

Flips and fun at Family Night

aura Fitch and her son, Simon, 6, had fun in the kinder gym at Our Family Coalition’s annual Family Night at the Downtown Berkeley YMCA Saturday, May 3. This was the 16th annual event, which drew kids and their parents from around the East Bay who enjoyed a jam-packed evening of swimming, sports, arts and crafts, and of course, pizza.

battery charge has been dropped against a transgender teenager in the East Bay who was defending herself in a schoolyard fight last year, advocates said this week. Jewlyes Gutierrez, 16, expressed relief upon learning that Contra Courtesy SF Pride Costa County Superior Jewlyes Gutierrez Court Judge Thomas M. Maddock dismissed the charge May 1. “I finally have the chance to relax,” said See page 12 >>

Hopeful moms see fertility options by Seth Hemmelgarn

said clients are “incredibly loyal. ... More and more people are sending friends into n June 2010, Erica Westheimer and her the office.” partner, Mariana Mueller, started tryA variety of services are available ing to have a baby. through the center. Ghadir said those Westheimer, now 40, did three rounds include testing eggs “for genetic diseases of intrauterine insemination, where and all kinds of health issues.” sperm is injected into the uterus using a Additionally, with male couples, syringe and a thin catheter, but the proce“We’re able to process sperm and make dure didn’t work. embryos for both partners at one cycle, Then, she did two rounds of in-vitro so we can make embryos for both of the fertilization, where the egg is fertilized guys using their sperm separately.” outside the body and then inserted back In San Francisco, many people go in. to Pacific Fertility Center, where staff “This was the only route we could do include Dr. Eldon Schriock, who was to have a family,” said Westheimer, a film a member of the medical team that producer who lives in Los Angeles with performed the first in-vitro fertilizaCourtesy Erica Westheimer Mueller, who’s 39 and a private chef, and tion treatment in northern California. their daughter, Emma, 2. Westheimer Erica Westheimer, left, and Mariana Mueller shared a Schriock said he’s also a longtime advoand Mueller married in 2013. cate of fertility services for LGBTs. photo of themselves with their daughter, Emma. The process was “not easy,” said WesIn partnership with Swirl Radio, the theimer, but “we couldn’t be happier havcenter often offers seminars geared toing done it.” become reality.” About 20 percent of the busiward LGBTs. Wednesday, May 14, it will With Mother’s Day approaching Sunday, ness’s clients are LGBT, he said, and the center, offer an educational program aimed at educatMay 11, having children may be on the minds which sees more than 2,000 patients a year, reing women of the LGBTQ community about of more prospective lesbian mothers. cently created a section on its website specififertility options and creating a family. Westheimer credits Dr. Shahin Ghadir, a cally for same-sex couples at www.scrcivf.com/ Schriock, who’s straight, said he’s seeing founding partner of Southern California Retreatment/lgbt-families/. The practice also sees more people look ahead these days. productive Center, for his help in building her single men and women who are LGBT. “More people are coming in now for fufamily. Ghadir, who’s straight, said the center is seeture planning,” whereas before, people would Ghadir said the center “is one of the largest ing more LGBT clients. come in because they’d tried to have a child service providers for the LGBT community “It’s becoming more acceptable, and I think but couldn’t, he said. Current inability to have in terms of helping them make their families it’s becoming more available,” he said. He also See page 13 >>

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<< Community News

t Panel weighs White’s name in sidewalk etchings 2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 8-14, 2014

by David-Elijah Nahmod

working group tasked with vetting historical facts for a Castro history project appeared divided over whether to include the name of Harvey Milk’s assassin in the sidewalk etchings that will make up a walking tour of the gay neighborhood. The History Walk Working Group, part of the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District that is overseeing the project, took public comment at its meeting last week. The group met again Wednesday, May 7 and the CBD board is expected to vote on the 20 facts selected for etching at its meeting Thursday, May 8. The History Walk is due to be part of the sidewalk widening now being constructed along Castro Street between Market and 19th streets. The CBD is footing the bill for the $10,000 etching project. In November 1978, former Supervisor Dan White achieved infamy when he murdered Milk and then-Mayor George Moscone in their City Hall offices. Milk was the city’s first openly gay elected official. Following a trial, White was convicted of the lesser voluntary manslaughter offense instead of firstdegree murder. The conviction, seen by many as too lenient, outraged the LGBT community. It sparked the White Night riots and a retaliatory police ransacking of the Elephant Walk bar in the Castro. White served five years of his seven-year sentence and committed suicide in 1985. At the working group’s April 30 meeting, some members of the panel were unsure about the inclusion of White’s name in a History Walk item that addresses the aftermath of Milk’s murder. Others felt that including him was essential, because his actions, however heinous, were historic. To exclude him, they said,

is to deny history. They said that the mention of White should be as brief as possible. Others felt that not mentioning White would be a well-deserved slap in the face to his memory. Opinions were expressed passionately but politely. CBD Executive Director Andrea Aiello, who moderated the meeting, noted the opinions on both sides of the argument. In addition to the discussion about White’s name, another topic that was debated involved what some see as a lack of diversity among the 20 selected facts, which

trace the neighborhood’s settlement by Native Americans in 1776 to last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decisions striking down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act and reinstating same-sex marriage in California. Tommi Avicolli Mecca, a longtime community activist, talked about the inclusion of people of color and transgender people in the History Walk. Avicolli Mecca was displeased with the decision regarding 1970s pop singer Sylvester, an openly gay African American who died of AID-related complications

our LGBT community.” Sachet also called for the inclusion of Halloween in the History Walk, as it is an important celebration for many LGBT people. Castro Street had hosted wild Halloween street parties until several violent incidents caused the unofficial event to be canceled several years ago. “I felt like they heard me,” Sachet told the B.A.R. after the meeting. “But I kept hearing them say that they were committed to positive images in the sidewalk and that the history of Halloween is not necessarily positive. Positive or not, Halloween should be a part of this series.” When work on the sidewalk widening and History Walk are completed, the Castro’s main shopping district will be more pedestrian friendly, with newly planted trees among the additions area residents and visitors can expect. Proposed History Walk items that didn’t generate controversy include the 1914 opening of the Twin Peaks Tunnel at Market and Castro streets and the 1922 opening of the Castro Theatre, where future Oscar winner Janet Gaynor (the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ first best actress winner in 1927) once worked as an usherette.t

Mission murder trial goes to jury by Seth Hemmelgarn Courtesy SF Planning Dept.

A planning department schematic shows the proposed layout of History Walk etchings in relation to other streetscape elements. There will be 10 pairs (20 facts total) etched into the sidewalk in a layout similar to the one depicted.

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in 1988. Sylvester is most likely going to be included in an etching about the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Avicolli Mecca felt that Sylvester, and other African American community members who contributed to neighborhood history, were worthy of their own, distinct etchings. “As much as I appreciate all the work that has gone into this, the dedication of the members of this committee and their openness to discuss this with members of the public, simply adding Sylvester to an etching about the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is not enough,” Avicolli Mecca said. “People of color and transgender people have contributed to the Castro and should be recognized.” Donna Sachet, a well-known community fundraiser and the Bay Area Reporter’s society columnist, took issue with the working group’s intent to include Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in the History Walk. “I’ve attended the funerals of three empresses there in full regalia,” Sachet, a former Imperial Court empress, said. “I am now no longer welcome there. Today’s Most Holy Redeemer has turned its back on

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He suggested Pouncy had made estimony in the trial of up his testimony a man accused of murabout checking for dering a gay man in the Sprague’s pulse to Mission District in 2012 explain why his DNA concluded this week as the was on Sprague’s jury began deliberations. body. Rowland said Roland Pouncy, 44, is the fact that he hadn’t charged with murder and sought help offered robbery in the death of “the real glimpse into Richard Sprague, 47. Proshow cold of a characCourtesy SFPD ecutors say that hours after ter” Pouncy is. Defendant Sprague left the side of his Rowland also said Roland Pouncy domestic partner, David that Pouncy had told Nielsen, to buy cigarettes, Shekinah Sullivan, Pouncy attacked and killed who was with Pounhim. Sprague was found dead outside cy hours after the murder and who 125 Julian Street February 19, 2012. testified during the trial, “I killed a Pouncy testified Wednesday, motherfucker up in the alley” the April 30 in San Francisco Superior night Sprague was killed. Court before Judge Donald Sullivan. “What purpose would she have to Assistant District Attorney John lie?” Rowland asked. Rowland described Pouncy strugRowland also said that Sprague gling with Sprague and then stranhad made several ATM withdrawgling him, but Pouncy repeatedly said als just before he was killed, and the he had “no knowledge” of Sprague. medical examiner’s office found coDeputy Public Defender Stephen caine in his system. Rosen later asked Pouncy specifically if Rosen said there’s “no credible he’d attacked Sprague, to which Pounevidence” tying Sprague’s murder “to cy replied, “No, I didn’t. Not at all.” the shoulders of Roland Pouncy.” Pouncy, who’s in custody and was Rosen said nobody knew where homeless at the time of the muron Sprague’s neck the sample had der, also said that he’d come upon been taken from. He also said deSprague’s body lying on the sidespite Sprague’s numerous bloody walk. He testified that he’d checked wounds, prosecutors hadn’t proSprague’s carotid artery for a pulse vided “one smidgen of forensic evibefore reaching into his pocket dence” from the defendant’s clothes and taking his Wells Fargo debit showing that he’d been the man card. Rowland was incredulous that who’d spent several minutes fightPouncy would have known to check ing with and strangling the victim. Sprague’s carotid artery. “That evidence doesn’t exist,” said He also questioned why Pouncy Rosen. hadn’t sought help after he hadn’t He also noted that knowing how felt signs of life. to check for a pulse is “common “I didn’t want to make the matter knowledge,” any worse on me,” said Pouncy, who He also disputed Sullivan’s credibilRosen acknowledged had been doity, pointing to her criminal record, ing drugs that night. and suggesting she’d hoped to win In Rowland’s closing arguments favor with police over the years.t Tuesday, May 6, he said several factors pointed to Pouncy’s guilt, including DNA, evidence showing that Pouncy had possessed Sprague’s debit card Online content this week after the murder, and the testimony includes the Bay Area Reporter’s of a woman to whom Pouncy allegonline columns, Political Notes edly admitted the killing. and Wedding Bells Ring; the Out Rowland said DNA taken from in the World column; and a story Sprague’s neck that matched Pouncy’s on an LGBT youth town hall. DNA profile offered “overwhelming” www.ebar.com. evidence that he was the killer.

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<< Open Forum

4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 8-14, 2014

Volume 44, Number 19 May 8-14, 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 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 • Lois Pearlman • Tim Pfaff Jim Piechota • Bob Roehr Philip Ruth • Donna Sachet • Adam Sandel 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

LEGAL COUNSEL Paul H. Melbostad, Esq.

Chiu’s the choice in AD 17

esidents in San Francisco’s Assembly District 17, which covers the eastern side of the city, are fortunate to have two qualified Democratic candidates seeking to replace gay progressive stalwart Tom Ammiano, who is termed out of office. And while the Bay Area Reporter exists to serve the LGBT community and its interests, that doesn’t mean we will always recommend the gay candidate in a race. This is one of those times, as we urge readers to vote for David Chiu for Assembly. Chiu is a straight man who is so thoroughly committed to equality that he hopes to join the Legislature’s LGBT caucus. He has been with the community from the beginning of his professional career, even, in fact, before that. During our editorial board meeting, Chiu told us of growing up in Boston in the 1970s, which was not particularly diverse. “I grew up hearing a lot of hate slurs,” including anti-gay epithets, he said. “I really came to associate those sentiments with something I wanted to fight.” In the 1990s, Chiu worked against the Defense of Marriage Act when he was a congressional staffer for the late Paul Simon, one of the few senators who thought DOMA “was horrific,” he noted. It was part of the reason he decided to move to San Francisco 17 years ago. Ten years ago he began working on LGBT issues here. And since being elected to the Board of Supervisors and becoming its president more than five years ago, Chiu has made sure to backfill HIV/AIDS funding cut by the federal government. He has delivered funding for vulnerable LGBT students at nonprofits like the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center, and passed resolutions supporting the reunification of LGBT immigrant families. He worked with gay board members to shore up the finances of the LGBT Community Center. On every issue affecting the LGBT community that the board has taken up, Chiu has been on our side. All told, Chiu has managed to get 97 of his ordinances passed by the board. That speaks to his ability to work with divergent interests and to reach consensus, something that will be necessary in Sacramento, where the Assembly is nearly eight times the size of the Board of Supervisors. There’s a difference in leadership – tone and culture – that Chiu and his opponent, gay Supervisor David Campos, bring to the table. But Chiu has the edge in all areas, in our opinion, and will be a more effective leg-

oters in the South Bay, on the Peninsula, in the East Bay, and the Westside of San Francisco have the opportunity to send five qualified candidates to the state Assembly. In the June 3 primary, the Bay Area Reporter recommends the following:

Evan Low, Assembly District 28

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Chiu for Assembly campaign

David Chiu waves a rainbow flag in last year’s San Francisco Pride parade.

We are under no illusions that we live in a post-gay society, but we don’t think that being gay should be our sole litmus test either. It is definitely important to have LGBT representatives at all levels of government, especially outside of San Francisco. However, the community has matured since the days of Harvey Milk when he won a seat on the Board of Supervisors and became the first gay elected officeholder in California. Back then, no one was arguing for us. Now, more and more politicians are arguing for us, including mainstream Democrats, independents, and an increasing number of Republicans. In Milk’s day, he won over labor unions and built consensus around the Coors boycott. Fast forward to 2014, it’s candidate Chiu who has more labor support in the race. Chiu stated the obvious when he told us that he has not lived the experience of a gay man. But he said that he believes whoever the next assemblyman is, he should be a leader for LGBTs. “I will work my hardest,” he said. As board president, Chiu has been extremely effective at navigating the tricky trails of San Francisco politics. He has done it with civility and a work ethic that demonstrates his commitment to the city and its residents. He will bring that energy and know-how to Sacramento. It’s one thing to fight for an issue by holding press conferences and speaking at rallies; it’s another to actually come up with a plan and see it through to becoming policy by passing an ordinance. That’s the difference between Chiu and his opponent, and why, at the end of the day, we recommend Chiu for Assembly.t

Send these 5 to CA Assembly V

BAY AREA REPORTER

islator. There are times when he will take on special interests; leading the fight against the 8 Washington development last year is but one example. Whoever wins the Assembly race will need to shift from focusing on exclusively local issues to more regional and statewide concerns, and California, the eighth largest economy, has plenty of problems to address, from a slow economic recovery in parts of the state to the high cost of living and lack of affordable housing in cities like San Francisco. State issues affecting the Bay Area are vast – there’s housing, water, and reform of Proposition 13 to name just a few. Regarding Prop 13, the decades-old property tax initiative that has led to loss of funding for public education and other services over the years, Chiu said he is committed to pushing all sides to change it. At present, there seems to be more support for changing the commercial property tax aspect of the law, but Chiu vows to look at all of it. He has a record of success working with business, even though he was elected as a progressive. “I worked really hard to create an 11-0 business tax and helped move to a job creating tax,” he told us, adding that the business tax reform recently passed by voters took over a decade to work out. “I don’t come to this with one-sizefits-all,” he said, referring to Prop 13. “I think everyone knows when property tax [revenue] drops 60 percent you have to do something. I’m open to a variety.” Chiu said that San Franciscans from the 17th District deserve a representative who will champion new legislation and groundbreaking programs for the LGBT community. His platform calls for more state resources for building senior affordable housing that includes LGBT seniors, and providing rental and homeowner assistance and legal services, as well as supporting LGBT-specific aging in place programs. For LGBT youth, state policies need to ensure students are safe from bullying and that foster youth are well-served. Other priorities include adequate funding for HIV/ AIDS patients, fair drug prices, and the health care needs of lesbians and transgender people. “And while the battle for marriage equality in California is thankfully over, we need to continue to fight LGBT discrimination in the workplace and in housing decisions, particularly for transgender people,” Chiu said in a follow-up statement.

Evan Low, the outgoing South Bay politician, has been a rising star in the Democratic Party and the LGBT community since 2006, when he became the first Asian American, openly gay, and youngest person ever elected to the Campbell City Council. He went on to serve as mayor, again making history, and was re-elected. At 31, he has the experience serving in public office and is a regional leader on an array of issues. Low championed marriage equality and spoke out against the federal government’s ban on blood donations from gay men. He is running to succeed his boss, Assemblyman Paul Fong (D-Cupertino), who is termed out. The district includes Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos, and parts of San Jose. Low also worked on issues affecting Campbell, including a balanced budget that did not cut vital city services like public safety. He is an advocate for transparency in government and pushed to make City Council meetings available online. He helped cut red tape for business owners and is a leader on environmental and sustainability issues. In short, Low is a qualified Assembly candidate who can bring his local government experience to Sacramento.

Rich Gordon, Assembly Distirct 24

Rich Gordon (D) is running for re-election to his Peninsula seat and wholeheartedly deserves our endorsement. He is a gay man who has been an effective representative for his district and an unwavering advocate for equality. Gordon is effective because of his bipartisan approach to pass a variety of bills, 33 of which have been signed into law. These include making more money available to local housing trusts and extending a child care subsidy plan in San Mateo County that maximizes limited funds while aiding working families. Gordon chairs the powerful Assembly Rules Committee and was elected chair of the Legislature’s LGBT caucus for an unprecedented third consecutive term. The work of the caucus has been shaped by events occurring across the country – from marriage equality being restored in California to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision invalidating a provision of the Defense of Marriage Act. Gordon led the caucus to reaffirm its commitment to ensure that the policies originating with the Legislature or established by state agencies are inclusive of all families.

Elizabeth Echols, Assembly District 15

Elizabeth Echols (D) is a longtime East Bay resident who recently held an important post in the Obama administration where she was regional administrator of the Small Business Administration and senior adviser on Clean Tech and Energy Efficiency Initiatives. She is running to

replace Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (DBerkeley), who is termed out. In her role at the SBA, Echols helped local small businesses and entrepreneurs expand and create high quality jobs by providing access to financing, business training, and federal contracts. Echols’s main issues are public education, local businesses, and the environment. She is a good fit for the district, which includes cities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Skinner has endorsed her. Echols is an executive board member of the National Women’s Political Caucus Alameda North Chapter. She received the endorsement of Equality California. As a straight ally, Echols is committed to ensuring everyone in the state enjoys equal rights and equal opportunity. In her announcement of the endorsement, she said she looks forward to working with EQCA, meaning the LGBT community has a firm ally in this very diverse district.

Rob Bonta, Assembly District 18

Rob Bonta (D) is running for re-election to this East Bay district that includes the cities of Oakland, Alameda, and San Leandro. He is the first Filipino to serve in the Legislature and is a solid ally of the LGBT community. This year, he authored a bill to distribute condoms in state prisons, which is aimed at decreasing HIV transmission and other sexually transmitted infections. He had written similar legislation last year but Governor Jerry Brown vetoed it. This time, Bonta added some flexibility to the bill to satisfy concerns by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Since the prison department would have to implement the plan, such flexibility seems reasonable. See page 14 >>

Commentary>>

May 8-14, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 5

One David stands out for Assembly by Bill Hemenger

ith David Campos’s hit pieces on David Chiu landing in mailboxes – the first mail of the campaign – the race for California’s Assembly District 17 seat has become almost as ugly as San Francisco housing is expensive. Since Chiu and Campos will undoubtedly be the top two finishers in the June 3 open primary, San Franciscans, and, in particular, Castro residents face another six months of negativity from a Campos campaign that feels much more focused on bringing Chiu down than on promoting Campos. While coverage of the race has suggested that Chiu has been slow to push back, Campos deserves to be held accountable for the hypocrisy of his central campaign messages and for his weak record on the Board of Supervisors. Let’s start with Campos’s central pitch to the LGBT community: this Assembly seat belongs to the LGBT community, and since I’m gay, you MUST vote for me. This message is so transparently self-serving, and so contrary to his own paltry record supporting LGBT leaders and issues, that it’s actually a little bit sad. As a gay man, I know LGBT voters are too smart to fall for it. Where was Campos’s LGBT litmus test in the 2011 mayoral race when he did not support former Supervisor Bevan Dufty in his effort to become the first gay mayor of San Francisco? Where was Campos’s LGBT litmus test when he voted against the Ethics Commission appointment of Brett Andrews, the respected LGBT African American head of an HIV/AIDS services nonprofit? Campos, unlike Chiu, hasn’t even seen fit to support our great LGBT state Senator Mark Leno in a competitive race. That’s right: Campos has never supported Leno, one of our community’s greatest legislative champions, in a competitive race. And no one is supposed to remember Campos’s pivotal 2008 vote for a straight man (Aaron Peskin) over LGBT leader and current Supervisor Scott Wiener to chair the local Democratic Party. Indeed, in the

Jane Philomen Cleland

David Chiu

Assembly campaign, Campos has repeatedly attacked Chiu for Chiu’s appointment of Wiener to chair the Land Use Committee. So much for supporting LGBT leadership. In another core message, Campos tries to channel Charles Dickens by repeatedly invoking The Tale of Two Cities. All San Franciscans know that inequality and the cost of housing is a huge challenge, but they also know that there truly is a “Tale of Two Missions” – the Mission that Campos has represented for almost six years is ground zero for growing inequality. At the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club debate, Campos even had the nerve to blame the issues in the Mission on Chiu. Since Campos has done nothing to manage the situation in his own district, why should voters think that he has much to offer the Assembly besides empty slogans? Campos should also look in the proverbial mirror before he attacks Chiu on campaign financing and ethics. You would never know from his anti-development, antibusiness rhetoric that nearly 40 percent of Campos’s contributions in the first full filing period were from real estate and development interests. Campos’s average donations were also half again as large as Chiu’s – but Chiu had nearly three times as many individual donors. It is also Campos, not Chiu, who has received thousands in direct contributions from lobbyists. Many of those lobbyist donors to Campos are from AT&T, which is no surprise since Campos provided the crucial vote to allow AT&T to plunk 762 huge utility boxes on our

sidewalks. More than 2,000 neighbors have formally objected to these blight-causing facilities. This pro-AT&T vote is part of a pattern of ignoring neighborhood voices. Campos also voted against protecting precious neighborhood open space on Corbett Avenue, instead asking that it be sold to developers. Campos is also relying on the short memory of voters when he claims to support women. But who can forget his indefensible vote to keep Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi in office after he pleaded guilty to domestic violence? Less remembered but similarly telling was Campos’s support of District 5 supervisorial candidate Julian Davis, who was known in progressive circles to have groped a number of women. It took an ill-advised cease and desist letter from Davis to one of those women for Campos to finally withdraw his endorsement. Chiu’s record stands in stark contrast to Campos’s. Elected by his colleagues to three consecutive terms as board president, Chiu has passed three times as much legislation as Campos. Chiu has pushed to help families stay in San Francisco by guaranteeing a right to request flexible work schedules. And unlike Campos, Chiu supported the construction of thousands of affordable housing units like the ones in the Alice Griffith public housing project. And Chiu has delivered for San Francisco while changing the tone in City Hall and moving away from the dysfunctional politics of earlier years. Absentee ballots landed in mailboxes this week. Voters can side with Campos supporters Peskin, Mirkarimi, and Chris Daly. Or voters can join the Alice club, Wiener, Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Prozan, former Treasurer Susan Leal, former Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club President Debra Walker, the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance, and many other LGBT community leaders to vote for Chiu. His record of leadership at the Board of Supervisors and his ability to work with all San Franciscans make him the easy choice for state Assembly.t Bill Hemenger is a tech business guy working and living in San Francisco and invested in the community.

Nonprofits gear up for Give OUT Day

Khaled Sayed

Members of the Transgender Law Center are gearing up for next week’s Give OUT Day; the organization took first place in the community fundraising event last year.

by Khaled Sayed

ommunity nonprofits looking to raise funds will be participating in the second annual Give OUT Day next week, and local LGBT organizations are among those taking part in the nationwide effort. This year’s Give OUT Day is Thursday, May 15. The national initiative is intended to engage hun-

dreds of organizations and mobilize thousands of people on a single day across the country to give in support of the LGBT community. Founded last year, Give OUT Day invites donors to contribute to their chosen charities starting at 9 p.m. May 14, Pacific Time (midnight on the East Coast) through 8:59 p.m. (Pacific Time) May 15 through the website www.GiveOutDay.org.

Give OUT Day was started by Bolder Giving, a New York-based nonprofit that works to inspire people to give. It is powered by Razoo, the leading online donation platform. Bolder Giving Executive Director Jason Franklin hopes this year’s donation day can raise more than $1 million total. Last year’s inaugural event See page 14 >>

<< Business News

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 8-14, 2014

Castro safe-sex club upgrades amid ownership shuffle by Matthew S. Bajko

ros, the Castro’s safe-sex club, has embarked on a series of upgrades amid an ownership shuffle. The two-story club at 2051 Market Street first opened its doors on April 24, 1992. In 2005 the original owners, Buzz Bense and Bob West, relinquished control of the business to three of the club’s longtime managers: Hans Pfeifer, Ken Rowe, and Lou Fannon. Over the years Fannon left and, in 2009, sold his stake in the business to Rowe. Then last May Pfeifer decided to also sell his ownership to Rowe, who had been Eros’ operations manager and is now its CEO. “It was a good time for him to move on,” said Rowe, 49, who identifies as queer and started working at Eros 12 years ago. “His partner was retiring and we had been trying to bring a senior manager on as an owner.” Over the past year Rowe ended up bringing several of the safe-sex club’s employees on as co-owners. The first, last June, was senior manager Loren Bruton, who has been Eros’s gallery coordinator and its chief inhouse artist for nearly a decade. Then in July, Nathan Gold, another manager, came on board as a co-owner. With a background in commercial computers and networking, Gold has worked at Eros for two years. Last August, Paul Hendry, the former finance manager at the city’s LGBT Community Center and the current treasurer on the board of Folsom Street Events, which puts on a number of fetish events in San Francisco, joined Eros as its fourth co-owner. The quartet is still defining their various roles in the business. Bruton is now in charge of Eros’ website and ad design in addition to handling his human resources and gallery responsibilities. Hendry is focusing

on financial and scheduling strategies, while Gold oversaw providing free Wi-Fi to Eros’ customers and is overseeing various technologies in the club. In a May 1 interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Rowe said that business has ticked up over the last three months, with attendance averaging 2 to 5 percent above what it had been a year ago. Locals have been a big reason for the turnaround, with more long-term memberships being sold versus day passes. “It feels like we are getting out of the recession,” said Rowe. “We have a healthy mix of tourists and locals. But if it wasn’t for tourists during the recession, I don’t think we would have survived.” The club is 18 and over for men only and is welcoming to transgender men. But on two days of the year, New Year’s Day and Halloween, Eros opens its doors to all genders. Eros memberships cost $10 for three months, $35 for a year; day passes are $24. Its clientele skews to guys in their mid to late 30s, said Rowe, with 60 percent white, 15 percent Asian, 15 percent Latino, and 5 percent African American. Each Thursday guys age 18 to 29 get in for $8 for the day or can buy a fourmonth membership for $10. “Historically, Sunday has always been our busiest day,” Rowe said. “Guys who thought they would get laid over the weekend and haven’t will show up.” Over the past 12 months the new owners have turned their attention to upgrading Eros’ interior areas. They added a small gym where its front locker room once stood, installed a new rainbow-themed outdoor deck, and painted the majority of the club. They also have been systematically rebuilding the play space beds, each of which includes a lube dis-

Rick Gerharter

Eros co-owner Ken Rowe shows off the new fitness area at the Castro safe-sex club.

penser and free condoms, remodeling the bathrooms, and adding a bootblack stand in time for Pride this June. Its sauna and steam room were featured in an episode of the HBO series Looking, about a group of gay friends looking for love in San Francisco. Series regular Murray Bartlett, who plays waiter Dom, and Scott Bakula, whose character Lynn owns a flower shop and befriends Dom, spent a day at Eros filming several scenes for the show’s third episode. Although the sauna and steam room had always been a feature of the club, Eros learned last summer

that it needed to obtain a bathhouse permit from the city due to having the amenities. It received the necessary permits earlier this year. Under the city’s bathhouse rules, the club could install private rooms but the doors could not be locked and Eros staff would have to be able to monitor what goes on inside them. Rowe said the club has no intention, though, of doing so. “There are some spaces we could divide up but it is not our business model,” he said. “If we were in another space, we might consider it. Here we are more community-based and guys look out for each other.” How long Eros will be able to re-

main in its current location is more uncertain. It has a year left on its current lease, and the owners are hopeful they will be able to renew their lease for another five years. The club has always had a good relationship with its landlord, said Rowe. Eros’s founding owners had looked at buying the building, he said, but ruled it out due to the cost. “It is such an expensive piece of property, it is out of our reach,” said Rowe. Eros opens daily at noon. It closes at midnight Sundays through Thursdays, and at 3 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays. For more information visit http:// www.erossf.com.

Design collection leads to shop

A staging decorator for sellers of high-end homes, Brian Allen also collected design pieces on the side. Five years ago he began looking at turning his hobby into a new career by opening his own boutique home furnishings store. He nearly signed a lease at the time but admits he “got cold feet.” Yet his gut reaction turned out to be auspicious, as the economy tanked. Then last June he saw a vacant storefront for rent on Sanchez Street just off 16th Street in San Francisco’s gay Castro District and “I decided to go for it,” recalled Allen, 47, who has See page 12 >>

Episcopal bishop announces divorce from husband by Chuck Colbert

ishop V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the U.S. Episcopal Church, has announced that he and his husband, Mark Andrew, are divorcing. The first news of the marital breakup came in an email statement to the Diocese of New Hampshire. “As you can imagine, this is a difficult time for us – not a decision entered into lightly or without much counseling,” Robinson wrote on May 3. “I’m sure that you will understand the private nature of this change in our lives and our commitment to keeping those details appropriately private.” He added, “Our life and ministry among you continues to be something that both of us count as an honor and blessing. “We ask for your prayers, that the love and care for each other that has characterized our relationship for a quarter century will continue in the difficult days ahead.” In a May 4 column for the Daily Beast, Robinson discussed in some detail his views on marriage and divorce. “My belief in marriage is undiminished by the reality of divorcing someone I have loved for a very long time, and will continue to love even as we separate,” he wrote, explaining, “It is at least a small comfort to me, as a gay rights and marriage equality advocate, to know that like any marriage, gay and lesbian couples are subject to the same complications and hardships that afflict marriages between heterosexual couples.” Striking a more personal tone, Robinson added, “The fact remains that it takes two people to make a marriage and two people to make a divorce. The reasons for ending a marriage fall on the shoulders of both parties: the missed opportunities for saying and doing the things that might have made a difference, the roads not taken, the disappointments endured but not confronted.” Robinson, 66, who retired last

Rick Gerharter

Retired Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson

year as spiritual leader of the New Hampshire Episcopal diocese, rocked the worldwide Anglican Communion, of which the U.S. Episcopal Church, its more liberal branch, is a member, with his historic election as bishop in 2003. After the Episcopal Church’s General Convention approved his election and Robinson was consecrated, a number of parishes and individuals left the U.S. main branch and realigned with more conservative Anglican provinces. Moreover, a decade ago, as the Episcopal Church grappled with homosexuality and same-sex relationships, thereby liberalizing its stance – and as same-sex civil marriage became legal in the U.S. – Protestant denominations, namely Presbyterians, in 2011, began ordaining openly gay and lesbian members of the clergy and Lutherans, in 2013, installed an openly gay bishop in Southern California. Two years ago, the Episcopal Church voted permission for bishops to allow priests to bless samesex marriages. And Robinson now is not the only openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church. Bishop Mary D. Glasspool was consecrated in Los Angeles in 2010. Robinson and Andrew have been

a couple for more than 25 years. They were joined in a civil union in 2008, which automatically became a marriage after New Hampshire legalized same-sex wedlock in 2011. Over the years throughout his ministry, Robinson, a Kentucky native, was generally well liked in New Hampshire. He had been previously married to a woman. He is the father of two daughters. In 1986 he came out as a gay man, separated from his wife, and later they divorced. Robinson currently serves as a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. Reaction overall to the news of his divorce has been compassionate. The current Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, the Rt. Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld, has asked his flock to “keep both Gene and Mark close in your prayers as they seek God’s deep peace and healing.” Locally, the Reverend Joseph P. Peters-Mathews, working group head for communications of the Diocese of California at Grace Cathedral, said, “We do not have anything that we could add to the story.” The Reverend Tommy J. Dillon II, rector at St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church in San Francisco, said, “I admire Bishop Robinson’s request for privacy concerning the details of his divorce and offer prayers for both he and his husband in this difficult time.” And yet Robinson is not without his critics who say he “defied scriptural authority and thousands of years of Christian tradition,” according to Religion News Service reporting. Douglas LeBlanc, an Episcopalian who reported on Robinson’s consecration when he was then an editor at Christianity Today, said the divorce could fuel the fire, according to RNS. “I’m sure there might be some conservatives who might say, ‘We told you so all along, if you depart from church teachings on homosexuality, you’re opening the door to all kinds of chaos,’” said LeBlanc. “In many ways, I think you are. But I think it’s imperative to say, the House of Bishops is not lacking in heterosexual sin.”t

Politics>>

t First lesbian Assembly speaker plans SF Pride visit by Matthew S. Bajko

he first out lesbian lawmaker to hold the powerful California Assembly speaker position plans to be in San Francisco to celebrate Pride this year. Assembly Speaker-elect Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) told the Bay Area Reporter that she has accepted an offer to speak during the annual Alice B. Toklas Pride breakfast, which will take place Sunday, June 29. “I would love to see the Pride parade in San Francisco. Every year I always march in the San Diego Pride parade and never get to see it,” Atkins told the B.A.R. while attending a reception in her honor last week in downtown Oakland. The likelihood, though, is Atkins will end up marching in the San Francisco Pride parade either with Alice’s contingent or at the invitation of a local politician. And Audrey Joseph, who manages Pride’s main stage line-up, is hopeful Atkins will accept an invite to address the crowd this year. If Atkins does, it would mark the first time an out Assembly speaker has addressed the city’s Pride festival. Outgoing gay Assembly Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles) never participated in the Bay Area’s largest LGBT event during his fouryear tenure. His office never accepted Joseph’s invites to speak from Pride’s main stage, and though he had been scheduled to address Alice’s Pride breakfast in 2010, Perez was unable to attend the event. Atkins will take her oath of office

May 8-14, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

as the state’s 69th Assembly speaker and third woman to hold the post this Monday, May 12, shortly after 1 p.m. in the Assembly chambers inside the state Capitol in Sacramento. In addition to being the first lesbian speaker in the state’s history, Atkins will also be the first from San Diego. “I am also the first Appalachian speaker,” Atkins, 51, who grew up poor in southwestern Virginia, told those gathered at the East Bay reception for her hosted at Clear Channel Outdoor’s offices. A similar pre-swearing-in event was held in the same location for Perez in 2010. Reprising her role as a co-host was Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), who helped elect both Perez and Atkins to the speakership. “He has been an incredible speaker and we will have a new incredible speaker,” said Skinner, whose lesbian daughter, Sirona Skinner Nixon, will be marrying her longtime partner, Sinead O’Rourke, this summer. Atkins, who is married to her spouse, Jennifer LeSar, told the B.A.R. that, in terms of the LGBT community, a prime focus for her as speaker will be transgender issues. “We still have a lot of work to do for our transgender community,” said Atkins, who is sponsoring Assembly Bill 1577, the Respect After Death Act, to ensure transgender people have their authentic gender identity reflected on their death certificates. LGBT data collection is another top priority for Atkins, as without such information it is difficult to target funding to address health dispari-

longevity of the Legislative ties among LGBT people. LGBT Caucus will also “For years we have be at the forefront of her worked on that issue but priorities in the coming we have yet been able to months. convince the governor or Two of the current various state departments,” eight caucus members are said Atkins, about how crittermed out of office this ical it is for state forms and fall – Perez and gay Assemsurveys to include quesblyman Tom Ammiano tions about sexual orienta(D-San Francisco) – and tion and gender identity. the caucus won’t replenish Attending the reception its ranks this year unless was East Bay Stonewall gay non-incumbent AsDemocratic Club Presisembly candidates Evan dent Brendalynn GoodLow and David Campos all, who told the B.A.R. Cynthia Laird or gay state Senate candishe would like to see Atdate Dr. Vito Imbasciani kins during her speaker- California Assembly Speaker-elect Toni Atkins, left, win their electoral bids. ship tackle employment talks with gay Oakland Port Commissioner Michael “I want to make sure the issues within the LGBT Colbruno at a reception held for her last week in LGBT caucus is strong and community and housing downtown Oakland. that there is also gender for LGBT seniors. parity,” said Atkins, point“I know there is a great be heard at the state level. ing out that the Legislature’s female need for services and housing for “I am so happy and proud to have ranks will be decreasing this year. our elders,” said Goodall. “There Speaker-elect Atkins be elected, and “We have worked so hard to have an is also a need for making it safe I am looking forward to working LGBT caucus. If we don’t focus on for LGBT seniors to be in nursing with her,” Kaplan, an out lesbian, this, we will lose it. It is on my mind homes.” told the B.A.R. in a brief interview that we have to increase our efforts Also in attendance was El Cerrito at the reception. to recruit and train new candidates resident Gabriel Quinto, a gay man Asked by the B.A.R. about seeing for state office.”t who is a local Democratic Party California form a statewide comactivist. He said not only does Atmission on LGBT seniors, similar to kins need to ensure the T in LGBT Web Extra: For more queer politione established by Massachusetts, cal news, be sure to check http:// is being heard but also those in the Atkins was amendable to the idea. www.ebar.com Monday mornings LGBT community who live in sub“No one has approached me diat noon for Political Notes, the urban areas of the state. rectly on it, but I know there are spenotebook’s online companion. Her agenda needs to “include cific issues related to LGBT seniors This week’s column reported on communities outside of the bigger Jo Becker’s local book tour stops we should look at,” she said. cities like San Francisco,” Quinto for her behind-the-scenes look at Atkins, who is expected to eastold the B.A.R. “So many of us are the federal Proposition 8 lawsuit. ily win a third and final two-year moving to the East Bay.” term this November, will be termed Keep abreast of the latest LGBT Oakland At-Large City Counout of the Assembly in December political news by following the cilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, who’s Political Notebook on Twitter @ 2016 along with two of her gay colknown Atkins for several years, gohttp://twitter.com/politicalnotes. leagues, Assemblyman Rich Goring back to when Kaplan first startdon (D-Menlo Park) and state SenGot a tip on LGBT politics? Call ed running for office in the early ator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 8612000s, said Oakland’s focus on pubShe told the B.A.R. that ensuring the 5019 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.com. lic safety and the economy will now

Sonoma kicks off Pride season in the Bay Area compiled by Cynthia Laird

onoma County will jump-start the Bay Area’s Pride season when it holds its annual parade and Pride Village in downtown Guerneville May 30June 1. Stephen Zollman, chair of this year’s Pride Committee, said that this year’s theme is “Free To Be.” Highlights of the weekend include welcoming receptions and specials at local merchants and restaurants beginning Friday night, a pink Saturday disco dance party, and a full day of celebration on Sunday with the parade down Main Street and the Pride Village that will be located on the town plaza. Other Sunday events include a commitment and wedding ceremony at 2 p.m. (couples should bring their marriage license), family pool party from noon to 4 p.m. at Rio Nido Roadhouse, and an interfaith service at 7 p.m. at Thanksgiving Lutheran Church, 1225 Fulton Road in Santa Rosa. Grand marshals for this year’s parade are out lesbian Cloverdale Mayor Carol Russell; gay Sebastopol Mayor Robert Jacob, who made news after his fellow councilmembers voted him in as mayor as he owns a medical marijuana dispensary; and Guerneville’s “unofficial” mayor, Roger Jensen (based at the R3 Hotel). The parade begins at 11 a.m. at the western end of Main Street. Zollman noted that this year’s planning committee is composed of involved citizens and small businesses and is sponsored by the Russian River Chamber of Commerce. The committee is accepting spon-

sorships to help cover fixed costs, he said. There’s still time to participate in the parade or Pride Village. Applications are available online at www. sonomacountypride.org.

Takano fundraiser Sunday

Friends and supporters of Congressman Mark Takano (D-Riverside) will hold a re-election fundraiser for him Sunday, May 11 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Pisco Latin Lounge/ Destino, 1817 Market Street in San Francisco. Takano made history two years ago when he became California’s first out LGBT member of Congress. He is also the first LGBT person of color elected to Congress. A former high school teacher, Takano has focused on education and veterans issues since taking office. A number of health professionals are on the host committee welcoming Takano as he makes another visit to the Bay Area. They include former San Francisco public health and Obama administration official Dr. Grant Colfax, Dr. Rodman Rogers, and Dr. Richard Zuniga. Tickets start at $100 and can be purchased online at http://tinyurl. com/k6nv8rf.

Healthy aging workshop

Openhouse, the San Francisco agency that works with LGBT seniors, is starting a four-week health aging workshop series Friday, May 9. The series focuses on empowering LGBT people over 60 to advocate for themselves, find resources, and create and maintain community. Women and people of color are especially encouraged to join.

Stephen Gross

People lined Main Street in Guerneville to watch the 2012 Pride parade.

The series is free with RSVP to Marcia Peterzell (Marcia.peterzell@ comcast.net) or by calling (415) 359-1816. The series runs four Fridays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Openhouse, which has its offices at the LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street.

Young leaders receive scholarships

The eQuality Scholarship Collaborative has announced that it will award $6,000 scholarships to 17 young leaders at its dinner next week in San Francisco. The event, to be held Friday, May

16 at the Hotel Nikko, also marks the 25th anniversary of the collaborative. When founded in 1989, eQuality was the first such organization of its kind in the country. This year, 13 graduating high See page 13 >>

What is STRIBILD? STRIBILD is a prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in adults who have never taken HIV-1 medicines before. It combines 4 medicines into 1 pill to be taken once a day with food. STRIBILD is a complete single-tablet regimen and should not be used with other HIV-1 medicines. STRIBILD does not cure HIV-1 infection or AIDS. To control HIV-1 infection and decrease HIV-related illnesses you must keep taking STRIBILD. Ask your healthcare provider if you have questions about how to reduce the risk of passing HIV-1 to others. Always practice safer sex and use condoms to lower the chance of sexual contact with body fluids. Never reuse or share needles or other items that have body fluids on them.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION What is the most important information I should know about STRIBILD? STRIBILD can cause serious side effects: • Build-up of an acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious medical emergency. Symptoms of lactic acidosis include feeling very weak or tired, unusual (not normal) muscle pain, trouble breathing, stomach pain with nausea or vomiting, feeling cold especially in your arms and legs, feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and/or a fast or irregular heartbeat. • Serious liver problems. The liver may become large (hepatomegaly) and fatty (steatosis). Symptoms of liver problems include your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow (jaundice), dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored bowel movements (stools), loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, and/or stomach pain. • You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or serious liver problems if you are female, very overweight (obese), or have been taking STRIBILD for a long time. In some cases, these serious conditions have led to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any symptoms of these conditions.

• Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. If you also have HBV and stop taking STRIBILD, your hepatitis may suddenly get worse. Do not stop taking STRIBILD without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to monitor your health. STRIBILD is not approved for the treatment of HBV.

Who should not take STRIBILD? Do not take STRIBILD if you: • Take a medicine that contains: alfuzosin, dihydroergotamine, ergotamine, methylergonovine, cisapride, lovastatin, simvastatin, pimozide, sildenafil when used for lung problems (Revatio®), triazolam, oral midazolam, rifampin or the herb St. John’s wort. • For a list of brand names for these medicines, please see the Brief Summary on the following pages. • Take any other medicines to treat HIV-1 infection, or the medicine adefovir (Hepsera®).

What are the other possible side effects of STRIBILD? Serious side effects of STRIBILD may also include: • New or worse kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider should do regular blood and urine tests to check your kidneys before and during treatment with STRIBILD. If you develop kidney problems, your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking STRIBILD. • Bone problems, including bone pain or bones getting soft or thin, which may lead to fractures. Your healthcare provider may do tests to check your bones. • Changes in body fat can happen in people taking HIV-1 medicines. • Changes in your immune system. Your immune system may get stronger and begin to fight infections. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any new symptoms after you start taking STRIBILD. The most common side effects of STRIBILD include nausea and diarrhea. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or don’t go away.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking STRIBILD? • All your health problems. Be sure to tell your healthcare provider if you have or had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis virus infection. • All the medicines you take, including prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. STRIBILD may affect the way other medicines work, and other medicines may affect how STRIBILD works. Keep a list of all your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist. Do not start any new medicines while taking STRIBILD without first talking with your healthcare provider. • If you take hormone-based birth control (pills, patches, rings, shots, etc). • If you take antacids. Take antacids at least 2 hours before or after you take STRIBILD. • If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if STRIBILD can harm your unborn baby. Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking STRIBILD. • If you are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk. Also, some medicines in STRIBILD can pass into breast milk, and it is not known if this can harm the baby.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088. Please see Brief Summary of full Prescribing Information with important warnings on the following pages.

STRIBILD is a prescription medicine used as a complete single-tablet regimenmedicine to treat HIV-1 in STRIBILD is a prescription used as a complete single-tablet regimen to treat HIV-1 in adults who have never taken HIV-1 medicines adults who have never before. STRIBILD does nottaken cure HIV-1 HIV-1 medicines or AIDS. before. STRIBILD does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS.

I started my personal revolution

I started my revolution Talkpersonal to your healthcare provider about starting treatment.

Talk to your healthcare provider STRIBILD is a complete about starting treatment.HIV-1

treatment in 1 pill, once a day. STRIBILD is a complete HIV-1 treatment in 1 pill, once a day.

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Patient Information STRIBILD® (STRY-bild) (elvitegravir 150 mg/cobicistat 150 mg/emtricitabine 200 mg/ tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300 mg) tablets Brief summary of full Prescribing Information. For more information, please see the full Prescribing Information, including Patient Information. What is STRIBILD? • STRIBILD is a prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in adults who have never taken HIV-1 medicines before. STRIBILD is a complete regimen and should not be used with other HIV-1 medicines. • STRIBILD does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. You must stay on continuous HIV-1 therapy to control HIV-1 infection and decrease HIV-related illnesses. • Ask your healthcare provider about how to prevent passing HIV-1 to others. Do not share or reuse needles, injection equipment, or personal items that can have blood or body fluids on them. Do not have sex without protection. Always practice safer sex by using a latex or polyurethane condom to lower the chance of sexual contact with semen, vaginal secretions, or blood. What is the most important information I should know about STRIBILD? STRIBILD can cause serious side effects, including: 1. Build-up of lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis). Lactic acidosis can happen in some people who take STRIBILD or similar (nucleoside analogs) medicines. Lactic acidosis is a serious medical emergency that can lead to death. Lactic acidosis can be hard to identify early, because the symptoms could seem like symptoms of other health problems. Call your healthcare provider right away if you get any of the following symptoms which could be signs of lactic acidosis: • feel very weak or tired • have unusual (not normal) muscle pain

• Do not stop taking STRIBILD without first talking to your healthcare provider • If you stop taking STRIBILD, your healthcare provider will need to check your health often and do blood tests regularly for several months to check your HBV infection. Tell your healthcare provider about any new or unusual symptoms you may have after you stop taking STRIBILD Who should not take STRIBILD? Do not take STRIBILD if you also take a medicine that contains: • adefovir (Hepsera®) • alfuzosin hydrochloride (Uroxatral®) • cisapride (Propulsid®, Propulsid Quicksolv®) • ergot-containing medicines, including: dihydroergotamine mesylate (D.H.E. 45®, Migranal®), ergotamine tartrate (Cafergot®, Migergot®, Ergostat®, Medihaler Ergotamine®, Wigraine®, Wigrettes®), and methylergonovine maleate (Ergotrate®, Methergine®) • lovastatin (Advicor®, Altoprev®, Mevacor®) • oral midazolam • pimozide (Orap®) • rifampin (Rifadin®, Rifamate®, Rifater®, Rimactane®) • sildenafil (Revatio®), when used for treating lung problems • simvastatin (Simcor®, Vytorin®, Zocor®) • triazolam (Halcion®) • the herb St. John’s wort Do not take STRIBILD if you also take any other HIV-1 medicines, including: • Other medicines that contain tenofovir (Atripla®, Complera®, Viread®, Truvada®) • Other medicines that contain emtricitabine, lamivudine, or ritonavir (Atripla®, Combivir®, Complera®, Emtriva®, Epivir® or Epivir-HBV®, Epzicom®, Kaletra®, Norvir®, Trizivir®, Truvada®)

• have trouble breathing

STRIBILD is not for use in people who are less than 18 years old.

• have stomach pain with nausea or vomiting

What are the possible side effects of STRIBILD?

• feel cold, especially in your arms and legs • feel dizzy or lightheaded

STRIBILD may cause the following serious side effects:

• have a fast or irregular heartbeat

• See “What is the most important information I should know about STRIBILD?”

2. Severe liver problems. Severe liver problems can happen in people who take STRIBILD. In some cases, these liver problems can lead to death. Your liver may become large (hepatomegaly) and you may develop fat in your liver (steatosis). Call your healthcare provider right away if you get any of the following symptoms of liver problems: • your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow (jaundice) • dark “tea-colored” urine • light-colored bowel movements (stools) • loss of appetite for several days or longer • nausea • stomach pain You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or severe liver problems if you are female, very overweight (obese), or have been taking STRIBILD for a long time. 3. Worsening of Hepatitis B infection. If you have hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and take STRIBILD, your HBV may get worse (flareup) if you stop taking STRIBILD. A “flare-up” is when your HBV infection suddenly returns in a worse way than before. • Do not run out of STRIBILD. Refill your prescription or talk to your healthcare provider before your STRIBILD is all gone

• New or worse kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider should do blood and urine tests to check your kidneys before you start and while you are taking STRIBILD. Your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking STRIBILD if you develop new or worse kidney problems. • Bone problems can happen in some people who take STRIBILD. Bone problems include bone pain, softening or thinning (which may lead to fractures). Your healthcare provider may need to do tests to check your bones. • Changes in body fat can happen in people who take HIV-1 medicine. These changes may include increased amount of fat in the upper back and neck (“buffalo hump”), breast, and around the middle of your body (trunk). Loss of fat from the legs, arms and face may also happen. The exact cause and long-term health effects of these conditions are not known. • Changes in your immune system (Immune Reconstitution Syndrome) can happen when you start taking HIV-1 medicines. Your immune system may get stronger and begin to fight infections that have been hidden in your body for a long time. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you start having any new symptoms after starting your HIV-1 medicine.

The most common side effects of STRIBILD include: • Nausea • Diarrhea Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effect that bothers you or that does not go away. • These are not all the possible side effects of STRIBILD. For more information, ask your healthcare provider. • Call your healthcare provider for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088. What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking STRIBILD? Tell your healthcare provider about all your medical conditions, including: • If you have or had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis B infection • If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if STRIBILD can harm your unborn baby. Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking STRIBILD. - There is a pregnancy registry for women who take antiviral medicines during pregnancy. The purpose of this registry is to collect information about the health of you and your baby. Talk with your healthcare provider about how you can take part in this registry. • If you are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed if you take STRIBILD. - You should not breastfeed if you have HIV-1 because of the risk of passing HIV-1 to your baby. - Two of the medicines in STRIBILD can pass to your baby in your breast milk. It is not known if the other medicines in STRIBILD can pass into your breast milk. - Talk with your healthcare provider about the best way to feed your baby. Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take, including prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements: • STRIBILD may affect the way other medicines work, and other medicines may affect how STRIBILD works. • Be sure to tell your healthcare provider if you take any of the following medicines: - Hormone-based birth control (pills, patches, rings, shots, etc) - Antacid medicines that contain aluminum, magnesium hydroxide, or calcium carbonate. Take antacids at least 2 hours before or after you take STRIBILD

- disopyramide (Norpace®) - estazolam - ethosuximide (Zarontin®) - flecainide (Tambocor®) - flurazepam - fluticasone (Flovent®, Flonase®, Flovent® Diskus®, Flovent® HFA, Veramyst®) - itraconazole (Sporanox®) - ketoconazole (Nizoral®) - lidocaine (Xylocaine®) - mexiletine - oxcarbazepine (Trileptal®) - perphenazine - phenobarbital (Luminal®) - phenytoin (Dilantin®, Phenytek®) - propafenone (Rythmol®) - quinidine (Neudexta®) - rifabutin (Mycobutin®) - rifapentine (Priftin®) - risperidone (Risperdal®, Risperdal Consta®) - salmeterol (Serevent®) or salmeterol when taken in combination with fluticasone (Advair Diskus®, Advair HFA®) - sildenafil (Viagra®), tadalafil (Cialis®) or vardenafil (Levitra®, Staxyn®), for the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED). If you get dizzy or faint (low blood pressure), have vision changes or have an erection that last longer than 4 hours, call your healthcare provider or get medical help right away. - tadalafil (Adcirca®), for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension - telithromycin (Ketek®) - thioridazine - voriconazole (Vfend®) - warfarin (Coumadin®, Jantoven®) - zolpidem (Ambien®, Edlular®, Intermezzo®, Zolpimist®) Know the medicines you take. Keep a list of all your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist when you get a new medicine. Do not start any new medicines while you are taking STRIBILD without first talking with your healthcare provider. Keep STRIBILD and all medicines out of reach of children.

- atorvastatin (Lipitor®, Caduet®)

This Brief Summary summarizes the most important information about STRIBILD. If you would like more information, talk with your healthcare provider. You can also ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist for information about STRIBILD that is written for health professionals, or call 1-800-445-3235 or go to www.STRIBILD.com.

- bepridil hydrochloride (Vascor®, Bepadin®)

Issued: October 2013

- Medicines to treat depression, organ transplant rejection, or high blood pressure - amiodarone (Cordarone®, Pacerone®)

- bosentan (Tracleer®) - buspirone - carbamazepine (Carbatrol®, Epitol®, Equetro®, Tegretol®) - clarithromycin (Biaxin®, Prevpac®) - clonazepam (Klonopin®) - clorazepate (Gen-xene®, Tranxene®) - colchicine (Colcrys®) - medicines that contain dexamethasone - diazepam (Valium®) - digoxin (Lanoxin®)

COMPLERA, EMTRIVA, GILEAD, the GILEAD Logo, GSI, HEPSERA, STRIBILD, the STRIBILD Logo, TRUVADA, and VIREAD are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. ATRIPLA is a trademark of Bristol-Myers Squibb & Gilead Sciences, LLC. All other marks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners. © 2014 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. STBC0083 04/14

<< Sports

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 8-14, 2014

Footloose in the desert by Roger Brigham

hen I write profiles about athletes, I usually start off by asking them how they got started, what they love most about their sport – predictable things like that. When I talked with Bill McCarty, I just asked him if he was crazy. Which, he said, he is. McCarty is a gay 66-year-old public relations consultant from San Francisco. He never played any sports through his entire life – “I was a couch potato,” he told the Bay Area Reporter – and slowly, year by year, he found the pounds piling up on his 5-foot-8 frame until he reached a high of 178 pounds. “It wasn’t a lot, just about a pound a year, but that’s a lot of years,” he said. And so he decided to take up running in 2002. And not one to do things in a casual kind of way, the next year he decided to run in marathons. He started running a few marathons a year and never finished above the middle of the pack. But one thing he noticed was odd. He’d always been told that it took marathon runners a few days to recover. Not McCarty. He always felt ready to run the next day. So he de-

cided to do what any non-sane person would decide to do: he started running in ultramarathons. Now, most folks would pat themselves on the back if they could complete a 10-kilometer (6.2 miles) race without collapsing. A marathon is more than four times longer: 26.2 miles. And ultramarathons tend to be about four times longer than that. Ever get the feeling you could run for days? Well, that’s exactly what you have to do in an ultramarathon. And not some casual flat track through city parks past smiling crowds. California is home to two of the most prestigious and toughest ultramarathons in the world, and they are run in the most rugged and grueling conditions possible. The Western States 100-mile Endurance Run (www.wser.org) starts early on June 28 atop Squaw Valley in snowy conditions, plunges nearly 23,000 feet and rises 18,000 feet as it winds through the scorching Sierra Mountains past scattering skinks and thickets of Manzanita, and finishes late the next evening in Auburn. It’s the oldest ultramarathon and draws an enormous field – 394 runners are entered for this

year’s race, 160 of them from California and the others from around the country and from places such as Japan, the Caymans, New Zealand, Germany, Guatemala, and Norway. I covered the race a couple of decades back for the Oakland Tribune, made a point to tramp along the course during the race through some of the more accessible ravines – and I got heat stroke. I had to head to an air-conditioned movie theater midrace to recover, and when I got back to my car I discovered my laptop computer was permanently fried. As tough as the Western States sounds, it almost pales when it is compared to the little footrace McCarty has entered: the 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon in July. It’s named Badwater after the location of its traditional start at Badwater Basin in Death Valley, but it might as well be called Badass. It runs from below sea level in Death Valley (lowest point in these here United States) to the foot of Mount Whitney (the highest point in the U.S. outside of Alaska) and did I mention that it’s in July when it’s about 120 degrees – in the (scarce) shade? Hence my first question to McCarty about being crazy. Of course, with the race being that macho tough, somebody had to mess with it. The 24-year-old race has never had a report of a serious

accident or citation, but in what race supporters have described as a “nanny state” move, Kathy Billings, the newly installed Death Valley park superintendent, ordered the route moved so a “safety review” could be conducted. The race will now be conducted a few miles to the west, crisscrossing Owens Valley. “We’re hoping this is just a oneyear change,” McCarty said. “This year’s race will probably be a little less hot but more elevation gain and loss.” According to the race Web site (www.badwater.com), the new course from Lone Pine, up Horseshoe Meadow, through Owens Valley, and up to Mount Whitney, covers three mountain pass ascents for a total of cumulative vertical climb of more than 19,000 feet and 14,600 feet drop. Entry to the race is limited to 100 runners and McCarty did not find out until March he was accepted. “It was like applying for college,” McCarty said. “It’s about an hour application to fill out with essays and your resume. Usually about 200 apply and 100 are accepted.” Of course, even a crazy person running off in the desert and in the mountains needs a support crew, and McCarty said he has an all-gay crew of fellow Frontrunners for his team. “Fellow San Francisco Frontrunner Richard Ervais is one of my best

Courtesy Bill McCarty

Ultramarathon runner Bill McCarty will take part in the Badwater Ultramarathon in July.

running friends,” McCarty said. “He said, ‘If you do get in, I want to be on your crew.’” The others in the four-person crew are Kim Guscott and Zander Ross of New York and Devesh Khatu of San Francisco. Ready to step in if one of them can’t make it is San Francisco’s Gordon Morris. Funny thing about switching from marathons (neurotic) to ultramarathons (psychotic): McCarty found himself doing better and better and getting more and more hooked. He ran two 100-mile races in 2011, four the next year, and five last year. Just keeps getting better and better. So, maybe not so crazy after all.t

LGBT-focused shelter backers look for fall opening by Seth Hemmelgarn

lans for a San Francisco shelter geared toward homeless LGBTs are moving toward completion, and although it’s hard to predict exactly when the site will be ready, backers are saying it could open this fall. Mason Jeffrys, acting executive director of Dolores Street Community Services, which already operates a shelter at the 1050 South Van Ness site, said designs for the 24-bed space would go to Mayor Ed Lee’s Office on Disability this week. Once that office approves the plans, they will go through the Planning Department and Department of Building Inspection for permits. Gay Supervisor David Campos, a key backer of the shelter, said in an interview Monday that the objective is to open the shelter space this fall, and he’s “cautiously optimistic” that goal will be reached. “We’ve had a number of meetings in my office with various players to

Hercules teen

From page 1

Gutierrez, a sophomore at Hercules Middle/High School, relieved that the weight that has been upon her for the past five months has been lifted. Gutierrez is now looking forward to celebrating as a community grand marshal of the San Francisco Pride parade next month. In January, Gutierrez was charged with misdemeanor battery after a November altercation between her and several other students was

Business Briefs

From page 6

lived in the city for 14 years. In mid-April he opened S16 Home in the 800 square foot storefront at 286 Sanchez Street with the help of his Australian boyfriend, Luke Antony. “I love industrial and vintage pieces but love mixing it up with modern pieces as well,” said Allen. “Vintage makes it more accessible and interesting.” For now Allen said he “is not offering design services and is just fo-

make sure we’re moving things as quickly as we can,” said Campos. According to estimates from Swinerton Builders, the project managers working pro bono with Dolores Street on the project, construction will take four to five months to complete. However, as Sandra Kim, Swinerton’s proposal manager noted, construction can’t begin until the permits have been issued. Getting those approvals could take several weeks, if not months. Jeffrys said based on Swinerton’s estimates, “We’re looking at maybe September or October” for the opening, but that depends “on how long it takes to get through planning.” In an email, William Strawn, a spokesman for the Department of Building Inspection, said once other agencies are satisfied with the plans, “it looks as though DBI would be ready to issue the permit.” Spokespeople for the mayor’s Office on Disability and Planning Department

weren’t available for comment. Changes have recently been made to the plans to make the site more accessible for people with disabilities. Plans had called for the LGBT-

focused space to be on the second floor of the site, “but we couldn’t afford to put in an elevator,” so the beds will be on the first floor, which is now used for classrooms, said Jeffrys, who is gay. Designs also had to be adjusted to include a second fire-exit path. Jeffrys indicated the increase in total construction cost would be minimal. Advocates and city officials have been working on the project since a March 2010 Board of Supervisors hearing in which several LGBTs told of harassment they had experienced at the city’s shelters. Several hopedfor opening dates have come and gone as efforts to raise money, develop workable plans, and get permits has dragged on. Campos, who’s running against Board of Supervisors President David Chiu for the 17th District Assembly seat being vacated by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), acknowledged the frus-

tration of people who’ve been waiting years for the site to open. “We certainly share the frustration, and every obstacle that has come our way, we have tried to overcome as quickly as possible,” he said. “... The hope was always to open the shelter as soon as possible.” The total cost of construction, which is expected to be up to $750,000, is being covered through sources including donations and grant funding. Jeffrys said the needed money has been raised. A Dolores Street official has estimated the city’s Human Services Agency has added $150,000 a year for the operation of the LGBT shelter space once it’s opened to Dolores Street’s existing shelter budget. Jeffrys said that more than half the staff working at the current shelter are LGBT. The shelter has about 15 full-time staff. Additional workers are brought in as needed. Dolores Street plans on hiring additional staff, he said.t

caught on video that went viral. The other students were not charged. The fight was the result of ongoing bullying Gutierrez experienced that led to a build up where she lashed out at three of her peers in an effort to defend herself. Maddock dropped the charge against Gutierrez after reviewing the case and determining that she had successfully completed the restorative justice program. “We got ourselves back together. No more fighting, just no more drama. So we are good,” said Gutierrez. Representatives of the West Con-

tra Costa County Unified School District and her family are also pleased with the outcome. “We feel really good that it’s finally over,” said Debra Gutierrez, Jewlyes Gutierrez’s adopted mother and aunt. “We are happy.” Charles Ramsey, president of the Board of Education of the school district, agreed. “I feel good that this was treated openly, fairly, and resolved,” said Ramsey, pointing out that the resolution is “something that showed that we can have compassion and that ultimately there wasn’t an in-

justice done to a young person.” Advocates for Gutierrez expressed similar relief that she won’t face time at a juvenile facility, something they believed never should have been an option in the first place. “I am relieved to hear that Jewlyes will not end up behind bars. Students belong in schools, not jails,” said Masen Davis, executive director of Transgender Law Center. “Restorative justice programs work, and should be the first recourse in a situation like this.” Kanwarpal Dhaliwal, community health director of the RYSE Youth

Center, who has been working with Gutierrez, hopes that the restorative justice program will be modeled in other school districts. “What we would like to see out of this is that this is actually now a model that can be replicated in the school district. It’s a very concrete approach to addressing issues,” said Dhaliwal. Davis agreed. “What happened to Jewlyes is happening to many other transgender youth across the country who continue to face extraordinarily high rates of harassment and exclusion at school,” he said.t

cused on the store.” He has stocked it with unique home furnishings as well as gifts and selected consignment pieces. Prices vary from smaller gift items priced $30 to $80, lamps costing $200 to $300, and furniture such as a walnut coffee table for $11,000. “I want to appeal to interior designers who want to find higher end pieces for their clients and everyone else who comes in here to find a gift for someone,” explained Allen about his inventory selection. His location is off the beaten path, so Allen is using online tools

such as Instagram and Facebook to raise awareness about his store by posting daily to the sites. He also hopes to attract the influx of new residents moving into the various residential developments opening along upper Market Street. “There are condos going up everywhere,” he noted. “The people moving in are going to need to supply furnishings for their homes.” S16 Home is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday (closed Wednesday) and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, visit

the store’s website at http://www. s16home.com.

sor Scott Wiener has selected Joe’s Barbershop as his District 8 Small Business of the Year. The award ceremony will take place at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 13 during the Board of Supervisors meeting, Room 250 at City Hall. The ceremony coincides with the city’s annual Small Business Week celebration. For information about this year’s week of events, running May 12-17, visit www.sfsmallbusinessweek.com.t

Courtesy Mason Jeffrys

Mason Jeffrys hopes shelter opens this fall.

A cut above

The accolades keep coming for Joe’s Barbershop, a fixture in the Castro District that first welcomed clients a decade ago. Owned by Joe Gallagher, the business moved in 2009 to its current location at 2150 Market Street. It regularly wins the best place to get a hair cut category in local papers’ annual readers polls, such as it did in the B.A.R.’s and SF Weekly’s 2013 best of awards. This year District 8 Supervi-

Got a tip on LGBT business news? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 8615019 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.com.

Community News>>

t Becker book details early strategy for Prop 8 suit

May 8-14, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 13

analysis by Lisa Keen

Fertility options

From page 1

a child is still the most popular reason for coming, but now, “People want to preserve their fertility for the future,” said Schriock, through methods such as women freezing their eggs. Fertility treatment can be expensive. For example, at Pacific Fertility Center, according to its website, a plan that includes an in-vitro fertilization cycle “with the option of a second cycle if the first cycle is not successful,” is available for a one-time fee of $14,500 or more. Financial counseling is available.

News Briefs

From page 7

school seniors will receive scholarships toward their post-secondary education. Additionally, two community college transfer students will receive scholarships, as will two medical school students. This year’s recipients, who will be announced at the dinner, were selected in communities ranging from Chico in northern California to Bakersfield in the Central Valley. “We are thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of these outstanding students,” said Rich Meiss, chair of the collaborative’s steering committee. “Each year the awards dinner offers a renewal of inspiration and hope, as illustrated so well by the perseverance and leadership shown

Rick Gerharter

Author Jo Becker, center, signs a copy of her new book, Forcing the Spring: Inside the Fight for Marriage Equality for Nancy Clewett, right. John Bare, left, sports a T-shirt from the campaign against Proposition 8, which led to the court case Becker writes about.

It’s also worth noting that muchrespected gay legal activist Paul Smith called the Prop 8 litigation “hugely significant,” according to a quote on page 387. Smith is the attorney who successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down sodomy laws in the landmark Lawrence v. Texas case. He was also, according to what Prop 8 plaintiffs’ attorney Ted Olson told Becker, the first co-counsel Olson sought to work with on the case, but Smith turned him down. According to Becker’s account, which she said she got from an interview with Smith, Smith had “entertained the idea of bringing a federal challenge to samesex marriage bans” in the wake of his 2003 victory in Lawrence. He had just joined the board of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund when Olson approached him about filing such a challenge in 2009. But Smith declined, telling Olson that he decided against filing a challenge to the marriage bans “after talking to a number of former Supreme Court clerks.” The clerks had convinced Smith that it would not be easy to win Justice Anthony Kennedy’s vote to strike down state laws banning marriage for same-sex couples. Becker said Olson “considered” asking another respected openly gay attorney for his co-counsel: Stanford law professor Kathleen Sullivan. Sul-

livan had been co-counsel on one of LGBT legal history’s biggest losses: Bowers v. Hardwick. That 1986 decision at the Supreme Court, later overturned by Lawrence, upholding the right of states to prohibit private sexual relations between people of the same sex, was used to the detriment of gays for years, by courts far and wide on a range of issues – from employment, military, adoption, and custody of one’s own biological child. It essentially labeled all gays as law-breakers and, in some states, as felons. And the hostility and disregard for gay people in the language of the Hardwick decision affected public discourse for years to come. Olson never asked Sullivan, concluding that, because her name was mentioned in the press as a potential nominee for President Barack Obama to name to the Supreme Court, it wasn’t a good idea. “If she joined the [Olson] team and then was nominated and confirmed,” wrote Becker of Olson’s thinking, “she would have to recuse herself in the event the case reached the Supreme Court, which would make the odds of winning much steeper.” (Left unsaid was what working on the Prop 8 legal team might have done to Sullivan’s chances of being nominated.) Attorney David Boies, who argued opposite Olson in Bush v.

For more information, visit www. pacificfertilitycenter.com.

ages others to “keep pushing forward until you have what you set out for.” Despite the challenges, “I feel like I’ve forgotten all that now, because I have a baby,” she said. “... My life is full. My life is complete. Our family is complete. We have a different perspective now of the world.”t

Another child

Westheimer, the Los Angeles mother, said that she and Mueller plan on working with Ghadir again. Westheimer carried Emma, and Mueller will carry the next baby. They’ll use the same sperm donor, who Westheimer said is “a close family friend of ours.” She described Emma as “amazing, smart, rambunctious, and funny,” and said, “she keeps us on our toes.” Going through the fertility process is “the most challenging thing I think I’ve ever done. It’s really out of your control,” said Westheimer, but she encourby the awardees.” Over the last quarter century, the collaborative has provided almost $750,000 in financial assistance to well over 200 graduating high school seniors, as well as nursing and medical students. The collaborative is supported by LGBT employee resource groups from Genentech, Kaiser Permanente, KPMG, and PG&E, as well as nonprofit members, Gay-Straight Alliance Network and Out and Equal Workplace Advocates, and numerous individual volunteers. Tickets are $90 and available at www.equalityscholarship.org. Reservations should be made soon as seating is limited. The event includes a no-host reception at 6 p.m., followed by the dinner and awards

all the way to the Supreme Court!” LGBT legal activists knew they were heading to the Supreme Court over marriage equality eventually, but they had been working meticulously on building the correct vehicle for the journey to maximize their chances for victory and avoid another Hardwick setback. According to Becker’s account of the meeting where the AFER-Olson lawsuit was unveiled to LGBT legal groups, Hollywood producer Rob Reiner, who hosted the meeting at his home and was helping raise the money to fund the litigation, gave the four invited attorneys a synopsis of the plan, and Olson colleague Boutrous noted, “Someone is going to bring a federal marriage lawsuit and you won’t find a better advocate than Ted Olson.”t Next week: The big blow-up revisited: When Hollywood met the LGBT movement’s hired guns.

Pacific Fertility’s May 14 seminar runs from 5:45 to 8:30 p.m. on the fifth floor of Pacific Fertility Center’s Education Center, 55 Francisco Street, San Francisco. Full disclosure: The Bay Area Reporter is a partner with Swirl Radio and provides some news content for the station.

program at 7. Hotel Nikko is located at 222 Mason Street.

Yoga in the city

Yoga in the City San Francisco will take place Saturday, May 17 at the Marina Green and people are invited to bring their yoga mats and come out for the free event. The day includes three sessions, running from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. and taught by various yoga instructors. Wanderlust, a yoga lifestyle brand, is sponsoring the event. There will also be health food samplings and plenty of hang time for attendees to explore their inner workings while celebrating with health conscious individuals. For more information and to register, visit www.wanderlustfestival. com.t

weddings • headshots• portraits

415-370-7152

www.stevenunderhill.com • stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com

STEVENUNDERHILLPHOTOGRAPHY

ow that the great public gnashing of teeth has subsided over New York Times reporter Jo Becker’s history of the Proposition 8 litigation, there’s an opportunity to chew on some of the book’s useful disclosures. Becker was embedded for five years with the legal team that filed the federal lawsuit against Prop 8, California’s same-sex marriage ban. Her resulting book, Forcing the Spring: Inside the Fight for Marriage Equality, was published last month. For all the consternation it has caused, Becker’s trespass in portraying American Foundation for Equal Rights founder Chad Griffin as the Rosa Parks in the fight for marriage equality is not much worse than all the many times newspapers, magazines, and even knowledgeable people in the LGBT community have casually pronounced Stonewall as the start of the gay civil rights movement and rioting drag queens as the pioneers. The movement started decades earlier, and its pioneers were people who pushed back against discrimination in many different ways. It also appears that Becker’s idea for dubbing Griffin, now president of the Human Rights Campaign, as a Parks-type hero came from a National Archives development official. On page 381 of Forcing the Spring, Becker recounts how Jesika Jennings was showing Griffin and the plaintiffs around the archives’ “Courting Freedom” exhibit. According to the archives’ website, the exhibit “explores the evolution of American civil liberties with highlights from the evidence and judgments in important court cases, including documentation from the police report on the arrest of Rosa Parks.” While showing the group through that room, wrote Becker, Jennings told the plaintiffs that she was honored to show them around and that their own records “will be here in 20 to 25 years.” “It’s like having the opportunity to give Rosa Parks a tour of the Declaration [of Independence] and the Constitution,” Jennings said, according to Becker. And Jennings, who now works elsewhere, confirmed the Parks quote as “quite accurate.”

Gore, ultimately joined the Prop 8 case, resulting in much publicity for the odd couple legal team. Becker also famously paints a dramatic scene in which two wellrespected legal activists from Lambda Legal and two of their allies from the American Civil Liberties Union storm out of a meeting early on with Griffin, several of his associates, and attorney Ted Boutrous from the Olson team. Becker wasn’t at that meeting, which took place on May 14, 2009. It was a meeting at which Griffin and his team were reportedly trying to seek support for their lawsuit from the LGBT legal establishment groups. This was eight days before Olson’s team filed the lawsuit and arguably not the best time to make a sincere solicitation of input from lawyers who have been in the trenches representing the LGBT community’s legal rights for decades. It may have felt a little like, “Rosa Parks, we’re taking over this bus and driving

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

14 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 8-14, 2014

Peltier

From page 1

essarily conforming to one gender role or another,” Peltier said. “I try in my gender identity to represent for all transgender youth.” Peltier felt called to be a pagan as young as the fifth grade, exploring Gardnerian magic and trying to rectify the duality between god and the goddess, and wishing to embody both. “Gender non-conforming is a wide open area of exploration where there aren’t a lot of scripts to draw from in order to determine what my lived experience should look like,” Peltier said. “I look at other people in the ‘gender outlaw’ world, and wonder to myself, ‘Am I Kate Bornstein? Am I Justin Vivian Bond?’ The reality is that I am neither of those people, and even though I can draw on their experiences as gender queers, I really have a place of experimentation that is uniquely my own.” Perhaps it’s this kind of openmindedness and ambiguity about fixed ideas of the self that helps to inform Peltier’s work as the peer advocate for the Humboldt County Transition Age Youth Center, the position for which they were honored at the SAMHSA event. Like many within the LGBTQ community, Peltier sees that the population of LGBT young people is particularly at risk for depression, self-harming, substance abuse, and suicide. Peltier has had some of these issues, but has discovered that there is more work to be done in order to build community and help others from falling into the same desperation. “When I was younger and living outside of Arcata, I had my fair share

Give OUT Day

From page 5

brought in more than $600,000. Many LGBT organizations that participate use social media to reach out to their fans and supporters to donate for their cause. The participating organizations have a donation button on their sites. To donate you just click the button and give your donation information. The minimum donation starts at $10, and there is no maximum limit. Four hundred organizations nationwide participated last year. The participating organization that raised the most money was the Transgender Law Center based in Oakland. It raised $28,000 total – $17,000 in individual donations and $11,000 in prize grants on Give OUT Day. According to the TLC website, the organization “works to change law, policy, and attitudes so that all people can live safely, authentically, and free from discrimination regardless of their gender identity or expression. They envision a future where gender self-determination and authentic expression are seen as basic rights and matters of common human dignity.” TLC officials were extremely pleased with last year’s success on

Editorial

From page 4

In the Assembly, Bonta worked to restore millions of dollars to East Bay public schools with more local control. He’s fighting for stronger local gun laws and funding for more police officers. And he is focused on income inequality, strongly supporting last year’s California minimum wage increase bill that the governor signed. Bonta has been endorsed by Equality California and earned a 100 percent rating on the LGBT lobbying organization’s scorecard. He will continue to be an effective representative for the East Bay.

of bullying and hassling for being a queer youth,” Peltier said. “Arriving at [Humboldt State University] was like finding a safe harbor, and I thrived there for awhile until some of my friends – queer and trans – began to commit suicide.” Around this time, Peltier was asked to participate in a youth summit put on by the Humboldt County Department of Human Services to help address the needs of all youth. Soon after, Peltier was asked to join the youth advisory board and later was asked to become an advocate for youth as an employee of the county in December 2012. “I hadn’t yet graduated from HSU,” Peltier said. “The stress of the deaths of those around me – including my very close friend Chloe, a transwoman, as well as a drug overdose and hanging suicide of other friends, caused my grades to plummet. Prior to those incidents, I had been an excellent student, but I began to undergo stress that led to a resurgence of my own mental health issues.” These issues continue to affect Peltier, but working as an advocate keeps them at bay. “I think that once depression and self-harming become a part of you, they’re never very far away as options,” Peltier said. “Today I have better coping skills, but I also have regular employment and a place to be everyday that creates continuity and allows me to carry on.” Back at the kitchen table, Peltier put the finishing touches on the brooches for the Sisters. According to Peltier, the Sisters are “a band of 21st century queer nuns who enact a ministry of habituation manifestation” in partnership with the Sacred Clown. Peltier joined the Sisters around the time they began

acting as a youth advocate, and said that both roles have helped to bring them a sense of self that allows them to move forward and help others. “My day-to-day life at HCTAYC includes coming up with programs for youth, plus meeting with youth who may be in crisis and need someone to talk to,” Peltier said. “Oftentimes youth are in crisis and they need a friendly face to help them see that there are options and other things they can be doing to improve their circumstances.” Other tasks that Peltier is involved with include designing and implementing trainings for other advocates such as case workers, case managers, social workers, and others who may not be entirely familiar with the myriad issues that young people face. “What not everyone realizes is that young people are experts in their own lives and we should have the ability to have a say in our lives,” Peltier said. “We should have a say in our treatment plans and where the money that goes toward our wellbeing is spent.” Peltier believes that peer support and advocacy is a vital resource for youth wellness that is often underutilized and untapped. They find it ironic that evidence-based studies are now showing that community building tactics like peer support groups are often the best deterrent to the problems that affect at-risk youth and adults. “My plan for the future is to continue my work and also to finish my degree, perhaps through HSU’s online program,” Peltier said. “And I plan to stay in this area and continue to be of help and service, to make it better for young people so that they don’t have as hard a time as I did being queer here.”t

Give OUT Day, especially since it is not a large organization. “We’re certainly not the largest, nor the most resourced – so it still feels a little like a David and Goliath situation,” said Shawn Demmons, TLC’s board vice chair. “To be honest though, I hope even more organizations participate. The whole point is to increase giving to LGBTQ causes and we’re all in this together. Look at what’s possible when we come together for a common purpose – last year, Give OUT Day generated over $600,000 on a single day. That’s huge!” Of the 400 LGBT organizations in 50 states that participated in Give OUT Day last year, more than 40 were in the Bay Area alone. This year, 54 Bay Area groups have registered and 487 groups have signed up nationwide. It’s a chance for LGBT groups, large and small, to work across the wide range of issues and activities that matter to the LGBT community from sports to workplace policy change, families to the arts. Kris Hayashi, deputy director of TLC, said, “The funds we raised last year helped us to hire a new staff attorney, expand our legal services, and better serve over 2,200 people in 2013 with direct legal information, advocacy or representation.” Hayashi added, “At the time, we

weren’t anticipating being able to do that.” This year, TLC is providing its supporters with skills-development and information about how they can support TLC by fundraising. “For example, we sent about 3,000 households a how-to guide explaining how to create a fundraising project in Razoo.com,” Demmons said. “Our top priority is engaging our base and preparing them to fully participate.” He added, “For many of us, philanthropy feels like a distant or inaccessible form of activism to support the causes we believe in. But, it doesn’t have to be that way. Give OUT Day is a great example.” The top three groups receiving gifts will also receive additional cash prizes, as will the top three groups in each of eight states/regions with prize boards: Minnesota, Oregon, Arizona, South Florida, the Bay Area (two boards), New York City, the Pacific Northwest, and the U.S. South. Horizons Foundation, a community-based philanthropic nonprofit in San Francisco, is sponsoring two of the nine prize boards. “Give OUT Day empowers both longtime and newer donors to support causes they care about,” Horizons Executive Director Roger Doughty said in a statement.t

Phil Ting, Assembly District 19

He is also the author of legislation that would permanently give pharmacists the choice to sell syringes to adults without prescription if the pharmacists meet requirements for providing information about safe disposal and other conditions. This bill’s goal is to lower HIV transmission. Ting, a straight ally and the city’s former assessor-recorder, has long been a supporter of marriage equality and also has a 100 percent score from Equality California, which endorsed him. He knows his district and knows San Francisco, and is effective at advocating for both.t

Assembly man Phil Ting (D) represents the West side of San Francisco and is running for re-election facing no major opposition. Highlights of his first term include legislation that would provide fiscal relief to same-sex couples who are hit with increased tax bills due to health care benefits. This bill was needed at the time because of DOMA, a major component of which was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court last year.

Legal Notices>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035764300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: COMMERCEX, 333 HARRISON ST #423, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JEFF KWIAT. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/04/14.

APR 17, 24, MAY 01, 08, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035773600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FORTHRIGHT STRATEGIC DESIGN, 4301 23RD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHRISTOPHER W. HAYES. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/09/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/09/14.

APR 17, 24, MAY 01, 08, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035749700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SUPER DOGE STUDIO, 71 BRIGHTON AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JIAWEN LIANG. 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 03/28/14.

APR 17, 24, MAY 01, 08, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035749800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HSING HSING STUDIO, 111 MONTEBELLO AVE #B212, MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA 94043. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed HSING CHIEH WANG. 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 03/28/14.

APR 17, 24, MAY 01, 08, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035766300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FLUFF N FOLD, 3451 22ND ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RICHARD K. LEE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/07/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/07/14.

APR 17, 24, MAY 01, 08, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035771000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SF ELECTROLYSIS, 500 SUTTER ST #703, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LILY GUZMAN L. E. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/08/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/08/14.

APR 17, 24, MAY 01, 08, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035783700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HERMANN HANS, 3150 18TH ST #537, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed HERMANN JAMES SEEMANN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/15/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/15/14.

APR 17, 24, MAY 01, 08, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035722000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DOCTOR CLEANING, 5314 BAYVIEW AVE #E, RICHMOND, CA 94804. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed NATHALI G. PALMA CADENAS & JOHN PAUL LOPEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/18/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/18/14.

APR 17, 24, MAY 01, 08, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035779300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: A + D / PLA A JOINT VENTURE, 98 JACK LONDON ALLEY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed PFAU LONG ARCHITECTURE, LTD., A CA CORP & A + D ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN, A CA CORP. 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 04/11/14.

APR 17, 24, MAY 01, 08, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035785000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GIRAFFE MARKETING, 660 4TH ST, #497, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed XENTER INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/13/2002. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/15/14.

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-14-550248 In the matter of the application of: MARCELA TERESA BUSTOS, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner MARCELA TERESA BUSTOS, is requesting that the name MARCELA TERESA BUSTOS, be changed to MARCELA TERESA MARENCO ROSE. 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 12th of June 2014 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

APR 17, 24, MAY 01, 08, 2014 NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE OF PROPERTY

Personal property described as: Miscellaneous furniture, chairs, wardrobe, desks, tool box, power tools, dishes, pots, pans and other miscellaneous household items left at 2563 16th Avenue, San Francisco, CA. Public Auction will be held on site at 1pm on May 20, 2014.

MAY 01, 08, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035778500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: VLOVEPLASTIC, 2639 BALBOA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA. 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JITRUTHAI RATTANASONGCHAI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/10/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/10/14.

APR 24, MAY 01, 08, 15, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035741700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SENSEOFPLACE LAB & SF E/P, 1546 PERSHING DRIVE, #C, SAN FRANCISCO, CA. 94129. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LAURA BROWN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/24/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/25/14.

APR 24, MAY 01, 08, 15, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035796700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BODY TRUST, 104 HANCOCK ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114 This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed AMY BUTCHER & KATHERINE ALEXANDER JACKS & ZAEDRYN ENSOR ESTES & ELIZABETH L. RANDALL. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/01/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/21/14.

APR 24, MAY 01, 08, 15, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035778300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GOLDEN GATE PROPERTIES, 1199 DEHARO ST., SAN FRANCISCO, CA. 94107 this business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed G2PROPERTIES (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/10/14.

APR 24, MAY 01, 08, 15, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035795500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: 338 IL CAFÉ, 338 SPEAR ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed ANDREW POULOS & DIVA ANNE POULOS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/20/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/21/14.

APR 24, MAY 01, 08, 15, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035795801

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WORLD GATE JEWEL; WHITE WALL BARBERS BLACK WALL CAFÉ, 338 SPEAR ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed DIVA POULOS & ANDREW POULOS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/21/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/21/14.

APR 24, MAY 01, 08, 15, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035793200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE TRADESMAN, 753 ALABAMA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed TRADESMAN VENTURES, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/18/14.

APR 24, MAY 01, 08, 15, 2014 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-14-550292

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DRAKE, 508 4TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed KINGSTON VENTURES LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/21/14.

In the matter of the application of: LINDA GAYLE MARKS BARNETCHE for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner LINDA GAYLE MARKS BARNETCHE, is requesting that the name LINDA GAYLE MARKS BARNETCHE, be changed to LYNDA MARKS BARNETCHE. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 11th of SEPTEMBER, 2014 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

APR 17, 24, MAY 01, 08, 2014

MAY 01, 08, 15, 22, 2014

APR 17, 24, MAY 01, 08, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035732700

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Legal Notices>> SUMMONS SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF CONTRA COSTA NOTICE TO RESPONDENT: SHAW SECURITY MANAGEMENT, YOU ARE BEING SUED. PETITIONER’S NAME IS PETER A. DAVIDSON, LIMITED RECEIVER FOR COMMERCIAL ESCROW SERVICES, INC. CASE NO. C13 02425

You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this Summons and Petition are served on you to file a Response (form FL-120 or FL-123) at the court and have a copy served on the petitioner. A letter or phone call will not protect you. If you do not file your Response on time, the court may make orders affecting your marriage or domestic partnerships, your property, and custody of your children. You may be ordered to pay support and attorney fees and costs. If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the clerk for a fee waiver form. If you want legal advice, contact a lawyer immediately. You can get information about finding lawyers at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/ selfhelp), at the California Legal Services Web site (www.lawhelpcalifornia.org), or by contacting your local county bar association. SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF CONTRA COSTA, 751 PINE ST., MARTINEZ, CA 94533. The name, address, and telephone number of petitioner’s attorney, or the petitioner without an attorney, is: KIMBERLEY D. LEWIS (SBN 137637), KLEWIS@ECJLAW.COM ERVIN COHEN & JESSUP LLP 9401 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD, NINTH FLOOR BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA 90212-2974 TELEPHONE (310) 273-6333 FACSIMILE (310) 859-2325 Date: APRIL 9, 2014 Clerk of the Superior Court, by STEPHEN K. AUSTIN, Deputy.

MAY 01, 08, 15, 22, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035808700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MONKEY WRENCH, 29 TOLEDO WAY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RUSSELL H. LONG. 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 01, 08, 15, 22, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035808200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Q DESIGN, 1 DANIEL BURNHAM CT, #701, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ANGELA QUAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/28/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/28/14.

MAY 01, 08, 15, 22, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035801900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE STONE FLOWER, PIER 39, #H-14, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94119. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHOLADA THINPRAPAARAM. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/24/14.

MAY 01, 08, 15, 22, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035772600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: KARI ORVIK PHOTOGRAPHY; KARI ORVIK TINTYPE STUDIO, 5153 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KARI ORVIK. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/09/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/09/14.

MAY 01, 08, 15, 22, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035805300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SMALL WORLD CHILD CARE, 2223 39TH AVE., SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed EILEEN J. QIU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/25/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/25/14.

MAY 01, 08, 15, 22, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035790700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ALFARO’S JANITORIAL SERVICES, 2707 OHIO AVE, RICHMOND, CA 94804. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JORGE ALFARO. 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 01, 08, 15, 22, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035805200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STORER-SAN FRANCISCO, 300 TOLAND ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed STORER TRANSPORTATION SERVICE, (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/01/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/25/14.

MAY 01, 08, 15, 22, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035801100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AIDA; INTERAMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE (CA); ASOCIACION INTERAMERICANA PARA LA DEFENSA DEL AMBIENTE C/O EARTHJUSTICE, 50 CALIFORNIA ST, #500, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed INTERAMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/24/14.

MAY 01, 08, 15, 22, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0358094-00

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GOLD DUST TOURS; TOMORROW TOURS; TASTY TOURS; JOE TOURS, 501 CESAR CHAVEZ #108B, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed CONSOLIDATED LIMO INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/29/14.

MAY 01, 08, 15, 22, 2014 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035790700

MAY 01, 08, 15, 22, 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 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.

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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.

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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.

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Vol. 44 • No. 19 • May 8-14, 2014

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Last call for dance at the opera house by Paul Parish

his weekend marks San Francisco Ballet’s last shows in the Opera House until Nutcracker. They’re going out with a bang, ending a great season with alternating triple bills that are both well worth seeing. See page 26 >>

San Francisco Ballet dancers in Liam Scarlett’s Hummingbird. Erik Tomasson

Peaches Christ celebrates John Waters by David-Elijah Nahmod

D’Arcy Drollinger will appear at the Castro Theatre.

as it really been 20 years since John Waters’ Serial Mom opened in theaters? The film, one of Waters’ best from his post-Divine period, will screen at the beautiful Castro Theatre on Saturday, May 10. Peaches Christ, San Francisco’s scariest drag queen, will serve as the evening’s hostess and perform in a Serial Mom-inspired stage show. Talk-show queen Ricki Lake, who co-stars in the film, will appear live on the giant Castro stage. Yes, Peaches Christ is indeed larger than life. She makes for a frightening visage. But don’t be too frightened. Joshua Grannell, Peaches’ alter-ego, is actually a kind, gentle soul. The lifelong B-movie buff spoke to the B.A.R. about his life, his career, and both of his personas. See page 27 >>

Jose Guzman Colon

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{ SECOND OF TWO SECTIONS }

Peaches Christ is on the line. Jose Guzman Colon

4/28/14 1:47 PM

<< Out There

18 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 8-14, 2014

Poetic expression from gay voices by Roberto Friedman

small press imprint devoted to LGBT voices is giving ample expression to gay authors in small, nicely designed chapbooks. A Midsummer Night’s Press in New York publishes LGBT poetry and gay studies in its Body Language imprint, and co-publishes the Sapphic Classics series with Sinister Wisdom magazine, reissuing feminist lesbian texts. We read two newly published titles from the Body Language series, This Life Now by Michael Brody, and When I Was Straight by Julie Marie Wade. We also sampled two earlier Body Language entries, Deleted Names by MNP publisher Lawrence Schimel, and Fortunate Light by David Bergman. Brody’s collection is divided into three sections: My First Ten Plague Years, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Sodomite, and This Life Now. Taken together, they explore the feelings of longing, loss, pride and regret that have followed all of us who have lived these last few decades as gay men. They are poignant and precise yet couched in the plainest, most vernacular language. From “Tony Poem”: “What remains – Some cassettes you made for me, notebooks, clippings,/Photos of you onstage with your bass, hair plastered to your forehead,/open shirt a drenched banner/proclaiming you.” This sense of life after loss, of pa-

limpsests after erasure by the plague, sounds a motif throughout these poems. From “Twilight in the City”: “All that’s left here – the party we threw, P.J.’s dance tapes,/that boy who wanted to sleep with you/and kept asking when I was going home.” Or the entirety of “Another Tony Poem”: “I’m glad there was a moment in my life/when I was foolish enough to love the likes of you.” In his poetry, Brody bears witness to the loves, the comrades, the large personalities we have lost. In “I See You Often Around the City,” he recreates that sensation we have all had at least once, of seeing a stranger and momentarily thinking he is someone who’s no longer around. After describing a few of these uncanny sightings, the poet reflects, “When I see you now, you are just as you were before/(neither dead, nor missing, nor unaccounted for).” Wade’s witty and heartfelt collection is divided into two parts, Before and After. All of the poems in the Before section are titled, “When I Was Straight,” even as they head off in different directions. The first “When I Was Straight” poem, for example, observes, “I did not love men as I do now./I loved them wincing & wanting to please./I loved them trying too hard.” The second poem with the same title moves on: “I did not love women as I do now./I loved them with my eyes closed, my back turned./I loved them silent, & startled, & shy.” The After section considers the

life-changing implications of coming out. All of its poems have titles like, “When My Mother Learns I am a Lesbian,” “When an Old Classmate Learns I am a Lesbian” and “When the Whole Office Learns I am a Lesbian.” The entirety of “When My Grandmother Learns I am a Lesbian” is as follows: “(looking up from her crossword page)/ ‘Don’t be silly, dear. You’re Scandinavian.’” A stanza from “When My College Roommate Learns I am a Lesbian” reads, “’What about Ani DiFranco? She was attracted to women, too, but/she married a man. Don’t you think that could happen to you?’” The last stanza of Wade’s “When the Man on the Airplane Learns I am a Lesbian” says much in few words. “He shakes his head, thick with Rogaine and minoxidil – ‘Now whaddya wanna go & do that for?’” These slim volumes offer large satisfactions for LGBT readers.

Author Bruce Benderson has a new polemic out, in the form of a 60-page pamphlet published by Semiotext(e) as part of the current Whitney Biennial in New York. It’s called Against Marriage, and it offers a valuable caveat to all the congratulations over the LGBT community’s civil rights victories in marriage equality. Benderson explains his contrarian position in this excerpt from Bradford Nordeen’s interview with him in the Lambda Literary Review: “I began to think of my childhood in the 50s and early 60s and realized how unmarried people were treated then. They had names for them – spinsters, old maids, mama’s boys, Peter Pans – and they were all insulting. And then I thought – what happened to these unmarried people? Well, some of them

just lived unhappy half lives as appendages of the nuclear family. But others, who were a little feistier – quite often because they had a different sexuality – came to the city, where you could be single without judgment. And the more talented among them created urban culture. “Then finally, I thought, Oh my god! What’s going to happen to gays who are not married when suddenly gays can get married? Well, they’re going to be doubly excluded. They’re going to be the new old maids and pitiful bachelors of the new century. Maybe they’re even gonna have their gay brothers and sisters joining in mocking and excluding them. And this sickened me – which is why I decided to write the book.” We’re proud to join the struggle for singles equality ~ Love, Out There. Finally, B.A.R. TV columnist Victoria A. Brownworth won the Society of Professional Journalists Award last week, 1st place Series for Enterprise Reporting (Investigative), for her four-part series Victims of the Night. Brownworth told us, “I spent four months on the streets of North Philadelphia and Kensington interviewing trans women sex workers of color. It’s the first series to present these trans women, and the violence and discrimination they face, in their own words and from their own milieu. The series appeared in PGN in June & July 2013.” Congrats, VAB!t

Boys in love are a different breed indeed, and dual editors Timothy Lambert and R.D. Cochrane have embarked on quite a feat in assembling these lustful tales of cruising, catching, and consummating love in Best Gay Romance. West Hollywood sets the scene for young love set against the backdrop of Proposition 8 protests in Eric Gober’s “Strange Propositions,” closely followed by affecting entries by wellknown authors like Jameson Currier, Felice Picano, Rob Byrnes, and Alex Jeffers. Also of note is local San Francisco novelist Lewis Desimone offering “Quality Time,” which follows a gay single father at odds with how to introduce his partner to his young daughter without causing a riff in the whole family. It’s a wonderful tale about the intricacies of biological and chosen families, but this one actually has a satisfyingly happy ending. Turning up the heat has never been a problem for Larry Duplechan, a talented Los Angeles-based artist and novelist, and the distinguished co-editor (with sexy former Mr. International Daddy Bear title-holder Joe Mannetti) of Best Gay Erotica’s 19 provocative pieces. Duplechan fills the huge shoes formerly occupied by Cleis Press erotica editor Richard Labonte, who has decided to curtail his participation in the series. While it’s a daunting task, Duplechan and Mannetti have assembled a hot and heavy collection of man-on-man sex stories and artwork in this 2014 incarnation. Along those same lines is editor Shane Allison’s Nasty Boys, a collection of

17 vignettes centered on a dirtier, skankier, more rough-and-tumble type of man. The unlucky power failure in Lee Hitt’s opener sets the scene for that sweaty-bearded/horny repairman fantasy festering in so many fertile imaginations, as does editor Allison’s own steamy entry set in an adult bookstore featuring an insatiable, cum-hungry patron. Dale Lazarov and Jason Quest offer a graphic, roughly-drawn entry featuring men in various stages of sweaty, semensoaked encounters with other men, all sexually engaged and smiling earto-ear. The gay bathhouse in Eric Del Carlo’s tale packs as much of a steamy punch as the chicken coop in David Holly’s imagination, and collectively, there’s enough nastiness here to pacify the horniest reader. The dirtier boys looking for trouble take over in Allison’s book, starting out with some hot grinding with hung Persian hottie Sadiq in Wes Hartley’s steamer, followed by Rob Rosen’s heady spanking fantasy and K. Lynn’s medically-themed romp in “Doctor’s Orders.” Zippers descend easily throughout these rowdy, randy pieces, and what lies beneath is reliably weighty and ready for action. There simply isn’t enough newspaper space to extoll all of the virtues of these anthologies; there is something for every taste under the rainbow contained within the pages of these compilations. Whether you’re looking for a sweet tale of adoration or a rollicking, lip-smacking, hypersexual yarn to make you work up a sweat, these impressive volumes don’t disappoint.t

Another view

Love, sex & rough trade by Jim Piechota

Best Lesbian Romance edited by Radclyffe Best Gay Romance edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane Best Gay Erotica edited by Larry Duplechan & Joe Mannetti Nasty Boys: Rough Trade Erotica edited by Shane Allison; all Cleis Press, $15.95 eing spring and all, why not take stock of what’s new in story compilations? Berkeley-based Cleis Press

always keeps readers in good shape when it comes to their annual (and consistently affordable) paperback romance and erotic fiction anthologies, featuring a healthy stable of new and already well-established LGBT writers. The ladies are up first, led by Bold Strokes Books president and eighttime Lambda Literary Award finalist (in romance, mystery and erotica) and winner (romance and erotica) Radclyffe. Her assemblage of almost two dozen Best Lesbian Romance stories is an impressive literary treat, and will make for some great bedside-table reading. Among the standouts are Jane

Fletcher’s tale of two girls hatching a mutual plan of escape in “The Things You Don’t Do”; Shimura’s sensuous, first-person-narrated “Adventure”; a touching and taboo story of love blossoming in the country in D. Jackson Leigh’s “The Pond”; and the affecting closing stories: “Study Group” by editor Radclyffe, about collegiate dorm life in the off-season, which straddles the line between romance and erotica; and Kathleen Tudor’s joyful marriage of two women in “A Boi’s Love Song.”

Theatre>>

May 8-14, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 19

Life & love in the court of Louie by Richard Dodds

f the new social media had been available in the 1930s, Madame du Barry might have been said to be “trending up.” Already a popular subject in silent movies – Theda Bara and Pola Negri had played the upfrom-the-streets royal courtesan – she talked on the big screen throughout the 1930s in the forms of Norma Talmadge, Dolores del Rio, and other stars of the day. Hollywood’s trend fueled a satirical Broadway response in the final musical to open in the 1930s, Du Barry Was a Lady, in which most of the characters seem to have recently seen a movie about Madame du Barry. Back then, this bejeweled sex worker needed no introduction to theater audiences, and if du Barry’s trending numbers are now down, a history lesson is not necessary to catch the drift of Du Barry Was a Lady. Actually, more a stiff wind than a drift, as noted by the critics of the day and revealed again in 42nd Street Moon’s rare revival of this musical that reduced double entendres into single digits. The revival also suggests that composer Cole Porter and librettists Herbert Fields and Buddy De Sylva did not spend an inordinate amount of time bejeweling the show, look-

ing instead for sufficient shtick and suitable songs that could satisfy audiences who had specific expectations of stars Bert Lahr and Ethel Merman. They succeeded, and the musical ran for more than a year, but it has scarcely been heard from since. Director-choreographer Zack Thomas Wilde’s mostly crisp production at the Eureka Theatre doesn’t suggest that history has been harsh to Du Barry, but it is a treat to wander down another memory lane leading to both insights into the merry-making machinery of another time and to some of the genuine pleasures that the musical holds. Those pleasures, a straight-ahead love song such as “Do I Love You?” or a scene of genuinely snappy repartee, don’t always arrive where you might expect them, but who cares? Du Barry Was a Lady was very much bespoke for its stars, and 42nd Street Moon is fortunate to have Bruce Vilanch in the role created by Bert Lahr, fresh off filming The Wizard of Oz, playing a washroom attendant in love with a nightclub star. Vilanch

the equation while filling in the rest with the shambling twinkle of his own personality. The story has Louie, the washroom attendant, accidentally drinking a Mickey Finn intended for a romantic rival, sending him on a journey to 18th-century France, where he dreams he is Louis XV, who hasn’t completely shaken 20th-century locution. May, the showgirl of his dreams, plays Madame du Barry, who is forever fending off the king’s efforts to consummate her title as first mistress of Versailles. Ashley Rae Little has the right brassy stuff in the Merman roles of May and du Barry, but it can be hard to clearly decipher Porter’s lyrics in her delivery. (After the show, I ended up looking up the lyrics to “Katie Went to Haiti” to figure out just what David Allen it was that kept Katie in Haiti A Mickey Finn-induced dream gives a washuntil she was 80.) There is no room attendant (Bruce Vilanch) a new way to problem in grasping the lyrcourt a nightclub star (Ashley Rae Little) in ics of “Well, Did You Evah?” an 18th-century fantasy France in 42nd Street though Nathaniel Rothrock Moon’s revival of Du Barry Was a Lady. and Nicole Renee Chapman, as a personable song-andsavvy performer, and gives us just dance act, seem to have little enough Lahr to satisfy that part of is a idea what is behind the song’s satiri-

cal poke at posh society in their uninflected delivery. As May’s true love, the already married Alex, the exquisitely groomed and golden-throated Jack Mosbacher seems to have stepped in from another musical, perhaps one starring John Raitt or Nelson Eddy, with his sincerely straight-ahead delivery of the show’s big ballads. On the other side of the spectrum is Jordan Sidfield’s touch of period authenticity as a wisecracking punk who becomes the spoiled brat and future Louis XVI in the fantasy scenes. The cast gets off some pretty good dance steps in Wilde’s choreography, with musical director Ben Prince providing solid onstage piano accompaniment and costume designer Felicia Lilienthal’s dualperiod costumes adding to the good looks of the production. “Absence makes the heart grow antsy in the pantsy,” says May, as she paraphrases Shakespeare. In the case of Du Barry Was a Lady, its absence doesn’t quite reach that level, but its throwback style of fun still has some merriment for today.t Du Barry Was a Lady will run at Eureka Theatre through May 18. Tickets are $25-$75. Call 255-8207 or go to 42ndstmoon.org.

Wardrobe dysfunction by Richard Dodds

t’s a story as old as storytelling itself – the malignant jealousies provoked by infidelity – but a narrator tells us at the start of The Suit that this is a story that could only happen in Sophiatown. There are, in fact, ancillary events spoken of that are distinct to this black enclave that flourished culturally if not materially on the outskirts of Johannesburg in the late 1940s and early 50s, but they don’t particularly inform the actions and reactions of a married couple reeling in the aftermath of an adulterous affair. The backdrop of South African apartheid does add poignancy and political potency to this production that has come to ACT via Theatre des Bouffes du Nord of Paris, where legendary director Peter Brook cocreated the show with Marie-Helene Estienne and Franck Krawczyk. There is an appealing simplicity in their story-theater approach, and there is recurring sweetness too, despite sidebar conversations of police brutality and an upcoming resettlement of the Sophiatown community.

Not so sweet are the mind games the wronged husband plays on his unfaithful wife that involve the suit that the fleeing lover has left behind. “Malevolent brainwaves,” he calls his avenging tactics that may be unusual but draw no unique malevolence for taking place in an oppressive society. Philemon (Ivanno Jeremiah) and Matilda (Nonhlanhla Kheswa) seem to have an almost fairytale marriage, and after Philemon serves his wife breakfast in bed and smilingly goes off to work, Matilda breaks into song. That song is “Feelin’ Good,” a 1960s show tune repopularized by Michael Buble and many American Idol contestants, and while it may befit Matilda’s sunny disposition, it still feels an odd choice. But the fairytale soon ends when both Philemon and we discover why Matilda is feeling good – and then not so good. Kheswa’s heartfelt rendition of Miriam Makeba’s “Forbidden Games” is a much better fit than the earlier song. The unhappiness that enfolds their household does not completely dominate the circumstances, and there are even moments of whimsy in the 85-minute play. In

Pascal Victor/ArtComArt

Philemon (Ivanno Jeremiah) and Matilda (Nonhlanhla Kheswa) mistakenly seem to have a storybook marriage in The Suit, a play co-created by legendary director Peter Brook and now at ACT.

one scene, several audience members are brought on stage to flesh out a party scene where Matilda gets to entertain the guests with another song, but it is all part of Philemon’s ruse to let some joy slip back into his wife’s life before he pulls the rug out from beneath her by pulling out the dreaded suit.

While the sets and props are basically outlines of reality, the stage can feel full as the three excellent actors (including Jordan Barbour in a variety of roles) and three musicians reconstitute themselves into differing arrangements. The meticulous staging oscillates between stylized and naturalistic approaches, as does

the writing, but the ending feels unsatisfactorily lodged between these two worlds. The Suit is made of high-end material, even if the fit is not always quite right.t The Suit will run at ACT through May 18. Tickets are $20-$120. Call 749-2228 or go to act-sf.org.

<< Music

20 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 8-14, 2014

Back to Bach by Philip Campbell

Golden Gate Men’s Chorus, Joseph Piazza, Music Director, presents

The Road to Riga The Baltic Tour and 2014 World Choir Games

Saturday, May 17, 8 pm Sunday, May 18, 3 pm Tuesday, May 20, 8 pm St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church 3281 16th Street, San Francisco

General $25 / VIP $35 Tickets: www.ggmc.org or at the door. Student discount available at the door.

ebar.com

utch conductor Ton Koopman is halfway through a two-week guest shot at Davies Symphony Hall, bringing his life-long specialty with early music performance and composers of the Baroque back to the San Francisco Symphony after his memorable debut with them in 2011. He has already generated some exciting results in a fortnight of concerts celebrating Johann Sebastian Bach and his brilliant second son Carl Philipp Emanuel on his tercentenary. Frankly, I would have been perfectly happy if the whole shebang had been dedicated to the remarkable C.P.E. I have always admired his innovative transition from the Baroque to Classical periods, and never ceased to be amazed by the abundant wit, surprising depth of emotion, and downright quirkiness of his music. His papa probably sells more tickets these days, but there was a time when both titans were alive, cranking an incredible output just to support their families, and the public was actually watching the less predictable son with more interest. Their ethos of composing to spec for survival, and the massive yield of works from both father and son, created a legacy of masterpieces that rather defines genius and provides an endless source of fascination. The marketing strategy for the current “mini-festival” is emphasizing the soul or spirit of the Bachs’ music, and the programming thus far has been delivering on the promise with consistently agile and vibrant performances. The notion of baroque compositions as inoffensive and orderly background music is getting the old heave-ho with Koopman’s gutsy and accomplished refusal to play safe. The modern orchestra is still large, but leaner than usual, and there is a heightened attention to

Courtesy SFS

Dutch conductor Ton Koopman came to DSH last week.

contrapuntal clarity and balance. The tempi employed may be a little faster than 300 years ago, and allowing a more passionate emotion in the slow movements might seem a bit inauthentic to purists, but it also makes for some highly engaging listening. Koopman also pulled two soloists from the ranks of the SFS for star turns before and after the intermission of the first program. Associate Principal Cello Peter Wyrick appeared after a hearty and upbeat rendition by the full orchestra of J.S Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 4 to play C.P.E.’s Cello Concerto in A Major. Wyrick essayed the fast outer movements (especially the trickier final Allegro assai) with dexterity, but he really grabbed our imagination with a soulful and heartfelt central Largo that seemed like a sorrowful reverie, erupting at times into an impassioned lament. It was an interpretation that revealed just how prescient the composer really was, and why his music still resonates. After the break we were treated to C.P.E. Bach’s Symphony in G

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Major, which Koopman included on his previous bill at DSH in 2011. We might have hoped for another in the famously distinctive catalog, but at least there wasn’t much need for extra rehearsal, and the latest performance was every bit as pleasing as the memory of the first hearing. Soprano Carolyn Sampson then joined Principal Trumpet of the SFS Mark Inouye for a bang-up reading of the familiar J.S. Bach Cantata, Jauchett Gott in allen Landen (Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands). I last saw and was thoroughly captivated by Sampson some years back when she made her SFS debut in Handel’s Messiah. The clarity and purity of her lovely, sunny and virtually vibrato-free voice have changed little since then. She may have slightly less bottom support now, but it was not a hindrance during her beautifully fluid performance. With just the hint of a charming trill and beautiful smoothness in softer moments, Sampson could not be better suited to the repertoire. Inouye almost stole the spotlight, however (well, alright, he did) with his expected pyrotechnics playing the trumpet solos. His bright tone is thrilling, and his skill is jaw-dropping. If Bach wanted a joyful noise, Inouye certainly supplied it, and the quality of his art still allows for self-expression. This week’s bill at DSH is titled Koopman’s Bach: Bach in Leipzig, and it’s wholly given to Johann Sebastian, with another Cantata, Auf, schmetternde Tone der muntern Trompeten (Arise, blaring tones of high-spirited trumpets), and the Missa brevis. I’ll miss the presence of C.P.E. in the house, but the SFS Chorus will be on hand, and some vocal soloists, including German singer Klaus Mertens, who is known especially for his interpretation of the complete works of J.S. Bach for bass voice, should make for a full evening.t

Faust fit into a lab coat by Tim Pfaff

fag of a certain vintage is unlikely to get through a performance of Gounod’s Faust without recollections of the opera’s highlights cut into the Jeanette MacDonald-Clark Gable film San Francisco. It’s not a short sequence, if clipped almost exclusively to Marguerite’s big music, sung affectingly by MacDonald in a segment surely meant as kitsch. That it’s also not a short opera surely occurred to director Des McAnuff in his production for the Metropolitan Opera just released on Decca DVDs. Let the updating begin. But wait. What makes the sequence work in San Francisco is that Gounod’s Faust is pertinent to the movie’s story. Will country girl-church singer Mary Blake (MacDonald), on contract to Blackie Norton (Gable) as a singer in his Barbary Coast saloon The Paradise, be able to show her real stuff (Norton calls it her “pipes”) on the stage of Tivoli Opera? In the movie, MacDonald’s the Marguerite, Norton the Mephistopheles – unless, that is, he’s the Faust, who both loves and ruins her. Nob Hill socialite Jack Burley, Mary’s ticket to the opera, making his bargain with BlackieMephistopheles, is by comparison a snobbish Faust no one would root for. The opera sequence, cannily placed, fits the drama like a glove on the elegant MacDonald’s hand. McAnuff wraps his innovation – updating the opera to the immediate post-Hiroshima atomic bombing, with nuclear scientist Faust despairing in his lab – around the piece like a crust as hard as a

baguette’s, with the consequence that it hurts your gums. Harder to swallow is dropping the rest of the action, most of the opera, into the early 20th-century of Faust’s rebargained-for youth. McAnuff ’s miscalculation is that if you’re going to start with nuclear holocaust, you better bring the directing skills of a Peter Sellars staging Doctor Atomic. Sellars can draw fine-tuned dramatic performances from his singers, down to the last chorister, no matter the context. McAnuff ’s choruses come straight from central casting, and the nonsinging direction makes even stage animals like Jonas Kaufmann (Faust), Rene Pape (Mephistopheles) and Marina Poplavskaya (Marguerite) look like soft-shoe comedy whenever they’re not singing. You feel scammed when, for the last act’s Walpurgisnacht, McAnuff does the

obvious, putting the chorus back into lab coats watching a nuclear explosion over the libretto’s “Across the plain, over the land, a brilliant light flashes and glows, blazing flashes cold as ice, wandering souls.” Holding this long, diffuse show together is the wizardry in the pit of openly gay conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin. You feel his complete command of the pit and the stage from the opening orchestral prelude, while onstage bombs are being dropped into place (eerily like in SF Opera’s Doctor Atomic Atomic). He’s so on top of the opera’s emotional core that you completely surrender to his view of things. It speaks volumes that during curtain calls, after the thunderous reception for Kaufmann, an even greater shout goes up for Nezet-Seguin. Kaufmann is, in fact, the giveaway to what I call the Lotfi Mansouri school of directing: mugging and then having your cast imitate you. The tenor has shown that he doesn’t need to be singing to knock you dead with his acting, but here, when he’s not singing, there are moments of shtick and buffoonery you know he’s uncomfortable with. But when he’s singing, his deep musicality infuses his every movement, and this is, as singing, a Faust to die for. Pape sings a suave Mephistopheles with refined menace. Poplavskaya sings a melting, radiant Marguerite who uses the role’s coloratura purely as an expressive device. Surely Gounod wrote his frothy French fantasy on great, grim Germanigkeit with the intention of writSee page 24 >>

Fine Art>>

May 8-14, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 21

Elegy for a lost world by Sura Wood

or people in Europe and Americans living on the East Coast during the 19th century, the colossal mountain peaks, gargantuan trees, primeval coastline and untamed landscape of the American West were as remote as a distant planet. Enter Carleton Watkins, the son of an innkeeper from upstate New York, an obscure, largely self-taught photographer who, in 1860, set up a studio on Montgomery Street in San Francisco, and became the first to document the vastness and grandeur of the West. Ask the average person which photographer they most identify with sweeping Western landscapes and they’ll likely name Ansel Adams, but Watkins was working a century before Adams ever saw the inside of a darkroom. He took his spectacular, large-format, sepia-toned images with a customized mammoth-plate camera, which he lugged, along with a portable darkroom, a tent and unstable chemicals at the mercy of the elements, by mule team, steamship and railway to the outer reaches of the wilderness; at the time, it was a 24-hour overland trek to Yosemite. Based on the work he produced, which serves as a memorial to vanished, untouched wild lands, it was worth it. Between the negatives and prints that were seized by creditors – Watkins was a great artist and a terrible businessman – and the body of work destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire, only a fraction of his majestic pictures remains for posterity. Among those surviving photographs are 156 contained in three leather-bound albums originally assembled by Watkins. Yosemite Valley (1861 & 186566), The Pacific Coast (1862-76), and The Columbia River and Oregon (1866 & 1870) were commissioned by Mollie Latham, the wife of a former governor of California, resided in the library of their San Francisco mansion, and were later bequeathed to Stanford University in the 1920s. Eighty-five images from this trio of collections are currently on view in Carleton Watkins: The Stanford Albums, a new exhibition at the Cantor Arts Center that focuses on the first 15 years of this early master, a period critical to the development of his extraordinary eye and technical mastery. Shielded from damage and exposure for years, the otherworldly photographs are in remarkably pristine condition, and the low lighting in the galleries designed to protect them inadvertently creates an elegiac mood, a reverence and awe for a lost world. One section of several that take you back in time contains a quartet of photographs of the Farallons. Waves break on rocky islands that seem to exist in a suspended, prehistoric past, and float on carpets of mist, an effect achieved through long exposures; a vista beyond “Arch at the West End” (1868-69) opens onto a lonely expanse of sky and ocean, inhabited only by seals and birds. But the real show-stoppers are the staggering pictures of Yosemite. They’re specimens of nature on its grandest scale, a landscape devoid of humanity, a harsh paradise before the despoilers arrived. No hordes of tourists fighting for parking or a camping permit. Watkins took at least two surveying trips to Yosemite: one in 1861, when he produced over 30 mammoth plate photographs and 100 stereo views, and another ca. 1865/66. Though he usually shot in the morning, which accounts for a misty, ethereal quality, the earlier group is hazier, while the second time around, he was on top of his game. Better able to conquer challenges presented by the rustic environment, he manifests a greater command of the medium, deployed a wide-angle lens, and perfected his ability to capture properties of light and water, accomplishments evident

Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries

“Alcatraz from North Point,1862-1863,” by Carleton Watkins (18291916), from the album Photographs of the Pacific Coast. Albumen print.

“Cape Horn, Columbia River, 1867,” by Carleton Watkins (18291916), from the album Photographs of the Columbia River and Oregon. Albumen print.

in “Mirror Lake/Yosemite” (1865-66), which lives up to its name; “Cathedral Rocks” (1865-66), a pair of photographs that bear witness to a convocation of giants; and the imposing “Mirror View of North Dome,” whose namesake is reflected with crystal clarity in the pure waters below. To describe the impact of Watkins’ imagery is to risk running out of superla-

sky, and shadows are cast on boulders on the shoreline by the promontory above. It’s an unreal scene that has more in common with a romantic painting than a photograph. But Watkins was no ordinary photographer. Despite a measure of success, recognition and his estimable artistic achievements, Watkins met a tragic end. Destitute and homeless in the

tives, but there’s no doubt the pictures are best experienced in person. The Columbia River/Oregon selection, where manifestations of industrial intervention are dutifully recorded, may be the least inspiring group, though several images highlight Watkins’ compositional gifts. In “Cape Horn” (1867), for instance, a sheer cliff rises steeply from the river to the

latter part of his life, his studio destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, he was a broken man. Declared incompetent, he was committed to the Napa State Insane Asylum in 1909, where he died seven years later. These extraordinary pictures are his legacy.t Through August 17.

Explore the exuberant charm of Mary Blair, one of Walt Disney’s most inventive and influential designers and art directors. Blair’s joyful creativity, her appealing designs, and her energetic color palette endure in numerous media, including the classic Disney animated films Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan, and also in the theme park attraction it’s a small world.

WALTDISNEY.ORG 104 Montgomery Street San Francisco, CA 94129 Mary Blair, concept artwork for Peter Pan (1953); collection Walt Disney Family Foundation, gift of Ron and Diane Disney Miller; © Disney | MAGIC, COLOR, FLAIR: the world of Mary Blair is organized by The Walt Disney Family Museum | © The Walt Disney Family Museum® Disney Enterprises, Inc. | © 2014 The Walt Disney Family Museum, LLC | The Walt Disney Family Museum is not aﬃliated with Disney Enterprises, Inc.

<< Out&About

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 8-14, 2014

The Color Purple @ Hillbarn Theatre, Foster City

Radical Faerie Film Festival @ Fillmore Center New and recent short films by and about the Radical Faeries, including short films by David Weissman ( The Cockettes, We Were Here ). 7:30pm. 548 Fillmore St. www.brownpapertickets. com/event/627889

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) 3496411. www.hillbarntheatre.org

O&A

Sat 10

Out &About

OakCatVidFest

Heads Up!

Five Women Wearing the Same Dress @ College of Marin

by Jim Provenzano

colleague recently asked for an author headshot of me, specifying that it be “recent,” as if my older pics aren’t “authorial” enough (see Michael Cunningham’s perfect headshot) or if taken too long ago, they’re kind of a lie. I actually think if I send funny cat photos, it’ll attract more readers. But hey, it’s all relative, and so’s this fun tidbit, which isn’t actually an event per se. SHN, the folks who book touring Broadway shows (which are big events), want to send a lucky winner to the Tony Awards in June. Make your own acceptance speech, upload it and send it! You could go to New York City! For details, visit www.facebook.com/shnbroadwayinsf In the meantime, survey the slew of local star talents, be they human or feline.

Thu 8 Art Auction @ White Walls Gallery Hospitality House’s annual fundraiser includes an eclectic art auction of works by dozens of local artists; enjoy vodka cocktails, beer, wine drinks and hors d’oeuvres. $40-$50. 6pm-10pm. 886 Geary St. 749-2184. www.hospitalityhouse.org/ auction2014.htm

Des Voix; Found in Translation @ Various Theatres Month-long festival of contemporary French playwrights and films, in partnership with Cutting Ball Theater, the French International School and the French consulate. Thru May 25. www.desvoixfestival.com

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

Du Barry Was a Lady @ Eureka Theatre Gay comic Bruce Vilanch stars in 42nd Street Moon’s production of the saucy Cole Porter historical musical comedy about a nightclub washroom attendant who passes out and finds himself in 18th-century France as King Louis XV. $25-$75. Wed & Thu 7pm. Fri 8pm. Sat 6pm. Sun 3pm. Thru May 18. 215 Jackson St. 255-8207. www.42ndStMoon.org

George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic @ Yoshi’s The innovators of funk music perform in a concert with an open dance floor. $40$44. Thu-Sat 8pm. Also Fri & Sat 10pm. 1330 Fillmore St. 655-5600. yoshis.com

The Klipptones @ Cigar Bar Joshua Klipp and his jazz band perform at the cigar grill and bar to perform some “smokin’” swing music and dancing. No cover. 8pm-11pm. 850 Montgomery St. www.cigarbarandgrill.com

Pearls Over Shanghai @ The Hypnodrome Thrillpeddlers’ hilarious Cockettes revival returns, with new choreography, costumes, performers, and some of the original cast members. $30-$35. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru May 31. 575 10th St. (800) 838-3006. www.thrillpeddlers.com

Sleeping Cutie @ Thick House Doug Katsaros and Diane Sampson’s musical about a narcolepic teenage girl and her jailed father’s pursuit to get her married. $30-$40. Thu-Sat 8pm. Extended thru May 21. 1695 18th St. at Arkansas. 992-6677. www.sleepingcutiemusical.org

Wesla Whitfield @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The veteran cabaret singer, beloved for her jazz interpretations, is accompanied by her husband Mike Greensill. $30-$45. 8pm. Also May 9, 8pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.ticketweb.com

Fri 9 Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi

Student production of the comic play by gay writer-director Alan Ball ( Six Feet Under, American Beauty, True Blood ) about five reluctant bridesmaids at a Southern wedding reception. $10-$20. 8pm. Also May 10, 8pm. May 11, 2pm. Studio Theatre, 835 College Ave., Kentfield. 4859385. www.brownpapertickets.com

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

Michael Cunningham @ Books Inc. Gay author of The Hours (Pulitzer Prize, Pen/Faulkner Award) and other novels reads from and discusses his latest, The Snow Queen. 7:30pm. 2275 Market St. 864-6777. www.booksinc.net

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. Thru May 31. Osher Studio, 2055 Center St., Berkeley. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

Rachelle Ferrell @ Yoshi’s, Oakland The talented jazz-pop-gospel singer and pianist performs with her band. $29-$79 (with dinner). 7pm & 9pm. 5120 Embaracadero Jack London Square. (510) 238-9200. (Also May 10; and, May at Yoshi’s SF, 1330 Fillmore St. 655-5600.) www.yoshis.com

Enjoy the San Francisco Ballet’s program 8, Jerome Robbins’ Glass Pieces (set to three works by Philip Glass), and George Balanchine’s Agon and Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, followed by a champagne and wine reception in the theatre’s mezzanine with some of the company dancers. $25$189. 8pm. 201 Van Ness Ave. 865-2000. www.sfballet.org/NiteOut

Cirque de l’Arc @ The Arc San Francisco

The Suit @ Geary Theatre

The festive annual fundraiser for The Arc’s anti-bullying programs and mentors program for developmentally different folks include perfomances by drag stars Galilea, Mercedez Munro, Donna Sachet, Alexis Miranda, Cockatelia, Rahni, the SF Gay Men’s Chorus Arc Superstars, and DJ Page Hodel. $75-$200 and up. 6pm10:30pm. 1500 Howard St. www.arccirque2014.eventbrite.com

American Conservatory Theatre presents Peter Brook, Marie-Helene Estienne and Franck Krawczyk’s adaptation of Can Themba, Mothobi Mutloatse and Barney Simon’s play about Apartheid South Africa and a suit that becomes treated like a person; with live African and jazz music. $20-$140. (Bring donations for Dress for Success and get up to 50% off tickets. See www.act-sf.org for details). Tue-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm. Thru May 18. 415 Geary St. 749-2228. www.act-sf.org

Tipped & Tipsy @ The Marsh A “Best of Fringe” show, Jill Vice’s solo work portrays an array of characters from the bartending world. $15-$50. Sat 5pm, Sun 7pm. Extended thru May 17. 1062 Valencia St. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

The prolific local author of the “Beach Reading” series reads from and discusses his new memoir, For My Brothers. See feature excerpt in BARtab section. 7:30pm. 2275 Market St. 864-6777. www.booksinc.net

Tribes @ Berkeley Repertory Nina Raines’ acclaimed drama about a young deaf man who meets a woman with a non-assimilation perspective, which forces him to confront his parents, and the meaning of language. $29-$99. Tue, Thu-Sat 8pm. Wed 7pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Sun 7pm. Thru May 18. Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

New and Classic Films @ Castro Theatre

Fri 9 Michael Cunningham Richard Phibbs

Thu 15 Eloisa Bravo at Comedy Returns

Waxing West @ Brava Theater Center Vidhu Singh directs the West Coast premiere of Savian Stanescu’s drama about a Romanian mail-order bride’s life in Bucharest and New York. $20. Thu-Sat 8pm; Sun 3pm. Thru May 18. 2781 24th St. www.brava.org

Wittenberg @ Aurora Theatre, Berkeley David Davalo’s comedy debates religion versus faith; set in 1517 at the University of Wittenberg, it includes senior classman Hamlet’s comic debates with Martin Luther and philosopher John Faustus. $32-$50. Tue 7pm. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm. Thru May 11. 2081 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org

Sat 10 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. themarsh.org

Jackie Beat @ Rebel The irreverently hilarious drag talent performs her new act, “If You See Something, Say Something!” $25-$30. 7pm & 10pm. 1760 Market St. www.brownpapertickets.com

Marga Gomez @ The Marsh 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

Peaches Christ hosts a night of drag and movie fun, with a screening of the John Waters comedy, Q&A with actress Ricki Lake, and a drag parody “Serial Queen” with D’Arcy Drollinger. $15-$45. 8pm. 429 Castro St. www.peacheschrist.com

Shamanic Arts & Crafts @ LGBT Center Find your spirit animal in a workshop involving meditation and art-making. 10am. 1800 Market St. sfcenter.org

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. May 10, 1pm, San Jose Taiko. Mission St. at 3rd. 543-1718. www.ybgfestival.org

Young Frankenstein @ Lucie Stern Theater, Palo Alto Palo Alto Players’ production of the monstrously good musical based on the Mel Brooks film. $26-$48. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 2:30pm. Thru May 11. 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. (650) 3290891. www.paplayers.org

Sun 11 Georgia O’Keeffe @ de Young Museum 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

Intimate Impressionism @ Legion of Honor The exhibition includes nearly 70 paintings from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., featuring the work of 19th-century avant-garde painters such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Vincent van Gogh. Also, the Salon Doré, a reconstructed room from the Hotel de La Trémoille, has re-opened. Free/$25. Thru Aug. 3. Lincoln Park, 100 34th Ave. 7503600. www.legionofhonor.famsf.org

SF Ballet Nite Out @ War Memorial Opera House

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.). 421-4222. www.beachblanketbabylon.com

Mark Abramson @ Books Inc.

May 8: Alex of Venice (closing night of Sf Int. FilmFest). May 9: Speed (7:20) and Gone in 60 Seconds (9:45). May 10, Serial Mom (see Sat listing). May 11: Frozen Sing-Along (1pm), White Heat (7pm) and Animal Kingdom (9:10). May 13: Nymphomanic Vol. 1 7pm, Vol. 2 9:15. May 14: An Evening With Ken Burns. 7:30pm. May 15: Drugstore Cowboy (7pm) and Trainspotting (8:55). $11. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com

Serial Mom @ Castro Theatre

Communiqué No. 10 @ Exit on Taylor Cutting Ball Theatre company’s production of the American premiere of French playwright Samuel Gallet’s drama about tensions in the urban underclass, Muslim and French violence, revenge and riots; translated and directed by Rob Melrose. $10-$50. Thru May 25. 277 Taylor St. 525-1205. www.cuttingball.com

Sat 10 San Jose Taiko at Yerba Buena Gardens Festival Higashi Design

Mutt: Let’s All Talk About Race! @ La Val’s Subterranean, Berkeley 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. 1834 Euclid Ave., Berkeley. www.impacttheatre.com

OakCatVidFest @ Broadway & West Grand Ave., Oakland The Oakland Cat Video festival, with litters of hilarious cat videos, live performances, face-painting and more. VIP meet and greet with Lil Bub. Foster-adopt a kitten and get two free tickets. Proceeds benefit the East Bay SPCA. $5-$75 (VIP admission with food, drinks and additional $20-$75 donation to meet and pet Lil Bub). 3pm10pm. West Grand between Telegraph and Broadway, Oakland. www.oaklandcatvidfest.com

Queer Dharma @ SF Zen Center Monthly Zen Buddhist meditation and discussion group for the LGBT community with guest speaker Jisho Lisa Hoffman. 1-3pm. 300 Page St. www.sfzc.org

The World of Mary Blair @ Walt Disney Museum 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

Mon 12 10 Percent @ ComCast 104 David Perry’s weekly talk show features local and visiting LGBT people. This week, Jodi Schwartz and Oscar Cortez of Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center (LYRIC), and Usha Srinivasan, founder and president of Sangam Arts. Mon-Fri 11:30am & 10:30pm. Sat & Sun 10:30pm. www.davidperry.com

Out&About>>

May 8-14, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

Gay Comics Threeway @ Magnet Exhibit of queer comic art by Ed Luce, Justin Hall and Jon Macy. Thru May 31. 4122 18th St. www.magnetsf.org

Perfect Day @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko Sean Ray and friends’ annual cabaret to fight AIDS raises funds for the SF AIDS LifeCycle, with musical theatre classics and comedy song stylings by a crew of talented performers. $35-$50 (champagne reception and VIP seating). 8pm. Hotel Nikko lobby, 222 Mason St. www.ticketweb.com

Queer Ancestors Project @ LGBT Center An exhibition of prints by queer artists age 18 to 26, with Corey Brown, Joan Chen, Jared Clifton, Amman Desai, Paula Graciela Kahn, Amirah Mizrahi, Courtney Stock & Terry Xiao, and artistic director Katie Gilmartin. Thru May 16. 1800 Market St. www.sfcenter.org

Thou Swell! Thou Witty! @ Eureka Theatre The Rodgers & Hart Salon features Broadway star Faith Prince, plus local talents Debbie de Coudreaux, Pierce Peter Brandt, Juliet Heller, Michael Scott Wells and others. $45-$70. 7pm. May 13, 7pm. 215 Jackson St. 255-8207. www.42ndStMoon.org

Tue 13 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. Extended thru March 16. 100 JFK Drive, Golden Gate Park. 831-2090. www.conservatoryofflowers.org

Designing Homes @ Contemporary Jewish Museum Jews and Midcentury Modernism, an exhibit of architectural, furniture, dinnerware, photos, and interior design in post-WWII. 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

Sat 10 Radical Faerie Film Festival

Public Intimacy @ YBCA 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, AthiPatra Ruga, Sello Pesa, and Vaughn Sadie, among others. Thru June 29. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. 3211307. www.sfmoma.org www.ybca.org

Wed 14 Ben Rimalower @ Rebel The solo comic performs Patti Issues, his autobiographical one-hour show that includes his obsession with Broadway acrtess-singer Patti LuPone. $20. 7pm & 9pm. 1760 Market St. www.benrimalower. com www.pattiissues.evenbrite.com

Sat 10

Iconiclasm @ The McLoughlin Gallery

Eating Cultures @ SOMArts Cultural Center

Jessye Norman @ Nourse Theatre

Queer Past Becomes Present @ GLBT History Museum

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

Wed 14

The Wandering Moon @ Tenderloin Natural Forest Radar Reading’s quarterly full moon outdoor reading series features queer writers Juliana Delgado Lopera, Erin Petersen, K.M. Soehnlein, Ben McCoy, and Gem Top (Mason J. and Kyle Chu). 8pm10pm. Cohen Alley (Leavenworth at Hyde). www.radarproductions.org

Woods to Wildflowers @ SF Botanical Gardens

Chesire Isaacs

Duo exhibit of provocative pop culture imagery by Arnix and Max Papeschi. Thru May 31. Reg hours Tue-Sat 10:30am-6pm. 49 Geary St. #200. 986-4799. www.mgart.com

Meditation Group @ LGBT Center

Join GLBT hikers for a leisurely, 6-mile, after-work hike at Pulgas Ridge, site of a former TB sanitarium. Dogs are welcome. Meet at 5:30pm at Pulgas Ridge OSP parking lot, 160 Edmonds Rd, San Carlos. 740-9888. www.sfhiking.com

Mutt: Let’s All Talk About Race!

Group exhibit of the Asian American Women Artists Association features 30 artists’ works, including three lesbians (Kay Cuajunco, Sigi Arneho, Genevieve Erin O’Brien), who focus on food as a cultural lens. Special events thru the run. Thru May 30. 934 Brannan St. www.somarts.org

The celebrated opera singer discusses her memoir Stand Up Straight and Sing! with San Francisco Symphony conducter and Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas. $27. 7:30pm. 275 Hayes St. 392-4400. www.cityarts.net

SF Hiking Club @ Pulgas Ridge

Grand opening of 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. Reception 7pm-9pm. $5/free for members. Reg. hours Mon-Sat 11am-7pm (closed Tue.) Sun 12pm-5pm. 4127 18th St. 621-1107. www.glbthistory.org

Sony Holland @ Level III The acclaimed jazz vocalist performs with guitarist Jerry Holland. Weekly 5pm-8pm. Also Thursdays & Fridays. JW Marriott, 515 Mason St. at Post. www.sonyholland.com

See blooming floral displays, trees and exhibits. Also, daily walking tours and more, at outdoor exhibits of hundreds of species of native wildflowers in a century-old grove of towering Coast Redwoods. Thru May 15. Free-$15. Daily. Golden Gate Park. 6612-1316. SFBotanicalGarden.org

Thu 15

Comedy Returns @ El Rio Karen Ripley headlines the LGBT and gay-friendly diverse comedy night’s fifth anniversary show, with Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, Eloisa Bravo, Julia Jackson and host Lisa Geduldig. $7-$20. 8pm. 3158 Mission St. (800) 838-3006. www.elriosf.com

Geoff Hoyle @ The Marsh, Berkeley

The veteran comic actor returns with his solo show, Geezer, a nostalgic meditation MY on his lengthy career and life. $25-$50. CY Thu 8pm. Sat. 5pm. Extended thru May 24. 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. 282-3055.CMY www.themarsh.org

Spencer Day @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko

The local singer-songwriter-pianist shares new and favorite jazz-infused music, including songs from his new CD, Daybreak. $40-$55. 8pm. Also May 16, 8pm and 17 at 7pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.ticketweb.com

Wrong’s What I Do Best @ SF Art Institute Group exhibition of works that push the boundaries of social, political and personal fault lines. Tue 11am-7pm. Wed-Sat 11am6pm. Thru July 26. Walter and McBean Galleries, 800 Chestnut St. www.sfai.edu

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

Gem Top (Mason J. and Kyle Chu) at Wandering Moon

2pub-BBB_BAR_050814.pdf

4/28/14

4:19 PM

<< TV

24 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 8-14, 2014

News, views & butch lesbian divas by Victoria A. Brownworth

ould TV be more exciting right now? We keep hearing about the death of television, but like the muchtouted death of print media and death of books, we have to paraphrase Mark Twain: “great exaggeration.” But let’s begin with the news. A few items caught our eye this week: ABC’s Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz is currently somewhere in the Ukraine. She reported from there on May 1, where she was covering the story of American soldiers training Ukrainian soldiers. Yes. We are doing that there, now. Just a little tidbit, because we do not remember hearing that this was happening. We’re pretty sure you missed it, too. Our soldiers are now in the Ukraine. “Hundreds,” according to Raddatz. Then there was this: James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, in a letter to Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss dated April 18, requested that the Senate remove a provision from an intelligence bill that would have required President Obama to publicly disclose information about drone strikes and their victims. This revelation, reported on April 30 in the [UK] Guardian, followed a series of drone strikes in Yemen that have killed more than 50 civilians in the past few weeks. The bill, which authorizes intelligence operations for fiscal 2014, originally required the president to issue an annual public report clarifying the total number of “combatants” and “noncombatant civilians” killed or injured by drone strikes in the previous year. It did not require the White House to disclose the total number of strikes worldwide. The next bit of news is far more uplifting. On May 1, Judge Mary Yu became the first Latina/Asian/ Catholic/lesbian on the Washington State Supreme Court, or in the country. We thought this was thrilling news. And since it didn’t actually make the TV news, just like that elision from the intelligence bill, we thought we’d let you know. Not so uplifting was Glenn Beck’s latest. (Yes, he’s still around.) We didn’t think there was a Tea Party

comment this week to top Sarah Palin’s speech to the NRA that she’d be waterboarding terrorists, and anyone who objected were “overly sensitive wusses.” But then Glenn Beck said, “I’m telling you, Hillary Clinton will be having sex with a woman on the White House desk if it becomes popular.” Beck also said, “Hillary came out last year? I didn’t think that was official.” In 2013, Bryan Fischer of the anti-gay American Family Association told Fox News that Hillary Clinton would be the nation’s “first lesbian president.” And that’s the news you’re not seeing. We always have our fave queer moment of the week on the tube, and this week it was Ellen’s interview on her show with GMA anchor and former ESPN sportscaster Robin Roberts. We won’t reiterate how many years we have said in the column, “Please, Robin, just come out. Make it safer for young black lesbians from superreligious families like yours all over America.” So we were among the first to congratulate her here when she finally did come out back on New Year’s. Roberts’ lesbianism was the worst-kept secret since Rosie O’Donnell’s had been. There was something about seeing the two butch lesbian divas of daytime together on Ellen’s show that just warmed our queer heart. Ellen, now 56, was the first TV star to come out publically, which she did in 1997 on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Time magazine featured her on its cover, and she also came out on her sitcom in a hilarious airport scene with Laura Dern. Roberts is 53, and spent much of her interview time with Ellen talking about her experience of coming out and her partner, San Franciscan Amber Laign. Roberts told Ellen, “We met on a blind date, it will be nine years in July.” Roberts said Laign was always by her side after Roberts was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome in 2012 and underwent a bone marrow transplant. The syndrome is sometimes a result of chemotherapeutic

treatments. Roberts had undergone chemotherapy and radiation when she was treated for breast cancer in 2007. After Roberts announced that she would be having a bone marrow transplant in June 2012, she said she had gone public with her illness to draw attention to the huge need for bone marrow donors nationwide, particularly for people of color. Be the Match Registry, run by the National Marrow Donor Program, experienced a 1,800% spike in donors. Ellen noted of Laign, “You talk about her a lot in the book. And yet she was living like a quiet kind of closed life.” Roberts explained, “Well, because she doesn’t really like the spotlight. She’s here right now, I can’t even get her to come out.” Huge laughter and applause from the audience, to which Ellen responded, “Well she came out, but anyway, it’s too late for that now!” Roberts is not oblivious to the need for public figures to come out, her long closeting notwithstanding. She thanked Ellen for being a “trailblazer” who “paved the way” for others to come out. “You have helped a lot of people like myself to have that discussion with their families because you are so well respected and loved. It’s really helped a lot of us, and I thank you for that.” How could we not love that interview? We’re a little verklempt just writing about it.

Glee club

We were also a bit verklempt watching last week’s episode of Glee. How is it this show continues to manipulate us so shamelessly after all this time? Are we still so easily moved just by seeing gay characters on TV? In a word, yes. We admit, we’ve never been a huge fan of Blaine (Darren Criss). We wanted Kurt (Chris Colfer) to have a real boyfriend and true love, but we just never really warmed to Blaine. Was it the eyebrows? But we’ve been converted. Blaine’s concern for Kurt’s feelings as June Dalloway (Shirley MacLaine) takes him under her wing really moved us. (Of course June clearly has more than just a mentoring interest in Blaine, but that’s another part of the story.) When Blaine is getting ready to meet June for an event, he says to Kurt, “Maybe I should just stay home with you and watch Scandal.” Perfect. The recent episodes of Glee remind us why we fell in love with this show in the first place. It’s not just the gayness that infuses the entire production, it’s not just out gay actors like Colfer and Jane Lynch (Sue), it’s not just gay showrunner Ryan Murphy, it’s where Glee takes us: back to the high school years we wish we could have had if there were that kind of love for LGBT high school kids in real life. And the show hasn’t ceased to raise real issues. Rachel (Lea Michelle) has finally made it big. Yet she still faces the same kind of problems she faced in high school, notably, she’s not classically pretty. Her neck is thick, her nose is big. So when she was told, “You have a face for radio,” we felt the dagger to the heart. We had heard her sing “Who

Faust

From page 20

ing vocal music that would slay its audience. When you hear Kaufmann and Poplavskaya in the Faust-Marguerite love duets, you see what acting with voices means at its peak in our day. Taking their direction from Gounod, they melt hearts. Nezet-Seguin’s recording of The Rite of Spring with his Philadelphia orchestra was yet more proof of his range as a musician. For me, Robert

Are You Now” and wept through the whole thing, it was that poignant a rendering of the Streisand classic. But as ever, her friends gathered around her, supportive and caring. Back to MacLaine for a minute. We’ve always been a fan of the outspoken, left-leaning, funny MacLaine. She has a special place in our hearts because of her role as the lesbian Martha in The Children’s Hour, which we watched illicitly on the late TV movie in our junior high years. We have loved her on Downton Abbey as the American parvenu counterpoint to Dame Maggie Smith. The Oscar-winning actress is 80. She was never a great singer, Irma La Duce and Sweet Charity notwithstanding, but she can belt out a tune. Not so much belting now, but her duet with Criss covering Janis Joplin’s iconic “Piece of My Heart” was pure magic, and we fell in love with her again. In a TVLine interview, MacLaine said, in talking about June, “Well, she only wants [Blaine] to be the star, and the man that he’s in love with, Kurt, Blaine wants him to be part of what June is doing. And I was very interested in the genderfication of the set. You don’t know who’s gay, who’s straight, who’s transitioning, all this wonderful stuff that the young people are experimenting with. It’s terrific. Oh my God, I love that I’m doing that.” So do we. You now have the summer to catch up on that other fabulous Fox series, gay showrunner Kevin Williamson’s The Following. Oh the homoeroticism. Season two’s finale was April 28, so you can binge-watch between now and September, when season three begins. But before the season finale of Fox’s long-time hit Bones, a little controversy will no doubt be flaring on social media. The May 12 episode will be devoted to drag. And in case you hadn’t heard, drag is déclassé. (Although there didn’t seem to be much drama over Modern Family taking on drag a few weeks ago.) RuPaul is still feeling the heat. Meanwhile, our congrats go out to Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother), who was nominated for a Tony Award for his role as the transgender cabaret singer in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Some other TV stars also picked up Tony nods: Breaking Bad’s Bryan Crantson, Monk’s Tony Shalhoub, and Tyne Daly (Cagney & Lacey, Grey’s Anatomy). Daly previously won a Tony for her role in the revival of Gypsy. Out actress Cherry Jones (Awake, 24) was also nominated. We think all these Tony nods for TV actors point to how superb TV actors have become. Live theater is very unforgiving. The clips we have seen of Harris as Hedwig have been stunning. You can view some at ABC. com in a Nightline segment. Speaking of the gays, PopSugar had some sneak peeks of the Modern Family wedding long in the making. The ABC sitcom has been part of an ACLU campaign about marriage equality, and now that same-sex marriage is once again legal for Californians, Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) are tying the knot. The story arc has been leading up to the two-part series finale May 14 and 21. We’re looking forward to the

nuptials ourselves. Mitchell is quite the groomzilla, and how over-thetop will the wedding be if Cam has a hand in it? (Please, no clowns.) Speaking of comedy, Showtime announced this week that Sarah Silverman will be joining the cast of Masters of Sex for season two. She will be playing a lesbian, Helen, the girlfriend of former prostitute Betty (Annaleigh Ashford). We love this show and we can’t wait to see Silverman go Sapphic. We’d really like to see late night go Sapphic, but we know there’s little chance of that happening. But with the second surprise retirement from late night in a month (Craig Ferguson is leaving The Late Late Show) we would like to make our pick for a replacement. First, we’ve loved Ferguson. Gay-friendly, bawdy, supersmart, he’s taken chances on his show that we haven’t seen on late night. Both of his parents died during the course of his tenure on CBS, and both times he devoted stunning tributes to them which were both deeply personal and accessible to anyone who had lost a relative they loved, but who had also been problematic in their lives. Ferguson also once devoted an entire show to a My Dinner with Andre-style sit-down with gay actor and writer Stephen Fry, which was mesmerizingly good. So we will miss Ferguson. In his place we’d love to see a woman. There are none on late night on a major network, Chelsea Handler’s E! show Chelsea Lately notwithstanding. One of the best choices we can imagine is comedian Aisha Tyler. Tyler is a co-host on The Talk, so she’s already contracted to CBS. Move her down the hall to late night. She’s smart, she’s gorgeous, she’s got a similar style to Ferguson, bawdy. She’s drop-dead gorgeous and she’s black, because other than Arsenio Hall, there are also no people of color on late night. She’s super queer-friendly. Come on CBS, do it. Maybe The Talk’s other co-host Julie Chen, who is married to CBS’ head honcho, Les Moonves, could do some pillow talk on this? Finally, TV you want to catch in the next two weeks includes Showtime’s new period thriller Penny Dreadful, the final season of True Blood, and CBS’ hilarious new sitcom #FWBL (Friends with Better Lives). James Van Der Beek is a comic genius. There’s a lot of gay stuff percolating, and did we say funny? So, for the gays, the lesbians, the drag queens, the divas, and to see if just maybe something gay actually makes the news, you know you really must stay tuned.t

Craft’s revelation (or allegation) that Stravinsky was having sex with men, and likely falling in love with at least one of them, at the time he was composing The Rite has been like going from the belief that the world was flat to the knowledge that it is round. A new re-imagining of The Rite of Spring by The Bad Plus (Sony Masterworks), a souped-up, heavily synthesized jazz trio, has been getting a lot of notice. It’s serious about its rethinking of the work, and it may even be making a wry

joke about its history on recording with the sound of a needle grating a record groove. It’s deeply musical, and probably addictive. But minus the glories of the orchestra at full cry – Sony’s deeper contribution to The Rite centenary was its brilliant re-mastering of the Bernstein recording – I’d rather have been in Berlin when Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim recently played the two-piano version with which Stravinsky began, and from reliable accounts, the earth moved.t

Courtesy ABC-TV

GMA anchor, former ESPN sportscaster and out lesbian Robin Roberts.

Film>>

May 8-14, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 25

Pimping for profit & other attractions by David Lamble

ctor/director John Turturro tells the story that Fading Gigolo, his new shaggy-dog “love poem” to his native Brooklyn, came about in part because he and co-star Woody Allen share the same barber. Woody was tickled to be playing an almost-80-year-old pimp, Murray, who decides to enter the “ho” biz by charging upscale ladies two grand a pop to sleep with his 50-somethingyear-old best friend, Floravante (Turturro). To those who surrender to its quirky charms, ranging from pigtail-wearing yeshiva boys attempting to play sandlot baseball to a kind of Hasidic cop (Liev Schreiber) patrolling the Williamsburg district for signs of Orthodox women betraying the faith, Fading Gigolo is a whimsical exercise in how folks in once-Puritanical parts of the modern world have learned to loosen up. To use a phrase borrowed from P.J. Castellaneta’s remarkably similar 1998 big-cast romp, Relax – It’s Just Sex. There’s no question that director/writer Turturro (Fading Gigolo is the sixth feature he’s helmed) was smart to include his pal Woody right from the get-go. Woody’s Murray, whom we encounter just as he’s closing a venerable used bookstore and in desperate need of cash, is Fading Gigolo’s comic straight flush. From the premise of Murray being married to an African American woman with an obstreperous trio of Afro-sporting sons who challenge the Hasidic boys to baseball in the park, to the notion that white-haired Murray is perfect for the pimp business, Turturro expects you to suspend more than your disbelief, and just go along for the ride. The queerest angle of this mildly titillating chuckle-fest is laid out by one of Murray’s female clients. “I like a man to be a man. Sometimes I even like to be the man.” Castro Theatre May schedule While I can’t put my finger on a common theme, May at the Castro provides fans of every imaginable type of movie something to cherish. Speed (1994) It’s hard to believe that it’s been 20 years since Keanu Reeves found his mojo in this breathtaking, stunt-fueled melodrama about a hunky LA SWAT team cop’s bid to disarm a bomb-rigged city bus. Reeves is astonishingly agile in the movie that brought a young Sandra Bullock to a wide audience and featured a great villain in a post-Blue Velvet Dennis Hopper. (with co-feature Gone in 60 Seconds, 5/9) Serial Mom (1994) Peaches Christ hosts a live introduction to this very clever, John Watersinstigated Kathleen Turner vehicle. Turner is fantastic as a crazed suburban social arbiter. (5/10) Animal Kingdom (2010) Aussie director David Michod’s innocentin-trouble thriller kicks off when a 17-year-old lad’s mom dies and he becomes the ward of a ferocious little crime family headed up by gang mom Jackie Weaver and psychotic uncle Ben Mendelsohn. James Frecheville’s lad in danger gets a little help from a smart cop, the always-intriguing Guy Pearce. White Heat (1949) James Cagney is the scary thug to Edmund O’Brien’s indefatigable cop in this Raoul Walsh noir classic. (both 5/11) Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (2013) “If I asked you to take my virginity, would that be a problem?” “No, I don’t see a problem.” The Internet Movie Data Base reports American film star “Shia LaBeouf was asked to send pictures of his penis to obtain the role” of Jerome in Danish auteur Lars von Trier’s latest melodrama

posing as a sexual satire. LaBeouf, accurately taking the measure of his would-be employer, “decided to send in personal sex tapes of him and his girlfriend having sex in order to convince von Trier to cast him.” You have to give von Trier his due as an artist with a knack for coaxing actors through brazen, bizarre scenarios involving lust, love and the often-uncomfortable connections between the two. Nymphomaniac: Vol. II (2013) The highest praise I can offer Part 2 of this hetero porno extravaganza is that it is in no way a cheat. I was happy to see two capable young studs put Joe through her paces. The underappreciated Jewish American bad boy Shia LaBeouf is finally allowed to show that he can hold his own with an art-house crowd, and a grown-up Jamie Bell (yes, Billy Elliot) is delicious wielding the whip as Joe’s boyish S/M master. That Bell’s scenes include the saga’s few touches of intentional humor is a sign of the 28-year-old actor’s growth as an adult film-star. (both 5/13) Drugstore Cowboy (1989) Early fans of Gus Van Sant are forgiven for regarding this black comedy as the Northwest auteur’s feature debut, since for years Van Sant kept his

Woody Allen as a Brooklyn pimp in director/writer John Turturro’s shaggy-dog love poem to his hometown, Fading Gigolo.

Blanche DuBois. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were never so right together on screen as in Mike Nichols’ astonishing film-directing debut. George and Martha battle each other and torture their young guests (George Segal and Sandy Dennis). (both 5/18) Milk (2008) Hard to believe it’s been six years since Gus Van Sant turned the Castro hood into his back-lot for The Harvey Milk Story. With Oscars for screenwriter Dustin Lance Black and Sean Penn (as Milk), this astute, gripping biopic features stellar work from a dazzling ensemble, including Mexican actor/director Diego Luna as one of Harvey’s boyfriends, whose parting shot still reverberates. “They’re bad people, Harvey!” (5/21) Fellini Satyricon (1969) My first gay chums, Houstonians Scotty and Robert, treated me to this greatest of the Italian master’s extravaganzas about Rome 50-66 AD, with some of the modern screen’s most dazzling decadence. Barbarella (1968) It took Jane Fonda years to live down the vibes from then-French boyfriend Roger Vadim’s take on a 60s French comic strip. (both 5/28)t

tres gay first film Mala Noche under wraps. Drugstore concerns the slapstick antics of a gang of young druggies robbing pharmacies to support their addictions. The proceedings are enlivened by a sardonic cameo from Beat avatar William S. Burroughs. Trainspotting (1996) Scottish actor Ewan McGregor’s international career got a high-jolt kickoff

with Danny Boyle’s farcical tale of spirited miscreants behaving badly. (both 5/15) A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) You can’t really appreciate Marlon Brando until you catch his astonishing take on Tennessee Williams’ most fetching bully, the brutal Stanley Kowalski, who makes life so irresistibly awful for Vivien Leigh’s down-on-her-luck house guest,

FINA

L WE

EKS

The art of transformation ASIAN ART MUSEUM THROUGH MAY 25 www.asianart.org/yoga #ArtofYoga Yoga: The Art of Transformation is the world’s first major art exhibition about yoga. It explores yoga’s fascinating history and its transformation into a global phenomenon with millions of practitioners. Highlights include stunning masterpieces of Indian sculpture and painting; pages from the first illustrated book of yoga postures (asanas); and a Thomas Edison film, Hindoo Fakir (1902), the first American movie ever produced about India. See it for just $10 on Thursday nights when we’re open until 9 pm. Enjoy the exhibition and the museum in all its evening beauty, and that’s not all— usually there are programs ranging from expert talks to events with local artists, DJ music, and more.

ASIAN ART MUSEUM Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art & Culture 200 Larkin Street San Francisco, CA 94102 415.581.3500 www.asianart.org

Yoga: The Art of Transformation was organized by the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution with support from the Friends of the Freer and Sackler Galleries, the Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne and the Ebrahimi Family Foundation. Presentation at the Asian Art Museum is made possible with the generous support of Helen and Rajnikant Desai, The Bernard Osher Foundation, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, Kumar and Vijaya Malavalli, Society for Asian Art, and Walter & Elise Haas Fund. Image: Three aspects of the Absolute (detail), page 1 from a manuscript of the Nath Charit, 1823, by Bulaki (Indian, active early 1800s). India; Rajasthan state, former kingdom of Marwar, Jodhpur. Opaque watercolor, gold, and tin alloy on paper. Courtesy of the Mehrangarh Museum Trust, RJS 2399.

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26 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 8-14, 2014

Plumbing shallow depths by David Lamble

n the first frames of openly queer French master filmmaker Francois Ozon’s Young and Beautiful, we spy a young girl sunbathing, sans bra, on a pristine beach in the South of France. The scene commences on a slightly naughty note as our view of 17-year-old Isabelle (Marine Vacth) is framed through the binoculars wielded by her nosy younger brother, Victor (Fantin Ravat). That the sister/brother bond turns out to be one of the more intimate and telling relationships in this portrait of a bored teen’s attempt to spice up her afterschool hours by turning tricks with wealthy older gentlemen is a major problem in a film whose provocative subject is only superficially plumbed. While Young and Beautiful would mark a promising debut for a novice auteur, it’s quite a letdown coming from the maker of such delicious and dark mediations as Criminal Lovers, Swimming Pool and Time to Leave. You can’t blame the actors: new-

SF Ballet

From page 17

Hummingbird, the highlight of Program 7 (plays again Thursday and Saturday), pulled the audience to their feet for the sincerest standing ovation I’ve seen in a long time. People kept rising to their feet as if they’d been lifted by the same internal forces that had held the dancers so high off the floor. Liam Scarlett, the Royal Ballet-based choreographer, has set a visionary fantasy to Philip Glass’ Piano Concerto (2000), a shimmering, melancholy score with a tremendous theatrical sweep to it, with shifting emotional weather that keeps you floating on ambiguous harmonic progressions that never resolve. It’s perfect for Scarlett’s dark scene of creatures that seem to be floating in a modern ether where everyone’s sensitive,

comer Marine Vacth provides a purposefully enigmatic take on a character who may indeed be as shallow as she appears. After being busted by the cops and forced to talk to a bemused shrink about her motive for doing hotel tricks at 300 euros a pop, Isabelle confides, “I liked making the appointments, chatting on the Internet, talking on the phone, and then going. It was like a game.” The game kicks off upon the girl’s return to her Paris high school. Her virginity having been surrendered on the beach to a humpy blond German, Isabelle (or Lea, as she dubs herself professionally) decides to cater to the upscale dirty old men who can easily afford the tab, and whose reaction to the skinny girl’s act is bemusement. As one gent chortles, “Once a whore, always a whore.” Isabelle/Lea’s career proceeds swimmingly until she meets Georges (the craggy-faced Johan Leysen). The old guy gets under her skin in some way, and her career hits a weird speed bump when Georges suddenly expires in mid-hump. It’s

here that writer/director Ozon, a filmmaker who delights in killing off characters in the most dicey of situations, loses his grip on the story and his way-out-of-her-depth heroine. Isabelle’s immediate reaction is to flee the suite after a lingering last look at her deceased trick, and after taking the 300 euros George had left for her on the mantle. Not surprisingly, the police come a-calling, shocking mom into a frantic bout of daughter-slapping and then a desperate attempt to redeem the situation, sort of pretending it never happened by calling in the professionals. Despite our sitting in on her sessions with the Cheshire Cat smiling shrink, Isabelle reveals little about her motives or plans for the future. Later, the girl will party down at a friend’s house, in the process acquiring one of those terminally cute French boyfriends, Alex (Laurent Delbecque), the kind of sweet, smart, jolly lad whose mere presence reassures the parental units. This coupling produces a silly mo-

moody, brimming with life and profoundly alone. Scarlett comes from the Royal Ballet’s Anglo-Russian tradition. Unlike the American neo-classical dancer, whose personality is in the witty feet and high-flashing legs, the British classical dancer’s soul is in the bust – the breast, shoulders, arms, face, which reveal the workings of the heart, and for which the legs form a moving pedestal. Think of Margot Fonteyn or Lynn Seymour. The most salient thing about his dancers is their breathing. You’re very aware of their ribs; tiny changes in their emotions are reflected in how the breastbone takes the light. In the audience, we actually feel this. Scarlett’s dancers seem suspended, almost as if they were jellyfish, and their legs seem to hang away from them. Sarah van Patten’s legs seemed impossibly long, and her

feet were like baguette diamonds. This fits Glass’ dazzling ambiguities just fine and creates a postmodern kind of romance, where the journey is not “there, and back again” (to quote from JRR Tolkien) but some kind of quest to know where you are that is never answered. It’s a brave new world with wondrous creatures in it, who are nevertheless even at their most intimate profoundly alone. In the colossal pas de deux to the concerto’s slow movement, Lorena Feijoo is lifted by Vitor Luiz in moves derived from Kenneth Macmillan (Romeo and Juliet) and John Cranko (Onegin), in trajectories where his strength takes over to lift her and float her over his shoulders, as if she were swimming and reaching her limbs into places she’d never explored. It creates a portrait of penetration and response, longings explored on a Wagnerian scale – without, however, ever coming to a resolution. It feels forever unresolved, like a dream you can’t forget but likewise can’t remember. Still, there were arresting images I will never forget: Isabella deVivo, a new corps dancer, hovering, delighted; van Patten, impetuously shoving Pascal Molat away from her; Gaetano Amico, Miles Thatcher. The pianist, Brenda Valhur, hurling brilliant notes at us like showers of hail. The whole thing was a kind of cool delirium. Also on the program were SFB artistic director Helgi Tomasson’s equally cool The Fifth Season (new in 2006) and Serge Lifar’s Suite en Blanc (1944, created when Lifar was AD of the Paris Opera Ballet). Fifth Season is a showcase of the style of

…a gambling nun… a math professor-drag queen… “Kirkwood’s prose is lush and the descriptions of Mardi Gras are intoxicating.”

Scene from Francois Ozon’s Young and Beautiful.

ment when Isabelle rescues the boy from a bout of bad cocksmanship by pulling a trick from her call-girl past. The expressions that roll across the comely Delbecque’s puss are priceless. I would have much rather seen a movie about this expressive kid than endure feature-length ennui from Isabelle. Ozon does have one more slick scene up his sleeve in the late appearance of his favorite actress,

Charlotte Rampling, as she and Isabelle share a moment on the bed where Georges died. Young and Beautiful is a passably pleasant way to pass 95 minutes, but we’ve come to expect a lot more from Ozon. The Internet Movie Data Base informs us that Ozon’s #16, The New Girlfriend, is rolling into Paris theatres this November. Keep your fingers crossed that Young and Beautiful represents a one-film slump.t

Erik Tomasson

San Francisco Ballet dancers Yuan Yuan Tan and Damian Smith in Helgi Tomasson’s The Fifth Season.

our dancers, and it was impeccably danced to a suite of dances by Karl Jenkins that would suit as moodsetting for a BBC drama. Yuan Yuan Tan and her great partner Damian Smith made a very glamorous couple, while Frances Chung and Davit Karapetyan etched silhouettes of stunning clarity. Suite en Blanc displays the strength, accuracy, and style of a great classical ballet company, and it represents a tremendous challenge to pull it off with élan. Our dancers did all the steps, but only Mathilde Froustey (who is, in fact, French-trained) kept her

shoulders free enough from strain to make it look like she was to the manner born. Program 8 contains two of Balanchine’s works – one of his greatest, that paean to the Age of Anxiety Agon (1957); and a curiosity, the Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet (new to us) – as well as Jerome Robbins’ brilliant Glass Pieces. Sunday night there will be a special performance to bid farewell to Damian Smith and Ruben Martin Cintas, dancers it will be hard to replace and even harder to forget. More on that next week.t

-San Francisco Book Review

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So...how’s your reading life going? Available at local bookstores and online!

Erik Tomasson

San Francisco Ballet dancers Sofiane Sylve and Tiit Helimets in Serge Lifar’s Suite en Blanc.

Books>>

May 8-14, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 27

To the barricades! by Brian Jackle

Forcing the Spring: Inside the Fight for Marriage Equality by Jo Becker. Penguin Press, $29.95 erhaps it is part of our national character. Since the Puritans exiled Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson from their Massachusetts Bay Colony, Americans love to humiliate their political and cultural leaders. Maybe it reinforces the idea that everyone is equal. The latest victim in our collective purging is New York Times investigative reporter Jo Becker, vilified by the gay “intelligentsia,” chiefly Dan Savage, Michelangelo Signorile, and Andrew Sullivan, collectively ready to slip the noose over Becker’s head. Her crime? The charge, well-covered by B.A.R. contributor Lisa Keen in last week’s issue, is that Becker asserts the fight for marriage began with the victory of the discriminatory Prop 8, which banned LGBTs from marrying in California, and political consultant Chad Griffin’s vow to mount a federal lawsuit (with help from liberal Hollywood royals such as Rob Reiner and Dustin Lance Black) that would overturn that decision. The Sir Galahad to gain us marriage equality would be Ted Olson, a conservative Republican who secured the presidency for George W. Bush in the infamous Supreme Court decision Bush v. Gore. But since the early 1970s, gay couples have been struggling to marry. Cultural activists laid down the sociological foundations for same-sex weddings by the early 80s. Several state courts threatened to legalize same-sex marriage in the early 1990s, notably Hawaii, leading to Congress passing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Becker’s claim that the marriage movement “for years had largely languished in obscurity” before Griffin/Olson came along has been roundly pilloried. Other errors have also been noted, including characterizing

Serial Mom

From page 17

David-Elijah Nahmod: Please tell us who you are, and who Peaches is. Joshua Grannell: Peaches was born in my senior-thesis film, Jizmopper: A Love Story. I was studying film production at Penn State U., and the actor we hired to play the drag queen in the film I was directing didn’t pull through for us, so Peaches was born and stepped in to play the part. My advice to firsttime drag performers is always: “Try not to put your first-time drag on 16mm film or in a movie so that people can discover it forever.” As Joshua, I’m definitely more of the behind-the-scenes writer/director, but as Peaches I get to be outrageous. It’s kind of like using your own drag as a type of muse, I guess. You have an obvious love of cult and underground cinema. What draws you to this? How has this affected your film All About Evil? I’ve always been super-inspired by movies, and so much of what I do with drag is informed by my love affair with cinema. I’m also inspired by “underdogs,” the “others” of this world. I like to think that Peaches Christ leads a cult of devoted followers who worship the cult movies we all love. It’s my job to create events that celebrate these movies, and I borrow lots of ideas from other cults like the Catholic Church. I think for us, the cinema is our church, and we earnestly believe in these characters. We are the nerds, freaks and weirdos with a wicked, fierce sense of humor. We’re the Dawn Wieners who grew up to become the Dawn Davenports.

Roberta Kaplan, attorney to Edith Windsor, in the other key same-sex marriage Supreme Court case, as an outsider, when in fact she had previously been working on state marriage cases for years, notably in NY. Becker’s not providing the legal and political context leading up to the Prop 8 case is her chief offense. Is this accusation legitimate? I would say yes and no. Becker has made clear in interviews that her book is not a history of the marriage equality movement, but some statements in the book seem to be open to multiple interpretations. For example, when Becker uses the word revolution on page 1, the reader believes she is alluding to the marriage struggle in general, but as she later makes clear, she is using the term to refer to securing marriage equality through a federal lawsuit rather than the state-by-state court or ballot-box maneuverings that had only limited success prior to 2008, with just five states legalizing gay marriage. The LGBT establishment opposed going to federal court because they feared ultimately they would not have the five Supreme Court justices votes needed for victory. By not paying obeisance to the “old guard,” Becker probably made a tactical error. Her emphasis is on a younger generation that was willing to do whatever it took to secure a basic civil right. Becker’s sin was not providing a brief historical perspective on the battle for same-sex marriage, though she did interview Evan Wolfson, the intellectual pioneer who suggested in the mid-80s that marriage equality was the next frontier for gay civil rights. As a straight woman commenting on the LGBT struggle to gain same-sex marriage, it might have been wise to have secured the blessing of a few LGBT elders. I can’t help but wonder if some of the venom directed at Becker relates to her being a straight outsider on this very personal civil-rights battle. Her comparison of Griffin to a

contemporary gay Rosa Parks suggests naivete but not “jawbreaking” lunacy. Becker’s 4.5-year journey included gaining complete access to the lawyers and the four plaintiffs, even listening in on conference calls and planned strategies in the “war room.” Penguin Press overreached by promising this book as the “definitive account of the fight to win the rights of marriage and full citizenship for all” (their press release). Any kind of journalism, no matter how exhaustive in scope, is still a first draft of history, and without any long-range perspective can never be definitive. But as a behind-the-scenes record tracing the story of stopping Prop 8 and forcing the question of marriage equality all the way to the Supreme Court, this book is a monumental achievement. We experience the moving tales of the four plaintiffs Kris Perry, Sandy Stier, Paul Katami, and Jeff Zarillo, who were willing to have their personal lives exposed. We also experience the juicy odd-couple re-pairing of Olson with attorney David Boies, who represented Al Gore in Bush v. Gore. Becker even gets the very private Judge Vaughn Walker to share his recollections, doubts, and how being gay himself influenced his deliberations. But the material Becker provides on the Edie Windsor case in comparison to the Prop 8 case is scant and emotionally inadequate. This is problematic because Windsor is by far the more important of the two cases, having struck down a crucial section of DOMA, setting a national precedent that ultimately could lead to overturning remaining state bans against same-sex marriage. Of course, the Prop 8 case, as originally envisioned by Olson, sought to be the game-changer that would force the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of Prop 8 by claiming it violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. That didn’t happen, adding to the anticli-

Both Dawns are saints to us. All About Evil is the thing right now I’m proudest of, because it represented a lifelong dream. I wrote, directed, produced and performed in it as a known drag queen, which, as you can imagine, is rare in the world of indie or horror film-making. I always wanted to make a feature film, and it was an homage to so many things I loved as a kid growing up inspired by Fangoria magazine, Herschel

the Dreamlanders (the John Waters stock company). And in the postPolyester era of the John Waters universe, I think that Ricki Lake is the ultimate Dreamlander, the screenchild of Divine. I’m completely thrilled that she accepted our invitation to come and be celebrated at this 20th anniversary of Serial Mom. She is a bona-fide pop-culture icon, and we are planning on worshiping at her altar on May 10.

mactic nature of the limited resolution of the case. Yet Becker argues convincingly that this decision was hardly a failure, since not only did it give 1/5 of the country’s population the right to marry, but it also helped sway a majority of American public opinion in support of gay marriage, which stood at only 40% in 2008. She also contends that since the case was paired with Windsor, it might have influenced Kaplan to be broader in her brief, viewing it more as a civil rights issue than as a tax break (Windsor was attempting to get $300,000 estate taxes returned that she had to pay the IRS because she and her late wife Thea were not considered married). It is probably up to future legal historians to decide what impact tying the cases together had on the Justices’ decisions. The two best chapters in the book

are the one on President Obama and his “evolution” in coming out in favor of gay marriage, and the one on the personal impact of the case on Chuck Cooper, the attorney who argued the anti-same-sex marriage side in the San Francisco trial. The Obama chapter will no doubt fuel cynicism, as Obama supported same-sex marriage as early as 1996. His TV interview with Robin Roberts (who has since come out as a lesbian) was largely scripted in detailed talking points by Ken Mehlman, the former Republican National Committee Chairman who had come out less than a year before Obama’s public revelation. While one can admire Obama’s final progression (aided unwittingly by Veep Joe Biden’s unscripted support of gay marriage to the press), the chapter makes clear that it was politics and not any moral conscience that ultimately decided how Obama would end up with his “carefully calibrated and incremental endorsement,” meaning let the states work out this issue. While Becker errs in not giving the many actors in this decades-long saga credit for their role in securing marriage benefits for LGBTs, the insider scenarios and intimate narratives of the principal players compensate for this lack. Andrew, Michelangelo, Dan, and the rest of the LGBT PC/Gay Inc. bully brigade, please give Jo Becker a break!t

“My advice to first-time drag performers is always: ‘Try not to put your first-time drag on 16mm film or in a movie so that people can discover it forever.’” –Joshua Grannell Gordon Lewis, John Waters, Doris Wishman, Vincent Price, Elvira, and more. While I was making it, I was really terrified that it wouldn’t turn out the way I intended it, or that it wasn’t going to be something I could be proud of. But I am proud of it, and I’m really thrilled to hear from fans who discover it on TV or DVD.

Any spoilers for the Serial Mom stage show you could share? D’Arcy Drollinger will appear in a performance we’re calling Serial Queen, and she doesn’t appreciate drag boogers. So please be sure that your drag is put together and that you’re not wearing white shoes before Memorial Day, or else!

What do John Waters, Serial Mom, and Ricki Lake mean to you? John Waters is my ultimate idol, hero and mentor. I grew up in Maryland, so discovering him, Divine and Mink Stole really did change my life. I don’t think there would be a Peaches Christ if there weren’t

Will Ricki do a Q&A or signing? Yes, both!t Peaches Christ: A 20th Anniversary Serial Mom Tribute with Ricki Lake in person, Sat., May 10 at 8 p.m., Castro Theatre, 424 Castro St., SF. Info: peacheschrist.com.

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Spencer Day’s new dawn by Joshua Klipp

Spencer Day

Cultural Cravings Spring blooms gala fundraisers by Jim Provenzano

pring’s fertile array of arts offerings includes some festive fundraisers, which leads to patrons getting wined and dined in both traditional and new ways. Whether you’re a generous arts patron or a Mission flat-dweller with five dancer-waiter-actor roommates, you can find a party with cultural flair somewhere within your budget, where food, drinks and culture find a delicious blend. Among the upcoming events are ODC Theatre’s Indulge on May 13. Described as a “grown up bake sale,” the party, set on the performance space’s stage, will combine edible treats and pop-up performances. But it’s about more than pouring chardonnay in exchange for a check.

Background: Gala Vernissage at The Old Mint Above: Art Auction at White Walls Gallery

See page 2 >>

Greg Allen

y interview with San Francisco and Monterey Jazz Fest veteran Spencer Day didn’t go as I expected. A young but seasoned jazz performer who’s played the Great American Music Hall, Joe’s Pub, the Hollywood Bowl and more, I anticipated a smooth talker with media-ready sound bites. I’ll come clean: I thought Spencer Day would be shallow. And now I must apologize: I was wrong. I was really, really wrong. Spencer Day is not only not shallow, but the depth of his thought reflects a rare performer who almost never thinks about his own ego, and almost constantly about how to use his artistry and access to make the world a better place. See page 3 >>

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2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 8-14, 2014

Cultural Cravings

From page 1

“I’m especially proud that we don’t just throw a great party,” said Christy Bolingbroke, ODC Theater’s Director, who called Indulge part grassroots community organizing and part creative producing. “We create a committee of volunteers – staff, artists, dance students, board members, community leaders – four to five months out, and then there’s a lot of pounding the pavement,” said Bolinbroke. “We re-engage with purveyors that have supported us since the event’s inception, like Universal Café, AQ, Mission Minis, and Hayes Street Grill. But just like the arts scene in San Francisco, there are always new restaurants and bakeshops popping up.” This year, Abbot’s Cellar, Ichi Sushi, Blue Plate, and Lolo are among those who’ll offer food and drinks at the dance space’s party. “With a wide-range of quality artists doing pop-up performances, the entire event’s feel is that of developing your palate, giving you a taste of dance and performance while satisfying a sweet tooth,” added Bolingbroke. The décor theme this year is “all the world’s backstage” with set piec-

es and costumes from various works in ODC’s 43-year history. Bolingbroke also commented on the event as being an opportunity to connect with neighbors of ODC’s Mission district. “It is always amazing to see the generosity of small, local businesses,’ said Bolingbroke. “Donating 100 pieces of dessert or a two-course dinner for four to eight people that night at a higher ticket price… and then, you have the businesses that provide experiences to be auctioned off – a jazz band, Wag Hotel, show tickets, wine tasting, and macaroonmaking. All of these contributions help keep our Indulge event costs down, so almost every single dollar raised goes toward ODC Theater’s shows year-round and to our resident artist program.” The ODC affair isn’t just about schmoozing and noshing. With pop-up performances every 15-20 minutes, look for current and former resident artists like RAWdance, Hope Mohr Dance, and Scott Wells. Altogether, it’s one of the many festive events with a medium-range donation price. Here’s a list of other festive galas, art auctions, and ongoing weekly museum parties.

of success with its annual gala. Join keynote speaker Dennis Kucinich and more than 300 green business leaders, philanthropists, and health and social justice pioneers for a thought-provoking, festive evening. Hosted at the historic downtown building and popular event venue. Dinner will be served. $250. 6:30pm. Bently Reserve, 301 Battery Street. www.ceh.org

Thursdays Nightlife at the California Academy of Sciences The museum’s weekly cocktail parties continue. Ann Getty hosts the SF Gay Men’s Chorus benefit at her fabulous mansion. May 8’s event is themed Perception, with outEnjoy the San Francisco Ballet’s items and pop-up performances by door and indoor DJ mixes by Damprogram 8, Jerome Robbins’ Glass dancers and musicians. $40-$150. Funk Myron, Grown Kids Radio. Pieces (set to three works by Philip 6pm-8pm dinner; in-theater event See eye-popping mini-exhibits, with Glass), and George Balanchine’s 8pm-10pm. 3153 17th St. 863-9834. vision-distorting glasses. May 15 Agon and Brahms-Schoenberg www.odcdance.org features DJ Omar, folks from the SF Quartet, followed by a champagne Maker Faire, green art workshops, and wine reception in the plus nibblies and drinks, and of theatre’s mezzanine with course the albino alligator. $10-$12. some of the company danc6pm-10pm. 55 Music Concourse ers. $25-$189. 8pm. 201 Drive, Golden Gate Park. 379Van Ness Ave. 865-2000. 8000. www.calacademy.org www.sfballet.org/NiteOut /events/nightlife

Jeri Taylor

Wednesday, May 14 Gala Vernissage at The Old Mint 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

Indulge at ODC Theater.

Thursday, May 8 Art Auction at White Walls Gallery Hospitality House’s 29th annual fundraiser includes an eclectic art auction of works by dozens of local artists, like Greg Gossel’s portrait of Elizabeth Taylor (see photo), which starts at a $1,500 bid. Enjoy vodka cocktails, beer, wine, soft drinks and hors d’oeuvres. $40-$50. 6pm. 886 Geary St. 749-2184. www.hospitalityhouse.org/auction2014.htm

Thursday, May 8 The Center for Environmental Health at Bently Reserve The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) celebrates 18 years

Fridays Friday Night at the de Young Museum

Friday, May 9 Cirque de l’Arc at The Arc San Francisco The festive annual fundraiser, for The Arc’s anti-bullying programs and mentors program for developmentally different folks, will include perfomances by drag stars Galilea, Mercedez Munro, Donna Sachet, Alexis Miranda, Cockatelia, Rahni, the SF Gay Men’s Chorus Arc Superstars, and DJ Page Hodel. $75-$200 and up. 6pm10:30pm. 1500 Howard St. www.arccirque2014. eventbrite.com

Nightlife events at the museum take on different themes. May 9, celebrate Georgia O’Keeffe and Mother’s Day with card-making workshops, music by Cascada de Flores, and readings by Devorah Major, Kim Shuck and others. May 16 celebrates forty years of Steve

Thursday, May 15 Academy of Friends at the Westin St. Francis Hotel

Friday, May 9 San Francisco Ballet Nite Out at War Memorial Opera House

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Tuesday, May 13 Indulge at ODC Theater

A fundraiser for the San Francisco Art Institute, Gala Vernissage will be a spectacular evening for which SFAI’s community of artists, innovators, educators and supporters come together to raise vital scholarship funds for our students,” said Charles BARtab Desmarais, President of the San Francisco Art Institute. “Not only does the event showcase the extraordinary spirit and accomplishments of SFAI artists—it’s also a fabulous party!” Tour the architectural wonders of the historic building. Site-specific performance, art, music, beverage and food areas will keep you savored and entertained. $200 (8pm-10pm dessert party), $500 (includes seated dinner) and up. 5:30-10pm. 88 5th St. at Mission. www.sfai.edu/event/gala-vernissage

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A party at the California Academy of Science.

The dance venue’s annual gala party includes sumptuous food from acclaimed local eateries, and desserts and drinks, with an optional pre-party sit-down dinner, plus auction

The check presentation for the beneficiary groups of the Oscar party nonprofit includes the announcement of the car-winning raffle prize winner, plus door prize drawings, wines, cocktails and hors d’eouvres. RSVP required. 6:30pm-8:30pm. St. Francis Suite, 335 Powell St. www.academyoffriends.org

Thursday May 15 SF Gay Men’s Chorus Fundraiser at the Getty Mansion Have you ever wanted to see inside a lavish mansion? Well, if you’ve got a spare $1000, you can. Frederica von Stade, Lisa Vroman, Morgan Smith and Jake Heggie perform at this preview of solos and duets by opera superstars, and a preview of the Chorus’ upcoming concert opf Heggie’s opera For a Look or a Touch, about gay men in the holocaust. Cocktails, food and desserts. $1000 and up. Home of Ann and Gordon Getty, 2880 Broadway St. 865-3650. www.sfgmc.org.t

Spencer Day

From page 1

“I don’t think about my legacy,” he said. “The most I could hope for is to be remembered as someone who tried to live authentically, and inspired others to do the same. If my music can cause a partial awakening in even one person, my whole life is worth it.”

Spencer Day

finalists, and the rest is history. Years later, the searching star returned to his roots, playing what he cherishes as one of his most epic performances. “It was at Yoshi’s,” he recalled. “We sold it out and had a couple of standing ovations. But what made it so great to return to San Francisco is that it’s always been there for me. When I was down and out, abusing substances, when other people didn’t believe in me, San Francisco always did. It was like coming home.” Impressive success and achievements haven’t made Spencer lose touch with his values, either. “I play a lot of benefits and make myself available for causes as much as possible.” Though he humorously recounted saying yes to a high school friend’s fundraising performance request, only to learn too late that it was held in a bizarre location and benefited a conservative right wing politician. He honored his commitment, but made a note that going forward he would always ask about the benefit’s Reisig Taylor purpose before saying yes.

May 8-14, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 3

Seth Walters

Spencer Day

Before we wrapped the interview, I asked Spencer if he could sing one song to the people of San Francisco, what would that song be? He didn’t hesitate in his answer, “The Association’s ‘Never My Love’, because the song asks if I’ll ever grow tired, and I say never. My relationship with San Francisco is a lifelong romance.” The man believes that music is a healing art, a medium that keeps us in the present moment, whether that is perfect or imperfect. He believes that music reminds us more of what we share than how we are different. Day’s favorite quote is by Stella Adler: “Life beats you down and crushes your soul, and art reminds you that you have one.” From his own

During our 45-minute interview, the openly gay singer/pianist covered everything from being raised by Mormon, to The Book of Mormon, to what he wants to be when he grows up. “I was raised strictly Mormon, but my Mom is very cool,” he said. “She’s been on a float in the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade with me.” Of the musical, The Book of Mormon, he noted his favorite song, “Turn It Off Like a Light Daybreak, Spencer Day’s new album Switch.” “Mormons are incredibly sweet, And lately, Spenbut there’s so much suppression in cer Day says yes to an effort to be nice and happy all many things, but the time – that song was brilliant,” nothing more than he said. And on what he hopes for the truth of who the future Day opined, “I’d love to he is, and how this score a Broadway musical. Getting shapes who he is as to write the music for a full orchesa performer. “The tra…that’d be a dream gig.” more genuinely and In the meantime, however, Spenunapologetically I cer Day is very much about the am myself, the more present, which includes the May dynamic I am as a 16, 2014, release of his fifth album, performer and the Daybreak. less self-conscious I “My new album pulls from the become.” music that was Southern California’s pulse in the 1960s, the surf era of the Beach Boys, the Association, the Mamas and the Papas,” he said. “I really wanted to create the sound of Los Angeles as I remember it from childhood.” Daybreak will consist of original tunes heavily influenced by this time period and these artists, as well as a selection of covers from other ‘60s artists like Nancy Sinatra, Buddy Holly, and Peter and Gordon. Day currently resides in Southern California, but makes no secret of the fact that he considers San Francisco home. “San Francisco is where I started playing, at the Lush Lounge on Polk Street,” he reminisced. “One of the owners there, Kenny, signed me up for Star Search as a joke and I went The Mystery of You and Vagabond, Spencer thinking it was something I’d do for Day’s recent albums a lark.” He ended up as one of the

nied by Gawain Matthews and Cliff Goldmacher on guitar, Todd Sickafoose on bass, and Brad Boal on drums. And me, I’ll be that reformed skeptic sitting in the front row, understanding now why San Francisco has loved and believed in Spencer Day all along.t

Spencer Day plays Feinstein’s at the Nikko Thursday May 15 and Friday May 16. Both shows begin at 8pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. www.spencerday.com www.ticketweb.com (Joshua Klipp is a writer and band leader for the Klipptones.)

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Book of Mormon, through a journey of personal struggle and survival, and now finally to a watershed of celebration reflected in his new album – Spencer Day is an artist not only with tremendous talent, but tremendous heart. He is in love with his art, and the ways it allows him to love others, and others to love each other. When he plays Feinstein’s at Hotel Nikko this month, he’ll be accompa-

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4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 8-14, 2014

Singing for Life Sean Ray’s AIDS Cabaret by David-Elijah Nahmod

How long has AIDS Cabaret been happening and how many have there been? This is the 11th Annual Cabaret

inger/actor Sean Ray has lived with AIDS for many years. He lost many friends to the HIV virus since his own diagnosis. Ray is a survivor who now spends a good deal of his time raising AIDS awareness, and raising funds so that others might have the means to survive. On Monday May 12 at 8PM, Ray and his many talented signing friends will perform in Perfect Day: The 11th Annual Cabaret to Fight AIDS, which Ray is also producing. As he trains for the upcoming AIDS Lifecycle and rehearses for the cabaret, he talked about his life as a performer, and as a gay man living with HIV. David-Elijah Nahmod: How long have you been HIV positive? Sean Ray: I tested HIV positive in 2000, after moving to San Francisco in 1999 from New York City. I lost many friends in New York to AIDS in the ‘80s and ‘90s and dealt with feelings of guilt and shame when I tested positive after seeing all that my friends had gone through. Can you tell us about your involvement in AIDS activism? In my fifteen years in San Francisco, I have personally earned more than a quarter of a million dollars for various AIDS service organizations through my participation in California AIDS Ride, AIDS LifeCycle, and the annual Cabaret to Fight AIDS. I have raised money for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, UCSF AIDS Health Project, Project Open Hand and Positive Being. In 2000 I was featured on CNN as one of the examples of the changing faces of the AIDS epidemic. I was a guest speaker at the Project Open Hand Luncheon at the Fairmont, speaking as a former client and current fundraiser.

Beth Elliot’s butterfly wings at a recent Cabaret to Fight AIDS benefit concert.

gay men’s health services, needle exchange, substance use and mental health services, public policy and education. As a former employee

Steven Underhill Steven Underhill

Pia Trinidad Sprague, Beth Elliott and Sean Ray at the 2012 Cabaret to Fight AIDS

Can you address the fact that, while AIDS has become manageable, it to Fight AIDS. I wanted to still isn’t curable and still bring together my amazingly kills people. talented singing friends for I think that people have a cause, to raise money for come to accept AIDS as a HIV/AIDS awareness. chronic disease, which I believe as well. It’s manWhat can people expect ageable if you have the refrom this latest edition? sources. In the Bay Area, A little bit of everything: we are fortunate to have showtunes, standards, pop. a wide array of services to Great raffle prizes and a rehelp everyone who is seekally fun, heartfelt special eveing help. No, there is no ning of music. Donna Sachet cure. Yes, it still kills people. is the hostess and M.C. Our Steven Underhill But also, we are not seeing cast is made up of eleven The cast of a recent Cabaret to Fight AIDS. the same decimation of very talented performers our community that we from around the Bay Area. niversary production of Boy Meets saw in the ‘80s and ‘90s. There is The show benefits the San Francisco Boy. I’ve performed in regional, still stigma involved in being HIV AIDS Foundation and is one of my summer stock and dinner theater. positive. This is another thing that AIDS LifeCycle fundraisers. I am a former member of the Oreducation can do for people: break lando, New York City and San Frandown those barriers and help others Can you tell us about the cisco Gay Men’s Chorus. I have apsee the person behind the disease. services that the AIDS Foundation peared on PBS’ Great Performances provides? with Patti LaBelle, as well as on The Tell us about your life in the The SF AIDS Foundation has Joan Rivers Show. I’m featured on theater. been serving clients in San Franthe recordings of The Day After I was a professional singer/actor/ cisco since 1982. Their services inThat with Liza Minnelli, among dancer in my former career. I apvolve prevention, case management, others. peared off-Broadway in the 20th anpeer advocacy, housing assistance,

and client of the AIDS foundation, it is one of the first places I turn to when referring people for services. Have you done AIDS LifeCycle before? This is my ninth year doing the ride. This year I am honored to be the #1 roadie/fundraiser in AIDS LifeCycle history for a single year: so far $27,640 this year. My goal is $30,000, almost there! My friends and family have been the main source of support for me all these years. I know not everyone has that kind of support, but the help is out there. You just have to ask. I love the singers and musicians in this cabaret. They continue to inspire me to do all I can to make a difference in the lives of others. I think that’s what we all want: to make a difference.t Perfect Day: The 11th Annual Cabaret to Fight AIDS, Monday, May 12, 2014, 8PM Feinstein’s at the Nikko, 222 Mason Street. www.ticketweb.com

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May 8-14, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 5

Jungle Red!

by Donna Sachet

Thank you to the many who made this little drag queen feel like a real queen on her recent milestone birthday with cards, phone calls, hundreds of Facebook messages, gifts, and a party that was magical, monumental, and memorable. Many of you will receive more personal notes, but we feel compelled to extend this wider reaching thank you in this column. We live in an incredible place at an unbelievable time and we are surrounded by remarkable people, many of whom we count as friends. Thank you all. Michael Montoya helped his husband, Kevin Shanahan, celebrate his birthday with a regal party in the penthouse Victor’s Palace of the Westin St. Francis Hotel. What a party it was! The hosts greeted each guest as they exited the elevator with trays of Champagne and wine. Inside the spacious room with sweeping views of the City, a top-shelf bar and sumptuous food awaited. Guests included family and friends from as far away as Alaska, as well as locals including State Senator Mark Leno, Bevan Dufty, Adam Sandel, Richard Sablatura, Travis Monson, Daniel Walek, Neil Sims and Timothy Lucas, and Jason Brock, who delighted the crowd with his show-stopping voice. Michael and Kevin have been such generous donors and supporters of so many Bay Area causes that it was no surprise to see the hundreds of guests celebrating with them. They have man-

AIDS Life Cycle with all kinds of interpretations of the theme, from head-to-toe drag to athletic unshaven men in tight elastic red cocktail dresses. We have never quite seen the handsome staff in such an unlikely assortment of red dresses! Gregg Crosby was the perfect host and we served as hostess, including three costume changes. Attending in some version (or not) of the theme were Kenshi Westover, John Montwill, Matthew Nickler, Brent

Junior Alves (right) won the Red Dress Ball contest.

Georg Lester

Donna Sachet (left) leads the red dress judging at Lookout.

aged not only to become known as magnanimous, but also to have assembled a long list of true friends. Saturday’s second annual Red Dress Ball at Lookout benefited

Marek, Patty McGroin, Khmera Rouge, Tora Hymen, Rene Sedivy, Joey Cumley, Athan Broers, Daye Casper, David Collins, Brandon Tracey, Robert Dellaporte, Lonnie

Hayley, Skye Paterson, and DJ Byron Bonsall. Junior Alves emerged as the winner of the “Best in Red” contest. You can judge from the accompanying photos by Georg Lester whether everything looks better in red, here and at www.georglester. com. One hundred percent of your $10 purchased download of photos also benefits the the AIDS LifeCycle. Believe it or not, Pride Month is next month, so get yourself organized to attend as many events as possible. SF Pride is back on firm footing and we expect the biggest and best celebration in years! We’re assembling our calendar and it will appear in an upcoming issue. With so many events, let us be your guide; you’ll be glad you prepared early. Meanwhile, don’t forget tomorrow night’s Cirque de l’Arc (Fri., May 9) at 1500 Howard Street for a heartwarming benefit for The Arc, with a circus theme and tons of entertainment, including Kitty Glamour, Alexis Miranda, Cockatielia, and talented clients of the organization. Silent and live auction items will tempt you to part with dollars, but for a very worthy cause. And be sure to catch Bruce Vilanch through May 18 in 42nd Street Moon’s production of Georg Lester Cole Porter’s DuBarry was a Lady. We haven’t seen Bruce in a fully staged show since Broadways’s Hairspray, and this bawdy show is bound to please! On Monday, May 12, at 8PM, Sean Ray returns to Feinstein’s at the Nikko with a talented group of friends in Perfect Day, a musical benefit for AIDS Life Cycle. We’ll be emceeing and you’ll be amazed at the talent, energy, and heart of this cast. Other upcoming entertainers there include Spencer Day, Paula West, and Michael Feinstein himself at the end of May. The following Saturday, May 17, we’ll be joining hundreds of supporters at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) annual gala at the Marriott Marquis. The fabulously funny Kate Clinton emcees, Executive Director Kate Kendall hosts, and Meredith Baxter, Ryan Kendall, and Sam Brinton receive honors. This is one of the top galas of the year: well-attended, moving, and empowering.t

Georg Lester

Stylish duos at Lookout’s Red Dress Ball.

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6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 8-14, 2014

eON THE TAB f May 8–15

Underwear Party @ Powerhouse

Beer Bust @ Hole in the Wall Saloon

Strip down to your skivvies at the weekly cruisy SoMa bar night. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhouse-sf.com

Beer only $8 until you bust. 4pm8pm. 1369 Folsom St. 431-4695. www.hitws.com

Wesla Whitfield @ Feinstein's at the Nikko

Beer Bust @ SF Eagle

The veteran cabaret singer, beloved for her jazz interpretations, is accompanied by her husband Mike Greensill. $30-$45. 8pm. Also May 9, 8pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.ticketweb.com

Fri 9 Cirque de l'Arc @ The Arc San Francisco The festive annual fundraiser for The Arc's anti-bullying programs and mentors program for developmentally different folks include performances by drag stars Galilea, Mercedez Munro, Donna Sachet, Alexis Miranda, Cockatelia, Rahni, the SF Gay Men's Chorus Arc Superstars, and DJ Page Hodel. $75-$200 and up. 6pm10:30pm. 1500 Howard St. www.arccirque2014.eventbrite.com

Sat 10

The classic leather bar's most popular Sunday daytime event now also takes place on Saturdays! 3pm-6pm. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Bleaux @ Beaux Haute Toddy and Lindsay Slowhands' twerky poppy fun night at the stylish Castro bar-nightclub. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Frolic @ The Stud

Bootie SF @ DNA Lounge The weekly mash-up dance night, with resident DJs Adrian & Mysterious D. No matter the theme, a mixed fun good time's assured. $8-$15. 9pm-3am. 21+. 375 11th St. at Harrison. www.BootieSF.com www.DNAlounge.com

Kim Nalley @ Feinstein's at the Nikko The popular blues and jazz vocalist pops in for one night show at the elegant cabaret/ nightclub. $30-$45. 7pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.ticketweb.com

Fedorable @ El Rio

Sun 11 Gogo hunk Simon @ Resilient

Thu 8

Nap's Karaoke @ Virgil's Sea Room

Art Auction @ White Walls Gallery

Sing out loud at the weekly least judgmental karaoke in town, hosted by the former owner of the bar. No cover. 9pm. 3152 Mission St. 829-2233. www.virgilssf.com

Hospitality House's annual fundraiser includes an eclectic art auction of works by dozens of local artists; enjoy vodka cocktails, beer, wine drinks and hors d'oeuvres. $40-$50. 6pm-10pm. 886 Geary St. 749-2184. www.hospitalityhouse.org/ auction2014.htm

Brian Jonestown Massacre @ Fox Theatre, Oakland The popular psych band performs classics and songs from their new CD Revelation, at the beautiful East Bay theatre. Joel Gion & the Primary Colors open. $30-$45. 8pm. 1807 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. www.brianjonestownmassacre.com www.thefoxoakland.com

La Femme @ Beaux Ladies' happy hour at the Castro nightclub, with drink specials, no cover, and women gogos. 4pm-9pm. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Fuego @ The Watergarden, San Jose Weekly event, with Latin music, half-off locker fees and Latin men, at the South Bay private men's bath house. $8-$39. Reg hours 24/7. 18+. 1010 The Alameda. (408) 275-1215. www.thewatergarden.com

Nightlife @ California Academy of Sciences The museum's weekly cocktail parties continue, this week with Dam-Funk, LA's "Ambassador of Boogie Funk," who'll christen the NightLife LIVE outdoor stage for an unforgettable show guaranteed to bring out the boogie in us all. A pioneer of the electro-funk renaissance, his soulful sounds recall funk-laden styles of the early 80’s; soul duo Myron & E open; plus, creature, plant and science exhibits. $10-$12. 6pm-10pm. 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. 379-8000. www.calacademy.org

Pan Dulce @ The Cafe Amazingly hot Papi gogo guys, cheap drinks and fun DJed dance music. Free before 10pm. $5 til 2am. 2369 Market St. www.clubpapi.com www.cafesf.com

Fri 9

George Clinton & Parlaiment Funkadelic @ Yoshi's

Gym Class @ Hi Tops Enjoy cheap/free whiskey shots from jockstrapped hotties and sexy sports videos at the popular sports bar. 10pm-2am. 2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

Joshua Klipp and his jazz band perform at the cigar grill and bar to perform some "smokin'" swing music for dancing. No cover. 8pm-11pm. 850 Montgomery St. www.cigarbarandgrill.com

Magic Parlor @ Chancellor Hotel Whimsical Belle Epoque-style sketch and magic show that also includes historical San Francisco stories; hosted by Walt Anthony; optional pre-show light dinner and desserts. $40. Thu-Sat 8pm. 433 Powell St. www.SFMagicParlor.com

The Monster Show @ The Edge Cookie Dough's weekly drag show with gogo guys and hilarious fun. $5. 9pm-2am. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Nightlife events at the museum take on different themes. $20-$35. 6pm-8:30pm. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. www.deyoung.famsf.org

Happy Friday @ Midnight Sun The popular video bar ends each week with gogo guys (starting at 9pm) and drink specials. Check out the new expanded front lounge, with a window view. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

Landon Conrad @ Nob Hill Theatre The blond muscled porn stud performs live at 8pm and 10pm. Also May 10, with previews of Dominic Ford films hosted by Michael Brandon. $25. 729 Bush St. at Powell. 397-6758. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

Manimal @ Beaux Gogo-tastic night starts off your weekend. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Spring g has sprung!

Rachelle Ferrell @ Yoshi's, Oakland The talented jazz-pop-gospel singer and pianist performs with her band. $29-$79 (with dinner). 7pm & 9pm. 5120 Embaracadero Jack London Square. (510) 238-9200. (Also May 10; and, May at Yoshi's SF, 1330 Fillmore St. 655-5600.) www.yoshis.com

SF Ballet Nite Out @ War Memorial Opera House

Some Thing

Jukebox @ Beatbox

The Klipptones @ Cigar Bar

Friday Night @ de Young Museum

Enjoy the San Francisco Ballet's program 8, Jerome Robbins' Glass Pieces (set to three works by Philip Glass), and George Balanchine's Agon and Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, followed by a champagne and wine reception in the theatre's mezzanine with some of the company dancers. $25-$189. 8pm. 201 Van Ness Ave. 865-2000. www.sfballet.org/NiteOut

The innovators of funk music perform in a concert with an open dance floor. $40-$44. Thu-Sat 8pm. Also Fri & Sat 10pm. 1330 Fillmore St. 655-5600. www.yoshis.com

Veteran DJ Page Hodel (The Box, Q and many other events) presents a new weekly dance event, with soul, funk, hip-hop and house mixes. $10. 21+. 9pm-2am. 314 11th St. at Folsom. www.BeatboxSF.com

Free weekly queer dance party, with gogos, prizes, old groovy tunes, cheap cocktails. 9pm-2am. 3158 Mission St. 282-3325. www.elriosf.com

Rachelle Ferrell

Mica Sigourney and pals' weekly offbeat drag performance night. 10pm-2am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Themed Nights @ The Brig

Pearls Over Shanghai @ The Hypnodrome Thrillpeddlers' hilarious Cockettes revival returns, with new choreography, costumes and cast members. $30-$35. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru May 31. 575 10th St. (800) 838-3006. www.thrillpeddlers.com

Thursday Night Live @ SF Eagle The weekly live rock shows have returned. 9pm-ish. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Tubesteak Connection @ Aunt Charlie's Lounge Retro disco tunes and a fun diverse crowd, each Thursday; now in its tenth year! $4. 10pm-2am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.com

If you're looking for a new sexual adventure, check out this new space. Weekend events take place Fridays through Mondays, and the intimate venue with a jail theme offers slings, tables and various spaces for erotic play. Sat-Mon, above PopSex960 at 962 Folsom St. at 6th St. www.BrigSF.com

Sat 10 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. 678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd (Green St.). 4214222. www.beachblanketbabylon.com

La Bota Loca @ Club 21, Oakland

Muscle Motion @ Powerhouse

DJed tunes, gogo hotties, drag shows, drink specials, all at Oakland's premiere Latin nightclub and weekly cowboy night. $10$15. Dancing 9pm-4am. 2111 Franklin St. (510) 268-9425. www.club21oakland.com

Celebrate Mr. IML Andy Cross and DJ Juan Garcia's birthdays at this retro aerobic Chippen-dudes costume and sex-ercise party. Headbands! Short shorts! Leg warmers! 9pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhouse-sf.com

Frolic @ The Stud The fursuit Furries invade again (2nd Saturdays), with frolicsome fun; DJ Neonbunny Lapine, guest DJs SmashWolf, B2B, and Shiranui. $5-$10. 8pm-1am. 399 9th St. www.frolicparty.com www.studsf.com

Industry @ Beatbox Brazil's Gustavo Scorpio and SF's Jamie J Sancez spin tunes at the popular dance night. $20-$30. 10pm-4am. 314 11th St. www.beatboxsf.com

Jackie Beat @ Rebel The irreverently hilarious drag talent performs her new act, "If You See Something, Say Something!" $25-$30. 7pm & 10pm. 1760 Market St. www.brownpapertickets.com

Serial Mom @ Castro Theatre Peaches Christ hosts a night of drag and movie fun, with a screening of the John Waters comedy, Q&A with actress Ricki Lake, and a drag parody "Serial Queen" with D'Arcy Drollinger. $15-$45. 8pm. 429 Castro St. www.peacheschrist.com

ShangriLa @ The EndUp Aloha party and fundraiser for one of the AIDS LifeCycle riding teams takes on a Hawaiian theme. DJ Christopher B. Host Jezebel Patel. Performance by The Fast and the Foggy. Free before 11pm-$20. 9pm4am. 401 6th St. www.theendup.com

On the Tab>>

Sun 11 Beer Bust @ Lone Star Saloon

May 8-14, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

GlamaZone @ The Cafe Pollo del Mar's weekly drag shows takes on different themes with a comic edge. 8:3011:30pm. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

The ursine crowd converges for beer and fun. 4pm-8pm. 1354 Harrison St. www.lonestarsf.com

Mr & Ms SF Sober Leather @ Beatbox

Beer Bust @ SF Eagle

Michael Brandon hosts a fundraiser T-dance for the sober leather contest, with DJ Guber, demos by Mark Sade and Knotty Brent, songs by Raquela; auction items, raffle prizes massages and prizes. $10. 2pm-5pm. 314 11th St. www.beatboxsf.com

The classic leather bar's most popular Sunday daytime event in town draws the menfolk. 3pm-6pm. Now also on Saturdays! 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Fruit Cocktail @ Bench and Bar, Oakland

Rachelle Ferrell @ Yoshi's

Fourth edition of the roving LGBT night, with David Bu Hau and Mr. Brandon. 9pm1:30am. 520 7th St., Oakland www.fruitcocktailevents.com

The talented jazz-pop-gospel singer and pianist performs with her band. $29-$79 (with dinner). 7pm & 9pm. (Also at Yoshi's Oakland May 9 & 10).1330 Fillmore St. 655-5600. www.yoshis.com

Full of Grace @ Beaux

Resilient @ Club OMG

Weekly night with hostess Grace Towers, different local and visiting DJs, and pop-up drag performances. No cover. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

The free monthly dance and social event for HI-positive men and their allies. No cover. 5pm-12am. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Mon 12 Drag Mondays @ The Café Mahlae Balenciaga and DJ Kidd Sysko's weekly drag and dance night. May 12: Mimi Immfurst (RuPaul's Drag Race Season 3), Carnie Asada, Nikki Ferrari, and Chestie McFearson. 9pm-1am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Irish Dance Night @ Starry Plough, Berkeley Weekly dance lessons and live music at the pub-restaurant, hosted by John Slaymaker. $5. 7pm. 3101 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. www.thestarryplough.com

Mahogany Mondays @ Midnight Sun Honey Mahogany's weekly drag and musical talent show starts around 10pm, with a RuPaul's Drag Race viewing as well. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

Monday Musicals @ The Edge The casts of local and visiting musicals often pop in to perform at the popular Castro bar's musical theatre night. 7pm2am. 2 for 1 cocktail, 5pm-closing. 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Perfect Day @ Feinstein's at the Nikko Sean Ray and friends' annual cabaret to fight AIDS raises funds for the SF AIDS LifeCycle, with musical theatre classics and comedy song stylings by Jeanne BatacanHarper, Leanne Borghesi, Wade Marshal Crosson, Beth Elliott, William Giammona, Jorge R. Hernandez, Melissa O'Keefe, Sean Ray, Pia Trinidad-Sprague, Steve Valdez and Thena Yacap-Zaragoza. $35-$50 (champagne reception and VIP seating). 8pm. Hotel Nikko lobby, 222 Mason St. www.ticketweb.com

Fri 9 Landon Conrad

EDGE brings yo u eates t the lates t and gr in LGBT news & entertainment 365 days a year!

A Great Big World @ Regency Ballroom The pop duo, whose songs have been featured on Glee, perform live. Greg Holden opens with an acoustic set. $20-$22. 8pm. 1300 Van Ness Ave. 673-5716. www.agreatbigworld.com www.theregencyballroom.com

Indulge @ ODC Theater The dance venue's annual gala party includes sumptuous food from acclaimed local eateries, and desserts and drinks, with an optional pre-party sit-down dinner, plus auction items and pop-up performances by dancers and musicians. $40-$150. 6pm-8pm dinner; intheater event 8pm-10pm. 3153 17th St. 863-9834. www.odcdance.org

Ink & Metal @ Powerhouse Show off your tattoos and piercings at the weekly cruisy SoMa bar night. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www. powerhouse-sf.com

Wed 14

Ben Rimalower

Naked Night @ Nob Hill Theatre Strip down at the strip joint. $20 includes refreshments. 8pm. 729 Bush St. at Powell. 397-6758. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

Trivia Night @ Hi Tops Play the trivia game at the popular new sports bar. 9pm. 2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

Wed 14 Ben Rimalower @ Rebel

Sat 10

Salsa dancing for LGBT folks and friends, with live merengue and cumbia bands; tapas and donations that support local causes. 2nd & 4th Sundays. 3pm-8pm. 3158 Mission St. 282-3325. www.elriosf.com

Sundance Saloon @ Space 550 The popular country western LGBT dance night; enjoy fun foot-stomping twostepping and line-dancing. $5. 5pm10:30pm with lessons from 5:30-7:15 pm. Also Thursdays. 550 Barneveld Ave., and Tuesdays at Beatbox, $6. 6:30-11pm. 314 11th St. www.sundancesaloon.org

Sunday's a Drag @ Starlight Room

Andy Cross’ ‘Muscle Motion’ Costume Party

Donna Sachet hosts the weekly fabulous brunch and drag show. $45. 11am, show at noon; 1:30pm, show at 2:30pm. 450 Powell St. in Union Square. 395-8595. www.starlightroomsf.com

Shanté, You Stay @ Toad Hall BeBe Sweetbriar hosts a weekly viewing party of RuPaul's Drag Race, with a live drag show challenge. 8:30-11:30pm. 4146 18th st. at Castro. www.toadhallbar.com

Tue 13 Block Party @ Midnight Sun Weekly screenings of music videos, concert footage, interviews and more, of popular pop stars. 9pm-2am. 4067 18th St. 8614186. www.midnightsunsf.com

Bombshell Betty & Her Burlesqueteers @ Elbo Room The weekly burlesque show of women dancers shaking their bonbons includes live music. $10. 9pm. 647 Valencia St. 5527788. www.elbo.com

Funny Tuesdays @ Harvey's Ronn Vigh hosts the weekly LGBT and gay-friendly comedy night. One-drink or menu item minimum. 9pm. 500 Castro St. at 18th. 431-HARV. www.harveyssf.com

BeBe Sweetbriar hosts a weekly night of trivia quizzes and fun and prizes; no cover. 8pm-1pm. 500 Castro St. 431-4278. www.harveyssf.com

Underwear Night @ SF Eagle Strip down to your skivvies at the popular leather bar. 9pm-2am. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Bottoms Up Bingo @ Hi Tops

Academy of Friends @ Westin St. Francis Hotel

Play board games and win offbeat prizes at the popular sports bar. 9pm. 2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

Check presentation for the beneficiary groups of the Oscar party nonprofit, and announcement of the car-winning raffle prize winner, plus door prize drawings, wines, cocktails and hors d'eouvres. RSVP required. 6:30pm-8:30pm. St. Francis Suite, 335 Powell St. www.academyoffriends.org

Mad Manhattans @ Starlight Room

Salsa Sundays @ El Rio

Trivia Night @ Harvey's

Way Back @ Midnight Sun

The Tenderloin drag show features Collette LeGrande, Ruby Slippers, Sophilya Leggz, Bobby Ashton, Sheena Rose, Kipper, and Joie de Vivre. No cover. 9:30-11:30pm. 133 Turk St. 441-2922. www.dreamqueensrevue.com

Sing-along night with talented locals, and charming accompanist Joe Wicht (aka Trauma Flintstone). 9pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market. www.dragatmartunis.com

The acclaimed jazz vocalist performs with guitarist Jerry Holland. Weekly 5pm-8pm. Also Thursdays & Fridays. JW Marriott, 515 Mason St. at Post. www.sonyholland.com

The solo comic performs Patti Issues, his autobiographical one-hour show that includes his obsession with Broadway acrtess-singer Patti LuPone. $20. 7pm & 9pm. 1760 Market St. www. benrimalower.com www. pattiissues.evenbrite.com

Dream Queens @ Aunt Charlie's Lounge

Piano Bar 101 @ Martuni's

Sony Holland @ Level III

The new weekly event includes classic cocktails created by David Cruz, and inspired by the the show Mad Men, plus retro food classics like prawn cocktails and Oysters Rockefeller, all with a fantastic city view. 6pm-10pm. 21st, Sir Francis Drake Hotel. 450 Powell St. www.starlightroomsf.com

Miss Kitty's Trivia Night @ Wild Side West The weekly fun night at the Bernal Heights bar includes prizes, hosted by Kitty Tapata. No cover. 7pm-10pm. 424 Cortland St. 6473099. www.wildsidewest.com

Queer Salsa @ Beatbox Weekly Latin partner dance night. 8pm1am. 314 11th St. www.beatboxsf.com

Rookies Night @ Nob Hill Theatre Competitors sign up by 8pm for a chance to win $200, the nude newbie starts at 9pm. The audience picks the winner; $20 for audience includes refreshments. 729 Bush St. at Powell. 397-6758. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

So You Think You Can Gogo? @ Toad Hall The weekly dancing competition for gogo wannabes. 9pm. cash prizes, $2 well drinks (2 for 1 happy hour til 9pm). Show at 9pm. 4146 18th St. www.toadhallbar.com

Weekly screenings of vintage music videos and retro drink prices. Check out the new expanded front window lounge. 9pm-2am. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

Thu 15

Comedy Returns @ El Rio Karen Ripley headlines the LGBT and gay-friendly diverse comedy night's fifth anniversary show, with Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, Eloisa Bravo, Julia Jackson and host Lisa Geduldig. $7-$20. 8pm. 3158 Mission St. (800) 838-3006. www.elriosf.com

La Femme @ Beaux Ladies' happy hour at the Castro nightclub, with drink specials, no cover, and women gogos. 4pm-9pm. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

The Monster Show @ The Edge Cookie Dough's weekly drag show with gogo guys. 9pm-2am. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Spencer Day @ Feinstein's at the Nikko The local singer-songwriter-pianist shares new and favorite jazz-infused music, including songs from his new CD, Daybreak. $40-$55. 8pm. Also May 16, 8pm and 17 at 7pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.ticketweb.com

Tubesteak Connection @ Aunt Charlie's Lounge Tenth anniversary of the intimate groovy retro disco night with tunes spun by DJ Bus Station John. $4. 10pm-2am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.com

Underwear Party @ Powerhouse Strip down to your skivvies at the weekly cruisy SoMa bar night. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhouse-sf.com

Want your nightlife event listed? Email events@ebar.com, at least two weeks before your event. Event photos welcome.

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 8-14, 2014

Drawn Out Gay Comics Trio Feted by Jim Provenzano

ans of gay comics and graphic novels got a triple dose of talent at receptions held at Magnet and Truck last weekend. Justin Hall (Glamazonia), Ed Luce (Wuvable Oaf) and Jon Macy (Fearful Hunter) premiered original framed artwork from their recent comic creations on May 2 at the gay men’s health and arts center. Fans

sipped wine and soft drinks, nibbled on the snack tray, and perused stacks of colorful graphic novels and pins. For the slideshow reading, Macy narrated a section from his artfully portrayed new story. Ed Luce shared visuals and text from a pro wrestling match with his character Gote Blüd, and a section of the series Glenn and Henry For Ever & Ever (a satirical erotic tale of the fictional love

BARtab

Comic artist Justin Hall at Magnet.

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Fearful Hunter creator Jon Macy and Northwest Press Publisher Zan Christensen at Truck.

affair between former Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins and goth rocker Glenn Danzig. Hey, it could happen, or should). Hall shared autobiographical panels about fruitless flirtations with a drug dealer, a hot San Francisco threeway gone wrong, and on-set shenanigans at a porn shoot. Not only an artist, Hall edited the Lambda Literary Award-winning anthology No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics, and is, like many who were present, an ardent fan of gay comics and their history. The next night, May 3, friends and fans of Jon Macy met at South BARtab of Market’s Truck bar Wuvable Oaf creator Ed Luce. for a celebration of Macy’s new book, the lished LGBT comics since 2003, and new complete edition of the Fearful has seen a growing popularity and Hunter graphic novel series. presence at comic conventions and As Double Duchess’ DavO (Daliterary circles. vid Richardson) DJed, patrons at After getting to know artist Jon Truck sipped beers and dined at taMacy through Prism, Christensen, bles from the selection of new food with a background in advertising, items. marketing and produc“Stick your tion, learned that Macy hand in the buckdidn’t have a publisher et!” isn’t a usual for his work-in-progcome-on line, ress. So he decided to even at Truck. But create a press specifiI did, and won a cally for Macy’s project, discount coupon which led to other pubfrom none other lishing ventures. than Northwest “It really had to be Press Publisher polished and presented Zan Christensen. properly,” said ChrisWe chatted about tensen. “I knew there his press’ history wasn’t a publisher out and inspiration. there who was gonna do The Seattleit, so I did.” based publisher is Northwest Press’ first also the founder of project was the lavishly Prism Comics, the Jon Macy’s designed Camille and nonprofit that’s Fearful Hunter, from Teleny, which won a promoted indeNorthwest Press Lambda Literary Award pendently pub-

BARtab

A comic fan wears a Wuvable Oaf T-shirt.

in 2010. It’s based on the Oscar Wilde story about a women’s affair with the dual-gendered Teleny in Victorian London. Christensen’s enthusiasm is well put when he added, “I didn’t want to live in a world without that book.” At the Truck gathering, Christensen was still days away from the actual publish date for the various editions of Macy’s new book Fearful Hunter, a hardback collection of the series. “It’s really important for comic artists to get together and share each others’ audiences and meet,” said Christensen of the more often lone days and nights spent by creative artists. Asked about the Seattle gay comics scene, Christensen said that the community is actually more global. “Fans of any artist can be half a world away,” he said. “I love bringing them out into the real world to help make events happen.” The cross section between mainstream comic fans, cosplay participants and gay artists and fans are often the conventions, specifically ComicCon in San Diego, and its offshoot smaller events. “It’s totally fun, but it’s different than the gay comics world,” said Christensen, “which is less about the major characters, and usually more indie, about peoples’ real life stories. It’s like the difference between fans of characters and fans of artists. Fans of, say, Wonder Woman, may not know the various artists who’ve created her comics. But with us, fans are here for Jon, and Justin and other artists.”t For more info, visit the following websites: www.wuvableoaf.com www.justinhallcomics.com www.jonmacy.com www.northwestpress.com

BARtab

Fans at the Magnet exhibit reception.

Read more online at www.ebar.com

May 8-14, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 9

Tight Spots by John F. Karr

I’m ashamed to have won this month’s John Simon Award. Do you remember Simon? He was a longtime theatre and film critic for New York magazine, and his articles were as venerated for his wide ranging knowledge of grammar, literature and most everything else, as they were railed against for his constant criticizing of actor’s personal characteristics—their weight, their height, their pimples, and big ears. I can’t lay claim to Simon’s erudition, but my comment regarding mr. Pam’s body (BAR #17; April 24) was not an intentional John Simonlike slur. It was plain old clumsy writing. But I don’t think I further assaulted Pam. Nowhere do I say, as Facebook commentators allege, that the cramped quarters of a car’s back seat left her unable to get her shot. A reasoned reading of sentences subsequent to the unintentional slur laud the novel positions the performers found in the cramped space, as well as the gusto they exhibit, which brought forth the movie’s most aggressive sex and its best orgasm. Does that sound like I said she couldn’t get the shot? What was amusing about all this was the vituperation and hysterical condemnation expressed—most all of it from porn biz insiders. More than beyond the pale, the comments reveal what seems to be an accumulation of resentment. Despite porn being big business, its community is a small one, an insulated, hothouse environment with its own circuit of parties and selfcongratulatory events. Meanwhile, it longs for recognition as part of the arts community—hence, credits like “A Film by...”, or Cinematography. Unlike theatre and Hollywood workers, however, they cannot deal

it was letters from Mr. Smith to my editor, as well as the paper’s news editor and even its publisher, that began that episode. I’ll be posting at my blog, www.KarrnalKnowledge. com, and also my Facebook page one of Smith’s letters, along with the ensuing correspondence. There have many scenes other than mr. Pam’s filmed inside a car, but when I think of sex in tight places, the first thing that comes to mind is Adam Killian trapped inside a suspended, mirrored box, in Chi Chi LaRue’s 2009 thriller, Taken, Pt. 1. In his usual overheated state, and suspecting that he’s being watched (he is), Killian gets pretty intense with sweaty self-pleasuring that includes a lit candle. Kudos to the videographer, who successfully surmounts the challenge of not revealing himself in any of those mirrors. Must have been a challenge.

In Chi Chi LaRue’s 2009 thriller, Taken, Pt. 1, Adam Killian doubles his lustful display.

version of sleek, nasty star Rappollo. Then, all-American boy Danny Sommers tangles with dark-haired Steve Kennedy, who sports the film’s only foreskin. And Doug Nile and Dean Pike are the kinda guys you shoot hoops with. What are the tight spaces that house their duos? Brock and Steve are stuck in an elevator. It’s not too cramped at all. Cole and Damien have crawled into the ducting of a construction site. It’s a mildly constricted locale. The director’s been clever—the duct turns a corner, which lets him film from two sides. Danny and Steve stay mostly inside the confines of a phone booth. Its lid has been removed, so the camera can peer downward. But the most

Steve Kennedy’s force makes Danny Sommers squish out of the phone booth, in Sex in Tight Places.

Boxed In

And then, of course, there’s Sex in Tight Places, a 1991 feature directed by Josh Eliot for Catalina Channel 1 Releasing. You can find it on a commercial DVD that was issued in 2008, and on-line at a couple VOD sites. It’s not wildly good. Matter of fact, it’s pretty routine. But this week I enjoyed re-acquainting myself with its pretty boys. These include Brock Maxon, a solidly muscled blond stunner of a Marine drill sergeant type, who flip-fucks with Steve Regis. He’s got a Robert Mitchum brand of handsome, with a body more about mass than muscle, although he’s obviously solid. Casually manly Cole Phillips tops Damien, who’s a slightly less louche

Brock Maxon and Steve Regis are so handsome they’re on the box cover of Sex in Tight Places.

with a concomitant of those endeavors: reviews. What thin skins they show when meeting up with the real world. For instance, oy, the wailing that resounded (including on-line death threats!) when I criticized Leo Forte’s script for Cheaters 2. In self defense, Pam said both of them had lived those scenarios. And, in self-defense, I offer that I can sing a song, but I can’t compose one. Let me close out this episode of whine, women and schlong with another amusement. Among the melee of comments left on Facebook was a J’accuse from Hot House employee Brent Smith. He howled that I caused a problem back in 2006. Yet

Going down? Brock Maxon and Steve Regis get stuck together in an “elevator” of sorts in Sex in Tight Places.

shrunken site of all is the restroom of a bus. Yet Doug and Dean find it kind of humorous, and have jocular sex. The movie’s sloppy in its details. Little time was spent getting a costume for Regis, who wears a suit so oversize it must have been borrowed from Luciano Pavarotti’s closet. Much of the movie’s editing relies on cutting away to sights extraneous to the featured couple, which trounces continuity. The back alley set for the phone booth scene had appeared in countless Catalina movies, as had the thin synth-squeal of the music. Sex in Tight Places is good-humored, but like so much porn of its time, bland.t

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • May 1-7, 2014

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Shooting Stars

May 8-14, 2014 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11

photos by Steven Underhill

he stars came out for the annual San Francisco International Film Festival, whose opening events and screenings were held at the Castro Theatre. Parker Posey, Kristen Wiig, Will Hader, Zoey Deschanel, and Jeremy Irons were just some of the notable attendees at screenings and parties held to celebrate the new crop of movies, which continued through May 8. For more info, visit www.sffs.org. See more event photo albums on BARtab’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/lgbtsf. nightlife and on www.StevenUnderhill.com See this and other issues in full page-view format at www.issuu.com/bayareareporter

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For headshots, portraits or to arrange your wedding photos

call (415) 370-7152 or visit www.StevenUnderhill.com or email stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com

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