November 16, 2017 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Bay Area Reporter

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Vol. 47 • No. 46 • November 16-22, 2017

Man still in hospital after boyfriend’s death

by Seth Hemmelgarn Academy Award-winning filmmaker Debra Chasnoff

Lois Tema

Filmmaker Debra Chasnoff dies by Sari Staver

ocumentary filmmaker Debra Chasnoff, who made history when she publicly thanked her female then-partner from the stage at the Academy Awards in 1992, died November 7 of metastatic breast cancer. She died at her home in Noe Valley, where she lived with her spouse, Nancy Otto. In addition to being a filmmaker, Ms. Chasnoff, 60, known as “Chas” to friends and family, was president and senior producer of Groundspark, which produces social justice See page 8 >>

he man accused of killing his boyfriend in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley remains in the hospital two weeks after his partner was found stabbed. Officials have shared little information about what happened between Othman Al-Muttalaby, 26, whose bail has been set at $10 million, and Keith Harris, 48, whose body was found November 2, two days after he’d last been seen. However, a friend of Harris’ who lives in Los Angeles and uses the name Abdullah Max on Facebook, said that Harris had told him that he wanted Al-Muttalaby to leave the apartment they shared at 340 Hayes Street. Even a couple of weeks before Al-Muttalaby moved into Harris’ apartment this fall, Harris had told Max, “Ali is spending way too much time here.” (Al-Muttalaby has also been known as Alkoraishie Ali and Ali Liam, and many who know him refer to him as “Ali.”) But when Harris would ask Al-Muttalaby when he was going to move out, Al-Muttalaby would start crying “and try to make Keith feel sorry for him,” said Max, who didn’t want his real name published because he’s not out to his family. “Keith wanted his space,” but “he couldn’t

Courtesy Facebook

Othman Al-Muttalaby, left, with Keith Harris

get rid of him. He just stayed there,” said Max. He thinks Harris was worried that AlMuttalaby “might do something to himself, and Keith would feel responsible.” Harris “always put other people’s feelings before his,” said Max. If Harris saw someone upset, “he would try his best to make them

happy, even if that was going to affect his life.” Max, 27, who said he and Harris had dated for several months and still talked frequently, said that he’d met Al-Muttalaby a couple times and thought he seemed “fake.” See page 10 >>

Clinton Housing focus of 1st D8 supe debate to speak at AIDS grove T by Matthew S. Bajko

by Cynthia Laird

ormer President Bill Clinton will deliver the keynote address at the National AIDS Memorial Grove on World AIDS Day, December 1. As first reported on the Bay Area Reporter’s blog last week, in 1996 Courtesy CBS News Clinton signed the leg- Former President islation spearheaded by Bill Clinton Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) that designated the grove as the country’s sole federally-designated national AIDS memorial. Clinton has never visited the grove, though he did send a video message when he was honored by the organization five years ago. John Cunningham, executive director of the grove, told the B.A.R. that now is a great time for a visit from the former president. “It was 26 years ago when the memorial was created, and I remember living in the Castro when he ran and won,” Cunningham said. See page 10 >>

he two gay candidates seeking the District 8 seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors differed over housing and homelessness at their first debate Monday night seven months before voters head to the polls. The city’s two LGBT Democratic political clubs, Alice B. Toklas and the more progressive Harvey Milk, co-hosted the November 13 discussion at the LGBT Community Center between appointed Supervisor Jeff Sheehy, a gay married father who is the first openly HIVpositive person to serve on the board, and attorney Rafael Mandelman, who serves on the board overseeing City College of San Francisco. Sheehy and Mandelman are expected to twice compete for the board seat next year. The first election will take place on the June primary ballot as they are seeking to serve out the remainder of gay moderate former Supervisor Scott Wiener’s term, as he resigned two years into his second term as supervisor after being elected to the state Senate last November. Mayor Ed Lee tapped Sheehy earlier this year to fill the board vacancy. No matter the outcome of the June race, Sheehy and Mandelman have both filed to run for a full four-year term on the November ballot next year. It is the second time Mandelman has sought the District 8 seat, having lost to Wiener in 2010. Throughout the course of the 90-minute debate Mandelman, seen as the more progressive

Rick Gerharter

District 8 supervisor candidate Rafael Mandelman, left, a City College of San Francisco trustee, and Supervisor Jeff Sheehy fielded questions from moderator Marisa Lagos and the audience during their first debate November 13 at the LGBT Community Center.

candidate in the race, repeatedly praised Wiener and applauded a number of policies and positions he championed at City Hall and in the state Legislature this year. At one point, in talking about improving the city’s public transit service, Mandelman said, “We need another Scott Wiener on the Board of Supervisors to

work relentlessly for Muni.” His remarks elicited boos and groans from his supporters in the room and a rebuke Tuesday in a post on the website Medium from Wiener, who has endorsed Sheehy in the race. See page 11 >>

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2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 16-22, 2017

Board delays pot regs; Sheehy goes after PJI by Sari Staver

an Francisco medical marijuana dispensaries and delivery services will not be able to sell recreational cannabis beginning January 1, after the Board of Supervisors turned a deaf ear on the pleas of gay District 8 Supervisor Jeff Sheehy to kickstart the industry. Sheehy has also asked city officials to investigate the anti-LGBT Pacific Justice Institute and its influence over a board vote last month to reject a permit for a medical marijuana dispensary. Sheehy, a gay man who has been open about his use of medical marijuana to treat his HIV-related symptoms, failed to get much enthusiasm for his proposal to give temporary permits to the city’s 40 existing medical cannabis dispensaries while the board ironed out the complex regulatory structure that will govern

the gigantic new industry expected to bring tens of millions of dollars into city coffers beginning next year. Instead, the Board of Supervisors voted to postpone a decision on the specifics of the regulatory structure that would detail who could be permitted to sell pot to adults. Last year, voters approved Proposition 64, legalizing adult use of recreational pot in California, but each city is developing its own regulatory structure. The state has also created the Bureau of Cannabis Control. By kicking the can down the road and voting to delay any decisions about industry regulations until the supervisors’ next meeting November 28, the sale of recreational pot likely will be delayed at least a few days, or possibly longer, when the new year rolls around. Sheehy argued that a delay would put the city’s cannabis industry at a disadvantage, because other cities

will be selling cannabis legally starting January 1, but the supervisors felt a delay of several days would not be significant. The board has been grappling with a number of contentious issues regarding legalization, including zoning regulations that would govern how far recreational pot retail outlets must be from schools, how best to encourage and assist minorities to get involved in the industry, and whether to allow some neighborhoods to develop their own regulations and opt out of the citywide regulatory structure.

Cannabis-related issues

Sheehy was more successful introducing two resolutions at the meeting, both related to the LGBT community and medical cannabis. In the first, he proposed that the board vote at its next meeting to concur with the findings of the

Rick Gerharter

Supervisor Jeff Sheehy

Southern Poverty Law Center that PJI is a hate group, though the institute disputes that label. PJI was successful in having the board reject

a medical marijuana dispensary in the Sunset last month, working with Asian residents who opposed the project. At the board vote October 3, nine of the supervisors, including the progressive bloc, voted to reject a permit for the Apothecarium to open a dispensary on Noriega Street. After the vote, Sheehy was critical of his colleagues, who spoke out against PJI but still voted to reject the permit. Tuesday, he said the board must take a stand against PJI. “We must pass this to let the LGBTQ community know where we really stand on LGBTQ rights,” he said. The issue was brought up at Monday’s District 8 supervisor debate between Sheehy and gay City See page 11 >>

Woman describes stabbing in Berkeley murder case by Seth Hemmelgarn

Berkeley woman said during an Alameda County Superior Court hearing this week that she begged for her life as a nonbinary person allegedly stabbed her during a two-day incident in which another woman was fatally stabbed. “I’m looking at him begging him to stop, ‘Please stop,’” the woman testified in the Monday, November 13 preliminary hearing for Pablo Gomez Jr., 22. Switching to gender-neutral pronouns, she cried as she continued, “They were telling me to stop screaming, and they said ‘Everything will be OK, just stop screaming,’ and they said, ‘It’s your time now.’” Superior Court Judge Tara M.

Desautels ordered Gomez Monday to stand trial in the murder of Emilie Juliette Inman, 27, for attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. A first-degree robbery count was discharged. Berkeley police Detective Jesse Grant testified that when he went to the home in the 2400 block of Ashby Avenue where Gomez had allegedly stabbed the surviving victim, he saw Inman’s body by a backyard bush, “covered quite meticulously with hay.” Details of Inman’s death weren’t addressed Monday morning. The surviving victim, whose name the Bay Area Reporter isn’t publishing, suffered cuts to her hands, neck, and head, among other wounds. She had been friends with Gomez before

the alleged attack January 6. On January 5, the day before she was stabbed, Gomez had been talking about having a Dia de Los Reyes ceremony with their ancestors, the woman said. That night she and others had been with Gomez at a house where the ceremony was supposed to take place when Gomez, appearing “distressed” and only half dressed, asked people “Is this real?” and ran from the house. She didn’t see Gomez until the next morning. She testified that she gave them a ride while they told her they needed help and said things like “There’s a woman in the sky. Do you see her? ... We just need to go to her house.” With little explanation of what was going on, she dropped Gomez off at a house in the 2400 block of Ashby Avenue. She parked her car and walked over to the house, where she said she found Gomez in the backyard holding a large, bloody kitchen knife and “pacing” by “a lot of blood on the ground.”

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Courtesy Berkeley Police Dept.

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She said when she asked whose blood it was, Gomez, who had some blood on their clothes and was muttering incomprehensibly while looking up at the sky, said, “Don’t worry about it.” Gomez again told her they needed her help, and after they refused to give her the knife, she followed them back into a “dimly lit” shed.

When they told her, “You can’t tell anyone about this,” the woman told Gomez she wouldn’t, but they said, “I can’t have any uncertainty about this,” and started stabbing her. After the alleged attack ended, Gomez, who the woman believed still had the knife, drove them in her car toward a residential building on the UC Berkeley campus. After Gomez stopped the car, Gomez got out and essentially walked away from her. The victim flagged down a car and someone called 911. Police in Burbank, California arrested Gomez January 7. Before the incident started, Gomez had told people that they’d planned to go to Mexico within the next couple of days, the surviving victim said Monday. Gomez, who’s being held without bail in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, California, sat silently during Monday’s hearing. The next court date is November 27 for arraignment.t

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“The best thing I can do is take a leadership role on this,” she said, anica Roem, who made history adding that she hopes to work with last week when she became the legislators from neighboring districts first out transgender person to win on this issue. “The 13th District leads and serve in a state legislature and to the 15th District. I want to work the only out transgender state legislacollaboratively on this.” Widening tor in the U.S., held a conference call Route 28 is one idea that’s been put with reporters last week to lay out her Hybrid/City Kid’s on the table. Roem emphasized that Kid’s agenda once she assumes office. Hybrid/City Hybrid/City Kid’s she hopes to accomplish this without Roem, a Democrat, was elected invoking eminent domain laws. November 7 to the Virginia House “I don’t want to take people’s of Delegates, representing the 13th homes away from them,” she said. District. She beat a longtime RepubWhen asked about Marshall, Roem lican incumbent, Bob Marshall, who, declined to say anything negative. according to media reports, refused to Virginia Delegate-elect Danica “The people didn’t elect me to be Roem often wore a rainbow debate Roem and resorted to misgenrude,” she said. “Marshall will soon be Now Open Thursday to 7pm! scarf on the campaign trail. dering her during the campaign. one of my constituents – I’m going Road Mountain Road Mountain Mountain Marshall has referred to himself as Road to lead by example. It does no good Now Open Thursday to 7pm! Virginia’s “chief homophobe” and last reassignment care was not covered by to point at him and laugh. The voters Every Now Thursday April between 4 & 7pm Open in Thursday to 7pm! year authored an anti-trans bathroom insurance. “I want to make sure that made their voices heard. Let’s work Now Open Thursday to 7pm! Thursday to 7pm!& clothing.* take 20% Now OFF Open all parts, accessories bill that would have forced trans peohormone replacement is covered,” together instead of finger-pointing. she said. “I will fight tooth and nail. Let’s get the job done.” Every Thursday April between & 7pm EveryinThursday in 4April between 4 & 7pm ple to use the restroom that matched *Salesbetween limited 4to&stock Every Thursday April 7pmon hand. their gender identity at birth. The bill Thursday inOFF April between 4&&in 7pm Health care is a quality of life issue.” Roem further noted that during takeEvery 20%take OFF all parts, accessories clothing.* 20% all parts, accessories & clothing.* NowOFF Open Thursday 7pm! take 20% OFF to all & parts, accessories & clothing.*died in committee. 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Her top easier for citizens to obtain copies of Marshall or others like him. “Be ready to ride public documents. who you are and be it well,” she said. *Sales limited to stock on hand. priority is to improve infrastructure in her district, though she added that “I want to protect reporters from “Be out and proud and fight for she is also concerned with expanding jail time,” she said. “I want to expedite inclusion. Do what affects the most health care. information requests so you can get number of people.” “LGBTQ health care is health care,” your documents when you ask for Roem also had a message for 1065 & 1077 Valencia (Btwn 21st & 22nd St.) • SF 10651065 & 1077 Valencia (Btwn 21st & 22nd St.) • SF she said. “It is not cosmetic. It is not them. I’d like to hire someone whose LGBTQ youth. “You can be suc1065 (Btwn &• 1077 Valencia & 1077 Valencia 21st &415-550-6601 22nd(Btwn St.) •21st SF & 22nd St.) • SF SALES 415-550-6600 REPAIRS elective. 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<< Community News

4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 16-22, 2017

Help decorate the Tree of Hope compiled by Cynthia Laird

he Rainbow World Fund is seeking volunteers to help decorate its World Tree of Hope ahead of the lighting ceremony next month. The 12th annual holiday display, which is at San Francisco City Hall, promotes global unity. The tree is unique in that it is decorated with thousands of origami cranes and stars that contain messages for peace and the future of the world. RWF is an LGBT-led humanitarian group that partners with other agencies to provide financial relief during natural disasters and other services. It has donated over $4.4 million in humanitarian aid over the years. Interested people can volunteer on the following days: Sunday, November 26 through Tuesday, November 28 and Thursday, November 30, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Wednesday, November 29 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. RWF officials said that they can accommodate individuals and groups. To volunteer people must register at http://bit.ly/2zuuFio.

The tree lighting ceremony will be held Monday, December 4, from 6 to 8 p.m. at City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Way. Entertainment will include the Grammy-winning San Francisco Boys Chorus, emcees Cheryl Jennings and Bay Area Reporter society columnist Donna Sachet, and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who will bless the tree. Mayor Ed Lee is scheduled to attend. The event is free. People can also send RWF a wish that will be turned into an origami crane. To do that, visit http://bit. ly/2zwSzcT.

Oakland LGBT center to hold Thanksgiving gathering

The Oakland LGBTQ Community Center will be open on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, for people who don’t want to be alone on the holiday. The center has partnered with Bishop Yvette Flunder’s City of Refuge UCC Church and its Word of Mouth Pantry, which will provide food for the gathering. “The holidays can be a depressing

The festivities take place from 1 to 9 p.m., with food served between 2 and 5. The center is located at 3207 Lakeshore Avenue (enter on Rand Avenue). For more information, visit www. oaklandlgbtqcenter.org.

SleepOut to raise funds for homeless youth

Jane Philomen Cleland

The Rainbow World Fund’s World Tree of Hope

time, especially for many LGBTQ people,” center Executive Director Joe Hawkins said in an email announcement. “So many of us have been disowned by our families, kicked out of our homes, shunned and criticized because we are LGBTQ.” He added that many people also “carry the weight and stigma of ‘church hurt,’ particularly during the holidays.” Hawkins said that in addition to food, there will be games, music, and movies.

Local executives from tech companies and others will bring their sleeping bags and sleep on the street in solidarity with the homeless youth of Oakland during Covenant House California’s SleepOut Friday, November 17. The leaders will also raise funds for the program, which has 40 beds for homeless youth, including those who identify as LGBTQ. It also operates the YEAH Shelter in Berkeley and Dreamcatcher, a program based in Oakland. So far, more than $62,000 of Covenant House Oakland’s $150,000 goal has been raised, according to the website. There will be a similar event at the organization’s Hollywood location. People will start meeting at 7 p.m. Friday and the sleepover ends Saturday at 7 a.m. Covenant House is located at 200 Harrison Street. For more

information about participating, or to donate, visit http://covhou.convio. net/site/TR?fr_id=1971&pg=entry.

Benefit for trans archive

The Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive will hold its Finishing Touches Benefit Thursday, November 30, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th Street in San Francisco. The archive, which is housed in Vallejo, was started in January when Ms. Bob Davis launched an Indiegogo.com campaign to enable her to sort and preserve the collection, which consists of 70 cartons of materials. Davis is a transgender woman and longtime instructor in the music department at City College of San Francisco. In an interview earlier this year, she said that the goal of the Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive, or LLTA, is to “increase the understanding of transgender people and encourage new scholarship by making historical materials available to students, scholars, and the public.” See page 10 >>

Brazile defends book in SF appearance by Sari Staver

onna Brazile, the former chair of the Democratic National Committee, is urging Democrats to bring in new blood if they expect to regain power. Speaking to a sold-out audience of some 550 people at the Commonwealth Club Thursday, November 9, Brazile – who has worked on every presidential campaign from 1976 through 2000, when she served as Al Gore’s campaign manager – said the suggestion applies to California. “I don’t want the Dianne Feinsteins and the Nancy Pelosis of the world to leave the room. I want them to just scoot over” and make room for new people, she said. Both Feinstein and Pelosi are up for re-election next year, to the Senate and House, respectively. Feinstein has drawn a challenge from state Senator Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) and Alison Hartson, the national director of political action committee Wolf Pac. On the defensive after many of her former colleagues criticized her controversial new book, “Hacks: The

Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House,” Brazile is fighting back. “I have always stirred the pots,” she conceded. Interviewed by San Francisco Chronicle editor in chief Audrey Cooper, Brazile spoke for almost 90 minutes, lashing back at her former colleagues, who said the author’s claim that the primary had been rigged for Hillary Clinton was simply untrue. “No gumbo for them,” Brazile, 57, said of people who criticize her. Brazile said people like Robby Mook, the Clinton campaign manager for the 2016 election, recently “dismissed me” when she went to visit him at his office at Harvard University, where both are currently lecturing. Mook’s dismissive attitude, said Brazile, was similar to how he treated her during the campaign, she said. But President Donald Trump tweeted his congratulations to her, contending that her book proves that the primary was “bought and paid for by Crooked H.” Brazile asked the president to “go back to attacking me, please,”

Marvin Joseph/Courtesy Commonwealth Club

Donna Brazile

explaining that she feels it’s much better to be “hated than loved” by Trump. But in her talk at the Commonwealth Club, Brazile denied that she had claimed that the primary had been “rigged” for Clinton, only that she had found evidence that the Clinton campaign was in control of certain parts of the DNC before the nomination was won. Brazile said the Clinton campaign

was disorganized and said she was frustrated that its staff ignored her concerns that swing states like Michigan and Wisconsin needed additional resources. Clinton’s headquarters staff were “so condescending that I used to scream” she said. But both political parties, said Brazile, have become increasingly irrelevant. “They have become ATMs for special interests,” she said. In fact, she said the recent Democratic election victories in Virginia, New Jersey, and other states were the result of “bottom up grassroots activism.” Brazile urged Democratic activists to buy her book, calling it “important to read” to become aware of the need to “protect our democracy.” Also, she said, the book details ways the Democrats “can win again.” Brazile said the Russians who hacked into the DNC’s computer system, “corrupted our data and got into our voter files” in order to use “weapons of mass disinformation” to discredit Clinton. “It was like someone breaking into your home while you were there,” said Brazile.

And, “it could happen again in 2018,” she said. There is no question that “the Russians will be coming back” to make additional attempts to hack into the system. “The current occupant of the White House has not taken any steps to protect us,” she said. When asked about the criticism that Democrats “were bad about giving up the reins to the next generation,” Brazile said the issue was “the most important challenge facing the party.” “The bench will continue to shrink” if the Democrats don’t expand the number of people brought to the table, she added. On the other hand, said Brazile, Republicans have a history of “training people after their first election,” she said, while Democrats “discard people and say goodbye.” “I wanted to see a woman in the White House but also [see] that Bernie [Sanders] had every chance to compete,” she said of last year’s campaign. In the future, she said, the U.S. can have “a woman, a Hispanic, and an openly gay president,” she predicted.t

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<< Open Forum

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 16-22, 2017

Volume 47, Number 46 November 16-22, 2017 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 BARTAB EDITOR & EVENTS LISTINGS EDITOR Jim Provenzano ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko • Seth Hemmelgarn CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ray Aguilera • Tavo Amador • Race Bannon Erin Blackwell • Roger Brigham Brian Bromberger • Victoria A. Brownworth Brent Calderwood • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Belo Cipriani Richard Dodds • Michael Flanagan Jim Gladstone • David Guarino Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell • John F. Karr Lisa Keen • Matthew Kennedy • Joshua Klipp David Lamble • Max Leger Michael McDonagh • David-Elijah Nahmod Michael Nugent • Paul Parish • Sean Piverger Lois Pearlman • Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota Bob Roehr •Donna Sachet • Adam Sandel Khaled Sayed • Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith • Sari Staver • Jim Stewart Sean Timberlake • Andre Torrez • Ronn Vigh Charlie Wagner • Ed Walsh Cornelius Washington • Sura Wood ART DIRECTION Max Leger PRODUCTION/DESIGN Ernesto Sopprani PHOTOGRAPHERS Jane Philomen Cleland • FBFE Rick Gerharter • Gareth Gooch Jose Guzman-Colon • Rudy K. Lawidjaja Georg Lester • Dan Lloyd • Jo-Lynn Otto Rich Stadtmiller • Steven Underhil Dallis Willard • Bill Wilson ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS Paul Berge • Christine Smith ADVERTISING/ADMINISTRATION Colleen Small Bogitini VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVERTISING Scott Wazlowski – 415.829.8937 NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863

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What a difference a year makes A

year after Donald Trump shocked the world by winning the presidency, voters in local and state elections across the country sent a message: now is the time for the next generation of leaders. In race after race, non-traditional candidates who had never held elective office were victorious – a takeaway from these off-year elections was that transgender candidates can not only succeed, they can impart powerful messages of change. Eight out trans people won last week, the most high profile being Danica Roem, a trans woman who was elected to Virginia’s House of Delegates. A Democrat in a purple state, Roem wasn’t given much of a chance to defeat her opponent, Bob Marshall, who’d held office for 26 years. But several factors worked in her favor. She outraised Marshall by a margin of 3 to 1, and focused on local issues, most notably traffic congestion along a state highway that runs through her district. Marshall generated headlines when he described himself as the state’s “chief homophobe” – and the campaign turned ugly when Marshall and his supporters intentionally misgendered Roem in election ads, but she got the last laugh when she won by nearly nine percentage points. Roem now becomes the first out transgender person to win and serve in a state legislature and the only out transgender state legislator in the U.S. She had broad support from national LGBT groups, including the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund and the Human Rights Campaign. In Minneapolis, two trans candidates won seats on the City Council. Andrea Jenkins and Phillipe Cunningham are the first openly trans people ever elected to the City Council of a major U.S. city, according to the Gay and Minneapolis City Lesbian Victory Fund, Councilmanwhich supported both elect Phillipe candidates. In Palm Cunningham Springs, California,

trans woman Lisa Middleton will become the first elected transgender City Council member in the state. (In fact, with the election of Middleton and bisexual woman Christy Holstege, the entire council, including the mayor, is LGBT.) Other successful trans candidates include Tyler Titus, who will be seated on the Erie school board in Pennsylvania; Stephe Koontz, who will join the Doraville City Council in Georgia, becoming the first out trans person ever elected in the Peach State; Gerri Cannon, who was elected to a New Hampshire school board; and Raven Matherne, who will take a seat on a local board of representatives in Stamford, Connecticut. The city council and school board successes are important for municipalities as trans bathroom fights continue to roil the country. LGBT students in those jurisdictions will see that some of their local leaders are like them, and parents of these students will have elected officials empathetic to their concerns.

In another notable victory, Seattle elected lesbian Jenny Durkin as its next mayor, she succeeds scandal-plagued Ed Murray, a gay man who was forced to resign from office after several men came forward accusing him of sexual assault in the past. The bottom line is that qualified LGBT candidates can win on local issues, rather than identity politics. It’s a message we’ve been highlighting for years. Yes, it’s history making to have the first out trans state legislator elected, but Roem didn’t win because she’s a trans woman: she won because she knew her district and campaigned on issues that were important to voters. She didn’t take the bait when Marshall tried to make it an anti-trans campaign. Voters likely respected Roem for that, and realized she was the better choice. It’s inspiring to see that the next generation of progressive local leaders can win at the ballot box. This could be the start to sweeping changes in next year’s midterm elections. Given the abysmal state of national politics, these off-year victories show that Democratic candidates can be successful in the age of Trump, including LGBTs who, in many parts of the country, made history too.t

Plaza architect weighs in on update by Howard Grant

am the retired architect and designer of the Castro Street Muni Metro station and Harvey Milk Plaza. I also designed the Civic Center/UN Plaza, Van Ness, Church, and West Portal Muni stations. But as a gay man, I am especially proud of the Castro project and consider it my contribution to my LGBTQI community. The Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza recently announced the winning design of its redesign competition for the plaza. In my humble opinion, they chose the worst of the proposals when it comes to Muni patrons. Our patronage studies showed the primary foot traffic to be the southwest corner of Castro and Market streets. The winning design, in addition to subjecting the patrons to extended demolition and construction activity, would relocate the entrance to the west, almost to Collingwood. That means patrons would have to travel an extensive distance and double back when coming or going to the station. The mature landscaping would also disappear. All three finalists in the redesign competition envisioned deleting the landscaping that stretches a full block all the way from Castro to Collingwood. This would dramatically change the esthetics of the area and directly affect the residents just to the west of the plaza. In a city where cutting down a tree is often the source of drama, what will be the reaction when the public fully realizes what this proposal will entail? All this in order to create an “assembly and protest” area at street level. The taxpayers of the City and County of San Francisco paid several million dollars ($6 million today) under the BART bond issued to create the plaza that has efficiently served transit patrons and enhanced their experience and that of passersby for 40 years. The plaza visually connects the subway station with the street, integrating it with the neighborhood. It was intended to create a graceful three-dimensional addition to the neighborhood. Its curved planters and serpentine wall echo the curves of the station below. Is the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency really on board with destroying that for a non-transit related project? Not to mention the delays in its ADA compliance project that the

Rick Gerharter

The November 2013 Milk-Moscone candlelight vigil shows the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus along the serpentine wall of Harvey Milk Plaza, while the crowd spilled out onto Castro Street.

Friends hope to incorporate? The cedar benches I designed for the serpentine concrete wall separating the plaza from Market Street were removed by the Castro community business district because the homeless found them a nice place to linger in the sun. Years later, colorful metal benches were installed and then removed for the same reason. Prediction: the stadium bleachers in the winning proposal will provide a great place for the homeless to sleep and skateboarders to navigate. According to Andrea Aiello, executive director of the Castro/ Upper Market Community Benefit District and president of the Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza, this design may cost as much as $15 million. Most of the actual memorial information will remain underground at the station mezzanine level. There is a large area in the present design that Muni fenced off to discourage the homeless that could be creatively used to honor Milk

without destroying the plaza or inconveniencing transit patrons. A new stairway to the west, cutting through the stepped planters, could serve the Collingwood area and create foot traffic that would keep this area from being a dead end attraction for the homeless. This solution would also preserve the mature landscaped green belt from the plaza to Collingwood. An issue that is never addressed in the Friends’ news releases is the dramatic impact the proposal would have on transit patrons, neighbors, and merchants. The Castro has endured a seemingly endless sidewalk renovation; is the community prepared for years of demolition and construction at the major Castro and Market corner? Transit patrons would have to be re-routed to the north entrance and funneled through a much narrower stairway and escalator. Imagine the result of dumping a large crowd of commuters on the north corner and having most of them wait for traffic lights to head south to the business district. And does the intersection at Market and Castro streets really need another empty expanse of paving? Across the street is the large Jane Warner Plaza that is mostly empty because it is bereft of seating. The CBD puts out a few metal tables and chairs each morning and locks them up at night to discourage the homeless. Wouldn’t this area satisfy the need for assembly and protest? A photograph of the 2013 candlelight vigil in memory of Milk’s murder shows how the present design functioned well: the Gay Men’s Chorus was on the upper level by the serpentine wall, the organizers were next to the stairs and escalator, and the crowd filled Castro Street. We have always taken to the streets for our protests and memorial marches: Castro, Market, and Polk in front of City Hall. Finally, I do not believe Milk would have approved of destroying one gay man’s creation in order to honor another, albeit a more famous one. Surely there are more pressing projects in the Castro that could use the infusion of $10-$15 million. t Howard Grant is retired and lives in Oakland.

Politics>>

November 16-22, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

Napa wildfires tested state’s gay veterans affairs secretary by Matthew S. Bajko

s the Nuns and Atlas wildfires bore down on Napa County in early October, Dr. Vito Imbasciani received word that the Veterans Home of California-Yountville was in the path of the blazes. The facility run by the California Department of Veterans Affairs houses 900 residents, some with various forms of dementia and others who require round-the-clock care due to their ailing health. Imbasciani, 71, as secretary of the state agency, made the decision to evacuate 130 of the most vulnerable residents at the home to other nearby assisted living facilities. He monitored the situation from his offices in Sacramento and at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services operations center in Mather, ensuring that the first responders on the ground were aware of the threat the fires presented to the country’s largest veterans’ home, which can accommodate up to 1,000 residents. “The fire came very, very close to that home,” Imbasciani told the Bay Area Reporter in a recent phone interview. “The air was very hard to breathe for people even if they didn’t have any lung problems. The fire crews did a wonderful job of preserving the buildings.” With the fires now out, and all of the residents back at the veterans home, Imbasciani’s focus has returned to how to upgrade the aging facility so it can continue to meet the health needs of its residents, who include veterans of every war dating back to World War II, for years to come. “My priority for that campus is to figure out a way to rejuvenate this 133-year-old campus,” said Imbasciani. “It is the oldest veterans’ home in the country.” The threat the fires posed to the Yountville facility was “the largest crisis” Imbasciani has faced since being appointed secretary of the veterans agency by Governor Jerry Brown in September 2015. A gay married father, Imbasciani is one of at least four LGBT heads of a state agency. He has won praise from LGBT advocates for his handling of the position, which he was unanimously confirmed to by the state Senate on April 20, 2016. “He is extremely committed to expanding the number of LGBTQ people who have a seat at the table in government service and has been an active participant in our programs,” Equality California Executive Director Rick Zbur told the B.A.R., noting that Imbasciani has participated in EQCA’s Leadership Academy training and mentoring of LGBTQ leaders for public service. A Democrat, Imbasciani ran in 2014 for a state Senate seat but was unable to advance past the June primary. He had served as state surgeon for the California Army National Guard from 2006 to 2014 and as a surgeon in the U.S. Army Medical Corps from 1986 to 2014. A urologic surgeon hired in 1997 by the Southern California Kaiser Permanente Medical Group, Imbasciani went on to serve as its director of government relations. He and his partner, Dr.

Barry Schneider Attorney at Law

family law specialist* Courtesy CA Dept. of Veterans Affairs

California Veterans Affairs Secretary Dr. Vito Imbasciani

George DiSalvo, the chief financial officer at the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, have two adopted sons of Mexican-American heritage, Raymond DiSalvo, 18, and Isaak DiSalvo, 16, who attend high school in Burbank. Imbasciani splits his time between his office in the state Capitol four days a week and his family’s home in the Hollywood Hills. In Hawaii over the weekend representing the Los Angeles County Medical Association at a meeting of the American Medical Association, Imbasciani took his sons to the solemnity ceremony at Pearl Harbor on Veterans Day, Saturday, November 11. He is responsible for ensuring the state’s 1.78 million veterans, the most of any state, have access to the benefits and programs they are guaranteed due to their military service, from housing support and medical care to access to higher education. While veterans can self-identify as being LGBT on forms used by the state veterans’ agency, it does not have an accurate count of how many LGBT veterans live in California. Despite the move by President Donald Trump to ban transgender people from serving in the military, a position Imbasciani opposes, the state veterans agency does not discriminate against any veteran due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. In fact, it assists those LGBT veterans who were dishonorably discharged under the now repealed anti-gay “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy to clean their records so they are able to access their benefits. “I served 26 of my 27 years in the medical corps in the Army under DADT, so I have a lot of experience with going off to war, coming back and being deployed again abroad without acknowledging or enjoying the presence and support of my family,” said Imbasciani. He is currently hiring a deputy for minority veterans, whose duties include reaching out to LGBT veterans, and encouraged any LGBT veterans to apply for the job. “This has been a position that has been vacant more than filled, but it hasn’t been around for all that long,” he said. “I am trying to reinvigorate the whole outreach program.” To learn more about the agency’s work with LGBT veterans, visit https://www.calvet.ca.gov/ MinorityVets/Pages/LGBT.aspx.

CA educators adopt LGBT history textbooks

California is now the first state in the nation to require public schools to use textbooks that include lessons about the LGBT community and its history. The State Board of Education voted last Thursday, November 9, to approve 10 LGBTQ-inclusive history and social studies textbooks for K-8 classrooms and rejected two that failed to include LGBTQ people. “The decision today means that LGBTQ students, and those with LGBTQ families, will finally be able to see themselves and our history accurately reflected in textbooks in California,” stated Our Family Coalition Executive Director Renata Moreira. “We celebrate SBE’s final vote and are more than ready to continue working with partners and educators on the next chapter as we move to district adoption across the state.” The state board’s decision stemmed from the passage in 2011 of the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful Education Act, authored by gay former state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), which required school districts to teach students about LGBT individuals and people with disabilities. Over the last two years educators and LGBT activists have been developing the curriculum standards to implement the FAIR Act. The final step was the approval of the textbooks, which school districts can now purchase. They are allowed to choose other materials, as long as they include the required LGBT content and other lesson plans detailed in the state education agency’s History/Social Science Curriculum Framework. “I am proud California continues to lead the nation by teaching history-social science that is inclusive and recognizes the diversity of our great state and nation,” stated State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson. “Students will benefit enormously.”t

Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check http:// www.ebar.com Monday mornings at noon for Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion. This week’s column reported on the commemoration of Harvey Milk’s election 40 years ago. Keep abreast of the latest LGBT political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/politicalnotes. Got a tip on LGBT politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 8298836 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.com.

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<< Obituaries

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 16-22, 2017

John Paul De Cecco, pioneer of sexuality studies, dies

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Chasnoff

From page 1

films and campaigns. A nationally recognized champion of using film as an organizing tool for social justice campaigns and a pioneering leader in the international movement working to create safe and welcoming schools and communities, Ms. Chasnoff’s award-winning films include “Straightlaced – How

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ohn Paul De Cecco, a professor emeritus at San Francisco State University and a longtime scholar in the field of human sexuality, died at his home November 2. He was 92. Mr. De Cecco served as the editor in chief of the Journal of Homosexuality, a landmark international peer-reviewed scholarly journal, from 1975 until 2009. He published scores of books, articles, and edited volumes throughout his 50-year career as a professor. A gay man, Mr. De Cecco was the primary founder of SF State’s sexuality studies program in the late 1970s and remained its director until 1997. According to school officials, Mr. De Cecco led an effort to add a human sexuality studies minor to the curriculum in the early 1980s and an LGBT studies major in the early 1990s. He also founded the popular “Variations in Human Sexuality” course, which enrolled 700 to 800 students per semester, and taught the class until his retirement in 2003. At SF State, Mr. De Cecco founded the Center for Homosexual Education, Evaluation, and Research to serve as a center for his U.S. government-funded research projects on

COA 660

8/11/17 12:30 PM

Jane Philomen Cleland

John Paul De Cecco

discrimination of sexual minorities, in addition to providing an editorial home for the Journal of Homosexuality. The center was later transformed into the Center for Research and Education in Sexuality, which remained active until Mr. De Cecco’s retirement. “John was a first-rate academic and he had a huge impact on the field,” John Elia, a friend who is the associate dean of SF State’s College of Health and Social Sciences, said in a news release from the university. “He cared deeply about helping to promote the work of researchers doing work in LGBTQ studies.” Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up,” about the gender and sexuality pressures that teens and young adults face; “It’s Elementary – Talking About Gay Issues in School,” “Let’s Get Real” (about bias and bullying); “That’s a Family!” (supporting youth growing up in diverse family structures); and the Academy Award-winning “Deadly Deception – General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment.” Her first film, “Choosing Children,” explored the once unheard of idea that lesbians and gay men could become parents after coming out. Colleague and friend Lauretta Molitor, who identifies as queer, said that Ms. Chasnoff’s “entire body of work was about social justice and compassion.” In a telephone interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Molitor said she was “in awe that it is still such a complete picture of what right livelihood would look like.” Molitor, a location sound recordist who worked on most of Ms. Chasnoff’s films, added, “All lives are important and of value but few people leave as many ripples” as Ms. Chasnoff did. In addition to the body of work she left behind, Molitor said she has met a number of filmmakers who began their career on projects with Ms. Chasnoff, “greatly enlarging” the number of filmmakers doing social justice work. “Chas was a very passionate woman, but always expressed it in a very civilized way,” added Molitor. Mimi (Kim) Klausner, an archivist and social activist who was Ms. Chasnoff’s partner for 17 years – and the woman she thanked at the Oscars – said Ms. Chasnoff “was my first true love and the co-pilot on some of my most creative and meaningful” projects.

Elia is the current editor of the Journal of Homosexuality. Mr. De Cecco was born and raised in Erie, Pennsylvania, in an Italian immigrant family. The first in his family to attend college, he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Allegheny College, and master’s and doctoral degrees in European history from the University of Pennsylvania. He pursued advanced study in psychology at Wayne State University. Before moving to San Francisco, Mr. De Cecco taught at the University of Detroit and Michigan State University. He accepted an assistant professor position at SF State in 1960 and was later promoted to the rank of professor. Mr. De Cecco received various awards throughout his career from the American Psychological Association, Gay Academic Union, the GLBT Historical Society, and other academic associations and organizations. Friends said that Mr. De Cecco was widely known as a staunch advocate for sexual and social justice and spent the majority of his career righting the wrongs done to sexual minorities. Mr. De Cecco is survived by his brother Robert (Rob), and sister-inlaw, Mary Grace, and his nephew, Larry, all of Erie Pennsylvania. t

Klausner, who co-directed and co-produced the film “Choosing Children” with Ms. Chasnoff, said the two women worked together with the PTA at their sons’ elementary school to teach staff, parents, and students about diversity. The film, said Klausner, was “made at this pivotal point in lesbian history where women had started to have children on the down low but it was not widely known in the community. We found a few of the women who had already done it, which inspired other women to think about whether they wanted to become parents.” Previously, said Klausner, “When you came out as gay you assumed you were not going to be a parent. But the film gave people an opportunity to see that this was an option and it radically changed the lesbian universe.” In an email to the B.A.R., Rick Goldsmith, a Bay Area documentary filmmaker as well as a colleague, friend, and confidant of Ms. Chasnoff’s, described her this way: “As a filmmaker, Chas got to the heart of social issues, whether corporate malfeasance, homophobia, or how America needs to embrace everyone with respect and dignity. She did it with intelligence, assertiveness, humanity, and compassion.” “She was ahead of her time on social issues, but never backed down when attacked by those who asserted, in her words, ‘that we (gay people) were the reason that America was going down the tubes,’” wrote Goldsmith, who declined to give his sexual orientation. “She was down-to-earth and accessible to everyone on a personal level. Her professional power and personal warmth inspired and helped countless young filmmakers to find their See page 10 >>

Obituaries >> H. Joseph “Joe” Perry Jr. October 11, 1965 – October 30, 2017 H. Joseph “Joe” Perry Jr., 52, of Orlando, Florida. Joe was born in Mount Dora, Florida to Harold J. & Susan (McRee) Perry. He was a lifelong resident of central Florida, having graduated from Mount Dora High School. Joe later moved to San Francisco where he lived for many years. While living

in San Francisco, he worked as the manager and a bartender of the Eagle. After returning to central Florida he was a bartender at the Full Moon Saloon in Orlando until its closing in 2007. Joe is survived by his husband, Kenny Dauch, with whom he shared and enjoyed the last 22 years; his father, Harold J. Perry Sr.; a brother Jason (Michelle) Perry; and a niece, Madison, all of Mount Dora, Florida. A celebration of Joe’s life will take place at a later date.

Commentary>>

November 16-22, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 9

‘We got this’ by Christina A. DiEdoardo

Manning said. “Hope is something you already have inside you. We can help each other find it.”

ne thing stands out when you meet the woman who brought the American intelligence community to its knees. Despite the horrific physical and psychological abuse she received at the hands of those on the federal government’s payroll – who, like those who served an earlier fascist regime, were “only following orders,” but, who, unlike the Nazis, have escaped meaningful accountability for the crimes they committed – Chelsea Manning exhibits no bitterness or anger, but a firm sense of optimism. “I think it’s really important to remember, especially at a time like this, that institutions which matter, and which make decisions about us ... can, and regularly do, fail,” she told a packed house of approximately 250 people at the Internet Archive Saturday, November 4. “Whenever systems fail, you do have power. “There’s more to politics than the ballot box and court orders,” she added. Manning, a transgender woman and former Army intelligence analyst who spent years in a military prison for leaking secret information to WikiLeaks before her sentence was commuted by former President Barack Obama, was the keynote speaker for the fifth annual Aaron Swartz Day. The event honors Swartz, a hacktivist, entrepreneur, and a leader in the fight against internet censorship. He helped create the RSS web feed format, Creative Commons, and Reddit, along with a prototype of SecureDrop, which a host of news

Remember, remember the fourth of November

Christina A. DiEdoardo

Chelsea Manning addresses the fifth annual Aaron Swartz Day November 4 at the Internet Archive.

organizations use to receive anonymous tips from the public. Swartz died by suicide in 2013 after the federal government – in a controversial decision – indicted him for a nondestructive hack at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “We live in a time when we don’t need leaders to tell us what to do,” Manning said. “We need each other.” It’s a truth she draws from her personal experience. Manning told the crowd that during much of her time in custody, her lifeline to the outside world was Lisa Rein, the co-founder of Creative Commons and the organizer of Aaron Swartz Day. During her darkest moments, she said, Rein would often tell her, “We got this.” The phrase has since become Manning’s signature hashtag on her Twitter feed. “I don’t give anyone hope,”

hile the meaning of diversity has morphed as much as the world around us in recent years, and some may even believe it has become a corporate buzzword, the truth of the matter is many employers are failing the LGBT community and people with disabilities by not properly defining diversity in their initiatives. According to a 2017 report by Out and Equal Workplace Advocates, a nonprofit that tracks employment statistics for the LGBT community, 1 in 4 LGBT employees report experiencing employment discrimination in the last five years. Likewise, transgender people face double the rate of unemployment as the overall population, and nearly 1 in 10 LGBT employees have left a job because the environment was unwelcoming. The Bureau of Labor Statistics states in 2015 only 17.5 percent of people with a disability were employed – a steep contrast to the 65 percent of able-bodied individuals who were employed that year. And just last week, Consolidated Edison Company of New York Inc., the utility company that provides New York City and Westchester County with electrical and gas services, was fined $800,000 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for not hiring applicants with disabilities. While some industries and places struggle more with diversity, such as high tech and television writers’ rooms, there are some organizations that are definitely hitting the

SAP

SAP’s Miguel Castro

diversity mark at the workplace. Miguel Castro, global lead for culture and identity at SAP, said that LGBT people have a lot to offer to employers. “In today’s world,” he said, “we know a commitment to inclusion is much more than a cultural ‘nice to have.’ In fact, it is proven that companies that are LGBT-inclusive are 72 percent more likely to attract allies as employees and increase productivity. “SAP is an active member,” Castro continued, “in recruitment and technology fairs targeting the LGBT and ally community across the globe, with examples like Lesbians Who Tech in San Francisco, and Sticks & Stones and #UNIT in Berlin.” In addition to having LGBTfocused initiatives, SAP also has a division that actively recruits and supports people with disabilities. SAP’s “Differently Abled area” is led by Stefanie Nennstiel, and the unit runs programs such as Autism at Work, which helps people with

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Hope was on the minds of the approximately 300 people who braved ice skaters, tourists, and a handful of badly-outnumbered fascist hecklers to pack Union Square for the “November 4 It Begins: Trump and Pence Must Go” rally and march organized by Refuse Fascism Bay Area. “We have a mission that humanity has given us: to stand up in this moment,” Refuse Fascism organizer Handling your packages with pride. Since 1982. Xochitl Johnson said to a cheering crowd. Similar protests occurred in 16 other cities around the country, from 584 Castro St. www.poplus.com New York and (as a last-minute addition) Washington, D.C. to Akron, Ohio and Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Refuse Fascism organizer Rafael Kadaris told the San Francisco crowdPO PLUS.indd 1 11/1/17 that while the Trump regime had suffered some setbacks, the present was no time for complacency. “Don’t be fooled by the fact they’ve been pushed back,” he said. “They are on the offensive.” According to Refuse Fascism, San Francisco was the only city that refused to grant a permit for the demonstration. In a Facebook post in response, city officials asserted that they were concerned about traffic and crowd impacts at Union Square and offered Civic Center as an alternative, which Refuse Fascism rejected. The protest ultimately went forward at Union Square anyway without a permit, though it was limited

See page 10 >>

Diversity gap affects LGBT, disability communities by Belo Cipriani

Avoid the rush

autism enter the workforce, as well as SAP Software Accessibility, which ensures the highest levels of access guidelines are enforced across products. Although some organizations are thriving as a result of their diversity strategies, there are far more that are simply worsening when it comes to integrating inclusivity into their day-to-day operations. Tammie Stevens, daily living skills trainer and vocational assessor for the Center of Vision Enhancement, or COVE, in Merced, California, a training facility for blind or visually impaired people, believes companies that struggle with diversity are organizations that have an antiquated perspective on it. “Businesses focus so much on race,” she said, “that they leave everyone else out of the conversation. They don’t engage the communities they want to hire from and, instead, make assumptions on what will work.” “For people with disabilities,” Stevens continued, “this means that companies draw to conclusions on what we can or cannot do. They don’t realize that having a disability means being creative and resourceful on a daily basis, because we constantly have to adapt ourselves to our environments.” As the definition of diversity continues to change, organizations that routinely reposition their inclusivity goals will find themselves at the heart of innovation. t Belo Cipriani is a disability advocate, an award-winning journalist, the prize-winning author of “Blind: A Memoir” and “Midday Dreams,” and the spokesman for Guide Dogs for the Blind. Learn more at www.belocipriani.com.

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<< Community News

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 16-22, 2017

Chasnoff

From page 8

own voices,” wrote Goldsmith. Goldsmith said he got to know Ms. Chasnoff 20 years ago, when she brought the film “It’s Elementary” into the New Day Films co-op. “She laid the groundwork for New Day Films to become a leader in LGBTQ-themed films. And she quickly stepped up to leadership within the co-op, ensuring that the co-op advanced with a combination

Clinton

From page 1

The first diagnosis of AIDS in the U.S. was reported in 1981. Ten years later, at the height of the epidemic, a group of individuals created a place in Golden Gate Park where people seeking healing could gather to express their collective grief through a living memorial, which was referred to at the time as San Francisco’s AIDS Memorial Grove. “I believe he and his administration listened,” Cunningham said, referring to various actions Clinton took in office. “Thirty-six years into the epidemic, I think it’s an appropriate time for the epidemic, the city, and the former president to stand in its place. We’re back in a place where we feel no

News Briefs

From page 4

The archive is named in honor of northern California transgender pioneer Louise Lawrence, who began living full-time as a woman in 1942, first in Berkeley and then San Francisco. She, along with Virginia Prince and others, published the first incarnation of Transvestia in 1952. Lawrence’s address book was the initial subscription list and she was instrumental in developing the trans community’s connection to pioneering sex researchers such as Alfred Kinsey and Harry Benjamin, according to Davis. The fundraiser will feature performances by trans songwriter Shawna Virago, Thrillpeddlers mainstay BirdieBob Watt, and the keyboard stylings of Joshua Raoul Brody. Davis will present highlights from the LLTA’s collection. Dr. Carol Queen, co-founder of the Center for Sex and Culture, will emcee. A $20 donation (sliding scale) is requested. The LLTA is under the fiscal sponsorship of the GLBT

Resist

From page 9

to about an hour. It was also hard to miss the law enforcement snipers on the roof of Macy’s across the square, though whether they were aiming at the hecklers or the demonstrators remains a mystery. Following the rally, Refuse Fascism

Death

From page 1

Court delays

Al-Muttalaby, who was arrested November 7 at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and faces murder and domestic violence charges, hasn’t entered a plea. His case was set for arraignment Monday and again on Tuesday, but he didn’t appear in court. Police have said that Al-Muttalaby’s in the hospital for an injury, but details about how he was injured and how long he’s been in the hospital haven’t been released. In court Monday, Deputy Public Defender Cindy Elias said that she’d spoken to Al-Muttalaby, but she

of progressive social justice ideals, solid business practices, and active democratic participation among its members,” Goldsmith wrote. In addition to dozens of film festival awards, Ms. Chasnoff was the recipient of the Wallace A. Gerbode Foundation Fellowship for outstanding nonprofit leadership, the Pathfinder Award from the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, and the first-ever alumnae achievement award in documentary filmmaking from Wellesley College.

According to a statement from Groundspark, Ms. Chasnoff documented “all facets” of her two-year struggle with breast cancer, shortly after her diagnosis in June 2015. “She envisioned a film that could help shape how people with cancer, their families, caregivers, healers, and medical practitioners approach life-changing diagnoses,” the statement read. “She hoped to provide a powerful example of how to live fully in the face of an unknown prognosis. Central to Chas and her

wife Nancy’s approach to dealing with cancer was an insistence that no one put a timeframe to her life expectancy. They offered the rest of us a breathtaking example.” Ms. Chasnoff was born October 12, 1957 in Philadelphia. According to Groundspark, hundreds of hours have been filmed and there is much research and development to be done. Otto and Ms. Chasnoff’s friends are expected to follow through on the project, the working title of which is “Prognosis.”

In addition to Otto, and sons, Noah and Oscar, Ms. Chasnoff is survived by her father, Joel Chasnoff; sister, Lori Langford of Marshall, Virginia; and brother, Jordan Chasnoff of Washington, D.C. A memorial service will be held Tuesday, November 28, from 3 to 5 p.m. at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, 5000 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in Woodacre. The family suggests memorial contributions to Groundspark or to Spirit Rock Meditation Center.t

one is listening.” Since leaving the White House in 2000, Clinton has become even more involved in efforts to decrease HIV/ AIDS cases. The Clinton Foundation has funded programs in developing countries to combat the disease, including lowering the costs of medications for people. “We are so proud to have President Clinton be such an important part of our World AIDS Day commemoration and honor his global commitment to provide care and help find a cure for this devastating disease,” Cunningham said. Cunningham told the B.A.R. that no current or former president has ever visited the grove. Former first lady Hillary Clinton attended the

ceremony establishing national recognition of the grove. Cunningham said that grove officials reached out to Clinton’s team several months ago, wanting to honor the former president for federally designating the grove. According to Cunningham, Clinton’s representatives came back and said the former president would like to deliver an address for World AIDS Day. An email to Clinton’s press team seeking comment was not returned by press time. The grove’s theme for its World AIDS Day events is “Bending the Arc Toward Justice,” and will honor people who have made a difference in the fight against AIDS. In addition to Clinton’s address,

the grove will honor David McMurry, retired global public health manager at Chevron, with its Humanitarian Leadership Award. Ruth Corker Burks, also known as the “Cemetery Angel,” will receive the Thom Weyand Unsung Hero Award for her work in the darkest days of the epidemic in Arkansas, where she cared for hundreds of young gay men abandoned by their families. Preceding World AIDS Day, the grove will hold its Light in the Grove benefit gala Thursday, November 30, from 6 to 9:30 p.m. The event includes candlelight reflection at the Circle of Friends and special musical and choreographed performances. Gay former state Senator Mark Leno, now a candidate for San Francisco mayor, will receive a

Lifetime Commitment Award for his decades of philanthropy, activism, and leadership in support of HIV/AIDS, the LGBT community, and civil liberties. Tickets for the November 30 event are $250. The December 1 event featuring Clinton will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is free, like previous World AIDS Day commemorations. Due to security, it will be ticketed this year, Cunningham said. Tickets for the public will be available online beginning Monday, November 20, at http://bit.ly/2ho7NGX. Additionally, visitors will have to go through security. Backpacks and other bags are discouraged, since there will be bag checks, he said.t

Historical Society. All donations are tax deductible. For more information, visit the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LLTArchive/.

The event is at the museum, 398 Eddy Street in San Francisco. A reception takes place at 6:30 p.m., followed by the screening at 7. Admission is $10. Space is limited. To register, visit http://bit.ly/2zrHJ8u.

provides housing and shelter and other services for people living with HIV/AIDS, immigrants, and day laborers; and LGBTQ Connection, which fosters a more inclusive community in the rural and suburban north Bay Area. GRGR raised the money through its Real Bad party that follows the Folsom Street Fair and the REACH T-Dance party during San Francisco Pride. For more information, visit www. grassrootsgayrights.org.

news release. “Horizons is at an extraordinary moment of growth and opportunity, having awarded more than $3 million in grants to organizations last year and launching the second phase of a $100 million campaign that will protect our vibrant community, both now and forever.” Marvuglio, 63, has more than 30 years of experience as a California certified public accountant. He helped guide Community Gatepath through steep downturns in state funding and developed streamlined systems and accounting models to bring efficiency and transparency across all departments of the organization. “Through my experience at Community Gatepath, I appreciate the value that one organization can provide to the community,” Marvuglio stated in the release. “I am very interested in working at Horizons Foundation because I can see the wide-reaching impact that it has, not only on the local community, but to society at large.” t

Tenderloin Museum to screen movie

The Tenderloin Museum will present its debut screening of “Even In Darkness” (2016), Thursday, November 30. The film is a new documentary by James Hosking (“Beautiful By Night”) that follows San Francisco night minister the Reverend Lyle Beckman, as he walks the streets of the Tenderloin providing emotional support at a time when many need it the most, from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. The film will be screened alongside “Shepherd of the Streets” (1966), a KRONTV Assignment Four report that offers a rare look at the pioneering work of San Francisco’s first night minister, the Reverend Donald E. Stuart. Hosking will be present for a panel discussion along with Beckman, former night minister the Reverend Don Fox, and other community leaders.

GRGR Foundation distributes $211K

The Grass Roots Gay Rights Foundation has concluded its 2017 fundraising season and recently distributed $211,500 to its benefitting organizations. Those agencies receiving funds are: Positive Resource Center, which assists people affected by or at risk for HIV/AIDS through counseling, education, training and advocacy; St. James Infirmary, which provides free nonjudgmental health care and social services for sex workers of all genders and sexual orientations; and Maitri, which provides residential care to men and women in need of hospice. Other agencies receiving funds are the Southern Poverty Law Center, a national organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry; Dolores Street Community Services, which

Horizons hires new CFO

Horizons Foundation, the Bay Area’s LGBTQ community foundation, has hired John Marvuglio as its new chief financial officer. Marvuglio, a gay man, previously worked at Community Gatepath, a Redwood City nonprofit that serves people with developmental disabilities. He replaces Liz Hoadley, who retired after nine years of service. “John provides exactly the qualifications we were seeking in a new CFO,” Roger Doughty, Horizons president, said in a

Howard Zinn Book Fair

At 7 p.m. Saturday, November 18, at the South Berkeley Senior Center at

2939 Ellis Street in Berkeley, the National Lawyers Guild of San Francisco and the John Brown Anti-Klan Committee will host a discussion with Mark Bray, author of “The Anti-Fascist Handbook.” Bray is one of the few commentators on antifa who is both well-informed and well thought of by many in the movement. Requested donations are $10-20 to benefit the guild, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

couldn’t say in open court why he’s in the hospital. Outside the courtroom, Elias declined to elaborate on Al-Muttalaby’s condition, and she wouldn’t say whether his injury was self-inflicted. Tuesday, Elias said “based on a conversation” she’d had earlier in the day with Al-Muttalaby, she wanted to continue the arraignment to Wednesday. She also said that she hadn’t received a copy of the police report or other discovery. Assistant District Attorney Andrew Ganz said that he had allowed Elias to review an initial narrative in the case and a summary of a statement that Al-Muttalaby made, but he wasn’t able to do more yet. Ganz also said that it wasn’t clear

whether Al-Muttalaby was “unable to be arraigned due to his condition” or it was “his choice that he does not want to be arraigned.” The case was continued to Wednesday afternoon. After court, Elias said she didn’t want to comment on Al-Muttalaby until she had more information. Prosecutors haven’t publicly provided any additional details. Two neighbors reportedly heard yelling from Harris’ apartment early in the morning of November 1, but neither of them would speak to the Bay Area Reporter. People who knew Harris, who was as an engineering manager at Automotive Mastermind, and Al-Muttalaby, who’s worked as a go-go dancer, porn actor, and fitness trainer, have

expressed shock at what’s happened. They said they hadn’t witnessed trouble between them. Two men who lived with AlMuttalaby in Oakland before he moved in with Harris this fall said Al-Muttalaby had invited them to Thanksgiving in San Francisco, which they took as an indication that the relationship wasn’t troubled. (Neither man wanted his name published.) One of the men said that he’d never seen Al-Muttalaby be violent. “I’d say he’s more emotional,” he said. “... You could get him to cry easily, basically just like a kid,” especially when he would think of his family, who live in Iraq.

led a march down Market Street into the Castro and the Mission. The group has a series of other demonstrations planned every few days for the immediate future, including one at 2 p.m. Saturday, November 18, in Civic Center.

Curious about antifa? Meet the man who wrote the book

The fourth annual Howard Zinn Book Fair will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, November 19, at the City College of San Francisco’s Mission Campus, 1125 Valencia Street. The event, which is sponsored by CCSF’s Labor and Community Studies Department, Haymarket Books, AK Press, Green

Arcade, and the California Institute for Integral Studies, offers books and talks by radical and progressive authors and activists. While no one will be turned away for lack of funds, the suggested admission donation is $5. t Got a tip? Email me at christina@ diedoardolaw.com.

As the B.A.R. previously reported, Ammar Aliraqi, Al-Muttalaby’s brother, said in a Facebook exchange that when the family last heard from him about a month ago, he’d said that he wanted to kill himself because he missed his mother. (Aliraqi also lists his last name on Facebook as Al-muttalabi.) Police have said that Harris died after being taken to San Francisco General, but neighbors told the B.A.R. they saw the medical examiner’s van at the building the day Harris was found, indicating he was already dead. The medical examiner’s office hasn’t released the cause of death, but police said that Harris had suffered “stab wounds.”t

International News>>

November 16-22, 2017 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11

Aussies vote ‘I do’ to marriage equality by Heather Cassell

ustralians overwhelmingly said they support same-sex marriage, becoming just the second country to do so through the ballot box, when results of a mail survey showed 61.1 percent in favor and 38.4 percent against. The results of the twomonth vote, known as a survey, were released Tuesday, November 14 (Wednesday in Australia). The survey, however, was nonbinding, and the issue now moves to Parliament. The lopsided results mean it’s likely that same-sex marriage will be legal by the

D8 supe debate

From page 1

“In fact, Rafael’s politics and approach on key issues – housing and homelessness, in particular – are the opposite of mine,” wrote Wiener, noting how Mandelman did not endorse his re-election to the board or his bid for state Senate last year. “Rafael has every right in the world to disagree with me on any given issue. He just shouldn’t be implying that ‘if you like Scott Wiener, vote for me.’ That’s not the case.” Yet it wasn’t just Mandelman who refused to keep to the political part he has been typecast as in the race. At times one would have thought Sheehy was the progressive’s candidate for the seat, which was hardly a surprise as he is a former Milk club president and longtime AIDS activist. In response to a question from moderator and KQED reporter Marisa Lagos about being independent as a mayoral appointee, Sheehy insisted he hardly knew Lee before being tapped to fill the vacancy and had only met him one time in years past. Sheehy also noted he did not support Lee when he sought election to Room 200 in 2011 as he thought the mayor should not have run in the first place. Instead, Sheehy felt Lee should have stayed true to his initial promise to only be an interim mayor after being appointed to the vacant office by the supervisors that year. Nonetheless, “I think he has done a good job,” said Sheehy. When asked by Lagos which former District 8 supervisor would he most emulate, Sheehy praised all three of the gay men who had served in the seat but chose progressive stalwart Tom Ammiano, a gay man who held the District 9 seat on the board representing the Mission and is supporting Mandelman, as the type of leader he aspires to be at City Hall. “I always loved Tom Ammiano. He embodied what a supervisor should be,” said Sheehy.

Housing differences a matter of degrees

The two candidates agree on the need for the city to build more

Pot regs

From page 2

College of San Francisco trustee Rafael Mandelman – the men are vying to finish the term of former supervisor Scott Wiener, a gay man who was elected to the state Senate last year. “I think it’s disgraceful what happened to the Apothecarium,” Mandelman said, adding there was not a lot of difference between him and Sheehy on marijuana. “When you vote for haters, you vote for hate,” Sheehy said. “That outcome was unacceptable.” Mandelman said that he would have gotten the supervisors to

end of the year, observers said. The mood was joyous in the country, where negative campaigning at times cast an ugly pall over the vote. “If this were a general election, it would be the biggest landslide in Australian history,” said Tiernan Brady, director of Australians for Equality, reported the Independent. Australia is about the same size land-wise as the United States with 23,232,413 citizens, most living on the east coast, according to the CIA World Factbook. Ireland was the first country in the world to win samesex marriage through a postal plebiscite when more than a 60 percent voted in

favor in 2015. The country has since legalized same-sex marriage. Similar to Ireland, the campaign for marriage equality was divisive, bringing out opponents of same-sex marriage in a brutal attempt to push the no vote. William “Bill” Shorten, a marriage equality supporter who heads the opposition in Parliament, cheerfully greeted the crowds in Melbourne. “Yes, yes, yes! What a fabulous day to be an Australian,” Shorten said. “Today, we celebrate. Tomorrow we legislate.” Lawmakers will now review several draft same-sex marriage bills to see which one will move forward. t

housing for people with low and middle incomes, yet they differ on how they would ensure support for development projects in District 8, which includes the gay Castro district, Noe Valley, Diamond Heights, and Glen Park. The site of a former organic grocer on 24th Street in Noe Valley that is up for sale illustrates their divide. Sheehy is pressing to see whoever acquires the property makes use of the newly enacted HOME-SF program that allows developers to add extra stories of housing if they set aside 30 percent of the units as affordable. And he pledged to back such a project against neighborhood opposition to the additional height in a business corridor with mainly three-story buildings. “I am for housing, period,” said Sheehy. “I am willing to take the heat to have housing built.” Mandelman pledged to side with the neighbors if they opposed the project. Rather than constructing taller buildings, he suggested a more palatable approach to gain additional dwelling spaces for residents in Noe Valley and Glen Park would be to build in-law units, an idea that Wiener championed and made possible with new zoning rules. “Six stories on 24th Street might be great, but if the neighbors decide six stories is going to destroy 24th Street, I am not going to go to war with them,” said Mandelman. Yet he pointed out he is in opposition with neighbors of the Balboa Reservoir site who want to maintain it as a parking lot. Mandelman backs using it for mixed-use development with housing set aside for staff of City College, which is next to the site. “We will not be able to house people if we don’t make low and middle income housing a priority at City Hall,” said Mandelman, who would like to see dense housing projects built at the two suburbanstyle Safeway shopping centers in District 8, one on upper Market Street and the other in Diamond Heights. Sheehy has promoted opening a Navigation Center somewhere in District 8 that would be solely focused on getting homeless youth

off the street. He pointed to his securing $1 million in funding for homeless youth services this year and said there is no reason for why any youth should be living on the streets. “We open sites for people escaping fires and wars. Why can’t we do it for our own kids?” asked Sheehy. Yet Mandelman questioned if placing Navigation Centers in District 8 makes sense. They are needed more in parts of the city where there are large homeless encampments, he argued, as they are meant to move entire groups of homeless people off the streets temporarily while more permanent housing can be found for them. To free up supportive housing units in the city, Sheehy and Mandelman both voiced support for allowing people to use housing subsidies paid for by San Francisco to find homes elsewhere in the Bay Area. And they both voiced support for having the city open safe injection sites as a way to move injection drug users off the streets into places where they could access various services, from housing assistance to drug counseling. Mandelman, whose mother was homeless due to mental health issues and fought to get her the services she needed, advocated for changing state laws to make it easier to require homeless people into supportive programs. He also said the city should issue a bond measure to pay for mental health programs. “I want to solve homelessness in this city,” he said. “I will work on this every single day because, for me, homelessness is personal.” Sheehy agreed it should be easier to get people into involuntary psychiatric treatment programs and applauded Mandelman for his advocacy on the issue. He pointed out he already secured more funding for mental health beds in the city and would continue to do so. And this week Sheehy and board President London Breed announced they are finalizing legislation with the city attorney that would provide renters with legal counsel to assist in eviction cases. “I work every day to tackle our city’s homeless issues,” said Sheehy. t

approve the Sunset dispensary. “I wouldn’t have let them do it,” he said, referring to the permit rejection. In another matter Tuesday, Sheehy has asked several city agencies to investigate PJI’s “role in impacting the discussions” at City Hall. PJI, which has a long history of opposing LGBT rights, entered the San Francisco cannabis fray after the group appeared as an appellant on the Apothecarium project, although PJI never registered as a lobbyist. “I would like to send a letter of inquiry to the Ethics Commission asking if the activity that PJI engaged in to influence the board

counts as either direct lobbying activity or grassroots lobbying activity,” Sheehy said. He said he also wants “to send a letter of inquiry to the city attorney and district attorney asking them to similarly explore whether PJI has violated city laws.” Sheehy’s resolution noted that during the recent session of the state Legislature, PJI strongly opposed Senate Bill 219 that protects LGBT seniors in long-term care facilities, including the contention that SB 219 would turn long-term care facilities into bordellos. t

For a longer version of this story go to ebar.com.

Cynthia Laird contributed reporting.

Legal Notices>>

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-17-553397

In the matter of the application of: MARIA VERONICA DE PAOLIS KALUZA, 50 CHUMASERO DR. #12M, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94132, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner MARIA VERONICA DE PAOLIS KALUZA, is requesting that the name MARIA VERONICA DE PAOLIS KALUZA, be changed to VERONICA EVA LUNA. 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 7th of December 2017 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2017 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-17-553376

In the matter of the application of: ALMA INFANTE REYES, 555 JONES ST #401, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner ALMA INFANTE REYES, is requesting that the name SALMA REYES INFANTE, be changed to SALMA REYES INFANTE. 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 December 2017 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037812900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BLISSFUL ENCOUNTER, 33 WAVERLY PL, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed HUI YING LU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 10/20/17. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/20/17.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037813000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SHIELD101, 1788 19TH AVE, UNIT C1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed HIO-KIT LEUNG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/19/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/20/17.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037802700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: OHANA, 3150 18TH ST #225, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DANIAL E. PALMER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 10/06/17. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/17/17.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037778300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PROPERTY RENOVATIONS UNLIMITED, 14 PRECITA AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed STEPHEN SCHNEIDER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/28/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/28/17.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037806000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SAN FRANCISCO NEUROPSYCHOLOGY PC, 833 MARKET ST #809, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SAN FRANCISCO NEUROPSYCHOLOGY PC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/02/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/17.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037798700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AVICOMM, 1111 MARKET ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed AVICOMM (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 10/12/17. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/12/17.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037801800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JEFF SCHLARB DESIGN STUDIO, 636 POTRERO AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed GREEN COUCH STAGING AND DESIGN (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 10/16/17.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037811900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AGENCY ALL ABOUT CHILDREN, 1410 NORIEGA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed EDWARD Y. ROMANOV & JANET ROMANOV. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 10/20/17. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/20/17.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037810400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ORANGETHEORY FITNESS FINANCIAL DISTRICT, 343 SANSOME, #125, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SFFIT FD LLC, (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 09/01/17. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/20/17.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037810100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ORANGETHEORY FITNESS - SAN FRANCISCO - MISSION BAY, 215 KING ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SFFIT MB LLC, (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 09/01/17. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/20/17.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2017

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-17-553388

In the matter of the application of: OTHEL LAMONT WEIR II, 1462 43RD AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner OTHEL LAMONT WEIR II, is requesting that the name OTHEL LAMONT WEIR II, be changed to MONTY GARCIA CANTERO. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 5th of December 2017 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037820900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MARTITAS KITCHEN, 2560 MARIN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARIA GUZMAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/27/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/27/17.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037815000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PIKITOS, 2336 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed BRINDISSY GARCIA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 10/23/17. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/23/17.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037793900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MOMUMENTAL, 30 STEINER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SERENA SAEED-WINN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/30/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/06/17.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037807200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LUMINOUS DARLINGS, 1521 GOLDEN GATE AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA. 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHRISTOPHER G. DEWINTER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/16/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/19/17.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037794400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PENPOINT MEDIA, 39 HARTFORD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SARAH E. ENOCHS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 08/01/17. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/06/17.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037809300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: O’CONNOR CONSTRUCTION, 719 38TH AVE #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JASON O’CONNOR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 10/10/17. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/20/17.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037814800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: OFF THE CHAIN, 1140 INGERSON AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHARITIE BOLLING. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 10/23/17. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/23/17.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037815100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STUDIO NELUMBO DESIGN; STUDIO NELUMBO YOGA; YOGA NELUMBO, 1817 24TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed STEFANIE SCHUR. 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 10/23/17.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037819400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DATADRIVEN SCIENCE, 4221 20TH ST #4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JAN BELKE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 10/25/17. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/26/17.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037791600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NATIVE BURGER, 3420 GEARY BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed KOBUKSON INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 10/01/17. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/05/17.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037800700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: 5537 MISSION STREET HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, 5537 MISSION ST # 201, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an unincorporated association other than a partnership, and is signed 5537 MISSION STREET HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/16/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/16/17.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-035682500 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: MARTITA’S KITCHEN, 2560 MARIN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by YAZMIN GUZMAN. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/26/14.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2017

<< Classifieds

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 16-22, 2017

Legal Notices>> NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF ESTATE OF MICHAEL JONES AKA MICHAEL C. JONES IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-17-301309

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of ESTATE OF MICHAEL JONES AKA MICHAEL C. JONES. A Petition for Probate has been filed by MARION ELLIOTT in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that MARION ELLIOTT be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: Dec 06, 2017, 9:00am, Dept. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for petitioner: LYNN A. DEAN, SBN 107729, SEASONS LAW, P.C., 3500 DOUGLAS BLVD., SUITE 250, ROSEVILLE, CA 95661; Ph. (916) 786-7515.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 2017 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-17-553442

In the matter of the application of: ANXO MAXXUM FLYNN, 451 KANSAS ST #505, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107, for change of name having been ﬁled in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner ANXO MAXXUM FLYNN, is requesting that the name ANXO MAXXUM FLYNN, be changed to JEFFREY STEPHEN MARCUSJOHN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, ROOM 514 on the 28th of December 2017 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2017

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037826800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SHELLEY SKIN CARE, 81 LANSING ST #202, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SHELLEY CONSTANTINI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/02/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/02/17.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037817300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SHOPPER LOYALTY REWARDS, 1863 19TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RAFAEL ROMERO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/01/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/25/17.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037804000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PASTRY ROOM, 2778 24TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ADRIANA BEATRIZ PONCE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 10/17/17. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/17/17.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A037827300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HANDY HANDS, 529 NATOMA ST., SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CASEY LOGAN JINKS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/02/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/02/17.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037823900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BREWSTER HISTORIC PRESERVATION, 141 PIERCE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed WILLIAM B. BREWSTER, JR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/31/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/31/17.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037820700

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037824200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: 9 VESSELS, 1063 MARKET ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ALFRED WU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/31/17.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037800000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GVBRIEL HANDPOKES, 530 STOCKTON ST #208, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed GABRIEL MAY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/13/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/13/17.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037827100

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037824400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BRILLIANT KIDS + CHILDCARE & PRESCHOOL, 445 AMAZON AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SHIU KUEN NG TSANG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/13/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/13/17.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037841800

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037827900

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037828600

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037828400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WORKFORCE HEALTH SOLUTIONS, 7434 GEARY BLVD. SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed OHANESSIAN PHYSICAL THERAPY, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 11/01/17. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/03/17.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037831400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ARCH HOUSE MUSIC, 1232 B WILLARD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MICHAEL ANGEL PARTIDA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/15/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/03/17.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037825400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LA FARGA MUSIC, 2530 36TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed WILLIAM W. KWOK. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 10/20/17. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/01/17.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FIRST EAGLE DELIVERY, 87 STONEYFORD AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed ADELCIO PONTES & LEONARDO TORRES. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/08/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/08/17.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2017

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2017

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NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037841300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: 18/8 FINE MEN’S SALON SAN FRANCISCO EMBARCADERO, ONE EMBARCADERO CENTER LL, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed JB DESTINY PARTNERS LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/13/17.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2017 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-035986600 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: SUBWAY SANDWICHES #61240, 425-D BATTERY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business was conducted by a limited liability company and signed by LETAP SUBS LLC (CA). The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/08/14.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2017 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-034168600

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: SUBWAY SANDWICH #53761, 160 BROADWAY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business was conducted by a corporation and signed by LETAP ENTERPRISES, INC. (CA). The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/29/12.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2017

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: RAVOT, 115 CLEMENT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SPARKYS GLOBAL 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 10/31/17.

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DALY CITY FALCONS BASKETBALL CLUB, 207 SKYLINE BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94132. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed HIEN TRAN & JUNES AUBE VALDEMORO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on 10/25/17. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/08/17.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037833300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PAGE & PIERCE LAUNDRY, 800 PAGE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed HUANHUA CHEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/08/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/07/17.

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NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2017 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037841000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CYBER MAX WAREHOUSE, 420 BERRY ST #439, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94158. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ZHAO WEI HUANG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/18/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/27/17.

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FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037833500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NIMBLEWITS DOLL COMPANY, 179 TEDDY AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed PATRICIA HEWETT. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/24/07. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/09/17.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WINNIESBABYHOUSE, 1901 44TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed WEN JIAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/13/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/13/17.

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FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-037837100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CIW AND SONS PLUMBING CO, INC., 1501 PALOU AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed CIW AND SONS PLUMBING CO., INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/21/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/02/17.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EMPIRE REALTY ASSOCIATES; EMPIRE EMERITUS, 1699 VAN NESS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation and is signed PACIFIC UNION INTERNATIONAL, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ﬁctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ﬁled with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/03/17.

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Dragon trail

It's a 'Lulu'

Science lab

Vol. 47 • No. 46 • November 16-22, 2017

Teotihuacan holiday

Spencer Lowell

www.ebar.com/arts Courtesy of FAM/SF

San Francisco Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas.

by Sura Wood

W Circular relief (300-450 CE), stone.

onder is difficult to come by these days, but it’s right there in full view in “Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire,” a new exhibition at the de Young Museum which brings the ruins of a long-ago, not-so-faraway, exotic culture back from the dead. Many of us have been hungering for this kind of show, a large-scale voyage deep into the past more easily found at New York’s Metropolitan Museum than in San Francisco of late. See page 20 >>

MTT: VIP

by Philip Campbell

an Francisco Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, more simply and famously known as MTT, recently announced the end of his illustrious tenure with the treasured organization. See page 14 >>

Dahmer Dearest by Erin Blackwell

erial killers are currently at risk of being displaced in our nightmares by mass shooters, whose work is more public and performative, with a cumulative scare index boosted by the spread of panic through multiple warmblooded mammals. Is it scarier being killed with a group of your friends, or all by your lonesome? In the wake of the Las Vegas massacre at Mandalay Bay, the notion of a plodding serial killer carefully selecting each singular victim seems almost quaint. The mood is right, in other words, for an intimate look at one of our greatest gay predators in “My Friend Dahmer,” opening Friday at the Roxie Theater. See page 20 >>

Scene from director Marc Meyers’ “My Friend Dahmer.”

{ SECOND OF THREE SECTIONS }

<< Out There

14 • Bay Area Reporter • November 16-22, 2017

Artistically engaged: a datebook by Roberto Friedman

t’s not unusual for Out There to spend five nights out of seven attending cultural events, as we did last week. We went to a screening of directors Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman’s “Loving Vincent” on Monday night, San Francisco Opera’s “Manon” on Tuesday night, opening night of the New Italian Cinema film festival on Wednesday night, South African artist William Kentridge’s “Refuse the Hour” at ACT’s Geary Theatre on Friday night, and an opening at the Contemporary Jewish Museum on Saturday night. That’s a lot of cultural input! 1. New Italian Cinema’s openingnight film at the Castro Theatre, director Gianfranco Cabiddu’s “The Stuff of Dreams” (“La stoffa dei sogni”), won the 2017 Italian Golden Globe for Best Film and other honors. A troupe of actors and a group of convicted criminals are shipwrecked together on a prison island near Sardinia. They’re compelled by the prison warden

Courtesy New Italian Cinema

Scene from director Gianfranco Cabiddu’s “The Stuff of Dreams” (“La stoffa dei sogni”), New Italian Cinema’s opening night.

to put on a (very) amateur production of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” Well, all the world’s a stage, you might have heard. Cabiddu’s films are considered part of an artistic “nouvelle vague” that utilizes elements of Sardinia’s indigenous film culture. Screenwriter Salvatore De

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Mola was in the house for a Q&A with dramaturg Philippa Kelly after the screening. The opening-night party transpired in North Beach at the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club, an old-school venue new to us. But we love SF, we love Italians, and we love athletes, so we were there. We also love Italian antipasti and Italian wines, which were also there. 2. “Loving Vincent” is the first animated feature created entirely from oil paintings, setting immortal genius Vincent Van Gogh’s timeless masterpieces in motion as a cinematic examination of his tragic life and death. Visually resplendent, it’s truly a unique movie, marred only by its filmmakers’ choice of that 70s earworm, Don McLean’s “Vincent,” as music over the end credits.

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SF Symphony

From page 13

He is stepping down in June 2020 at the end of the 2019-20 season, marking both his 75th birthday and 25th year at the helm. The news sends shock waves throughout the tight-knit community of Northern California music-makers and devoted fans, but it is hardly surprising after so many award-winning and innovative years leading the great orchestra. Aside from a personal feeling that it is time to “set aside some of my administrative responsibilities and begin a new period of creative possibilities,” MTT likes the roundness of the numbers of his upcoming milestones, and also the exciting potential offered by his future assumption of the newly created title of Music Director Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony. He won’t be going far away to leave his heart in San Francisco. MTT is a native Californian, and his decades-old roots in the Bay Area are set too deep. He has made a living-legend success of his years with the SFS, and the mutual admiration society is scheduled to go on indefinitely. We will save longer and more detailed testimonials for the next couple of years. MTT has still got a lot of active ground to cover, and we don’t want to assign him lame-duck status in the meantime. The last two weeks of concerts at Davies Symphony Hall typified what is best about the maestro’s inspiring leadership. Balanced programming, thematically chosen, with insightful (and amusing) introductions and powerful performances, is an MTT trademark. The most recent program also displayed the savvy showman’s brilliant grasp of multi-tasking. Embarking on a new recording project with the in-house SFS Media label, the tireless maestro brought one of his favorite composers back to life in DSH. There is no need to be afraid of Charles Ives, and MTT continued to prove it with

as long as he continues to share his beautiful voice with us. 4. “Refuse the Hour,” the multimedia chamber opera conceived by and starring William Kentridge, mixed visuals, soundscapes, dance, live music, projections, drama, and scenic design. A meditation on the nature of time, more performance art than theatre, the piece began as Kentridge delivered a lecture upstaged by all sorts of business going on around him. Dancer Dada Masilo, vocalists Joanna Dudley and Ann Masina, and an onstage band performed composer Philip Miller’s score. Catherine Meyburgh’s video design vivified the background. An The boatman (voiced by Aidan Turner) overhead musical machine clattered to life: the effect, in directors Dorota Kobiela and Hugh while undoubtedly digital in Welchman’s “Loving Vincent.” execution, was of an analog, low-tech, steampunk spectacle. From South Africa to 3. Three-and-a-half-hours of Geary Street, an artistic vision this Massenet’s “Manon” put us deep way came. into the world of 19th-century 5. The CJM opening was for French art-music for a grand night “Sabbath,” the 2017 Dorothy Saxe at the opera. We’d heard that the Invitational, in which 57 artists minimalist aesthetic of this new present new works of art that reinproduction breathed new life into terpret and respond to the Sabbath, the opera, but we weren’t prepared the traditional Jewish “Day of Rest.” for the magnificence of the play While we were at the museum, we of shadows on the set’s back wall, visited its excellent exhibit “Jewish which amplified and commented Folktales Retold: Artist as Maggid,” upon the dramatic action. Every 16 artists as storytellers and “secrets time charismatic tenor Michael revealers.” Highly recommended. Fabiano opened his mouth, he had And on the seventh day, OT our rapt attention. We don’t mind rested (though not really).t that he’s engaged to his male lover,

a persuasive reading of one of the great American iconoclast’s most ingratiating works. The startlingly timeless Symphony No. 3, “The Camp Meeting” (1912), evokes a gentler America with the nostalgic interweaving of old hymn tunes. It also demonstrates Ives’ mastery of the orchestra and his quietly Emersonian Transcendentalism. The SFS Chorus, under director Ragnar Bohlin, was called on to preface the performance with samples of five hymns referenced in the Symphony, which they dispatched with customary depth and beautiful harmony. The Chorus started the night with Ives’ lovely “Psalm 90” (1890/1924). Soloists soprano Cara Gabrielson and tenor Jonathan Thomas emerged from the rich texture of the ensemble with fittingly heavenly purity. The first half ended with Dvorak’s obscure cantata “The American Flag,” originally written for celebrations marking the 400th anniversary of “Columbus’ discovery of America.” Old notions of history and earlier American nationalism (not to mention florid poetry) aside, the score is filled with bouncy and stirring melodies. So very Dvorak, and a welcome reminder of the nation, bathed in sepia-toned nostalgia. San Francisco Opera veterans tenor Amitai Pati and bass-baritone Philip Skinner fronted the Chorus and Orchestra with clarion declarations of the patriotic text. They made it impossible to shun the infectious optimism of the score; no one was taking a knee for this immigrant composer’s anthem. The whole American shebang concluded with a rip-roaring, thoroughly jazzy performance of George Gershwin’s “An American in Paris,” done with the composer’s earliest orchestration and including authentic Paris taxi horns. Principal Trumpet Mark Inouye blared his bluesy solo amidst his red-hot orchestral colleagues, and Davies Hall transformed into a Jazz Age nightclub in gay Paris. Gershwin is in MTT’s DNA, and another fabulous American com-

poser is also one of his specialties. Leonard Bernstein’s birth centennial celebrations continued at DSH the previous week with a thrilling performance of Lenny’s “The Age of Anxiety,” Symphony No. 2 (1949). This was the second time French virtuoso Jean-Yves Thibaudet has essayed the important role of piano soloist in the work with the SFS. The first time I heard it in DSH, SFS Principal Keyboardist Robin Sutherland was center stage. His remarkable performance assured a place in the repertoire for Bernstein’s deeply thoughtful and characteristically tuneful score. With customary aplomb, Thibaudet voiced the composer’s narrative one more time. Supported by MTT and the beautifully committed orchestra, the soloist tore through the hyperkinetic pages with precision and flair, slowing convincingly for the haunting moments of introspection. After intermission, the audience was treated to another sort of heroes’ story. Richard Strauss’ “Ein Heldenleben” (1898) portrays the life and death of a mythical character in one of the composer’s best-loved symphonic works. MTT has a gratifying way of detailing rich Straussian orchestration and thinning the sometimes overwhelmingly dense texture. Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik sounded strong, sweettoned in the violin solos. This week at DSH: Fearless Leader bounds back to the podium for more Charles Ives, the big and bold Fourth Symphony, to be recorded live. Violinist Pinchas Zukerman is also appearing in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Violinist Viviane Hagner will perform in his place Nov. 18. Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony will present Symphony Relief: A Benefit Concert for the North Bay, Nov. 19 at Davies Symphony Hall. It is way too soon to talk about MTT’s legacy – it is obviously still very much in progress!t sfsymphony.org

Theatre>>

November 16-22, 2017 • Bay Area Reporter • 15

Happily ever after – kinda, sorta by Richard Dodds

“W

elcome to library school.” Has a deadlier sentence ever opened a play? But fear not, for those words are something of a joke even if we don’t yet know what that joke is. In “Le Switch,” the thirtysomething David is a professor of library sciences who thinks of himself as a queer outlier, and yet wears suspenders unironically, as his sister points out, and has a collection of books that he prizes for their never having been opened. As for himself, he has been opened romantically, but has been quick to slam the covers closed whenever any sort of commitment is suggested. As for marriage, well, that’s a non-starter. Philip Dawkins’ “Le Switch” dives into the I-do/I-don’t conundrum that same-sex couples faced when laws began changing in 2011, and while this play is not about to make a commitment itself, it lets various voices be heard in engaging fashion. New Conservatory Theatre Center, which presented Dawkins’ “The Homosexuals” in 2015, now has the playwright’s newer play on stage in a strongly acted production that finds its way to a happy ending without necessarily defining what

constitutes a happy ending for these characters. Inasmuch as David is a commitment-phobe, it’s no surprise that he’s ready to flee in horror at the mention of marriage. He’s not at all happy that he’s being pressed into duty as the best man at his closest friend’s wedding, and that it is a two-groom ceremony only exacerbates his distaste for a ritual that he sees as both heteronormative and a painful reminder of his own parents’ miserable marriage. David is also at an awkward age, floating somewhere between the younger Lois Tema generation that sees gay marriage as a given and an A commitment-phobic bookworm (Steve Rhyne, left) meets an eager young florist older generation that man- (Ryan Vasquez) during a trip to Montreal in “Le Switch” at New Conservatory aged decades-long relation- Theatre Center. ships without it. There are representatives of both in Dawkins mixes humor, romance, bursts of dialogue throughout the his life, and he nearly buckles under and pathos in the scenes that tell not play, including zingers that work the conflicting signals after a bachonly the story of David and Benoit, best at those times when not being elor party leads him to Montreal but also of his twin sister who’s in a obviously lobbed for a laugh. and into the arms of a cuddly young marriage of convenience, his eagerSteve Rhyne projects the apflorist. Everything is merveilleux to-marry best friend, and an older pealing sheepishness of a young until it turns out that the bilingual mentor still mourning the loss of Jimmy Stewart as David, while Ryan Benoit is a nuptial-oriented beau. his longtime lover. There are clever Vasquez creates in Benoit a slightly

smug character of youthful magnetism. Donald Currie is genial company as David’s older friend, and he strongly connects in a poignant showcase scene in which his character explains how he and his late partner found everything they needed without the opportunity to legally marry. Nancy French has a down-toearth centeredness as David’s sister, and their moments together are both refreshing and funny. Brian J. Patterson is abundantly outrageous as the best friend who says he “majored in making a scene.” Director Tim Bruett’s production runs smoothly on Sarah Phykitt’s set of sliding panels illuminated with changing projections. “Le Switch” is a play of comfortable charms and modestly dynamic situations. The big question it asks – “Do you take this man …?” – doesn’t really get an answer unless “It depends” counts as a solution.t “Le Switch” will run at New Conservatory Theatre Center through Dec. 10. Tickets are $25-$50. Call (415) 861-8972 or go to nctcsf.org.

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<< Theatre

16 • Bay Area Reporter • November 16-22, 2017

Bedeviled bargaining

by Richard Dodds

Kenny Yun

Kevin Ralston plays three characters in “Deal with the Dragon,” his solo show about the treacherous bargains we make, now at New Conservatory Theatre Center.

ven the devil needs his diversions. When not manipulating situations to further the careers of his “wards,” he’s busy writing Yelp reviews. “Rule number one is listen to the milk,” he admonishes after an unsatisfactory visit to a coffee shop. But Brenn’s current obsession is an artist named Hunter, and he vicariously feeds off the creative talents he himself does not possess while Hunter increasingly bristles at this demanding presence in his life. “Deal with the Dragon” at first seems a variation on Faustian bargains, but the devil is in the details as this tale takes off in utterly unexpected directions that still find a way to come together in the end. Kevin Rolston’s one-man play began life at the 2014 SF Fringe Festival and has had several developmental stagings around the Bay Area since then. The current run at New Conservatory Theatre Center is billed as its final local production

before moving to New York, and it offers a rich and dense 70 minutes of sublime writing, acting, and staging. Rolston is able to create conversations between the ominously Teutonic mentor and the insecure artist in which he shape-shifts between the characters both physically and vocally. But “Dragon” takes us far beyond these dialogues, as we see Brenn at work in the 16th century, and then in Hunter’s childhood as the future artist’s abusive father punishes him for playing with dolls – and demonstrably showing favor for the prince figurine over the princess – and thereby secures parchment signed in blood assuring Hunter a protector through life. This flashback, itself presented in the form of a fairytale, has it own vivid tone, but it can’t prepare us for a sudden shift to an AA meeting in San Francisco, in which an entirely new character addresses the audience as if it were at the meeting as well. Gandy Schwartz, who happens to be Hunter’s main competition

for an exhibition at a prestigious museum, is a substitute speaker, and the attendees get more than they bargained for. The acerbic queen takes off on a steam-of-consciousness jeremiad about his addictions both illicitly pharmacological and compulsively sexual. This is a genuine tour-de-force monologue that incorporates sardonic wit and selfflagellating revelations. The play’s various tangents find commonality as it proceeds, and only the final scene – a coda, of sorts – loses a tight grip on the audience with a bland moral-to-our-story cheeriness. But otherwise “Dragon,” sharply directed by (and developed with) M. Graham Smith on a bare stage, creates a complex world both scary and funny and completely unpredictable.t “Deal with the Dragon” will run at New Conservatory Theatre Center through Dec. 3. Tickets are $15-$25. Call (415) 861-8972 or go to nctcsf.org.

Fighting ignorance with science by David Lamble

ince its commercial inception in the late 1940s American television has been great at fudging the line between truth and hype, news and corny kitsch. Back in the mid-90s, a rubber-faced, slightly mad-looking guy started popping up on public TV stations across the country. The series, “Bill Nye: The Science Guy,” ran for about 100 episodes between 1994-99. The show stopped, but the comic guy hosting it found himself increasingly in demand to confront a growing number of slick climate-change deniers and money-happy hustlers claiming to showcase the Christian Bible’s “truths” about the origins of life on our gradually warming planet. Here was a job for Bill Nye. Born in 1955, William Sanford Nye was first a student of and later a disciple/mentor to the famous TV science wiz Carl Sagan. Sagan, who developed a large following as a frequent, fun science explainer to “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson, died prematurely of cancer in 1996, leaving a slot to fill: a camerafriendly, non-stuffy “educator” who could take on modern Biblethumpers, including those financing Sun Belt religious theme parks. In truth, on TV Bill Nye looks like a Pee Wee Herman impersonator. Debuting at the 2017 San Francisco International Film Festival, David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg’s flip and witty bio-doc “Bill

Nye: The Science Guy” (opening Friday in San Francisco and at Landmark’s Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley) is a fastpaced dose of arguments aimed at climate-change deniers along with the usual cable-TV lineup of religious crazies and right-wing hustlers. Thankfully, the Cornell University-educated (a Mechanical Engineering degree), Washington D.C.-raised Nye is up to the challenge. The breezy 97-minute mix of old Nye clips and new footage filmed in front of a mostly collegeage bevy of new fans is light on information and heavy on a late-night-TV style mix of gags and oneliners. It’s all perfectly digestible, although there are some genuine scientific experts sprinkled through the proceedings, most notably, Hayden Planetarium spokesman Neil deGrasse Tyson. EvStructure Films eryone on our side of the climate-warming debate Bill Nye takes on modern-day Bible-thumpers in the new film “Bill Nye: The Science Guy.” will enjoy Nye debunking the Bible theme-park skeptic son, who threatens to jump idea, and that Nye has taken on the for science in order to finance tax promoters and especially over to the Nye side. challenge of heading up the Sagancuts for the 1%. For those who the weight-lifting anti-climateFrom a science perspective, one created Planetary Society, at a time become Nye fans at a screening, change guy, who battles to retain is grateful that Nye is a high-profile when Trump and his minions are the new series “Bill Nye Saves the the loyalty of his cute, baseball champion of LightSail, a Carl Sagan busy slashing government funding World” can be found on Netflix.t cap-wearing, blonde 20something

Riot act by David Lamble

einforcing an old adage that truth is both stranger and more compelling than fiction, the riveting new documentary “LA 92” arrives Friday in Bay Area theaters. It features archival film footage that spans a quartercentury of racial unrest – the product, the filmmakers argue, of decades of brutal treatment of minority citizens by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). Directors Dan Lindsay and TJ Martin’s strategy is to let meticulously edited TV news footage walk us through 25 years of escalating violence inflicted by a mostly white police force on the predominantly African American

residents of LA’s sprawling South Central district. The real power of “LA 92” results from the filmmakers allowing its real-life cast to tell their own stories. This includes the city’s first black mayor (and former LAPD officer) Tom Bradley; the verbally abusive, bullying white police chief Daryl Gates; soft-spoken victim Rodney King; two misguided LA judges; a sitting US president; a charismatic young candidate; an outraged black Congresswoman; and LAPD officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell. They all tell their versions of the story of what is still considered America’s largest and most egregious civil unrest, from its mid-1960s origins through the six

mind-numbing days of chaos and bloodshed, vividly depicted in the film’s 114-minute running time. For filmgoers largely unfamiliar with daily life beneath the iconic Hollywood sign, the documentary’s first hour provides a cook’s tour of what the guidebooks mostly ignore. The filmmakers follow a strict chronology, with CBS reporter Bill Stout’s 1965 documentary on that year’s Watts riot bookending a compendium of hard-to-watch footage gathered from the collective archive of the city’s TV newscasts. Warning: “LA 92” contains images of violent unrest, from mobs looting Korean American stores to several viewings of the infamous 1991 home video of the beating

King received from four officers, to video of dead riot victims, to a heartbreaking scene of an elderly black South Central shop owner pleading with mostly young African American rioters to spare his business. The film powerfully connects the dots on the source of the unrest by detailing a little-remembered incident in which a black 15-year-old girl was shot to death by a Korean American convenience-store owner, an event which produced an emotional trial whose verdict was later vacated by a seemingly naive judge. “LA 92” joins a short list of films that unflinchingly depict the racial scars that still prevent any real understanding and comity across decades of truly disturbing urban history.t

Books>>

November 16-22, 2017 • Bay Area Reporter • 17

John Singer Sargent’s painted ladies by Tavo Amador

oes any artist evoke the “Gilded Age” of late 19th-early 20th century America better than John Singer Sargent (18561925)? Most of Sargent’s extraordinary portraits capture his subjects’ assurance that their privileged positions will insulate them from life’s pain. But as Donna M. Lucey shows in “Sargent’s Women: Four Lives Behind the Canvas” (Norton, $29.95), they weren’t protected from tragedy. Sargent was likely homosexual. One client noted his attraction to handsome Venetian gondoliers. Painter JacquesEmile Blanche said his sex life was “notorious in Paris, and in Venice, positively scandalous. He was a frenzied bugger.” While a student, he lived with and painted handsome aristocrat Albert de Belleroche, whom he called “Baby.” Sargent also produced many homoerotic drawings of male nudes. Who are these four women whose lives Lucey summarizes? Elsie Palmer (1872-1955) was born to wealthy Americans. Mother, known as “Queen,” Elsie, and her two younger sisters lived for long periods in baronial English homes. General William Palmer was a railroad tycoon and investor whose work often kept him away from his family for months. Their home, Glen Eyrie, had a spectacular setting below Pike’s Peak in Colorado Springs. Elsie sat for Sargent at 17. In the portrait, dressed in white, she stares defiantly at the viewer – a hint about her personality. Elsie was devoted to Queen, and after her death, cared for her father in Colorado. Dedication to her parents, not marriage, seemed her destiny. But unknown to General Palmer, Elsie and wealthy English writer Leo Myers had met in London, had been corresponding, and saw each other during Elsie’s visits to England. At 35, she told her father that she would marry Myers. The wedding took place on Jan. 30, 1908, at Glen Eyrie. Presumably, the general and Elsie sisters attended. General Palmer may have been disappointed, but he left Elsie a substantial inheritance. Elsie and Leo had a difficult marriage, however. Despite some literary success, he found living an “overrated pleasure” and committed suicide in 1944. She died in England, cared for by a former staffer from Glenn Eyrie. Sargent’s portrait of Sally Fairchild (1869-1960) is atypical – her face is hidden by a blue veil. But Lucey focuses on Sally’s younger, “plain” sister Lucia, a successful portrait miniaturist. She worked to support her socially prominent artist husband, Henry Brown Fuller, who couldn’t earn a living. Lucia battled undiagnosed multiple sclerosis, raised their two children, made excuses for Fuller’s failure to provide, and worried constantly about money. Lucia’s father, Charles Fairchild, was a Harvard graduate and self-made millionaire. He married the daughter of a Boston judge. They had four sons and two daughters. After Fairchild died, the family lost its money. One son, Gordon, the Master at St. Paul’s, a prestigious boys school, was caught in an amorous situation with a student.

Ashamed, he took his life. Another son also killed himself. Sargent painted frail Elizabeth Chanler (1867-1937) when she was 27. She had “the face of a Madonna and the eyes of a child.” But she also had a firm mouth, an indication of surprising strength. Her poor health seemed to preclude marriage. She would be “brave but virginal,” kind, self-sacrificing, the emotional mainstay of the family. She proved those predictions wrong. Her great grandfather was William B. Astor, the wealthiest man in America. She was the eldest of 10 surviving children, and orphaned at 10. Her guardians sent Elizabeth to an exclusive English girls school on the Isle of Wight, which resulted in long separations from her siblings. In 1889, Elizabeth’s best friend, Minna Timmins, married Jack Chapman, a descendent of Chief Justice John Jay. The three were very close. Jack wrote intense letters to Elizabeth. They saw each other – often without Minna – whenever possible. Minna died in 1897, leaving two children. A year later, Elizabeth and Jack wed. They had three children, the last a stillborn daughter. Jack, a highly regarded writer, was emotionally unstable. Once, to punish himself for behaving improperly, he burned his hand off. He had a breakdown in 1901 – just as Elizabeth gave birth to their first child. Yet Elizabeth’s devotion to him and her family never faltered. Isabella Stewart Gardner (18401927) was born in New York City, the eldest of four. Her grandfather ran a bar in Brooklyn. Her father owned a successful linen import business before making a fortune in mining. Despite her undistinguished lineage, she attracted John Lowell Gardner III, a Boston Brahmin whom she married in 1860, to the jealous dismay of the city’s eligible blue-blooded maidens. She moved to Boston, where her nonconforming ways shocked many, but delighted Jack and his mother. Their son, born in 1863, died two years later. The next year, she suffered a miscarriage and learned she couldn’t have any more children, which devastated her. In 1875, Jack’s brother died, leaving three sons. The Gardners became their surrogate parents. They were adventurous world travelers, not tourists. Traveling

stimulated Isabella’s acquisitive passion for art. Her taste was eclectic, but she was especially drawn to Old Master paintings. Her father left her over $1 million, and Jack was wealthy, but she lacked the resources of Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, or J.P. Morgan, rivals in acquiring art. Nonetheless, she had a keen eye, relied on experts (notably Bernard Berenson), and amassed a collection that remains remarkable. It’s housed in the eponymous museum she built to her specifications. Sargent’s 1888 portrait of her met with disapproval from Boston’s blue bloods, but delighted Isabella. She flaunts her trim figure, bare shoulders, fantastic jewels, notably the priceless pearls that circle her small waist. She wasn’t a conventional beauty, but made the most of what she had. Artist and sitter clashed initially, but later became good friends. He painted her again, after she suffered several strokes. She’s draped in white, concealing her frailty, her expression serene. These women showed great independence and courage in an era that didn’t expect either from them. One can only wonder at the other stories behind Sargent’s magnificent portraits.t

CAISSIE LEVY

MICHAEL FEINSTEIN

NORM LEWIS

Nov. 16 – 18

Nov. 29 – Dec. 3

Dec. 8 – 10

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<< Music

18 • Bay Area Reporter • November 16-22, 2017

See-through ‘Lulu’ by Tim Pfaff

t often has been said that Berg’s Lulu was asking for it. Performers of the role – many of whom volunteer that singing Lulu has, for various reasons, changed them – wave off that allegation when they even acknowledge it. Lulu is an archetype who has a way of showing up when summoned. She’s back to remind us that our day is, once again, hers, and that unconsidered submission to Eros is the path to soul death. As if on cue, when sexual assault charges and denials roil the airwaves, along comes the “Lulu” we’ve been waiting for. Well, some of us anyway. BelAir’s new video release (DVD/ Blu-ray) of Dmitri Tcherniakov’s production of “Lulu” for the Bavarian State Opera settles a good many scores. The Tcherniakov production achieves its singular clarity almost literally, with its savvy use of moveable Plexiglas panels. In one performance Marlis Petersen, the perpetual-motion Lulu of this production and, until recently, of our time, slammed into one of them, nearly ending prematurely her 100-performance run with the

role, which would have been tragic while somehow essentially Luluish. Seeing it is like cleaning your “Lulu” glasses. Berg’s uncompleted but fully sketched 1935 opera was first performed in its full three acts in Friedrich Cerha’s masterly completion in Paris in 1979. Berg’s score, if incomplete, left detailed instructions about how “Lulu” should look as well as sound. But from

that belated Paris “premiere,” all manner of accretions have accumulated like plaque on Berg’s libretto. In Tcherniakov’s seethrough staging, they have fallen off like birds flying into plate glass, dropping broken-necked. (One of the truer stagings was San Francisco Opera’s in 1989, a Lotfi Mansouri production with Ann Panagulias – the smartest, most dramatically multifaceted and musically accurate Lulu in my long experience of the opera – as one of the pioneering proponents of the idea that Lulu was more than self-absorbed slut. Even the great Teresa Stratas allowed her stage allure, equal parts sex and danger, to re-vamp the “old” Lulu.) Petersen, whose farewell appearances in the role at the Met last year were obscured by William Kentridge’s cluttered production, is transfixing throughout this occasionally glaringly clear production, lit potently by Gleb Filshtinsky. She’s been vocally more true elsewhere, but by this 2015 staging she’s at her most penetrating dramatically. The physical acting in Act III, Scene 1 is as good as you’ll witness on an opera stage. There her drunken (and still champagne-swilling) Lulu exhibits,

on the turn of a dime, Lucille Balllevel comedy and the convulsive spasms of a torture victim. She has drilled so far down into the core of this complex character that the far more famous mirror aria of the first act and the “Lulu-Lied” of the second yield right-of-place to the short Act III monologue. There she tells us, plain as can be, in matters of Eros what she must not submit. Threatened with deportation to a brothel, she declares, “I cannot sell the one thing that is truly mine.” I’ve heard out lesbians at the top of their vocal games sing memorable Geschwitzes. While I don’t know Daniela Sindram’s orientation, she’s the first that has seemed to me a credible lesbian, and she fully captures the character’s pathos and plight. The two women lead a cast without a single deficiency and several clear standouts. Rainer Trost’s sexy painter is uncommonly sympathetic, and his reappearance in the final scene as Lulu’s second john (Berg’s “Neger,” minus the blackface) is meted out in a few telling strokes that make him arguably more sinister than her other two clients. While I’ve been indifferent to Bo Skovus in the past, his Dr. Schoen/Jack the Ripper is easily the best, most developed I’ve seen live.

Tcherniakov’s rich working of his concept (as usual, he also designed the sets) never stands in the way of singer-direction at its most differentiated and evolved. That first scene of the last act is probably the most intricate, difficult ensemble in all of opera. (Berlin recently solved its abundant problems by cutting the entire, crucial episode.) It’s not just a prodigy of stagecraft, it’s an actualization of the human menagerie Berg promises in the Prologue. Without cuts or a hint of rushing, it’s the fastest “Lulu” I’ve seen, if only because it never takes a breath. It lets the ambiguities, contradictions and blunt declamations of the text come at you exactly the way they do in real life, far too fast to sort out. Nearly a century later the piece is still nearly too hot to handle. While allowing the fleeting moments of onstage “sex” to regain their shock value, these artists together trace the inevitably deadly consequences of sex too readily loosed and surrendered to. Characteristically, conductor Kirill Petrenko touches both the absolute zero and the hot running lava of the music, and every distinct, clearly audible note in-between, without once reminding you that he’s even there.t

this year. If there’s any musical justice you’ll be up all night, dancing to the song on repeat. The dance atmospherics don’t stop there. The War on Drugs offer longer-thanaverage songs, including “You Don’t Have To Go” and “Thinking of a Place” (clocking in at 11:11), that never bore the listener.

It’s heartbreaking how wrong the vault-raiders got it on the posthumous Michael Jackson dance-music compilation Scream (Legacy/Epic). Recycling material from some of Jackson’s most disastrous releases, including embarrassments such as Invincible (turns out he wasn’t, after all), Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix, and The Jacksons’ Victory (the misguided album the brothers made following Michael’s Thriller success), the collection overlooks far better dance-oriented material in favor of weak selections “Threatened,” “Dangerous” and “Unbreakable,” in which he substituted hiccups and squeals for actual singing. The White Panda Mash-Up “Blood on the Dancefloor X Dangerous” is the opposite of a bonus track. Almost 10 years ago, Jacksonville’s Black Kids’ eagerly anticipated debut album received a soulcrushing review from hipster music site Pitchfork, leading to departures and side projects. The band returns with the ironically named Rookie. Black Kids bring the 21st-century version of an 80s dance party on “Iffy” and “In a Song.” “V-Card” and the hilarious “Obligatory Drugs” are also vaguely 80s retro. But nothing will prepare you for the joyous dance track “Natural Born Kissers,” a song so clubby you can practically taste the lip-gloss and smell the poppers. Proving that there’s more to Alaska than Sarah Palin and her clan, Portugal The Man gets all the way down and all the way funky on Woodstock (Atlantic). “Number One” incorporates elements from Richie Havens’ “Freedom,” the “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child” song the late singer-songwriter performed at Woodstock. “Live in the Moment” has a bouncy beat, and “Feel It Still” dances us all the way from 1966 to 86. Hips will also find “Mr. Lonely” and “Rich Friends” hard to resist.t

More tea dance tunes by Gregg Shapiro

fter pulling off a retirement stunt that would make Cher blush, LCD Soundsystem returns with the illusory American Dream (DFA/Columbia). Although it’s not

as immediately irresistible as 2007’s Sound of Silver or 2005’s eponymous debut disc, American Dream does manage to push almost all the buttons for which LCD Soundsystem has become beloved. From the filtered clang and multitude of

synths on opener “Oh Baby,” James Murphy makes it clear that he’s back and he means business. “Other Voices” is a funky workout featuring other voices including co-songwriter Nancy Whang. The Bowie-esque “Change Yr Mind” and “Tonite” sound good. Murphy also proves he can rock hard on “Call the Police” and “Emotional Haircut.” 21st-century gay dance-music legends Hercules and Love Affair, led by Andy Butler, have a long history of collaborating with brilliant guest artists. Trans superstar Anoni (FKA Antony) could be heard on the first album, Consolidated’s Mark Pistel appeared on the second, and 2014’s The Feast of the Broken Heart featured gay singer-songwriter John Grant. So it’s not all that surprising to hear hipster diva Sharon Van Etten on the opening title track of Omnion (Big Beat/Atlantic). The real dance party begins shortly thereafter on “Controller” and continues through “Rejoice,” “Wild Child” and “Through Your Atmosphere.” Aussie electro-pop band Cut Copy cuts and copies the tropical trend on “Standing in the Field,” the first track on its latest album Haiku from Zero (Astralwerks/Cutting). “Counting Down” offers a friendly embrace to 80s wave, and “Black Rainbows” is a colorful dance track. After arriving out of nowhere and burning up the charts with “Pumped Up Kicks” from its 2011 debut album Torches, Foster the People made the mistake of deviating from what made it popular in the first place on its slumping sophomore release Supermodel. Consider it a lesson learned, as FTP returns to its rhythmic roots on Sacred Hearts Club (Columbia). “Loyal Like Sid & Nancy,” “Static Space Lover” and the dance rock of “Lotus Eater” will keep the people moving. A Deeper Understanding (Atlantic) by The War on Drugs opens with “Up All Night,” one of the most remarkable dance tunes you’ll hear

For more than 25 years, British trio Saint Etienne, with lead vocals by Sarah Cracknell, has been making some of the best dance music for your ears and feet in marvelously updated 60s Britpop. That’s what makes Home Counties (Heavenly/ PIAS) such an anomaly. The focus has shifted away from the club to the living room. Eleven of the 16 musical tracks lean towards Saint Etienne’s vintage style. But the trio doesn’t entirely abandon its dancefloor inclinations on “Magpie Eyes” and “Heather.”

TV>>

November 16-22, 2017 • Bay Area Reporter • 19

Counting up LGBTQ representation by Victoria A. Brownworth

here’s good news, bad news, and worse news this week. The good news is GLAAD released their annual report for the 2017-18 season on LGBTQ representation on TV, and there are more LGBTQ characters than ever (read the full report at GLAAD.org). As we’ve been writing here for over 20 years, more of us behind the camera mean more of us in front of the camera. We would love to have GLAAD add showrunners, producers and directors to their annual list, because it is also a good way to chart the progress of LGBTQ characterizations. A handful of showrunners – Ryan Murphy, Shonda Rhimes, Greg Berlanti, Bryan Fuller and Lee Daniels – can be credited with a third of those regular LGBTQ characters. More queer or, in the case of Rhimes, queerfriendly showrunners, and there will be more LGBTQ characters. GLAAD reports that out of 901 series regular characters appearing on scripted primetime broadcast this season, 58 (6.4%) were identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer, making it the highest percentage GLAAD has found in the history of this 20-year report. There were an additional 28 recurring LGBTQ characters. The number of regular LGBTQ characters counted on scripted primetime cable increased to 103, and recurring characters increased to 70, making for 173 characters, twice as many as broadcast. In streaming, there were 51 LGBTQ regular characters counted in original scripted series on the streaming services Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix, as well as 19 recurring characters. This is an increase of five total characters from last year’s 65 total LGBTQ characters. Representation of bisexuality is fraught. The Chicago Tribune asserted on Nov. 9 that “bisexual people account for the majority of the LGBTQ community.” We would like to see some numbers on that as it’s not our personal experience over many years as an LGBTQ activist, but if true, it makes GLAAD’s report dispiriting, to say the least. GLAAD notes bisexual+ characters make up 28% of the LGBTQ characters tracked across all platforms (broadcast, cable, streaming originals), a slight decrease from last year. These characters still heavily skew toward women (75 women, 18 men). If what the Tribune reports is accurate, then bisexuals+ are even more underrepresented than gay men and lesbians. We would add to GLAAD’s report that all TV venues still have problems distinguishing between lesbian and female bisexual characterizations, something that angered bisexual actress Sara Ramirez and kept her from returning to ABC. The most recent example is on Ramirez’ former show, “Grey’s Anatomy,” where Arizona’s new girlfriend is suddenly kissing men when she was introduced to us as lesbian. Ramirez’ character, Arizona’s former wife Callie, was always bisexual. Bisexual should be its own category, not a default for when shows want to move a lesbian character in a different narrative direction. That’s not how lesbianism works in real life. Trans representation was up this year, with 17 regular and recurring transgender characters tracked across all three platforms. (This doesn’t count several unscripted shows featuring trans persons.) Of those, nine are trans women, four are trans men, and four are non-binary, a new category in the report, since

there had never been a non-binary character on TV before “Billions” Taylor Mason, played by non-binary actor Asia Kate Dillon. There are also two asexual characters, which had never been counted before, on “Bojack Horseman” and “Shadowhunters.” As we assert every year, the bad news is these are still awful numbers. We’re not sure how GLAAD counts, for example, the death toll among lesbian characters, which, as we have reported, is egregious. More than 50 lesbian and bisexual female characters have been killed off in the past few years on all three venues. This past week alone, another Lesbian actor Ellen Page says director young lesbian character, this Brett Ratner outed her. one on “Scandal,” was killed off. Yasmeen was a Middle Eastern they are represented. Marcus (Ben Muslim, too, niece of the President Daniels) on Fox’s superb thriller of Bashran, which goes to our other “The Exorcist” is perhaps the most complaint that often shows create complex gay man on the tube: a queer characters of color for virtue handsome, sexy, butch ex-priest with signaling, only to dispense with no pedophile past who is attracted them, eliding both a lesbian or gay both to his fellow priest, Father character and a character of color. Tomas (the gorgeous Alfonso HerThere’s more bad news from rera) and another ruggedly handGLAAD: Women only represent some middle-aged scientist. This is a little over 40% of scripted chara leading character in a show where acters, but the U.S. Census has put two of three leads are a Latino (Herwomen at between 51-52% of the rera) and Asian (Korean-born John population. Cho). Of the supporting characters As we have reported, racial ditwo are black, one is Asian, one is versity is just as awful. A third of lesbian, three are disabled, and all are Americans are non-white: black, seamlessly engaged in the storyline. Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, NaWhich means it can be done. tive American. Where are the repThe same is true of Shonda resentations on screen? “Empire,” Rhimes’ programming, which has “Star,” “black-ish,” “Fresh Off the always had not just a racial balance Boat,” “How to Get Away with Mur(Rhimes is black), but LGBTQ der,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” characters and storylines. Currently “Orange Is the New “Scandal” has longtime lead cast Black,” “The Exorcist,” member Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry), “Madam Secretary,” who is now the first openly gay Vice the “American Horror President, involved in a relationship Story” series, “Unbreakwith millionaire Fenton Glackland able Kimmy Schmidt,” (Dean Norris). Cyrus has always “Jane, the Virgin,” “The been gay, and his gayness has always Bold Type,” all have been part of the storyline, including LGBTQ characters of his two weddings. color. Next year “Pose” Maintaining fully developed and “Versace” will LGBTQ characters is vital. The feature gay and trans characters of re-boot of NBC’s once-groundcolor. breaking sitcom “Will & Grace” But as GLAAD reports, racial has been surprisingly important. diversity of LGBTQ characters Not only is the show still funny, but “remains an area of concern.” Of with the cast being between 47-58 the 70 LGBTQ characters counted in age, these are middle-aged folks. on streaming originals, 77% were LGBTQ isn’t just about coming-out white. All three platforms tracked stories anymore. There are young here (broadcast, cable, streaming characters like Frankie (Hannah originals) lacked significant numAlligood) on “Better Things” who bers of LGBTQ characters of color. is obviously lesbian or non-binary, Think about how many shows have and we are just waiting to see the all-white casts. Yet we remember 13-year-old reveal who she is. There quite well how hysterical people are the characters in every other age got when “black-ish” debuted on group, including bisexual leads like the top network, ABC, with an allViola Davis on “HTGAWM” who black cast. Still one of the funniest couldn’t be more openly sexual with of all sitcoms, and has three LGBTQ both women and men. While gay characters. men continue to be largely sexually GLAAD also reports that while neutered (think Cam and Mitchell regular primetime broadcast charon “Modern Family”), some showacters counted who have a disabilrunners have made it a point to ity slightly increased to 1.8% (we show explicit gay and lesbian sex. assume wholly due to “The Good So it’s good news there are more Doctor,” “Speechless” and “The Exrepresentations of LGBTQ people orcist”), that’s still far fewer than the on TV, but it’s bad news because so actual number of Americans with many of those characters still are disabilities, which the CDC puts at marginalized. Do better, everyone. one in five. And there are only two characters with HIV on the entire Abuse roll call TV landscape. (Newsflash, as World That could be the dictate for AIDS Day is only two weeks away: the “worse news” part of the week, AIDS is still a thing.) which is the now-daily reveal that Seeing us on the small screen has actors and showrunners are sexual advanced people’s image of us as abusers, pedophiles and rapists. The normalized in the culture. It’s been list of victims, straight, bisexual and 20 years since that lesbian wedding queer, is growing. These women on “Friends,” and now we have fully and men have not just been abused, integrated LGBTQ characters (and they’ve been frightened into silence to a lesser degree, actors) on the tube by powerful men. at every age level, from the comingLast month we outed comeof-age stories we’ve seen on shows dian Louis C.K. as a serial abuser like “The Fosters” to Connor asking of women in this column and cited Oliver (who is Latinx and HIV+) to lesbian comedian Tig Notaro’s intermarry him in a romantic moment views with The Daily Beast. The New this past week on “HTGAWM.” York Times did an expose, and on It’s not just how many LGBTQ Nov. 10 the comedian acknowledged characters are on the tube, it’s how the allegations about him were true.

Even his close friends like Pamela Adlon, a long-time collaborator with the comedian, were stunned. Her statement to her fans sounded like someone who had just been notified of the death of a loved one. Two weeks ago it seemed that only Anthony Rapp had been sexually assaulted by Kevin Spacey. Now a half-dozen men, including Harry Dreyfuss, son of actor Richard Dreyfuss, have also come forward with allegations toward the star of “House of Cards.” Ironically or not, Richard Dreyfuss’ public support of his son’s revelation led to an accusation against him by LA writer Jessica Teich that he had sexually harassed her. In a statement to Vulture, Dreyfuss acknowledged being “an asshole” to women when his career was at its peak. Dreyfuss asserts he was oblivious to women objecting to his advances. He acknowledges forcing Teich to kiss him, denies exposing himself and describes their encounters as “a complicated flirting ritual.” The revelations against Hollywood men run the gamut from the rape accusations against Harvey Weinstein to the accusations of pedophile assaults of underage teens by Spacey to the sexual harassment and assaults of women and some men by male actors, directors and showrunners. Among the recent victims are actress Portia de Rossi, wife of Ellen DeGeneres, who revealed that actor Steven Seagal had exposed himself to her during an audition. De Rossi’s allegations were followed by others from Julianna Margulies, Eva LaRue, Rae Dawn Chong, Lisa Guerrero and Jenny McCarthy. Director Brett Ratner has been accused of a panoply of abuse from sexual harassment to rape. He denies all the allegations. On Nov. 10, Ellen Page, lesbian actor known for films “Juno” and “Inception,” accused Ratner of “encouraging another woman to have sex with her,” saying, “You should fuck her to make her realize she’s gay” during the making of “X-Men: The Last Stand.” Page said Ratner made the comment about her being gay during a cast-and-crew “meet and greet” before filming began. “I was a young adult who had not yet come out to myself. He ‘outed’ me with no regard for my well-being.” Page, who has been an LGBTQ activist since coming out in 2014 at 26, also detailed other experiences of sexual harassment as well as her regret in acting for Woody Allen, who has been accused by his daughter Dylan Farrow of sexual assault. Page asserted an unnamed

director “fondled” her leg under a table when he took her to dinner at the age of 16, telling her, “You have to make the move, I can’t.” She continued: “I was sexually assaulted by a grip months later. I was asked by a director to sleep with a man in his late 20s and to tell them about it.” Page wrote, “Let’s remember the epidemic of violence against women in our society disproportionately affects low-income women, particularly women of color, trans and queer women and indigenous women, who are silenced by their economic circumstances and profound mistrust of a justice system that acquits the guilty in the face of overwhelming evidence.” With allegations surfacing on Nov.10 against beloved gay actor and Trump nemesis George Takei as well as against actor Jeffrey Tambor, who has won consecutive Emmys for his groundbreaking role as the 70+ transgender Maura in Amazon’s “Transparent,” a new hashtag sprung up on Twitter, following the #MeToo hashtag actress Alyssa Milano started last month to accommodate women’s stories of sexual harassment and abuse. The new hashtag: #NotHimToo seems to address what many of us are feeling as we wonder what we can watch and what we can’t now that we know the provenance of some of our favorite work. Andrew Kreisberg has brought LGBTQ characters to the tube as a showrunner on “Arrow,” “Supergirl,” “The Flash” and others. Kreisberg was suspended late in the day on Nov. 10 by Warner Bros. after allegations from 15 women and four men. Warner Bros. issued a statement, “We have suspended Mr. Kreisberg and are conducting an internal investigation. We take all allegations of misconduct extremely seriously, and are committed to creating a safe working environment for our employees and everyone involved in our productions.” It’s laudable that Hollywood is finally listening to victims. Less laudable is that it took men speaking out about being abused by other men to get anyone to listen to women who had been complaining for years, only to get raised eyebrows and shrugs. The era of the casting couch, which we now know was really just a rape room, should have ended decades ago. That literally hundreds of actors and writers have been living with the impact of these assaults, sometimes for decades, should be a source of outrage to all. We, the viewers, are left to figure out what we can watch and what we can’t, knowing now what we cannot unknow. So for the good, the bad and the very ugly, you know you must stay tuned.t

<< DVD

20 • Bay Area Reporter • November 16-22, 2017

Kelly Reichardt’s inner landscapes by Brian Bromberger

elly Reichardt, like caviar, is an acquired taste. An indie auteur filmmaker, she’s been called the poet of open spaces and silence, best-known for her movies “Old Joy,” “Wendy and Lucy,” and “Meek’s Cutoff.” Her latest and perhaps best feature, “Certain Women” (as writer-director-editor), has just been released on DVD by Criterion. A native of Portland, Oregon, her previous films have often focused on the Northwest. Based on Montana-born Maile Meloy’s short stories, “Certain Woman” takes place in Livingston, Montana. With its opening scene of a cargo train careening into town, the West’s wide vistas are the

Teotihuacan

From page 13

The contents of this impressively mounted presentation come courtesy of archaeological discoveries, some quite recent, at the ancient metropolis of Teotihuacan. Venerated by the Aztecs, the much-visited eight-square-mile site in Mexico was established in the first century BCE about 30 miles outside what’s now Mexico City. At its apex in 400 CE, the highly organized complex was the epicenter of cultural, economic and religious life in Mesoamerica, where more than 100,000 multiethnic peoples once resided and thrived. Amidst the bustling city’s wide boulevards and sprawling compounds, colossal pyramids were erected. The three biggest of them: the Feathered Serpent, whose surface was covered in carvings of its slithering namesake; and the larger Moon

and Sun pyramids, yielded the bulk of show’s more than 200 artifacts, including remnants of grand building facades carefully resurrected in the galleries, elaborate “incensarios,” jade burial offerings and sculptures, ritual and utilitarian. The goggleeyed, decidedly unfriendly visage of a perturbed storm god, a central deity branded on a multitude of vessels, is a ubiquitous presence, along with ceramic representations of the Old Fire God with ornate headdress, Maize gods evoked in enigmatic masks in an array of materials, and a ceramic avian effigy that’s part agitated rooster, part cook pot. In 2003, the remarkable discovery of a man-made tunnel as long as a football field underneath the Feathered Serpent pyramid led to a chamber containing a treasure trove of objects. The sacred passageway symbolizes the cosmic underworld. Built during an era of violent con-

setting for accounts of three ordinary women surviving isolation and loneliness. All three stories center on a couple at a critical stage. We can feel the frustration and heartache these women experience, less in dialogue, more on their faces and between the words they speak. Inner turmoil is mirrored in the grand vistas of the prairie and mountains. The first segment features a lawyer, Laura (Laura Dern), who, following a lunch tryst with her married lover, meets with a frustrated client, Fuller (Jared Harris), a carpenter trying to get workmen’s comp for a debilitating accident, a case he has virtually no chance of winning. Laura convinces a lawyer from a neighboring town to tell him the truth, which Fuller finally believes. But he takes desperate mea-

sures to prove he’s been wronged, putting them both in danger. The second episode zeroes in on the tightly wound Gina Lewis (Michelle Williams), whose home life is unsatisfying. Her husband (James LeGros) is Laura’s lover, and her sullen daughter barely talks to her. Gina attempts to build a cottage from native materials to cover up her messy life. She tries to convince an old family friend, Albert (a superb Rene Auberjnois), to sell her sandstone blocks, and feels guilty about exploiting him. The final, most satisfying section follows young ranchhand Jamie (Lily Gladstone) tending animals during the winter on a farm where her only companion is an adorable Corgi. She stumbles into an evening class on education law, taught by Beth (Kristen Stewart), who must drive four hours to and fro Livingstone. Jamie is attracted to her, and they meet at a diner after each class.

They settle into a limbo between friendship and relationship when Beth abandons teaching because of the long drive. Jamie decides to seek her out one last time. Reichardt’s languid pacing lets the camera linger on car trips, farm chores, or leisurely meals. Her women are not heroic but independent. The acting is top-notch from veterans Dern, Williams, and Stewart. The surprise is newcomer Native American actress Lily Gladstone, who steals the movie. Her naturalistic acting conveys suppressed desire. “Certain Women” is a study in how missed connections drive our behavior. Reichardt is intrigued by whether we move forward or hold onto the past. Christopher Blauvelt’s cinematography captures the drabness of their lives. Ambient sounds – a train horn, the horses neighing, a dog’s bark – amplify the inner and outer landscapes.t

quest (ca. 250 CE), the site became a burial ground that accommodated over 200 human sacrifices. Victims of this ritual bloodlust wore necklaces of human teeth and jawbones; the position of their remains, we’re told, suggests they were bound before they met their gruesome fate. What a way to go. Spreading across some 500,000 square feet, the four-tiered Sun pyramid, at 200 feet high, is the vast complex’s largest structure, and purportedly one of the most massive in the ancient world. Some extraordinary pieces were excavated there, like a smooth, iridescent, classically proportioned standing figure of variegated greenstone, no less stunning for missing its head, both arms and portions of its legs. On the monumental end of the spectrum, there’s not quite half of a circular stone relief with a skull at the center, unearthed near an altar.

Among the precious objects retrieved from the Moon pyramid: a primitive mosaic burial figurine surrounded by a circular firing squad of 18 undulating serpents or blades carved from obsidian. Upon the completion of the seventh phase of the pyramid in 400 CE, there was yet another orgy of human and animal sacrifices to appease the gods. But all good things must come to an end. The Xalla compound, a center of the ruling elite with numerous plazas, temples and architecture adorned with statuary, was devastated by a roaring fire in 550 CE that engulfed the core of the city. One of the conflagration’s casualties was a growling mosaic jaguar forged from volcanic stone, emerging from a palace entryway with paws extended forward. Intentionally dismantled and its fragments scattered, the colorfully painted symbol of feline power has since been reassembled. The last

man standing, though, may have been the haunting, flattened marble sculpture of a naked, hollow-eyed male figure just under five-foot-tall, displayed in the final gallery. In addition to being singed, it was mutilated and smashed into 160 pieces, apparently destroyed by an intruder who knew where to find it. Evidence indicates it’s an embodiment of a ritual linked to the god of war in which a captive military officer was stripped, lashed to scaffolding and finished off with arrows. The cataclysmic event signaled the beginning of the end for Teotihuacan. In rapid succession, the regional behemoth collapsed, its population fled, and it ceased to be the dominant force it had been for 400 years. Fortunately, the site’s legacy, preserved and mined by a team of diligent archaeologists, lives on.t Through Feb. 11. famsf.org.

Jorge Pérez de Lara Elías, courtesy of FAM/SF

View of the Sun Pyramid looking east, part of “Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire” now on exhibit at the de Young Museum.

My Friend Dahmer

From page 13

The film is based on the 220page graphic novel of the same name by Derf Backderf, who was Dahmer’s classmate in Ohio from seventh grade to their high school graduation in 1978, the year of the first murder. Backderf, known for his 22-year Cleveland-based syndicated comic “The City,” brings a fever-dream draftsmanship to his memories of an angst-ridden outcast who’d chug a six-pack before the start of a school day. Backderf ’s role in this true story is ironic friend, enabler, and fellow subversive. His

highly stylized and intensely felt depiction of a desperately depressed young Dahmer arouses fear and pity. Young Jeffrey was obsessed with road kill, which he collected and subjected to chemical baths that dissolved flesh and revealed bones. His father, an analytic chemist, encouraged his son in these gruesome, borderline scientific exercises. Techniques gained from these early experiments were later applied to the corpses of the 17 young men who met their death at his hands. The lumpy liquid could be flushed down the toilet, while the telltale bones were broken into bits and scattered in the backyard. Eventually, he would preserve human

specimens in jars and his infamous refrigerator, where police discovered them in 1991. But all these spine-tingling, tabloid-selling necrophiliac obsessions are merely potential when we meet our anti-hero on a schoolbus, a gorgeous man-child chafing at the oppressive discipline imposed on his burgeoning manhood. For 102 minutes we watch a melancholy Jeffrey listlessly endure a history class, lunch in the school cafeteria, parental arguments in the kitchen, his father’s punitive guidance, his mother’s nonsensical advice, their divorce, and a hollow-hearted prom. His only moments of shared human pleasure are anarchic: for

the amusement of Backderf and his buddies, he stages fake epileptic attacks at school and in the mall. Ross Lynch, 21, has the perfectly symmetrical, carefully sculpted features, wide-set eyes, and thick blond hair to play young Jeffrey. He’s got the oversized 70s wire-frames, tight nylon shirts, bell-bottom jeans, and chukka boots. He hunches welldeveloped shoulders so his arms hang in front of his thighs like an awkward ape, while his deadly deadpan, holding all passion in reserve, is relieved only by swiveling eyes scoping out the minefield of his catastrophic adolescence. His Dahmer teeters on the brink of parody only because everyone else behaves

like they’re in a situation comedy. Writer-director Marc Meyers, in reverently adapting the dread-filled visual source material, opted for a blandly comic, casual realism with faithful period details like the shiny new crimson VW bug Jeffrey uses to snag an unwary hitchhiker in the final shot. Mom’s mental problems are glossed as eccentricity; skittish Anne Heche and slack-jawed Dallas Roberts have the gravitas of Dennis the Menace’s parents. This superficial treatment of an American tragedy may pass as a condemnation of superficial American culture, but the opportunity to make a film as rivetingly creepy-compassionate as the comic has been blown.t

On the Town

Sibling super-singers

Shining Stars Vol. 47 • No. 46 • November 16-22, 2017

www.ebar.com V www.bartabsf.com

Gary Numan

Your musical introduction to the Apocalypse by Michael Flanagan

ary Numan continues to inspire a diverse world of musicians, from Trent Reznor to the Foo Fighters. Unlike so many other musicians who were working in the 1980s, he never stopped. When the spotlight left him in the ‘90s, he continued to build his craft. You have an opportunity to come along for a marvelous ride with a musician at the peak of his powers when he performs at the Fillmore on November 19. See page 23 >>

Gary Numan in a video still from his latest single, “My Name is Ruin”

On the Tab Nov. 16-23

ow much fun can you fit in In your pants? In your pu one week? rse? In your longjohns? Find ou dant nightlife listings. We t with our abun’re packing.

Georg Lester

e 22 >> Listings on pag

Fri 17

Winter Onesie Party @ Lookout

{ THIRD OF THREE SECTIONS }

<< On the Tab

22 • Bay Area Reporter • November 16-22, 2017

Juanita MORE! DJs, along with Ms. Jackson & Elaine Denham, at a benefit for The Women's Building. $10. 2pm8pm. 2369 Market St. cafesf.com

IJWFD @ Space 550 Locoya Hill's sixth anniversary of I Just Wanna Fuckin' Dance, with DJs Phil Romano, Russ Rich, Evan J-Sun and Dan De Leon; hosts Sister Roma and Bebe Sweetbriar, Locoya's birthday celebration. $25. 10pm-5am. 550 Barneveld St. www.locoyahill.com

Mother @ Oasis

Fri 17 Amanda Miguel and Ana Victoria at Club Papi @ Club 21, Oakland

Edited for space. For full listings, visit www.ebar.com/bartab

Thu 16 Caissie Levy @ Feinstein's at the Nikko The talented broadway singer-actor ( Frozen, Hair) premieres her new cabaret concert. $38-$75 ($20 food/ drink min.). 8pm. Thru Nov 18. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. caissielevy.com

Creature X @ The Stud Sweet Tooth, Tyler Holmes and Siobhan Aluvalot, with psychedelic sounds, art installations and performances by Persia, Miss J and Yves St. Croissant. $5-$10. 10pm4am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Daddy Saddle @ Lone Star Saloon Women's night, with DJs Juna & Jamale, Melange Shake and Birthday Twin. $5. 9pm-2am. 1354 Harrison St. www.lonestarsf.com

Circle Jerk @ Nob Hill Theatre

Friday Nights at the Ho @ White Horse Bar, Oakland

Porn super-hung stud Rafael Alencar leads the very interactive downstairs sex party, before his headlining shows on Nov. 17 & 18 ($25, 8pm & 10pm). $10. 9pm. 729 Bush St. at Powell. 397-6758. thenobhilltheatre.com

Dance it up at the historic (and still hip) East Bay bar. 9pm-2am. 6551 Telegraph Ave. whitehorsebar.com

Comedy Returns @ El Rio Karen Ripley, Joe Nguyen, Bob McIntyre, Angie Krass, and Lisa Geduldig share their laughable stand-up talents. $7-$20. 8pm. 3158 Mission St. ElRioNov16.brownpapertickets.com

Cyberotica! @ Oasis Revival of the hilarious 1999 Y2K drag musical by Peter Fogel and Kelly Kittell, about online hookups, chat rooms and AOL-era fun. $25-$35. Thu 8pm. Fri & Sat 7pm. Thru Nov. 18. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

The Dong Show @ Oasis Fudgie Frottage and Tweeka Turner's monthly talent show, with judges Leigh Crow, Mutha Chucka and Kylie Minono; performances by Raya Light, Calvin Decline, Dusty Mayhem, and Meatflap. $10. 10pm. 298 11th St. sfoasis.com

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

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

Hella Gay Comedy @ Club OMG Queer joke night, with host Nasty Ass Bitch. $15. 7pm. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Nick Mulvey @ Swedish American Hall The UK singer-songwriter performs music from his new album, Wake up Now; William Wild opens. $18-$20. 7:30pm. 2174 Market St. https:// www.swedishamericanhall.com

Rafael Alencar @ Nob Hill Theatre The super-hung Brazilian porn stud performs his very interactive solo shows at 8pm & 10pm at the famed strip club. $25. Also Nov. 18. 729 Bush St. at Powell. 397-6758. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

Sexitude PM @ Oasis

Adult content only at the sexy sexinfo-filled quiz show. 7pm-10pm. 388 9th st. www.studsf.com

D'Arcy Drollinger's aerobics disco dance party returns to a nighttime slot, with stretches and exercise, then open dance floor; bring your Spandex and leg warmers! $5. 10pm-2am. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Queer Latinx Social Club @ SF Eagle

Winter Onesie Party @ Lookout

Porno Pub Quiz @ The Stud

Latino/a/x LGBT folks' monthly gathering. 5pm-8pm. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Stung, Temptation @ Slim's The Police and New Order tribute bands, plus Bang On, perform at a benefit for NorCal Fire relief efforts. $16 and up. All ages. 8pm. 333 11th St. slimspresents.com

Sundance Saloon @ Space 550 The Country-Western line-dancing two-stepping dance night. $5. lessons at 5:30pm, dancing til 10:30pm. Also Sundays. 550 Barneveld Ave. www.sundancesaloon.org

Fri 17 Club Papi @ Club 21, Oakland Hip Hop and Latin grooves event, with 3 dance floors, gogos, drag acts, and special retro DJed grooves. Nov. 17: mother-daughter duo Amanda Miguel and Ana Victoria perform. $10-$20. 9pm-4am. 2111 Franklin St., Oakland. www.club21oakland.com

The popular annual fun and sexy longjohns-onesie party, with host Susan Revah, DJ Casey Alva and lots of hot men in PJs. $5 (benefits Planned Parenthood). 9pm-2am. 3600 16th St. at Market. lookoutsf.com

Sat 18 Beatpig @ Powerhouse Juanita MORE! and crew's drag and butch mixed fun night. Nov. 18, a leather fashion drag theme. 10pm2am. $5. 9pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Benn Bacot, Linda Kosut @ Hotel Rex The two vocalists share a jazz, blues and swing cabaret concert with Dave Austin's Trio de Swing. $30-$50. 8pm. 562 Sutter St. societycabaret.com

Daddy Issues @ The Stud Taco Tuesday, Mark O'Brien and Adam Kraft DJ the 2nd edition of the daddywelcoming dance night, with gogo studs, too. $5-$10. 10pm-2am. 388 9th St. www.studsf.com

Heklina's popular drag show, with special guests and great music themes (No bachelorette parties admitted! Yay!) Nov. 18 is a Prince tribute night. $10. 10pm-3am (11:30pm show). 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Move for MENA @ Midnight Sun Fundraiser for queer and trans refugee aide group, with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. $donations. 3pm-7pm. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

Reddroxx @ Lone Star Saloon Cool brews, hot dudes, great tunes. 9pm-2am. 1354 Harrison St. www.lonestarsf.com

Trixie & Katya's High School Reunion @ Castro Theatre Trxie Mattel and Katya perform a drag parody directed by Peaches Christ, followed by a screening of Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion. $30-$60. 3pm & 8pm. 429 Castro St. www.peacheschrist.com

Mon 20 Happy Hour @ The Cinch Happy hour at the historic neighborhood bar. 5pm-8pm. 1723 Polk St. www.cinchsf.com

Komedy Kiki @ The Stud Justin Lucas and Jesus U. BettaWork cohost the queer comedy night. $5$10. 8:30pm-11pm. 388 9th St. studsf.com

Pillows @ Powerhouse Glamamore's drag and crafts party. 9pm-2am, $5. 9pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Spanglish @ Club OMG Spanish and English drag shows and dance music with DJ Carlitos. $5-$10. 9pm-2am. 43 6th St. clubomgsf.com

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

Tue 21 Dragula @ Oasis New weekly screenings of LA's Boulet Brothers dragtastic TV show of ghoulish glamour. No cover. 7pm. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Gooch

Hey, Sugar @ The Café

OutLoud Storytelling @ Oasis 'Peaches and Cream' is the theme this time, at the monthly storytelling series; cast members from Peaches Christ's wild drag shows (Elisabeth Houseman, Ric Ray, Sam Sharkey, Bobby Barber, L Ron Hubby, Martiny) tell tall wiggy tales. $10. 7:30pm. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Sing Out @ Encore Karaoke Lounge Home of drag shows, and hilaraoke karaoke. 9pm-1am. 1550 California St. #2. 775-0442.

Wed 22 B.P.M. @ Club BnB, Oakland Olga T and Shugga Shay's weekly queer women and men's R&B hip hop and soul night, at the club's new location. No cover. 8pm-2am. 2120 Broadway, Oakland. bench-and-bar.com

Miss Kitty's Trivia Night @ Wild Side West The weekly fun night at the Bernal Heights bar includes prizes, hosted by Kitty Tapata. No cover. 7pm-10pm. 424 Cortland St. 647-3099. www.wildsidewest.com

Fri 17 Yves St. Croissant at Creature X @ The Stud

Sun 19 Blessed @ Port Bar, Oakland Carnie Asada's fun drag night with Carnie's Angels Mahlae Balenciaga and Au Jus, plus DJ Ion. 2023 Broadway. www.portbaroakland.com

Disco Daddy @ SF Eagle DJ Bus Stationn John's groovy music and dance post-beer bust party incldes his third tribute to dance music legend Patrick Cowley. $5-$7. 7pm-1am. 398 12th St. at Harrison. sf-eagle.com

Domingo De Escandal @ Club OMG

Game Night, AHS @ SF Eagle

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

Board games, card games and cheap beer. 4pm-2am, plus weekly viewings of American Horror Story: Cult (8pm-11pm) hosted by Thee Pristine Condition. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Femme Brunch @ Balancoire

Hysteria Comedy @ Martuni's

Weekly live music shows with various acts, along with brunch buffet, bottomless Mimosas, champagne and more, at the stylish nightclub and restaurant, with live entertainment and DJ Shawn P. $15-$20. 11am-3pm. After that, Femme T-Dance drag shows at 7pm, 10pm and 11pm. 2565 Mission St. at 21st. 920-0577. balancoiresf.com

Maximo Park @ The Independent

Sunday's a Drag @ Starlight Room Donna Sachet often 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. starlightroomsf.com

Open mic for women and queer comics, with host Irene Tu. 6pm-8pm. 4 Valencia St.

The fun British electro-pop band performs. Gothic Tropic opens. $20-$22. 8pm. 628 Divisadero St. maximopark.com

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

Sat 18 DJ Phil Romano at IJWFD @ Space 550

Pan Dulce @ Beaux The hot weekly Latin dance night with sexy gogo guys, drag divas and more, with Club Papi's Frisco Robbie and Fabian Torres. $7. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Tom Petty Tribute Toy Drive @ The Ivy Room, Albany Enjoy the music of the late rocker performed by almost a dozen musicians, and bring new unwrapped toys to donate to kids effected by the North Bay fires; hosted by Moonshine Maybelline and Lisa-Marie Johnston. $5. 8pm. 860 San Pablo Ave., Albany. ivyroom.com

Thu 23

Thanksgiving Day; some bars and clubs will be closed; call or check their website first. Community Thanksgiving Dinner @ Veterans Building, Guerneville Annual holiday dinner for folks in the Russian River; volunteer, donate and/or dine. 12pm-4pm. (707) 3261257. 16255 First & Church streets, Guenreville. www.russianriver.com

Nap's Karaoke @ Virgil's Sea Room Sing out loud at the weekly least judgmental karaoke in town, hosted by the former owner of the bar. No cover. 9pm. 3152 Mission St. 8292233. www.virgilssf.com

Pot Luck Dinner @ Lone Star Saloon Bring a dish to share at the bear bar's annual feast, with turkeys by Charlie. 2pm-6pm. 9pm-2am. 1354 Harrison St. www.lonestarsf.com

t <<

Feature>>

November 16-22, 2017 • Bay Area Reporter • 23

Gary Numan

From page 21

Anyone who is a fan of Gary Numan is well aware of his forays into science fiction. From early in his career, the song “Down In The Park” (1979) envisioned a technological nightmarish future that included “rape machines.” His new album Savage: Songs From A Broken World addresses a post-apocalyptic world of climate change; intriguing material, and timely. His music video for “My Name is Ruin” visualizes this desert landscape. And while Numan, 59, is straight and married with three daughters, he does acknowledge his legacy as part of the 80s’ New Wave ‘queer’Left: Gary Numan in a promo shot for his Savage tour. ish aesthetic, where his performance Right: Gary Numan on stage in 2016. style inspired many. Not limited by the “retro” category, Numan continues to grow I’m not sure. It’s difficult to know. ply can’t believe that a third of the lished novel about tribalism in a Michael Flanagan: You as a musician. In 2014, when I When I had my period of depresAmerican people are nasty. Talking chaotic world recorded the album during the last interviewed sion I didn’t care about the rest of the with each other is essential. in decline. last election. Did Trump’s electhe British artist, world. Antidepressants level you off That this work tion actually change anything in who now lives in and make you lose interest. was funded by the recording or songs Los Angeles, I It has an anesthetic effect. I a fan-based or did it just emphawas impressed don’t think you care (when pledge camsize the importance of with his pairing you’re depressed). paign shows the work? of introspection that he is workGary Numan: I can’t over depression Could you talk a bit ing with innohonestly say it changed with his indus“And when the sun fell down about the transition vative economanything. The songs are trial sound in And when the moon failed to rise from Splinter to Savage? ic concepts as borrowed for a book I’ve Splinter: Songs sounds darker, well in a changbeen working on for six From A Broken And when the world came apart Splinter but actually Savage is ing musical enyears. I started working Mind. about a much darker vironment. The on two or three songs Savage is yet Where were you? topic. result is stunin 2015 and then Trump a further step With Savage I wanted ning. I was glad appeared and started Were you with me?” in his evolution Gary Numan’s iconic single, “Cars.” to be more filmic. I was to have a contalk about global warmas a musician, trying to find a way to exversation with ing. Before that, the ispairing Middle what I’d written in him about his latest work. sue seemed settled when Eastern sounds with his unpub–“When The World Comes Apart,” press the book. I never meant the world came together for Savage to be aggresin the Paris Accord. Gary Numan sive. For all its dark subject What Trump said was matter people are engaged shocking and fueled my and concerned about their desire to do the work. I needs in this world.t was driven to work on it because of him. The last time I interviewed you, Gary Numan performs at The we discussed depression. Do you Reviewers often mention the Fillmore, Saturday November 19. Me Not You and Nightmare Air think bad times make you more Middle Eastern sound of this open. $30. 8pm. 1805 Geary St. at focused on the world at large album. Did that sound have a Fillmore. garynuman.com and less on your personal mental particular genesis or inspiration? thefillmore.com state? There are two reasons for this. First, I really enjoy Middle Eastern and instrumentation. Second, it was particularly suitable for this album, as in this world both cultures have merged. This world is so desperate that there is no longer a separation of cultures – the distinctions between the cultures have disappeared in the catastrophe. The concept is reflected in the design of the album as well. The font appears Middle Eastern but is English. Although this work is about a very serious topic, it is still quite beautiful, musically speaking. Does it ever seem like a paradox to be writing beautiful music about terrifying topics? (Chuckles) I wanted the music to have an epic feel to it, as it has to do with vast landscapes. I tried to find a musical way to convey that. I wasn’t trying to make it beautiful, just epic. I had a need to highlight the desolation, not the beauty.

Above: Gary Numan and his band backstage before a Cardiff, Wales concert in October 2017. Below: Gary Numan and his daughter Persia check playback during a music video shoot for “My Name is Ruin.”

This time around, you were motivated by a truly dark turn of events: the Trump election. Do you feel that the best (or only) way to react to this is to become active – either in art or politics? I think that every person finds their own path. I’m not a particularly political person, but there is something so unpleasant about what is going on that it’s hard not to be captivated by it. It’s also important to note that I’m British, not American, so I view this all with an outsider’s eyes. But I did watch the election with growing horror. The division was horrid and I couldn’t imagine how it happened. It seemed like it was all about insulting and not talking. So many people are retreating into their own corners and not talking with each other. I sim-

<< On the Town

24 • Bay Area Reporter • November 16-22, 2017

Sparkling support

Gooch

Linda Lee

Left: The Castro Harvey Halo installation. Right: Juanita MORE!, a cute pal, and Donna Sachet at the Harvey Halo lighting.

ith so many natural disasters surfacing all over the world, from hurricanes in Texas, Florida, and the Caribbean to earthquakes in Mexico and Puerto Rico, and rampaging fires in Northern California, it is easy to become overwhelmed and simply throw one’s hands in the air. Look around, however, and you will find people, especially in our LGBTQ Community, organizing events all around you. Last Sunday, the Rainbow World Fund and Out in the Vineyard partnered with generous sponsors local and elsewhere to host Wine Country Rising at the historic home of John Newmeyer. Engaging the help of Gary Virginia, they were able to gather an extensive silent auction, serve Napa and Sonoma wines and Skyy Vodka, and make a genuine contribution to the recovery efforts underway north of us. Chef Michael Bilger of Sessions restaurant in the Presidio provided incredible hors d’oeuvres. The crowd was a veritable who’s who, including Al Baum, James Hollo-

building at the corner of Market and Castro came to life. Forty years ago, Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and 20 years ago, Gilbert Baker’s rainbow flag rose above the Castro neighborhood; now, above the doorway of Soulcycle, tucked into architectural details, is a neon sign reading “Hope Will Never Be Silent,” words of Harvey Milk himself, and rainbow-colored laser lights pierce the night sky. This art installation from Ben Davis and the same Illuminate SF team that lit the Bay Bridge, was unveiled in a community rally with remarks from some of Harvey Milk’s contemporaries and allies, including the Honorable Tom Ammiano, Carol Ruth Silver, and Anne Kronenberg. We watched with Juanita More!, Gary Virginia, Deana Dawn, Ruby Red Munro, Anna Damiani, Linda Lee, Sister Roma, and many others as the laser lights first appeared and Queen’s soaring “We Are the Champions” swept throughout the neighborhood. Some remember clearly the night the lights went out in Georgia; we shall always remember the night the lights came on in the Castro! Parties continued well into the night at The Café, Lookout, Twin Peaks, Q Bar, and The Edge. A clear, warm Saturday afternoon brought out throngs for competing events at Beaux, The Edge, Castro Country Club, and Midnight Sun, where we were committed to raising some money for the Rainbow Honor Walk. By now you may have seen the newest eight bronze plaques installed in the Castro neighborhood sidewalks, now stretching down Market Street. They include markers for Jose Sarria, Sally Ride, Rikki Streicher, Fereydoun Farakzhad, Barbara Jordan, We’Wha, Glenn Burke, and Kiyoshi Kuromiya. Our afternoon fundraiser provided Jello shots, raffle prizes, and a short show with John Weber and Alexis Miranda to gather money for this historic project, unlike anything in any other city. At the reception and unveiling the following Wednesday, the proceeds from this fundraiser and generous gifts from the Empresses of San Francisco and the International Court Council were announced to help fund the bronze plaques of the Rainow Honor Walk. Another sixteen plaques are in the process of being created and put in place, so all financial assistance is appreciated. Ready or not, holiday events get underway, starting tomorrow night, Thursday, November 17, with the Winter Onesie Party benefiting Planned Parenthood at Lookout starting at 9PM. This party is right-

fully described as infamous, and with Suzan Revah involved in its creation, you have every right to expect a sexy, naughty night of revelry! Then, on Monday, November 27, we host the lighting of the Holiday Tree in the Castro right in front of Bank of America, with a family friendly ceremony and special guests the SF Gay Men’s Chorus, SF LGBT Freedom Band, Lesbian/Gay Chorus, and Santa Claus himself. But as they say, “The holidays don’t begin until you’ve seen Donna Sachet’s Songs of the Season!” As you read this column, we are in final preparation for the 25th annual and final Songs of the Season benefiting AIDS Emergency Fund at Halcyon (formerly Beatbox) MondayWednesday, November 27-29. Don’t miss this last series of nights, celebrating the spirit of the holiday season with a musical cabaret, featuring performers Sharon McNight, Brian Kent, Leanne Borghesi, Kippy Marks, Dan O’Leary, Kenny Nelson (in his San Francisco debut), Paula West (Monday night only), Adam Reeves (Tuesday night only), and Jason Brock (Wednesday night only). You’ll laugh, you’ll cheer, and

Jun Donna Hamamoto

way, Deana Dawn, Larry Horowitz, Randy Arnold & Greg Knight, Patrik Gallineaux, Skye Paterson, Matt Buchanan, Roy Hunt, Paula Ryan, William Baird, and Doug Waggener. Hosts Mark Vogler, Gary Saperstein, and Jeff Cotter led a short program, thanking everyone and then singers from Transcendence Theatre Company, who entertained with a rousing set. Don’t miss this group’s annual holiday spectacular in Santa Rosa at the Luther Burbank Center December 1-3. With only a few weeks planning, over $15,000 was raised, another wonderful example of friends helping friends in need and having fun doing it! The Castro was alive with unusual events last week. On a Friday night, Jane Warner Plaza sparkled as the recently installed mechanical flower art glowed with multi-colored lights. The following Wednesday, the long anticipated salute to Harvey Milk atop the Soulcycle

you may even shed a nostalgic tear or two in a magical winter wonderland setting. The grand finale alone will take your breath away. Get your tickets now; we expect three sold out nights. The National AIDS Memorial Grove’s eighth annual Light in the Grove is Thursday, November 30, and honors our champion for civil rights Mark Leno. The following day is World AIDS Day and among the many events planned, the AIDS Memorial Grove just announced that President Bill Clinton will deliver the keynote address at their ceremony. On Monday, December 4, join us in City Hall’s Rotunda as we co-host, with KGO-TV-7’s Cheryl Jennings, the lighting of the Rainbow World Fund’s Tree of Hope. The festivities begin with the San Francisco Boys Chorus at 6PM, followed by remarks from Rainbow World Fund’s Jeff Cotter, Mayor Ed Lee, Consul General of Japan Jun Yamada, origami artist Linda Mihara, and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. At 7PM sharp, the lights on the world’s largest completely origami decorated holiday tree come on. This is truly a lovely San Francisco tradition and you need to include it in your plans. And on Thursday, December 7, Drag Queens on Ice returns to the Safeway Ice rink in Union Square! As always, we’ll be the drag queen on the mic, not the ice, joined by skaters Mahlae Balenciaga, Mutha Chucka, Paju Munro, and Kylie Pop with special guests Queen Dilly Dally and Sister Roma. Watch the Bay Area Reporter calendar of events for so many special ongoing holiday happenings, including The Golden Girls: Christmas Episodes at the Victoria Theatre starring Heklina, Matthew Martin, D’Arcy Drollinger and Holotta Tymes, and Sunday’s a Drag Miracle on Powell Street all through December. With much more to come, stay rested, stay focused, and stay involved. This is your city and your community; make the most of it.t

Donna Sachet

by Donna Sachet

Above: Rainbow World Fund’s Jeff Cotter, with volunteers (L-R) Jun Donna Hamamoto, Peter Teague, Keiko Kubo and Karen Kai, at last year’s Tree of Hope installation at City Hall. Below: Jose Sarria on one of the newest Rainbow Honor Walk plaques.

Cabaret>>

November 16-22, 2017 • Bay Area Reporter • 25

Sibling super-singers

Playmates or soul mates, you’ll find them on MegaMates

Arielle Jacobs and Adam Jacobs share songs at the Venetian Room

Michael Hull

Adam Jacobs and Arielle Jacobs at a recent concert in New York City’s 54 Below.

by Jim Gladstone

ave you heard the one about the sexy princess who married her own hunk of a brother? It’s a story that the Disney Company doesn’t want to even cross your mind (Oops, sorry!). It’s also one of the reasons that sibling actors Arielle (no relation to the little mermaid) and Adam Jacobs haven’t seen much of each other over the past year. The Half Moon Bay natives, cast as princess and pauper in Disney’s Aladdin, the musical, have been kept continents apart: Arielle played plucky Princess Jasmine for six months in the Sydney, Australia production, while Adam –who originated the title role in workshops and on Broadway– has been leading the show’s first U.S. tour, now at the Orpheum Theatre, here through January 7. With Arielle between gigs and Adam on the boards by the Bay, the pair saw an opportunity to perform together. San Francisco has long offered “A Whole New World” of unDisneyesque couplings, so hey, why not? The Jacobses will present their cabaret act –a mix of songs they’ve performed in theater productions, personal pop favorites, and family stories complete with multimedia (Read: slightly embarrassing old videos)– this coming Monday night as part of Bay Area Cabaret’s Venetian Evenings series at the Fairmont Hotel. It’s an expanded remounting of Sibling Disobedience, a show they debuted at Manhattan’s 54 Below in the spring of 2016. (Sibling Revelry

has long been claimed by Broadway stalwarts Liz and Ann Hampton Calloway). “We’ve actually performed together at the Fairmont before,” says Arielle. “When we were kids, we were in a San Francisco children’s theater group called Razzle Dazzle Kids” (Cue multimedia!). Arielle is four years Adam’s junior and claims to have been a childhood copycat of her big brother. “When he did painting, I wanted to paint. When he played soccer, I wanted to play soccer. I was always trying to do the same thing as Adam.” But she caught the theater bug first and lured him from after school sports to join her in the kids’ troupe. The bug bit Adam hard, though, and there was never much thought of doing anything else for a career. He dove headlong into community theater, playing an apostle in Jesus Christ Superstar, a performance he humorously reenacts in the cabaret show. By the time he was a senior in high school in 1996, Jacobs was singing the role of Young Harvey in SF Opera’s production of Harvey Milk. Arielle, on the other hand, long nurtured a serious interest in science as well as the performing arts. “When I was really little, I honestly hoped to be an astronaut,” she recalls. “And when I found out I couldn’t because you’re required to have 20/20 vision, I was actually kind of heartbroken. But I was still very interested in science, and then ecology. When I applied to college, it was half to music theater programs and half to environmental science programs. And it was the theater

Courtney Reed and Adam Jacobs; Arielle Jacobs and Ainsley Melham in separate productions of Disney’s Aladdin.

programs that accepted me.” Like her brother, Arielle attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Each of the siblings had great luck in auditions immediately after graduation. Adam won major parts in regional theater and national tours and Arielle’s first post-grad gig marked the beginning of the pair’s burgeoning relationship with Disney: she was in the live touring spinoff of the enormously telemovie, High School Musical. (Actually, the Disney bond began years earlier, in a sort of fraternal Freaky Friday, when it was Arielle who played Aladdin in her fourth grade show). Ultimately, both ended up on Broadway, Adam playing Marius in Les Misérables followed by two stints as Simba in Disney’s The Lion King; and Arielle playing opposite Lin-Manuel Miranda in In The Heights, before a spell as Nessaroe in Wicked. Currently, Arielle, based in New York, is working on a solo recording project and is involved in the workshop process for Between the Lines, a musical based on a Jodi Picoult bestseller. “It’s the first time I’m originating a role,” she says, “which is an opportunity you really want as an actor.” Post-Aladdin, Adam, along with his wife, actress Kelly Jacobs, and three-year-old twin sons, who are traveling with him on tour, will relocate to Chicago, where his in-laws live and where he hopes to explore film and television roles (“Chicago PD, Chicago Fire, Chicago whatever.”) while remaining open to major Broadway opportunities. For the moment though, it’s a family-style Bay Area homecoming. “I want to show my boys the house we grew up,” says Adam. “Take them to see the sea lions at Pier 39. I don’t think Kelly has ever been to Alcatraz. And we’re definitely going to eat at Barbara’s Fish Trap in Half Moon Bay.” “I’m coming! They have the best clam chowder,” chimes in Arielle. “How fun!”t Arielle Jacobs and Adam Jacobs perform Sibling Disobedience: Breaking the Rules on the Way to the Great White Way at The Venetian Room at the Fairmont Hotel, 950 Mason St., Monday November 20, 7:30pm. $55-$65. bayareacabaret.org/artist-Jacobs.html Disney’s Aladdin plays at the Orpheum Theatre, $55-$162. TueSat 8pm. Wed, Sat & Sun 2pm. Sun 1pm. Thru Jan. 7. 1192 Market St. shnsf.com

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San Francisco:

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<< Arts Events

Arts November Events 16-23

26 • Bay Area Reporter • November 16-22, 2017

Unearthed @ Napa Valley Museum, Yountville

Fri 17 Joffrey Ballet @ Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley

Opening reception for a group exhibit of local artists’ ceramics. 5pm-7pm. Also, France is a Feast: the Photographic Journey of Paul and Julia Child (thru Feb. 18). Reg. hours Wed –Sun11am-4pm. Thru Jan 7. 55 Presidents Circle, Yountville. napavalleymuseum.org

Sun 19 Fall Chocolate Salon @ County Fair Bldg.

guaranteed your life. You’re Add some arts to e. m the experienc to grow a little fro

Holiday taste-athon of delicious chocolate desserts made by dozens of local and regional chocolatiers. $10-$25. 10am-5pm. 1199 9th Ave. at Lincoln Way, Golden Gate Park. fallchocolatesalon.com

Holly Near @ Cinnabar Theater, Petaluma The popular folk singer performs a concert with pianist Tammy L. Hall, bassist Jan Martinelli and others. $15-$25. 7:30pm. 3333 Petaluma Blvd North, Petaluma. hollynear.com cinnabartheater.org

Edited for space. For full listings, visit www.ebar.com/arts

Thu 16 Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet @ YBCA The acclaimed local dance company performs King’s The Propelled Heart, with vocalist Lisa Fischer reinterpreting songs by Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and other groups. $35-$90. 7:30pm. Thru Nov. 19. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 700 Howard St. www.ybca.org

Classic & New Films @ Castro Theatre Nov. 16: Amplify Her world premiere (7:30pm). Nov. 17: ski film Line of Descent (7:30). Nov 18: Peaches Christ’s Trixie & Katya’s High School Reunion ($30-$80. 3pm, 8pm). Nov 19: Rear Window (12pm, 7pm) and Blow-Up (2:10, 9:10). Nov 20 & 21: Tom of Finland (4:30, 7pm, 9:30). Nov. 22-27: Disney’s Beauty and the Beast sing-along (7pm) $11-$16. 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

Imaginary Comforts @ Berkeley Reprtory Subtitled The Story of the Ghost of the Dead Rabbit, Daniel (Lemony Snicket) Handler’s deliciously dark comedy celebrates the manic phase of family grieving with a lapine hallucination. $22-$89. Tue, Thu-Sat 8pm. Wed 7pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru Nov. 19. 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. www.berkeleyrep.org

Savage Jazz Dance Company @ Malong Casquelord Center Theater, Oakland

Dia De los Muertos @ Mission Cultural Center Closing reception for the installations by multiple artists honoring the dead, with performances by Zenon Barron and Ensambles Ballet Folklorico de San Francisco. $5. 6:30pm-9pm. 2868 Mission St. missionculturalcenter.org

Hip Hop Dancefest @ Palace of Fine Arts 19th annual celebration of hip hop dancing, with two programs of ensembles from the U.S., Amsterdam, Barcelona, London, Mexico City and Singapore. $40-$75. 8pm, Sun 2pm. Thru Nov. 19. 3301 Lyon St. sfhiphopdancefest.com

Joffrey Ballet @ Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley The celebrated New Ypork dance company performs works by Justin Peck, Alexander Ekman, Justin Peck, and Annabelle Lopez. $36-$126. 8pm. Thru Nov. 19 (Sun 3pm). Bancroft Way at Dana, UC Berkeley campus. calperformances.org

The Normal Heart @ Gateway Theatre John Fisher directs and stars in Theatre Rhinoceros’ production of Larry Kramer’s award-winning drama about a New York gay activist’s struggles amid the 1980s AIDS epidemic. $20-$40. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sat 3pm. Tue 7pm. Thru Nov. 25. 215 Jackson st. therhino.org

Whole Sol Festival @ Taube Atrium Theatre

The Oakland writers reads from and discusses his new work, Sin Against the Race, a gay coming out story of the son of a prominent AfricanAmerican legislator. 3:30pm5:30pm. 4101 Webster St. at 22nd. www.thegayspot.com

Couture Korea @ Asian Art Museum New exhibit that showcases traditional and contemporary Korean fashion as art. Many other exhibits of sculpture and antiquities. Free$20. Thru Feb 4. Tue-Sun 10am-5pm. 200 Larkin St. www.asianart.org

Mon 20 OUT/LOOK and the Birth of the Queer @ GLBT History Museum OUT/LOOK and the Birth of the Queer, a new exhibit about the groundbreaking LGBT quarterly based in SF from 1988 to 1992; curated by E.G. Crichton, with a special commemorative new edition for sale. $5. 4127 18th St. glbthistory.org

Tue 21 Girls of the Golden West @ War Memorial Opera House San Francisco Opera’s production of John Adams’ new opera about the Wild West, directed by Peter Sellars. $26-$346. 7:30pm. Also Nov 24, 26, 29; Dec. 2, 5, 7 & 10. 301 Van Ness Ave. www.sfopera.com

Sabbath @ Contemporary Jewish Museum The Dorothy Saxe Invitational group exhibit, thru Feb 25. Also,Jewish Folktale Retold: Artist as Maggid (thru Jan 28); In That Case: Havruta in Contemporary Art-Allison Smith and Christina Zetterlund (thru July 3); and Kutiman: Offgrid Offline (theu July 8). Lectures and gallery talks as well (Fridays 12:30pm). Free (members)-$12. Fri-Tue 11am5pm, Thu 11am-8pm (closed Wed). 736 Mission St. 655-7800. thecjm.org

Various Events @ Oakland LGBTQ Center Social events and meetings at the new LGBTQ center include film screenings and workshops, including Bruthas Rising, trans men of color meetings, 4th Tuesdays, 6:30pm. Film screenings, 4th Saturdays, 7:30pm. Game nights, Fridays 7:30pm-11pm. Vogue sessions, first Saturdays. 3207 Lakeshore Ave. Oakland. oaklandlgbtqcenter.org

Gar McVey-Russell @ Octopus Literary Salon

SF Hiking Club @ Shell Ridge Join GLBT hikers of the SF Hiking Club for an eight-mile hike at Shell Ridge Open Space near Walnut Creek. Carpool meets at Safeway sign, Market & Dolores, at 8:45am. (510) 599-4056. www.sfhiking.com

New exhibit about the history of The Tenderloin Times. Thru Mar. 30. Reg hours Tue-Sun 10am-5pm. Free-$10. 398 Eddy St. tenderloinmuseum.org

Wed 22 A Christmas Story @ SF Playhouse Local production of Benj Pasek, Justin Paul & Joseph Robinette’s Tony-nominated musical adaptation of the classic movie about a young boy’s holiday hopes for a rifle. $20$125. Tue-Thu 7:30pm, Fri & Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru Jan. 13. 450 Post St. sfplayhouse.org

Smile! The Comics of Raina Telgemeier @ Cartoon Art Museum New exhibit of works by the awardwinning author and illustrators of graphic novels, at the museum’s new location. Free/$10. Thu-Tue 11am5pm. 781 Beach St. Thru Mar. 20. cartoonart.org

Stitch Fetish SF @ Center for Sex & Culture Group exhibit of more than two dozen artists’ works in crotchet, stitch, embroidered and fabric art, all with a kinky theme. Thru Dec. 2. 1349 Mission St. sexandculture.org

Thu 23 Ten Percent @ Comcast David Perry’s online and cable interviews with notable local and visiting LGBT people, broadcast through the week. Wed 7pm, Thu-Tue 11:30am & 10:30pm. ComcastHometown.com To submit event listings, email events@ebar.com. Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication.

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The Kipling Hotel @ The Marsh Don Reed’s hit autobiographical solo show returns. $20-$100. Sat 8:30pm, Sun 5:30pm. Thru Dec. 9. 1062 Valencia St. themarsh.org

Voice of the Central City @ Tenderloin Museum

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42nd Street @ Alcazar Theatre Bay Area Musicals’ new production of the classic Broadway musical. $20-$75. Thu-Sun various times thru Dec. 10. 650 Geary St. www.bamsf.org

Fri 17

The accomplished pianist performs 19th-century Cuban works and Charles V. Alkan’s Symphony. $5-$23. 4pm. 1751 Sacramento St. oldfirstconcerts.org

Annual remembrances of transgender people lost to abuse and murder copresented by TAJA Coalition, Trans: Thrive, Trans Employment Program, SF LGBT Center, El/La Para Translatinas. 5:30pm-8pm. 1800 Market St. www.sfcenter.org

Sat 18

Sketches of Oakland, performances of new works by Reginald RaySavage, with music accompaniment by Leslie La Barre, Emily Tian, and Justin Ouellet. $5-$25. 8pm. Thru Nov. 19 (3pm). 1428 Alice St., Oakland. www.savagejazz.org

Del Sol String Quartet’s 25th anniversary series of concerts celebrating California distinct musical legacy. $25-$75, Festival passes $120-$150. Nov 16-18, 8pm. 401 Van Ness Ave. delsolquartet. com/wholesolfestival

Jose Lopez @ Old First Church

Transgender Day of Remembrance @ LGBT Center

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November 16-22, 2017 • Bay Area Reporter • 27

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Onyx Men @ Powerhouse

nyx Men, the national organization for Men of Color into Leather, recently hosted an event at The Powerhouse in SoMa (1347 Folsom St powerhousebar.com). Founded in 1995 to provide education, fraternization and serve as a bridge for Men of Color to the greater Leather community, their events take place around the country. onyxmen.com twitter.com/onyxmen See plenty more photos on BARtab’s Facebook page, www. facebook.com/lgbtsf.nightlife. See more of Steven Underhill’s photos at StevenUnderhill.com.